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Min 09/11/2001420 Wichita Falls, Texas Memorial Auditorium Building September 11, 2001 Items 1 & 2 The City Council of the City of Wichita Falls, Texas met in special emergency session on the above date in the Council Chambers of the Memorial Auditorium Building at 9:00 o'clock p.m., with the following members present: Item 3 Jerry Lueck - Mayor Bill Altman - Mayor Pro Tern Arthur Bea Williams - Councilors Linda Ammons - James Esther, Jr Johnny Burns - Harold Hawkins - James Berzina - City Manager Mark Price - Assistant City Attorney Lydia Torres - City Clerk Mayor called the meeting to order. Councilor Hawkins led us in the recital of the Lord's Prayer, Psalm 23. ORDINANCE NO. 86 -2001 ORDINANCE OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF WICHITA FALLS, TEXAS, DECLARING DISASTER EMERGENCY IN THE CITY; PROMULGATING MAXIMUM RETAIL PRICES FOR CERTAIN GOODS AND SERVICES IN THE CITY; FINDING AND DETERMINING THAT THE MEETING AT WHICH THIS ORDINANCE WAS PASSED WAS OPEN TO THE PUBLIC AS REQURIED BY LAW Moved by Councilor Williams that Ordinance No. 86 -2001 be passed. Motion seconded by Councilor Esther. County Judge Woody Gossom commended the Council on the action that they were taking tonight. This will secure the retail areas in the City. The County will meet Wednesday to take this action to secure the unincorporated areas. The County Judge offered the City their assistance. Moved by Councilor Altman to amend proposed ordinance Section 2 by deleting the phrase "such terrorist acts occurred" and inserting "8:00 a.m. Central Standard Time ". Motion seconded by Councilor Burns. Councilor Altman stated that this would remove any vagueness in the action taken by Council tonight. Motion carried by the following vote. Ayes: Mayor Lueck, Councilors Williams, Ammons, Esther, Altman, Burns, and Hawkins Nays: None 421 Item 3 continued Moved by Councilor Altman to amend Section 3 of the proposed ordinance by adding the following sentence at the end of that section: "Each sale to a different consumer of any goods or services included in Section 2 shall be considered a separate offense ". Motion seconded by Councilor Hawkins and carried by the following vote. Ayes: Mayor Lueck, Councilors Williams, Ammons, Esther, Altman, Burns, and Hawkins Nays: None The City Manager read the amended ordinance in its entirety. Roger Hinesh, 701 Taylor Street, stated that he saw gas prices go from $1.38 /gallon to $2.00 /gallon. This reminded him of the 1979 tornado. He commended the Council for getting out in the evening and taking this action. Major Dennis Bachman reported on the increase in gas prices and stated that price gauging has increased traffic problems in our City. Council directed that Police Officers distribute copies of this ordinance to fuel merchants. Merchants will need to comply within one hour of receipt of this ordinance. This ordinance will be posted on the website and on the City Channel. Council noted that only a few fuel merchants were price gauging and commended those who were acting as responsible Americans. Citizens were reassured that there is no problem with the supply of fuel and there is no reason for panic. If necessary, this ordinance will be reviewed at the next Council meeting for any necessary adjustments. The main motion as amended carried by the following vote. Ayes: Mayor Lueck, Councilors Williams, Ammons, Esther, Altman, Burns, and Hawkins Nays: None City Council adjourned at 9:27 p.m. PASSED AND APPROVED this day of 2001. ATTEST: I� J 1 Lydia Torres City Clerk r� JERRY LUECK MAYOR 1 L7 422 Wichita Falls, Texas Memorial Auditorium Building September 12, 2001 Items 1 & 2 The City Council of the City of Wichita Falls, Texas met in special emergency session on the above date in the Council Chambers of the Memorial Auditorium Building at 5:00 o'clock p.m., with the following members present: Item 3 Jerry Lueck - Mayor Bill Altman - Mayor Pro Tern Arthur Bea Williams - Councilors Linda Ammons - James Esther, Jr Johnny Burns - Harold Hawkins - James Berzina - City Manager Mark Price - Assistant City Attorney Lydia Torres - City Clerk Mayor called the meeting to order. Mayor gave the invocation. ORDINANCE NO. 87 -2001 ORDINANCE OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF WICHITA FALLS, TEXAS, DECLARING DISASTER EMERGENCY IN THE CITY; PROMULGATING MAXIMUM RETAIL PRICES FOR CERTAIN GOODS AND SERVICES IN THE CITY; FINDING AND DETERMINING THAT THE MEETING AT WHICH THIS ORDINANCE WAS PASSED WAS OPEN TO THE PUBLIC AS REQURIED BY LAW This ordinance will repeal Ordinance No. 86 -2001 passed by City Council on September 11, 2001. Moved by Councilor Hawkins that Ordinance No. 87 -2001 be passed. Motion seconded by Councilor Williams. Assistant City Attorney explained that the proposed changes in this ordinance were made in order to recognize the problems that we have in the stream of commerce. The gas market will fluctuate daily and what we are looking for is a situation to maintain the same markup in dollars and cents. For example, if the wholesale price is $1 and the wholesaler added 5 cents markup then if it goes to $2 they could still add 5 cents markup per gallon. Distributors do not have any control over the price of the fuel. The proposed ordinance will allow that pass through to come down through the distributor to the retailer, but neither would be allowed to increase their markup in dollars and cents greater than the amount that they were increasing it prior to 8:00 a.m. on September 11, 2001. If they were marking it up at six cents /gallon before 8:00 a.m. September 11, 2001, they will be able to mark up six cents /gallon from what they paid the wholesaler. They will have to keep the same exact per gallon markup, the same exact dollars and cents. The same restrictions were placed on the wholesalers within the City limits of our City. The wholesalers stressed that the suppliers told them that the gas was ample and there should not be any drastic changes. 423 Councilor Altman informed that Exxon put a freeze on all their prices, however, Texaco, according to the Dallas Morning News, increased their prices. Some local retailers would go over the price and were price gauging. Item 3 continued County Judge Woody Gossom informed that the wholesalers would furnish them information from their OPIS (Oil Pricing Information Service), which shows what everybody's prices are. Also, Bill Chevron put out information that their prices would remain with what they had opened the day. The price that is handled by the wholesaler is a standard, which has been agreed on for ten years. County Judge informed that Governor Perry passed a proclamation terminating the state of disaster at 5:00 p.m. on September 14, 2001. Motion carried by the following vote. Ayes: Mayor Lueck, Councilors Williams, Ammons, Esther, Altman, Burns, and Hawkins Nays: None City Council adjourned at 5:20 p.m. PASSED AND APPROVED this day of 2001. ATTEST: Lydia Torres City Clerk ;,,� �4�, JERRY LUECK MAYOR