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MIN CC 02/27/1990MINUTES OF THE FEBRUARY 27, 1990 COUNCIL MEETING BOOK "Q" 36 MINUTES OF THE HUNTSVILLE CITY COUNCIL MEETING HELD ON THE 27TH DAY OF FEBRUARY, 1990 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 0. Eugene Barrett City officers present: Gary BeLL James L. Carter Gene Pipes, City Manager Ila G. Gaines William B. Green Scott Bounds, City Attorney William L. Hammock Percy Howard, Jr. Ruth DeShaw, City Secretary William H. Knotts, Jr. CITIZEN INPUT /INQUIRY SESSION Diane Jones, corner of Avenue P and 20th Street -- Contractor for GSU cut a 45 degree angle out of her Live oak trees Ms. Jones advised the Council of the condition in which the contractor for Gulf States Utilities' Left her trees this weekend. She said they have Literally cut a 45 degree angle out of her trees. She felt they could have pruned the trees in an oval shape. She said on one of them they did not even bother to cut the limbs out of the telephone Lines and they are hanging out over the sidewalk. She said it Looks sloppy and terrible. She said she just wanted to register her displeasure on this and invite all of the City Council to drive down Avenue P or up Avenue P as it is really noticeable. She said her house is the only house on that street that has beautifut Live oaks on it as the rest of them are pines. She said they are not beautiful anymore and it will take years and years and years for that tree to look anywhere normal again. She said she is concerned that one of the trees may not even come back. She said she will be in touch with Gulf States Utilities to register her complaint with them. She said on one of the trees they did go past the 10 foot easement. Councilmember Hammock asked if the contractor talked to her before they did the work. Ms. Jones said they Left a yellow tag that they were in the neighborhood and that they would be trimming the trees. She said they were up and down the street and she knew they were in the area. She said she works from 8:00 A.M. until she can get home and she has two jobs. She said she was not there when they cut those tre Councilmember Carter said he received numerous phone calls because they were working in this neighborhood. He said Ms. Mitchell, who owns the Gingerbread House, came to work at 7:00 A.M. that morning and they were in her Magnolia tree above the roof of her building, about to cut into her Magnolia tree well out of their property easement. She advised him in the street in a loud voice that if she had gotten there five minutes Later they would have taken most of her Magnolia down. He said they had to run their bucket up over her roof in order to make those cuts. He said they topped the cedar tree next door to her. He said he visited with Mary Laura Gibbs Last evening and she had to struggle with them for her trees on Avenue 0. He said if one goes down Avenue 0 and looks at what they have done to the trees there, or the Live oaks on 10th Street in front of the school, one will see they have just hacked out the interior of those trees. He said he has seen them do damage to trees before, but he had never seen them do the kind of damage they seem to be doing this year. Councilmember Knotts said maybe they are doing unsupervised work. Councilmember Carter said this crew was very aggressive to Mrs. Mitchell at her business. He said one of them said to her that they needed to take the limbs down out of that Magnolia tree because it might fall on some of the children coming to her school and kill them. He said this is at the point during which parents were bringing children into the school who could overhear this. He said he does not know who is responsible for this, but he did discuss this with Mr. Singletary, Manager of GSU, who did apologize about what they were doing, but it is too Late for most of the trees. He encouraged the Council to ride around and Look at this damage - -this "butchering" of the trees is a kind word for what they have been doing. Councilmember carter noted the , contractor has been doing this to his trees and they did it to him two years ago so he knows exactly what Ms. Jones is talking about. Ms. Jones said limbs that were 6 inch around are cut out of the tree. She said they did not treat the cut areas with paint and she is concerned about oak blight. She said any time she trims her trees, she treats the larger limbs. She said without those live oak trees, her yard is going to look terrible. Councilmember Carter said his trees have been growing back over his house because of the way MINUTES OF THE FEBRUARY 27, 1990 COUNCIL MEETING BOOK "g" 37 in which they have been trimmed by the GSU contractor every two or three years, which creates a hazard at his house by making his trees grow back and become unbalanced. He said this is what they are doing all over town- -trees everywhere have one -half of the tree left and there is nothing there to balance it. He felt GSU should be held responsible for property damage if the trees fall. Ms. Jones said she will measure the footage to the tree about which she is concerned nay not live as she feels it is well outside of the 10 foot easement. Councilmember Carter said the contractor, named "Blume," was the crew doing the work. He said he taLked to them and the crew admitted they did not talk to Ms. Mitchell until too late, but their comment was they tried to talk to her at that point but were not very successful as she was talking to them mostly. Councilmember Knotts felt this must be a communication problem. Councilmember Hammock said it nay be a miscommunication between the contractor and GSU. Ms. Jones said they were up the street pruning the pine trees, but a pine tree will keep on growing tall, but not an oak tree. Mayor Monday said she will be contacting Mr. Singletary to tell of him these concerns. She encouraged Ms Jones to do the same GOVERNOR'S OFFICE RECOGNITIONS - -TEXAS WAR ON DRUGS Betty Willard, Texas War on Drugs, to recognize outstanding citizens of Huntsville Ms. Willard said she served as the Chairperson for the recent Red Ribbon Campaign that was held in October. She introduced Angie Mentz, from the Texas War on Drugs, who then presented members of the committee with the Governor's "Texas War on Drugs Certificates." Ms. Mentz said she works in an eight county region, in addition to Harris County, as a regional coordinator for Texas War on Drugs. She said Walker County was well taken care of when it came to the Red Ribbon Campaign because Betty Willard is such a wonderful volunteer that she mobilized this community and really pulled them together to have a very successful Red Ribbon Campaign. She said the Red Ribbon Campaign for Texas was a wonderfuL vehicle for ' motivating people to get involved in the fight against drugs and hopefully preventing drug use among our young people. She said the campaign was designated "Red Ribbon Week" by the National Federation of Parents for Drug Free Youth, a national