Loading...
December 06, 2016 Minutes A.M. CITY OF DENTON CITY COUNCIL MINUTES December 6, 2016 After determining that a quorum was present, the City Council convened in a Work Session on Tuesday, December 6, 2016 at 11:43 a.m. in the Council Work Session Room at City Hall. PRESENT: Council Member Hawkins, Council Member Briggs, Council Member Wazny, Council Member Gregory, Mayor Pro Tem Roden, Council Member Bagheri, and Mayor Watts. ABSENT: None. 1. Work Session Reports th A. ID 16-1384 Receive a report and hold a discussion regarding the 114 Congress and th outlook for the 115 Congress to include Budget and Tax Issues, Municipal Bonds, Surface Transportation, the Marketplace Fairness Act, and other topics impacting local government. Lindsey Baker, Intergovernmental Relations/Public Information Officer, introduced Ralph Garboushian and Joy Grewatz with Capital Edge. Garboushian provided a quick overview of the past year successes which included preservation of the language that protected the City’s ability to charge rent for the use and management of City rights-of-way in the Permanent Internet Tax Freedom Act; increased sub-allocation of Surface Transportation Block Grant funds to metropolitan areas in the FAST Act, including growing Denton-Lewisville Urbanized Area funding from $6.4 million in FY 2015 to $7.9 million in FY 2020; preservation of the Transportation Alternatives Program and the federal transit program; and removal of language from a Senate wireless communications spectrum bill that would have preempted local zoning authority over cell phone facilities; turning back a Bureau of Land Management mineral lease proposal on land next to Lake Lewisville; preservation of the Contract Tower Program; turning back Senate efforts to preempt local government regulation of drones; preservation of core local government programs in the face of austerity, including CDBG, HOME, Homeland Security and local law enforcement assistance; and preservation of the Urban Area Security Initiative, which provided the Metroplex with $14 million annually for disaster and terrorism preparedness and response efforts. th Garboushian reviewed key issues for the 115 Congress - budget, tax, infrastructure, local control, public safety, and regulations regarding clean air, clean water, fair housing, and workplace issues. He stated they would continue to monitor Congressional and FCC action on communication policy; implementation of HUD’s Fair Housing rule; regulatory repeal and reform (clean water, ozone, clean power, labor, etc.); SEC implementation of Dodd-Frank re: municipal finance and payday lending; and all grant opportunities of potential interest to the City. Garboushian stated that the bottom line and what it would mean for cities included the following: preserving the tax exemption for municipal bonds would be the biggest challenge for local governments; preserving funding for core local government programs would be the second biggest challenge for local governments; the repeal of the Affordable Care Act, entitlement reform, and cuts to other social service programs could create long-term challenges for local City of Denton City Council Minutes December 6, 2016 Page 2 budgets; and local governments would have to closely track regulatory reform, keeping an especially close eye on the FCC. Council discussed major infrastructure packages, aviation programs, HUD programs, and compiling a list of projects to have on hand to submit for federal funding. With no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 12:33 p.m. ____________________________________ CHRIS WATTS MAYOR CITY OF DENTON, TEXAS ____________________________________ JANE RICHARDSON ASSISTANT CITY SECRETARY CITY OF DENTON, TEXAS