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Water Resources Commission Minutes - 02/12/2004MINUTES OF WATER RESOURCES COMMISSION MEETING February 12, 2004 The Water Resources Commission met on February 12, 2004 at 3:00 p.m. in the Council Conference Room of the Memorial Auditorium. Those in attendance were Water Resource Members Charles Bentley, Charles Barr, Kerry Maroney, Chris Neeb, and Eddie Holcomb. Also present were Council Liaison, James Esther, Staff Representative David Lehfeldt, Director of Public Works, Scott Taylor, and Public Works Secretary, Gloria Dicken. Representatives from the local washes were invited to attend to discuss the recent changes in the Water Rationing Ordinance and they are listed below: Representatives Wayne Morrow Mike Elyea Dick & Janet Findley Chuck & Debbie Bradley Michael Lam Elaine Smith Lane Simmons & Lacy Watson David Poteet & Victor Kocks Joe Nield Danny Foix Gary Higgins Local Car Washes Oasis Oasis Shell Rally Car Wash — 2 locations Quick & Easy Car Wash — 2 locations Fountain Park Car Wash Sprint 24 4 local car washes (Electra Const.) Kids Kar Wash Rhea Road & Fairway Car Washes Danny's #2 on Southwest Pkwy. Kleen Kar Wash & Lube • Mr. Bentley called the meeting to order at 3:00 p.m. • Mr. Bentley started out by welcoming the large number of attendees to the meeting. He stated that the Commission wanted to hear from the local car washes and discuss the recent changes in the Water Restriction Ordinance that affected them personally. He told them the last three changes that were made were done so by the Council without consulting Staff or the Water Resources Commission. He wanted to hear from the car wash owners to determine what it was they wanted and needed, and how the Commission could help. • Mr. Bentley called on Michael Lam, owner of Fountain Park Car Wash, to express his concerns. He stated that everyone had gotten together and were in agreement that they would abide by the Ordinance, except they wanted to be heard on a couple of issues. The first issue was for the self - service car washes. Because they had to shut down for 6 hours a day, most of them closed from midnight to 6:00 a.m. because very few people wash their cars during this time. They wanted to do away with having to shut down at all, because it has put a hardship on the owners to have to get out every night, just to reopen a few hours later. The second issue was having to shut down one day a week when they never knew what the weather was going to be. They wanted to choose the day to close. • Basically, the car wash owners believed that the ordinance does not work anyway, and felt that the City was picking on small businesses. They don't believe that the car wash industry uses any more water than that of big businesses. M • Mr. Gary Higgins, from Kleen Kar Wash, then spoke stating that his business had received a citation from the City. He said that the car wash had already been closed down for more days for the month than the City required and it was unfair that he should have to pay a ticket for not closing in a 9 -day period. He was going to fight it and bring a law suit against the City. He said that his business could not live with the ordinance the way it was currently written (probably illegal). He was upset because the car wash owners were not listened to before the changes were made by Council. • Mr. David Poteet, from Kids Kar Wash, then spoke and said that he had two heart attacks in the last year, and physically it was very difficult to get out at night and close down his business and then go back a few hours later and reopen. • Mr. Chuck Bradley, from the Quick & Easy Car Wash (2 locations on Jacksboro Hwy.) spoke next. He also said that physically it was a hardship to close and reopen his car washes every day. He spoke at length about the car wash situation and thought that it was unfair for the City to single them out when he believed that there were many other industries that used more water in a week than the car washes. He suggested that, if the City wanted to be fair, then they should also shut down the fast food and major restaurants, clubs, bars, topless bars, laundries, beauty shops, and the really big industries such as Certanteed. • Mr. Michael Lam spoke to Councilor Esther and asked him if there was any way he could speak to the Council on their behalf. He stated that car washes were shut down more than most any other business because of the weather. Mr. Esther commented that this was the largest group of business people that had ever attended a WRC Meeting and he was impressed at the large turnout. He said that the Council felt the city was in a crisis and imposed restrictions on the car wash business. However, he felt that some fine tuning needed to be done, and the Council certainly did not want to "pick on anyone ". Mr. Lam stated that when he was on the Council as Mayor, they gave people a chance to be heard before the Council took action, and was upset because the car wash owners were not given that chance. • Mr. Bentley asked Mr. Lam to send two letters from the car wash owners with recommendations to the City Council. He wanted one letter for the self -serve car washes, and one from the full service car washes. After the letters are received, another Water Resources Commission Meeting will be held to go over the letters and recommendations. They would then schedule a date to put before Council (hopefully in March). • At this point, the meeting adjourned for the car wash owners at approximately 4:00 p.m. Afterwards, there was some general talk between the car wash owners, the WRC Members, and staff. • The WRC Meeting continued with their members, liaison, staff representative and the Director of Public Works. They discussed the possible options that would be forthcoming from the car wash owners and how to present this to the City Council. • Meeting adjourned at approximately 4:30 p.m. Sincerely, harles Bentley Chairman CITY CLERK'S OFFICE Date By ------ ?C Time U.