campaign, and in Texas, the Texas War on Drugs sponsored this. She said it will be happening again in October, 1990. She said they receive federal funds through the Criminal Justice Division of the Governor's office and through the Texas Commission on Alcohol and Drug Abuse. She said the Texas War on Drugs is an outgrowth of Governor Clements' program begun in 1980. The Executive Director, Robinson Riser, wrote congratulatory letters to the people designated to receive the Governor's certificates. Those on the list who were present to receive the Certificates were Hank E. Eckhardt, Jr., Police Chief; Shirley Jackson, HISD; Delores Matthews, Chairman of the Alcohol and Drug Abuse Task Force; and David Weeks, Assistant District Attorney. She then distributed certificates of appreciation to those present: Betty Willard, Chairman, Red Ribbon Campaign; Randy Ellisor; Huntsville Cable TV; Huntsville High School via Shirley Jackson; and Mayor Jane Monday. A photo was then taken of the Council with the award recipients and presenters. FORMAL SESSION CONVENED Mayor Monday then convened the formal session. Councilmember Percy Howard, Jr., presented the invocation. CONSIDER THE MINUTES OF THE PREVIOUS MEETING Councilmember Barrett made the motion to approve of the minutes of February 13 1990 and Councilmember Howard seconded the motion. All were in favor and the motion passed unanimously. ATTENDING CITIZEN Mr. Lee Mackey. Resources Security, to discuss security alarm service to the Huntsville Police Department and options Mr. Gene Pipes, City Manager, advised about four years ago the City reviewed its old, unreliable alarm system in the dispatcher's office, and a new competitive bid process was developed. He said there were concerns by businesses, individuals and others who availed themselves of the alarm service and appearances before City Council along with months of discussion. In the final resolve, he advised, bids were taken and Resources Security was the successful bidder for purchasing a piece of equipment to mount on MINUTES OF THE FEBRUARY 27, 1990 COUNCIL MEETING BOOK "0" 38 wall in the dispatch office. He said it was a four year agreement and the equipment after that time ld become the city's property and the alarm service that existed at that time would be addressed. He d this is where we are today. Initially, because of the dilapidated condition of the equipment in the ice Department, he said, there was a recommendation from the Police Department Administration that the y remove itself from the alarm business and that it be returned to the private sector for special itoring. He said the Council felt that through the input received through various meetings, comments, and corns expressed, that access to the Police Department was a very important part of the services that the ice Department would routinely and normally render in any community and therefore, general access to the rm system in the Police Department was felt to be necessary and appropriate and the city then evolved t it has in place today. Mr. Pipes said the equipment is now owned by the city because the contract has expired. He reminded e Council that Last fall the city brought to their attention the circumstances that occurred in the past x months concerning a tremendous number of false alarms that had been incurred; i.e, in excess of 900 for six month period. He said they recommended ordinance changes that would impose fees for excessive false Lis for service and all this has been functioning since that time. Presently, he said, the alarm dinance required every operator of an alarm in Huntsville to register with the Police Department. He said day there are 211 permits for electronic alarms in Huntsville, and 29 of those are in -place at the Police partment. He said a few customers that have availed themselves of the services at the Police Department ve multiple alarm locations: First National Bank (FMB) has one at the drive -in and various other remote cations. He said white there is one at FNB, they may have six alarms on board in the Police Department. said while he did not know how many customers the city had, there are 29 separate alarms on the board at e present time. ' Mr. Pipes advised, in 1986, just before this contract was signed, the City had 73 alarms in the Lice Department. In addition, in the last two months since the City has been documenting the false alarm its, the City's experience indicates it has had 231 false alarms and five true alarms during that period. trapolating that out to the six month comparable period, he said, that would make something just slightly excess of 700 calls, which is a 200 call reduction from what the city had for the six months period prior that time; which indicates that the ordinance was appropriate and necessary and yet raised the level of nsitivity in the community. With the assistance of the media, he said, there is an awareness that lfunctioning equipment or false alarms will cost one money. He said the responsiveness of the Police partment on a wide number of calls like that can be kept at the optimum by reducing the number of calls. said while the city had nine true alarms for the six month period, it already had five true alarms for e two month period that the new system has been in place. Mr. Lee Mackey, owner of Resources Security, said they were told at that time that they were too «pensive, even though they were the only one bidding. He said he questioned what the next step would be. aw, he said, we are at the juncture where the City has once again let bids. He said the city explained mey would bill the 825.00 fee directly to the customer, since it owned the equipment, and that the service antract would be let to the lowest bidder. If there were some profit to be made in that situation, the ity would then be making a profit off of alarm monitoring, he noted. As a private contractor. Mr. Mackey aid they do not want to be in competition with the city to monitor alarms. He said they have facilities tat do that. He reminded the Council that when they bid to put in this $18,000 of equipment, there were 79 r so alarms and there are now 29 alarms. He said the technology has changed considerably in the Last four D five years to where they can handle these people in a different manner so they will not have to go into he Police Department on a direct telephone line that runs from the bank to the Police Department [that is iat this equipment was specified to do - -it is a higher security line.] He said there are other ways to eat with that now. Mr. Mackey said they did not want to aet into a situation where the city was monitoring ccounts and offering a service and aoina into direct competition with his and other firms_ He .aid this is MINUTES OF THE FEBRUARY 27, 1990 COUNCIL MEETING BOOK "0" 39 Mr. Mackey identified the problems, as he saw them, with the equipment at the city, as follows: There is a Lock out feature. They have had a number of occasions where the dispatcher would have an alarm come in [fire, burglar, etc.] and it could be in trouble. It could be serviced by ADT in Houston or it could be serviced by a company out of Bryan. He said in trying to contact these people over a two or three day period of time, they would disable that alarm so it would not go off. He said some times the companies may have attempted to notify them and somewhere in the chain, the information got lost. He said they had Champion International as a fire system as one of their clients and the system was disabled at the computer at the City and it was disabled for some four or five months before his firm even knew about it. He said these are the kinds of things that can happen. 