MIN CC 09/01/1992CITY COUNCIL MEETING OF SEPTEMBER 1, 1992
BOOK "R"
102
i CITY MALI, COUNCIL CHAMBERS, LOCATED AT 1212 AVENUE M IN THE CITY OF HUNTSVILLE, COUNTY OF
WALKER, TEXAS AT 5:15 P.M. -
The Council met in a regular session with the following members present
'! W. I Hodges, Mayor Officers:
Dan S. Davis William H. Knotts, Jr. Gene Pipes, City Manager
Ronald L. Lange Gary Bell Scott Bounds, City Attorney
,'. William B. Green James L Carter ABSENT., Melba Byers, City Secretary
Charles Robinson ABSENT: Us G. Gaines
CITIZENS INPUTlINQUIRY
Dr. Darrel Wells. I have been Medical Director of E.M.S. for almost ten years and I would plead for Council to
!. reconsider the money proposal which is directed toward the E.M.S. With regard to this, please consider the following items: (1)
�!. that the City's funding share was reduced in the past few years from 50% to 33%; (2) the City's proportion of the subsidy is
approximately 1% of their total budget, maybe a little less and it certainly represents a small amount for the services rendered;
(3) 78% of the calls go to the 21 square miles representing the city's 28,000 residents and only 22% of the calls go to the other
769 square miles of 21,000 people; (4) City residents receive faster, and some people would say better service, because of the
location of E.M.S.; (5) A lot of people who live out in the country pay taxes on hundreds or even thousands of acres that there
may not be even a single household on, and they have to pay both county and hospital taxes; and, (6) the Hospital District, if
forced to take over the funding as stated in the proposal, would in fact appear to face roll backs in each of the next few years.
We have a wonderful E.M.S. system. The issue is that citizens receive the highest level of service by any E.M.S. service.
You can take any side of this argument and can make a good argument for it, but the bigger issue is stability of the executive
committee and balancing to insure competent continuation of an excellent E.M.S. reflecting a balanced geographic through elected
officials of the city and county which represents a specific area- And, as you know, the Hospital District is all at- large, while
several elected members are both city and county to represent specific geographic areas. It also provides a balanced political
representation. As a Medical Director and also as an emergency physician who has worked with several larger and smaller E.M.S.
systems throughout the State, I can honestly say this is one of the best. I think that trying to tamper with this somewhat fragile
administrative position we have would be a detriment to the whole service. I cannot stress how much has been contributed to the
E.M.S. with the input of people like Mr. Pipes or the City Council representatives that have been there, and the county
representatives, Mr. Malak, and others that have contributed to the overall administrative know -how in the balance of the political
concerns regarding the E.M.S. I would hate for it to become a political football. I think we should consider the larger issue and
that would be maintaining an excellent service for the community.
Mayor Hodges thanked Dr. Wells for his remarks and stated that he thought everyone in the room and everyone in the
community, in fact, agrees that we have one of the better E.M.S. services in the State and certainly the City's initiative was not,
in fact, to dismantle or reduce that service at all. In fact, it was only in a taxation fairness issue. You indicated a high percentage
of people are city residents who use that service. I point out that 100% of the people who use that service live in Walker County
and the Hospital District. We are looking for a taxation equity issue only. We have, in fact, offered to administer the service if
they would like for us to do this. There is no question on our part that we want to have the service decline at all.
Councilmember Bell. Dr. Wells, do you feel like there will be a threat to the level of service or the quality of care
provided by E.M.S.? Dr. Wells stated, there is a high potential for that. I think the smaller the group of people controlling the
!. service or has the reigns of control, the more potential there is for it to get off in the wrong direction. And, I think by the addition
of the Hospital District that really complicates the issue. Maybe we need a head tax.
Councilmember Lange. Dr. Wells, you stated that you felt like the residents within the city limits received better service
than those people in the county. Do you believe that I, as a city resident of the City of Huntsville, receive better service than
those in Elkins Lake or Westridge. Dr. Wells stated, yes, they certainly receive faster service. Now, I am not sure that you can
equate that definitely. Councilmember Lange then asked, if I am the same distance from the E.M.S. station and Elkins Lake is
closer to the hospital, do you believe I get better service? Dr. Wells stated, no, I don't. I think you get the same level of service.
