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MIN CC 06/07/1988MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF JUNE 7, 1988 BOOK "P" 100 MINUTES OF THE HUNTSVILLE CITY COUNCIL MEETING HELD ON THE 7TH DAY OF JUNE, 1988 IN THE CITY HALL COUNCIL CHAMBERS, LOCATED AT 1212 AVENUE M IN THE CITY OF HUNTSVILLE, COUNTY OF WALKER, TEXAS AT 6:45 P.M. The Council met in a regular session with the following members present: Jane Monday, Mayor 0. Eugene Barrett City Officers present: James L. Carter Ila G. Gaines Gene Pipes, City Manager William B. Green William L. Hammock Ruth DeShaw, City Secretary Percy Howard, Jr. William H. Knotts, Jr. Scott Bounds, City Attorney Member Absent: Gary Bell FORMAL SESSION Mayor Monday called the formal session to order. Pastor A. C. Harris of the New Zion Baptist Church presented the invocation. CONSIDER THE MINUTES OF THE PREVIOUS MEETING Councilmember Barrett made the motion to approve of the Minutes of May 31 1988 and Councilmember Gaines seconded the motion All were in favor and the motion passed unanimously. ATTENDING CITIZENS Ms Margie Allen Quick Service Taxi Company and Mrs Helen Ann Huffstickler, Freedom Cab Company, to request consideration for designation of a reserved parking area for taxis (cab stand) in the area of the bus station Ms. Margie Allen advised the council she assumed the Quick Service Taxi business from her father, Mr. Marcus Irving, who operated it for the past 50 years here in Huntsville. She requested consideration for a taxi parking place on the north side of 12th Street in front of the bus station. She advised the newly released inmates and other bus passengers need the services of the taxi cabs, but there are no places for them to park. She noted other cities (Dallas, Houston, etc.) have designated taxi parking places at their bus stations. She said the bus station is open 24 hours a day and it is important that the cabs are there to service the incoming travelers to get them to motels, restaurants, etc. She said the cab drivers are many times the first people from Huntsville the traveler meets. She said she advises newcomers about Huntsville and its many attractions and that it is a "city of families and people that work together." She said she dislikes the attitude with which she is confronted day after day and night after night when she goes to the bus station, noting she does not experience this attitude anywhere else. She said she has no animosity toward anyone. She said she only asks to be able to park in peace without policemen, without harassment from anyone. She noted the city advised the bus company to not park the buses on the street, taking up the parking spaces, but then the employees of University Surplus began filling up those same parking places with their personal vehicles in order to prevent the cabs from using those spaces, especially when the inmates are being released from the prison. She said even Mrs. Irene Story, the Manager of the bus station, has parked her car there to prevent the cabs from parking there when the inmates are being released, noting this is when the conflicts start. She advised Mrs. Irene Story wants to "whole hog everything." Mrs. Allen said Mrs. Story thinks they are in competition (cabs and taxis). Mrs. Allen said her taxi price is $15.00 per person to go to Houston (five people for $75.00) and five people can go to Dallas for $150.00. She said the bus charges $9.00 to go to Houston and $20 to go to Dallas. She said the taxis cannot compete with the bus. She said the rider merely has a choice of either taking a taxi or a bus. She said in the meantime if the rider buys a bus ticket and the bus does not show or breaks down, he would Like to redeem his ticket and take a taxi, but Mrs. Story advises she cannot do it. Mrs. Allen said she E 1 Ll MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF JUNE 7, 1988 BOOK "P" 101 visited with the Greyhound bus people in Houston concerning the refunding of bus tickets and they said th rider has the right to get his refund at the local bus station and he does not have to go to Houston c Dallas to get it refunded. She said she has taken tickets to Dallas for inmates to get them cashed i because Mrs. Story tells the rider if he is going to take a taxi she will not refund the rider's money. Sh said this circumstance has caused a lot of problems because the rider cannot take a bus out and cannot tak a cab out for the simple reason some are afraid to leave with the ticket because they are afraid they canna cash them in, so they stay in Huntsville, roam around, drink, get drunk and last night some were lying drun on the sidewalk. She said the reason is they are made to stay in this town because they do not have th right to be able to conduct themselves as human beings when they get out and became prisoners even when the are out of prison. She said all they want to do is get home. She said she has carried several of the home. She said she wants to be there so if they want to go home, her cab company can take them home withou a conflict, without name calling, without someone scandalizing her business, or telling potential riders i they get into her cab they will get ripped off. She said all she wants to do is serve this