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MIN CC 04/09/1991CITY COUNCIL MEETING OF APRIL 9, 1991 BOOK "0" 349 J The Council met MINUTES & THE HUNTSVILLE CITY COUNCIL MEETING HELD ON THE 9TH DAY OF APRIL, 1991 IN THE CITY HALL COUNCIL W. H. Hodges, Mayor CHAMBERS, LOCATED AT 1212 AVENUE M IN THE CITY OF HUNTSVILLE, COUNTY OF WALKER, TEXAS AT 5:30 P.M. J The Council met in a regular session with the following members present: W. H. Hodges, Mayor William B. Green City officers present: 0. Eugene Barrett William H. Knotts, Jr. Gene Pipes, City Manager James L. Carter Ronald L. Lange Scott Bounds, City Attorney Charles Robinson Ruth DeShaw, City Secretary Members Absent: ILa Gaines; Gary Bell CALL TO ORDER Mayor Hodges called the meeting to order. City Manager, Gene Pipes, presented the invocation. CONSIDER THE MINUTES OF THE PREVIOUS MEETING Councilmember Barrett made the motion to approve of the minutes of March 28 1991 and Councilmember Robinson seconded the motion. All were in favor and the motion Dassed unanimously. CONSIDER RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE HUNTSVILLE ARTS COMMISSION Downtown Streetscaoe Plan Mr. Pipes advised several weeks ago, Mr. Kim Wi LLiams, Architect form Austin made a final presentation of the streetscape plan. He said the Council asked for additional review time and for all of the documentation of all input received about any aspect of the downtown project made over the evolution of the plan. He said some of that was provided in the packet, separate from the agenda. Additional information was left at each member's desk tonight from Linda Pease, Coordinator, Arts Commission. He said it includes a summary of notes from a handicapped group, the Texas Rehabilitation Commission [American Disabilities Act? Meeting and some information from David Zeller and Bruce Fulenwider on downtown landscaping. He then presented the downtown streetscape plan for the Council's consideration. Dr. Jack Staggs, Chairman, Arts Commission, asked for the Counci Lis approval of the concept as presented '. by Mr. Kim WiLLiams. The streetscape layout was again provided for the Counci Lai review. Counci Lmember Knotts !' asked if the Council was to accept this plan with detaiLs, or would it be subject to any change that a block group would want to change. Dr. Staggs said the Commission would want input from representatives of the nine block area when it begins to develop specifics. Mayor Hodges said the Commission is simply looking for approval !' of the concept. Dr. Staggs said if the concept is approved by the Council, the Commission will then have suggestions or recommendations about how to implement and this would involve input from individuals within the nine block area as well as other people. He said they are receiving comments daily. CounciLmember Knotts noted there was information in the packet from citizens about which he was previously unaware. He felt many of the comments the citizens made are good suggestions and should be incorporated. He said he would rather the Council not adopt this streetscape plan "in detail," but to adopt "the concept" of the downtown !. streetscaping /landscaping. He said as Ms. Pease noted in a recant meeting at the HEAP building, the citizens, comments are not yet incorporated into this report. He asked Ms. Pease if she kept notes on the changes suggested at that meeting. Ms. Pease said those notes are not included in the comments but they are in the packet of information given to the Counci L. Mr. Knotts said he did not see those notes in the bound folder the Council received on their report because the changes were not made to it as was suggested. Ms. Pease said Mr. Williams is agreeabLe to making his final report after aLL the blocks meet and he is not interested in hurrying, so there will be time for that. Dr. Staggs said this report is a draft copy. CounciLmember Knotts wanted to be sure that the input included in the packet from other people is still being considered and this report is not a final report. Councilmember Green asked what it means to adopt the concept. Dr. Staggs said adopting the concept means the City wants to get into implementing it. Dr. Staggs said the Arts Commission's second recommendation is than that some city staff member be designated to provide the coordination, leadership, etc. for this. He noted they have a number of suggestions along that Line. He said someone with authority has to be given sane direction. Councilmember Green said he does not see a problem with what sees as the details of the plan, while he may not agree with every point of it. He said if the concept is approved, have we also approved the details. CITY COUNCIL MEETING OF APRIL 9, 1991 BOON "0" 350 Dr. Staggs said "no." CounciLmember Green asked then if the Council would be asked to approve "each" detail_ Mayor Hodges asked Dr. Staggs to outline the procedure. Dr. Staggs presented the second suggestion, noting the Commission is not proposing to tell the Council what to do or how to implement a plan, but it has been thinking . and working on this plan for three to four years so they do have some ideas about it. The plan they see, he said, is to assign someone from city staff to have the responsibility for implementing the plan. He said secondLy, the city should appoint a three to seven person review committee so that the ideas that are formulated' can be screened and developed. He said in that they would see someone like a planning commissioner, a Landscaping professional or a utilities, historical or cultural person, noting there are a number of representations that might be on such a review committee. He said he feels it would be important that the Council have a voLunteer coordinator to do the leg work and to work with individuals, particuLarly in the downtown area. He said the Commission envisions that meetings would be held with different interest groups, particularly with representatives from the different blocks and that some review procedures would be developed' whereby ideas for each block would be discussed. He said the third recommendation is that the Council fund a prototype on the north side which would involve input from the downtown people and this would give the Commission an indication of such things as benches, lamps, plantings, etc. He said it would be at this point that the Council would get details and than a packet would be presented back to them by the appointed city staff member. He said this is their thinking. Councilmember Green noted then if the Council approves the concept, it is approving something like this implementation pLan. Dr. Staggs said this is what the Commission is recommending as this will enable the project to get started. CounciLmember Green asked if this should be in the form of a motion. Mayor Hodges suggested the Council make a motion to approve the concept as presented. Councilmember Green suggested a motion to "approve the implementation plan" because that is really what the Council is doing, rather than endorsing a concept. He felt the concept is such a nebulous thing. Mayor Hodges said then the Commission will come back with more precise information. Councilmember Knotts said what the Council is trying to say is that it wants ' the plan to landscape the downtown area and this is what we would be approving. Councilmember Green asked then who is to take the initiative with regard to the implementation plan. Councilmember Knotts said then the Council would have to approve the agenda they have presented. Councilmember Lange said it would have to come back to the Council. Councilmember Knotts said if we put the block representatives in there, the people in that particular block my want to change the tree locations, etc. as shown on the plan in their particular block and they should be able to do that. Councilmember Green felt that would be part of the implementation plan. CounciLmember Knotts noted this would be in accordance to the city's Comprehensive Plan. CounciLmember Barrett said it does not necessarily have to come back to the Council if the people of the block participate. CounciLmember Green then made the motion to approve of the concept including the suggested Plan of action as recommended by the Arts Commission and Councilmember Barrett seconded the motion All were in favor and the motion Passed unanimously. [Note: Councilme hers Gaines and Bell are absent.] Councilmember Green asked who would be responsible for assigning the city staff member to manage the implementation of the plan. Mayor Hodges said the City Manager, Gene Pipes, will make that recommendation. City Manager Pipes said he will carefully consider Mr. J. D. Schindler's appointment as Community DeveLopment Director, as he felt his back is broad enough and we may just "add another saddle." He said that is the direction is he going at this time. Councilmember Knotts suggested getting Dale Brown, City Planner, more involved. Mr. Pipes said he has a broad back also. Councilmember Knotts said he is probably more knowledgeable than all of us. Summer Theater Festival Mr. Pipes, City Manager, then presented the recommendations from the Huntsville Arts Commission concerning the Summer Theater Festival, directed by SHSU and known as the HEAP Productions. Ms. Linda Pease, Project Coordinator, advised these recommendations are based on information and requests from Dr. James Miller for the SHSU Drama Department: , 1. That the contract with the University Drama Department, under the direction of Dr. James Miller, be written for 1991 to include the traditional children's production and musical review with an increase in price of tickets for the children's show from 52.00 for adults and $1.00 for children to 54.00 for adults and $2 for children. The musical review would repLace the family musical and, with a lesser production cost, would enable the University to stay within the budget which includes $8,000 hotel /motel tax from the City; and CITY COUNCIL MEETING OF APRIL 9, 1991 BOOK "g" 351 2. That the Arts Commission provide $1,000 from its unallocated funds to help make up a deficit of $2,477 J� in the 1990 project; the shortage resulted from Light attendance at the two shows, probably because of unfamiliar titles. Ms. Pease noted when Dr. Miller apprised the Commission of the status of the project, he noted that the present budget of $8.000 from the Huntsville Arts Commission is the same as in 1977 when the City first contracted for the Festival. She said it is increasingly difficult to operate under this budget because of increasing costs '! for production. Councilmember Carter said he is curious where the Arts Commission stands on their budget if the City takes $1,000 out of it. Dr. Staggs said they have the $1,000 or they would not be making this recommendation, but they are getting close on the budget. He said if this is approved, the Commission has $500 in carry - forward and some $1,500 in unallocated funds. Mr. Pipes said they run pretty "close to the fence" all the time. He said their regular budget for 1991 is about six months into it and they are at 50 percent of their allocation. He said these monies come from the reserve funds unexpended from the prior year that can't be used for anything else anyway, and from reserve funds that