01-26-1988 (City Council) Minutes 387
CITY COUNCIL MEETING
MINUTES
JANUARY 26, 1988
The Wylie City Council met in regular session on Tuesday,
January 26 , 1988 at 7 :00 P.M. in the Community Room. A
quorum was present and notice of the meeting had been posted
in the time and manner required by law. Those present were
Mayor Chuck Trimble, Mayor Pro Tem Sandra Donovan, Council
Members Calvin Westerhof , Marvin Blakey, John Akin, Chris
DiTota, and Kent Crane, City Manager John Pitstick, City
Secretary Carolyn Jones, Finance Director James Johnson,
Public Works Superintendent Don White, Code Enforcement
Officer Roy Faires .
Mayor Trimble called the meeting to order and Mayor Pro Tem
Donovan gave the invocation.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES FOR JANUARY 12TH MEETING: Councilman
Akin corrected the minutes to reflect the following
statement : Councilman Akin stated that he personally will
always be grateful to Rita and Truett Smith for their many
years of contributions to the City and to the citizens of
Wylie. Especially their donation of the Rita and Truett
Smith Library to the City and the citizens of our community.
I will never stand by and see this library closed .
Councilman DiTota corrected the minutes to reflect his
question regarding the alignment of Sanden Blvd. was which
alignment would give more frontage road for future
development.
Motion was made by Councilman DiTota to approve the minutes
with the above corrections . Seconded by Councilman Akin.
The vote was as follows : Mayor Trimble - in favor, Mayor
Pro Tem Donovan - in favor , Councilman Akin - in favor,
Councilman Westerhof - in favor, Councilman DiTota - in
favor, Councilman Crane - in favor , and Councilman Blakey -
in favor . This motion carried with all in favor.
APPOINTMENT TO PARK AND RECREATION BOARD TO REPLACE MR.
LARRY NICKELL: There has been a recommendation to the
Council to appoint Mr . Ron Ferguson to this board. Motion
was made by Councilman DiTota to appoint Mr . Ron Ferguson to
the Park and Recreation Board, with his term expiring in
July, 1988 . Seconded by Mayor Pro Tem Donovan. The vote
was as follows : Mayor Trimble - in favor, Mayor Pro Tem
Donovan - in favor , Councilman Akin - in favor, Councilman
Westerhof - in favor, Councilman DiTota - in favor,
Councilman Crane - in favor , and Councilman Blakey - in
favor. This motion carried with all in favor.
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CONSENT AGENDA: AUTHORIZATION TO SEEK BIDS ON PLUGGING
ABANDONED MUNICIPAL WATER WELL, AWARDING BID FOR ELECTRICAL
SERVICE AND WIRING FOR WYLIE NORTEX WATER STORAGE SITE, AND
REFUND OF PAYMENT OF DELINQUENT TAXES: City Manager John
Pitstick stated that the item awarding the bid for
electrical service should be acted on as a separate item.
Councilman DiTota wanted to know why if this well was
abandon in 1956-57 it was this Council ' s place to deal with
it . Councilman Akin said the well was dug in early 1920 ' s
and was the water supply for the City. Councilman Akin also
stated that there was probably this type of wells all over
town. Councilman Akin said this well was 1/2 to 1 mile deep
and it was used for temporary back up water supply after the
water system from NTMWD was put into force. Motion was made
by Mayor Pro Tem Donovan to approve the consent agenda for
seeking bids for plugging abandoned well and to refund
payment of delinquent taxes. Seconded by Councilman DiTota.
The vote was as follows : Mayor Trimble - in favor, Mayor
Pro Tem Donovan - in favor, Councilman Akin - in favor,
Councilman Westerhof - in favor, Councilman DiTota - in
favor, Councilman Crane - in favor, and Councilman Blakey -
in favor. This motion carried with all in favor.
AWARDING BID FOR ELECTRICAL SERVICE AND WIRING FOR WYLIE
NORTEX WATER STORAGE SITE AND PUMP STATION: Councilman
Crane said it seems like every two or three months this same
questions keeps coming up. Finance Director James Johnson
said this would hook up the control panels for the pumps.
