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Home My WebLink About1998-08-18 - Special City CouncilMINUTES OF SPECIAL MEETING City of Stephenville - City Council TUESDAY, AUGUST 18,1998 - 5:30 P.M. The City Council of the City of Stephenville, Texas, convened in special session on Tuesday, August 18, 1998, at 5:30 p.m., in the Council Chambers at City Hall, 298 West Washington Street, 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 Chapter 551, Government Code, Vernon's Texas Codes Annotated, with the following members present, to wit: Mayor: John Moser Councilmembers: Marshall Shelton Joel Hillin K. H. Conatser Bea Marin Barbara Terrell Jerry B. Madkins Wm. H. (Bill) Stanley Absent: Rusty Jergins Others Attending: Don Davis, City Administrator Cindy L. Stafford, City Secretary Randy Thomas, City Attorney I. CALL TO ORDER. Mayor Moser called the meeting to order at 5:39 p.m. and declared a quorum present. The mayor then introduced two new staff members from the Stephenville Empire - Tribune, Shannon Duhone and his wife, Krista Duhone. II. HEAR CITIZENS' INPUT AND QUESTIONS ON THE PROPOSED BUDGET FOR FISCAL YEAR 1998 -99 Bobby Lane spoke to the council on the need of a new or expanded library. He made the following statements: "I ask the council, mayor, and city manager to consider adding space to the library and to add equipment such as computers, microfilm readers, film copiers, for benefit of the public that visit our library. There is a shortage of meeting room space as well. There are no handicapped access to the basement area. Other libraries in a 50 -mile radius of Stephenville have nearly all of the above amenities, and we seem to be stuck on `peg one' in this regard." He stated he was not criticizing the Stephenville Public Library, but said it needs space and August 18, 1998 - Minutes of Special Meeting equipment to be a first class library. He asked the council to please put improvements to the library before a dance hall floor at the Senior Citizens Center or before a convention center or cowboy museum. Marilyn Ewers thanked Bobby Lane for his remarks regarding the library, and thanked the council for the money that was allotted to the library in the budget for painting and carpet. She said that many out -of -state residents visit the library, and their impression of our city could be determined by the condition of our parks and library. She also asked for an update of the street repairs in the Clifton Heights Addition. City Administrator Don Davis advised that the start date is scheduled for August 24, 1998. Betty Heath told the council about a report from a friend that had visited Dyersburg, Tennessee. She reported that the town was beautiful and the streets were kept clean. Heath reinforced her plea to the council to purchase a street sweeper. She also suggested that the "superintendent's house" at the old water works on Paddock Street could be remodeled and used for a senior citizens center. In response to Ms. Heath's request for a street sweeper, Mayor Moser advised that the council did deliberate this issue during budget workshops. At this time, the expense of purchasing one is too great; however, the council is recommending increasing the number of times the streets are swept by its contractor through the year from three to four times. Lavinia Lohrmann inquired about the televising of council meetings. She asked where the money is that was previously budgeted for this project. City Administrator Davis explained that when the City Hall was relocated to 298 West Washington, that money was used to wire the building and to make the Council Chambers adaptable for the televising and the audio -video equipment. III. CONSIDER THE PROPOSED BUDGET FOR FISCAL YEAR 1998 -99 Mayor Moser then announced that those items identified during budget workshops would now be discussed and acted upon. Car Allowance. Davis offered a history of the car allowance. These were positions which required individuals to spend a good deal of time in the field. As a result, the city provided a car to those individuals, and this evolved to a car allowance which was determined to be more practical. Mayor Moser said he did not propose to take specific action, but did clarify his position as follows: "We have two