City Council Workshop

16:00 on June 14, 2011

City Hall Main Conference Room, Old Ave. D School

Scroll down for notes of the City Council Regular Meeting.

Wilkerson absent. Workman came in a few minutes late.

Headlines:

  1. Some important transportation projects are under way.
  2. There was some push-back on a couple of duplex zoning variance requests.

Agenda Item Description Discussion My Notes
Discussions
DS-1 Discuss City Council Agenda Items and Land Use Cases PZC recommends approval of PH-2, PH-3, PH-4. Cole: what is the benefit or need? Staff: no analysis was received. Cole: 81 duplexes sold in last 18 months, and they are staying on the market for a long time. Rivera asked about the previous changes, which were near by but dealt with general rather than suburban residential. Wells asked why it was ever zones R-1 Cole made some good points about the wisdom of making zoning changes that may be detreimental to existing duplex owners. PH-5 is the Stix poolhall in Eastlake strip-mall. Cosper: If the pool call moves out could anything else move in under that zoning? He thinks part of the opposition is that people are worried if anything else can be moved in if Stix fails. Clark had questions about tranferability of zoning. Mayor: how long has it been there? Staff: a long time. Wells: on PH-1 (Bell County Human services) which the staff does not recommend: why? They are already getting the maximum amount.
DS-2 Discuss Committee Reports Mr Cosper presented It went by too fast for me to get anything out of it. I don't think anyone else did, either.
DS-3 Presentation-Eagle Scout Project A local scout presented a design for a 9/11 memorial and gave some reasons for it. He hopes to dedicate on the 10th anniversary, 9/11/11. Cole: I'm not opposed to it, but whyh Lion's Park? Scout: it was recommended by some city officials. Also lights in the area make it secure. Cole: did you look at (some other park)? City staff said they thought about it, but thought Lion's Park was better. Wells: How are you going to raise money? Scout: a $10-a-plate dinner. Rivera: how would it be maintained? Answer: by Troop 255 in part.  
DS-4 Discuss Proposed Redistricting, Timeline, Process and Guidelines Presentation by the city attorney: We have to redistrict to maintain equal weight of representation, under federal law, based on census data. Charter section 8 requires a decennial review. In general, a 10% deviation in district population is acceptable. No "cracking"; no "packing". The last redistricting was completed in 1993. There's a lot of flexibibity in developing a new plan—it's up to the council to decide how to proceed. Mrs Attorney will bring the matter back to the council workshop in 2 weeks. New boundaries need to be proposed in July. All proposals must be in by August 15. Rivera: has it been suggested to add districts? Attorney: yes. There seems to be general agreement to do it internally. It sounds like the council has some flexibility in how open to make the process. They can develop the plan in workshop, in committee, or let the staff do it. It's interesting that any parties are allowed to submit their own plans. They talk about "communities of interst; what's the definition of that?
DS-5 Briefing on Economic Impact of the Killeen-Fort Hood Regional Airport When the airport opened, it was forecast that the new airport was would help drive $2.8B in annual local product thru 2014. This briefing is on a follow-up study. Direct impacts in 2010 included Airport Administration, airport business and area business supported by air travelers. Indirect impacts and induced impacts are the effects of the direct impact Total impact in 2010: $95M "output", 1039 employment; $27M wages. Compared to the forecast in the 2000 report. If I understood the presentation, the area economy has grown more than was forecast in the year 2000 study, but there's no way to tie the impact of the airport to that. The impact of the airport is quite small compared to the total local product.
DS-6 Update on Transportation Projects Presentation on status of transportation projects: 195/201 overpass, Rosewood overpass, downtown enhanbcements, Bunny Trail Phases I and II, Cunnihgham, Stagecoach Phases 1 and 2, Loews Blvd extension, Rosewood Extension. There are two hike-and-bike trails in plan: On Rosewood and extending along Nolan Creek to downtown.

They described 10 projects in various stages of completion. I wonder where the full descriptions of these projects are? Are the details online?

DS-7 Discuss Options for Filling District #4 Councilmember Vacancy Mrs City Attorney presented. Charter requires council to fill the a single vacancy. What process should we use? In the past they've put out notices and taken applications. Workman: I hope we have some open sessions during the process. Cosper: the notice/application/interview process has worked well in the past. Let's do it that way again. Cole: Let's move forward quickly. Mayor said he wants a resolution for the next regular meeting, then accelerate the process. A resolution can be available to set the guidelines for a special meeting on Saturday (coterminal with the Budget hearing). If you like in District and want to be on City Council, you apparantly need to get some sort of application to someone —maybe the city attorney by some date. I guess all the details will be in the resolution.
DS-8 Discuss Appointing Councilmembers to Various Boards and Commissions, Subcommittees, and Ad Hoc Committees Council members want to stay on their current committees, but Purser's have to be redistributed. Wilkerson's will have to be redistributed later. I have to wonder about the efficiency of the committee process. There were around 50 committees and boards discusses, and if each requires a meeting even monthly, during business hours, there are a lot of man-hours being devoted to work that probably can be done collaboratively. Major businesses don't run with lots of travel and meetings anymore. Should the city? The process definitely inhibits ipnut from working people.
Committee Reports
CR-1 Update/Briefing- Budget Request from Hill Country Transit District   I don't think this briefing happened.
CR-2 Update/Briefing- Bid No. 11-31-for the Cunningham Road Widening Project    
CR-3 Update/Briefing- Prioritized Transportation Projects    

