07/17/2006-CC-Minutes-RegularMINUTES: CITY COUNCIL
JULY 179 2006
PRESENT: Mayor Pro-Tem Glenn Ervin, Councilman Robert Patton, Councilman Andy
Garza, Councilman Mike Walker, Councilman Mike James
ABSENT: Mayor Joe Higgs
OTHERS
PRESENT: City Manager Jack Smith, Economic Development Director Cecile Carson,
Paula Morales, Police Chief Curtis Amyx, Electric Superintendent Mike Prater,
Liz Springer, John Springer, Kim Cox, Curt Fowler
1. Mayor Pro-Tem Glenn Ervin Called Meeting to Order, Councilman Garza led the
Invocation, Councilman Walker led the Pledge of Allegiance.
CONSENT AGENDA
2. a) Approve Minutes: (The July 3, 2006 Minutes will be available at Aug. 71"
meeting)
b) Disbursements
Councilman Garza moved to approve the Consent Agenda as presented. Councilman
James seconded. Motion carried unanimously.
3. Citizen's Input:
Citizens are allowed 3 minutes to speak. The City Council is unable to respond to or to discuss any issues
that are brought up during this section.
None.
4. Consider and Possible Action on Appointing Mayor Pro Tem.
Councilman James nominated Andy Garza.
Councilman Patton nominated Councilman Glenn Ervin.
Council was polled to vote for Councilman Garza -vote was 3 to 2, not in favor of
Councilman Garza.
Councilrnan Ervin appointed Mayor Pro-Tem.
5. Consider and Possible Action on Adopting the Criteria for Appointment of Board
Members.
City Manager indicated this was presented to the Council at the last meeting. Part of
this was the application and part of it was the criteria. The application was approved,
however, the criteria was not. Staff is looking for direction as to what option to use for
the criteria.
Councilman James indicated he was confused as to the purpose of this. Do we prefer
a large pool or a small pool. If we have a hard time getting people to serve, we should
probably look at using the option for the small pool. He felt they should look at option
number 2. On the training he felt all of the options were good, but he would lean
toward the simpler option - either option 1 or option 2, but most likely he would lean
toward option 2.
Councilman Walker indicated he read through it and he would go with option 1 on the
large pool and option 2 on the training.
Councilman Patton indicated he would prefer the large pool and option 2 on the
training.
Councilman Garza indicated he did not have a problem with the consensus of the
Council. He indicated that he felt the people that were being recruited to serve needed
to be aware of the option for training.
Councilman Garza indicated he agreed as well. He would like to have option 4 for
training but felt that should come in time, possibly in the next two to three years.
Councilman James moved to accept option 1 as far as establishing the criteria for
coming up with the pool and option 2 for the training options. Councilman Patton
seconded. Motion carried unanimously.
6. Conduct Second Public Hearing on Annexation for the following Properties:
A. N. L. Hobbs, Block A, Lot 2
B. N. L. Hobbs, Block A, Lot 3 R
Public Hearing opened.
No Discussion.
Public Hearing closed.
7. Consider and Possible Action on Statement of Intent from Atmos Energy.
City Manager indicated if this is not acted on they will consider it denied. Atmos
energy has requested that the City deny the request.
Councilman Walker asked for staff recommendation.
City Manager recommended they deny the request.
Councilman Walker moved to deny the request. Councilman James seconded.
Motion carried unanimously.
8. Consider and Possible Action to Appoint Auditor for FY 2005-2006.
City Manager indicated staff had sent Requests For Proposals. The responses are
enclosed and also a letter from Bill Spore explaining his services.
Councilman Patton indicated he understood the philosophy of staying with someone
that has a done a good job over the years. There seems to be two schools of thought -
one to stay with someone who has done a good job - or second in operation of a business
you need to have a little bit of fresh air every now and then. He still felt that 11 or 12
years with Bill Spore was a good run. He would like to see the City try someone else
for a while. The thinking of business is that you should change auditors every few
years, and from the financial stand point he would prefer to change auditing firms.
Councilman Walker asked if this was a yearly contract.
Staff indicated it was.
Councilman Walker indicated he agreed with Councilman Patton; however, as a
taxpayer he had a problem spending $5200.00 extra just to have a change.
Discussed the increased cost.
Councilman James indicated if there was suspicion of an issue with the auditor he
would be able to justify the extra money, however, an auditor's job is not to come in
and tell the city how to be more efficient. Their job is to audit the data and make sure
the depreciation is taken the right way, balance the checkbook and things like that.
They just analyze the data and make sure nothing was done under the table. He cannot
justify spending the extra money. The reason it is so high is because when a new
auditing firm comes into any business they have to re -input all the data the City has.
They have to start from scratch. He is not in favor of changing at this time.
Councilman Ervin indicated he had a problem spending the extra money, but he would
like to see a breath of fresh air. He felt a new auditor could save some money in the
long run by looking at rates, etc.
Councilman James indicated that is not the auditor's job. They are not financial
advisors, and all they do is make sure everything is accounted for.
Councilman Garza indicated he had a hard time justifying the additional cost. He felt
Mr. Spore had done a great job.
Discussion continued.
