Loading...
2010-04-06 CC Minutes City of Farmers Branch City Council Meeting Minutes City Council Chambers 13000 William Dodson Parkway Farmers Branch, Texas Tuesday, April 6, 2010 Regular Meeting 6:00 P.M. City Council Chambers The following members of the Council were present: Mayor Tim O'Hare Mayor Pro Tern David Koch Deputy Mayor Pro Tem Tim Scott Council members Harold Froehlich Michelle Holmes Ben Robinson The following members of the Administration were present: City Manager Gary Greer Assistant City Manager Matt Benoit Assistant City Manager Shanna Sims-Bradish City Secretary Cindee Peters City Attorney Pete Smith Director of Parks and Rec. Jeff Fuller City Engineer Jerry Murawski Director of Community Services Michael Spicer Director of Public Works Mark Pavageaux Director of Communications Tom Bryson Human Resources Director Kathy Shields Fire Chief Kyle King Director of Equipment Services Kevin Muenchow B.1 INVOCATION AND PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE. Councilman Robinson gave the invocation and Councilman Froehlich led the pledge of allegiance. B.2 CONSIDER BOARD AND COMMISSION APPOINTMENTS AND TAKE APPROPRIATE ACTION. Volume 103, page 62 Mayor O'Hare explained this item gives applicants an opportunity to present board applications to the City Council and the City Council to make appointments to vacancies on boards and commissions. Mayor O'Hare stated there were no appointments to be made tonight. B.3 REPORT ON STUDY SESSION ITEMS. Members of the City Council gave a brief explanation of items discussed in study session. B.4 REPORT ON ITEMS OF COMMUNITY INTEREST. PURSUANT TO SECTION 551.0415 OF THE TEXAS GOVERNMENT CODE THE CITY COUNCIL MAY REPORT ON THE FOLLOWING ITEMS: 1.) EXPRESSION OF THANKS, CONGRATULATIONS OR CONDOLENCES, 2.) INFORMATION ABOUT HOLIDAY SCHEDULES, 3.) RECOGNITION OF INDIVIDUALS, 4.) REMINDERS ABOUT UPCOMING CITY EVENTS, 5.) INFORMATION ABOUT COMMUNITY EVENTS AND 6.) ANNOUNCEMENTS INVOLVING AN IMMINENT THREAT TO PUBLIC. Mayor O'Hare stated the Library will have an Author Dinner on April 9th, the Citywide C1eanUp Day is April 17th at Don Showman Park, and reminded everyone of Liberty Fest which will be held over Memorial Day weekend. Councilman Froehlich reminded everyone that the annual City Election will be held on May 8th and asked everyone to vote. Councilwoman Holmes stated the Education Foundation will hold a fundraiser. Mayor O'Hare stated consent items are items that are to be considered that may not need discussion individually. Any member of the City Council or the audience may request to withdraw any item from the consent items and place the item before the Council for full discussion. The concept for consent items is to speed up discussion for those items that need more time for discussion. A motion by Mayor Pro Tem Koch, a second by Councilwoman Holmes, all voting "aye", removed item C.10 from the consent agenda and it will be heard as item E.2 and approved the consent agenda as amended. C.1 APPROVED MINUTES OF CITY COUNCIL MEETING OF MARCH 16, 2010 AND MINUTES OF SPECIAL TOUR ON MARCH 30, 2010. .C.2 ADOPTED RESOLUTION NO. 2010-015 DESIGNATING JPMORGAN CHASE BANK, N.A. AS THE CITY'S DEPOSITORY BANK AND AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO ENTER INTO A DEPOSITORY CONTRACT. Volume 103, page 63 C.3 EXCUSED THE ABSENCE OF COUNCILMEMBER DAVID KOCH AT THE MARCH 16, 2010 MEETING. CA ADOPTED ORDINANCE NO. 3077 AMENDING THE CITY OF FARMERS BRANCH CODE OF ORDINANCES, CHAPTER 82, TRAFFIC AND VEHICLES, ARTICLE II, DIVISION 6, SECTION 82-95, AMENDING NO PARKING ZONES ADJACENT TO CABELL ELEMENTARY SCHOOL. ORDINANCE NO. 3077 AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY OF FARMERS BRANCH, TEXAS, AMENDING THE CODE OF ORDINANCES, CHAPTER 82 "TRAFFIC AND VEHICLES", ARTICLE II "OPERATION OF VEHICLES", DIVISION 6 "PARKING", SECTION 82-95 "NO PARKING ZONES", BY AMENDING PARKING ZONES ALONG AMSTERDAM ROAD, RIDGEOAK WAY, AND TEMPLETON TRAIL; CONTAINING A SAVINGS CLAUSE; CONTAINING A SEVERABILITY CLAUSE REPEALING ALL CONFLICTING