There are two large pumps at this pump station. Councilman
Crane asked why Tele-a-communications and this wiring were
not done together. Mr . Johnson said this will put this
station on line. Councilman Blakey wanted to know if this
completes this project. Mr . Johnson said he understands
from Mr. Homeyer that this will complete this project.
Councilman Crane wanted to know why this has taken so long .
Mr. Johnson said we should have sub-contracted this complete
project instead of us trying to do the work. Motion was
made by Councilman Westerhof to award the bid to Ready
Electric, Inc. Seconded by Councilman Crane. The vote was
as follows : Mayor Trimble - in favor , Mayor Pro Tem Donovan
- in favor, Councilman Akin - in favor, Councilman Westerhof
- in favor, Councilman DiTota - in favor, Councilman Crane -
in favor, and Councilman Blakey - in favor. This motion
carried with all in favor.
ORDINANCE AMENDING ORD. #78-20 AS AMENDED BY ORD. #80-1
REGARDING THE OPERATION AND MAINTENANCE OF THE COMMUNITY
ANTENNA TELEVISION SYSTEM IN WYLIE: Mr . Ed Musser of
Communications Services, Inc. stated that this would give
the communications services four (4) more channels for the
public and yet would not do away with the educational
channels as they can be obtained through Region 10 . I have
talked with Mr. Don Whitt and he has sent the Council a
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_._ letter in regards to this. Motion was made by Mayor Pro Tem
Donovan to approve the ordinance amending order #78-20 and
#80-1 . Seconded by Councilman Blakey. The vote was as
follows : Mayor Trimble - in favor, Mayor Pro Tem Donovan -
in favor, Councilman Akin - in favor , Councilman Westerhof -
in favor, Councilman DiTota - in favor, Councilman Crane -
in favor , and Councilman Blakey - in favor . This motion
carried with all in favor.
ORDINANCE RESETTING THE TAX RATE FOR FISCAL YEAR 1987 : The
new tax rate for the fiscal year 1987 is $ .50 per $100 .00 of
valuation. This was brought about by the rollback election
held on January 16 , 1988 . Motion was made by Councilman
Blakey to approve the ordinance setting the tax rate at
$.50. Seconded by Councilman Westerhof . The vote was as
follows : Mayor Trimble - in favor , Mayor Pro Tem Donovan -
in favor, Councilman Akin - in favor, Councilman Westerhof -
in favor, Councilman DiTota - in favor , Councilman Crane -
in favor, and Councilman Blakey - in favor. This motion
carried with all in favor.
RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING CITY MANAGER TO DRAW UP LEASE
AGREEMENT BETWEEN CITY AND LIFELINE FOR SPACE IN NEW
MUNICIPAL COMPLEX: City Manager John Pitstick said this
item is before you at the request of Lifeline. Lifeline is
interested in being close to the 9-1-1 and our dispatch.
Staff has located an office that is not being used and is
adjacent to the dispatch. It also looks as if the JP court
will be moving to our new complex as soon as their lease is
up at the present location. Mayor Pro Tem Donovan wanted to
add a clause in contract that City approves of any walls or
changes . Motion was made by Councilman Westerhof to approve
the lease agreement. Seconded by Councilman Crane. The
vote was as follows: Mayor Trimble - in favor , Mayor Pro
Tem Donovan - in favor, Councilman Akin - in favor,
Councilman Westerhof - in favor, Councilman DiTota - in
favor, Councilman Crane - in favor, and Councilman Blakey -
in favor. This motion carried with all in favor .
APPROVAL OF LAKE RAY HUBBARD MOBILE HOME PARK SANITARY SEWER
FORCE MAIN SYSTEM APPROVAL FOR CONSTRUCTION ONLY: City
Manager John Pitstick stated that staff has looked at these
plans as well as CH2M Hill and all have approved them. This
is for construction only. There were questions asked about
the ownership of the property and if all fees had been paid.
City Manager John Pitstick said that the fees would be
collected prior to construction and that as far as staff new
it was still under the same ownership. Motion was made by
Councilman Crane to approve the Lake Ray Hubbard Mobile Home
Park Sanitary Sewer Force Main System for construction only.
