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10/05/2009-CC-Minutes-Work SessionMINUTES: CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION October 5, 2009 PRESENT: Mayor Joe Higgs, Councilman Russell Martin, Councilman Andy Garza, Councilman Robert Patton, Councilman Glenn Ervin MEMBERS ABSENT: Councilman Thomas Muir OTHERS PRESENT: Mike Brice City Manager, Rose Chavez City Secretary/Asst. City Manager 1.Call Meeting to Order. Mayor called meeting to order. 2.Presentation by US Census - Community Awareness. Ramon Padilla, Partnership Specialist, with US Census Bureau. Mr. Padilla explained that his job with the US Census is to reach out to the communities and develop partnerships in order to get a good count on the 2010 Census. The discussion included some of the following issues: Discussed response rate from the last US Census was 77% for Sanger. This means that 77% of the people in Sanger took the time to complete their questionnaire. The 23% had to be interviewed by a census taker. Government has to spend between $80 to $100 million dollars to reach out to every 1% of the population that did not complete the questionnaire. Census needs help from elected officials as an influential awareness source in the community. Estimated census population for 2008 is 7766 residents in Sanger. Discussed operation LUCA that was established in 2008. It consists of addresses from local government and postal services to create a master data base. In March 2010 the questionnaires will be delivered to every address. Households that do not get their mail through the US Post Office will have their questionnaire taken to their home and then the census taker will go back and pick up the completed questionnaire. The questionnaire is bar-coded to allow them to retrieve the information on the areas that are not responding. Ever year, the federal government allocates over $400 million to states and communities based on census data. The census data is a planning guide for providing services, new roads, hospitals, and schools. Census data is used to determine the need for additional social services, block grants and other grant programs essential to the community. The census will determine the number of seats each state has in the House of Representatives. Discussed the complete count committees. Elected officials can appoint a chairperson that can organize a small group of volunteers who will help in promoting the upcoming census. Complete count committees will promote community awareness concerning the 2009 census. Discussed Question Assistance Centers that established in an effort to assist people with completion of their questionnaires. Encouraged Council to help in recommending a location for the center. Council to agree on a compromise in getting a complete count committee and have someone work with them in promoting the Census, press release, meeting with volunteers, and training. The City is not to spend monies in promoting the census. The Census has a program in place called Partnership Support Program that allocates grant funding to assist the cities that have sub-committees. Each sub-committee can receive $2,999 per sub-committee for promotional items. The questionnaire is easy, important, safe and it is consists of ten questions. The information of the census questionnaire is safe-guarded for 72 years. Mayor asked that on a national level how accurate was the last census. Mr. Padilla advised that about 4.2 % was under counted on the national level. 3.Discussion on Letter of Engagement with Ms. Cheryl Hazelwood-Estes, CPA for Professional Services. The City Manager discussed the engagement letter from Ms. Cheryl Estes for CPA services. She will be assisting in compiling the information and producing the reports that are required for the auditors to be in compliance with GASB. The audit last year was more detailed due to the GASB requirements for auditing purposes. In previous years the auditors could do a lot for cities that they are not allowed to do anymore under the GASB requirements. The City Manager advised that as the City progresses there will be more GASB requirements that have to be met. The City has to have someone to provide this information. The City Manager discussed that Ms. Estes will also help staff to maximize the uses of the Incode software and will be training Dusty in all aspects of municipal finance. Dusty is pursuing his college degree in accounting and this training will assist him with the knowledge he needs for all aspects of government fund accounting. Ms. Estes’ contract is hourly-based in order to control her hours. This year we will use her services to train Dusty and eventually begin to taper off each year except during annual audit for the GASB required reports. She is also an auditor and her speciality is assisting smaller cities who do not need a full time financial advisor or a CPA, but need assistance in meeting the GASB requirements. Discussion continued concerning the Incode software. Cost projections for her services for the first year could be $15,000 to $20,000 and depends on the variables. Ms. Estes can access the system from home and this will help in controlling the cost. The City Manager also discussed pool cash accounting process which was implemented last week. 4.Discussion on Facade Ordinance. The City Manager reviewed the proposed Facade Ordinance as follows: Article 3.17 was reworded to “Exterior Construction of Buildings” and is based on commercial buildings construction. Section 3.1701 Types of Exterior (a) establishes in zoning districts B-1, B-2, B-3 and within all zoning districts where any portion of a proposed building is within 250 feet of the IH-35 right-of-way and all specific uses which specify that the requirements of this article be met. There were minor wording corrections in (b) to include any new building and in (c) this section was added. This section designates the type of materials for the exterior façade of existing buildings. Section (d) was added that allows Council to approve alternative to use a different material. Section (e) was added for buildings that are over 50,000 square feet. Discussion continued concerning the freeway frontage in the zoning districts. Article 3.2100 Exterior Construction of Residential Dwellings, section (b) established the facade requirements in all zoning districts. The existing ordinances only applied to Residential and PD Zoning districts, and there are houses in business districts all over town. Technically, the ordinance did not apply to these areas, and to avoid any issues it was changed. The other change was adding the wording to include “except where specifically exempted”. This is in anticipation of the historic district that is to be implemented that allows wood frame construction. The wording to (c) was added as follows “new apartment building or multi- family dwelling. The wording was added as follows to item (d) to include additions, to, or reconstruction of, existing structure must have, at a minimum, the same ratio of masonry to other materials as does the existing structure. Item (e) was added to include anything over 200 square feet has to comply with the ordinance except in Agricultural zoning. Item (f) was added to allow Council to approve an alternative use of a different material or design if it meets or exceeds the ordinance requirement. There was discussion and concerns expressed concerning the Historic District. The type of facade requirements was discussed briefly. The City Manager advised that the façade ordinance will be on the next agenda in November. 5.Overview of Items on Regular Agenda. 6.Adjournment. Mayor Higgs adjourned the meeting.