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MIN CC 09/04/1990HUNTSVILLE CITY COUNCIL MEETING OF SEPTEMBER 4, 1990 BOOK "0" 187 MINUTES OF THE HUNTSVILLE CITY COUNCIL MEETING HELD ON THE 4TH DAY OF SEPTEMBER, 1990 IN THE CITY HALL COUNCIL CHAMBERS, LOCATED AT 1212 AVENUE M IN THE CITY OF HUNTSVILLE, COUNTY OF WALKER, TEXAS AT P.M. The Council met in a regular session with the following members present: Jane Monday 0. Eugene Barrett City officers present: Gary Bell James L. Carter Gene Pipes, City Manager Ila G. Gaines William B. Green Scott Bounds, City Attorney William H. Knotts, Jr. Percy Howard, Jr. Ruth DeShaw, City Secretary Member absent: William L. Hammock CITIZEN INPUT /INOUIRY SESSION Mr. L. Jack Spence, Jr.. Highway 19. [291- 7588 -W: 291 - 1903 -H]-- concerning sales tax revenue Mr. Spence asked why there has been no publication of the comparison from sales tax revenues from 1990 as opposed to prior years. He said at the time the sales tax was passed, the objective was to be able to reduce the property taxes. He said he feels fairly confident that the amount of sales tax revenue is considerably higher for the seven months of 1990 than it was for these seven months in 1989. Mr. Pipes said "three percent." Mr. Spence asked Mr. Pipes to relate that to dollars and if the proposed 1990 tax rate has been reduced by that amount. Mr. Pipes said the tax rate reduction was in the first year it was collected and all of the calculated tax rate since that time has gone up, but the city has held the tax rate at 38.44 cents, so it has actually gone down from what the calculated rate was in 1987. Mr. Scott Bounds, City Attorney, advised those calculations are available. Mr. Spence asked him to please not play with the numbers. He said we take in "x" ramber of dollars and there is a budget to expend "x" number of dollars. He asked if there was an increase in revenue, where does the money go? He said the City Manager just stated there was a three percent increase in revenue. Mr. Spence said then if there is not a reduction in property taxes, there is an increase in expenditures. Mr. Pipes noted that is correct. Mr. Spence said the objective of the one -half percent sales tax, or as it was represented to be, was to reduce property taxes. It would seem to be logical to an accountant's mind that if the revenue source increases, the property taxes would decrease, he said. Mr. Pipes advised those calculations have been published in the paper each year since that election. Mr. Spence said the property taxes have not been reduced. Mr. Pipes said they have. Mr. Spence said not since the original. The City has a meeting scheduled for the review of the budget, Mr. Spence said, as he saw a notice in the newspaper inviting senior citizens to scrutinize the budget in the meeting scheduled for September 11. Mr. Pipes noted the city will have a public hearing on the budget for the general citizenry on the 11th. Mr. Spence recommended that in order for those people to be more prepared to understand what the city is doing, the city should compare the October 1, 1985 budget to the proposed October, 1990 budget and in that comparison show the number of city employees in 1985 against 1990, the income [revenuel by source, and a break -down of the expenditures by year by category. Mr. Spence said he has a copy of one of the budgets and it is high enough that a show dog couldn't jump over it. He said unless one knows what one is looking at, one can sure play a game with numbers. He said liars don't figure but it's awful easy to play games with them; like moving one revenue account, or one group of departments from one department over into ' another department, and that way hide the increase for those departments. Mr. Spence said he realizes the city has lost its source of unedited news and whether the newspaper remains an unbiased source of news remains to be seen. He said he had his doubts. He said he has made up his mind that he is going to try to be at Least an intermediary until he determines whether or not the Huntsville Item remains an independent source of information for the citizens of this city and county. HUNTSVILLE CITY COUNCIL MEETING OF SEPTEMBER 4, 1990 BOOK "G" 188 FORMAL MEETING Mayor Monday then called the formal session to order. Councilmember and Mayor Pro tem Percy Howard d the invocation. CONSIDER THE MINUTES OF AUGUST 28, 1990 Councilmember Barrett made the motion to accept the minutes of August 18. 