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04/16/2018-CC-Minutes-RegularCITY OF SANGER, TEXAS MINUTES: REGULAR CITY COUNCIL MEETING April 16, 2018 – 7:00 PM. 502 Elm Street, Sanger, Texas COUNCIL MEMBERS PRESENT: Mayor Thomas Muir, Councilman Bill Boutwell, Councilman Lee Allison, Councilman David Clark, Councilman Allen Chick, Councilman Gary Bilyeu COUNCIL MEMBERS ABSENT: None The Mayor and all Council Members were present constituting a quorum. STAFF MEMBERS PRESENT: Alina Ciocan, Acting City Manager; Ramie Hammonds, Building Official; Cheryl Price, City Secretary 1. Call Meeting to Order, Invocation, Pledge of Allegiance. The Regular City Council Meeting was called to order by Mayor Muir on Monday, April 16, 2018 at 7:08 P.M. The Invocation was given by Councilman Bilyeu. The Pledge of Allegiance was led by Councilman Boutwell. 2. CITIZEN INPUT: (Citizens are allowed 3 minutes to speak. The City Council is unable to respond or to discuss any issues brought up during this section). There were no speakers who wished to speak on this portion of the agenda. 3. CONSENT AGENDA: a) Approval of Minutes: 1. City Council Work Session April 2, 2018 2. City Council Regular Meeting April 2, 2018 b) Disbursements A motion was made by Councilman Bilyeu to approve the Consent Agenda as presented. The motion was seconded by Councilman Boutwell. Councilman Clark posed a question regarding the disbursement for Gary Dill Backhoe Service and Alina Ciocan Acting City Manager, noted that she would research and provide an answer. The motion to approve the consent Agenda carried unanimously with a 5-0 vote. 4. Consider Any Items Removed from Consent Agenda. None. REGULAR AGENDA 5. Consider, Discuss and Possibly Approve Proclamation #04-01-2018 Proclaiming the Month of May as Motorcycle Safety and Awareness Month in the City of Sanger Texas. A motion was made by Councilman Boutwell to approve Proclamation #04 -01-2018 Proclaiming the Month of May as Motorcycle Safety and Awareness Month in the City of Sanger Texas. The motion was seconded by Councilman Bilyeu. The motion carried unanimously 5-0 vote. Mayor Muir read and presented the Proclamation and photographs were taken. 6. Presentation and Discussion on Potential Annexation of Property Located at the South-East Corner of FM 2164 and FM 455. Mayor Muir noted that Councilman Allison recused himself from the meeting and left the room because his Engineering firm is involved. Alina Ciocan, Acting City Manager gave a brief introduction. Staff has been approached by the applicant and owner of the property about a potential annexation of this site. It is currently located in the ETJ and is part of Lake Ray Roberts zoning district. Mr. Schaffer Harris with Allison Engineering Group was recognized. He stated he is working with Chad Hendricks, the owner. He noted he was here to discuss the possibility of annexation of this property into Sanger as a commercial industrial site. Mr. Chad Hendricks was recognized. He stated they have lived in Sanger for about five years in Sanger Circle and they have five children, some of which attend Butterfield Middle School. They bought the property in December of 2016 with all inten tions of building a home on it. After they started thinking about doing something with it, with the highway frontage and lack of privacy on the property, it made more sense to make it a commercial piece of property. He advised he would like to build boat storage on the lot because of its location to the lake. He also envisions a gas station like the Sportsman in the location. He noted that he currently has a building on the lot for a business that they run. Allison Engineering has drawn the site plans for him and ha s drawn a road that is going to cut from FM 2164 to FM 455 as a feeder road to fee d the businesses and they are submitting it to TxDOT. TxDOT will not look at it until the property is zoned commercial. Councilman Boutwell noted that they have the Energy Tech business currently located on the property. There was minor discussion regarding the business currently located on the property and improvements they may be required to make. Mr. Hendricks noted that they currently have a temporary rock driveway. Mayor Muir asked why they wanted to annex with the City rather staying with the County/ Ray Roberts. Mr. Hendricks stated; to be frank, that by experience, and word of mouth, it is a lot harder to get zoning through Lake Ray Roberts. He would like to try the avenue to be annexed through the City first. Mayor Muir noted that this venue tonight is just discussion. Alina Ciocan advised that if the property is annexed it would come into the City as “Agricultural” zoning, and after annexation it can be rezoned. This can be done at the same meeting. Councilman Bilyeu noted that the City has passed ordinances in regard to commercial property such as requirements for concrete versus gravel parking lots, etc., and advised the applicant to familiarize himself with any of the requirements that may be expected of him in regard to his future development of the property. There was discussion regarding the utilities. It was noted they were going to have a septic system and there is a possibility that a commercial septic system may require more than one acre. The water company would be Green Springs Water. Acting City Manager Alina Ciocan asked if they have approached Green Springs Water regarding fire suppression and they noted they have not spoken with the water company yet . He noted that they will be looking at buildings