city, the count and the people here. She said she wants one designated parking space in front of the bus station. She sai this will assist those who get off the bus with children and bags to make it safe and convenient. She sai if people can find a cab, it helps support the community as they usually go to a restaurant or a motel. Sh said she offers her home town a clean, friendly cab company with air conditioned cabs. Mr. Carl E. Huffstickler (speaking for Helen Ann Huffstickler) representing Freedom Cab Company Mr. Huffstickler advised he is the manager of Freedom Cab Company and a relative newcomer t Huntsville. He said he was warned about all the animosity when he began in the business. He said Mrs Allen has become a very good competitor and they have agreed upon their prices and have tried to creat harmony on the corner of 12th and Avenue J by working together and hoping some of this harmonious attitud would rub off on the other businesses in that neighborhood. He said there is plenty of business for eacl and every one. He said we don't need greed in our community. He said he is not trying to get all of th business but would like a small percentage; five to twenty people if he and Mrs. Allen fill each and ever, cab they have, which will leave 100 people for the bus company. He said he doesn't feel the cabs ar, hurting the bus company in any way. He said he also would like to join with Mrs. Allen to request severa taxi parking spaces in front of the bus station on the north side of 12th Street. He expressed hi appreciation for any help the Council may be able to provide. Mrs. Irene Story, Operator, Greyhound Bus Station Mrs. Irene Story advised she and her husband, Joe, manage the Greyhound Trailways Bus Station it Huntsville on a 24 hour, seven day a week basis. She said the parking in front of the bus station has become a big problem. She said the bus station needs that parking also. She said during the morning, she has two extra buses that come down and they are parked under the canopy. She said customers that come it with huge pieces of freight (100 pounds), have to park across the street if the taxis are parked in front. Also, people coming to meet the bus have to park across the street. She said it is dangerous to take freight back and forth across the street. She said if the cabs want a place to park, she saw no harm in them parking across the street as no one parks over there except people that cannot get into the bus station. She said they are not trying to hog the business as there is enough business there for everyone, but there should be a choice. She said it is fine if anyone wants a cab, and they even call cabs for people when someone wants a cab. She noted there are many places not serviced by the bus (Bryan, Livingston, etc.) and people are told to get a cab. She said the bus company deals with elderly people, college kids and kids in general. She said the parents are concerned about the bus schedules because their children use the bus to get to and from college. She asked the Council to take careful thought in this, as the bus company needs those parking spaces too. Mayor Monday advised this matter will be referred to the staff for their recommendation. She said when the staff gets back with the Council, Mrs. DeShaw will notify all concerned so they can be here for the discussion. Councilmember Knotts advised when the bus station building was renovated there may have been a MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF JUNE 7, 1988 BOOK "P" 102 ariance on off - street parking that they provide it under the canopy. Dale Brown, City Planner, said the evelopment code required the Planning Commission to designate a number of off - street parking places and hey were required to provide a certain number of off - street parking places. He said he did not recall if hey were still there, but the last time he observed it, there was a sign placed in front of them that said no parking," but there are supposed to be at least eight parking places up under the shed. Councilmember notts said that is where they put them because of the variance. Mayor Monday said this may be something we ill want to review. Mayor Monday asked those present to leave their telephone number with Mrs. DeShaw so he can contact them when a decision has been reached. CONSIDER BIDS Mr. Gene Pipes, City Manager, presented the three bids received, ranging in cost from $32,310.63 to $39,055.61. He then recommended the low bid of Robert Autery in the amount of $32,310.63 to be funded from C.I.P. (water, sewer and street allocations). Councilmember Howard made the motion to approve of this bid CONSIDER VEHICLE REPLACEMENT Mr. Gene Pipes, City Manager, advised this vehicle is in use on a daily basis in the capital construction utility division work and was totaled in an accident on May 31, 1988 at FM 2821 and Highway 75 North. He said the estimate was somewhere in the range of $10,000, but we won't know the final amount until a settlement is reached with the insurance company. He said we will have to front the money for this vehicle. He said since the Council will not meet the last two Tuesday's of this month, having this emergency authorization and being able to get bids before the