are specifically set aside on which they make recommendations for special projects. Councilmember Robinson made the motion to approve of these recommendations of the Huntsville Arts ".. Commission regarding the Summer Theater Festival and Councilmember Barrett seconded the motion. All were in favor and the motion passed unanimously. CONSIDER FINANCIAL AUDIT Consider the presentation of the annual financial report as prepared by Ms. Candice Dixon. CPA, and recommended ' by the Finance Committee of the City Council, Counci Lmember BiLI Green, Chairman Councilmember Green, Chairman, advised the Finance Committee has met with the City's internal auditor, Mrs. Candy Dixon, to review items relative to the audit. He said she was very complimentary of the city on every aspect. He said there were a couple of things she questioned: water, sewer and sanitation costs, which shows a loss this last year; it shows positive cash flow, but after depreciation, showed a loss. He said the city was already aware that it was doing that and it was a purposeful decision and not a surprise. He said her only other concern was that the city's insurance fund has a very small margin. He said the city was already aware of that and made adjustments in July in the funding process. He said some of those, however, were not implemented until January 1 because of the phasing. He said the city is actually better off there than it anticipated. He said the City is in pretty good shape. Mayor Hodges asked if this was the city health insurance. Councilmeaber Green said the city seLf-funds that and the reserves it has for that were small, but adjustments were made for that in July. Councilmeaber Green then made a motion that the City Council accept the Auditor's Report as presented and complimented the City staff on a iob very well done in regard to the report and Councilmember Knotts seconded the motion. All were in favor and the motion passed unanimously. CONSIDER FOUNDER'S SPRING PARK Consider a proposal to modify the plans for off - street parking and Founder's Spring Park for Walker County as a ioint city /county proiect, as recommended by committee chair. Councilmember Gary Bell. Mayor Hodges advised Counci Lmember Bell is out of town and has asked Councilmember Carter to present this item for consideration. Councilmenber Carter said CounciLmember Bell worked very log and hard on this project as he cares a great deal about this project. He expressed Councilmember Bell's apology for being unable to be present. Councilmeober Carter then presented an interlocal agreement with the County Commissioners. He said he and Councilmenber Lange attended one or some of the meetings and in this the city shares an interest with them. He said both the city and the county want parking for the downtown. He said their movement of their employees out of the downtown parking area will help the merchants who have been upset with the City Council for some number of years about not providing enough parking. He said it is a city- county shared interest to ' free up some parking in the downtown. Secondly, he said the County Commissioners expressed that they were never opposed to green space or parks, but their rain concern was with parking. He said as long as they can get their '? parking needs met that they were all in favor or and sorry there had ever been any disagreements about the green space or the park concept. Councilmember Carter said what they basically agreed to do is to take the northwest corner of the Spring Site where their parking Lot and spring site development will occur and leave that out as a green space rather CITY COUNCIL MEETING OF APRIL 9, 1991 BOOK -1 352 than parking. He said the city will provide them with 20 designated spaces in the Ernst Parking Lot that the city is presently leasing. He said the city will agree to vegetate and maintain the green space on the spring site and will provide curb, sidewe Lks, some seating [picnic tables, benches] and possibly restrow facilities [however, that is at the city's discretion and is not intended for immediate consideration], assist with the asphalt part of this project, and fill dirt. He said the County advised that the northwest corner dirt probably isn't the best for vegetation at present, so if they could scoop out a little of that bad dirt, the city could bring in a little top soil and that is part of the agreement also. (As an aside, Counci[member Carter said whi Le this may not be a part of this agreement, the county also wants to a acquire one more handicap parking space on the southwest side of the Courthouse Square near Cafe Texan with the idea that the city can restripe the north side and gain a regular parking space there so we are really not taking a regular space away but are just gaining one space on one side and converting the other one to a handicap space. Gene Pipes, City Manager, said this has nothing to do with the Founder's Spring agreement. Councilmember Carter said this just came up in the discussion and he is just passing this on to the Council and City Manager now.] Councilmember Carter said this seems to be what the Council directed the Council - appointed Committee, chaired by Councilmember Bell, to achieve. He said this will provide a link between Haas' painting which will go on the building next to the site, and provide a nice green space just down the street. It will hopefully connect in some way, Indian Creek Park, the Haas painting, the Sam Houston Grave Site and the downtown Square. He said it does not leave that gap that might have been there otherwise. He felt it is a good agreement because 1: it does what the City Council asked the Committee to achieve and the County Commissioner's get their parkingil and the city gets its green space that is downtown and available to all citizens. He said the only other provision is that this lot will continue to belong to the County; the City will not own that property. He said! if for whatever reason, the city ever loses the 20 parking spaces in the Ernst lot, the city will have six months to find 20 more spaces somewhere within a half block of the Courthouse Square and if that is not done,',! the county gets that property back and everyone need to understand, at that point, if they want to make that a parking lot, they can do that. He said what we really get is some time to try to solve that problem if that occurs. He said he does not expect to lose those 20 spaces, but it needs to be understood the city does not l own that green space and this is an agreement that says we will provide 20 spaces or we have to give up that green space at some time. He again recommended approval of the agreement. Counci[member Carter made the motion '',,I to adopt the interloca[ agreement between the City of Huntsville and Walker County to provide for Founder si'.. Spring Park on the northeast corner of University Avenue at 10th Street with an amendment that the six month i! Provision be added concerning the time during which the city must find 20 parking spaces for County employees �j within one -half block of the downtown square should they no longer have 20 spaces in the Ernst lot at some time 'iI in the future. Counci[member Knotts seconded the motion. Discussion: Mayor Hodges asked the Council to refer to page 14 in the packet, rating Counci[member Carter is referring to a map of proposed parking spaces, numbered 81.100. Councilmember Barrett said he does not remember asking the committee or Gary Bell, or anyone, to trade off 20 parking spaces. He said the Council asked them to meet with the County and to come back to the Council, not to make a decision and not to make it look so final, because he said this Council is obligating future Councilmembers to have to find 20 parking lei spaces. He said there are not many places a half block from the Square where we could find this. He said the it Council is also obligating the future Councils to be in an awkward position with the County if they have to go back and plow up the park. He said it is not fair to put them in a position to where a Lot of our civic clubs l! and people will put their time and effort into this pocket park and than to have it just turned back into all parking lot. He said the people that are getting this together know that this will not happen. He said he is'� certainly in favor of parks, but the City has Rather Park downtown and the way that the County proposed this, they have an area for the Spring and they have an area for the green space. He said it is their land and he 1,i felt they should be able to develop it just like they first brought their plan to the Council. He said he 11 didn't feel this Council should obligate future city councils or future officials to have to find another 20'x' parking spaces somewhere else a half a block from the Square. Counci[member Lange said he attended the first couple of meetings of this Committee, but was not present at the final meting of the Commissioners. He said from the very beginning he has been concerned about the'; costs and obligating the city to do something there and then coming back in and plowing it up. He said he is jl still concerned about that. He said if this agreement is approved, he wants to make sure that the city, in the l': process of implementing whatever type of park it does, that it keeps the cost at the very, very miniaun and that! r. CITY COUNCIL MEETING OF APRIL 9, 1991 BOOK "g" 353 P y - l plowed under. He said one thing he was Vii. it watch and progress with it with the idea that some da nt could be ! not privy to before s the agreement to provide the fill dirt and he heard about it Last night when ); Counci Lmenber Bell called him. He asked where the fill dirt wiLl come from, will it be top soil, and how much is the city going to pay for it, can the city get it off its own Land, etc.? Mr. Gene Pipes, City Manager, said j he had no plans at this time and has not Looked into it pending the Council's decision. He said it will ;! probably be 5,000 square feet of area at two feet deep, or some 1500 yards of material. Councilmember Knotts !