basic classes of city employees -- salary and hourly. Our salary employees are paid to perform a job. We establish regular August 18, 1998 - Minutes of Special Meeting business hours for all employees; however, salaried employees are not paid beyond during just regular hours. They are paid to do a job. That job may occasionally require them to work beyond regular hours. They are not paid overtime for such work as are our hourly employees. Similarly, their duties may require them to make various of variable number of trips to and from home and to and from various locations within the city to perform their job. Such trips are an inherent part of their job. Just as we don't pay them for overtime, neither do I believe we should pay travel expenses in the performance of routine duties associated with such jobs. Such travel is an inherent part of their job. It is for the performance of this job that they are paid a salary. We currently pay five city employees a private car allowance of $300 per month. The duties of these employees vary widely as do their requirements to travel within and around the city to perform those duties. To pay each of them a blanket $300 per month is, on the face of it, inequitable. No two of them have identical travel requirements. We have more than five salaried employees. The current system assumes that none of the others have job related travel requirements within the city. Others do occasionally make trips within the city at their own expense to accomplish their specific job requirements, but we do not have a system for compensating them for that." The mayor suggested that a method of resolving this issue is to simply eliminate all car allowances. Finance Director, Mark Kaiser reviewed the findings of a survey conducted by North -- Central Texas Council of Governments. For the city managers' position, out of 68 responding, 40 had an allowance, 11 had a car, 17 had no response to survey. The allowance for the city managers' position ranged from $700 to $100. For community services director, out of 37 responding, 24 had an allowance, 5 had a car, 8 had nothing. Police Chief- -80 responding, 21 had an allowance, 26 had a car furnished, and 33 had no response. Utilities director - -63 responding, 31 had an allowance, 10 had a car, 22 no response. Fire Chief- -47 responding, 16 had an allowance, 15 had a car, 16 no response. Council member Madkins said this matter needs strict scrutiny and future study. Council member Stanley moved to refer the matter of car allowances to the Finance Department in consultation with the Personnel Committee for further study and to come up with some possible recommendation to the council at a later date. Council member Conatser seconded the motion, which passed by a unanimous roll call vote. Council member Shelton suggested that the council might employ a professional person such as J. Pat Stephens to look, not only at the car allowance issue, but also at the whole organizational structure and our budget and advise the council accordingly. Shelton said he thought it might cost $2- 3,000. Volunteer Appreciation Banquet. City Administrator Davis explained the purpose of this dinner is to recognize the various volunteers who give their time and energy toward the city's work, i.e. board and commission members, volunteer fire August 18, 1998 - Minutes of Special Meeting department, etc. One method of recognizing them would be an appreciation dinner whereby they could be recognized by the council and the community. Council member Madkins moved to strike the $4,000.00 from the budget and let the Personnel Committee look at ways to recognize our volunteers. Council member Shelton seconded the motion, which passed by unanimous vote. City Codification. Council member Marin moved to authorize $10,000 for code recodifxcation. Council member Shelton seconded the motion, which passed by unanimous vote. City Attorney Health Insurance. Council member Conatser moved to leave this item in the budget. Council member Hillin seconded the motion, which passed by unanimous vote. July 4th Family Fun Fair, TAAF Travel, Bids, Etc., Athletic Tournaments, Cowboy Heritage Events, Christmas in the Park/Lighting. Davis explained this issue, stating that the question is what to do with