Council for next Tuesday night, will replace this vehicle as soon as possible as it is critical for the ongoing work in this particular program. He then asked for the declaration of an emergency to wave the time requirement and authorization to take bids for council action on June 14. Councilmember Barrett made the motion to declare this an emergency to waive the CONSIDER ANNEXATION PHILOSOPHY DRAFT PAPER Councilmember Howard advised each of the Council has a copy of the preliminary draft. He said unless there are words the Council would like to substitute or change or redo a paragraph, he would recommend that the Council bring this back in the next meeting for final action. Mayor Monday then opened the item for discussion and comment. Councilmember Knotts felt the Council should await the return of Councilmember Bell before action is taken on the document since he is a member of the committee. Councilmember Knotts said he gave Councilmember Bell input and suggestions regarding the document and he wanted to allow time for Councilmember Bell to review this draft again and felt the Council owed him that courtesy. Gene Pipes advised Councilmember Bell will be back by the July 5 council meeting. Mayor Monday saw no reason not to wait. Mr. Pipes said there is no urgency to adopt this tonight. J �1- MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF JUNE 7, 1988 BOOK "P" 103 Councilmember Knotts felt overall the document looks fine, especially under "Practical Considerations" as it reinforces the city's development code. Councilmember Carter felt there are a few usages of words that need to be clarified. He preferred any small changes like that be passed on to the committee members. He said some larger things concern page 16 of the packet (page 4 of the document) where it reads ". . . It may be in the best interest of the city to annex areas that are highly populated so that the cost of public goods and services can be more equitably shared by those who benefit from their existence." He felt that is a rather vague general notion. He said he didn't know which of the communities outlying the city we might or might not consider to be highly populated at the moment and he knows it may be somewhat difficult to pin that down. He asked what level of population or density would require annexation? He said no one will disagree that a highly populated area should be annexed, but which areas meet the criteria and what are the criteria? Councilmember Green said the committee didn't really consider this as the charge of the committee was to come up with general statements. Gene Pipes said this document parallels the development code very well as the development code allows for a population density as little as one dwelling unit per five acres in a rural lot type subdivision, which is not very dense. Councilmember Green said the committee said we would not be any more restrictive than the development code, otherwise, the code would be inconsistent with our annexation philosophy. Mayor Monday noted this is one of the aspects that can be applied to annexation and it is just one of the tenants in the philosophy. Councilmember Carter said when we do get down to the point of deciding what needs to be annexed that this be one of the major factors. He said he feels now we should be looking at those areas that are being settled rather than those areas that are undeveloped and there may be a time when we'll look at undeveloped land. He said he feels we are expressing partly philosophy and partly practical here. Councilmember Barrett noted we would not want to skip over undeveloped land to get to a high density area and the proximity to the city limits has a lot to do with it. Mayor Monday said each one of these tenants, if approved, will be used as tools for looking at annexation so that each in itself we can basically say is a true statement that we feel we have flexed the right philosophy for this city. She said as we get to the practical considerations, one or two may apply where the others do not and so they would just simply be evaluation tools that we would use because we thought the philosophy was sound. Councilmember Knotts said the only thing he would see that is apparently absent is any real monetary incentive to cause people to want to be a part of the city. He suggested to Councilmember Bell that utility rebates to developers to develop land that Huntsville used to have should be considered as they worked very well in the past. He said right now we don't have any incentives to become a part of Huntsville. Councilmember Green said this can be added to the philosophy as a practical consideration, and can perhaps be worked into the section on the upgrading of the infrastructure in the annexed area. Councilmember Knotts said when those developments were brought up to city standards, then they were annexed and put on the program and as a home was constructed and tied on, (a permit acquired for a water and sewer tap), the developer was rebated so much money so that he would receive most of his principal cost back and would be out only his interest expense on the utilities (not on paving). Mayor Monday noted also that if an area is annexed and the people in the newly annexed area wish