April 11, 2017 Minutes
CITY OF DENTON CITY COUNCIL MINUTES
April 11, 2017
After determining that a quorum was present, the City Council convened in a Work Session on
Tuesday, April 11, 2017 at 2:00 p.m. in the Council Work Session Room at City Hall.
PRESENT: Mayor Pro Tem Roden, Council Member Wazny, Council Member Briggs, Council
Member Hawkins, Council Member Gregory, and Mayor Watts.
ABSENT: Council Member Bagheri.
1. Work Session Reports
A. ID 17-356 Receive a report, hold a discussion and provide direction on the design schedule
for the proposed reconstruction of Fire Station 3.
Bryan Langley, Deputy City Manager, provided an update on the design of Fire Station #3. He
presented the prior design and construction process that was used for the Station #4 design/cost
concerns and proposed solution. The proposed design process involved the schematic design,
design development and construction documents.
Council Member Bagheri arrived at the meeting.
Langley continued with the proposed project schedule.
Council discussed the schedule in comparison to the other two stations and noted that by the
construction documents phase a good estimate of the cost for the station should be known.
B. ID 17-447 Receive a report and hold a discussion regarding activities of Council Committees
and Council Liaisons.
Alison Ream, Administrative Services Manager, stated that this item was the result of a request
from Council for an update on Council Committee actions. Updates were provided in the Agenda
Information Sheet and staff was available for additional information if needed.
Council Member Bagheri stated that she had requested the updates but this type of formal
presentation was not what she had envisioned. She merely wanted an opportunity for Council to
provide an update on their Committees and not take staff time to make reports. She presented a
brief update on the Regional Transportation Council.
Council discussed how often to schedule these reports; whether to provide the reports in a Work
Session setting or at the regular meetings; and at which meeting dates to schedule the reports.
Consensus of the Council was to schedule the report for the Second Tuesday meetings with a time
limit for the report. A lengthy report would be provided in an Informal Staff Report. A suggestion
was made to also look for other means of providing the information. The Chair of the Committee
should provide the report.
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C. ID 17-451 Receive a report, hold a discussion, and give staff direction on potential changes
to the scope of the City Council Employee Leave Ad Hoc Committee.
Carla Romine, Director of Human Services, reviewed the background of the Ad Hoc committee.
During their first meeting the Committee had discussions on possibly expanding the scope of the
Committee's review.
Council Member Wazny, Chair of the Committee, stated that at their first meeting they reviewed
vacation time and sick leave only. However, there were other items the Committee would like to
review but were unable to do so per the scope of the resolution. The Committee would like to look
at all benefits provided to employees.
Council Member Gregory noted that the resolution listed the three Council Members who
volunteered to serve and questioned whether the resolution would have to be revised as one
member would no longer be on the Committee in the near future.
Council Member Wazny stated that the Committee was requesting permission to have one more
meeting in the next five weeks.
Mayor Watts stated that the original scope of the committee was to look at vacation time and sick
leave under the current definitions and benefits and did the Committee want to change that. He
asked if there was a decision or direction on the original scope.
Council Member Wazny stated that the salary comparison was done looking at nine other cities
but it did not include employee benefits. The Committee wanted to expand looking at the scope
of employee benefits. They had some recommendations/ideas but would like to finish looking at
all benefits and then bring back a recommendation as a whole.
Mayor Watts felt that if the Committee was going to increase the scope of the original charge and
do a comprehensive review of all benefits that somewhere in the process an employee group
needed to be involved in the discussion. He did not have a problem if the Committee was just
doing a comparison and making a recommendation but others needed to be included in the
conversation as it would impact the employees.
Council Member Wazny stated that the Committee wanted to meet one more time and after that
turn the process over the Director of Human Resources and the City Manager.
Mayor Pro Tem Roden questioned what the goals were for this type of a review. He felt this type
of discussion happened during the budget process where the whole Council was involved.
Consensus of the Council was to allow one more meeting of the Committee with an expansion of
viewing the benefits presented in the staff report prior to Council terms expiring and bring back
recommendations/observations as deemed appropriate. The resolution would keep the names of
the current committee and if more meetings were needed, the resolution would be revised with
new members. The resolution should contain an expiration date of the swearing in of new Council
members following the May election.
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D. ID 17-476 Receive a report, hold discussion and give staff direction regarding prohibiting
parking along Denton Street from Oak Street to Hickory Street and Texas Street from Vine
Street to Frame Street.
