Minutes July 22 & 23, 2004 CITY OF DENTON CITY COUNCIL MINUTES
ANNUAL PLANNING SESSION
JULY 22 & 23, 2004
LANTANA LODGE, 2200 FM 1192, PILOT POINT, TEXAS
The Annual Planning Session of the City of Demon City Council convened at 3:00 p.m. on
Thursday, July 22, 2004, at the Lantana Lodge located at 2200 FM 1192 in Pilot Poim Texas.
PRESENT: Mayor Euline Brock, Mayor Pro Tem Perry McNeill, Council Members Pete
Kamp, Jack Thomson, Bob Montgomery, and Joe Mulroy.
ABSENT: Council Member Raymond Redmon
The following items were considered:
1)
The Council discussed operating procedures including structure of Council meetings,
work session procedures and topics, information requests, attendance at in-city and
om-of-city functions, communication with Council Members, and the budget process.
The Council discussed policy and procedure implementation and feedback to ensure
compliance. Feedback should include citizen inpm, council observations and staff
input. Council requested that citizen reports be moved to the end of the Council
meeting and that the time for the reports be reduced to four minutes. In addition,
Council requested that a legal announcement regarding Council responses to citizen
reports and role violations be made.
The Council requested that the Council Assistant develop a log and notify
Councilmembers of where upcoming official events are occurring and who will be in
attendance. The Council also requested that staff white papers include an executive
summary and that staff presentations only focus on the highlights.
2)
The Council discussed city departmems including communication and concerns
among depamnents, customer service, efficiency of departmems, mility, drainage and
wastewater budgeting and transfers, police protection, diversity in the city workplace,
and the developmem review process.
The Council requested a grid to explain what and why Utility Departmem transfers
were made to the general fund.
The Council
service and
improvement
resulted from
requested that the Development Review process focus on customer
moving projects through the process. Several suggestions for
were discussed. The Council requested a list of service cuts that have
the budget cuts that have taken place over the last couple of years. The
Council also requested that an upcoming work session be identified to discuss
diversity. The Council discussed the possibility of changing the policy of hiring non-
certified firefighters to hiring certified firefighters as an opportunity to bring diversity
City of Denton City Council Minutes
July 22 & 23, 2004
Page 2
to the Fire Department. During the discussion of police protection and the cost of
hiring additional police officers, the Council discussed the cost of installing red light
cameras to be used as a means of increasing safety and relieving the workload of the
police department. Customer service issues relating to phone issues were also
discussed.
3)
The Council discussed planning and development including multi-family
development standards, economic development drivers and development in north
Denton, downtown projects, and transportation issues including passenger rail and a
rail station.
The Council discussed the upcoming Capital Improvement Bond issue project. They
discussed projects that could be recommended to the committee for consideration,
such as property acquisition for a downtown transportation facility, further
improvements to the perimeter streets on the Square, a consultant to review
transportation projects and how the projects relate to the Downtown Master Plan, and
considered a professional staff person to direct the Downtown development. The
Council also discussed the City's current ratio of multi-family versus single-family
development and whether the ratio was appropriate for the community. The Council
requested that an upcoming work session to re-examine the multi-family versus single
family unit ratio in the Denton Plan, to review the allowable uses in each zoning
category, to examine incentives for higher standards for multi-family development, to
examine limits on the number of units in a development and to have a legal review of
square footage requirements. The Council also discussed economic development
opportunities on University Drive, and the partnership with UNT Research Park and
associated retail development.
4)
The Council discussed service and responsiveness to citizens. Due to lack of time
roads, rezoning, urban center density, voter registration, state issues, district forums
and involvement of youth and young adults in government were not discussed.
The Council discussed concerns they have received regard'rog disconnected phone
calls.
5)
Due to lack of time, the Council was unable to discuss environmental concerns.
Environmental concerns will be the topic of the August 10, 2004, planning session
meeting.
Council adjourned their meeting at 6:00 p.m.
On Friday, July 23, 2004, at 8:30 a.m. Council resumed their discussions of the listed topics.
PRESENT:
Mayor Euline Brock, Mayor Pro Tem Perry McNeill, Council Members Raymond
Redmon, Pete Kamp, Jack Thomson, Bob Montgomery and Joe Mulroy
ABSENT: None
City of Denton City Council Minutes
July 22 & 23, 2004
Page 3
Discussion on the listed topics resumed. Council requested that a mid year retreat be scheduled
in six months.
The meeting adjourned at 2:25 p.m.
Euline Brock
Mayor
City of Denton
Betty Williams
Deputy City Secretary
City of Denton