November 5, 2007 Minutes
CITY OF DENTON CITY COUNCIL MINUTES
November 5, 2007
After determining that a quorum was present, the City Council convened in a Special Called
Work Session on Monday, November 5, 2007 at 11:30 a.m. in the Council Work Session Room.
PRESENT: Mayor McNeill; Deputy Mayor Pro Tem Mulroy; Council Members
Montgomery, Thomson, and Watts.
ABSENT: Mayor Pro Tem Kamp and Council Member Heggins
1.Presentation by Samuel R. Shortes regarding a historic county courthouse project
benefitting the Denton County Historical Museum.
Mr. Shortes presented information regarding the sale of historic Winchester riles for elected
officials/employees in Denton County to benefit Denton County Historical Museum.
2.Discussion with the Environmental Quality Division staff regarding but not limited to
department functions, programs, and major accomplishments.
Kenny Banks, Environmental Quality Manager, introduced several members of his staff and
related what they did.
Bill McCullough - Pretreatment Program – worked with protecting the wastewater
treatment plant and materials that came into the plant.
Katherine Barnett - Special Project Coordinator – indicated that one large project
Katherine dealt with was the Clear Creek Natural Heritage Center.
Mohammad Ghussain - Water and Wastewater labs – worked with water sampling for the
water/wastewater and reuse program. He also dealt with compliance for the City’s
Dinodirt products.
David Hunter - Watershed Protection Program – David dealt with water quality
components and sampled water outside of pipes such as streams and worked with
stormwater regulations.
Debra Viera - Environmental Compliance Coordinator - coordinated regulations among
all of the groups plus environmentally sensitive areas between the Environmental Quality
Division and the Planning Department.
Council discussion -
What was the City’s regulatory authority for compliance with these programs? Banks replied
that fines were the last resort and that staff worked instead for compliance with the programs.
Were citizens able to bring their water to the lab to have it analyzed? Banks stated yes that
the lab could check for various types of bacteriological components.
Did the Division check for pollutants in soil? Banks replied no, that they did not do that on a
regular basis.
What were the fastest moving challenges the Division was facing right now? Banks stated
that the immediate challenge was on the federal/state level dealing with the stormwater
permits as they required a significant amount of work to keep in compliance. Other
challenges dealt with land use issues associated with large developments coming into the
area especially in environmentally sensitive areas.
City of Denton City Council Minutes
November 5, 2007
Page 2
What about the Clear Creek Natural Heritage Center? Barnett stated that the building was
complete and was already in use. Many groups used the Center such as Senior Lunch in the
Park, master naturalists came out for cleanup, and plant studies were ongoing through UNT
with more groups coming out as the uses increased.
3.The Council received a report, held a discussion and gave staff direction regarding litter
maintenance and mowing along state highways.
Emerson Vorel, Director of Parks and Recreation, presented information regarding contracted
litter pickup and mowing along I35 E, Loop 288, and I35 to Hwy 77. He reviewed options for 4,
8 and 12 litter pickup and mowing cycles per year. Currently all of the named areas were
maintained by the State but as the State’s budget got tighter; the length between the cycles was
expanding.
Council discussion -
Council should not tell staff how many times to mow/pick up litter but rather if a set number
of dollars were given, staff could determine through trial and error how many cycles could be
completed. Then during the next budget cycle money could be budgeted appropriately.
I35 E was a top priority out of the list of the roadways indicated.
These funds would be in addition to what the State was doing but once the City started
supplementing the cycles, the State would probably quit picking up litter/mowing.
Could only litter pickup be done instead of both litter and mowing? Vorel replied that only
picking up litter was not always effective because sometimes the litter could not be seen in
the tall grass.
Could one or two city employees do this rather than contracting out all of the cycles? Vorel
indicated that he would have to check with TxDot to determine who they would allow to
perform the tasks.
Consensus of the Council was that the City Manager would locate funds for the project in the
neighborhood of $40,000 for the next six months. The Manager and staff would determine how
best to utilize those dollars and would work those figures into the next budget cycle. Staff would
also negotiate with TxDot for options but making it clear that this was supplemental work in
addition to the cycles provided by the State.
4.The Council received a report, held a discussion and gave staff direction regarding the
selection of an architect for the design of the Public Safety Training Facility.
Jon Fortune, Assistant City Manager, stated that proposals had been received for the design of
the first phase of the facility. A selection committee had been formed which ranked the seven
proposals with the top three firms invited for interviews. Staff was touching base with Council
on the process to make sure it was comfortable with proceeding with negotiations with the top
firm. If staff was not able to negotiate with the #1 firm, they would proceed to negotiate with the
#2 firm. It was anticipated that a contract would come to Council in December.
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November 5, 2007
Page 3
City Manager Campbell stated that staff was seeking authorization to proceed with negotiations
with the firms as they were ranked.
Consensus of the Council was to proceed with the process as indicated.
With no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 12:20 p.m.
______________________________
PERRY R. MCNEILL
MAYOR
CITY OF DENTON, TEXAS
_______________________________
JENNIFER WALTERS
CITY SECRETARY
CITY OF DENTON, TEXAS