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MIN CC 05/10/1983MINUTES OF THE HUNTSVILLE CITY COUNCIL MEETING HELD OM THE TOTH DAY OF MAY, LOCATED AT 1212 AVENUE M IN THE CITY OF HUNTSVILLE, COUNTY OF WALKER, TEXAS The Council met in regular session with the following members present: William V. Nash, Mayor Murray A. Brown Larry Corley Stephen E. Davis Jerry L. Dowling Bill Hodges Percy Howard, Jr. Jane Monday Bob Tavenner iep,o1R 1983IN THE CITY HALL COUNCIL CHAMBERS AT 7:00 P.M. The Meeting was called to by Councilmember Percy Howard, Councilmember Corley made seconded the motion. All were order by the Honorable William V. Nash, Mayor. The invocation was presented Jr. CONSIDER THE MINUTES OF THE PREVIOUS MEETING the motion to approve the minutes of May 3, 1983 and Councilmember Monday in favor and the motion passed unanimously. LAND TRADE FOR AIRPORT USE Consider a Land Trade for 81 Acres Adjacent to Airport in Northgate Meadows Subdivision for 9.9 Acres along 1 -45 Mayor Nash then presented a contract for the exchange of real estate between the City and Northgate Meadows, with Mance Park acting as Trustee for Northgate Meadows, and the City Manager acting on behalf of the City. The contract conveys to Northgate Meadows the I -45 Feeder Road tract, 9.978 acres for the Northgate Meadows site of 81 acres, each of which has a fair market value of $202,500. Councilmember Monday made the motion to approve this contract and Councilmember Brown seconded the motion. All were in favor and the motion passed unanimously. These 81 acres will serve the City as a buffer zone at the north end of the runway and will comply with FAA requirements and the suggestions and recommendations of the City's Airport Master Planners, Coffman Associates, Inc. of Kansas City, Missouri. INSURANCE -- PROPERTY AND LIABILITY COVERAGES Mayor Nash presented the recommendations of the City's insurance consultant, The Wyatt Company of Dallas, Mr. Frederick 8. Gillette, CPCU. Mr. Gillette recommended contracting with the Arthur J. Gallagher Agency in Dallas as this large national agency quoted the lowest in terms of overall costs and also the broadest in terms of protection being afforded. Councilmember Brown made the motion to approve the consultant's selection of Arthur J. Gallagher Agency and Councilmember Monday seconded the motion. All were in favor and it passed. Mayor Nash advised the Council that there is an alternate proposal within this presentation to increase the City's umbrella costs up to $10 million which will cost an additional $2,000 in premium fees. After some dis- cussion, Councilmember Corley made the motion to add this alternate to increase the liability to $10 million and Councilmember Monday seconded the motion. All were in favor and the motion passed unanimously. REMOVAL OF ILLEGAL SIGN Mayor Nash noted the staff has recommended that the sign placed in the City's right -of -way by its owner, Dr. Allred of Audiological Services on 10th Street, be relocated from the present site. It was noted the City's sign ordinance strictly prohibits the installation of private signs within the City's street rights -of -way. The staff recommended that if the present ordinance is not clear in this regard, that it be so amended. Council - member Hodges made the motion to deny Dr. Allred's request for the Council's special consent to leave the sign in the right -of -way and Councilmember Howard seconded the motion. All were in favor of disallowing the sign in the right -of -way and the motion passed unanimously. NEW PROPERTY APPRAISER -- HUD - -New Addition Project The City's Community Development Planner, Kathy James, requested the Council's consideration of the accep- tance of Mr. Robert Conner of Conner and Associates of Huntsville to perform the remaining three appraisals required to complete the right -of -way acquisition project of the HUD Program in preparation for the construction of water, sewer, drainage and streets in the New Addition. She noted Mr. Conners' proposal establishes the cost of performing the appraisals at $450.00, or $150.00 per parcel. The Council was advised that federal regulations require that the City publicly state its intent to acquire a portion of the three properties in question as well as formally appoint an appraiser. Ms. James then recommended that the Council authorize its intent to acquire portions of parcels K7 -11, K7 -10, and K7 -9 and to appoint Mr. Robert Conner as the primary appraiser and authorize the City Manager to execute the necessary documents with funds to come from the Community Develop- ment Block Grant. Councilmember Corley made the motion to approve Ms. James' recommendations and Councilmember Monday seconded the motion. All were in favor and the motion passed unanimously. DOWNTOWN PARKING -- CHANGE THE TIME LIMITS In response to a suggestion by Councilmember Hodges, the City Attorney, Scott Bounds, prepared an ordinance which would revise the time limits in the downtown area from two hours on the inside of the square to 30 minutes and from two hours on the outside of the square to 60 minutes and the other two hour parking areas to 90 minutes. Discussions ensued regarding whether this would solve the real problem, noting that employees of the business places