Loading...
Min 01/06/1998 82 Wichita Falls, Texas Memorial Auditorium Building January 6, 1998 Items 1 & 2 The City Council of the City of Wichita Falls, Texas met in regular session on the above date in the Council Room of the Memorial Auditorium Building at 8:30 o'clock a.m., with the following members present: Kay Yeager - Mayor Don Johnston - Councilors Dan Shine - Bill Daniel - JW Martin - Harold Hawkins - James Berzina - City Manager Greg Humbach - City Attorney Lydia Torres - City Clerk Angus Thompson - Absent Mayor Yeager called the meeting to order. Invocation was given by Reverend Gary Leonard, Eden Hills Baptist Church. Item 3 Erma Bedford, Police Department, was honored as Employee of the Month for the month of January. Mayor presented her with a plaque, City pin, transit tickets, dinner tickets, and a check. Mayor proclaimed the month of January, 1998 as Crime Stoppers Month in the City of Wichita Falls. Item 4 Patrick Daugharty, 4400 Caston Lane, stated that he had been having a problem with obtaining a federal firearms license because of a conflict in Section 5100 of the Zoning Ordinance. Section 5130 states that no direct selling of merchandise will be allowed out of a home. He explained the situation and mentioned that he had written to Mr. Steve Seese to which Mr. Seese responded that according to the information provided in his letter they did not find Mr. Daugharty's proposal in conflict with the current ordinances involving home occupancy. Mr. Seese also added that Mr. Daugharty should expect a different response from the City should his business move into the arena of direct sales as prohibited in Section 5100 of the Zoning Ordinance. Mr. Daugharty stated that because of this last sentence, his license has not been renewed yet, and Mr. Seese suggested I explain what is going on to the Council. I do not buy or stock any weapons in my home. However, with my firearms license I can fill out the paperwork and the purchaser can legally obtain the weapon through me, which was purchased elsewhere. There is no problem around my home about that. He mentioned that garage sales can be held for three days, four times a year and cause traffic congestion and this does not seem to be a problem; however, for me to receive a gun and turn it over legally to a friend, seems to be a problem. 83 Item 5 The Minutes were approved as distributed. Items 6a-9f City Manager gave a brief description of the items on the consent agenda. Moved by Councilor Martin that the consent agenda be approved. Motion seconded by Councilor Shine and carried by the following vote. Ayes: Mayor Yeager, Councilors Johnston, Shine, Daniel, Martin, and Hawkins Nays: None Item 6a RESOLUTION NO.1-98 RESOLUTION TO APPROVE CONTRACT WITH ENGINEERING FIRM OF CORLETT, PROBST & BOYD, INC. FOR ENGINEERING SERVICES RELATED TO UTILITY ADJUSTMENTS FOR INTERSTATE HIGHWAY 44 OVERHEAD EXPRESSWAY PROJECT Item 7a Bid was awarded to Ron Roberts Ford in the amount of $14,080.65 for the purchase of one %Ton cab and chassis. Item 7b Bid was awarded to Ron Roberts Ford in the amount of $70,408.75 for the purchase of '" lip five 4-door sedans. Item 7c Bid was awarded to Ron Roberts Ford in the amount of $236,742.80 for the purchase of twelve police patrol cars. Item 7d Bid was awarded to Ron Roberts Ford in the amount of$75,465.75 for the purchase of five 'h Ton pickups. Item 8a RESOLUTION NO. 2-98 RESOLUTION TO ACCEPT THE LUCY PARK SWIMMING POOL RESURFACING PROJECT AND AUTHORIZE FINAL PAYMENT TO WESTMORELAND POOL CO. Item 8b o.yi RESOLUTION NO. 3-98 RESOLUTION TO ACCEPT THE SANITARY SEWER IMPROVEMENTS MANHOLE REHABILITATION PROJECT AND AUTHORIZE FINAL PAYMENT TO ENVIRO REMEDIATION COATINGS SERVICES, INC. Items 9a-9f Minutes of the meeting of the following boards and commissions were received. a. Library Advisory Board, October 28, 1997 b. Wichita Falls Clean Country Commission, October 28, 1997 c. 413 Sales Tax Corporation, November 21, 1997 84 Items 9a-9f cont'd. d. Water Resource Commission, December 5, 1997 e. Commission on Human Needs, December 15, 1997 f. Wichita Falls Park Board, December 18, 1997 Item 10a ORDINANCE NO. 1-98 AN ORDINANCE DESIGNATING THE KEMP PUBLIC LIBRARY LOCATED AT 1300 LAMAR STREET (BLOCK 215 IN ITS ENTIRETY, ORIGINAL TOWNSITE), AS A WICHITA FALLS LANDMARK; FINDING AND DETERMINING THAT THE MEETING AT WHICH THIS ORDINANCE WAS PASSED WAS OPEN TO THE PUBLIC AS REQUIRED BY LAW Moved by Councilor Shine that Ordinance No. 1-98 be passed. Motion seconded by Councilor Johnston and carried by the following vote. Ayes: Mayor Yeager, Councilors Johnston, Shine, Daniel, Martin, and Hawkins Nays: None Item 10b ORDINANCE NO. 2-98 ORDINANCE WAIVING APPENDIX A, SUBDIVISION SECTION 9(B)(2)(a) OF THE CODE OF ORDINANCES WITH RESPECT TO PLACING CURB AND GUTTER ON THE WEST SIDE OF CARTWRIGHT ROAD ADJACENT TO THE EAST LINE OF LOT 13-A, BLOCK 2, RANCH ESTATES Moved by