� noted it wilL be more Like 300 yards. Mr. Pipes said that would require about 20 dump truck Loads. He said he does not know if the city has the appropriate fill available because the only stock piles it has is for road material. He said there may be what could be considered top soil at the Landfill, but other than that, if we are going to plant grass we may need to find some better material. Counci lmember Knotts said clay is the best for growing grass, especially San Augustine. Councilmember Barrett reminded the Council the city has the Eastham-Thomason park to develop that will cost some money and it has the gift the Gibbs family has given the j City and the City will be on a time schedule to develop that and it will require money, the community center, it etc. He said he wants this Council to remember that these parks cost money and they cost money to maintain. He said the city is going to be park poor before it knows it. He asked the Council to think about this before i.. the Council gets into it because it is going to be more money and more time for our parks people. Councilmember Lange asked CounciLmember Carter if Councilmember Bell did any financial analysis on this agreement. Councilmember Carter said he does not have any figures. He said the Council does not have to this tomorrow or in the next two or three months because the City has some time to develop the park because the County is working on the parking Lot and they have to develop the Spring site. Over time, he said, the Council can work out the cost calculations. He agreed with Councilmember Lange that the Council should know some of the figures here in terms of the costs, but he cannot give him a specific figure. He shared his concern about the maintenance of parks. One of his concerns, he said, is that the City has gone out and taken what would have been low maintenance parks and created high maintenance parks but removing vegetation that was there. He said in this instance, we have a non -green space, a space that does not have vegetation on it that we are going to improve rather than necessarily create destruction. He said the City is gaining something here rather than losing something. He said since it is downtown and will be much more available to most citizens than the Bush - Miller Park, it seems to him to be much more worth the expenditure- He said this is as much as he can say, noting he does not have an exact cost figure, however, he didn't feet it would be very expensive. Councilmember Knotts was talking about a number for the top soil, he said, and we are talking about a fairly minimal amount .' of trees and bushes and then just some maintenance in terms of grass cutting, etc. Counci Lmember Knotts felt most of the vegetation and Landscaping will be done on a volunteer basis. Councilmember Lange said he does not feel the city can sit and wait because if the Council is going to commit to this, it is committed to go in right away and at least put some top soil down, or some type of soil that will grow grass and get some grass in there. He said he would be ashamed and disappointed in the City Council if it wouldn't do anything; if it just Left a pile of dirt. He felt the city is committed to do something right now. Councilmember Carter said he didn't mean the city should do nothing, but that it didn't need to have a full blown parking there within the next few weeks and it can take its time in terms of the trees that might go in, etc. Councilmember Barrett said the city (; cannot ask the County to wait on that certain area because it has to do the whole thing in a stepwise fashion. I, Counciiineober Carter said the County is ready to go ahead with their parking Lot and they will go ahead and just Leave that space out so the city will not be holding them up at all. Councilmember Knotts said he does not feel that this agreement will be obligating a future council because it can be terminated in 45 days and another parking Lot would be able to be terminated in 30 days, so the Council is really not obligating anybody for any length of time. Councilmember Green said he didn't feel this will obligate a future Council for anything relative to parking because essentially, when the City's Lease runs out on the Ernst Land, than the Counc it will, at that point, make the decision with regard to that. He said there are a coupLe of aspects of the interlocaL agreement with which he has a Little bit of a problem that he thinks needs some clarification. With regard to providing restroom facilities, he said, would the city then be responsible, if it chose to do that, for maintaining those ' or would they, because they are on County property, be the County's responsibility? He said he has problems with that even being in the agreement. Mayor Hodges felt the development of the park will be a city plan and the city would agree to put in it and maintain it. Councilmember Green referred to the item stating the city will explore the possibility of a gazebo; he said it appears we are going to have a "gazebo" and a "port -a- poddy." He said he didn't see the point of even having those kinds of items in the agreement because they're so nebulous and they do not indicate who will be responsible, the initiating factor, and he does not think that should be a part of this kind of contractual relationship because it implies, almost, an obligation to pursue ', CITY COUNCIL MEETING OF APRIL 9, 1991 BOOK "0" 354 it when he does not think that any of this Council, at this point, other than perhaps Councilmember Bell, has a real interest in doing that. He said he does not consider this the most important historical place in Huntsville and thinks there are a Lot of things in Huntsville that are more important than this Spring Site although he would like to see it preserved. Mayor Hodges said he suspects the development and plan of that will be strictly a city decision and he personally sees that, if it is done as a Rather -type park with a picnic bench, without all of the port -a- poddies and gazebos, etc. Councilmember Lange asked Councilmember Carter how the port -a -poddy got in there. Counci Lmember Carter said what we are looking at here is a County Commissioner just wishing that maybe we could have that at some point and they are set in the contract in the way that the city is not obligated. He said the contract does not hinge on those things being there. He said he does not think the Commissioner's would turn it down if those two acknowledgements - -that they would be nice to have, arc that we could do it - -were in there. 0 Councilmember Barrett said in regard to the obligation to future councils, he feels this Council wi Wh be obligating them to find another site if this parking place is lost. Concilmember Green disagreed.11 ti Councilmember Barrett said the City will make the County look bad by having to plow up a park in which many of,,] our civic clubs have devoted their time. He said if the Council thinks this is right, he does not agree.�ll CounciLmember Green said the County does not have to sign this. Councilmember Barrett said he feels this would] be an injustice to a future council. Councilmember Green said the City can put ell this in tomorrow and say'', it is not going to have a lease on the Ernst parking lot anymore, and then it is in their ballpark again. Mayor Hodges felt enough discussion had taken place and called for a vote the motion. Councilmembern Green asked that before a vote is taken he would like to amend the motion. Councilmember Green said he wilV't be in favor of this nation if it includes the amendment to leave out the item in the contract which states:'i "The City and County agree to explore the possibility of constructing a Gazebo at the Founder's Spring." He'j also requested leaving out the " restroom facility" because he didn't want to have any part of maintaining that, it but if he county wants to put a restroom on their property and maintain it, that is fine with him, however, he's, is not interested in the city doing that. He asked that the reference to a restroom facility in item 4 (b) be! deleted. Mayor Hodges noted then the amending motion is to approve the agreement as presented with the deLetionl of the Gazebo and the restroom. City Attorney Bounds noted some other changes he has made are: Paragraph 1'i changes the spaces marked from 80 to 81; paragraph 3 becomes paragraph (a); paragraph (b) is that "if the city'.. ceases to lease the property at 12th Street and Avenue M, the County agrees to allow the city six months to, li provide suitable parking . . ." Councilmenbers Carter and Knotts accepted these amendments to their original!' nation. tin a vote on this amended motion all were in favor except Council Barrett, who remained opposed.;I The motion passed, however, by a vote of six to one. [Note: Councilmembers Bell and Gaines are absent.) CITY MANAGER'S REPORT- -GENE PIPES Overview of the Finance Department by Director of Finance. Patricia Allen. Departmental structure and function: Patricia Allen, Director of Finance, advised the main areas of! her supervision are: accounting, which is basically maintenance of the general accounting system, responsibl e for tax collections, customer service [which handles the city services building which is the water, sewer a; sanitation]; programming and maintenance on the finance computer and do personal computer support for most all; personal computer operations. She said she handles the general finance which is the investments and cash management, the budget, the audit, and financial reporting. She then presented a general organizational chart!, which showed her position and each of the functions: the accounting function with an accounting supervisor, accounts payable clerk and a payroll clerk. She said there is one programmer who supports the computer in the,''.. finance department and an intern recently approved in last year's budget that works under the supervision of', the programmer and who has been a great help in the overall operations. She said they have cataloged aLL of;: the personal computers and have done a lot of maintenance work on the personal computers. In Customer Servi ce,',.I there are three clerical people and three meter readers working under the supervision of the Customer Service!! Supervisor. She said the city purchased its first mini - computer in 1975 from NCR. She said the current system,'', also NCR, was purchased in the spring of 1990. She said they are still using the original software purchased'., from NCR in most of the city's applications. She said the payroll system is still in use, however, one of the'.', major goals this year is to rewrite it or purchase a new payroll system. She said the current system has'', undergone so many modifications that it is now rather piecemeal. She said she is also working on enhancementsk in the city services billing area also. !j Ms. Allen said the investment policy in use is the policy adopted by the Council in September of 1990. She said the city has approximately 70 percent of its funds invested through TEX -Pool and 30 percent in CITY COUNCIL MEETING OF APRIL 9, 1991 BOOK "g" 355 certificates of deposit. She said they are using a cash concentration account, sweeping that money out daily to TEX -Pool or in certificates of deposit and this seems to have worked very, very well for the City. Councilmember Carter asked how well we are doing on TEX -Pool. Ms. Allen said the interest rates are down in TEX -Pool just as they are everywhere else. She said now we are earning about 7.2 percent at TEX -POOL and the city's C.D.