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2001-428 ORDINANCE NO 2001- ~a~ ~ AN ORDINANCE OF THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF DENTON, TEXAS ADOPTING SUBCHAPTER C, SECTIONS 402 041 THROUGH 402 054 INCLUSIVE, OF THE TEXAS LOCAL GOVERNMENT CODE ENTITLED THE "MUNICIPAL DRAINAGE UTILITY SYSTEMS ACT," AS CHAPTER 26, ARTICLE IV, SECTIONS 26-129 THROUGH 26-142 OF THE COI~E OF ORDINANCES OF THE CITY OF DENTON, TEXAS, REGARDING THE RECOGNITION OF THE DRAINAGE FUNCTION OF THE CITY OF DENTON WASTEWATER UTILITY, PROVIDING FOR A REPEALER, PROVIDING FOR A SEVERABILITY CLAUSE, AND PROVIDING AN EFFECTIVE DATE WHEREAS, the City Council has carefully considered the public health and safety needs of the reslder~ts of the City of Denton and desires to protect the public health and safety from loss of life and property caused by surface water overflows, surface water stagnation, pollution arising from non-point source runoff, and other drainage factors and conditions which occur within the boundaries of its established service area, and WHEREAS, the draanage needs of the City were first seriously addressed in the 1930's by the Works Progress Admlmstratmn and by the Caty, thereafter, the C~ty has experienced incredible growth, as have its wastewater needs, and over the last sixty-five years, the City has always attemptedlto be innovative m its approach to its drmnage utility problems For a number of years, all dralnage-eelated engmeenng, design, and construction activities were provided by the City Public Works D~artment, and WHEREAS, begmmng in 1990, the operations and mmntenance portion of the drmnage utlhty budget moved to Commumty Sen, lees, m 1992, to the Denton Utlhtms Department, Water Dlvlsaon, ~and later, to the Denton Utthties Department, Wastewater Division, and WHEREAS, from and after 1998, the drainage function has effectively continued its operation as a public utility, solely w~thln the City's Wastewater Utlhty System orgamzatlon as all elements,, including the element of financial liability for all drmnage activities and functions, both past and present in scope, was vested solely m the Wastewater Utility System, and WHEREAS, the City has emstang drainage facthtles, materials, and supphes which it will formally ~transfer into the drmnage functaon of the City's Wastewater Utlhty System, if it has not already done so, and WHEREAS, a much more serious commitment to drainage issues will be required by the Storm Water Program, Phase II, of the United States Environmental Protection Agency, which requires significant action, expenditures and commitment by the Drmnage Dlvlmon of the Wastewater Utility System, by the year 2003, to the problems attendant thereto, and WHEREAS, at this tmae the City Council finds that it is appropriate to formally recognize the drainage function of the City's Wastewater Utility in order to effimently admlmster the C~ty's drmnage program on a full-time, committed basis, and the City Council further concludes that its action in recogmzmg the drainage function of the City's Wastewater Utility System as a pubhc utility, is not the creation of any new or other pubhc utihty requlnng any Clty of Denton Charter election, but a confirmation of the existence of an existing pubhc utility, and WHEREAS, the City Council, as permitted by law, desires to adopt the "Municipal Drainage Utility Systems Act," [as provided by § §402 041 - 441 054 of the Texas Local Government Code, as anaended], into its Code of Ordinances m order to effect such action, and WHEREAS, as reqtured by §402 042(a) of the Texas Local Government Code, the City Council hereby makes the following findings of fact, to wit · That it should recogmze the existence of a municipal drainage function of the wastewater utility system wltlun ~ts established service area, · That it should provide rules for the use, operation, and financing of the system, · That it should protect the public health and safety in the City from loss of life and property caused by surface water overflows, surface water stagnation, and pollution arising from non-point source runoff within the boundaries of the established service · That it shall declare and, after a public heanng, formally recognize a drainage system created under Subchapter C [§§ 402 041 - 402 054, Texas Local Government Code, as amended], as a function of its Wastewater Utihty, a public utility, · That ~t shall prescribe the basis upon wtuch a municipal drainage system may be funded, and it shall prescribe the basis upon which fees in support of the system may be assessed, levied, and cullacted, , That it shall consider providing exemptions of certain persons, governmental entities and certain types of property from the fee, as enumerated in §402 053, Texas Local Government Code, and , That it shall prescribe other rules related to the subject ofmumclpal drainage WHEREAS, notice of a pubhc heanng by the Council has been published, as required pursuant to Section 402 045(c), Subchapter C, of the Texas Local Government Code, in the Denton Record ~hromcle on three (3) separate occasions, the first publication which occurred more than thirty (30) days prior to the date of the pubhc heanng, and on th~s date