Councilmember Lange then asked, then why do I have to pay more as a city resident than those people in Elkins Lake? Dr. Wells
stated. Well, like I say, I am not saying that the system as it is now is totally 100% fair. I am saying that my interest is
maintaining a good system. I don't believe any of our taxation systems are fair, and I appreciate the effort to make it fair in some
way. I am not sure what the correct manner of funding the system is. I would just hate to see this get pushed off into one group
of people with the potential for causing harm to the service in the long run. My comments on "time" are strictly in regard to the
C
CITY COUNCIL MEETING OF SEPTEMBER 1, 1992 BOOK "R" 103
.fact that cme ofthc- gaatity-indica - fcr -E:M3 '
m the city get faster service than people in the county.
Councilmember Lange. I disagree with that fact also. You bring up the point about the people in the county, and the
agricultural land which has cattle on it, etc.. I would like to point out to you that those people who have agricultural land have
a very, very large agricultural exemption on their taxation of property.
Clay Connell and Nathan Geick. Our main problem is we live on Avenue N which is roughly across the street from the
Department of Human Services. We live between 13th and 14th Street. The City has provided a "no parking" for the majority
i
of the street except in front of Nathan's house and in front of my house. The problem is that people in vans are parking up and
down the street. The drives are real steep and you can't see when you back out of the driveway. You can't even get your car out.
That becomes a safety hazard. They have provided an additional parking lot down the hill a little ways but nobody uses it, and �I
since they are a State Agency, they can't force any of the people to use that parking lot. They can just put up a sign that says
"additional parking ". Also, it tends to be the employees just as much as the people going up there that park out on the street in
front of the houses. The main problem is that the street is so narrow when you get big trucks parking there is really not any room
on the street. It has interfered with our garbage pick up. When big vans and trucks are parked out front, they don't see it and
they drive right by. Street sweeping has also been interfered with. We were wanting to ask if it would be possible to put up a
"no parking" in front of our two houses.
Mayor Hodges thanked Nathan and stated this would be referred to the City Manager and let his staff study it and they j
would come back to council with a recommendation.
REGULAR SESSION - CALL TO ORDER I,
Mayor Hodges called the regular session to order. Invocation by Councilmember Davis.
CONSIDER MINUTES OF AUGUST 25, 1992
Councilmember Davis made a motion to approve the minutes of August 25, 1992, and Councilmember Lange seconded
the motion. All were in favor and the motion passed unanimously. NOTE: Councilmember Gaines was absent.
ATTENDING CITIZENS
None.',
CONSIDER BID ON PROJECT NO. 57.10-02
Phase V, Sanitary Landfill - Trench 87 -1, Liner & Protective Cover. Mayor Hodges referred to page 6 of the agenda
packet. The Department of Engineering estimated that bid to be $57,500. The low bid came in at $85,575, almost $30,000 higher.
Apparently, there is an item that can be eliminated that would lower the bidder's estimate to $64,000, but I suspect that we would',
be able to do that in -house and incur that cost ourselves. It seems to be that Glenn Isbell has done a pretty good job of estimating
these costs in the past and I would like to recommend that this bid be rejected and be re -bid to see if we can get a little closer
to the cost and save the City some money. Councilmember Bell made a motion to reject this bid with a second by Councilmember
Knots. The motion passed unanimously. it
CONSIDER AUTHORIZATION TO DISPOSE OF TROXLER - DENSITY TESTING EQUIPMENT it
City Manager Pipes stated that Glenn Isbell, Director of Engineering, was not able to be present tonight. The City has
had the Troxler- Density Testing equipment for several years which was bought to assist in testing the liner at the landfill and, of'l
course, that has since been written out of the regulation, so the City Engineer and Inspection Staff don't have the authority to
use that equipment in specifying compliance with the compaction ratio in the landfill. So, its primary use has been taken away
by the regulatory process and we are now having to contract for that service through soil testing firms. We would, therefore,
request authorization to sell the equipment. It does require that you have a licensed operator to be able to view the equipment
and our licensed operator recently retired. So, in this particular situation it would take a good deal of money to retrain and certify'.
an operator, and we have no particular foreseeable value to maintain the equipment. So, we would like Council's authorization
to sell it with the proviso that the purchaser be appropriately licensed and certifiable so that the liability is properly transferred.
