Minutes October 27, 2003CITY OF DENTON CITY COUNCIL M1NUTES
OCTOBER 27, 2003
After determining that a quorum was present, the City Council convened in a Work Session on
Monday, October 27, 2003 at 12:30 p.m. in the Council Work Session Room at City Hall.
PRESENT:
Mayor Brock; Mayor Pro Tern Burroughs; Council Members Kamp, McNeill,
Montgomery, Redmon and Thomson.
ABSENT: None
1. The Council held a discussion and gave staff direction regarding the agenda process and
Council rules and procedures.
Mike Conduff, City Manager, stated that the Agenda Committee had tried to take advantage of
the educational component of the meetings and have 2-3 bullet reports on Items for Individual
Consideration during the council meetings. These reports included big-ticket items highlighted
to give a sense of comfort on what was being purchased and reports on items of special interest
to the community. He suggested that the balance of Council let staff know items they wished to
move for a bullet report after their review of the draft agendas. The Agenda Committee would
make the final determination on which items would be considered for that process.
Council discussion on the agenda process included:
Providing Council a draft agenda via e-mail following the Agenda Committee review
Changing the agenda format to include a section to allow Council to suggest items for
individual consideration at both work sessions and planning sessions.
Providing Council a paper copy of the agenda only either in the Friday packets or the
night of the meeting
Whether or not to request boards/commissions to review the purchase of equipment
before Council consideration
Council consideration on the policy implications on the purchase of a new piece of
equipment that would significantly change the way the City did business
A proposal involving the large purchase of a piece of equipment in terms of dollars
and a new policy would have been through the budget process which involved
consideration by a board or commission
Receiving a recommendation from the appropriate board before making a decision on
items, particularly the PUB and P& Z. Some boards were staff advisory rather than
Council advisory.
Mayor Brock reviewed Council's rules and procedures dealing with:
Citizen reports
Limit interaction with citizens
Limit amount of questions especially if not listed on the agenda
No discussion on the items
City of Denton City Council Minutes
October 27, 2003
Page 2
Closed
Clarification only
Do not engage conversation with the citizen
Can correct misstatements by citizens if the item was listed on the agenda
Grant extension of speaker time only if approved by all of the council that
would be beneficial to receive additional information
Extension of time for group citizen reports
Session
Revealing what took place during the Closed Session
it
City Attorney Prouty stated that it was a criminal violation to reveal the certified agenda but not
a violation to rephrase what happened in Closed Session. It also was illegal to provide citizens
copies of his confidential status reports. This item might be a good item to place in a code of
conduct.
Council also discussed the policy of allowing concealed weapons in the meetings and the
associated legal provisions.
2. The Council held a discussion and gave staff direction
Council, including but not limited to:
A. 2004 meeting schedule
B. Cell phones
C. City Council travel schedules and funding
regarding
staff assistance to
City Secretary Jennifer Walters presented the 2004 meeting schedule and noted the changes in
May due to the change in the election date.
Council discussed the meeting times and the changing of those times. It was determined that a
fixed time for the work session might not be feasible as the number of items on the work session
varied. Staff would provide extra reminders of the starting times for the work sessions.
City Manager Conduff proposed a convenience wireless tools allowance that would provide a
financial allowance for Council for cell phone usage. Council could purchase a plan and phone
of their choice and the city would reimburse them a set amount for that usage.
Council discussion on cell phones included: The type of plan currently provided
Open records requests if use a personal phone was used for city business
The need to keep personal phone and e-mail accounts separate from city business
Drafting a cell phone usage policy
Having a consistent plan for everyone
The necessity of having a city cell phone
Consensus of Council was to equalize all Council cell phone plans to around a $49.95 a month,
anyone using over $50 for expenditure of minutes would receive a bill from the city, a summary
of each month's usage would be sent to each council member and if the bill not were paid in an
appropriate amount of time, the issue would be brought before the Council for discussion.
Council Member Redmon left the meeting.
City of Denton City Council Minutes
October 27, 2003
Page 3
City Manager Conduff continued with a discussion on council travel schedules and funding. A
handout provided a reminder of the meetings available to council. Those meetings were
budgeted for full council participation. Non-budgeted meetings would be funded with savings
when the full council did not attend budgeted meetings. Staff travel had been greatly restricted
this year and he encouraged council to be thoughtful in regards to unbudgeted trips.
Council requested periodic updates on amounts spent on travel and the last dates to cancel
meetings in order to get a refund.
With no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 2:15 p.m.
EUL1NEBROCK
MAYOR
CITY OFDENTON, TEXAS
JENNIFER WALTERS
CITY SECRETARY
CITY OF DENTON, TEXAS