Councilor Martin that Ordinance No. 2-98 be passed. Motion seconded by Councilor Johnston. Kelly Spikes, 198 Cartwright Road, stated that they had turned in their plat on time and it was filed November 24, 1997. She said they could not afford to pay for this because of the expenditures they were having to make on the property. She requested that Council approve the waiver. Motion carried by the following vote. Ayes: Mayor Yeager, Councilors Johnston, Shine, Daniel, Martin, and Hawkins Nays: None Item 10c ORDINANCE NO. 3-98 AN ORDINANCE WAIVING THE $2 PER PLAYER FEE AT HAMILTON AND WEEKS TENNIS CENTERS FOR A TOURNAMENT SPONSORED BY MIDWESTERN STATE UNIVERSITY SEPTEMBER 24-26, 1998 Moved by Councilor Daniel that Ordinance No. 3-98 be passed. Motion seconded by Councilor Martin and carried by the following vote. Ayes: Councilors Johnston, Shine, Daniel, Martin, and Hawkins 85 Item 10c cont'd. Nays: None Abstained: Mayor Yeager Item 11 a RESOLUTION NO. 4-98 A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF WICHITA FALLS AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO APPLY FOR NINTH YEAR FUNDING OF THE NORTH TEXAS REGIONAL DRUG ENFORCEMENT TASK FORCE; FINDING AND DETERMINING THAT THE MEETING AT WHICH THIS RESOLUTION WAS PASSED WAS OPEN TO THE PUBLIC AS REQUIRED BY LAW Moved by Councilor Martin that Resolution No. 4-98 be passed. Motion seconded by Councilor Johnston. Sgt. Jerry Riley stated that this was the ninth year application and it will be free to all the entities involved, and added that this is the sixth year it will be free. Sgt. Riley provided statistics on what they had accomplished this past year. Mayor asked if Wichita County was a participant in this and Sgt. Riley replied that they were. Motion carried by the following vote. Ayes: Mayor Yeager, Councilors Johnston, Shine, Daniel, Martin, and Hawkins Nays: None vow Item 11 b RESOLUTION NO. 5-98 A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF WICHITA FALLS, TEXAS, AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO EXECUTE A FIVE-YEAR NON-ANNEXATION AGREEMENT WITH PPG INDUSTRIES, INC.; FINDING AND DETERMINING THAT THE MEETING AT WHICH THIS RESOLUTION WAS PASSED WAS OPEN TO THE PUBLIC AS REQUIRED BY LAW Moved by Councilor Martin that Resolution No. 5-98 be passed. Motion seconded by Councilor Shine. Mr. Jim Dockery informed that the City has had three different non-annexation contracts with PPG, and this would be a renewal of a contract. This will take them into a fourth generation contract which would be five years. The existing contract has them at 60% in lieu of property taxes and this would move them to 80% in lieu of property taxes, and would also provide for a growth factor for some improvements that the plant is expecting to make. Any of those improvements or increase in assessed value would be assessed at 25% in lieu of property taxes. The water and sewer rate would be maintained at 100%. Fire protection isr provided. Motion carried by the following vote. Ayes: Mayor Yeager, Councilors Johnston, Shine, Daniel, Martin, and Hawkins Nays: None 86 Item 11 c RESOLUTION NO. 6-98 A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF WICHITA FALLS, TEXAS, AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO EXECUTE A FIVE-YEAR NON-ANNEXATION AGREEMENT WITH VETROTEX CERTAINTEED CORPORATION; FINDING AND DETERMINING THAT THE MEETING AT WHICH THIS RESOLUTION WAS PASSED WAS OPEN TO THE PUBLIC AS REQUIRED BY LAW Moved by Councilor Shine that Resolution No. 6-98 be passed. Motion seconded by Councilor Martin. Councilor Johnston stated for the record that he would not participate in the discussion or decision making on this item. Mr. Jim Dockery explained that this is the fourth year generation with Certainteed and it has similar provisions that the previous one you just approved has. It is complicated in the sense that Certainteed has two contracts with the City for non-annexation. One was in 1990 for the existing plant property and in 1995 significant improvements were made to their tanks and there was a separate non-annexation agreement for the tank work. There were different provisions in those contracts and this is an effort to consolidate those two contracts into one and place the provisions similar to the PPG contract. They are different in the sense that Certainteed is assessed, in this contract, a 75% in lieu of taxes as opposed to the 80% in the other contract. However, you will see that they are paying 110% of water and sewer rates as opposed to the 100% paid by PPG. Overall, both industries are paying the same percentage to the City and it amounts to 85%. The reason why we had different provisions in the contract is that the current terms of the Certainteed contract paid the water and sewer fund a higher rate than PPG and we did not want to have an adverse affect on our water and sewer fund so we agreed to do it this way. Motion