Councilmember Knotts made a motion to grant approval of sale of this equipment with a second by Councilmember
Lange.
Councilmember Bell asked if it was only useable for that kind of liner. City Manager Pipes stated that it is useable for
the streets and everything else. Of course, you have to have the licensed operator. At the present time, we are not using this
equipment at all and have not used it for more than a year. It is a radioactive device and we just don't have any need for it and,,
frankly get it out of the inventory.
Councilmember Davis. If the requirements have changed, for example, other cities don't have any further need for the
troxler-density testing where is the interest? City Manager Pipes stated other cities are not going to be interested in bidding.
I would suspect soil testing labs and contractors that do a lot of highway work that has a use for this equipment on a routine basis, I�il
CITY COUNCIL MEETING OF SEPTEMBER 1, 1992 BOOK "R" 104
r� -ta 4aep ;;,tgebed� eerf�rd gill be- interesEed - _ — :r ___
Mayor Hodges. We have a motion and a second. All in favor please say "aye ", opposed by like sign. The motion passed 'I
unanimously. _
j CONSIDER BANK DEPOSITORY BIDS
i
Bank Depository Bids and Agreement. Councilmember Green. Bids were opened at 4:00 P.M. today. We sent out four
invitations to bid and received two. Because of the complications involved in actually calculating the bids, staff is now reviewing
those. We will meet again next Tuesday and make a recommendation at the Council Meeting. No action required. -
MAYOR'S ACHVITY REPORT
Consider disposition of the mural by Artist Stanley Lea on the North wall of Roy Adams Hall. Please refer to page 8'.
of your packet. We have a letter from Sam Houston State University in regards to the Stanley Lea mural. Apparently, the Board
of Regents is in the process of having this hall demolished and the University wants to give us that wall. This was originally done
through the Arts Commission, some twelve years ago, so it seems to me we ought to refer it back to the Arts Commission. I am
'. sure they have an interest in this. However, in referring this back to the Arts Commission, I think they need to understand that '..
there is not a whole lot of money to move this wall or any wall. So, my recommendation is approval to refer this to the Arts
Commission. Councilmember Davis asked Stanley Lea's reaction to this. Mayor Hodges said he is interested in salvaging this.
Councilmember Carter felt it was appropriate to go to the Arts Commission. And, he wanted to make the comment that he
recognized that this is possibly a controversial piece of work - not the average person's style of art that they would put in their
living room. On the other hand, I think it is a very fine piece of art and we ought to make some effort to, within certain bounds
of cost, preserve it. I would hope the Arts Commission would make an effort to preserve the mural. City Manger Pipes was
requested to refer this to the Arts Commission and ask them for an answer by mid October. There was consensus of Council and
no further action necessary.
CITY MANAGER'S REPORT
I defer to the Budget Work Session in the conference room shortly.
CITY COUNCILMEMBER ACTION
Councilmember Carter. I would like for Council to explore the issue of herbicide use in the City. At some point, after '
budget is over with, I would like to have staff talk to us about what we can do along those lines, especially with Gulf States, and
other utility companies.
Mayor Hodges. I have been in contact with Gulf States and they are supposed to come back with a proposal.
Councilmember Carter. I don't know if City Attorney Bounds found out about the Sycamore Baptist Church and their
trees and where they are and what they have done about meeting the agreement they made to replace our City trees.
City Attorney Bounds. We talked about that. City Manager Pipes stated, J. D. Schindler has a report for you when
you have time. J. D. Schindler stated that they have not replanted any yet, but they are supposed to give us a proposal of trees
that they are going to plant. They don't have the plan finalized. City Manager Pipes stated, they are required to file a landscaping '.
plan that shows the additional plantings subject to the Building Inspection Department's approval.