1990 as presented and CONSIDER BIDS FOR SEWER PROJECT Mr. Pipes, City Manager, presented the five bids received, ranging from 859,342.50 to $82,690.50. e presented the recomm elation of Mr. Glenn Isbell, Director of Engineering Design, to award the contract o Autery Construction in the amount of $59,342.50. He advised funding should be provided under the capital mprovement budget for areas without sewer which has a balance of approximately 8131,000. Councilmember CONSIDER LANDFILL SOIL TESTING ' ct with Pickett & Jacobs Consultants for landfill soil testing in the Mr. Gene Pipes, City Manager, advised the State Health Department requires certification of the fill pit area as it is Lined. He noted Pickett & Jacobs have been providing this soil testing work for ral years and the staff has been very pleased with their work. He then presented the staff's mmendation to award the bid to them- He advised that the $11,000 is available as a budgeted item. econded the motion. Discussion: Councilmember Green asked if the State requires that the city have an ndependent inspection. Mr. Johnny Poteete, Director of Public Works, advised they do require that the city aye an engineer with a geotechnical background to actually do the certification; this expertise and quipment are not available on the city staff. Upon a vote on the nation, all were in favor and the motion MAYOR'S ACTIVITY REPORT - -JANE MONDAY -- Spoke on the occasion of Rev. Joe Barnes' 30th anniversary with the church. tub -- Met with representatives concerning the City -wide Arbor Day plans, which will inc Lude a number of other groups and activities. She noted proposals will be brought back to the Council. Mayor Monday presented Mr. Dave Cich, President of the Walker County Chamber of Commerce. Mr. Cich ' i a copy of the proposed letter of response, as follows: HUNTSVILLE CITY COUNCIL MEETING OF SEPTEMBER 4, 1990 BOOK "0 "' The Honorable Kazuo Suzuki Mayor, Niiharu Village 365 Fuse Niiharu -Mura, Tone -Gun Gumma Prefecture, 379 -14 Japan It is my honor and privilege to inform you that on August 28th the HuntsvilLe City Council voted unanimously to establish a Sister City program with Niiharu Village. In order to implement and coordinate the program, the City Council also approved the establishment of a Sister City Steering Committee to be made up of individuals from the community and representatives of various community organizations. Regarding your interest in visiting Huntsville, we would like to extend an invitation for you and other representatives of Niiharu Village to visit our community in early 1991, dates to be determined. This schedule will alLow adequate time for the Sister City Steering Committee to be appointed and organized in order to give you and your delegation our best Huntsville and Texas welcome! Possibly your visit could coincide with the General Sam Houston Festival, scheduled for April 19 -21, 1991. The Folk Festival features exhibits, costumes, and arts and crafts from the 19th and early 20th centuries, which may tie -in well with the Artisan Village in your city. Please advise me how you wish to proceed regarding the student exchange and economic exchange programs. The Sister City Steering Committee wilt work with you in order to develop programs and schedules which work best for both cities. I am pleased to give you the good news that Huntsville shares Niiharu ViLlage's enthusiasm about establishing a Sister City program between our cities. I look forward to your visit next year, and I am looking forward to a long, mutually beneficial relationship. Yours truly, Jane Monday, Mayor 189 Mr. Cich then presented an initial list of the names of six individuals that have made a commitment to serve on the sister city committee, as follows: Margi Carey, Palmetto Construction /Realty Ed Smith GLoria Wright, Huntsville Travel Dave Cich, Chamber of Commerce DaLe Wright, Huntsville TraveL Mike Penny He said Mr. Penny responded to the newspaper article and is very excited about this and wants very much to be involved. He said Mr. Penny is from Houston and used to work for a steel firm that did business in Japan; he could be an added resource. He said his address is in Dodge but he is forming a regional business here and is thinking about expansion. He said Roseanne Friedman also responded to the article and called to express some interest, although he has not yet taLked with her. He said Col. Ed Smith spoke to Margi Carey who