City Council Meeting

18:00 on June 14, 2011

Council Chambers, City Hall (Old Ave. D School)

Scroll up for notes of the City Council Workshop.

Headlines:

  1. The biggest impact of the shortfall in federal block grant falls on Bell County Human Services, TX-4C and Families in Crisis.
  2. Ernest Wilkerson's resignation was accepted.
  3. The mayor had to break a tie in favor of two duplex zoning change requests.
  4. After a very contentious and irregular discussion, the recall election was set for November 8. Some of the members seem to think they'll get out of it, though.

Attending  
X Timothy L. Hancock, Mayor
X Glenn Morrison, interim City Manager
X Scott Cosper, Mayor Pro-Tem
X Terry J. Clark
X Kathryn H. Davis
X Larry Cole City Attorney
X Juan Rivera
X Paula Miller
X Kenny Wells
X City Secretary
Ernest L. Wilkerson
X Sergeant-At-Arms
X Billy C. Workman

There's a good crowd, but not a full house. I think there may be 70 people here.

Agenda Item Description Discussion My Notes
Presentations
PR-1 Presentation - Youth Advisory Commission Annual Report Presented.  
PR-2 Presentation - Texas Comptroller 2011 Silver Leadership Circle Award Presented. This is a fairly big deal. It recognizes financial openness, based on the city financials on the web site. The city does a lot of things right in this area, and it's good to see it recognized.
PR-3 Presentation - Water Conservation Plan   Four phases with increasing levels of restrictions.
Consent Agenda
CA-1 Consider minutes of Regular City Council Meeting of May 24, 2011. Cosper moves to approve entire consent agenda Passes 6-0.
CA-2 Consider a memorandum/resolution approving supplemental agreement No. 1 to the professional services contract for design and installation oversight of the common use passenger processing system (CUPPS) at Killeen-Fort Hood Regional Airport.    
CA-3 Consider a memorandum/resolution authorizing the use of a request for proposals to select a common use passenger processing system (CUPPS) and flight information display system upgrades at Killeen-Fort Hood Regional Airport.    
CA-4 Consider a memorandum/resolution authorizing the procurement of Tasers through GT Distributors using the JAG Grant funds for the police department.    
CA-5 Consider a memorandum/resolution authorizing an Eagle Scout Project: construction of a 9/11 memorial in Lions Club Park.    
CA-6 Consider a memorandum/resolution authorizing Change Order No. 2 for septic tank elimination program phase V.    
CA-7 Consider a memorandum/resolution authorizing the award of construction contract Bid No. 11-31 for the Cunningham Road widening project to Dixon Paving, Inc.    
CA-8 Consider a memorandum/resolution authorizing application for 2011 Bulletproof Vest Partnership Program through the Bureau of Justice Assistance.    
CA-9 Consider a memorandum/resolution authorizing the City Manager to enter into an agreement with Landscapes Unlimited through the Buyboard to provide construction services for the Stonetree Golf Club.    
Public Hearings/Ordinances
PH-1 HOLD a public hearing and consider an ordinance adopting the FY 2011-12 Annual Action Plan for the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) and the Home Investment Partnerships (HOME) program. (2nd of 2 hearings) We requested $1.1M, got $0.8M. Recommendations are Public Service cuts $90K (Bell Co. Human Services cut to 0). Public Facilities cuts 150K (Central TX 4-C cut to 0). CDBG Admin increased $4K. HOME: decrease of $50K, mostly out of Families in Crisis-TBRA. Wells asked about the BCHS cut. The answer was that it was difficult to see how the requested grant could be tracked.

Judy Morales spoke for BCHS. They give help to people trying to get jobs or go to school. They pay for child care and transportation. They had wanted to fund monthly HOP passes. Rivera thinks the $5000 maybe should come out of the general fund; said he would look into it.

Cole moved to accept the recommendation. Passed 6-0.