2. He said they have to carry a tremendous amount of liability insurance being in the security field, just as the city has to carry liability insurance. He said he can't see the city putting itself in the situation of accepting more responsibility and Liability for monitoring alarms when it can be done by the private sector. As a private businessman in the City. Mr. Mackey then made the same recommendation he made four Years ago: II that the city get out of the alarm monitoring business. In lieu of that, he said, the city could possibly go back to not bidding a service type contract, but bidding like they did three years ago where they would ;.. say "If you are going to get this contract, bring the piece of equipment with you, you maintain it, you take 'I, care of it, and you are responsible for the customers. We will provide the personnel to watch it - -if it goes off, we'll send an officer." He said since the city does own the equipment now, the service contract is going to put the city in a profit - making position where it will be in direct competition with private industry. He said the only thing he can equate this to in oast history is when one of the Locksmiths got i! upset because the Police Department was using a lock -iock to open Locked cars which cut into their business. He said the same thing applies here. He said his firm makes some of its bread and butter off of monitoring accounts. He asked the CounciL's consideration. questions from the Council Councilmember Barrett asked Mr. Mackey to review the three different methods he has of monitoring'.�� alarms. Mr. Mackey said these are based upon the need of the customer as to the level of security needed. He said a residence has a little less need for an expensive type security system as opposed to a bank, whereas an army reserve may have a different requirement. He reported that the three basic types are: The Digital Communicator, is the most common and hooks directly onto the existing telephone line at a house - -no additional Line needs to be installed. It will seize the telephone line and has a high!, speed communicator that calls into a central station and gives binary information to a computer; , 2. The Reverse ReLav Lines, which is what the city has at the Police Department. The City has a phone Line running from point A to point B [bank to Police Department] on one dedicated telephone line, which actually physically goes to those two places. If the voltage is affected, either by the alarm !.. being set off or the line being cut, then it will cause it to go into an alarm; and j 3. A Radio Communication Alarm, which is the latest in high tech. Some utilize cellular phone trunkings. It is the same equipment, it just has a radio attached to it as opposed to a telephone line. These are the ultra high security - -can't beat them, can't cut a phone line, etc. ' Mr. Mackey said the type at the Police Department is the reverse relay and that is all that is going in there now--it is a second degree of what we would call secured lines. It does have the capability, however, of accepting the digital. There are another 200 -250 of these in the city. He said should the city stay in the business, it could possibly have those coming into the city also and this will increase its work load and wiLl also require the PoLice Chief some concern and there will perhaps be a need for a few more MINUTES OF THE FEBRUARY 27, 1990 COUNCIL MEETING BOOK "G" 40 Councilmember Barrett asked if private security systems could give the same service that the Police partment is giving now as far as to the banks and the high risk businesses. Mr. Mackey said they could .cause the technology exists now to do this with a radio communication or a direct line to another cation - -it does not have to be the Police Department. He said it just serves that somebody is at the Lice Department 24 hours a day. He said it is not any more secure than any one area - -there are central ations all over the place that can monitor them. He said it is available and not at a great cost, but at similar price to what customers are paying now. Councilmember Carter asked what happens if there is an alarm at a bank and the city does not have f work. He said he is familiar with the authority that a public police department has and asked if we are uplicating efforts here or whether there will be confusion or conflict about who is in control and who is ot, whether the City's police will be called out. Mr. Mackey said any time his company is at the mercy of heir customer; i.e., a bank: the bank gives them directions on any alarm as to what they want done - -do hey want the site called first, a bank officer called first, or do they want an alarm enforcement authority otified first. He said whatever information they give them, when that alarm comes in to their central tation or to the people with whoa they have their equipment monitored, it canes up on a computer screen to otify the Huntsville Police Department that there is a robbery in progress. Mr. Mackey said they are onitoring most of their digital accounts in Denver, Colorado through the Alert Center; they will soon pen a station in Dallas - -it is all done on the 1 -800 networking lines and they are safe and quick. He said t takes four seconds to go from here to Colorado so there is no speed problem. He said they monitor and he police respond now to their digital accounts. He said they have some digital accounts with First ational Bank and they also have some of the reverse relay lines caning into the Police Department, . so they o to Denver and they also came to the Huntsville Police Department, so in essence, they are duplicating ervices here. Councilmember Carter said then Resources Security is primarily doing dispatch and they are not M Councilmember Carter said he has no problem with this discretion on the part of the customer- -they an choose to use Resources Security as the dispatcher if they want and they are spending their money to do hat, but there are some activities where they may not choose the Huntsville Police Department to be the irst call and there might be a criminal activity taking place, but they may have indicated to Resources ecurity to call someone else first. He said the city might choose that if it