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MIN CC 03/06/1984MINU"IES OF THE HUNTSVILLE CITY COUNCIL MEETING, HELD ON THE 6TH DAY OF MARCH, 1984 IN THE CITY HALL COUNCIL CHAMBERS, LOCATED AT 1212 AVENUE M IN THE CITY OF HUNTSVILLE, COUNTY OF WALKER, OCIEXAS AX 7:00 P.M. The Council met in regular session with the following members WILLIAM V. NASH, MAYOR Murray A. Brown Larry Corley Stephen E. Davis Jerry L. Dowling Bill Hodges Percy Howard, Jr. Jane Monday Bob Tavenner present: City Officers: Gene Pipes, City Mgr. t Ruth DeShaw, City Secy. Scott Bounds, City Attyi Robert DeLong,City Judge The meeting was called to order by the Honorable William V. Nash, Mayor. The invocation was presented by the Reverend Mariano Alvarado of Faith Memorial Baptist Church. CONSIDER THE MINUTES OF THE PREVIOUS MEETING Councilmember Monday made the motion to approve the City Council Minutes of the meeting of February 28. 1984 and Councilmember Corley seconded the motion. All were in favor and the motion passed unanimously. PLANNING COMMISSION REPORT Dr. Mary Frances Park, Chairman, Planning Commission Mrs. Park reviewed actions taken by the Commission on Monday, March 5, 1984 regarding the Sarkis Addition final plat; Carlow Addition preliminary plat; Carlow Addition final plat; Avenue P Addition preliminary plat; Avenue P Addition final plat, Huntsville Memorial Hospital preliminary plat and final plat and the Central Business District Plan Review. Mrs. Park told the Council the Commission is requesting a time lag between the consideration of the prelim- inary plat and the final plat to allow the Commission time to study the preliminary plat and 'allow for the examination of certain conditions and to alert adjacent property owners of the pending development. The Council asked for the Planning Commission's recommendations in this reoard and were .generally in consensus with this request. • CITY MANAGER'S REPORT TML Region 14 Meeting -- Houston Gene Pipes, City Manager, advised the Council of the Region 14 Meeting of the TML in on on March 29, 1984 at the Meridien Hotel. He noted it is a dinner meeting and that the topic would cover the role of the Public Utility Commission in utility rates. He asked those interested in attending to contact the City Secretary, Ruth DeShaw, to make reservations. Personnel Committee Meeting Requested The City Manager asked that the Personnel Committee plan to meet soon to consider a personnel matter that has come up outside of our normal budgeting process. City Manager's Vacation The City Manager, Gene Pipes, noted he wiII be out of the office beginning tomorrow and continuing until next week Thursday. He noted there will not be a Council Meeting next week :due to spring break. CONSIDER AN INTERLOCAL CONTRACT Consider an interlocal contract with Walker County for the operation of a museum on the site of the Ben H. Powell estate property, Avenue H at lath Street for one year in lieu of the property taxes assessed for the year Mayor Nash then presented the interlocal Agreement for Museum Services, which he asked the City Attorney, Scott Bounds, to draw, for a period of one year, which will allow the Walker County Historical Commission time to apply for and receive the special marker they have :requested. He noted the interlocal agreement can be extended until such time as this special designation is obtained. He said after that is done, an ordinance can then be written to designate that particular property as tax exempt. Mayor Nash noted since the contract the Powell Estate has with the County allows the Powell Estate to take the property back with a thirty day written notice, he felt the interlocal contract we have with the County also tg have a recapture clause so that should that occur, the City would recapture those taxes that I had been exempted. He noted this agreement has a recapture period of ten years on those taxes. A change was requested in this contract by the Mayor in Section IV to delete a portion of; the holm harmless agreement after the word "museum" in line four and to the end of the sentenct'. Councilmember Dowling asked to include in the hold harmless clause "any service under this contract" so as to include claims arising not necessarily out of the "operation of the proper- ty as a museum." Councilmember Dowling noted for bookkeeping purposes, he would like to have the City consider these taxes being paid out of Revenue Sharing funds, which is the source that :would normally pay for this type of service -- special projects, etc. Councilmember Davis asked if the Appraisal District intends to appraise this property at its current market value rather than as a house as it stands now, noting if we have to use the recapture clause on taxes this could mean a significance difference in the taxes. Mayor Nash noted if this agreement is ac;uo:'ed, it will be necessary to notify the Central Appraisal District that we have this recapture agreement and that it is important that the property be appraised at current market value and not as a county piece of property. Councilmember Monday made the motion to approve of this interlocal agreement with the aml7nciments discussed above and Councilmember Howard seconded the motion. All were in favor and the motion passed unanimously. SOILS TESTING CONTRACT I Consider