to contribute funds in order to bring their area up to a certain level of standards, there might be a program where the city would accept contributions into a fund. Mr. Pipes said this all falls into Section 6 of the Philosophy Statement under "Practical Considerations" and could be an incentive program for the developer and a voluntary assessment program for individuals. Councilmember Green said he has a bit of a problem with the wording of Item 6, "Practical Considerations," and the annexation of undeveloped land unless it allows for orderly expansion into a developed area, because the city generally does not provide streets, water and sewer as that is a developer's cost. Councilmember Knotts suggested asking for Dale Brown's help in this wording. Councilmember Barrett said one of the best qualities of this document is that it is in general terms and it is not too confining; every case should be considered as a different situation. He encouraged retaining the flexibility of this document. Mayor Monday then suggested the wording of this sentence should be: "The city should annex land undeveloped in accordance with the orderly progression of the city and consideration should be given to implementation of programs that might provide a voluntary assessment of existing areas for upgrading upon request and a rebate system for developers within the city limits." She asked Mr. Brown to review that statement to see that it says what the Council is wanting to convey. MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF JUNE 7, 1988 BOOK "P" 104 Councilmember Carter felt the people already settled here just outside the city, who are enjoying all of the benefits of the city, should share in the costs of those benefits. Councilmember Carter stated there may be areas just outside the city that become so dense that they cry out for the city to annex them and he was interested to know what that density level number would be. Mayor Monday stated she would not want to put any minimum or maximum figures in a general philosophical statement. She felt later as we consider each area, we certainly need to set some guidelines. Councilmember Carter felt Elkins lake and Westridge both have population levels, that, if they meet the other considerations, should be annexed. He felt there should be some level of population on the edge of the city that would force the city to consider seriously annexation, and to act almost as a trigger. Councilmember Green noted both those areas were considered previously and the decision was made not to annex them for other reasons. He said just because something fits in philosophically with the idea, does not automatically mean we would annex them. Councilmember Carter said what he is arguing for is the weight of the actions in favor of annexation instead of the weight of the action being against annexation. He said he would like to see some density or population number so we can say then, if we reject it, there are good and sound reasons for rejecting annexation of that area. He said, under certain circumstances, the burden of proof should be placed on the people who don't want to annex, rather than on those people who do want to annex. Councilmember Howard said the whole reason for a philosophy here is simply to help the city be as consistent as possible. He said we can't take just one part of this, i.e., population, area, etc. and say this is the exact reason for annexation. He said annexation is much broader than that; it is a service to the people and in the long run, it is a service to the city. He said we can't just identify one item and say this is the main reason we are going to annex this area. He said it might be to the advantage of the people in particular when we look at areas we have annexed, for instance, Boettcher's Mill. He said the people in this area could not pay for all the services they have received, but the city annexed it because it could do a real service for those people. He said the city is now receiving this service as an improved area. He said if we try to nail down statements that will determine what we will annex, it is very difficult. He said it is hard to write a philosophy that will actually say what we will do. He said we have to look at it in the area of advantage of service to the people and service to the city. He said in a way, we are protecting the city to annex some areas. He said the main part of this philosophy is that it be as consistent as possible. Mayor Monday noted this statement will be brought back on July 5, 1988. She said the Council will be looking at the comprehensive plan on July 5 and look back to see what the city has accomplished. She noted then on July 12, all of the elements of the Comprehensive Plan will be presented for review. A retreat is scheduled then for July 16 when the Planning Commission will be asked to join the council. She noted we may wish to invite the Planning Commission to the July 5 meeting as well. CONSIDER ORDINANCE Consider Ordinance No. 88 -9 amending the Personnel Policies of the city to comply with various legal requirements Scott Bounds, City Attorney, then presented this ordinance, the caption of which is as follows: ORDINANCE NO. 88 -9 AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF HUNTSVILLE, TEXAS, AMENDING THE PERSONNEL RULES OF THE CITY OF HUNTSVILLE; PROHIBITING DISCRIMINATION ON ACCOUNT OF CITIZENSHIP STATUS; REQUIRING DOCUMENTATION FOR EMPLOYMENT; RESTATING THE APPLICABILITY OF THESE RULES IN CERTAIN SITUATIONS; SPECIFYING A PROCEDURE FOR TRANSFERS AND PROMOTIONS; MODIFYING RULES RELATED TO DISMISSAL OF PROBATIONARY EMPLOYEES; MODIFYING THE SCHEDULE OF EMPLOYEES EXEMPT FOR OVERTIME; LIMITING OVERTIME AND COMPENSATORY TIME IN CERTAIN SITUATIONS; CLARIFYING HOLIDAY LEAVE; PERMITTING USE OF SICK LEAVE FOR CERTAIN EMERGENCIES; PROVIDING RULES FOR EXTENSION OF INSURANCE COVERAGE TO CERTAIN EMPLOYEES AND DEPENDENTS; ALTERING EMERGENCY LEAVE PROVISIONS; PROVIDING CERTAIN INJURY BENEFITS FOR VOLUNTEER FIREMEN; RATIFYING THESE PERSONNEL POLICIES AS AMENDED; AND PROVIDING FOR THE EFFECTIVE DATE HEREOF. 1 L MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF JUNE 7, 1988 BOOK "P" 105 Mr. Bounds advised these personnel rules are being adopted by ordinance rather than by resolution bec recent court decisions have indicated that unless we adopt things by ordinance, we may not be acting in legislative capacity which gives us legislative immunity in certain types of litigation. Mr. Bounds then reviewed the changes with the council, noting sections 1, 7 and 8 all deal with th same basic change mandated by the immigration and reform act of 1986. He said Congress passed a law tha now requires the city to not discriminate along the basis of citizenship status and to require certai documentation of all people that work for the city with regard to proof of citizenship or proof of a wor program. Section 2 makes it clear that the personnel rules do not constitute an official contract with employees and that there are other departmental rules besides these personnel rules to which the emplc are subject. Section 3 relates to Sections 9 and 10 concerning overtime changes. He then amended the copy in th council's packet in section 3 to add the following words under the definitions in Section 7 "time actuall, worked" or "actual work" shall mean the time the employee is actually on duty. . . Mr. Bounds said to ad in here the following words, underlined: on vacation leave, on compensatory time. or on a Council declare holiday. . . . He said in reading this definition in conjunction with Sections 9 and 10, the change that i being made in the personnel rules is that a city employee who takes sick leave during the week will not b entitled to overtime unless he actually worked, which means he is on vacation time, compensatory time holiday or actually on the job getting paid, more than 40 hours a week. He said this is to cut down th incentive for some abuse of sick leave and it will reduce the city's overall exposure on sick leave and mak it less favorable to take sick leave. Mr. Bounds advised Section 4 incorporates changes to make the policies consistent with the city' affirmative action plan to make it more specific on how internal positions are filled. Section 5 concerned appeal of failure of probation and the change incorporated is necessitated the supreme court's decision in Laudermill, Mr. Bounds advised. He said a probationary employee is at entitled to a predeprivation hearing prior to any disciplinary action. He said this makes this secti consistent with federal law. In Section 6, two changes are being made to add to the list of people considered not eligible fc overtime (Chief Building Officials and Fire Chief) and overtime will now be paid to two additional classe of employees not previously covered (Inspector III and Supervisor IV), according to Mr. Bounds. He said i is his opinion, in reviewing those job descriptions, that in the Fair Labor Standards Act, we are require to pay overtime, particularly the building maintenance people in those categories. In reviewing Section 9, concerning overtime, Mr. Bounds advised the same rule also applies compensatory time. He noted because our state law is inconsistent with the Fair labor Standards Act city had to create a special rule for police officers for compensatory time. He said police officers car be required to take compensatory time off. Section 11 concerning insurance and retirement tracks another change in federal law. He said recently Congress passed a law that requires an employer, that provides medical insurance, to continue to permit the employee to continue that medical insurance, under certain circumstances. He then outlined when the city is required to provide insurance. He said if a dependent is covered by a city's medical plan, he is entitled to continue medical coverage for up to 36 months under the city's plan if they are a surviving spouse or children of a deceased employee, if he is separated or divorced from an employee of the city, or children of such an employee; or if he loses coverage because of age (i.e., a child who is covered as a dependent up to the age of 21 if the child is a student, and 18, if not a student The child is then able tc maintain insurance under the city's plan by paying the premium for an additional three years after that. MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF JUNE 7, 1988 BOOK "P" 106 o, we could have a dependent of an