Councilmember Carter. The drainage project on 18th Street I have looked at again. I am not an engineer, but generally '..
speaking, I think he is doing the right thing and I think it is going to improve the drainage. The question I still have in my mind,
and I am sure the Engineering Staff will continue to watch, is none - the -less what happens downstream. You might want to take
a look at it because he is rebuilding the channel with rock.
Councilmember Carter. We had zoning violations several weeks ago and I was not clear of what our final outcome was
of our interaction with the people who violated the zoning ordinances. Have they now complied with the zoning ordinance, have
we taken any action, or where are we now? City Attorney Bounds. Are you talking about the car lot at Normal Park and 11th
Street? Councilmember Carter stated, right. City Attorney Bounds stated, they are now in compliance.
Councilmember Carter. Finally, the hazardous waste site that was reported in the newspaper, I visited over the weekend.
I was pretty frightened and appalled. I went home and quickly took a shower and washed my hands because I was in the realms
of the drums. I saw probably twenty to thirty fifty- gallon drums with various type of liquid materials in them, one of which was
almost full. They were labeled hazardous materials, although one of them was mineral spirits, which we have all come in contact
with, but in large amounts we don't want it in the water bay. The newspaper reported a large number of batteries being at the
site. There were no batteries there when we went to see the hazardous dump site. I am assuming they moved them or had done
something about the batteries. I have several questions about it though. It is appalling that that was there, this being close to
a residential area. I want to know first, [hat we know now what was in those drums because I also know from the studies I read
and the courses I teach on environmental policy that people have a tendency to put things in drums that are not what the label
says they are. These were old drums. So, does the City, in its inspection of that site at this point, truly know what was in those
CITY COUNCIL MEETING OF SEPTEMBER 1, 1992
drums. £tity - ivlarmger- -is
BOOK "R"
105
drums. Councilmember Carter. Well, we could and I was worried that we said that there was no health factor. So, if fact, we i
must have known what was in those drums if we said there was no health hazard. If we don't know what was in those drums, did
we contact the Texas Water Commission, the Environmental Protection Agency or get somebody with some degree of knowledge
to go out there and find out what was in the site. J. D. Schindler stated, we did not contact anybody. Councilmember Carter 1
asked, can we contact TWC. I think we should. It may be safe. J. D. Schindler stated, the owner had been contacted and the
owner was supposed to clean it up, dispose of it, and from the information we saw on the cans, we believe it was mineral spirits
and those type of products. It didn't appear they had leaked. They did remove the batteries and were supposed to clean the rest I�
of it up. And, they would be responsible for disposing of it. Councilmember Carter asked if we had a paper trail. Do we know
Where they took the batteries, do we know who purchased the batteries or do we have some record to know what they are doing',
with all of this material. J. D. Schindler answered, yes. Councilmember Carter stated, I still request PWC and EPA get involved !
to the extent they are willing.
Councilmember Robinson. I brought to the attention of Council previously that the Martin Luther King Center is not
being monitored for maintenance. This past weekend, there was a function of an organization I belong to at the Center. This
organization tries to instill in young people a positive atmosphere, accepting work, and things of that nature. I was appalled at
the condition of the inside of the Center. In the kitchen, the sink itself leaks from both water faucets and water is all over the
kitchen Boor. Now, if we are maintaining inspections, why has this not been brought to Council. It seems to me that the job is
not being done. I talked to the individual who had an event Friday nigh[ at the Center, and he said he mopped water up Friday �
morning and again Friday night. I was there Saturday morning. City Manager Pipes stated staff will check it out
I
Councilmember Robinson. A situation I see in the near future is we are going to be faced with a powder keg. In recent
weeks, there has been an uprising of violence in the City with the drive by shooting, the three reported rapes, and the riot we had �.
