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Minutes October 10, 2000CITY OF DENTON CITY COUNCIL MINUTES October 10, 2000 Work Session of the City of Denton City Council on Tuesday, October 10, 2000 at 6:00 p.m. in the Council Work Session Room in City Hall. PRESENT: Mayor Brock; Mayor Pro Tem Beasley; Council Members Cochran, Durrance, Kristoferson and Young. ABSENT: Council Member Burroughs 1. The Council received a report, held a discussion, and gave staff direction concerning the carrying of a concealed handgun in a city building or portion of a city building, a condition of the use of city buildings; providing for a severability clause; and providing for an effective date. Eva Poole, Director of Library Services, stated since January 2000, there had been two separate occasions where individuals entered the Emily Fowler Library openly displaying firearms that they carried on their person. It was against the law for anyone but a law enforcement officer to carry a handgun in open view of the public except on their own property. There was a concern that individuals might bring a concealed handgun in a city building or facility. Staff recommended that an ordinance be drafted for Council consideration to declare that handguns may not be carried in City facilities. Consensus of the Council was to proceed with the &ailing of an ordinance for Council consideration. 2. The Council received a report, held a discussion, and gave staff direction concerning the underground conversion of overhead Denton Municipal Electric facilities and the remaining poles being used by other franchised utilities. Ray Wells, Assistant Director of Electric Utility, stated that Denton Municipal Electric had converted many overhead electric lines to underground facilities dating back to 1994. These conversions were initiated to help beautify the City of Denton entryways and thoroughfares. In most instances, other franchised utilities had remained on abandoned DME poles. A new pole attachment agreement for franchised utilities was suggested to meet current standards as the current pole use agreement had expired. It was suggested to amend the amount charged for each pole per the federal guidelines. Consensus of the Council was to proceed with the new pole attachment agreement as recommended by staff. 3. The Council received a report, held a discussion, and gave staff direction regarding recycling related issues. Charlie Watkins, Solid Waste Director, stated that in 1999 the Recycling Field personnel were merged with the Commercial Division Field personnel. Although this worked well with personnel, the resources proved increasingly inadequate to meet the community's growing commercial and recycling needs. Changes already made were to move the North Lakes Recycling Center, discontinue glass collection everywhere except at the landfill, discontinue the recycling center on Edwards Street, set up glass and used oil and filter containers at the landfill. By late October this Center would accept news and office paper, cardboard, aluminum and steel cans, textiles, and possibly plastic. 909 910 City of Denton City Council Minutes October 10, 2000 Page 2 Council felt that this issue should be looked at during the next budget cycle in order to plan accordingly for recycling needs. 4. The Council received a report and held a discussion concerning a wholesale wastewater treatment services contract with the City of Argyle and an interlocal cooperation agreement by and between the City of Denton, Texas and the City of Argyle, Texas pertaining to the construction and installation of the Graveyard Branch gravity flow wastewater main. Howard Martin, Assistant City Manager for Utilities, stated that the City currently provided wastewater treatment services to the City of Argyle through an interim wholesale wastewater treatment contract with the Upper Trinity Regional Water District. This contract was going to expire on December 31, 2000. Both cities were in the process of developing an interlocal cooperation agreement regarding cost participation as well as construction and installation of the Graveyard Branch wastewater line project. The cost shares for each city would be based on the projected use of the line flow capacity services contract to be executed directly between the City of Denton and the City of Argyle. Consensus of the Council was to proceed with the drafting of the documents. 5. The Council received a report, held a discussion, and gave staff direction concerning the payment for utility infrastructure services provided to residential and commercial development. Jim Coulter, Director of Water/Wastewater Utilities, stated that each year the Water and Wastewater Department received numerous requests from various customers and residential developers to waive water and wastewater impact fees, tap fees and/or meter loop fees. At the September 26th Council meeting, a citizen requested that the wastewater tap fee and water line relocation fee be waived for a housing development at 523 Ruth Street. This request was denied but the water line was relocated and the wastewater tap completed so that the construction schedule for the two residences would not be negatively impacted. The certificate of occupancy for the homes would be withheld until the issues were reviewed by the Council. Staff's recommendation was to maintain the current policy of requiring all residential development to pay the appropriate utility infrastructure fees. Council Member Cochran suggested Option 2 to establish criteria that certain types of development might be exempt from paying tap, meter and line relocation fees. Residences where redevelopment was being done would be grandfathered from the fees. Consensus of the Council was to proceed with developing Option 2 to establish criteria that certain types of development may be exempt for paying tap, meter and line relocation fees. 6. The Council received an update and made a recommendation for approval of the Water Distribution and Wastewater Collection System Master Plan options and recommendations prepared by Alan Plummer and Associates, Inc. and Applied Geographic Technologies, Inc. P.S. Arora, Engineering Administrator, reviewed the details of the water distribution and wastewater collection system mater plan options and recommendations as noted in the agenda materials. Staff recommendation was to approve the Master Plan prepared by the consultant and approve the Wastewater Collection System Master Plan and Option 5 with additional evaluation of in-system storage options and associated costs. City of Denton City Council Minutes October 10, 2000 Page 3 Consensus of the Council was to proceed with the staff's recommendations. 7. The Council received a report, held a discussion, and gave staff direction regarding utility billing. Susan Croff, Utilities Services Manager/Customer Service, addressed issues that had occurred in Customer Service and the steps that were taken to eliminate those issues. Those issues included bills that did not add up, customers receiving multi-month bills, mass versus individual billing errors, cost to the city for delay in billing and collection of those bills, and the production of reports. She noted the steps that were taken to correct these issues and the goal of the department to eliminate any future problems. 8. The Council received a report, held a discussion, and gave staff direction regarding an update on LINK bus routes. Veronica Rolen, Public Transportation Manager, stated that a major change in service was done in June from a one hour loop route system to a thirty minute linear route system designed to allow passengers more frequent opportunities to make transfers and complete their trip in less time. In some respects, the new routes had been successful in accomplishing these goals in a short time. However, there were consistent problems in keeping the reutes on schedule. On- time performance, not more than 5 minutes after the published departure time, was estimated to be approximately 60% at this point in time. Staff proposed the following performance standards to increase the on-time performance: (1) an on-time performance at 90% or above; (2) minor route adjustments, (3) implementing new data collection procedures; (4) instituting a 5-minute maximum waiting time for vehicles running on schedule to have to wait for transfers from late vehicles to improve on-time performance; instituting the procedure that the driver of the late bus initiate the request for a demand response, dial-a-ride or other vehicle to pick-up the passenger at L1NK Central and transport him to his final destination that would eliminate a wait at LINK Central and reinstating a stop at Denton County Health Department. Consensus of the Council was to proceed with the staff recommended changes. 9. The Council received a report, held a discussion, and gave staff direction regarding the draft Development Code. Doug Powell, Director of Planning and Development, stated that at the September 15th work session, Council reviewed the draft Denton Development Code prior to releasing it for public review. This discussion was for a review of outstanding issues and the draft zoning map. Council Member Cochran suggested another meeting to review the proposals in the draft document. Consensus of the Council was to add this item to the end of the Regular Session on October 17th for further discussion. With no further information, the meeting was adjourned at 9:50 p.m. 9.1 1 91 2 City of Denton City Council Minutes October 10, 2000 Page 4 CITY OF DENTON, TEXAS EULINE BROCK, MAYOR CITY OF DENTON, TEXAS