Pritam Deshmukh, Program Engineer, reviewed the request for no parking on Texas Street and
Denton Street. He presented information regarding concerns from the Fire Department for access
to Texas Street in terms of the height on a building reconstruction and turn around space. The
Traffic Safety Commission recommended approval of the no parking in this area of Texas Street.
Council discussed the width of a fire lane; the width needed for equipment access; code
requirements; limiting the parking just on one side of the street instead of both sides; and whether
the property owners were notified. Council also discussed that this was a public safety decision
versus a parking issue for the area residents and that there was a need to find a global solution to
this problem as there were streets all over the city that had the same issue. This issue was not
about opposing the Fire Department and safety but that it was favoring a developer who did not
meet the fire code and the taking of the street to be used for a fire lane for the development.
Council Member Wazny suggested a compromise to remove parking only on the apartment side
of the street instead of both sides.
Laura Behrens, Fire Marshal, stated that restricting parking on one side would provide better
access than allowing parking on both sides.
Mayor Watts stated that he had a problem with using a public street as an unobstructed fire lane
for the developer.
Consensus of the Council was to limit parking 150 feet from the stop signs on both sides of the
street at both ends of the street and limit parking on the south side in the middle section of the
street.
Deshmaukh continued with the proposed parking restrictions on Denton Street from Oak to
Hickory parking. Staff had received multiple complaints with parking on the street and the
inability of cars to traverse the street.
Council discussed limiting the no parking to only one side of the street instead of both sides;
consider a 30 feet strip of no parking from the stop signs and no parking on one side only; consider
neighborhood restricted parking for these types of areas. Council talked about why the City was
no longer painting restricted parking on the curbs.
Consensus was to restrict parking within 30 feet from the stop signs and restrict parking on the
apartment side of the street.
E. ID 17-502 Receive a report, hold a discussion and provide direction regarding the design and
project schedule for the proposed parallel runway at the Denton Enterprise Airport.
Mark Nelson, Director of Transportation, provided information on a proposed west parallel
runway at the Denton Airport. He presented information on the site plan for the west runway
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project; airport operations overview; design options in terms of a TxDOT scope, the Master Plan
scope and the recommended scope; the need to have a confirm commitment to funding; and the
proposed schedule for financing the project.
Consensus of the Council was to move forward with the recommended scope.
Council convened in a Special Called Session at 4:00 p.m.
1.ITEMS FOR INDIVIDUAL CONSIDERATION
A. A16-0004c Conduct the first of two readings of an ordinance of the City of Denton
annexing approximately 4.7 acre of land, generally located north of Ryan Road, west
of FM 2181 (Teasley Lane) and Lake Forest Good Samaritan Village, and east of
Country Club Road; providing for a correction to the city map to include the annexed
lands; providing for a savings clause and an effective date.
Ron Menguita, Long Range Planning Administrator, stated that this was the first reading of the
annexation ordinance. Per current annexation regulations, Mayor Watts would need to read the
ordinance caption into the official record.
Mayor Watts read the ordinance caption into the official record “An ordinance of the City of
Denton annexing approximately 4.7 acres of land, generally located north of Ryan Road, west of
FM 2181 (Teasley Lane) and Lake Forest Good Samaritan Village, and east of Country Club Road;
providing for a correction to the city map to include the annexed lands; providing for a savings
clause and an effective date.”
No action was required on this item at this time.
2. CONCLUDING ITEMS
A. 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 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 Briggs asked about a follow-up on the hiring of gas well inspectors.
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City Manager Hileman stated that a plan would be presented to Council shortly.
Mayor Watts asked staff to look at the intersection of Granada and Ryan Road in terms of a sight
issue at the intersection on Granada.
Following the completion of the Special Called Session, the Council convened in a Closed Meeting
to consider the specific item listed below.
1. Closed Meeting:
A. ID 17-495 Consultation with Attorneys - Under Texas Government Code Section
551.071.
Consult with the City’s Attorneys on the status, strategy, and potential resolution of
litigation styled Green Education Foundation v. City of Denton, Cause No. 4:16-cv-
00795, currently pending in the U.S. District Court, Eastern District, Sherman
Division.
With no further business, the Council reconvened in Open Session and the meeting was adjourned
at 5:05 p.m.
___________________________________
CHRIS WATTS
MAYOR
CITY OF DENTON, TEXAS
___________________________________
JENNIFER WALTERS
CITY SECRETARY
CITY OF DENTON, TEXAS