authorization of'a'soils testing contract with East Texas Testing, Inc. in an amount not to exceed $14,000 for work in conjunction with the capital improvements bond program Glenn Isbell, Director of Engineering Design, noted proposals have been received from Soil Mechanics, Inc. and East Texas Testing Laboratory, Inc. for testing and pavement evalua- tions on the related two million dollar bond issue for street upgrading. He recommended that East Texas Testing be awarded the contract since coordination of the work will be easier with someone who has a local office. He noted his•recommendation that the contract amount be set at $14,000. Councilmember Brown made the motion to approve of this contract as requested and Councilmember Monday seconded the motion. All were in favor and the motion passed unani- mouslu. It was noted these funds would come from the bond proceeds, not to exceed $14,000. LANDFILL SCALES Consider authorization of bids for a landfill scales acquisition package as outlined not to exceed $37,000 with $25,000 from budgeted funds and $12,000 from Sanitation's unallocated fund which has a balance of $39,019. Mayor Nash noted he encourages the staff to seek out alternative resource recovery methods, noting it is difficult to collect data to support a particular method until we know which method is reasonable for Huntsville. He noted the staff may need to obtain outside advise on this. The Council were in agreement that an alternative must be found as it is no longer reasonable to bury garbage. Hr. Pipes noted the landfill scales are important no r..4tter what type of operation the City ultimately chooses, noting most research data in the world are expressed in values of tonage and all of the City's current data are based on esti- mates of the loose garbage with relative factors of compaction, etc. dialed in by calculation. He noted we have a great deal of confidence in what we have estimated, but we have no real correlary to the presently available data research. He noted there are very few operations of this type in the U. S. that don't weight the refuse coming in of all sorts. He noted in order to have compatible data to analyze, we feel the scales are important. He felt this data is most important as we go into the design of an alternate method of disposal. Mr. Pipe_I noted if the City planned to continue landfilling, the tonage information has no relevance. Be noted tonage has relevance in BTU value and incinerator - generator -steam type processes or in resource recovery. He noted the scales have little relevance if we're going to continue landfilling, except for charging people an appropriate amount for what they're bringing in to the landfill on weight volume instead of an estimate by the landfill operator. Mayor Nash noted he is not objecting to the scales, but thought we should have our alternate method pinpointed and planned out first. Councilmember Brown noted he is in favor of the scales. Councilmember Dowling suggested leasing or renting scales for a period of time sufficient to gather the data needed. Councilmember Dowling noted the scales will not identify the quality of the garbage so as to classify it. Councilmember Dowling again reminded the Council of the volume of data being dumped onto Glenn Isbell in the Design Engineering Department. He noted with all the other projects going on in this department, he questioned whether this data, in the short run, would be usable. Councilmember Dowling noted his preference to postpone this project until next year (reminding the Council of the sanitation budget's delicate condition at this time).. Councilmember Davis noted all of the Council wants to get off of dead center in this regard, there is budgeted money for a study, and he hoped to see some- thing productive begin. Mayor Nash noted we should try to make a determination as soon as possible if resource recovery is reasonable to be considered at all. He noted in 1979 TDC was not interested in a resource recovery (steam generation) project with the City. Council- member Dowling suggested looking at some of the alternatives, make sons preliminary decisions about the alternatives, and then back our data collection into that which can then be a part of the design. Councilmember Hodges suggested tabling this request and ask the staff to come back with a timetable of events so that we can get into some alternative method on landfilling. Hrs. Monday asked to find out if the County of Walker will participate in this project. Council- member Hodges moved to table this item and ask the staff to come back with their plan of action in 90 days and Councilmember Monday seconded the motion. All were in favor and the motion passed unanimously. CONSIDER WATER MAIN EXTENSION Consider a proposal to extend a water main on Ryan's Ferry Road to the site of a proposed subdivision to provide fire protection and improved service to the area. There are extension funds budgeted in the amount of $100,000 • Mayor Nash noted Mr. Charles Sarkis's final plat for Section I of his proposed subdivi- sion was disapproved until adequate water and fire protection (within 500 feet of a fire hydrant) could be provided. He noted the staff recommends that the developer construct an 8" water line across his tract, approximately 300 feet) and the City