is a criminal activity, that he Huntsville Police Department be involved and the city might choose or give a preference that if it is a riminal activity, its Police be involved as early as possible. Mr. Mackey said he perhaps needs to clarify his; the same procedure is followed at the Police Department that they follow in dispatching calls; i.e., NB - -if they have a hold up alarm go off, and they want them to call, they have a system set up to deal with hat. He said they are duplicating and doing the very same thing. He said any time there is a call for ervice (burglary, robbery, fire, etc.), they immediately contact . . . Councilmember Carter asked if there re some customers that don't choose to have Resources Security call the police first. Mr. Mackey said this s correct in certain situations. Councilmember Carter asked if there are any customers who might not ' hoose to have the oolice called first in anv situation where the police ought to he called first. and what MINUTES OF THE FEBRUARY 27, 1990 COUNCIL MEETING BOOK "G" 41 any time they get a verified burglary, robbery. fire, etc., unless the customer calls to give them their account number or an I.D. number (in the case of a false alarm0, they automatically notify the police and or fire /ambulance and send them. regardless. He said if the People call and don't have their Proper identification, they send the proper officials out anyway. He said there is no question there as to whether his firm makes the decision when to send and when not to send the proper officials. Mayor Monday said they will have the staff come back with a recommendation next week for their discussion. There were no other questions concerning the matter at this time. ENTEx COST OF SERVICE RATE INCREASE Consider a cost of service rate increase request by Entex (gas) as presented by Mr. Luther Jones Mr. Luther Jones, Manger of Entex in HuntsviLLe, advised the Council there has not been a cost of service increase for the last couple of years. He advised of an increase in the cost of service to its customers in the East Texas Division for the calendar year 1989 over the calendar year 1988, noting the amount to be passed to its customers through the adjustment clause in the rate schedule applicable to Huntsville wiLL be $0.52 per month. He said this increase is approximately 1.7 cents per day per customer and is scheduled to become effective April 1, 1990. He said this increase is placed on the minimum bill so that every customer pays the exact same amount and this is where their costs are to service and maintain the gas lines, the meters, the plant in a condition that is safe and reliable. He said the large users are those that cannot afford to pay a higher cost that have hones that are not as well insulated, etc., because in the winter, these people have a $150 or $200 bill. He said if that was increased, then their costs would go up and the person who was not using a lot would not pay as much. This is why Entex put the 52 cents in the basic rate, he said. The information presented showed that beginning April 1, 1990, the net monthly rate for the first 400 cubic feet or less for residential gas service will be $10.70 plus $ .42531 per 100 cf; with the next 2,600 cf being $ .55931 per 100 cf; the next 3,000 cf being $ .51861 per 100 cf, and over 6,000 cf being $ .49291 per 100 cf. The net monthly rate for the first 400 cubic feet or less for commercial gas service will be $11.20 plus $ .42531 per 100 cf, with the next 3,600 cf being $ .57681 per 100 cf; next 4,000 cf being $ .51761 per 100 cf; and over 8,000 cf being $ .49291 per 100 cf. Mr. Jones said the information also shows the gas cost adjustment is -4 cents per thousand and is down from what it was in the past. i Technically, he said the customers will not be paying the fuLL 52 cents per month. He said na action is required by the CounciL at this time. Mayor Monday noted if the Council takes no action, this rate increase automaticaLLv goes through She said if the Council does not feel it is justified, it will need to call a public hearing and decide after that if it wants to protest. After a question for clarification and complimentary comments about Entex. Councilmember Carter made the motion to "take no action on the cost of service rate increase request" by Entex and Councilmember Knotts seconded the motion All were in favor and the motion passed unanimously. CONSIDER TWO NEW TREE DONATION PROGRAMS Consider endorsement of two new tree donation programs to be sponsored by the Parks 8 Recreation Division the Woman's Forum and the Evening Garden Study Club Mr. Johnny Poteete, Director of PubLic Works, requested permission to implement two new programs for tree donations to the City Parks and Recreation Division. He said "Plant a Tree for the Newborn" is one of these programs, sponsored by the Evening Garden Study Club where a tree may be donated in honor of a newborn baby or the new son or daughter of friends or relatives. He said "Trees - -a Lifetime Gift" is the other program, sponsored by the Woman's Forum, a Texas Federation of Women's Club and General Federation of Women's Club volunteer organization. He said tree donations can be given in memory or in honor of someone MINUTES OF THE FEBRUARY 27, 1990 COUNCIL MEETING BOOK "G" 42 eciaL, in honor of a birthday or an individual's invaluable service to the community or to an ganization. He said honorees and donors will be recognized in tree registry books to be located at the bLic library. Each of these organizations, he said, will be responsible for updating these books whenever donation is made. Mr. Poteete advised the City's Parks and Recreation Division wiLL work with these ganizations to plant desirable trees in City parks or other City property such as the Library, Fire ations, or the Municipal Justice Center. Brochures will be available, he noted, for the public to pick up d to consider the gift that keeps on growing -- trees. Mr. Poteete then introduced Ms. Chris DeLLer, President, of the Evening Garden Club, and Ms. Helen cher, President - Elect, Woman's Forum. He said Helen has been a great help in designing the brochures. said he and Ray Black of the city staff did a lot of work on this program: "Trees- -Gift of a Lifetime." said they consulted with the cities of Bryan and College Station and Brazos County, who have a similar gram where one can donate money towards the purchase of a tree or one can actually donate enough money to chase a tree to be placed in the park or on city property in recognition of someone that has been of vice to the community or just for someone special in your Life. He said today he was discussing this gram with Helen Belcher and Glenn Isbell of the city staff, as to how it might be applied to Kate Barr s Memorial Park, which is Lacking in trees. He said they thought perhaps the different teams involved in sports activities at the park, especially the ALL -Star Teams that go to state, could be one way this m