April 9, 2013 Minutes
CITY OF DENTON CITY COUNCIL MINUTES
April 9, 2013
After determining in Open Session in that a quorum was present, the City Council convened in a
Closed Session on Tuesday, April 9, 2013 at 3:00 p.m. in the City Council Work Session Room
at City Hall.
PRESENT: Council Member Engelbrecht, Council Member Watts, Council Member Gregory,
Council Member King, Mayor Pro Tem Kamp, Mayor Burroughs, Council
Member Roden
ABSENT: None
1. Closed Meeting:
A.Competitive Matters Concerning Public Power Utilities - Under Texas
Government Code Section 551.086.
1.Receive competitive public power information from staff regarding plans
and proposals respecting the Denton Municipal Electric ("DME") system
and its resources; and discuss, deliberate and provide staff with direction
regarding such matters.
B. Consultation with Attorneys - Under Texas Government Code Section 551.071.
1.Consult with the City's attorneys regarding legal issues associated with the
delegation of authority to the City Manager to make offers and accept
counter offers to purchase real property for public works and electric
utility capital projects where 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 clearly conflicts with
the provisions of the Open Meetings Act, Chapter 551 of the Texas
Government Code.
2.Consult with and provide direction to City's attorneys regarding legal
issues associated with the regulation of gas well drilling and production
with the City Limits and the extraterritorial jurisdiction, including
Constitutional limitations, current and proposed statutory limitations upon
municipal regulatory authority, current and proposed statutory preemption
and/or impacts of current and proposed federal and state law, including
case law, regulations, and proposed legislation as it concerns municipal
regulatory authority and matters relating to enforcement of the ordinance.
Council Member King left the meeting during the Closed Session.
Following the completion of the Closed Session at 5:04 p.m., the City Council convened in a 2nd
Tuesday Session to consider the following:
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April 9, 2013
Page2
1.Receive a report, hold a discussion, and provide staff with direction regarding delegation
of authority to the City Manager to make offers and accept counter offers to purchase
real property for public works and electric utility capital projects.
Paul Williamson, Real Estate Manager, stated that the proposed ordinance would give the City
Manager the authority to extend offers to property owners for easements and rights-of-way for
electric linear projects as well as wastewater, drainage and sewer projects.
Mayor Burroughs asked Williamson to describe what the proposed changes were and the
purpose of the changes.
Williamson stated that the changes included separating out “capital projects” to “public works
facilities” and provided a range of authority to the City Manager that tracked with the existing
authority he had for procurement purchases.
Mayor Burroughs noted that there were generic changes for both options. Both eliminated the
wording "or his designee" and provided definition of public works facilities.
Williamson stated that the authority of the ordinance would only be for the City Manager and not
to a designee. Capital projects were reworded as public works facilities to include linear electric
project, street and roadway expansion and improvement, water utility infrastructure expansion
and improvements, sanitary sewer utility infrastructure expansion and improvements and storm
water utility infrastructure expansion and improvements. There was also a statement that these
were authorizations for offers and not authorizations for eminent domain. Eminent domain
issues would still go to Council as a separate action.
Council and staff presented and discussed suggested changes to the ordinance.
(1) Last “whereas” on page two was changed to include the wording “nothing contained herein
shall be deemed to be authority to take or acquire property by eminent domain, rather the City
Council shall make such determinations independent of this ordinance and this ordinance serves
as a mere delegation of the process of making offers required by law and accepting counteroffers
within the limited amounts herein specified”.
(2) Section 1 – remove the wording “a public use and necessity exists” and keep the wording
“that the public welfare and convenience require the acquisition…”
(3) Section 2 – the discussion noted that there were policy concerns with regard to the siting of
projects particularly above ground projects such as transmission lines and substations. Wording
was added “after siting approval by the City Council of any above ground Public Works
Facilities which do not require a Specific Use Permit”.
(4) Settlement Amounts- the discussion centered around total compensation amounts; tracking
the amounts more along the line of the current procurement ordinance and carrying that over to
the land rights, and percentages of variance in terms of appraised value. Wording was changed
to indicate that the Settlement Amount for public works facilities except electric utility
infrastructure expansion and improvements, would not exceed the greater of $100,000 and for
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April 9, 2013
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properties with a Total Compensation Amount of more than $100,000 but less than $500,000, as
prescribed in the appraisal, the amount would not exceed an amount equivalent to the Total
Compensation Amount of the property plus 20% of such Total Compensation Amount. For
Public Works Facilities that were electric utility infrastructure expansion and improvements, the
amount would be the greater of $500,000 and for those properties with a Total Compensation
Amount of more than $500,000 but less than $1 million, as prescribed in the appraisal, the
Settlement Amounts would not exceed an amount equivalent to the Total Compensation Amount
plus 20% of such Total Compensation Amount.
