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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1989-05-09 - Special City Council MINUTES OF SPECIAL MEETING City of Stephenville - City Council TUESDAY, MAY 9, 1989 - 5:30 P.M. The City Council of the City of Stephenville, Texas, convened in special session on May 9, 1989 at 7:00 p.m. in the Council Chambers of City Hall , 354 N. Belknap, with the meeting being open to the public and notice of said meeting, giving the date, time, place and subject thereof, having been posted as prescribed by Article 6252-17, Section 3A, V.T.C.S. , with the following members present, to wit: Mayor: George Swearingen Mayor Pro Tem: Allen Horne Councilmembers: Bob Self Helen Martin Vicki L. Truss Maxine Dameron James L. McSwain Jim Bostic Joel M. Hillin Absent: None Others Attending: Kurt Ackermann City Administrator Joyce Pemberton City Secretary Charlene Young Director of Finance Joseph Chandler City Attorney Randy Thomas Assistant City Attorney Mayor George Swearingen called the meeting to order and declared a quorum pre- sent. 89-05-113: CANVASSING OF THE ELECTION RETURNS AND DECLARING THE RESULTS OF THE CITY GENERAL ELECTION HELD ON MAY 6, 1989 FOR THE ELECTION OF FOUR COUNCILMEMBERS AND FOURTEEN AMENDMENTS TO THE CITY CHARTER. Mayor George Swearingen appointed Councilmember Helen Martin, chair- person, Vicki Truss and Jim Bostic as the Canvassing Committee to canvass the election returns of the May 6th City General Election. Chairperson Helen Martin reported the results of the election as follows: PLACE 1 Bob Self 1169 Kenneth Currier 865 PLACE 3 Barbara Schmidt 813 Ray Reynolds 993 W. G."Bill " Brede 228 PLACE 5 David C. Gay 943 James L. McSwain 1063 PLACE 7 Allen Horne 1115 A. H. "Ace" Keever 868 Councilmember Joel Hillin made the motion, seconded by Councilmember Maxine Dameron, to pass and approve A RESOLUTION AND ORDER CANVASSING 209 THE RETURNS AND DECLARING THE RESULTS OF THE CITY GENERAL ELECTION. The motion carried UNANIMOUSLY. Charter amendment election returns are accepted and filed by the City Council and the results thereof are hereby declared to be that all amendments received a majority of the votes except proposed amendment No. 3. No further action shall be taken on these amendments until the court has made its final detemination of suit No. 89-04-19126-CV pending in the 266th District Court of Erath County, Texas. Joyce Pemberton, City Secretary, administered the Oath of Office to the elected councilmembers Bob Self, Ray Reynolds, James L. McSwain and Allen Horne and issued the Certificates of Election. The newly elected councilmembers then took their seats on the Council . 89-05-115: CONSIDER A RESOLUTION ADOPTING AN EXEMPTION FOR DISABLED PERSONS AS PROVIDED BY THE TEXAS PROPERTY TAX CODE CONSTITUTION, ARTICLE 8, SECTION lb b . Councilmember Vicki Truss explained the chart sent out in the packets regarding the effect of the disabled exemption from $3,000 to $10,000. She said she is asking for Council input as to the amount of exemption, if the Council does desire to adopt an exemption for disabled persons. After discussion, Councilmember Vicki Truss made the motion, seconded by Councilmember Jim McSwain, to pass and adopt a Resolution setting the dollar value at $10,000.00 as homestead tax exemption for disabled persons. The motion carried UNANIMOUSLY. RESOLUTION WHEREAS, the Texas Property Tax Code Constitution, Article 8, Section lb(b) , allows for a disabled persons exemption for City homeowners; and WHEREAS, the City Council of the City of Stephenville, Texas recogni- zes the effect that property taxes may have on many disabled citizens; and WHEREAS, a disabled persons exemption would help to mitigate the effect of property taxes on these citizens; and BE IT THEREFORE RESOLVED, by the City Council of the City of Stephenville, Texas in a meeting duly assembled and by the authority thereof, passes the disabled persons exemption in the amount of $10,000.00. PASSED AND ADOPTED this 9th day of May, 1989. 89-05-116: STUDY AND REVIEW OF THE CITY COUNCIL RULES & PROCEDURES. Councilmember Helen Martin explained she had asked for this to be an agenda item as it was not known how many would be new to the Council . She said she felt it was important that all of the Council review the Rules and Procedures at one time so that all would be familiar with them. Mrs. Martin said there were some items she felt needed discussion even though most all members of the Council were familliar with them. a. Right of Floor, page 2: "Any member desiring to speak shall be recognized by the Chair, and shall confine his/her remarks to one subject under consideration or to be considered. " The Council needs to remember to let every one have their full say without interuption. b. The City Attorney, page 2: "The City Attorney shall attend all meetings uless excused and shall , upon request give an opinion, either written or oral , on questions of the law. The City Attorney shall act as the Council ' s parliamentarian." When questions arise the Council should remember to refer to the City Attorney as the parliamentarian. 