-s are a Little under 7 percent at the bank. She said at the beginning of the year, the city was earning about 8.25 to 8.50 percent with TEX -Pool as compared to 7.25 percent with the certificates of deposit. However, she said now we do not have quite that much spread, but it is definitely a little bit higher interest rate. Mr. Gene Pipes, City Manager, advised the City has been dealing with a problem for some time in the operation of the Customer Service Department. He said the City intends to change the hours of operation to 9:00 AM. to 5:00 P.M. and will keep the doors closed so that the clerical work can get done between 8:00 A.M. and 9:00 A.M. and then they will be able to concentrate on the customers without having to check all the cash drawers, making reports and investing the money in TEX -Pool. The city needs all hands no deck that first hour of the morning in order to get general operations done, he said. He noted these new hours will be implemented in the very near future. He said this is the same time procedure used in the Municipal Court. Mayor Hodges -, noted the drive -in depository is open 24 hours a day, however. Bond Issue strategies and time Line: Ms. Allen said it is now time for the CounciL to review its bond issue requirements for the remaining infrastructure improvements. She said Mr. Rennie Baker of Cowen & Company, the City's bond counsel, has provided a notice of sale for the general obligation bond issue which will require formal action. She said on April 30, the staff will be coming back with information on the water and sewer portion of that. She then gave a brief history of how we have gotten to where the city is and to review what the plans are and how the city intends to fund the remaining part of the bond issue. Ms. Allen said the infrastructure improvements are made up of two very distinct parts: the street portion of the infrastructure improvements, which is funded with general obligation bonds, which are supported out of the tax revenue; and the water and sewer infrastructure improvements, which have been done ahead of the street improvements, and are being funded solely with the water and sewer fund. She said the city has used capital project monies, which have been accumulated from several sources, but the main source has been monies that were available from operations in prior years; the funds that were available at the end of the year, revenues in excess of budgets, or expenditures under budgets were transferred into a capital projects fund. These monies were accumulated and used for the infrastructure improvements. She said as of the current budget year, as of September 30, all of those monies will have been allocated. She said she will discuss the general obligation and then the water and sewer portion of it because they are so interrelated, but she will try to keep them separated. "General Obligation Bonds." Ms. Allen advised in 1984, voters approved a two million dollar bond issue for the beginning of the infrastructure improvements. She said at that time, no tax increase was required and !, the voters were promised there would not be a tax increase and they approved the bond issues. At that point, she said, there has been a drop off in the debt service rate, so there was no tax increase required. In August of 1987, the voters were again asked to approve a 54.5 million dollar street bond issue to complete the ten year infrastructure improvement project. She said they did approve the 54.5 million. In 1988, she said, the city issued $2 million of the $4.5 million. At the same time that the bond issue was placed before the voters in 1987, the voters were asked to decide whether to increase the sales tax from 1 percent to 1 1/2 percent. In doing so, she said, the law required that the property tax rate be adjusted so that the total revenues remain basicaLLy the same, but the source of revenues were different. She said voters did approve that increase. In Jaruery of 1988, the sales tax increase went into effect. In October of 1988, the property tax was reduced from 52 cents to 38.44 cents, which was what the voters had been told would happen. The tax rate for debt service increased from 14 cents to 18 cents. She said the tax rate is really divided into two things: we have a 38.44 cent tax rate and a portion of that tax rate is used to fund the general fund operations and a portion is used ' to fund the debt. She said the portion of the tax rate that funded the debt increased because of the debt on the bond issue, but the overall tax rate decreased from 52 cents to 38.44 cents. The $2.5 million that the city is asking for issue now is the second portion of that $4.5 million issued approved in 1987, she said. The work on the capital streets has been done by a capital construction crew which is included in the capital improvement budget, Ms. Allen noted. She said approximately $200,000 a year is transferred from the general fund to the capital budget. ALL of the materials for the capital street improvements are coming from the bond monies, from the $2 million in 1988 and the 52.5 million that is up for issue raw, she stated. CITY COUNCIL MEETING OF APRIL 9, 1991 BOOK "g" 356 Ms. Allen said the remaining portion of the infrastructure still undone is estimated to cost $2 million The difference between $2.5 million and the 42 million, or $500,000, can be used for other street improvements sidewalks, or it can be used to pay the interest on the debt. She said the pink sheet each of the Council he basically takes a comparison of what the city-s debt requirements are by year under its existing debt structur and takes the total required for debt, after the issue of the $2 million, and the Council will see that in th year 1994.95, under the column "Total for Issue," the debt drops from $682,000 to $254,000. She said th Council will also notice under the second column that the recommended repayment of the S2.5 issue, the firs three years, the $191,615, the $189,440 and the $187,265 are the additional monies that wilt be needed to pa the debt on the 82.5 million dollar issue over and above what we are paying for debt now. She said when we Be to the 1994-1995, the debt level after the issue of the $540,000 is actually less than our current year debt She said once we get to 1994 -95, the current tax structure will pay for that debt, but the city needs to com up with the method of funding that additional debt for the next three years. Councilmember Carter said the Council has to come up with $191,000 one year and $186,000 . . . and have to find a way, in addition to what we have, to do that. Or, City Manager Pipes said, pay it out of bond issue itself. Mayor Hodges said Ms. Allen will give the Council three or four options on how to pay 8600,000. Ms. Allen summarized the options: The City can fund a portion of this 8568,000 from the interest earnings on the bonds. Very roughl estimated, the city can earn approximately $266,000 on the $2.5 million. That $266,000 could t applied toward that $568,000 that it needs over the next three year period. The estimated princips left after the $2 million will be 5500,000. The city can take the balance out of that $500,000, s $302,000 could come out of the 8500,000. The city is going to issue $2.5 million and it needs 9 million to complete the streets; that is $500,000 it can take a portion of to pay off the additions debt. 2. Because the sates tax increase went into effect January 1, 1988, the tax rate was reduced in October'. of 1988 and during that time period, the city collected 5415,000 in sales tax. The Council at the time elected not to spend that sales tax money and it was set aside in an account called "sales tax' reserve." The intent was that when it came time to issue this second $2.5 million, rather than having', to pass a large tax increase on to the customers, that this money would be available and it could bal! used for debt should the current council so wishes. There is no legal restraint on how that money isil. spent. Basically the City Council has total leeway on how it obligates that money. The only thing thq'� Council may wish to pay close attention to is that it be obligated for a capital expenditure, becausa it is a non- generating source of revenue - -once it is spent, it is gone. if it is spent on salaries,', of course, it would have to generate the money to pay the salary structure. The City will probably want to keep the money dedicated for capital improvements. Out of that sales tax reserve, the S89,000� that was spent on the land for the cultural center was funded; of course, that money is to be repai but as for money in the bank now, it is not there. There is approximately 8326,000 in that sales tax�ll set aside reserve that could be spent. III 3. The Councit also, several years ago, set aside $141,395 to help offset against this debt increase, sd,l that is another source of the funds. it 4. Property tax rates can be used for this revenue. City Manager Pipes reminded the Council that in 1987, the city made no assurances at any time that theJ issuance of the bonds necessary to complete the street program would not be "no tax" bonds. The city never gavel:i the indication that the City would be able to complete the street bond program without a tax increase to cover';! some of the funds that were issued. He said this is a remarkable position where we are able to go through this program perhaps without a substantial increase. He said the city projected a necessary increase of several) cents. Ms. Allen said the projection was about four cents. Mr. Pipes said that was the projection to cover''.', the bonds. Mayor Hodges said with that one -half penny sales tax, the tax rate was going to decrease from 52'� cents to 34 cents and then it took four cents to pay the $2 million bond issue. Mr. Pipes said when the city','; issues that final $2.5 million, it would also be a four cent tax increase, but by very frugal financiall', management, the city is in a position that it may not have to have the tax rate increase to fund this bond'! issue. CITY COUNCIL MEETING OF APRIL 9, 1991 BOOK "g" 357 Ms. Allen said any combination of the above options is available to the Council. Arty of these monies, the sale tax reserve of $141,000 for the debt service, or the difference between the $2.5 million and the $2 million, can be obligated for other purposes. She noted she realizes the sidewalk program has been a major consideration of the Council. Those monies will also be eligible for sidewalk consideration. She said the Council will have less leeway on what it can allocate the bond monies for than what it could allocate sales tax reserve because the bond monies will have to be used in street or sidewalk improvements, or something related to the streets; whereas, the sales tax reserves provide total flexibility as to what they can be obligated. Mayor Hodges said the city is talking about completing the streets in 1993, so while the city will consider issuing $2.5 million in bonds now, money is available immediately to complete the street project over the next couple of years. He said the city is talking about paying off that bond issue and all city debt in the year 2006. Mayor Hodges asked Ms. Allen to comment on the city's debt compared to the city's total valuation. Ms. Allen said legally the city is allowed to have a debt that is equal to 10 percent of its assessed valuation, which means the city could have approximately 238 million in debt. She said the city has currently $3,470,000 outstanding in principal, so it is well below the Legal debt Limit. Mayor Hodges said if we put the interest with the $3,470,000, we have 55,272,000. Ms. Allen referred to the fiscal year budget where there is a recap of the tax rate for the Last ten years and a breakdown of what portion of that tax rate went to fwd general fund operations and what portion went to fund debt. She said the Council will see that for the last three years, the city has been at the 38.44 cent rate, but there has also been a fluctuation of what portion of that tax rate went into general fund and what portion went into debt. She said when the tax rate is calculated