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Min 09/09/2014 CITY COUNCIL MINUTES September 9, 2014 Page 1 CITY COUNCIL MINUTES Wichita Falls, Texas Memorial Auditorium Building September 9, 2014 Item 1 - Call to Order The City Council of the City of Wichita Falls, Texas met in special session on the above date in the Council Chambers of the Memorial Auditorium Building at 8:30 o’clock a.m., with the following members present. Glenn Barham - Mayor Tim Ingle - Councilors Annetta Dotson - Brian Hooker - Tom Quintero - Ben Hoover - Absent Michael Smith - Absent Darron Leiker - City Manager Julia Vasquez - Acting City Attorney Tracy Norr - City Clerk Mayor Barham called the meeting to order. - - - - - - - - Item 2a - Invocation Councilor Dotson gave the invocation. - - - - - - - - Item 2b - Pledge of Allegiance Mayor Barham led the Pledge of Allegiance. - - - - - - - - Item 2c – Proclamation Mayor Barham read a proclamation establishing September 10, 2014 as Worldwide Suicide Awareness Day and encouraged citizens to make efforts to reduce suicide attempts. CITY COUNCIL MINUTES September 9, 2014 Page 2 Item 3- Comments from the Public to Members of the City Council Concerning Items That Are Not on the City Council Agenda. There were no citizen comments. - - - - - - - - Item 4 - Approval of Minutes of the September 2, 2014 Regular Meeting of the Mayor and City Council Moved by Councilor Ingle that the September 2, 2014 minutes be approved. Motion seconded by Councilor Hooker and carried by the following vote: Ayes: Mayor Barham, Councilors Dotson, Quintero, Hooker, and Ingle. Nays: None - - - - - - - - Item 5 – Public Hearing on Proposed Property Tax Rate for the 2014-2015 Fiscal Year The public hearing was opened at 8:38 a.m. Jim Dockery said this is the second of two required public hearings for adopting the tax rate. The city council is scheduled to vote on the tax rate at the next regular city council meeting. David Craft, 4822 Olympic Drive, said people do not come to the council meeting because they feel the council has already made up their minds. He said he does not think taxes should be raised for salary raises. He would be fine if the tax increase were for other projects. Steve Ginger, 1656 Speedway, spoke representing the Wichita Falls Police Officers Association. He said his experience working for the city for ten years has been very positive and he wants to stay in Wichita Falls. He said he has been here during hard times and step increase freezes. The employees understood that cuts were needed. The city employees a lot of blue-collared people. These people pay taxes too. He said it will never be a good time for a tax increase, but now is a good opportunity as school taxes are going down. As a taxpayer, he is in favor of the increase to pay the city employees. Jerry Weems, 4630 North Shore Drive, asked the council not to do the raise because it is an undue burden on the citizens. He said he has not gotten raises to keep up with the economy. Tom Cole, 4606 Misty Valley West, said the rate increase is inevitable and he does not object to the pay raises. He said he would like to see the non-management employees, especially the first responders, get more of the increase. Richard Rios, 1907 Ardath, said there is a bigger crisis and now is not the right time for the tax increase. We need to concentrate on the water situation. Jean Hall, 4112 Kingsbury Drive, said people believe it is futile to contact the council to oppose the tax increase. She opposes the tax increase. Coming on the heels of the water rate, it is insulting and damaging to the morale of the citizens. She is not opposed to giving CITY COUNCIL MINUTES September 9, 2014 Page 3 employees a salary raise. Increasing the tax rate decreases the income for all citizens. She said the budget should be cut to fund the salary increase. Marion Stade, 4801 Greenbriar, thanked Councilor Ingle for looking for another way to fund the salary increase. She still does not know the percentage of property owners who will be paying the tax as opposed to renters. She said she is in the hospitality business and does not want to tell her clients that their rate will increase because of the tax increase. Councilor Ingle compared the water rate increase, the property tax increase, and the school tax decrease. He said the staff did a good job finding cuts in the budget. He said the tax increase and water increase affects those on fixed income more. Jim Dockery noted that water rate increase does not generate more revenue for the city than is needed to operate the system because of the decreased consumption. Councilor Ingle said it still affects the pocketbook for the resident and he is not in favor of the two cent increase. There were no other comments. The public hearing was closed at 9:05 a.m. - - - - - - - - Item 6a – Staff Council Discussion There were no staff reports. - - - - - - - - Item 6b – Discussion of Items of Concern to Members of the City Council There were no items presented. - - - - - - Item 7 – Executive Session City Council went into Executive Session at 9:20 a.m. in accordance with Texas Government Code §551.074. City Council reconvened at 10:30 a.m. Mayor Barham announced that no polls or votes were taken during Executive Session. - - - - - - - - Item 8 - Adjourn City Council adjourned at 10:32 a.m. PASSED AND APPROVED this 16th day of September, 2014. ___________________________________ Glenn Barham, Mayor CITY COUNCIL MINUTES September 9, 2014 Page 4 ATTEST: ____________________________________ Tracy B. Norr, MMC, City Clerk