Councilman Patton moved to appoint Hankins, Eastup, Deaton, Tonn & Seay as the
auditor for this Fiscal Year. Councilman Ervin seconded. Motion failed 3 to 2.
Councilman Garza, Councilman James and Councilman Walker voted no.
Councilman Walker moved to accept Mr. Spore's proposal for auditing services for this
Fiscal Year. Councilman Garza seconded. Motion carried 41. Councilman Ervin
voted no.
9. Discuss and Possible Action on Habitat for Humanity.
City Manager indicated there were already 2 Habitat for Humanity Homes on Railroad
Avenue. They are requesting the same variances they did previously and the same
aiver of fees; however, they are requesti
wng to be able to build an 1100 square foot
home.
Curt Fowler, Habitat Homes, thanked the Council for their consideration. He
indicated their basic house was 1100 square feet.
Discussed they will go through the normal replatting process at a future time.
Councilman Walker moved to waive all of the fees needed to build these four homes for
Habitat for Humanity, and allow them to build an 1100 square foot home. Councilman
Patton seconded. Motion carried unanimously.
10. Discuss and Possible Action to Increase Square Footage from 3,500 Square Feet to
12,000 Square Feet on Fire Sprinklers.
City Manger indicated there were several citizens that have requested we increase our
minimum. He indicated it chief will show a slide presentation and answer any
questions they have.
David Pennington, Fire Chief, addressed the Council. He indicated he was standing by
the current ordinance, he was not recommending the change.
Councilman Patton indicated the minimum of any other City is 5,000 square feet. The
International Code minimum is 12,000 square feet.
Chief Pennington indicated the other cities that have larger minimums have a lower
ISO rating than the City of Sanger, meaning that they have faster response times, more
personnel etc.
Discussed requirements to get lower ISO rating. Chief Pennington indicated that we
unfortunately did not have the personnel to meet the requirements. If we go with the
12,000 square feet minimum then we also need to go with what the code recommends
for personnel and response times. It will be better for everyone of they have a sprinkler
system to hold it in check until the fire department can get there.
Councilman Garza asked if the change would affect our ISO rating.
Chief Pennington indicated it would most likely stay the same. We will not meet the
staffing levels for a while to lower our rating.
Brief Discussion regarding the ratings and the responses in Sanger and the City
ordinances regarding sprinkler systems and audio alarm systems.
Chief Pennington showed a brief presentation showing that one match in a trash can
caused an entire room to burn in just over two minutes. He indicated a sprinkler
system can help control the situation until the response team can get there.
A business owner indicated that from his point of view, the extra money he would save
to move to another city with less stringent requirements would be well worth it. He felt
the Council should take that into consideration. His insurance is higher on his building
with a sprinkler system than it is without.
Discussion continued regarding fire protection service in the City of Sanger versus
protection in other cities and states.
John Springer indicated he would like to hear from the Economic Development
Director; because, he felt a decision like this would have an impact on the economic
growth in Sanger.
Discussed that there are other additional costs involved besides just the sprinkler
system itself. The extra water "plan yearly certification of the system are additional
costs.
Cecile Carson indicated she had not really had a chance to look at all of the pros and
cons of this, but this is a deterrent to certain types of development. There is a chance
they would not build here because the cost will be higher. There are other regulations
that are more stringent as well that will deter certain business. We do have some
challenges having a volunteer fire department that many other cities have as well. We
do have to take fire safety into consideration and find some balance. This code has
been in effect for a while, so we could go back and look to see what the challenges have
been in new construction and see if the 3500 square foot requirement is appropriate.
Liz Springer asked if any variances have been granted on the sprinkler requirements.
Chief Pennington indicated he had not granted any, but to his knowledge two may have
been given.
Discussion followed regarding uses of the buildings and possibly balancing the
requirements based on use.
Discussed water supply and the fact that Bolivar Water cannot furnish pressure for a
six inch line.
Discussed that this code only applies to new commercial construction.
Councilman Garza asked who the variances were granted to.
Briefly discussed variances granted.
John Springer indicated he is the one responsible for insuring that his building is safe.
It is up to him to make sure he is adequately insured. On a small building it increases
the square foot cost over that of a larger building. There are two cities that he knows
of, one of which was Gainesville, who had a 6,000 square feet minimum and they
changed it back to 12,000 because it was hurting them economically. They could not
get business to come because of the requirement. He felt this does indeed handicap the
small business owner.
Councilman Garza indicated the safety of the buildings next to these building should
be taken into consideration as well.
Discussion continued regarding the effect of this ordinance on different types of
businesses.
Discussion regarding surrounding cities fire departments and requirements.
Discussed requirements in the Uniform Fire Code.
Councilman Walker suggested they table the ordinance and do some research on what
is a typical size building. At this time he would like to leave it at 3500, but he also did
not want to inhibit growth. He felt more research should be done.
Council agreed they should gather more information, and discuss this at a future
meeting.
Tabled to schedule workshop on the August 219`.
11. Possible List of Future Agenda Items.
Councilman Patton requested to find a fire house for the fire trucks and ambulances
be placed on the agenda.
12.
Councilman Ervin requested a budget workshop be scheduled and to discuss goal
setting for Council.
Meeting Adjourned.
ATTEST:
Rosalie Chavez