the public heanng was duly and regularly scheduled, with proper not, ce being given in accordance with the Texas Open Meetings Act [Texas Government Code, Section 551], a public heanng was properly convened by a quorum of the Cour~efl then being present, upon completion of the pubhc heanng, the Mayor announced that the public h~ann~, would be closed, the Council then conducted its vote, and passed this ordinance by a vote of ~-['~ ~ , and WHEREAS, the Council, finchng that this orchnance is in the best Interests of the residents of the City of Denton to recogmze and confirm the existence of a drainage function of the City's Wastewater Utility System that is regularly provided by the City through mumclpal property 2 dedicated to that service to the users of all benefited property within the service area, and have accorchngly, hereby adopted the same, and the Council shall hereafter propose a schedule of rates for the drainage functaon of the C~ty's Wastewater Utthty, and shall thereafier provide not,ce of a pubhc heanng, as reqmred by law, pursuant to Section 402 045(d), Subchapter C, of the Texas Local Govemmeat Code, and WHEREAS, the Council finds that the City is ehgtble to formally recognize and confirm the existence of the drmnage function of the Wastewater Utlhty System, a public utthty, as permitted by §402 043 of the Texas Local Government Code, and the Council desires to do so NOW TItEREFORE THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF DENTON HEREBY ORDAINS S]~.C~TIC)N 1. That the reqmrements, s~gmficant recitations, and findings stated herelnabove m the Preamble are incorporated by reference ~nto this Ordinance for all purposes pertinent SEC_ff_IflSLZ That the C~ty Cotmcfl finds and directs that The C~ty will estabhsh a schedule of drmnage charges agmnst all real property in the proposed service area subject to charges under Subchapter C, §§402 041 - 402 054 of the Texas Local Government Code, · The City will provide drainage for all real property in the proposed service area on payment of drmnage charges, except real property exempted under Subchapter C, §§402-041 - 402 054 of the Texas Local Government Code, and · The C~ty will offer drmnage servme on nondiscriminatory, reasonable, and equitable to. il'Is .qI~.CTION 3. That the C~ty Council hereby adopts and incorporates the provisions of Subchapter C, Texas Local Government Code (§402 041 through 402 054), as amended (the "Munmlpal Drmnage Utthty Systems Act"), as Chapter 26, Article IV, Sections 26-129 through 26- 142 of the City of Denton Code of Orchnances SRCTION 4 That the C~ty Council hereby declares, recognizes and confirms the existing drmnage ftmct~on of the Wastewater Utlhty, to be a public utility SI~.C. TION 5. That m accordance with the pmvis~ons of §402 046 of the Texas Government Code, the City shall incorporate existing drmnage faclht~es, materials, supplies, and other propertaes into the drmnage function of the Wastewater Utility System .qI~.C. TION 6 That the ~ncome of the drmnage function of the Wastewater Utility System, as hereby declared and recognized, must be segregated and completely ~dentffiable in mtmmlpal accounts, and that all other provisions of §402 049 of the Texas Local Government Code, as amended, shall be apphcable 3 gI~C. TIC)N 7. That the City Council, by ordanance, may adopt and enforce such other and further roles as at considers appropriate to operate the drmnage function of the Wastewater Utahty System, m accordance with §402 045(e) of the Texas Local Government Code S~.CTTON fl. That the C~ty Council shall, after the passage of tins ordinance, consider the passage of a further orchnance establishing a schedule of drmnage charges, winch shall include proper advance published horace of, and a publac hearmg before the Caty Councal on the proposed schedule of rates before the drainage charges are levied, all an accordance w~th §402 045(d) of the Texas Local Government Code ~ql~.C. TION 9. That upon passage of the further ordanance prowdIng for the schedule of drainage charges, as referenced m Section 8 hereanabove, the drmnage charge may be reflected and adentafied as a separate line atem on each customer's utility ball gRC. TIf)N 10. That all ordinances or parts of ordinances In force when the provisions of thas ordinance became effectave winch are ~nconslstent or an conflact w~th the terms of provasaons contaaned in the above ordinance, are hereby repealed to the extent of any such conflict ~ql~C..TIf)N 1 l. That if any sectaon, subsectaon, paragraph, sentence, clause, phrase or word an thas ordinance, or application thereof to any person or carcumstances as held ~nvabd by any court of competent jurisdiction, such holding shall not affect the validity of the remalnang port~ons of this ordanance, and the C~ty Council of the City of Denton, Texas, hereby declares at would have enacted such remmmng pomons despite any such anvaladaty ~ That tins ordinance shall become effective upon ats passage and approval PASSED AND APPROVED th~s the ~ dayof ~. ,2001 EULINE BROCK, MAYOR ATTEST JENNIFER WALTERS, CITY SECRETARY HERBERT L PROUTY, CITY ATTORNEY S \Our Docurnents\Or~'ffances\0 ~ramage F~mctlon of Wastewater Utth~y System 2001 II doc 4