employee, insured through the city's plan, up to the age of 27, he oted. The city, however, may terminate coverage prior to the applicable period if the premium is not paid r if the city terminates its health plan for all employees and goes to some other type of health plan, or f the person becomes covered by another health plan or medicare, he stated.. Councilmember Knotts questioned the overtime payment provision, Section 3 b, "Certain Administrative Employees," in the policies which states exempt employees not in open salaried positions shall be compensated for overtime by pay at the employee's regular hourly pay rate, asking if this didn't have to be at time and one -half. Mr. Bounds said the city's rules are a little more favorable than the Fair labor Standards Act in that the city has certain employees it pays overtime to that it is not required to pay overtime. He said federal law would not require the city to pay time and one -half to these individuals, so the city does not, but does pay them regular time for overtime. Mr. Bounds said these are individuals we would not be required to pay overtime. Councilmember Knotts said it is his understanding that even a President of a company can protest this through the labor board and figure his overtime on a fixed salary for so many hours. Mr. Bounds said exempt employees are paid straight time and open - salaried employees who receive no additional compensation for overtime. The next major change is Section 12 concerning holiday time. Mr. Bounds said an error appears here in Section 12 d should read "an exempt salaried employee who works on an official holiday as directed shall be paid for the time worked at his regular hourly pay rate and shall either be paid for additional time at their regular hourly pay rate (not at one and one -half time their regular hourly pay rate) for the hours actually worked or with permission of the Department Director, accrue a day of holiday leave. The major changes in this section are designed to limit the number of hours one can work that is considered a holiday. He said a situation arose where an employee worked two shifts on a holiday and was paid on a double time and one -half for the two shifts. He said this will put a limitation on that so that the employee will only get one eight hours considered a holiday and it will reduce the incentive to have someone double back on their shift on a holiday. He said the only exceptions would be an emergency approved specifically by the City Manager, such as a major break in a line. He said the Fair Labor Standards Act does not require the city to pay overtime in this situation. Section 13 concerning sick leave is amended to convert days to hours in the computing of sick leave nd the change reflects only this conversion. The major change is in Section 13 j, and relates to Section 4, wherein in addition to sick leave, an employee has three days each year for emergency leave for serious njury, illness or death in an employee's family. He said he proposes eliminating emergency leave and ermiting an employee to use sick leave in emergency type situations so as to eliminate these additional hree days per year. The final change in Section 15 is to state, as we do for the other employees, what the injury leave fit would be for volunteer firefighters. Councilmember Green made the motion to approve of Ordinance No 88 -9 and Councilmember Hammock Mr. Pipes presented information from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. He noted Huntsville as tried diligently to convince them our existing development code and its floodplain regulations conform ith the Federal Floodplain Management Requirements but they do not see it that way. They have given us 60 ays from the date of this letter to basically adopt their language into our development code, he noted. He hen presented the document as they suggested and reordered the city's chapters in the development code to 1 C MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF JUNE 7, 1988 BOOK "P" 107 make room for the changes required under the Federal Emergency Management Agency Floodplain Management Requirements and put their boiler plate language in place. Mr. Pipes said next Tuesday night this document will be brought back for formal adoption. Mr. Bounds, City Attorney, advised the proposed changes make no substantive change in the city's existing code. He said all that has happened is that the document will become more wordy. He said some of the examples of the regulations that will now be a part of our regulations (and we were able to delete the ones dealing with tidal flooding because we are not subject to tidal flooding), are that we are required to have a notice provision for adjacent communities so that if we have some type of permit that might affect an adjacent community, they would know about it. He said he doubts that Trinity is going to be affected much by any development in the City of Huntsville, but the ordinance is written on a nationwide basis because of the suburban type communities, where we might have Houston immediately adjacent to Pasadena and if something big happens in Houston, Pasadena will have a notice provision. Also required is multiple flood zones for shallow