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.
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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.
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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.
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CITY OF DENTON, TEXAS
EULINE BROCK, MAYOR
CITY OF DENTON, TEXAS