carried by the following vote. Ayes: Mayor Yeager, Councilors Shine, Daniel, Martin, and Hawkins Nays: None Abstained: Councilor Johnston Item 11 d RESOLUTION NO. 7-98 A RESOLUTION DESIGNATING MR. RALPH HARVEY, JR. AS THE HISTORIAN OF RECORD FOR THE CITY OF WICHITA FALLS; FINDING AND DETERMINING THAT THE MEETING AT WHICH THIS RESOLUTION WAS PASSED WAS OPEN TO THE PUBLIC AS REQUIRED BY LAW Moved by Councilor Martin that Resolution No. 7-98 be passed. Motion seconded by Councilor Shine. The following persons spoke in support of Mr. Harvey 's designation as City Historian: Jim Thomas, 14 Waverly Place Merle Anthony, Speedway Marty Thomas, 24 Clayton Lane George Witherspoon, 2944 McGaha Mayor Yeager Councilor Martin Councilor Daniel Motion carried by the following vote. Ayes: Mayor Yeager, Councilors Johnston, Shine, Daniel, Martin, and Hawkins 87 Item 11 d cont'd. Nays: None Mayor Yeager presented Mr. Harvey with the Resolution designating him as the City's first official City Historian. Mayor Yeager, on behalf of the Council and the community, expressed appreciation to Mr. Ralph Harvey and his wife Juanita for their work in preserving the history of the City of Wichita Falls and Wichita County. Item 12a City Attorney explained the procedure for a Charter review. He mentioned that our Charter has been in existence for a long time and a number of provisions in the City Charter are antiquated and in some cases in conflict with State law. Pursuant to State law there is a process by which a charter can be adopted or amended. If a new charter were adopted, it would be cost prohibitive because a copy of the proposed charter needs to be mailed to each registered voter in the City. It is my recommendation that the Mayor appoint a panel of citizens to review the entire City Charter and they will propose amendments to the Charter to make it more appropriate for a modern community of our size and in compliance with existing State law, and make those recommendations to the Council. I expect this work to take one year or more. If Council approves the recommendations, an election will be called and the proposed amendments would be submitted to the voters for their approval or rejection. Mayor added that this will be a specific purpose commission and upon making its recommendations to the Council it will cease to exist. Mayor made the following appointments to the Mayor's Advisory Committee for the Revision of the Home Rule City Charter of the City of Wichita Falls. Larry Lambert, Chair D'Lyn Davidson Guillermo Garcia Perry Goolsby Arthur B. Williams Support Staff: City Attorney and City Clerk ' Item 12b Councilor Hawkins mentioned that SAFB is considering closing the SAFB Hospital and making it into a clinic. He believes that we should look into this and make some recommendations. He is concerned that this closing will have an adverse affect on the School of Health Care Sciences, which would in turn affect the City's population. I hope they will reconsider and keep that hospital as a regional hospital and keep it open to provide the health care for the military and retired military. Councilor Martin echoed Councilor Hawkins' concerns about the SAFB Hospital and the affect it would have on the economy in this area. He did not know of another regional hospital in this area other than SAFB. Councilor Martin hoped that at the beginning of a new year the Council would be cognizant of all the problems faced this year and he encouraged the Council to work with a positive attitude with the staff and the citizens to correct those problems. Mayor informed that all of the new warning sirens are in place and working. They can be silently tested. Mayor suggested that in the very near future Mr. Robert Parker make a complete presentation on the system and how it operates. Councilor Hawkins asked if they needed to be tested audibly. Mr. Parker replied that he wanted to test all of the sirens audibly one time and after that it would be Council or Risk Management's decision of whether they would be tested audibly or not. Councilor Martin reported that he rode on the garbage pick up route and was very impressed. The system is effective and the parked cars were not a problem. 