flooding, deeper flooding, etc. He said the rules are written for a large river type situation like the Mississippi River, which we do not have in Huntsville. Mr. Bounds said the federal person in charge of review of the projects was unable to see our view, so we are having to add it back into the document. Mr. Pipes said one thing we did omit, in the transition, that was in our original development code is the section requirement that says "a person commits an offense if he places a mobile home in a regulatory floodway in other than existing manufactured home park or manufactured park subdivisions." He said in our former ordinance, and this does need to be added back in, we are probably tougher than the federal regulations on that one point. He said this does not allow for any more mobile home parks or mobile home subdivisions to be built in a regulated floodway. Mr. Dale Brown, Planner, advised the Council the pages that change begin on page 1-10 Section 106.3 "Permit procedures for flood hazard zone areas" and go on for two pages and end on page 1 -12 and then begin on page 4 -2 with number 2 "General Standards for Flood Hazard Reductions," and go to page 4 -9 to the top of the first paragraph, ending with Airport Hazard Districts. He said the city's original requirements were two and one -half pages long. Use of Master Card /VISA for Municipal Court Gene Pipes, City Manager, reminded the Council of Judge DeLong's request to use credit cards to pay fines in the municipal court. He presented a proposal from Retriever Payment Systems that the city purchase a terminal that is tied in a nationwide service. Mr. Pipes noted the card would be run through the terminal with the city receiving immediate verification that the card is current and is in good standing. He advised the cost of the terminal is $1,295 and the estimated discount rate is 2.26%. He said the city's depository bank charges a 5% discount rate. In talking with the bank, Patricia Allen, Director of Finance, advised they concur that purchase of the system is in the best interest of the city. She noted immediate credit would be given by the bank for the city's deposits. Ms. Allen noted assuming $36,000 annually (approximately 20% of the city's receipts) is paid by credit cards, the cost of the terminal would be recovered in less than 18 months. She said funds would have to be allocated from the reserve for future allocation. The Council was advised no other vendor can provide this same service. Councilmember Barrett made the motion to authorize the Purchase of this terminal for the purpose outlined above and Councilmember Green seconded the motion Discussion: Councilmember Knotts questioned whether the volume was significant enough to justify this expenditure, noting next the city may need an operator for the terminal. He asked if there is an 800 number that could be called to accomplish the same thing. It was noted there is, but the terminal would be much faster. Gene Pipes said $36,000 annually would justify the terminal and is reasonable. Upon a vote of the motion on the floor all were in favor and it Passed unanimously. MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF JUNE 7, 1988 BOOK "P" 108 MAYOR'S ACTIVITY REPORT- -JANE MONDAY CONSIDER RESOLUTION NO. 88 -7 RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF HUNTSVILLE, TEXAS ENDORSING THE FOUR LANE IMPROVEMENT OF STATE HIGHWAY 19 WITHIN AND ACROSS THE STATE OF TEXAS Mayor Monday then introduced this resolution for the Council's consideration. She said it will be ed at the next meeting of the Highway 19 Association which is scheduled for June 29 in Athens. otion. All were in favor and the motion passed unanimously. Mr. Pipes asked those interested in attending he meeting to fill out the form in their packet and return it to Ruth DeShaw so that reservations and ransportation can be provided. Mr. Pipes also invited the news media to go on this trip. Mayor Monday advised the Council of the 6th Annual Juneteenth Celebration and invited the Council, behalf of the Progressive Women's Association of Huntsville, to participate in the parade on Saturday, e 18 at 10:00 A.M. with line -up at 17th Street and Sam Houston Avenue. She asked the Council to let Ruth haw know if they can participate in the parade so that arrangements can be made. COUNCIL ACTION Councilmember Barrett asked for the tentative meeting schedule. Mayor Monday advised the Council ill meet on June 14, skip June 21 and 28, meet again on July 5, again on July 12 (also City Open ouse - - Taxpayer's Open House all day during working hours at all city facilities) and meet on July 16 Council's Retreat); noting this is the immediate future schedule of council meetings. She noted after that ime we will be into the budget discussions and a schedule will be set later. Mayor Monday also advised here is a potential on July 12 that there will be a celebration of the city's birthday before that meeting o which all of the council will be invited; the details of which are not yet firm. WORK SESSION The Council then recessed into a work session for a prebudget overview of the Finance, Streets and rat Inspection Departments. ADJOURNMENT Respectfully su fitted, i Ruth DeS aw, City Secretary V June 7, 1988