REGULAR SESSION HICO CITY COUNCIL
MONDAY, OCTOBER 14, 2013 5:30 P.M.
HICO CITY HALL-JENKINS HALL
Mayor Lavern Tooley called themeeting to order at 5:35 PM with Council Members Linda Koonsman, Suzanne Schouten, Mike James, Betti Cryer and Kevin Wenzel present along with administrator, Michael Leamons.
After the pledge of allegiance, James led the audience in the prayer.
During citizen comments, Chuck Erwin expressed his wish that zoning ordinances be changed.
During the Departmental Reports, Officer Erin Reining gave a short report on the laptops and what is being done with them.The Departmental and Financial reports were accepted with little discussion.
Cryer made the motion to accept the Consent Agenda as presented to include the minutes and bills for September. Schouten second. Unanimous vote.
James made the motion to adopt the following resolutions for the Texas 2013 Community Development Block Grant Project #713221 including the Authorized Signatories Resolution #101413A, Resolution Promoting Fair Housing #101413B, Section 3 Local Opportunity Plan Resolution #101413C and Excessive Force Resolution #101413D. Koonsman second. Unanimous vote.
After some discussion on the scoring, James made a motion to adopt Resolution #101413E, awarding the grant administration contract to Public Management and the engineering contract to EHT. Koonsman second. Unanimous vote.
The 2013/2014 Hico Economic Development Corporation General and Steak CookOff Budgets were ratified as presented with a motion by Cryer and second by Koonsman. James abstained from the vote because he is the Director of the Economic Development Corporation.
Wenzel made the motion to nominate Kenny Giessner for the Hamilton County Appraisal District Board. James second. Unanimous vote.
After some discussion on continued use of the signs, Wenzel made a motion to designate8th Street from Highway 220 to Cherry Street as a one way street on school days from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m. Cryer second. Unanimous vote.
After much discussion regarding the updated Burn Permit Ordinance #101413F, Cryer made the motion to accept with changes, the ordinance. Schouten second. Cryer pointed out that the way the Ordinance was written, permits would be required for cookouts. Leamons indicated such wasn’t intended and it was agreed a phrase should be added in section 5 excluding Section 4.2b from the requirement that permits be required for all outdoor burning.
Wenzel made the motion to accept Resolution #101413G approving the rate Settlement with ATMOS Energy. Cryer second. Unanimous vote.
Wenzel made the motion to authorize negotiations for a new franchise agreement with Texas New Mexico Power Company to replace the expiring 50-year-old agreement and authorizing up to $3500 to secure legal counsel in that process. Cryer second. Unanimous vote.
Council agreed to table the action on a proposal by Cave Consulting to migrate City computer and telephone services to the cloud, until further investigation could be made into the matter. Council did agree with Leamons that this was something that needed to be pursued.
At 6:32 p.m. Council went into Executive Session to discuss personnel matters related to Deputy Marshal Bill Eller.
At 7:30 p.m. the Council continued in Executive Session to discuss action on a performance review for Operations Supervisor Jim Pitchford.
At 7:35 p.m. the Council reconvened into Regular Session. No action was taken related to Deputy Marshal Bill Eller. James made the motion to increase the salary of Jim Pitchford by $1.00 per hour starting the next pay cycle. Cryer second. Unanimous vote.
Cryer expressed concerns about the clarity of the revised Zoning Ordinance approved by the Planning and Zoning Commission. Leamons noted that the Ordinance was technical and it required time to become familiar with it. The council all agreed that the downtown area needs guidelines to protect its appearance. Koonsman expressed concerns regarding trailer guidelines. Leamons suggested trailers parked around residential properties might be a matter for the Zoning Ordinance or it might need to be addressed in a stand-alone Ordinance. Cryer requested thatLeamons get with the Advisory Committee to work on guidelines for the buildings in the Downtown Business District.
Wenzel made the motion to adjourn the meeting at 8:04 p.m. Cryer second. Minutes taken by City Secretary-in-training, Kari’ Drueckhammer.