under the mini mum for fire code sprinkler requirements. Councilman Bilyeu advised that the Council would like to see a written proposal as to what they are going to do. Mayor Muir noted that Council would like to see what they will be zoning the property for, is it the best use for the area; and, will it be compatible to future development. Acting City Manager Alina Ciocan noted that this was one of the questions that was asked by Commissioners at the Planning and Zoning meeting last week. Exactly what is the vision for the site? She noted that it is not in our future land use plan and comp plan so we do not have a vision for it; however, if we annex it in, that staff’s position is to make sure that we bring in a quality development that enhances the tax base. It was noted that boat storage does not generate a lot of property tax for the city. We do currently have some other similar projects along FM 455. Councilman Bilyeu suggested a Planned Development. Mr. Hendricks noted that he did not want to be the gas station owner but wanted to market the property to a gas station owner and own the land the gas station sits on. He noted that the first phase would be the boat storage. Councilman Bilyeu noted that th e City is pro commercial as a tax base and would like to see more revenue generating commercial projects come into the city. There was discussion regarding the screening. Also, it was noted by Mr. Harris that they would like to have the surface gravel. They asked if the boat storage would be considered a parking scenario or could it be classified as a staging area. The other question is, would this be something that could be discussed and what are the options for this particular property. Could there be some sort of agreement where they could have gravel on the boat storage area. He noted they were planning on paving the drive to a 36-foot concrete drive which aprons into the first initial phase. Could a well- maintained gravel area be considered for the boat storage? That is the question they want to pose to Council. Councilman Bilyeu noted that staff developed the ordinance based on Council input and should be worked out at a staff level; and, if it is something that can not be worked out, it can always come to Council for consideration. There was further discussion regarding the concrete parking requirement and it was noted that the preference is concrete that is what the ordinance requires . Mayor Muir noted if there was any give and take it would be the possibility of additional screening so you would not be able to see inside of the complex. Mr. Hendricks noted that they are considering about 140 enclosed units with electricity. Councilman Chick noted he would prefer to see something else on this property because it is a prime property in a prime highly visible location. A limited specific use permit was suggested , so if at some point in the future, a determination may be made by Council to no longer allow the boat storage as the area develops. There was discussion regarding the lack of fire suppression. Council suggested to the applicant to lean on staff for input; doing their homework; and coming back to the Council for more discussion. There being no further discussion on the item, Councilman Allison re-entered the room to resume his participation in the Council Meeting. 7. Consider, Discuss and Act on the Minor Plat of the Jones Addition, being 4.16 Acres in the Phiney S Black Survey, Abstract No. 103, Generally Located South of FM 455 and West of Creekview Road. Ramie Hammonds, Building Official gave a brief summary. T he property is 4.16 acres and is currently in our ETJ. It is served by Bolivar Water and Sanger Electric. They will have an onsite sewage facility. The applicant is proposing to develop an event center which will host weddings, family reunions, and rentals for different events. The applicant is present for any questions. Staff has sent it to the County for a courtesy review and they were concerned regarding access to FM 455. The applicant has spoken with TxDOT and they will give access and are currently discussing the location. Staff finds that it meets the City’s subdivision ordinance. Discussion began regarding access. Councilman Bilyeu asked if the access was originally off of Creekview Road. The Applicant, Terry Jones, was recognized and noted that the access was about 30 feet west of Creekview and comes across. He noted he owns the first lot in Choctaw Ridge which is on the east boundary on the south side of the 4 acres. The access to the property is the narrow strip which is an easement across the northern portion of his three acres. It was noted that this is one of the worst intersections in town. Mr. Jones noted that the TxDOT engineer has sent a schematic moving the drive to where it would go directly onto the 4 acres off of FM 455 moving it about 100 to 150 feet west of that location. Ramie Hammonds, Building Official noted that the electric easements would have to be filed by separate instrument once we have the coordinates. Through questioning by Councilman Bilyeu, staff noted that this property is in the ETJ and it does not require zoning. We cannot regulate the zoning in the ETJ. The County will not allow building until the property is platted. This is just to make sure that they have a legal lot of record by platting the property. A motion was made by Councilman Boutwell to approve th e Minor Plat of the Jones Addition, being 4.16 Acres in the Phiney S Black Survey, Abstract No. 103, generally located South of FM 455 and