in turn will present some other names of people who may wish to serve. ' Mr. Cich said he has not yet talked to all of the community organizations, however, the Rotary Club President has expressed an interest in becoming involved, and the HISD Superintendent, Mr. Dale Dixon, expressed an interest that the HISD be involved. Mr. Cich said there will be other names coming and that this is just an initial List. HUNTSVILLE CITY COUNCIL MEETING OF SEPTEMBER 4, 1990 BOOK "D" 190 Mayor Monday asked the Council to consider the letter. With the exception of one typographical Councilmember Bell made the motion to approve of this letter and Councilmember Green seconded the Mayor Monday then asked for approval of the initial steering committee members. She thanked the local news media for their coverage of the call for interested citizens to work on this steering committee. She requested that this be done again to provide the opportunity to others who may have missed this information the first time. Councilmember Barrett made the motion to approve of the initial steering _committee members, as listed above. and Councilmember Howard seconded the motion. Discussion: Councilmember Knotts said he recalls that the minutes of last week reflect that the Council voted '-not to use governmental funds for this program" and that all activities will be funded by private community fund raising efforts. The Mayor noted this is true. Councilmember Knotts said as he understands this sister city relationship in Japan, they are primarily agricuLturaL or very similar to Huntsville. He suggested that if the City were to receive a sister city from some other country, that it look at some city that is industrialized; i.e., the wood products companies, so that Huntsville could correlate its raw products with their manufactured products and perhaps realize the possibility of having them put a plant in Huntsville. [While some people object to foreign plants caning into the United States, he said, we have a Lot of foreign investment in the United States.] He said he would look at a city where, together, we could manufacture something, rather than somebody just exactly like us. Mayor Monday noted this is a point well made and certainly one that Dave Cich may want to look into further. She said if this program is successful, he might be encouraged to look at some others. She said one of the economic products we are hoping to exchange with them is cattle andto provide a market for what is being raised here now in Walker County. Mr. Cich advised Europe was mentioned as another possibility as there is a lot of economic potential there. Councilmember Barrett noted Mr. Cich's wife was involved with the sister city program in Corpus Christi and he hopes she can be involved with this committee. Mr. Cich said his wife has just begun a new job, but will act as a resource person. He said Floyd Moore has offered to help host the Japanese when they arrive. He said there is also a new foreign graduate student that just started at the Criminal Justice Center, Chyoko Kobayashi, who wiLL be here for two years, and who can serve as a resource. He said Col. Smith knows five or six Japanese origin residents in Huntsville and the surrounding area and wiLL be contacting them. He said there are more resources here than he anticipated. Upon a vote on the motion, all were in favor and the motion passed unanimously. Mayor Monday expressed her appreciation to Mr. Cich for being the facilitator for this program and his willingness to serve on the steering committee. Mr. Cich advised he will provide the Mayor with a corrected letter for her signature. COUNCIL ACTION Councilmember Green relayed a comment from a citizen who felt the Bike Route signs are too close gether, not very attractive, and do not serve a very usefuL purpose. He commended the work of the Parks ard, but advised he has been told by a citizen that where people bike has no relationship to those signs. yor Monday explained the Parks Board recommended these signs to connect the parks system. Mayor Monday vised the sign faces are standardized and when there is a standard, we must use it. Councilmember Green id that doesn't make them pretty. RECESS TO WORK SESSION Mayor Monday then recessed the meeting to the posted work session to review the Tourist Council requests and to resume the review of the City's general FY 1990 -1991 budget. RespectfuLLy submitted, —Ruth D€Saw, City Secretary September 4, 1990