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December 8, 2009 Minutes CITY OF DENTON CITY COUNCIL MINUTES December 8, 2009 After determining that a quorum was present, the City Council convened in a Work Session on Tuesday, December 8, 2009 at 4:00 p.m. in the City Council Work Session Room at City Hall. PRESENT: Mayor Burroughs, Mayor Pro Tem Kamp, Council Member Engelbrecht, Council Member Gregory, Council Member Mulroy and Council Member Watts. ABSENT: Council Member Heggins. 1. Receive a report, hold a discussion, and give staff direction regarding projects to be included in Denton’s 111th Congress, 2nd Session Congressional Priority Project requests. John Cabrales Jr., Public Information/Intergovernmental Relations Officer, stated that since 2003, Denton had submitted priority project requests to its congressional delegation for discretionary funding based on the needs of the community and the appropriateness for federal consideration. Since the City’s first submission, Denton had received in excess of approximately $13.67 million in federal discretionary funds. He stated that these funds were becoming more difficult to obtain due to the growing number of requests as well as a reduction in discretionary funding levels. Additionally, increased information and detail was being requested by the congressional representatives with each submittal. It was for these reasons that staff had scrutinized the project funding requests and selected the projects that had the best chance of being considered for congressional funding. The following projects and funding amounts were recommended by staff: Airport Operating Safety Enhancements - $890,000, Downtown Development Improvements - $2,065,000, Public Safety Training Facility/Technology - $200,000, and DME AMI/Smart Grid Project - $1,000,000. Cabrales stated that the operating safety enhancements for the airport would provide additional aircraft operation areas (ramp expansion) to enhance the safe ingress and egress of aircraft between active taxiways and service locations on the airport. Currently, taxiways and aircraft operating areas were congested and in need of additional paved surface for safe aircraft maneuvering. Cabrales stated that the downtown development improvements were for the Hickory Street Corridor Project and included street work, sidewalks, streetscape, and associated engineering and surveying costs. Cabrales indicated that the funding for the regional public safety training facility included EOC computers and printers and video surveillance cameras. He stated that the regional public safety training facility would house the City’s Emergency Operations Center and the EOC needed laptop computers and printers. The video surveillance cameras would be located throughout the city and provide the EOC with real-time video and weather monitoring from critical areas of the community. Cabrales stated that the DME AMI/Smart Grid Project included digital upgrades to electric transmission and distribution systems that would enable the entire electricity supply and delivery chain including power plants, transmission lines, substations, distribution lines, meters, and customer systems to operate in a more reliable, efficient, secure, and affordable manner. City of Denton City Council Minutes December 8, 2009 Page 2 Council Member Mulroy asked why the Council had not been involved in the process of selecting the projects until now. He felt that in the future, Council should be involved in the process from the beginning. He asked if there were any projects besides the four recommended by staff. City Manager Campbell stated that staff could provide Council, if there were any other submissions by departments, what those were and why staff had eliminated them – if they did not meet the criteria. If there were no other projects submitted, they could ask departments if they had any projects internally that they had considered but did not submit and determine what the criteria was and how it had applied to those projects. Staff would present this information to Council prior to approval of these four projects. Council Member Gregory also asked for more information about the types of projects that had received funding in the past through our congressional delegation. 2. Receive a report, hold a discussion, and give staff direction regarding the proposed City of Denton Health and Wellness Center. Scott Payne, Risk Manager, stated that during the FY 2009-10 budget process, it was noted that medical and prescription costs were projected to increase at a rate of 10% or more each year and that the City had planned to increase its portion of the funding by 6%. The gap would have to be made up through plan changes, premium increases, tying premium amounts to wellness criteria, or a health & wellness clinic. Payne stated that a clinic could provide high quality, low/no cost primary medical care services for those that chose to use it. He stated that there were many public entity clinics in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area and throughout Texas. The theory was that by turning a component of the costs associated with health care into a fixed cost, employers could essentially provide the service more cost effectively than they could provide the benefit. Other areas where savings could occur included: Better disease management – many family practices did not have sufficient time to do regular follow up with those patients that were trying to manage a chronic disease condition. Active wellness partner – the clinic could provide a mechanism to connect members to wellness opportunities at the point in time where it was most meaningful. Influence medicine prescribing patterns – the medical staff of the clinic would only have to worry about one