Seconded by Councilman Akin. The vote was as follows :
Mayor Trimble - in favor, Mayor Pro Tem Donovan - in favor,
Councilman Akin - in favor , Councilman Westerhof - in favor,
Councilman DiTota - in favor, Councilman Crane - in favor,
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and Councilman Blakey - in favor . This motion carried with
all in favor. ^'"^
City Manager John Pitstick stated that staff has met with
the Library Board and they are recommending to City Council
to leave a part time position in the library for a least 20
hours and work with volunteers. In funding through Nettles
and County, we are required to have a certified librarian
and be open for at least 20 hours per week. City Manager
John Pitstick also stated that we receive between $8,000 .
and $10 ,000 . from Nettles and the County. The last day for
our two librarians will be Friday. If Council does not see
a problem, when the amended budget comes back it will
reflect this. Mayor Pro Tem Donovan wanted an executive
session prior to Council making this decision. Councilman
Akin said he would like for Council to look at this first
prior to closing the library. Councilman Blakey stated that
there has been a lot of negative comments and he had rather
not close the library. Councilman Akin also stated that the
City has had a paid Librarian for some time and with a
budget one fifth the size of what this one is now, and it
doesn' t make sense to close the library when someone has
donated $250,000 . for a library to the City of Wylie, it is
a slap in the face to these people. I can show you 10 or 15
jobs to cut instead of closing the library. Councilman Akin
also stated that he could show Council where $9,000. was .•.�
spent for something that we did not have last year and can
do without this year . Councilman DiTota wanted to know if
we could keep the library open during the school months, but .
close it during the summer months. There is no doubt the
library is needed more during school months, I am not
suggesting a complete shutdown. We are talking about lay-
offs of two librarians now, could we keep them until the
month of June. Is this an option. City Manager John
Pitstick said the minimum issue right now is in order to
keep the funding we have to be open 20 hours per week and
there has to be a qualified librarian to over see it. You
can shut down for a month or two and not loose the funding ,
but once you go beyond this you are not going to a full
library. Councilman DiTota said he was just looking at
giving the full service of the library to the schools and
during the summer tapper off. City Manager John Pitstick
said staff would be more than happy to do what you want,
there is a library board meeting this Thursday night and
maybe Council should come and talk with the board.
Councilman Crane said he believe the Council should look at
the budget prior to making any cuts or decisions . Mayor Pro
Tem Donovan said staff has been telling us this is where you
cut . Councilman Crane said the public did not elect the
staff, the public elect us . City Manager John Pitstick said
$250 ,000 . has to be cut now. The decisions need to be ---
made, staff has made these recommendations and Council did
not give any comments so I went forward with them. Council
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then requested a work shop for Saturday morning, January
30th at 8 :30 A.M.
CITIZENS PARTICIPATION: Mayor Trimble invited anyone
wishing to speak to come forward at this time, but to try
and keep their comments to within two minutes and to state
their name and address for the record.
Annette Naish 512 Rustic Place, stated that she had started
a library in Albry, Texas. It was a certified library and
we were open more than 20 hours a week. Since I have left
there, they are giving GED classes and other classes, I will
be more than happy to serve as your librarian. Mayor
Trimble asked if her certification was still valid. Mrs .
Naish said no.
Bud Naish 512 Rustic Place stated that in going over the
budget do away with the ambulance insurance and should keep
the library open. Since the city does not maintain the
sewer treatment plant , cut this area, City Manager and City
Council Reserve could be cut, the personnel person could be
tapped. I do not see any reason to do away with the
library.
COUNCIL DISCUSSION: Councilman Akin said personally he did
not understand the publicity going in the paper and blaming
the past for what has happened. I am present and past and
had phone calls from other in the past who felt we were
blaming them. The pro rata cost of debt service to Wylie
was $150 .00 versus Allen' s $1100. and McKinney' s $750 .00 .