and the courthouse .are the prime violators of the two hour parking rule. It was the general consensus of the Council that other attempts be made to contact those habitual violators by other means rather than amending the ordinance which affects the downtown shoppers, noting it was not the Council's intent to penalize the shoppers, but merely to stop the violations of a workable system. Councilmember Dowling made the motion to table this ordinance at this time and Councilmember Corley seconded the motion. Councilmembers Hodges and Davis voted against tabling the ordinance. Councilmembers Monday, Corley Dowling, Mayor Nash, Councilmembers Howard, Tavenner and Brown voted for tabling the ordinance and it passed. The Council asked Mr. Pipes to investigate the downtown parking problems and report back to the Council in three weeks. I'lull tut i,mnil "U" -- Illlll111'. 01 MAY Iv. 198J ■ PERMIT FEE SCHEDULES Consider a Proposal to Lower the Plan Checking Fee Schedule for Permit Approval. Mayor Nash noted the staff is proposing that the plan checking fees be lowered, as approved by the Planning Commission, for public works projects such as curbs and streets, rather than private building projects. Mayor Nash noted the city's ordinance recently adopted provides for the same fees as the Southern Building Code regarding building permits and at that time we decided not to charge an additional fee for plan checking. He noted the staff is proposing now to charge a fee that is the same as the fee charged for building construction, plus an additional 50% of whatever the basic fee would be for the purpose of plan checking; the permit costs would be 150% of the cost of a permit for building construction. Mayor Nash noted he would prefer discussing this matter with the City Engineer, who is familiar with this request. He noted he has reservations about adding 50% to a basic fee for plan checking. He noted his preference to have just one figure as we have with the building department. Councilmember Corley made the motion to table this item and Council - member Monday seconded the motion. All were in favor and the motion passed unanimously. THE PROPOSED DESIGN CRITERIA MANUAL -- REVIEW The Council then reviewed the Design Criteria Manual and its proposed changes. Dale Brown, City Planner, presented the various changes. After some discussion and changes made by the Council, Mr. Brown was asked to incorporate the changes and review them with the Planning Commission during their June meeting and to provide the "rewrites" to the Council in advance. CITY MANAGER'S REPORT Entex Rate Increase -- Advised the Council of the pending rate increase on gas rates which is a periodic "flow through" increase. Action Items Noted the next planned regular Council meeting is May 31 but advised the Council some items may need action prior to then, namely, the Town Creek bulkheading project bids plus a request to replace a water and sewer pickup(which has developed a need for an expensive repair) and authorization to install a fire hydrant at Fire Station No. 2 for use in conducting fire drills and training. MAYOR'S REPORT Interagency Meeting -- Mayor Nash noted he met with representatives of TDC, Walker County, HISD, SHSU, and the Hospital District today at noon and they discussed the legislative activities in Austin. He noted the Walker County Judge, Ralph Davis, seemed reasonably pleased with actions affecting the County; however, HISD is not as successful in Austin in getting the extra funds they need. Flood Control Program -- Mayor Nash noted State Representative Rodney Tow advised he will institute a flood control program for Montgomery County, excluding Walker County. He noted Rep. Tow expressed his appreciation for Huntsville's input into his development of this program. COUNCIL ACTION Thank You from Delora -- Councilmember Brown noted he has received a "thank you" note from former Councilmember Delora King for the plaque and gifts she received on behalf of the City upon her retire- ment from office. New Downtown Sidewalk -- Councilmember Brown called the Council's attention to the newly completed brick paver sidewalk on the southeast side of the Squate along 12th Street in front of the Card Shop. He noted it looks very attractive and the owners along there expressed their pleasure at the new look. E.M.S. Meeting City Pool Opening -- Councilmember Davis noted he attended his first EMS meeting yesterday as the Council's representative. He reported the Board's consideration of purchasing a used ambulance from Timbercreek (near the Woodlands) or Timberwoods, which community is getting "out of the ambulance business." He noted too that TDC is negotiating with the EMS to con- tract local transfer service for Walker County. -- Councilmember Dowling asked when the city's pool would be opening. It was noted it will be open on May 28, a Saturday, at 1:00 P.M. It was noted it will be free to the public. Councilmember Monday asked the Press to do a story on the renovations at the pool, noting the bathhouse looks like a completely different structure. Mr. Pipes noted he is plan- ning a complete report on this on the 31st of May for the Council's information. ADJOURNMENT Respectfully submitted, Ruth DeShaw, City Secretary May 10, 1983