 
PH-2 HOLD a public hearing and consider a request for an ordinance by the 440 Group, LTD (Case #Z11-23) to rezone a portion of Lot 1 Block 1, 440 Plaza Shopping Center from B-5 (Business District) to RC-1 (Restaurant and Alcohol Sales District). The property is located in the 440 Shopping Center (International Cuisine) and is locally known as 814 S. Fort Hood Street, Killeen, Texas. Internal Cuisines requesting liquor zoning. Owner spoke in favor. Approved 6-0.  
PH-3 HOLD a public hearing and consider a request for an ordinance by Reeces Creek Developers (Case #Z11-24) to rezone approximately 0.475 acre, being part of the Eugene LaSere Survey, Abstract No. 527, from R-1 (Single Family Residential District) to R-2 (Two Family Residential District). The property is located at the northeast intersection of Bunny Trail and Brownsville Drive, Killeen, Texas. See presentation from the workshop. Cole repeated his comments from the workshop. Vote was tied, with the mayor breaking the tie in favor of the request. Larry Cole was almost eloquent in his rehearsal of the reasons why a request for rezoning to increase the number of duplexes probably does not meet any of the accepted reasons for making zoning changes.
PH-4 HOLD a public hearing and consider a request for an ordinance by Reeces Creek Developers (Case #Z11-25) to rezone approximately 0.459 acre, being part of the Eugene LaSere Survey, Abstract No. 527, from R-1 (Single Family Residential District) to R-2 (Two Family Residential District). The property is located at the southeast intersection of Brownsville Dr and Bunny Trail, Killeen, Texas. Another duplex deal, so some of the some issues were rehashed. The builder spoke in favor. Cosper moved to approve. Three in favor, 3 opposed, mayor broke tie in favor. The mayor and most of the council completedly missed the point. This is a request for changing zoning. The builder is free to build based on current city ordinance.
PH-5 HOLD a public hearing and consider a request for an ordinance by Killeen Eastlake Associates I, Ltd, (Case#Z11-26) to rezone a portion of Lot 1, Block 1, East Lake Addition from B-5 (Business District) w/SUP (Specific Use Permit) for on premises sale and consumption of alcohol to B-C-1 (General Business and Alcohol Sales District) for on premises sale and consumption of alcohol. The property is locally known as (Stix II Pool Hall ) 3301 E. Rancier Avenue, Suite A109, Killeen, Texas. See discussion in workshop. Five people spoke in favor. Passed 5-1 with Wells against.  
Ordinances/Resolutions
OR-1 Consider an ordinance granting an electric power franchise to Oncor Electric Delivery Company, LLC. (1st of 3 readings) Current 25-year franchise has been extended a year. The new franchise is not exclusive and is for 20 years. The city gets about $.004 per KWH. Workman: is there any way for the city to get out of the franchise if Oncor did not comply with terms? Staff: yes. City council can cancel it. First reading approved 6-0.  
OR-2 Consider an ordinance approving a negotiated resolution between the Steering Committee of cities served by Oncor and Oncor Electric Delivery Company regarding Oncor’s application to increase rates; and adopting tariffs that reflect rate adjustments consistent with the negotiated settlement. This is to confirm a decision already made by the coallition of Oncor cities. It's a 6.2% increase, with no more rate cases until 2013. The increase was negotiated down from 14%. It would be expensive to reject this deal and try for our own at the PUC. Workman: what about broken street lights? Staff: don't know.  
OR-3 Consider a memorandum/resolution continuing the City’s eligibility to participate in tax abatements and adopting guidelines and criteria for use.    
OR-4 Consider a memorandum/resolution adopting guidelines and criteria for tax abatements in the Downtown Historic District.    
OR-5 Consider a memorandum/resolution approving an agreement for tax abatement from Solution One Industries Ltd. for a project located at 404 North Gray Street.    
OR-6 Consider a memorandum/resolution appointing Councilmembers to various boards and commissions, subcommittees, and ad hoc committees.    
OR-7 Consider a memorandum/resolution appointing members to the Killeen Volunteer’s Inc. Board.    
OR-8 Consider a memorandum/resolution accepting District #4 representative Ernest Wilkerson’s resignation. The resignation is effective immediately if accepted. It was accepted.  
OR-9 Consider an ordinance ordering special recall election for November 8, 2011. Election will be combined with and administered by the county. Dan Corbin requested to be recognized. He was retained by Wells to research legal issues related to recall. Corbin says that the petitions were not valid because each one didn't contain the name of five commissioners, and that Jon Okray's affidavit is not true because he didn't read the qualifications to each signer. The council voted 3-2 to go ahead and schedule the recall election. The votes were:
  • Wells: abstain.
  • Cole: Do not schedule.
  • Workman: Schedule.
  • Cosper: Schedule.
  • Rivera: Do not schedule.
  • Clark: Schedule.
The amazing thing is that at least two of the councilmen swallowed Corbin's bait whole. Cole and Rivera couldn't get enough of it. It was Cosper who found a compromise which saved the council from the biggest public blowup since — well, probably since ever. If they had voted not to schedule the election based on Corbin's propaganda, there would not be a hall big enough for the next town meeting.
Citizens Petitions and Information
CP-1 Julius Shaw (308 N. 22nd)- Issues on Privatization Through Local Government This didn't happen.