could be recognized at the end of the season for their contributions to the program. Mr. Poteete said the program that was originally presented to the City was to "plant a tree for a ewborn." The idea came from a program in a hospital in New York State, he said, and is based on the same ype of principal, and contributions to the program would be a minimum of $10.00. The City wilL then be lanting trees that wiLL be in honor of someone's newborn child or possibly someone else's newborn child. ayor Monday said it could be for a grandchild, niece, or nephew, etc. Mr. Poteete said another item hey may place in the book at the Library is a location map on the forms that are filled out, rather than eying this tree will be specificaLly somewhere, a map will be located in those books which may say a ocation is on map 1, zone 3. He said plaques will not be placed on any of the trees because of the andalism problems. Chris Deller advised in order to kick the program off, the Garden .Club donated a tree for the first by born in 1990. They are waiting for a time and pLace to plant that tree. She displayed the forms the rents wilL receive. Councilmember Carter then presented to Chris Deller and Helen Belcher, the "Big ee List of Walker County, 1989," a program he has been working on, with others, for the past six months. said there are some peopLe there who want family names attached to some of those trees. He said Mrs. egg said the biggest pecan in town on the old North Huntsville sewer property, was once her family's operty, and she wants that tree to be called the "Thomason Pecan." He said his group would like to work th these two new programs, if they can. Helen Belcher then introduced other members of the Garden Club: Patricia Allen and Bette Nelson. . Belcher said they feel with both programs working together, they can really plant some trees, to renew e urban forest. She felt these two programs will create an awareness among our citizens to inspire them to ant some new trees for our future generations. Mayor Monday urged the placement of the binders in a very nspicuous plate in the library so that people wilL be sure to become aware of these programs. Mr. teete advised more attractive binders wilL be provided soon. Councilmember Knotts asked about the status the live oak trees that were planted at the Kate Barr Ross Park [developed in the mid- 1970's], noting he nated two of those trees. Mr. Pipes said they have survived and are doing well. Councilmember Hammock vised Ms. Deller and Ms. Belcher that if they need seedlings, his firm will be happy to cooperate with ' air programs. Councilmember Barrett made the motion to endorse both of these new tree donation Programs and MINUTES OF THE FEBRUARY 27, 1990 COUNCIL MEETING BOOK "0" 43 Planning Comm ission is Zoning Comm ission Consider Ordinance No. 90 -3 designating the Planning Commission as the Zoning Commission for Purposes of initiating the prescribed public hearing process under state law Mr. Scott Bounds, City Attorney, advised he has made the recommendation that Huntsville adopt a two district land use ordinance designating a neighborhood conservation district, which would include all neighborhoods platted for single family use or single family structures and which is primarily used for residential purposes at the present time; and that the rest of the city be the other district and that it be subject to the City's current development code requirements. He then presented a map which basically outlines the neighborhood districts he spoke about in this proposal. He said the green areas are those that have been restricted to single family use by requiring that the property be developed only with single family structures or that any structures used on the property be limited to single family residential use. He said this would be the basis for the neighborhood districts and the rest of the city would continue to be developed under the city's present development code. In order to implement the proposal to regulate land use by this method, Mr. Bounds stated, it will be necessary that the City appoint a zoning commission, as he indicated at the time of his proposal. He said the guidance he received from the Council, after discussing the matter, was to prepare an ordinance designating the city's current Planning Commission as the Zoning Commission and for them to initiate the process to consider implementing such a proposal. He said the ordinance presented designates the city's Planning Commission as the Zoning Commission and indicates, as required by state statute, that it be done by ordinance, that there will be one joint public hearing to be conducted by the city council and the Planning and Zoning Commission after the Planning and Zoning Commission presents to the City Council a preliminary report as to what they are going to do. He then presented an amendment to section 4 of the ordinance for the purpose of clarification to add the words "of a city council" to the sentence beginning "A public hearing [add words here] shall be held, after the notice required by Section 211.006(a) of the Texas Local Government Code, jointly with a public hearing required to be held by the zoning commissi on.11 He said there can be one public hearing after written notice to all residents of the city on the proposed district plan. Mr. Pipes then presented the ordinance, the caption of which is as follows: ORDINANCE NO. 90 -3 AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF HUNTSVILLE, TEXAS, APPOINTING A ZONING COMMISSION; AND MAKING OTHER PROVISIONS AND FINDINGS RELATED THERETO Councilmember Bell made the motion to adopt Ordinance No. 90 -3 as amended by Mr. Bowls and Councilmember'I� Knotts seconded the motion. Discussion: Councilmember Carter pointed out a change from "is" to "as" in Section 5. Councilmember Bell asked if the city has checked with the Planning Commission members concerning this new role, noting this was not in their original job description. Mayor Monday noted members who prefer not to have this role always have the option to resign. Councilmember Bell said then it is I essentially the city's initiative and the members can respond as to how they see this. Mr. Bounds said the city will be presenting this information to them as a courtesy. Mayor Monday said they will have an ''�I opportunity to ask questions about the process. Councilmember Belt asked when the hearing might be set. Mr. Bounds said it would be done within 60 -90 days and this is an optimistic projection. Councilmember Bell asked if the state Law requires the city to meet certain time criteria. Mr. Bounds said the only time ' criteria concerns a preliminary report which has to be brought to the City Council by the Zoning Commission. Mr. Bounds said the city wiLL have to mail a notice to all persons affected by the proposal, and he would suggest that be everybody in the city. He said notice needs to be given 15 days prior to the public I� hearing, but it should