Minutes December 11, 2001CITY OF DENTON CITY COUNCIL M1NUTES
December 11, 2001
After determining that a quorum was present, the City Council convened in a Special Called
Session on Tuesday, December 11, 2001 at 6:00 p.m. in the Council Work Session Room.
PRESENT:
Mayor Euline Brock, Mayor Pro Tern Roni Beasley, Council Members Mark
Burroughs, Jane Fulton, Perry McNeill, Michael Phillips, and Raymond Redmon.
ABSENT: None.
1. The Council considered adoption of an ordinance of the City of Denton, Texas
authorizing the Mayor to execute a mutual release of all claims in litigation styled Municipal
Administrative Services, Inc. v. City of Denton, Cause No. 99-50263-367.
Herb Prouty, City Attorney, stated that the City and Municipal Administrative Services had
agreed to a mutual release of all claims.
The following ordinance was considered:
NO. 2001-468
AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY OF DENTON, TEXAS AUTHORIZING THE
MAYOR TO EXECUTE A MUTUAL RELEASE OF ALL CLAIMS IN LITIGATION
STYLED MUNICIPAL ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICES, INC. lA. CITY OF DENTON,
CAUSE NO. 99-50263-367; AND PROVIDING AN EFFECTIVE DATE.
Burroughs motioned, Beasley seconded to adopt the ordinance. On roll vote, Beasley "aye",
Burroughs "aye", Fulton "aye", McNeill "aye", Phillips "aye", Redmon "aye", and Mayor Brock
"aye". Motion carried unanimously.
Following the completion of the Special Called Session, the Council convened into a Work
Session at which the following items were considered:
1. The Council received a report, held a discussion, and gave staff direction regarding a
comprehensive management study.
Betty Williams, Director of Management and Public Information, stated that a management
study would provide an independent evaluation of the current level of service and staffing along
with identifying changes and the financial impact of those changes. She stated that all
departments, all non-utility departments, or individual departments could be included in the
study. The study could take six to seven months. A representative of the Council could be
included on the Selection Committee. Funding options were included in the backup.
Council Member Beasley asked if a comparison of other cities by department had been done as
far as number of employees, expenditures, etc.
Council Member McNeill stated that he had requested this item in an effort to determine if
anything could be contracted out and if there was a savings on it.
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December 11, 2001
Page 2
Council Member Phillips asked if the City in general could be looked at and then address
specific departments.
General consensus of the Council was to send out the Requst For Services Proposal for a
Management Study of all non-utility departments. They could get a general overview from this
and find out where the more in depth study needed to be done.
The Council requested a copy of the executive overview of the utility management study done in
1997.
Fulton motioned, Burroughs seconded to have Councilmember McNeill serve on the Selection
Committee.
2. The Council received a report, held a discussion, and gave staff direction concerning the
development of prorata fee charges for the installation of wastewater collection infrastructure for
City of Krum and the Vintage Development.
Jim Coulter, Director of Water and Wastewater, stated that the current impact fees were
established to recover capital expenditures by the City of expansion/construction of water and
wastewater treatment facilities. Recent amendments to the Texas Local Government Code
provided for a prorata fee mechanism for municipalities to recover infrastructure costs.
Coulter stated that with prorata fees, the City could recover capital contributed towards
oversizing of water/sewer lines and lift stations, construction of new water/sewer lines, and
upsizing of existing lines. He stated that with the expansion of the wastewater treatment
facilities, the city would need to make substantial investments in the wastewater collection
system infrastructure to convey higher flows resulting from growth in the City.
P. S. Arora, Assistant Director of Wastewater, briefed the Council on the Krum wholesale
wastewater agreement. He stated that staff had been working with the City of Krum and
estimated the total cost of the proposed sewer line at 3.2 million dollars. Krum's initial
contribution would be 1.4 million dollars.
Arora briefed the Council on proposed and future sewer service for the Roark Branch
Sewershed. He presented three options to the Council: Roark Branch Interceptor $750,000;
Vintage Lift Station $775,000; Oversize Lift Station $3 million.
Consensus of the Council was to proceed with staff' s recommendations.
3. The Council received a report, and held a discussion regarding the City of Denton cable
television franchise renewal with Charter Communications.
John Cabrales, Public Information Officer, stated that the current franchise agreement would
expire in November 2003. Two processes could be followed in negotiating a franchise renewal:
formal and informal. Charter had submitted written notice to commence renewal process.
Cabrales stated that there were two stages involved in the renewal process. The first stage
involved identifying the future cable related needs of the community and reviewing compliance
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December 11, 2001
Page 3
of the franchise by the cable company. The second stage involved the City's consideration of a
specific proposal for renewal. Also, the City must renew or preliminarily deny the renewal
request within four months of receipt of proposal.
Staff recommended the formation of a stakeholders task force to seek input from the community
and the formation of a City of Denton task force.
The Council asked if staff could provide information on where customers could file complaints
with their Congressional representative and how to contact the FCC.
Council Member Redmon asked how many customers used basic cable. He also wanted to know
what our option would be to purchase the cable lines if the franchise was not renewed.
Mayor Brock requested information on the recent trends of cable customers and wanted to know
what was our alternative in broadcasting if there was no cable franchise.
4. There was no Official Action on Closed Meeting Item(s) under Sections 551.071-
551.086 of the Texas Open Meetings Act.
5. New Business
Council Member McNeill asked that we have a proclamation at the next council meeting for
UNT's football team.
Council Member Phillips asked for a proclamation for the Ryan Raiders.
Council Member Phillips wanted to know what the status was of our nominees to the DCAD
Board.
Council Member Redmon requested that we review the infill policy.
With no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 8:20 p.m.
EUL1NE BROCK, MAYOR
CITY OF DENTON, TEXAS
JANE RICHARDSON
ASST. CITY SECRETARY
CITY OF DENTON, TEXAS