during budget time, the city has to set its debt rate to equal the amount of money it needs to go into debt service fwd, so that amount has fluctuated. She said in 1989 -90, 18 cents was required for debt service and in 1990 -91, 16.4 cents was required for debt service [some of the debt was paid off, but the rate does fluctuate each year]. In 1984, when the first bond issue was approved by the voters, she said, it was 16 cents and 15 cents in 1985; there was definitely a decline in the debt that allowed for that 1984 bond issue to be a no tax increase bond issue because enough debt went away, but that debt caning in kept the tax rate f Lat. She said the city is at the point now where, with a $2.5 million bond issue, to adjust the tax rate, we would really be taking a lot of money out of the general fwd operations, so it needs to fund that debt service from some other source rather than just a transfer between the general fund and the debt service. Mayor Hodges asked Ms. Allen if she had any recommendations on the funding options. Ms. Allen felt it should be the Council's decision totally, but suggested paying for it out of the interest earnings because there are more than sufficient monies in the $2.5 million to complete the projects that were put before the voters, pay the interest out of the interest earnings, and use the balance of the funds for other related streets and sidewalk improvements and than if the City needs to supplement that money, supplement it from the other source. She said we have the most flexibility in the allocation of the City's other money. She felt this would be what she would do, however, all the options are totally valid options. Councilmember Knotts asked about Option 1 (a). Ms. Allen said 1 (a) and (b) would be to use the interest earnings and funding the belance out of the principal. Ms. Allen said there definitely should not be any more needed as that should be more than enough money needed there. Counci lmmber Knotts noted then we would not have to have a tax increase. Ms. Allen said a tax increase would not be needed and the city would still have its sales tax set aside and $141,000 that was set aside for debt service - -both monies would still be available for allocation for other capital purposes. Mr. Gene Pipes, City Manager, pointed out the notice that has been given by the City's Bond Counsel, Mr. Rennie Baker of Cowen & Company, advising there is a proposed notice of sale for the City of Huntsville of S2.5 million street improvement bond, Series 1991, with the selling on Tuesday, May 14, 1991 at 7:00 P.M. CDT. He said the Council will meet at 5:30 P.M., but the sale time will be 7:00 P.M. on May 14, so that is for official notice purposes. He said that time could be adjusted for earlier in the day, but that is intended to bring the documents to the Council from Houston from the bond office and open them here and present them for the Council's approval at that time. He said that is a significant date on the Council's calendar. He said the place for sale will be here in the Council Chambers where they will be publicly opened and read. He said the notice gives information on how to address the bids, etc. He said this is the essence of what we are developing with the Council's concurrence tonight. Mayor Hodges referred to information on the Debt Service requirements to Maturity, General Debt, the "total after issue." He asked on what interest rate those numbers are based upon on the $2.5 million. Ms. CITY COUNCIL MEETING OF APRIL 9, 1991 BOOK "4" 358 Allen said Mr. Baker based it on 7 percent. Mayor Hodges said if we are lucky, it will come in less than that. Ms. Allen said Mr. Baker is hoping it will come in Less than that, noting he budgeted for 7 percent for these purposes, but he is hoping it comes in Less. Ms. Allen said the 7:00 P.M. time for the bid opening is "very firm." Mr. Pipes said he has no intention to change the time but will conduct the Councils other business beginning at 5:30 P.M. and the bond opening wi LL take place at 7:00 P.M. on May 14. Councilmember Green asked how many bids we expect. Mr. Pipes said the Last time we had about six. Mr. Pipes noted Mr. Baker does the marketing work for the city. Mayor Hodges said no action is needed tonight because this is already pre - approved. He asked when the Council will need to make the decision on the options for funding. Ms. ALLen said she is not sure if this decision needs to be in the actual bond document or not, but, at the earliest, the Council should decide by May 14. She said she will assure budget time will be sufficient. City Attorney Scott Bands said on May 14 the Council will adopt an ordinance agreeing to place the tax revenues so we can pay the bonds. How the Co nciL it actuaLLy pays them, is going to be a Council decision each budget year after that. Ms. ALLen then discussed the water and sewer area. She said most of the improvements to the infrastructure that have been done ahead of the street program have been done with the capital projects money j'.. which is an accumulation of operating monies from prior years. She said as of the end of this fiscal year, those monies will have been totally allocated. She referred to page 84 of the budget where the projects are highlighted that were approved in the current year budget which will finish up most of the monies. She said some of these projects are now complete and some are ongoing at the present time. She said the high -Low '. pressure problems on Highway 75N water lines, the Spring Creek master meter, Sam Houston Avenue single feed,! Thomason's water line, McLeod's water Line, and several sewer projects on Highway 75N, Majestic Forest, and several other projects have been done along with the infrastructure improvements. She said the estimated amount - of money to complete the water and sewer infrastructure improvements is estimated to be $2,244,818.00. She said the city has currently obligated itself for $1,197,000 worth of projects, so it will need total monies of ' $3,442,000. She said the city has $1,580,000 in the bank, which means it needs an additional $1,862,000. She said the city is requesting a bond issue of $1,700,000 plus the interest earnings which should arrive at that $1,862,000 figure. She noted the city has done the water and sewer infrastructure improvements ahead of the street projects, but that is not an absolute necessity because the Council does have the option of not doing all or some of those projects. She said the rationale has been that if the projects are needed to be done, if we put the street down and if we have a problem, then we have to tear up the street to do the work. She said it is certainly an option to modify some of the infrastructure improvements that are done. CounciLmember Knotts noted the investigation on those water and sewer improvement streets was done before the street paving so the '. City would know which streets would be affected. Ms. Allen said that process is ongoing. Councilmember Knotts said surely the investigation of the line would be continuous before we knew exactly what we had to do. Ms. Allen said Mr. IsbeLt's crews and the TV crew have been working on that and the list of items they have '.'. presented to us are projects that they have determined do need to be done. She said there are some of those monies that are just allocated in Lump sun that have not been dedicated to specific projects, but a Large portion of those funds has been specifically obligated for projects that do need to be done. Counci Lmember Knotts said the $1.7 million would be revenue bonds. Ms. Allen said that is true. Councitmember Knotts noted then it would not have to be presented to the voters. Mr. Pipes, City Manager, said the city had set up, in 1984 in the city's rate structure, the necessary revenue structure to issue these bonds, being aware at that •i time that even though we had a considerable surplus, the city knew that it couldn't complete the project in conjunction with the streets and on the likelihood without a bond issue of some sort. In the meantime, he said, the city has made several adjustments to the city's billing structure for apartments, motels, outside the city -, Limits, etc. that has Limited the city's revenue train for water and sewer to the point that if we are going to complete the water and sewer construction and the streets in conjunction with the street work, we are going to have to issue $1.7 million in revenue bonds that have been authorized since 1984. Councilmember Knotts said he would still Like to look at the possibility later on of some capital recovery fees. He said we are in a slump now, but it can get cyclic and in another ten years, we wilt be in -' another big apartment boom. He said they can't build them in Houston, but they can borrow money and build them in HuntsviLte and they will come up here and build them. He said we aught to be in a capital recovery field, so much per unit. He said the next thing that will come up is that we'll be building another sewer disposal- plant and through the capital recovery fee, we could have enough revenues set aside to pay for the whole plant I' and not have to issue a general obLigati on bond. CITY COUNCIL MEETING OF APRIL 9, 1991 BOOK "G" 359 Mayor Hodges asked if $1.7 million will do the infrastructure to go along with the street program, will that leave no monies for any other water and sewer projects? Ms. Allen said that is correct. He then asked Mr. Pipes to comment on possible additional projects. Mr. Pipes said the infrastructure work in conjunction with the streets is a considerable undertaking, but the city has miles of sewer and water lines and areas that are outside of the street areas that are not being addressed in this program of work. He said when the city started the program in the early 1980's, by smoke testing the sewer system to detect infiltration /inflow problems, it has been tightening all those with the use of the Tv camera and all the point repairs were done in conjunction with the street work, but the city has not done the projects in the areas not closely adjacent to streets. He said we have a lot of work in that area that will need to be done to complete the overhaul of our infrastructure system. In addition to that, he said, the City has several areas in town, one of which is the large Fish Hatchery area that has not been provided a sewer service collection, lift station, etc. to provide sewer service to those residential areas. He said they didn't have it when we took them into the city and those are generally Large lots and many people out there have had septic tank problems and they are wordering when the city is casing in with sewer services. He said when this $1.7 million revenue bonds is issued, allocated, and spent, the Council will have to raise water and sewer rates in order to do additional major projects such as that. While the City will generate a small surplus each year from small utility extensions, etc., this area, or future areas that may be annexed, or any general service improvement to any area that is presently not served by the utilities, even raw land, will require higher water and sewer rates. He said the developers are usually responsible for that, but in an economic development model, we