prescription drug formulary instead of multiple formularies. Influence physician and facility referrals– the medical staff at the clinic would develop relationships with providers and facilities in the medical community. Accessibility – by removing the cost barrier and by committing to see members at their scheduled appointment time, access to basic medical care could improve and thereby improve the overall health of the members. Reduce absenteeism – by increasing accessibility, absenteeism related to illness could be reduced. Resource for other medical related services – the clinic could potentially be used for services like drug test specimen collection, pre-employment physicals, fire and police physicals, basic laboratory and x-rays and other procedures that were currently being contracted for. Establish a medical “home” – many employees did not have a family physician and relied on facilities like Minor Emergency, CareNow or even the Emergency Room for their basic health care needs. City of Denton City Council Minutes December 8, 2009 Page 3 The facility needed to be in a location convenient to City facilities with sufficient parking space for large vehicles and room for growth. The medical staff that ran the clinic could be employees of the public entity, contracted with a company that specialized in operating clinics to provide that service, staffed by doctors, or physician’s assistant and / or nurse practitioners overseen by a contracted Medical Director. The setup and scope of the clinic operation depended on the goals, objectives and size of the organization. Also if the City could find another entity or entities to partner with they would be able to build a bigger clinic with a larger medical staff and deliver additional services such as lab, X-ray and pharmacy. Consensus of the Council was for staff to bring more detailed information back to Council as far as the full cost to setup and operate a clinic. 3. Receive a report, hold a discussion, and give staff direction regarding the annexation of eighteen (18) proposed areas including the costs related to providing municipal services. Mark Cunningham, Director of Planning and Development, stated that Council had requested a presentation regarding the anticipated cost of providing services to the proposed annexation areas. He stated there would be no additional cost to provide Fire/EMS services to the areas proposed for annexation. The City stood to lose approximately $20,000 in revenue from Denton County that was currently being paid for Fire/EMS services. If all of the proposed areas were annexed, two additional police officers and one additional police vehicle would be required to meet average response times for the Police Department. Estimated cost was $238,500. The proposed annexation would not result in any immediate cost increase to provide municipal park services or facilities to the areas proposed for annexation. The Parks Department was responsible for mowing the City’s rights-of-way five times per year. It was estimated that the proposed annexations would result in an increase of approximately thirty-one miles of additional right-of-way mowing at a cost of $1,125 per mile. The immediate cost to mow the additional miles of right-of-way was estimated to be $174,375. Council Member Mulroy requested staff to separate annual operating costs from capital costs and bring those figures back to Council. Cunningham stated that if the goal was to provide the same level of code enforcement service in the proposed annexation areas as currently existed within the city, then two additional Code Enforcement officers would be needed. One officer could begin in FY 2010-11 and one could begin in FY 2012-13. Staff also anticipated an additional $40,000 that would go towards the substandard structures program and associated costs of securing vacant structures. Watts suggested a grace period for property owners that were in non-compliance regarding Code Enforcement violations. Solid Waste did not anticipate a need for any additional vehicles or personnel to service the proposed areas. City of Denton City Council Minutes December 8, 2009 Page 4 Library Services estimated additional funding, personnel and materials needed to adequately serve the areas at $52,800. The proposed annexations would also increase the need for an additional library facility and needed staffing. DME currently provided service within some of the areas proposed for annexation and had adjacent facilities or provided service to adjacent areas. Electric service could be provided to all the areas proposed for annexation as development occurred in and around the areas, with the exception of DH-13 where DME was not certified to provide electric service. Cunningham reviewed the costs to provide Water and Wastewater services to each proposed annexation area. All the proposed annexation areas were within the City’s water service area and Sewer service area. Mayor Pro Tem Kamp asked for clarification of what the immediate services would be. Cunningham stated that immediate service figures for Wastewater would be $0, Water would be $0, Traffic Operations Signs and Markings would be $167,511, and Engineering and Transportation would be $367,405. City Manager Campbell stated that staff could present the costs as immediate costs and anticipated future costs. They could include what needed to be done upon annexation; what needed to be done as growth occurred; what criteria or assumptions were being made to make those estimates; what part of those costs were developer costs and what part of those costs were the City’s costs. Cunningham stated that if all the proposed areas were annexed, they would generate approximately $775,000 in additional tax revenue to the City. However, it would be unlikely that the City would realize this full amount because many of the parcels that were included in the areas proposed for annexation were appraised for ad valorem tax purposes as agricultural or wildlife management or timber land uses. All of these parcels would be subject to a non- annexation agreement and it would be impossible to anticipate the amount of ad valorem taxes that would be collected by the City. Following the completion of the Work Session, the City Council convened in a Closed Meeting at 6:25 p.m. to consider the specific items listed below under the Closed Meeting section of this agenda. 