West of Creekview Road. The motion was seconded by Councilman Allison. The motion carried unanimously with a 5-0 vote. 8. Consider and Discuss Pursuing a SAFER Grant for the Fire Department to Provide up to four (4) Full-Time Firefighter Positions. Fire Chief David Pennington was recognized to present the request. He advised that he was present to answer any questions on the SAFER grant. It actually has a closing date of April 27 and they have to have approval from the Council that they would sec ure the funds to pay the City’s portion for the 36-month project. This is a federal grant through the Department of Homeland Security. The SAFER grant is for staffing to provide adequate fire protection for communities. We have applied before in 2015. Demographically, in 2015 we met the grant which is based on a fixed dollar amount allocated for the grant and each city is given a priority and the funds are distributed by priority. By the time it reached our priority (we were lower in the ranking) in 201 5 the funds had run out and it actually got to the point they asked for our banking information and then it ran out of money. There was discussion if the current request for four firefighters is in-line with future staffing and budgeting. Mayor Muir noted that this would help us the phase into the personnel plan for the Fire Department that the city is calling for. David noted that he had originally discussed with Mike Brice to add one position for four years consecutively. This SAFER grant would put the four fire fighters on all at once in year one. If we received the grant. The grant would pay 75% the first and second year and we would pay 25%, on the third year it is 35%-65%- the City would pay 65%, which basically the first year you get four Firemen for the price of one. He noted at the end of the 36 months it would be a savings of $64,000 to the City verses putting one on for four years. Along with the savings this would buy us time to pay for them. It was noted that at the end of the 36-month grant mark the positions could be terminated. The SAFER grant could also be given with less than 4 firefighters. Councilman Boutwell noted that there were also additional costs when adding staff, especially safety personnel and would we have the funds to do this. Chief Pennington noted that the Fire Department has the apparatus for the additional firefighters. The City does not hire non -certified people so they are already Texas Commissioned Firefighters and also Department of Health Services Paramedics. We do not pay for certification; but, do pay for continuing education. We would have to pay for uniforms and bunker gear which is about $3000 per person. It was noted the costs in the SAFER grant would include insurance and benefits for the first year but would not include any increases in salary. Alina Ciocan and David Pennington also noted that we have applied for an additional grant to purchase safety equipment. Councilman Bilyeu mentioned the City’s Fire Rating and asked if having more full-time firefighters would affect our insurance rating. Chief Pennington noted that even with four additional firefighters we would not meet and upgrade for our ISO Rating. Those qualifications basically require 10 firefighters onsite in less than 14 minutes and elaborated on the requirements. He noted that we are really no t close to having 10 firefighters on staff everyday. There was discussion as to how it would bring up the ISO rating if we did have the required amount of staff and. as the ISO Rating gets better, this would be a savings to the general public in Sanger on insurance rates. The next audit for the rating will be in 2020, it is every 10 years. We could do a self audit and have them come before that if we believed we would meet criteria. We currently have two full time personnel a day plus two part-time personnel a day so adding four with this grant would only add one per shift and would bring to 5 personnel a day. Acting City Manager Alina Ciocan noted that the goal of this presentation is to see if Council would like to pursue the grants which would obligate us to fund future personnel needs. It was noted that the plan that has been laid out without the funding of the SAFER Grant would be one firefighter per year. It was noted that if we were granted the SAFER Grant, if accepted we can not reduce the staffing level from they day that we hire them. There was brief discussion regarding where the funds would come from if we received the grant and it was noted that they would be included in the budget for the Fire Department. A Motion was made by Councilman Bilyeu to approve pursuing the SAFER Grant for the Fire Department to provide up to four (4) full-time Firefighter positions. The motion to approve was seconded by Councilman Boutwell. There was no discussion. The motion carried unanimously with a 5-0 vote. 9. INFORMATION ITEMS: None. 10. FUTURE AGENDA ITEMS: (The purpose of this item is to allow the Mayor and members of Council to bring forward items they wish to discuss at a future meeting, A Council Member may inquire about a subject for which notice has not been given. A statement of specific factual information or the recitation of existing policy may be given. Any deliberation shall be limited to a proposal to place the subject on an agenda for a subsequent meeting. Items may be placed on a future meeting agenda with a consensus of the Council or at the call of the Mayor). No items. 11. ADJOURN. There being no further business, Mayor Muir adjourned the meeting at 8:17 PM.