these programs that have been funded out of the Hotel/Motel tax since the council adopted a moratorium on the expense of those monies until such time as the council adopts a plan for the use of that discretionary fixed. These programs total $40,000.00. Council member Conatser moved to adopt Option #4 as follows: Commit to these programs and operate out of the general fund, account number 501 -261 until the mid- year budget review. The planning phase for all the programs will begin before the mid -year budget review. This option will enable the council to establish the policy for use of Hotel/Motel Tax Funds and will commit the city to budget for the programs in either the general fund or the Hotel/Motel Tax Fund. The motion was seconded by Council member Madkins and passed by unanimous vote. Dues and Subscriptions. Council member Maria moved to amend the 252, Dues and Subscription accounts from $19,230.00 to $17,930.00 as attached. Council member Terrell seconded the motion, which passed by unanimous vote. Travel and Education. Council member Marin moved to approve the 215, Travel and Education for $75,450.00 as attached. Council member Hillin seconded the motion, which passed by unanimous vote. Jim Young addressed the council concerning the travel budget. Young suggested that the authority for approving travel expense be placed with the City Administrator. City Administrator Davis advised the council that this type policy already is in place and documentation is required for all travel expenses. August 18, 1998 - Minutes of Special Meeting Mayor Moser brought up two items which he wanted the council to consider, flashlights and night sights. Interim Police Chief, Elwood Hoherz, proposed a change at a cost of approximately $400.00 which would alleviate the problem during the present budget year. Monies are available in the FY 97 -98 budget. Concerning the night sights, Hoherz stated that $8- 900.00 is needed to retrofit the rest of the departments pistols and there may be places in the budget where these cost can be absorbed. If not, however, the issue may be taken up at mid -year budget. Don Davis then discussed with the council the procedure for setting the tax rate and all local and state requirements. IV. ADJOURN There being no further business, the meeting adjourned at 7:30 p.m. J Moser, Mayor ATTEST: i. z. .. , ..... indyy L. `o d / August 18, 1998 - Minutes of Special Meeting i h CITY OF STEPHENVILLE DUES AND SUBSCRIPTIONS 1998 -99 1997 -98 PROPOSED DEPARTMENT BUDGET BUDGET PERCENT CITY COUNCIL 3,200 3,300 18.40% CITY ADMINISTRATOR 300 300 1.67% CITY SECRETARY 300 300 1.67% FINANCE 990 1,240 6.92% LEGAL 175 175 0.98% PERSONNEL 700 700 3.90% PARK & RECREATION 1,000 300 1.67% LIBRARY 600 250 1.39% STREETS 100 100 0.56% SENIOR CITIZEN RECREATION 0 25 0.14% FIRE ADMINISTRATION 800 800 4.46% FIRE MARSHAL 1,000 1,000 5.58% FIRE SUPPRESSION 2,600 2,600 14.50% EMERGENCY MEDICAL SERVICE 2,980 2,980 16.62% VOLUNTEER FIRE DEPT. 160 160 0.89% POLICE ADMINISTRATION 1,200 800 4.46% POLICE COMMUNICATIONS 100 100 0.56% POLICE RECORDS 75 75 0.42% CRIMINAL INVESTIGATIONS 150 150 0.84% COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT 1,340 950 5.30% UTILITIES 2,010 1,625 9.06% LANDFILL 0 0 0.00% 19.780 17.930 100.00% 8/27/98 f r } i l I CITY OF STEPHENVILLE TRAVEL AND EDUCATION 1998 -99 1997 -98 PROPOSED DEPARTMENT BUDGET BUDGET PERCENT CITY COUNCIL 5,500 5,500 7.29% CITY ADMINISTRATOR 1,000 1,000 1.33% CITY SECRETARY 1,000 1,000 1.33% FINANCE 2,000 2,000 2.65% LEGAL 175 500 0.66% PERSONNEL 3,000 2,000 2.65% PARK & RECREATION 2,400 2,400 3.18% LIBRARY 2,210 2,210 2.93% STREETS 1,500 1,500 1.99% SENIOR CITIZEN RECREATION 300 300 0.40% FIRE ADMINISTRATION 1,500 1,500 1.99% FIRE MARSHAL 1,850 1,850 2.45% FIRE SUPPRESSION 3,600 3,600 4.77% EMERGENCY MEDICAL SERVICE 2,100 2,100 2.78% VOLUNTEER FIRE DEPT. 3,000 3,000 3.98% POLICE ADMINISTRATION 1,800 1,200 1.59% POLICE PATROL 20,000 20,000 26.51% POLICE COMMUNICATIONS 2,000 3,500 4.64% POLICE RECORDS 2,000 3,000 3.98% CRIMINAL INVESTIGATIONS 2,500 3,100 4.11% ANIMAL CONTROL 500 1,000 1.33% COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT 6,050 5,550 7.36% UTILITIES 6,240 6,340 8.40% LANDFILL 300 300 0.40% AIRPORT 1,000 1,000 1.33% 13-E25 7 5.450 100.00% @/27/98