1. Closed Meeting A. Deliberations regarding Real Property - Under Texas Government Code Section 551.072; Consultation with Attorney - Under Texas Government Code Section 551.071. 1. Discuss, deliberate and receive information from staff and provide staff with direction pertaining to the grant of property within the Denton Rail Corridor to the DART or DCTA, the limits of said corridor being all that certain lot, tract or parcel of land described in that certain Quitclaim Deed from Missouri Pacific Railroad Company to the City of Denton, Texas dated August 9, 1993, and filed on August 24, 1993, as Clerk No 93-R0058485 in the City of Denton City Council Minutes December 8, 2009 Page 5 Real Property Records of Denton County, Texas; and also being that same property described in that certain Correction Quitclaim Deed, dated June 1, 2001 and filed for record in the Real Property Records of Denton County, Texas as Volume 4857, Page 020211 where such deliberation in an open meeting would have a detrimental effect on the position of the City Council in negotiations with DART or DCTA. Consultation with the City’s attorneys regarding legal issues associated with the granting of said property above described where a public discussion of these legal matters would clearly conflict with the duty of the City’s attorneys to the City of Denton and the Denton City Council under the Texas Disciplinary Rules of Professional Conduct of the State Bar of Texas. Following the completion of the Closed Meeting, the Council will consider the following in Open Session: Special Called Regular Meeting of the City of Denton City Council on Tuesday, December 8, 2009 at 6:54 p.m. in the Work Session Room at City Hall. 1. PUBLIC HEARING A. Continuation of a public hearing on the Sale of the Denton Branch Rail Trail Corridor owned by the City of Denton to the Dallas Area Rapid Transit Authority (DART) for the purposes of reactivation of a rail line between Denton and Carrollton and consideration of an ordinance granting approval for the sale and transfer of the Denton Branch Rail Trail from approximately Mile Post 721.89 to Mile Post 729.5 for the purpose of a commuter railroad in accordance with Chapter 26 of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Code; and providing an effective date. City Manager George Campbell recommended that the Council continue the public hearing to the next Council meeting. Council Member Mulroy motioned, Mayor Pro Tem Kamp seconded to continue the public hearing to the December 11, 2009 City Council meeting. On roll vote, Mayor Burroughs "aye", Mayor Pro Tem Kamp "aye", Council Member Engelbrecht "aye", Council Member Gregory "aye", Council Member Mulroy "aye", and Council Member Watts "aye". Motion carried unanimously. 2.ITEMS FOR INDIVIDUAL CONSIDERATION A. Consider adoption of an ordinance of the City of Denton, Texas, authorizing the City Manager to execute a Contract of Sale by and between the City of Denton, Texas ("City") and the Dallas Area Rapid Transit Authority ("DART") transferring the Denton Rail Corridor, consisting of those lands described in that certain Quitclaim, dated August 9, 1993, County Clerk File No. 93-R0058485, as corrected by Correction Quitclaim Deed, dated June 1, 2001, County Clerk File No. 2001-R0057561, and as corrected by Correction to Correction Quitclaim Deed, dated June 28, 2001, County Clerk File No. 2001-R0076013, all recording references to the Real Property Records of Denton, Texas. Mayor Pro Tem Kamp motioned, Council Member Mulroy seconded to continue this item to the December 11, 2009 City Council meeting. On roll vote, Mayor Burroughs "aye", Mayor Pro City of Denton City Council Minutes December 8, 2009 Page 6 Tem Kamp "aye", Council Member Engelbrecht "aye", Council Member Gregory "aye", Council Member Mulroy "aye", and Council Member Watts "aye". Motion carried unanimously. B. Consider adoption of an ordinance of the City of Denton, Texas, expanding and extending the term of a right of entry and possession, dated March 3, 2009, as extended on May 5, 2009, as extended and expanded on June 23, 2009, as extended and expanded on September 1, 2009, as extended on September 15, 2009, and as extended and expanded on September 22, 2009 and as extended on November 3, 2009 (as amended and extended, the "Right of Entry") in favor of the Denton County Transportation Authority (DCTA) and authorizing DCTA to enter upon and take possession of certain real property of the City of Denton for the purpose of performing activity as described in the Right of Entry; and providing an effective date. Mayor Pro Tem Kamp motioned, Council Member Mulroy seconded to continue this item to the December 11, 2009 City Council meeting. On roll vote, Mayor Burroughs "aye", Mayor Pro Tem Kamp "aye", Council Member Engelbrecht "aye", Council Member Gregory "aye", Council Member Mulroy "aye", and Council Member Watts "aye". Motion carried unanimously. With no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 6:57 p.m. ____________________________________ MARK A. BURROUGHS MAYOR CITY OF DENTON, TEXAS ____________________________________ JANE RICHARDSON ASSISTANT CITY SECRETARY CITY OF DENTON, TEXAS