construct an 8" line from the 12" line on 7th Street to the developer's 8" line so that when completed, adequate water pressure will be available for the development and the system will be available for further extension. Mayor Nash felt the Council should be consistent with the utility exten- sion ordinance in this regard which provides the City will pay one -half of the first 300 feet and the cost of any oversizing to the 8," noting the subdivision ordinance will require the developer to install a 6" line, which would mean the oversizing would be from 6" to 8 ". The !Mayor was concerned that the two inch line serving twenty to thirty residences adjacent to this development should be replaced with a larger size line, but that this may not be the top priority 2" line in the city that should be done now, in conjunction with this project. Gene Pipes, City Manager, noted the city has never tried to prioritize a scheme of utility extensions, although we have talked about remedying several bottlenecks in our capital improvements program, but these are stand -alone projects in their own priority arrangement and are not like this one. He noted this one is having the money ready when the developer walks up and says he wants water to his house and the city assists. Councilmember Monday made the motion to run the eight inch line to replace the adjacent inadequately sized 2' line and to participate with Mr. Sarkis, should he accept this proposal in oversizing the required six inch line to an eight inch line across the front of his pro- perty, and to pay for one -half of the first 300 feet and Councilmember Hodges seconded the notion. Councilmember Dowling made a superceding motion to table this item and Councilmember Dj.is seconded the motion. Councilmember Dowling, Hodges, Davis and Tavenner moved for the motion to table and Councilmembers Monday, Howard and Brown and Mayor Nash voted against the Kmotior}_to table (Councilmember Corley not present for this portion of the meeting). The • motion therefore resulted in a tie vote and failed to carry. Mayor Nash noted we now go back to the original motion on the floor to upgrade the existing two inch line to an eight inch line from Ryans Ferry Road and 7th Street to the southwest corner of the Sarkis property (ap_p roximately 750 1.f.) for approximately $12,300 but'Mr. Sarkis' cost would be the entire 350 1.f. eight inch 'line across his property line. (Mr• Pipes noted if we go with this agreement, K. Sarkis will not apply for a utility exten- Ision request of one -half of the first 300 feet and the difference in oversizing, but would pay for the entire eight inch line across his property/ noting the City's expenses will be considerable in upgrading the line that connects to Mr. Sarkis' line as opposed to just parti -4 cipating under the normal utility extension request.) It was noted the City will not do this Project unless Mr. Sarkis agrees to perform his portion of the eight inch line. Councilmember' Dowling added here that if this project is undertaken, that the City shall not replace this line "unless" it has adequate easements to do so. The Council noted it is assumed the staff will acquire these easements. Mayor Nash noted the City will not undertake its 750 feet of line work until Mr. Sarkis has made arrangements to do his 350 feet of line work by bond, cash or doing it in advance of the city's por'tion. He then called for a vote on this motion as it has been restated: Councilmembers Monday, Dowling, Hodges, Howard, Davis, Tavenner and Brown voted in favor of this motion and Mayor Nash voted opposed. Councilmember Corley was absent for this discussion and vote. The motion, therefore, passed. CONSIDER NEW STREET SWEEPER Consider Bid 82 -12 for a street sweeper and authorize the issuance of a certificate of obligation in the amount of $52,562 via Ordinance No. 84- 3 -6 -1. The staff recommends the low bid of Saf -T -Mark supply Company with a $10,000 trade -in value for our existing equipment Mayor Nash presented the bids received and advised the Council it is the recommendation of the staff to accept the Iowest bid meeting specifications with trade -in submitted by Saf - T -Mark Supply Co., Inc. for 852,562. Councilmember Monday made the motion to accept the low bid as recommended and Councilmember Hodges seconded the motion. All were in favor and the notion passed unanimously. Mayor Nash then presented the Ordinance to be styled No. 84 -I0, the caption of which is as follows: ORDINANCE NO. 89 -10 AN ORDINANCE AUTHORIZING ISSUANCE OF A CITY OF HUNTSVILLE, TEXAS EQUIPMENT ACQUISITION CERTIFICATE 01' OBLIGATION IN THE AMOUNT OF $52,562.00; AND CONTAINING OTHER PROVISIONS RELATED TO THE SUBJECT. Councilmember Monday made the motion to adopt Ordinance No. 84 -10 and Councilmember Hodges seconded the motion. Discussion: Councilmember Dowling and Councilmember Brown suggested changing the payout from four years to three years. The Council were generally in agreement. Councilmember Monday accepted this change as a friendly amendment to her motion and Councilmember Hodges agreed. All were in favor of approving Ordinance No. 84 -10 with a change in the payout from four gears to three years and it passed unanimously. ADJOURNMENT fully uth reS aw, March 6, 1984 submitted, C-L/ Y City Secretary r G-