ORDINANCES; PROVIDING FOR A PENALTY OF FINE NOT TO EXCEED $200; AND PROVIDING AN EFFECTIVE DATE. C.5 ADOPTED RESOLUTION NO. 2010-016 OF THE CITY OF FARMERS RANCH, TEXAS, ENDORSING CERTAIN LEGISLATIVE CHANGES RELATING TO THE SUNSET REVIEW OF THE TEXAS PUBLIC UTILITY COMMISSION AND THE SPECIAL PURPOSE REVIEW OF THE ELECTRIC RELIABILITY COUNCIL OF TEXAS. C.6 ADOPTED RESOLUTION NO. 2010-017 ACCEPTING SIDEWALK EASEMENTS FOR SIDEWALK IMPROVEMENTS AT THE NORTHWEST AND SOUTHWEST CORNERS OF HEARTHSTONE DRIVE AND JOSEY LANE. C.7 ADOPTED RESOLUTION NO. 2010-018 AWARDING THE BID FOR THE RECONSTRUCTION OF SIDEWALKS ALONG THE WEST SIDE OF DENNIS LANE BETWEEN JOSEY LANE AND RICHLAND AVENUE, AND ON BOTH SIDES OF HEARTHSTONE DRIVE BETWEEN JOSEY LANE AND WASINA DRIVE TO ESTRADA CONCRETE COMPANY, LLC IN THE AMOUNT OF $154,055. C.8 ADOPTED RESOLUTION NO. 2010-019 APPROVING A PROFESSIONAL ENGINEERING SERVICES AGREEMENT WITH PACHECO KOCH CONSULTING ENGINEERS, INC. IN THE AMOUNT OF $74,971 RELATIVE TO FARMERS BRANCH STATION PHASE 2 PUBLIC IMPROVEMENTS. C.9 ADOPTED RESOLUTION NO. 2010-022 APPROVING THE REQUEST OF LA SABROCITA TORTILLERIA FOR SITE PLAN APPROVAL FOR A PROPOSED 482 SQUARE FOOT ADDITION TO AN EXISTING 1,588 Volume 103, page 64 SQUARE FOOT RESTAURANT LOCATED AT 14520 JOSEY LANE WITHIN THE PLANNED DEVELOPMENT NO. 4 ZONING DISTRICT. D NO ITEMS. E.1 CONSIDER ADOPTING RESOLUTION NO. 2010-020 AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO SIGN AN AGREEMENT WITH ATB SERVICES FOR FALSE ALARM TRACKING AND BILLING AND TAKE APPROPRIATE ACTION. Matt Benoit, Assistant City Manager, explained in December, City Administration requested proposals from companies that provide a comprehensive alarm permit program with an emphasis on reducing false alarms and increasing permits. Three proposals were received, and City Administration is recommending ATB Services. Nationwide, approximately 98% of the time police are dispatched for an alarm call, it is false. In Farmers Branch, the Police Department responded to a total of 3,018 alarm calls in 2009; of these 40 were valid alarms (1.3%). ATB Services will reduce false alarms in the City of Farmers Branch through increased registration and alarm education. Through their relationship with alarm-service providers, they will increase the number of alarms permitted (both business and residential). Once alarms are permitted, ATB Services will educate the business and residential alarm owners in the community on ways to reduce false alarms. This is done through mailings, joint media announcements, on-line resources and training our Police Department personnel to assist alarm owners in devising strategies that will reduce false alarms. They will also work with alarm-service providers to educate them on our False Alarm Ordinance and promote enhanced call verification methods. These efforts have resulted in 90% reductions in false alarms in other communities in Texas and across the nation. ATB services will charge $14 per paid alarm permit. An alarm permit is $30. Currently, Farmers Branch has 1,030 business alarms permitted and 1,410 residential alarms permitted. Including permit fees and fines for false alarms in excess of five in the current Ordinance, a total of $109,660 was collected in the previous fiscal year. Assuming a 30% increase in the alarms permitted and a 30% decrease in false alarm fines, the 2009-2010 Budget impact for ATB's services is estimated at $44,408. The City will continue to collect the remaining $16 per permit for annual estimated revenue of $76,232. An alarm will typically result in two police officers responding. Each alarm requires approximately 30 minutes to determine if the alarm is false and resume patrol duties. Each false alarm that is reduced will result in one additional hour of patrol time; which ties directly to Core Value #1, "Provide safety and security for citizens, visitors and businesses through additional patrol/traffic enforcement hours." Using the same estimate of a 30% reduction in false alarms, a total of 893 additional patrol hours will be gained. Volume 