210 c. Committee Meetings and Reports, page 3: The amendments of 02/07/89 should be inserted. d. Preservation of Order, page 4: "The Chairman shall preserve order and decorum, prevent attacks on personalities or the impugning of members' motives, and confine members in debate to the question under discussion." This goes back to the point of sticking with the subject of discussion. e. Questions to be Stated, page 4: "The Chairman shall state all questions submitted for a vote and announce the result. A roll call vote shall be taken upon the request of any member, in the manner provided in Section 6.7 of these rules. Before taking a final vote the Mayor shall ask for discussion on the motion." Sometimes there is a lot of discussion before a motion is made which is well and good, but after a motion is made the Mayor should ask if there is more discussion before the vote is actually taken. f. Majority Vote Required, page 6: As the Mayor has a vote on any proposition and the privilege of breaking a tie vote. There is no way of knowing whether or not it will be tied. It would appear that the Mayor should vote last in case it is a tie vote which he would the vote the break. g. When persons are addressing the Council they should give their names and addresses for the record. h. Placing Items on the Agenda, page 5: "Any member of the City Council or general public may request items be placed on the agenda by submitting such items to the City Administrator in writing at least one week prior to the council meeting at which such item would be considered." Councilmembers who wish to have items on the agenda should submit such items in writing as it makes it much easier on the staff level so that staff does not inadvertently omit an item from the agenda. 89-05-117: Councilmember Bob Self explained that the deadline for getting an advertisement in the Town & City magazine for the position of City Administrator is June 15, 1989. There is not sufficient time to call another meeting or set up a search committee, etc. We need an informal consent to place said ad in order for it to appear in the June edition. It was the consensus of the Council to place said ad in the TML maga- zine Town & City. 89-05-118: Mayor George Swearingen announced the need of a committee to meet with Freese & Nichols, Inc. regarding the Wastewater Treatment Plant Evaluation Report. Councilmember Bob Self said he had received a couple of phone calls from individuals expressing concern that the Council had given Freese and Nichols, Inc. a "blank check" for the disign and construction on the wastewater treatment plant. That is not the case. They were authorized to bring to the Council a scope of work or proposal out- ling what things they would do and what their engineering fees would be and a much better estimate of the costs than what was presented in evaluation study presented at the last meeting. In addition to the proposal from Freese & Nichols, Willis Engineering also presented a proposal . At that time a vote was taken to proceed with Freese & Nichols for several reasons. It is a very exhaustive study and it should be noted that in order to have a design and permit application to the Water Commission for review and approval by September 1, 1989 action needs to be taken by June 1, 1989 to get an engineering firm on board to do a study of the needs and the scope of work and the costs, etc. It would take another firm at least six months to do the same study. Freese & Nichols will be down next week to give a rough draft of the study and a full report at the June regular meeting. It seems there have been some misunderstandings on the Council and with the public also as to what was authorized at the last meeting. Mayor Swearingen asked if we were too pressed for time to consider hiring another engineering firm to do another study at an approximate cost of $20,000 to $25,000 when several million dollars are involved? 211 Councilmember Bob Self said the schedule of events was very tight and he did not know if there was sufficient time or not. Councilmember Joel Hillin commented that he felt when bids were taken this would be a checkpoint on Freese & Nichols and any items out of line would be caught by the firms bidding. Director of Public Works Danny Johnson commented that Freese & Nichols had estimated high and he felt when the bids came in they would be somewhat lower than the estimates. The cost of the project is set on a fee basis which is competitive among all engineering firms. There being no other business to come before the Council , Mayor Swearingen adjourned the meeting at 6:45 p.m. AyTT: eor wear ngen, Mayor r yce P mberton, City Secretary 212