might need to have some incentives. He said we have one fund set aside for the potential of economic development and we discuss that at budget time each year- - setting aside and waiting for some business or industry that has a sufficient need and a sufficient return to merit a utility extension of that size or that need. The city will have exhausted the revenue reserves in water and sewer at the end of this project, he said. The city will be considered to have accomplished a tremendous amount of work in repairing all the water and sewer lines in conjunction with all of the streets for the 80+ miles of streets, which is a very, very substantial accomplishments. He said but when the funds run out, the capital construction program in water and sewer is over and the crews are laid off and everything goes back to a strictly maintenance mode until the City figures out a way to generate more revenue or change sow other factors, such as expand the rate base. Mayor Hodges asked if there are any major costs coming up in conjunction with both of the city's sewer plants. Mr. Pipes said there could be as the city initiated a permit renewal study by an engineering firm last fall and thought, preliminarily, that the City had gotten by pretty well. He said that permit requires ammonia modifications, chlorination concerns, biomonitoring, etc. on the one plant that has been permitted thus far. Presently, he said we are looking at the costs, but the city could have a sewer rate increase next year just strictly based on regulatory cost increases by the Texas Water Commission mandated by repermitting the sewer plants. Mayor Hodges asked if there are any grant monies available for this. Mr. Pipes said if we are in "a long ride," we can get grant monies for building new plants, but retrofitting for these permits and upgrades would be out -of- our - pocket. Ms. Allen pointed out that as in the street infrastructure program, there is a capital construction crew that works on the water and sewer infrastructure. She said since 1984, we have been transferring $200,000 from the operating fund of the water and sewer to the capital projects to fund a portion of those crews. She said with the bond issue, the money used to pay the debt on that bond issue would be that $200,000 that we had been transferring for the capital construction crew and would be used to pay the debt. she said of that $1.7 million, $200,00 has been coming from the operating fund to fund the capital construction crew. She said Mr. Wilder, Director of Public Utilities, has indicated that he has the capital construction crew working mostly in the high -low pressure area and is estimating completion of that project will be approximately April of 1992. Ms. Allen noted the projected figures she gave, as far a total expenditures, includes the capital construction crew in the budget through 9- 30 -92. She said what that allows is that once the City completes the high -low areas, it will work on some of the sewer infrastructure improvements. She said all of the other money in that 51.7 million is based on contracted out prices. She said the city would be billing out a lot of the infrastructure improvements related to the remainder of the infrastructure improvements. She said we will have the Public Utilities crew in the high -low pressure area until April, 1992 and between April and September, they would be working on infrastructure improvements. She said the city will be contracting out a large portion of that $1.7 million. At the end of 1992, that crew will basically be eliminated from the budget; they would be absorbed through attrition in the water and sewer budget. CITY COUNCIL MEETING OF APRIL 9, 1991 BOOK "g" 360 '! against personal loss- -Scott Bounds. City Attorney '.j Mr. Scott Bounds, City Attorney, advised by state Law, the city is required to defend some of its employees against suit. He said it is not required by state law to defend all of them. He said the police have !j a better lobby than some of the other employees and peace officers are specifically required by state Law to >, be covered. He said the city has acquired insurance policies, which, under certain circumstances, defend city employees. He said the City Council is covered by a public officials Liability policy and that policy covers !! everyone from our volunteers with our programs like HEAP to our salaried employees. He said now is a convenient time to address this subject because the city has no one order suit at the present time and he is not aware of anyone likely to be sued in the near future. He said he claims no originality as the ordinance is copied from the City of Dallas and is one they have had in effect for some period of time. He said it basically permits .' the city to indemnify city employees acting in the course and scope of their employment with the city from any !i damages they might be alleged to owe resulting from that employment. He said there are some exclusions and limitations dealing with intentional conduct or with illegal, criminal cordxt and the ordinance also covers what an employee has to do to be sure to invoke the city's cooperation in defending their case. He said they have to cooperate with the city attorney under the terms specified in the ordinance. He then presented the caption of this ordinance, as follows: ORDINANCE NO. 91 -5 AN ORDINANCE AMENDING CHAPTER 2, ADMINISTRATION, OF THE HUNTSVILLE CODE OF ORDINANCES, AS AMENDED; CREA71NG THE CITY OF HUNTSVILLE OFFICER AND EMPLOYEE LIABILITY PLAN; PROVIDING COVERAGE, LIMITS OF COVERAGE, EXCLUSIONS, AND RELATED PROVISIONS FOR THE INDEMNIFICATION AND DEFENSE OF CITY OFFICERS AND EMPLOYEES; PROVIDING A SAVING CLAUSE; PROVIDING A SEVERABILITY CLAUSE; AND PROVIDING AN EFFECTIVE DATE ' Councilmember Green asked about Section 2 -71 COVERAGE, as to who decides whether it is "during the discharge of his duties and within the scope of his office, employment, or assigned volunteer work with the City "? Mr. Pipes, City Manager, noted that would be ultimately be in the judgement,if one were found to be outside the scope of his office. Cowncilmmber Green asked if he does something and says he is doing this as a city councilmember, does the city agree to indemnify him if he says he is doing this as a Councilmember. Mr. Pipes said "if the court finds that he is in the scope of his office as a City Councilman. Mr. Bounds, City Attorney, said initially the City Council will make the determination under its authority. Councilmember Green said so if the Council does not like that person, it can say no. Mr. Bounds said ultimately, that is a matter that can be determined by either a declaratory judgement or some high level additional action. Councilmember Green said his biggest concern is, and he does not know how this is done, but from time to time, he might do something really outside the scope of what he ought to be doing as a Councilmember, and say, he is doing this because he is a member of the City Council [him or anyone eLsel, and does that obligate the city to do something, and if not, how does the City make that determination. He said often one's role as a member of the I' Council is not so defined that it says this is where one's authority as a City Counci Lmember stops. Mr. Bowls said the likely scenario is that a councilmember will be alleged to have done something that is clearly outside the scope of a cowrcilmember, but also related to something that he did in his scope also. He said the claims are maybe even set in fact that all are related to the same Lawsuit and all one can do in a case like that, and this refers to the "conflicts of interest," is to declare, if there is a conflict, than one is acting not inside one's scope but within one's scope of authority as a counci Lmember and there are facts that would present that. He said we would have to, in some degree, segregate the claim and disclose the conf Lict and possibly supply separate legal representation to the Counci Lmember. He said it remains a difficult area. Councilmember Green said it does because if the person actually thinks that because his pockets are not deep, but the city's are, then if they can say he is acting beyond what he should be doing as a City CounciLme ber, then how does one make that determination. He said he feels good that the city is willing to help out with that. Mr. Pipes said generally the Coucil's official action is limited to ordinances, resolutions and other such documented facts. Councilmember Knotts said that is good in theory but not so good in practice aLL the time. City Attorney Bounds said the Council is making those decisions now and has been quite succesfuL in the suits in which it has been involved concerning the violation of civil rights, etc. Councilmember Knotts said he would think it could become more costly for employees than it would be for CoucniLmembers and the loss could occur before it is ever determined whether one is acting in one's official capacity or not, especially a city employee. Counclmember Carter said the ordinance discusses "plan member," it does not say city CITY COUNCIL MEETING DP APRIL 9, 1991 BOOK "g" 361 eouncilnuember, but "plan member-- includes an employee of the city, board, commission, volunteer. Councilnenber Knotts said he feels it is opening a deep pocket, Like Councilmember Green said, because there is just too much arbitration around here and asked why this is even coming up now. City Attorney Bounds said there are a couple of reasons: 1) as a matter of fact, the Council is making' those determinations now as to when the city will acquire legal representation or not and it is doing it based on when it thinks it is acting within the scope of its duties, so it might as well, even though it is a difficult test, state it is going to provide the defense to you if it determines it and set out a framework for making that decision. Councilmember Knotts said what if we decide we are not going to and a court rules later . on that we have to. City Attorney Bounds felt the Council is better off under an adopted policy because it is trying to make it clear that the Council acquires no particular rights by that; the Council will still be bound to probably that policy. He said it depends upon why the Council did not elect to defend someone and that will depend upon the merits of that particular case. 2) This policy would generally address a situation where, as the attorneys sue an employee, and the city and the employee quickly cut a deal which ends up being viewed' as an omission against the city on Liability. Councilmemer Green noted then they would be required to follow this procedure. He said he likes the idea but it leaves so much to unknown discretion and it worries him a. Little. He said, however, he did not know a way around it. Mayor Hodges asked if this was a copy of what the city of Dallas has. Mr. Bonds said it is almost verbatim of the DaLLas ordinance enacted some 10 years ago. He said they have discussed it at some city attorneys' conferences as being effective in the way it functions. Mayor Hodges asked if they have ever had some of the problems alluded to by Councilmember Green. Mr. Bounds said they have had problems, the city council and planning commission have been sued and the planning