not take the city long to generate the mailing labels for that notice. He said after II! the preliminary report from the Planning and Zoning Commission is given to the Council, the time requirement would be about 20 days before the hearing can take place. , MINUTES OF THE FEBRUARY 27, 1990 COUNCIL MEETING BOOK "0" 44 Councilmember Green said he is not going to vote for this. not because he has a particular problem Upon a vote of the nation on the floor. CONSIDER DEPOSITORY CONTRACT Mayor Monday noted first of all we will be considering the investment policy portion of this item. Councilmember Green noted the two items for consideration are the depository contract and the related investment policy. He said the depository contract requires that we have in -place an "investment policy." He said the investment policy defines who can invest funds, what the objectives are, responsibility and control, and what are authorized investments according to state law, and it essentially lists only those things which are allowed by state law under various statutes and collateralization requirements, and a few other things that relate to the depository agreement. She said this has been discussed for some time with the fiance and audit committee and they are recommending at this time that the city adopt this investment policy, as presented. Mr. Gene Pipes, City Manager, presented the resolution, the caption of which is as follows: RESOLUTION NO. 90 -8 AN RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF HUNTSVILLE, TEXAS, ADOPTING POLICIES FOR INVESTMENTS; AND MAKING OTHER PROVISIONS RELATED THERETO Councilmember Green advised that the city's current depository contract with FNB expired on February 1990. He said the committee has been working for some time to develop a new depository contract. He recommended the city accept the depository contract with First National Bank of Huntsville. and then filed with the City Secretary an '-affidavit of substantial interest in a business entity .9 ALL were in favor and the motion passed by a vote of eight with "one not voting." CONSIDER ELECTRIC POWER TO AN AUTOMATED SURFACE OBSERVATION SYSTEM AT THE AIRPORT Mr. Glean Isbell, Director of Design Engineering, advised on February 5, 1990, a survey team from the Planning/ Architecture /Engineering /Interiors firm of Leo A. Daly was at the Huntsville Municipal Airport in order to accomplish the site survey work for the Automated Surface Observation System (ASOS). A letter from its Civil Engineer, Eric R. Pehrson advised this is a joint venture program for the National Weather Service (NWS) and the FAA and that associated costs borne by the NWS are Procurement. installation and maintenance. Mr. Pehrson advised it is the policy of the NWS, wherever possible, to use power from the FAA; however, when this is not possible, the NWS asks the cities and /or airports to bear the electrical Power Mr. Pehrson's letter also noted power consumption for the acquisition control unit is 1300 watts continuous; and that the power for the sensor group can be as much as 2500 watts continuous. He noted the ' power for the sensor group is dependent upon the ambient air temperature; there are two hearing elements in the data collection package and a heating element in each of the sensors; thermostats are used to maintain the instruments at operating temperature; the colder the climate, the more power will be used; the power is estimated for the Huntsville area for the sensor group to be much less than the maximum of 2500 watts; it is impossible to tell exactly what the power would be as this system is still under development: and the L, MINUTES OF THE FEBRUARY 27, 1990 COUNCIL MEETING BOOK %" 45 estimated monthly cost during cold weather could be as high as $25.0,. based upon 8.09 /kwh. The Council was advised by his letter that the NWS is asking the City to pay for the cost of power for this equipment, however, if the city cannot afford this cost, other arrangements will have to be made but the airport will still receive ASOS. Mr. Isbell advised according to Mr. Pehrson the maximum Power consumption would be $3,000 per year. Mr. Pines said this system is accessed by radio to give the onground conditions at the Huntsville Municipal Airport. 24 hours a day. 365 days per year, without need for manual intervention He said the j equipment will be located on the windsock side of the airport and will be in an independent structure and wilL need to be heated and cooled in order to be operated and maintained Dropertv He said the entire instalLation cost, as noted above, will be borne by the NWS and FAA. He said the City needs to assure that it will Day for the electrical costs, which could run as high as $3.000 Per year as Mr. Pehrson's letter I it advised. He said the installation will not take place rapidly enough to seriously impact this current year 1 budget, which only has $5,000 budgeted for airport maintenance. He said with the Council's concurrence. an authorization wi LL be made of fords up to $3.000 Per Year to be expended for the electricity. He said the city shouLd have a good track record by next year's budget and will be able to go on from there. He said 11 refusal to fund the ASOS will not necessarily kill the project, but it will cause the FAA and the NWS to look elsewhere for a possible source of funds and could indicate somewhat of a Flack of support" on the part of the city for the continued grant structure by the FAA in favor of the Huntsville Airport He strongly it urged their concurrence with this request. !' Councilmember Barrett made the motion to approve the authorization of up to $3,000 to fund electricity for the operation of the ASOS system and Councilmember Gaines seconded the motion Discussion: !.J Councilmember Bell asked if this means the City of Huntsville wilL appear on the Weather Channel, as a monitoring station. Mr. Pipes said he did not know how that information is gained. He said this is free I air information that might be able to be accessed for that purpose. Mayor Monday felt this will be a great asset for the number of planes that access our airport. Mr. Knotts thought one might be able to caLL in and ;I et the weather at this station. Mayor Monday said she is leased this 9 Y Y P equipment will be funded by FAA and a felt there is a lot of merit to continuing the city's excellent working relationship with FAA. All were in 9 favor and the motion passed unanimously. CONSIDER ALTERATIONS TO BASEBALL COMPLEX Consider Proposed alterations to the facilities at Kate Barr Ross Baseball Complex as proposed by the Boy's Baseball Association. Mr. Gene Pipes, City Manager, presented a memorandum from Mr. Ray Black, Parks Superintendent, which advised of the HuntsviLLe Boys Baseball Association's proposal, as follows: 1. Construction of a batting cage between fields 7 and 8 (lower ballfields); 2. Redesign the interior of the concession stand at the upper complex with a new center island for food preparation