103, page 65 There followed a discussion concerning the permit fees, letters on false alarms, who has the most false alarms, and the length of the contract. Following the discussion, a motion by Councilman Robinson, a second by Mayor Pro Tern Koch, all voting "aye", approved Resolution No. 2010-013. E.2 CONSIDER ADOPTION OF RESOLUTION NO. 2010-023 DELEGATING LIMITED AUTHORITY TO CITY MANAGER TO ACQUIRE INTEREST IN REAL PROPERTY. In order to build and maintain public projects and facilities, the City must sometimes acquire interests in real property, such as easements for streets, water and sewer projects, and drainage projects, and fee title for city building sites, parks, etc. Often, these property interests are donated by owners who benefit from the proposed project or who wish to make a gift to the City for some charitable purpose (such as park land). Presently, in order to ensure that conveyances of property interests to the City are in fact interests the City wants to acquire, all conveyances are presented to the City Council for approval and acceptance. This process can delay by as much as a month finalizing right of way acquisition and the start of project construction as staff awaits council action at a regular city council meeting. Occasionally, City staff is unable to acquire a property interest by donation. In such cases, the City must negotiate a real estate purchase contract with the owner. When property must be acquired through a purchase agreement, more than one City Council meeting may be required in order to obtain general consensus on what to pay and then approval of the contract itself after it is negotiated. Because of the timing of City Council meetings, this procedure may add as much as two months to the property acquisition process. In order to speed up the process, the City Attorney has advised that the authority to accept donated real estate conveyances and to negotiate and close on purchases can be delegated to the City Manager. The resolution presented would authorize the City Manager to accept donated property interests as well as to negotiate for and purchase property without prior council action. The authority to buy a parcel without prior council action on the contract would be limited to a purchase price of $50,000 and be subject to funds being available in the budget for such purposes. A real estate contract for more than $50,000 would still require City Council approval. The proposed resolution also contains a section delegating to the City Manager the authority to use grant or gift funds designated for the acquisition of real property without a purchase price cap so as long as the City's contribution to the purchase is $50,000 or less. Finally, the resolution makes it clear that the delegation of authority does not include the authority to commence an eminent domain proceeding, which authorization will be retained by the City Council. Councilman Ben Robinson asked that this item be removed from the consent agenda because he had concerns allowing the City Manager to have authorization to purchase land for $50,000 or less. Councilman Robinson did state he had no problems with Volume 103, page 66 authorizing the City Manager to accept donations of land. Councilman Robinson stated Farmers Branch is a small city and $50,000 is a large amount. Mayor O'Hare stated the Council trusted the current City Manager, however in 5 to 15 years the Council may not remember to amend this ordinance when a new City Manager is hired. A motion by Councilman Robinson, a second by Councilman Froehlich, all voting "aye approved Resolution No. 2010-023 as amended by omitting Paragraph 1 b, deleting Section 2, Section 3, and Section 4. G.I CONSIDER NECESSARY ACTION ON ITEMS DISCUSSED IN THE EXECUTIVE SESSION. Mayor O'Hare stated no executive session was held tonight. G.2 ADJOURNMENT. A motion by Councilman Scott, a second by Mayor Pro Tern Koch, all voting "aye," adjourned the City Council meeting of April 6, 2010 at 6:42 r I 6 Tim O'Hare, Mayor Cindee Peters, City Secretary Volume 103, page 67