commission has sued the city council; he said we still do not resolve all the political problems and some of the hard factual problems that will arise from time to time. He said this basically articulates the framework by which the council is going to have to make that decision now. Councilmember Carter asked if some of our boards and commission members are not now covered and won't be indemnified if we don't adopt this policy. Mr. Bounds said with regard to our insurance policies, we try to cover all of our volunteers and we do that by trying to disclose in the insurance policy, the people that we know to be volunteering and they are scheduled out on our policy. He said if for some reason, we forget, noting the city added HEAP volunteers on there one year and that becomes a possible exclusion. He said we can end up with situations where the insurance company may claim that was not an area they were covering where Council reasonably believed that they were providing coverage. Councilmember Carter said as a former member of the Huntsville Housing Authority board, he remembers Losing their insurance at one time and they had been looking for insurance and during that time the board members were very worried about serving on that board providing low income housing, particularly in making some hard decisions as to who could stay or who had to go under certain circumstances without being sued and not being covered. He said we do have some boards and commissions and some people doing good work for the city and we do not want to leave them too vulnerable out there either or we may have trouble filling some of those positions. He said some of them were thinking about getting off the Housing Authority Board unless they could find appropriate coverage. Mr. Bounds said the Housing Authority is a bad example because, by state law, the Housing Authority is a separate political entity and the only relationship the city has with it is that the Mayor appoints the board members. Councilmleeber Carter asked why "former" members of the City Council would be covered. Mr. Gene Pipes said when the case is filed white a member is serving, if they are subsequently called to testify, he does not have any guarantee of indemnity and if put on the stand, that person is at his own risk. Councilmember Carter said he can understand if something occurs while one is a counci Lmenber, then one is covered, but rat former members of the council- -sort of blanket coverage. Mr. Pipes said the mantel does not follow that member the rest of his life. Councilmanber Carter noted then once saved, we are not always saved. City Attorney Bounds said this goes back to the primary coverage provision which means you have to be acting. Councilmember Knotts asked how much this is going to cost the city if we change this; wiLL there be any additional costs on our Liability insurance. Mr. Bands said it will not cost the city any direct money with regard to the liability insurance program we now have. He said he feels because it is trying to structure the policy we have in effect right now, that we should not have any additional costs. He said we may end up defending some employees, but he did not see it costing us anything more than what we woud pay anyway without the policy. Mr. Pipes said the city has only had one person that the city failed to defend in all the years and that employee didn't deserve defense. CITY COUNCIL MEETING OF APRIL 9, 1991 BOOK "0" 362 Councilmember Carter asked for a definition of a city volunteer. Mr. Pipes said the Council appoint committees from time to time. Mr. Bounds said the City assigns volunteers to work with the city from time t time. He referred to Ordinance Sec. 2 -71 (A) COVERAGE, and said it has to be ". . . resulting from an act o omission of the plan member during the discharge of his duties and within the scope of his office, employment or assigned volunteer work with the City." Councilmember Barrett rated a library volunteer would be an example CounciLmemer Knotts said he thinks the city is making some assumptions about who is covered and if we get int a court of law and the lawyers may not agree. motion All were in favor and the motion passed unanimously. [Note: CounciLmembers Bell and Gaines absent.] to be paid from general fund reserve for future allocation. Mr. Pipes, City Manager, presented information from Glenn E. Isbell, Director of Engineering Design, concerning a handicap ramp on the east side of Sam Houston Avenue north, opposite the Methodist Church in front','. of Triton Construction, where there is a Loading dock invention today, approximately three and one -half to four' feet above curb level. Mr. Isbell advised it will cost between $15,000 to $18,000 to construct a ramp with!''. rails and pavestone face brick on the existing brick wall and the ramp. Mr. Pipes said the Loading dock has :: been there for a number of years and the city has recently put pavers on the top of the sidewalk. He said it( is a considerable drop off and could present a pedestrian hazard. He said since we have had requests beforeh and an indication for the need for some additional handicap ramps wherever they could be placed and because thisi" particular area was already invented in the line of the structure, it was a particularly good opportunity toll: bring this information to the Council concerning the cost to put a handicap ramp there and to face that ramp).. with the same paver type installation as has been placed in the other areas of the Square. He said this would ". be "the last button up type" project on the north side of the Square to which we had committed about a year ago' and used somewhat as a model for the overall downtown scheme. Several months ago, he said it was brought to his attention that from time to time the staff did not do a good job of bringing to the Council's attention what.', the priorities were on various projects. He said we have some costs on the Spring site that were discussed.. tonight; we don't know exactly how much but there will be some attendant costs. He said there is always a'.. finite amount of money. Mr. Pipes noted on the north side of 12th street, the city has had a particular sidewalk section from', University Avenue back toward Avenue J in front of Mr. Standefer's buildings and the Masonic Lodge, etc. that,.. has been a waiting sidewalk installation project now for some time, not just on available money, but on thug removal of the overhead power lines, etc. He said the money to do that project, or the money to do this'', project, or the money to do all of downtown and everything the Council would like to do, and part of the same' fund. He said to tell the Council there is $17,514 in unallocated reserve that we don't have any other use for [even though certainly an additional handicap ramp on the north side of the square would be meritorious) would'i be to not fully inform the Council. He said he is making the Council aware that there are other things thatlJ need to be done; this is one that could be done and the staff felt obligated to bring it to the Council's'''. attention. Mayor Hodges asked if that sidewalk slopes down in a ramp method toward 10th Street. Mr. Pipes said there is but there is a five step tier between the parking lot the city recently paved there in front of G&0.. Barber Shop in back of the storefront buildings on 11th street and the grade of the Triton Construction Company. Mayor Hodges noted then there are steps leading to Triton Construction Company. Mr. Pipes said there are also steps up to the corner of the Gibbs Building, so the only access to the north side of the square is down at the'. east end by Adams Furniture. Councilmember Robinson asked if this could be a part of the downtown '. rehabilitation project. Mr. Pipes said it could. Councilmember Lange said he does a lot of walking on 12th Street by the bus station. He said that piece,'. is not accessible by the handicapped and one cannot take a wheel chair down that sidewalk. He said as much as he would like to have another handicap area in this area, he needs to make a priority. He said $15,000 is a, Lot of money. He asked if he is wrong in his assumption that if we use this 515,000 here, that is going to',, slow down the city's priorities it has already set up. Mr. Pipes said it will not necessarily slow down the'i! priorities, but it is always a re- ordering of what we are doing. He said the city did not originaly plan to put this handicap ramp in here, but once the pavers want down and the hazard was identified of having a pretty','. 1 CITY COUNCIL MEETING OF APRIL 9, 1991 BOOK "g" 363 high drop off there on that particular side and having everything else on the north side of the Square really kind of done up as we are getting close to the end, that was the last area that really needed to be remedied and handicap access was an idea that had been brought to us in this overall input process. He said an additional handicap access was recommended whereever we could put it and this just happens to be a good Location. Councilmxmber Green said he feels we should do it because he understands there is no way to get to the north side of the Square by wheelchair from the church or police station except to go to the east side. He felt there should be a handicap ramp on .every corner to the extent that the city can do it. Courcilmember Lange said it does have access for the handicapped now and we have other areas in downtown Huntsville that do not have access for the handicapped. He felt this needs to be addressed first. He said he really does not care about dotting the "i" on the north side; it would be nice, but he thinks the council needs to get the entire downtown handicap accessed before it starts dotting the "i's." He said the north side of the Square is already handicap accessed and there are other places downtown that are mt. He felt it would be nice to have access every five to 10 feet, but the Council can't do that and must look at this Logically. He said we need to prioritize this and use this $15,000 on either 12th Street by the bus station or on one of the other . streets that does not now have handicap access. Councilmwmber Green felt there is better access on 12th Street than there is in this area. After some discussion, Mayor Hodges asked that this be tabled for a couple of weeks to let people walk around downtown. Councilmenber Knotts made the motion to table this item and Councl Lmember Robinson seconded the motion All were in favor and the motion passed unanimously. [Note: Councilmembers Gaines and Bell are absent.] Discussion: Councilmember Knotts said he would like to review the possibility of sloping those steps. Consider update on innovative playground project. as provided through Mr. Clayton Waits of HISD ' Mr. Pipes provided some information to the Council concerning this playground. He said Mr. Waits identified that there is more than this single project in the eyes of HISD as they envision a multi -year, perhaps up to five years, matching funds arrangement to develop that whole area south of 7th Street between Old Madisonville Road and Avenue P adjacent to the Samuel Houston Elementary School. He said this information is provided for mid -year budget considerations. He said since HISD is committed