and storage as well as a rear cabinet area containing a double sink, two burner electric stove top, and a dishwasher; 3. Air condition the concession stand and install plexiglas sliding windows at the service area; 4. Placement of an enclosed bulletin board with lighting on the west wall of the concession building; 5. PLacement of an entrance sign at the west entrance gate of parking lot to extend over the driveway going to the concession building; and 6. Enclosing the bullpen areas between fields 2 and 3 and between fields 3 and 4. An eight foot fence may be placed around these areas that would complete the enclosure of the field complex. ' Mr. Black advised the Baseball Association wiLL assume all costs of constructing these projects with the exception of the fences for the bullpen areas, which they request the city to fund He said fences around these areas will cost approximately $3.000. Mr. Black said the Parks Division carried forward funds from the 88 -89 budget year to complete the electrical work at Ross Park and after all of this work is completed, MINUTES OF THE FEBRUARY 27, 1990 COUNCIL MEETING BOOK "G" 46 imately 89.000 will be available to fund this project. The staff will supervise the construction of projects, he said, to ensure that they will be done to proposed specifications. Mr. Pipes advised if the concession stand is air conditioned, it will increase the city's power er that if the city finds it excessive. Mr. Pipes said there will be sliding plexiglas service holes It in through which items can be served and money received. He said it is a complete open air operation ay and it does get hot out there. He said the intent is to make it more comfortable for those who unteer to operate the concession stand. Councilmember Howard made the motion to approve of these CITY MANAGER'S REPORT- -GENE PIPES Mr. Pipes presented a memorandum from Mr. F. Boyd Wilder, Director of public Utilities, outlining he city's policy concerning right -of -way maintenance. He also presented a map that indicates all of the ights- of-way as they now exist. After a thorough review and discussion of this information by the City anager, Councilmember Carter said his concern is not with the clearing as he assumes the city has to do ome of that, but it originally was and still is the width, not the length and in two instances he knows of, he city has cleared right up to a stream bank [Lake Road]. He felt the city will be impacting the trees long the stream bank because it has pilled up quite a bit of dirt around the bottoms of them which will robably mean they will die at some point more rapidly than they would otherwise and we will get erosion ' here. Councilmember Carter asked that the city be careful about the width of the easements, not to do any ore than is necessary, and that the City stay away from the stream banks. He said he is not challenging he program, but simply asked the city to minimize the width. Mr. Pipes presented a memorandum from Lieutenant Mark Pemberton of the Huntsville Police Department, ncerning citations issued for parking violations on the City Square. He advised this random month search showed that August had 25 citations, September had 17; and October had 8. Lt. Pemberton advised rough his memorandum that there has been a decline in each month, possibly due to the fact that during the wer months, there is not such a demand for parking enforcement through the city, however, as students turn, the department is besieged with requests for stricter enforcement of parking. He said many of these quests are traffic hazards which could cause accidents and liability for the city. Another reason for the cline, he noted, is the difficulty in part-time enforcement of the Square. He said with timed zones, it imperative that the officer log all cars, then make it back in the time span given and write citations. said often the officer is assigned another call and is unable to get back and when he does, the vehicles ve moved. Lt. Pemberton said there is also the problem with employees of the courthouse playing revolving rs; when they see the police coming, they send an employee out to nave the cars on the hour. He said they eely admit this and just consider it part of the territory. If caught, however, they receive a $2.00 to .00 fine, he noted, which they consider a parking fee. Lt. Pemberton said when comparing it to larger ties' parking garage costs, it is substantially cheaper. He said the Department also experiences the oblem with outstanding parking citations, which are expunged in six months if they are not paid. He said ce violators realize this, they don't even pay the fines. A possible solution. he noted, is to have a ks on these vehicles with numerous violations. He said with the present system, there is no incentive to y the laws, or to take care of the citations; all of which makes enforcement a futile effort and a waste I present and future manpower. Mr. Pipes said one possible alternative, as noted above, is to come back at mid-term with a rt -time position, perhaps a college student, C.J. major, etc., [the more irregular the schedule, the [terl; to work perhaps 20 hours a week. He said as a part-time duty, sufficiently infrequent that it MINUTES OF THE FEBRUARY 27, 1990 COUNCIL MEETING BOOK no. 47 would be difficult to beat the system in terms of when the student was going to be working, etc. to keep it off -ba Lance and keep the purpose as clear as possible that the city cannot commit a lot of money and time in terms of a police officer but encouraging people to park off of the street that are there for the duration of the entire day. Mayor Monday suggested using some sort of escalated scale on the tickets with Perhaps the first ticket being complimentary. which would take care of the guests to the orison museum. etc She said the comt)Limentary ticket could say "We're clad You're in Huntsville this ticket is complimentary. We hope the next time you come 1' Councilmember Bell asked how one would determine who the repeat offenders are. Mayor Monday this is information obtained from the license plate. Mayor Monday said they can caLL in on the computer and check this. She said we are wanting people to come for tourism and to shop with us, but at the same time we have repeat offenders that we would also Like to encourage to park off of the Square. Councilmember Bell suggested purchasing the boot to discourage repeat offenders Mayor Monday said this is somethinm we may want to look at mid -year along with looking at the escalated ticket scale and a Part -time enforcement person. Councilmember Carter said the loot is very effective as people have to wait a long time before it is removed; sometimes a three to four hour wait before law enforcement officers will even deal with the offender's car. Mayor Monday said there is council consensus then to come back at mid Year to review the tire "boot." escalated ticket scale and Part -time enforcement person MAYOR'S ACTIVITY