(5) Council consideration – wording was included that would allow the City Manager to place
any offer or counteroffer on a City Council agenda for consideration by the Council.
(6) Section 8 included wording that the City Manager would provide a quarterly report to
Council regarding occasions when this ordinance was used.
Williamson noted that the public works facilities related to electric infrastructure tracked with
the procurement authorization for the DME electric operations.
Council Member Gregory stated that he was comfortable with using this for property because it
was still based on the appraised value.
Mayor Burroughs noted that he had two issues going into this proposal. One was the delegation
of public use which he now understood and was comfortable with that. The second was the
proposed wording for Section 2 regarding the siting of a project. He initially had concerns about
a situation where a public facility or public works facility project was vetted internally with
siting determinations such as a roadway not made by Council. He felt better with the proposed
wording change.
Mayor Pro Tem Kamp left the meeting.
Council Member Roden stated that with a specific use permit, the public process for the purchase
of the property had already been made and the ability of the Council was limited with that type
of project. He questioned what form would the siting approval take place.
City Attorney Burgess stated that there were several opportunities for the siting such as during
the budget process. There would also be opportunities when letting a contract for a street
widening project.
Mayor Burroughs stated that a mobility plan amendment would be another opportunity.
Council Member Roden suggested developing a parallel procedure similar to the above ground
projects and use it with future road projects. That would clarify the process. He was also
concerned about the specific use permit being done after the site was selected.
Mayor Burroughs stated that some project acquisitions were made by contract but did not close
until the due diligence process was completed which included the specific use permit.
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Following the completion of the 2nd Tuesday Session, the Council convened in a Special Called
Session to consider the following:
Ordinance No. 2013-094
1.Consider adoption of an ordinance of the City of Denton, Texas, delegating certain
authority to the City Manager to make offers and to accept counter offers to purchase
eligible real property interests necessary for City of Denton public works and electric
utility capital improvement projects; authorizing the City Manager to execute contracts
to purchase said real property interests for and on behalf of the City of Denton;
authorizing the City Manager to expend funds in accordance with the terms of said
contracts; providing a severability clause; and providing an effective date.
After completing the above discussion on proposed changes to the ordinance, Council Member
Gregory motioned to adopt Option 2 of the ordinance with the conditions noted above in (1), (2),
(3), and amending Section 2, (2)b) to indicate 20% in place of 120%.
Motion died for lack of a second.
Council Member Roden asked about provisions for a sunset clause. If this procedure was being
done for pressing needs at hand, it might be good to relook at it in a future time frame. There
might be benefits to realigning numbers as new needs came up in the future. He suggested five
years to relook at the ordinance.
City Attorney Burgess indicated that wording could be added to Section 10 of the ordinance that
it would terminate five years from the effective date.
Council Member Engelbrecht asked what would happen if the termination date were missed and
the ordinance was still needed.
City Attorney Burgess stated that rather than a termination date, the wording could direct staff to
review the ordinance at a set time period.
Williamson stated that SB 18 which was the legislation associated with all of the required
paperwork was not going away and that element would not change the requirements.
Council Member Gregory motioned, Council Member Roden seconded to adopt the ordinance
with the above noted changes. On roll call vote: Council Member Watts, Council Member
Gregory, Council Member Engelbrecht, Mayor Burroughs, Council Member Roden – “aye”.
Motion carried unanimously.
2. Under Section 551.042 of the Texas Open Meetings Act, respond to inquiries from the
City Council or the public with specific factual information or recitation of policy, or
accept a proposal to place the matter on the agenda for an upcoming meeting AND
Under Section 551.0415 of the Texas Open Meetings Act, provide reports about items of
community interest regarding which no action will be taken, to include: expressions of
thanks, congratulations, or condolence; information regarding holiday schedules; an
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honorary or salutary recognition of a public official, public employee, or other citizen; a
reminder about an upcoming event organized or sponsored by the governing body;
information regarding a social, ceremonial, or community event organized or sponsored
by an entity other than the governing body that was attended or is scheduled to be
attended by a member of the governing body or an official or employee of the
municipality; or an announcement involving an imminent threat to the public health and
safety of people in the municipality that has arisen after the posting of the agenda.
Council Member Engelbrecht asked for an accounting on where the brochures for the special
election had been distributed.
With no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 6:12 p.m.
____________________________________
MARK A. BURROUGHS
MAYOR
CITY OF DENTON, TEXAS
____________________________________
JENNIFER WALTERS
CITY SECRETARY
CITY OF DENTON, TEXAS