In the past, the Council was responsible for getting the
Park and Community Building and Kirby Park. I feel like
these people have made a great contributions to our City in
the past. I did not like us telling citizens that they did
not know what they were doing when voting for the rollback
and I have learned along time ago that you win some and
loose some. I lost the airport issue, but in the past we
were able to go forward after elections and begin to plan
for the future and put the past behind us . There have been
former City Managers tell me that they have never seen a
City the size of Wylie, operator so efficiently.
Councilman Akin also wanted to know about the water leak at
high school . Don White said this was on the schools side
and they would have to fix it.
Mayor Pro Tem Donovan said she has a piece of paper and had
it for months. It is from First Southwest Company, the
City' s investment bank. I think it is time that this goes
out to our citizens. It did to to our past city manager and
staff in 1985 . It states if borrowing one million dollars,
for the complex, there would be an eight (8) or nine (9)
cent tax increase. This was never made public to the
Council nor to the citizens. When they voted to approve the
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bonds for our complex , they were told there would not be a
tax increase. I want to look at the budget but I do
commend the staff for their work.
Councilman DiTota asked about volunteers and library aides,
is there any other person to ask for help such as cutting
grass in the parks. City Manager John Pitstick said staff
would be more than happy to look at the skills and work with
anyone wanting to help. Councilman DiTota said based on
his comments, we are going to come together here Saturday
and if I thought there were thirty people out there with
lawn mowers wanting to cut the grass in the parks , then I
would be willing to cut the Park Department budget.
Councilman Crane thanked staff for the sewer report in the
packet . Councilman Crane wanted to know why the Minyard
case had not gone to court as yet. City Secretary Carolyn
Jones stated that the letter she received from our city
attorney stated the judge was going to be out of town and he
did not want to use a visiting judge. Councilman Crane
wanted to know the problem between the Christian Church and
the City over a sewer line. Mr. Homeyer said he was not
aware of a problem. Mr . Faires said that the Church was
hooked up to the sewer at the time Quail Hollow came in at
no charge. The developer of Quail Hollow gave them a tap
for the use of their property for the line to come through.
Councilman Crane also stated he had had several calls about
the tax refund. Mr. Johnson said he spent some time with
the tax attorney this week and for those people who have
already paid they will receive a refund around the first
part of March. Staff should be mailing out new tax
statements the first of March with a delinquent date of
July 1 . The Texas Property Tax Code says the refund will
be made to the home owners of record .
Councilman Crane said the traffic sign at the exit of
Hartman Elementary stating no left turns. This forces
people to turn into lots of traffic and at one time had been
removed.
Councilman Blakey said he was disappointed by the rollback
but since it happened that must be what the citizens wanted
and he will do his best to help make it as soft as possible.
City Secretary Carolyn Jones gave the Council a copy of the
election calendar for the May 7th election and reminded them
of the Thursday meeting with the Collin County Public
Officials.
City Manager John Pitstick reminded the Council of the Feb.
4th Business Appreciation Day and Feb. 1st a joint meeting
with the School Board and Council and on Feb. 27th open
house for the new city complex from 10 : 00 A.M. until 2 :00 P.
393
M. Also reported that there was a meeting with the TWC
people in Duncanville and there are no major problems with
the enforcement order. I feel we are in good shape with TWC
right now. Sanden should be bring in their crews and
equipment this week and begin grade work soon, no formal
ground breaking until early March. McDonald' s is coming but
the Railroad has held up the final sale of the land. They
were shown some alternative sites but they are trying to get
the railroad property.
Mayor Trimble stated his concern about the rollback, the
people did have their say and hope that people will meet and
work with us this Saturday. I do not want to close the
Library and I hope Rita and Truett understand, but we do
have to pay the bills. I asked the citizens to bear with us
and give us their support . We do not do this for pay and we
want the best for our City.
Mayor Trimble recessed the open meeting and convened Council
into executive session at 8 :20 P .M. under Article 6252-17
V.A.C.S. , Section 2 paragraph "g" personnel matters -
performance evaluation process for required lay-offs in
Police Department as result of Rollback Election.
Mayor Trimble reconvened the open meeting at 9 :10 P.M.
There being no other business, a m on ade to adjourn
with all in favor .
77
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Chuck Trimble, Mayor
ATTEST: .. .-.-a;
C o yn es i y Secretary