98% of the people had the carts in the right position (wheels facing the house). Employees are safer and they are kept out of the elements. We are saving on workers comp as well as on health costs. I believe it is a great benefit to the City. 88 Item 12b cont'd. Mayor asked Council to consider the dates of January 27 or 28 around the noon hour to meet with the School Board. She asked that a worksession be held after the next Council meeting to look at our capital projects. Item 12c City Manager announced the MLK Breakfast which will be held January 17 at 8:45 a.m. at MPEC. Joe Clark will be the guest speaker. George Wesley, Jr. will bring the special music. Mr. Bonnett informed that they will be passing out the notifications on the north sector of the City on Wednesday for the second trial area of the automated trash pick up. Item 12c(2) Mr. Bonnett presented a report on the Maplewood Extension Project/Call Field Reliever. From Kemp to Lawrence is being improved and the contract will be let in March and should be done by Christmas, and the traffic capacity will be doubled. The project under consideration runs from Maplewood and Kemp and the route has not been selected. It goes generally to McNiel. We have a State proposal for consideration to fund a preliminary study. $115,500 will be the cost for the preliminary engineering only. We are asking for guidance because that money is not in the budget and would have to be appropriated from equity if you choose to proceed. The State has a potential contract with Carter Burgess from Dallas to do this work . If you wish to proceed we would bring back an ordinance for appropriation for equity. My rough guess is that our total exposure under ISTEA would be $680,000. The purpose of the preliminary engineering is to get that nailed down. This route has difficulties such as railroad, - drainage, utilities, etc. This project would go to McNiel, but then you may want to consider a Phase I and Phase II. The $680,000 would be the City's match. Mr. Bonnett informed that this was not budgeted because it was not our initiative totally. It came from various sources such as the Transportation Committee, but the State has let a tentative contract with Carter Burgess. We were not aware that there was going to be a local match. I do not think it was a priority but the opportunity has been presented. Mayor wanted to know the impact on the Call Field Reliever with the improvement of Call Field, which would double the amount of traffic it now carries. Mr. Bonnett replied that if the Call Field Reliever was in place it would pull some traffic off Call Field, but the traffic wants to go on Call Field. Traffic will chase what is called the minimum time path; they will take the quickest way to get from Point A to Point B. Once this is expanded, I think the question is how badly is it needed. I think the $680,000 has to be balanced off against the potential for growth and development of property. City Manager commented that this is moving a lot quicker than we expected. We have worked through some of the priorities and this has moved up on the priority list. One key question is how do we obtain the right-of-way. Historically, if this is developed, the developer would give us the right-of-way, but, if we get in front of this, the chance is we are going to have to purchase the right-of-way, or you could hold out until the right-of-way is given. Mr. Bonnett stated that the study will take about one year. The $115,500 is for a preliminary study. The $680,000 is the total City match for construction and right-of-way acquisition. City is responsible for all utilities relocation, curb and gutters, sidewalks and right- of-way acquisition and 20% of construction cost and all engineering inspection fees. Mr. Clark provided background information and stated that in his opinion a feasibility study was needed in order to determine the options and to find out what you are getting into. But you need a stop gap so that when you find out what the costs are and what the logical alignment is then you have a chance for another decision. Mr. Clark mentioned that the Call Field Reliever versus the economic development would be an alignment that would attract development and a route that would gain traffic on its own. Mayor asked if the $115,500 was the total cost of the study. Mr. Bonnett replied that TXDOT is picking up 80% of the final plans and specs and the City pays 20%. You may wish 89 Item 12c(2) cont'd. to go with the preliminary study for the entire project and then you may stop and decide which portion of that you wish to fund and which portion you wish to put on the private sector. Mr. Bonnett clarified that this project is just the extension of Maplewood and does not get into the alternatives connected to Lawrence Road. We are looking for unofficial direction to bring an ordinance to you on appropriation. Council concurred that an ordinance be prepared for action. Item 12c(1) Mr. Robert Powers made a presentation on the Council goals as to what has been done, the accomplishments and future considerations. Councilor Shine suggested that in the future this report be done during a worksession. City Manager commented that one goal was to inform the public and that is what we did today. We will continue to report to you semi-annually, probably at the retreat. Mayor suggested that an alternate Tuesday, maybe in February, be looked at to revisit this with the staff. The City Council adjourned at 11:18 a.m. PASSED AND APPROVED this day of \ , 1998. KATH YN A. YE ER MAYOR ATTEST: r, Lydia Torres City Clerk