last Sunday week. The same situation happened this past Sunday. I passed by the location on 11th Street and there was about
two or three hundred people in front of this particular location, the K -2 Fast Food Store along what used to be El Polino's. I
immediately came home and called the City Manager. The City Manager made various calls and he told me that everything was it
quiet, not to worry. Well, as soon as I hung up the phone from talking with the City Manager, I got a phone call from one of
ii
the people in the neighborhood who said that I needed to get down to the K -2 Grocery Store that [here was going to be a riot
and shooting. I immediately called the City Manager again and told him I was on my way down there. By the time I got there, III
i
the situation was resolved. Nobody was in the parking lot. I appreciate the manner in which the local police force handled this
situation - -No fuss whatsoever. The police met the crowd, told them it was time for them to leave, and they left with no problems it
at all. But, in talking with this particular individual who called me, she said she stopped and asked what was going on as there
were cars parked all up and down Martin Luther King. She said a person told her that there is going to be a riot, a fight, and
we are going to kill us some policemen. In the near future, a recreational center is opening in the old El Polino's building. It
will be licensed to sell liquor and I am foreseeing a problem to erupt here in this area. I just wanted to bring this before Council
and let Council be aware of this. I have talked with the City Manager, the County Judge, Chief Eckhardt and Dale Myers about
things that could be done to alleviate some of the problems in the neighborhood, and the City Manager goes along with me on
this. If, by chance, we can come up with something to put in that area, such as a city office or whatever on a continual basis, that
will shine a light on that darkness, it may make a difference. Possibly use the Martin Luther King Center or the park. When you
cut the light switch on at night roaches Bee -- they look for cover. Right now, it is darkness down there. If we put something that
is going to shine some light in that neighborhood, then it's going to run away. Until then, we can have all the town meetings and
preach in churches, but those individuals who are creating disturbance are not going to go to town meetings or churches. The
sergeant who was there, and I talked to, is going to try a plan and see if it would work. He will initiate his plan this coming '.
Sunday. '..
Councilmember Green. Following up on what Dr. Carter said about the drainage on 18th Street. If the cost to do what
he is doing versus what our original estimated cost would be for solving that problem, that might be something we might want to
look at for other locations if it is a structurally sound procedure. In particular, I was thinking about the area between 7th and
10th Streets where we have a huge area that something similar might be used there to slow the water. I wish that we would
examine what Noah Speer is doing there and determine whether something similar to that would be feasible at other locations
because it appears to be a much lower cost path. I think he reverted back to what we originally estimated our cost would be to
fix that whole area. I think he is doing this for about $25,000, of course, he has a lot of volunteer labor.
Councilmember Lange. Dr. Carter, I have two answers for you and one of them is regarding the gabion baskets. I had
a discussion with Glenn Isbell this afternoon on the subject of gabion baskets and the process specifically in that area there to
reassure me that your concerns last week were being met, and he did. Glenn told me the greatest thing is that Mr. Speer has put
CITY COUNCIL MEfinNG OF SEPTEMBER 1, 1992 BOOK "R" 106
n—
thase reeks pro" will �e our street in that beautiful mck facad�. and 1 dixtjs�d other, cbmss�
to the gabion baskets. There are many other things that are similar, and are not in concrete trenches that you see down in -
!� Houston, and they are very ugly. I want to assure you that Glenn told me that it was OK for downstream. In addition to that,
�.! [ know a couple of other people on that stream who have discussed doing [heir portion with Mc Speer also.
Councilmember Lange. There is another thing I would like to bring up to you. I, like you, like trees very much. I like
for people to plant trees. But, the one thing that I want to emphasize to the City Staff as they go to this church on replanting
is that they don't make the same mistake that the City did down in Founders Park We planted the trees at the wrong time of
'.' the year. If you plant trees when it is 110 degrees outside, you have a 95% chance of those trees not surviving So, if they have
" a regulation or if there client is going to replant trees, let's not waste the money. Let's plant them when they are supposed to
'! be planted.
MEDIA INQUIRIES
None.
ADJOURNMENT
Mayor Hodges recessed the regular session to a Budget Work Session (Item No. 11 on the Agenda). We will reconvene
in the Conference Room to resume review and discussion of Proposed FY 192 -93 Budget and Rates.
Melba ers, City Secretary