REPORT- -JANE MONDAY Consider Parks Advisory Board Appointments Mayor Monday presented the names of Mr. Dan Leasure and Dr. RaLph Pease for re- appointment to the Parks Advisory Board. Councilmember Barrett made the motion to approve of these reappointments and Councilmember Gaines seconded the motion. All were in favor and the motion Passed unanimously. Consider Open Space Action Committee Appointments Mayor Monday presented the names of Dr. Bob Warneke, President of the Huntsville Audubon Society, and Rev. Roy Felder. She said Rev. Felder is interested in acting as a coordinator of the city's effort to work with the people that will be coming out of the court to do clean -up for the city, and that the Open Space Action Committee wishes to adopt this as one of its public service program. She said these two people will replace Ms. Joyce HiLLiard and Mr. Chester Crawford. She then asked for the reappointment of the other members for another one year term. Councilmember Knotts made the motion to approve of the two new appointments and the re- appointment of the existing members for another one year term and Councilmember BeLL seconded the motion. ALL were in favor and the motion passed unanimously. Consider appointments to the Police Promotional Review Board Mayor Monday submitted the name of Mr. Richard Watkins to assume the position just vacated by Dr. Gerald Etheredge. Councilmember Barrett made the motion to approve of the appointment of Mr. Richard Watkins and Councilmember Carter seconded the motion. All were in favor and the motion passed unanimously. General Activities Mayor Monday advised of her activities, as follows: Tuesday and Wednesday some 80 third grade children cane to city haLL each day for a visit with the Mayor, City Manager and City Secretary and to have a tour of the building; worked on the inauguration of SHSU's President Anisman; reported the Trade Expo went well and there was actually a waiting list this year for people to have booth space; did a proclamation for a student organization in the SHSU's Communication Department and their magazine about Huntsville for the hotel rooms will be out soon; discussed cultures and women's roles in Texas and America and how they have evolved, with a Japanese group that is here for a month at SHSU; and worked with a tour group that came through representing people from all over the U.S. who were looking at Huntsville as a possible place to book tours. MINUTES OF THE FEBRUARY 27, 1990 COUNCIL MEETING BOOK "0" 48 Mayor Monday asked the Council to put on their calendar the tree planting ceremony to be held at :30 P.M. on Thursday, March 1 in front of Fire Station No. 2 where seven live oak trees will be planted as tribute to each of the seven Challenger Astronauts. She said NASA, SNBT and Huntsville representatives ill be present. She said the trees are donated by the Southwestern Bell Telephone Family and the entire ffort was spearheaded by Mr. Poncho Roberts, retired SNBT Company employee. COUNCIL ACTION Councilmember Bell asked if the 20th Street project could be expedited so that it is completed hope. Mr. Pipes said this can perhaps be done, but one of the major problems, as the city Learned today, s that it will be necessary for the University to cut 16th Street, and Avenues I and H for the installation f the underground electrical. He said having just paved them all and having about 10 major street rossings with electricaL utilities going underground, all of the paving work that the city has done will be ost. He said 20th Street may also be in jeopardy, so paving it and then having an open cut for the nstallation of that electrical utility is not really very practical. He said they will have to check to ee if this can be done. He said the City will be holding up on Avenue 1, on which they Labored intensely hrough the Christmas Holidays to get the sewer line repaired in hopes of doing the paving during Spring reek. Mr. Pipes said if it is going to be dug up for the electrical. the city will wait to pave it because CounciLmember Carter noted two people on the Council have Champion Trees. He said Councilmember I only has a Champion Tree because the real Champion Tree died last year. He said the tree contest as as big trees is ongoing. He said we now have benchmarks established for anyone that finds trees and he ouraged them to measure them because they want large trees on the List as sort of an inventory and they It have to be bigger than these because big trees will be included on the list. He thanked everyone who participate. CounciLmember Barrett said he represented the Mayor and the City at a dinner held for the Japanese adies that are here at Sam Houston State University. He said they are here for 30 days to Learn English on crash program and he encouraged the council to meet them. CounciLmember Barrett asked if there has been any word from the State Department of Highways and is Transportation about the stop light or caution light at Brazos Drive on Highway 30. He said he has several more calls about this. Mr. Pipes said they have pursued this matter with the SDHPT and they referred it to Mr. Boriskie, their District Engineer, and the city will be working through the District ce. CounciLmember Barrett said he would like to see the city work with the county too because there been a lot of accidents at this spot and there are many potential accidents that can occur. He uraged the placement of a Light there. I th Inspector's Reports Councilmember Knotts said in spite of what has been written and said about the City's Health nspector, all he gets are compliments about the forms she uses to print information about the various estaurants in HuntsviLLe. He encouraged the media to bow down and quit printing anything about it. MINUTES OF THE FEBRUARY 27, 1990 COUNCIL MEETING BOOK "0" 49 H-GAC Annual Meeting CounciLmember Howard advised he will be representing the City on March 2 at the 1990 H -GAC General Assembly Meeting where the Board of Directors for 1990 will be recognized and the 1990 officers will be instalLed. March 2. 1990- -Texas Independence Day Mayor Monday encouraged the Council to complete the form concerning attendance at the Texas Independence Day and Sam Houston's Birthday ceremonies at Sam Houston's Grave and the Sam Houston Memorial Museum. MEDIA INQUIRIES Mr. Don Norman, representing KSAM, asked if the Planning Commission will now be known as the Planning and Zoning Commission. Mr. Scott Bounds, City Attorney, advised the Planning Commission has been designated as the Zoning Commission, at Least for the preLiminary report. RECESS INTO EXECUTIVE SESSION Mayor Monday advised the Council wiLL now recess into Executive Session to consider pending Litigation, Acker Vs. City, and a real. estate acquisition matter concerning Boettcher Mill property. The Council did not discuss any other items and it did not reconvene. I ADJOURNMENT I Respect"LLy submitted, ' R th Deghau, City Secretary .February 27, 1990