to pressing on with this project, he felt obligated to present this information to the Council for their advance review. Review the Quarterly meeting calendar and April 30 preliminary agenda Mr. Pipes presented information concerning meeting dates through July for the Councils planning convenience. He said he didn't incorporate all the possible vacation information because he did not hear from very many of the Councilmembers but scheduled it as best he could. He also presented preliminary agenda items for the April 30 meeting. Mayor Hodges said if this schedule conf Licts with some of the Counci Lis vacation plans, they should contact Mr. Pipes to make arrangements. Recess into Executive Session to discuss acquisition of certain Union Pacific Railroad tracts in Huntsville and the Star South property. Reconvene and consider action Mr. Pipes presented this item for consideration in addition to a subsequent posting to discuss the Aker suit. He said the Council may wish to take a five minute break and then go into Executive Session or it can postpone the Executive Session to the end of the meeting. He said there will be a necessity to reconvene as the Union Pacific question requires a format decision. Mayor Hodges noted than the Council will recess into Executive Session now and it will return to the formal session at the end of its discussions. FORMAL MEETING RECONVENED Formal offer by Union Pacific Railroad to sell certain tracts of the Railroad Mr. Pipes advised the Council was provided with a formal request from the real estate man for the Union Pacific Railroad to offer to sell certain tracts of Union Pacific Railroad property in Huntsville, Texas in the amount of some $33,000. Councilmenber Green made the motion to reiect this offer to Purchse Union Pacific Railroad tracts and Councilmember Barrett_ seconded the motion. All were in favor and the motion passed unanimously. [Note: Councilmembers Bell and Gaines were absent.) Consider real estate in the Star South Shopping Center Mr. Pipes, City Manager, also reported the Council continued its discussions concerning acquisition of the Star South Shopping Center real estate. He said the staff is continuing its research on that and is not ready to make a recommendation at this time. CITY COUNCIL MEETING OF APRIL 9, 1991 BOOK "4" 364 City Attorney Scott Bounds advised the Council also discussed the Aker suit but m foram[ action required at this time. from Huntsville " Mr. Pipes presented this topic advising that included in the Council's packet was a recap of the history', of all of the other appearances and conmiderati ons the Council has had over a Long period of time, including; minutes of various suggestions and actions taken and not taken. In addition, he provided them with a copy of', a notice in the Railroad Commission's publication of a pending service request by a C&M Transportation ServiCo! of Houston to provide service from Huntsville for van service. He said this area is very active and continued'. to have several applicants pending from time to time, some certified and some abusing their license. He said he would recommend that in light of charges pending against Ms. Allen for the failure to maintain her insurance's coverage and the history related to all of the various presentations and proposals, that the Council do nothing'. formally to enhance or discourage Ms. Allen's acquisition of the necessary Licensing from the state for a Railroad Commission van service. Mayor Hodges said a Council endorsement would perhaps speed up her request,', Mr. Pipes said the net effect would be to accelerate it, but ultimately, her application is going to depend upon her merits anyway. Mayor Hodges then asked for a vote on this item. Councilmember Knotts made the motion to unanimously. Consider contract with the Huntsville Girls Softball to install a scoreboard at Ross Park Mr. Pipes, City Manager, advised the Huntsville Girls Softball Association has acquired a sign from Cok@' Cola. He said the city has, in the past, taken such things as formal agreements under the conditions that the. City Council and the City controls those parks and any installations and facilities are subject to its approval I under certain conditions. He then presented a contract for the Council's approval which is similar to other' contracts the city has for installations at Ross Park. He recommended it for the Council's consideration. Councimember Knotts made the motion to approve of this contract with the Huntsville Girls Softball Associatioi'.. for the installation of a sign and Councilmember Barrett seconded the motion All were in favor and the motion Passed unanimously. Seminar from the Texas Foundation for Elected Local Government Officials Mr. Pipes advised he will be attending a seminar for the remainder of the week at the University of North Texas in Denton. He said he went to similar sessions last falL and this is the second part of the William T. Cole Development Series. He said he will be back Friday night and will be in Katy Saturday morning with that Folk Festival group that will be meeting with the Cane Island Volunteers. He said he will be back in the office.- on Monday. Councilmember Carter warned Mr. Pipes he has spoken with his former professors, Drs. Newell and'; Glass at the University of North Texas and Mr. Pipes should expect to make a presentation at that seminar. r MAYOR'S ACTIVITY REPORT --W.H. HODGES Charter Review Mayor Hodges advised the Council that it is time for the five year City Charter review. He said if thi Council has anyone they would like to have appointed to this ad hoc committee, or issues they would likm addressed by the Charter Review Committee, he will appreciate the submission of their comments am recommendations to Mr. Pipes. He said hopefully by the next meeting, he will have this committee appointed. Resignation of Loravne Brown -Shaw from Board of Adjustment Mayor Hodges advised of this resignation on this board. He noted suggestions for this replacement wiLL also be welcomed. Mr. Pipes noted hopefully all the appointments forthcoming can be done on April 30. Mayor'. Hodges said Mr. Pipes has a list of all the vacancies open now or that wiLL be opening, should the Council wish''. to suggest people to fill those positions, they should contact Mr. Pipes. Sister Cities Visitors Agenda Mayor Hodges referred to the agenda for the Niiharu Village, Japan official visit. He noted there are portions of that this Council is invited to attend and if there are any questions about this whole sister city,,',, program, they should visit with Ruth DeShaw, City Secretary. He noted Col. Ed Smith and Ms. Margi Carey are the co- chairpeople for the Huntsville Texas Sister City Association and they can also answer questions and provide['. information. CITY COUNCIL MEETING OF APRIL 9, 1991 BOOK ..Q.. 365 Spring Site Development CounciLmember Carter advised County Commissioner B. J. Gaines advised they dug down ten feet on the Spring site and the County's engineering consultant, Mr. Jerry Nemec, said they felt they had broken a water main because they got so much water and they considered it artesian water and it fitted this 10 foot hole up at least within one foot of the surface. He said they believe, at least, that they have found the Spring. He said the Council needs to talk to them about this if they have any doubts. Survey of Historical Sites in Huntsville Councilmember Large advised recently the Council Learned through Councilmember Carter that there were interested individuals in Huntsville who would like to assist with the survey of historical sites in Huntsville and that they could do it at a lesser rate on a volunteer basis to save the city some money. He said as of this morning, in checking with Linda Pease, Arts Commission Coordinator, those people, whomever they may be, have not costs forward to say anything or volunteer their services. He said he would like for the Historical Commission, if they are still interested in this, to come forward so this can be put back on the agenda for study. He said this is not a recomnendati on on his part in favor of the proejct, but he just wants it brought forward for discussion. Comnendati ons to the Huntsville It Counci lme ber Lange commanded the Huntsville Item for their signs and pictures in the newspaper showing the disgraceful litter that the dilapidated billboards are creating. He said he hopes they can get the attention of the sign industry in this town to get rid of the litter or clean it up before the City Council has to take any formal action against it. He said he hoped they, as an industry, would take care of their own. ' Commendations to Public Utilities and Design Engineering Departments Councilmember Knotts commended these city departments for the increase in water pressure in his neighborhood. He said he didn't realize 15 -20 pounds of pressure could make that much difference. Mr. Pipes said Mr. Knotts lives in that Phase I section of the first cut over and it did make a remarkable difference. Counci Lmenber Knotts said the people in that area are really tormenting about it. Councilmember Green asked when Paul Ruffin would get his water pressure increased. Mr. Pipes said it will probably be in the fall. Blocking of 22nd Street Councilmenber Knotts said the city requires everyone to work within a 20 to 30 foot right -of -way, but when the city got up on 22nd street, it sprawled over 50 feet plus an additional 20 feet on private property. He said the city is occupying 70 feet with trucks and everything in the world. He said he believes the city should be able to work within the 25 foot Nalf width of the street right -of -way], plus the 20 feet on the private property where it Laid the line, which would give the city a 45 foot right -of -way, and maintain one lane of traffic on 22nd Street without totally blocking it off some times over night. He said he realizes the city has so much equipment up there, but he felt it could be worked out because if we were having a contractor do it, he would have to work within his 20 -30 foot easement. Mr. Pipes said the staff will work on that. Army Reserve Ceremony Honoring Desert Shield Soldiers Mayor Hodges noted some Saturday morining at 10:00 A.M., the local Army Reserve wiLL host a celebration for troops caning how and they wish to know if the City of HuntsvilLe wishes to participate in that. He asked the Council if they would like to ask Mr. Pipes to agree to do what it can do. Mr. Pipes said it will be a stand out ceremony for local reserve units when they are brought back but they don't know yet when they are going to be brought back. He said they want to know if the locals want to participate in a stand out ceremony when it occurs in Huntsville. Councilmember Lange felt someone from the City Council should attend. MEDIA INQUIRIES Greg Junek. Huntsville Item Reporter, leaving Huntsville It ' Mr. Junek advised he is Leaving Huntsville to work in Tyler with the Tyler Morning Telegraph. He said he enjoyed working with this council and the previous one. He said he hopes to see everyone at the Folk Festival. He also thanked the City staff. The Council wished Mr. Junek luck. Counci Lmember Carter asked him to remind others of all those who taught him. April 9, 1991