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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1987/07/07-Agenda-Pre-Council PRE-COUNCIL MEETING PRE-COUNCIL CHAMBERS JULY 7, 1987 ALL COUNCILMEMBERS PRESENT ITEM: 1. CITY OF FORT WORTH SPONSORSHIP OF THE PROPOSED NORTH FORT WORTH AIRPORT (M&C G-7138) - RICK SALWEN, PEROT GROUP Mr. Rick Salwen of the Perot Group provided Council with the an overview of the concept changes for the proposed airport and a brief summary of the results of the environmental assessment that was conducted regarding the revised proposal. Mr. Salwen reported that the originally proposed airport was designed with a 6600 foot runway. The concept has since been revised to lengthen the runway to 8200 feet to allow large jet aircraft to deliver components and assemblies for the manufacturing facilities which are expected to be located near the airport. The apron and the terminal area have been increased by 35 acres and a clear zone has been added to the north side of the proposed airport. In summary, Mr. Salwen stated that the expansion would primarily affect the north end of the proposed airport. Mr. Salwen also shared the results of the environmental assessment. Mr. Salwen announced that a new round of public hearings would be held to consider the views and comments of the public. The following are projections resulting from the assessment: * Noise impact would not exceed 65LDN. Their are no single family residences within the 65 LDN zone and would not be adversly impacted by noise; * Under the recent EPA announcements, construction of the proposed airport would not be restricted by the ozone production standards; * The FAA report found that the proposed airport air traffic impact would not affect surrounding airports; and * FAA has identified other concerns relating to the Just-In-Time Airport located near the proposed airport. Councilman Gilley asked questions regarding the wheel load capacity of the proposed airport versus South Fort Worth Airport. Ike Thompson replied that the South Fort Worth Airport has a 60,000 pound wheel load capacity and Meacham has a 100,000 pound wheel load capacity. Councilman Zapata announced that the Airport Board is working closely with the Perot Group in order to avoid as much conflict as possible. He voiced concern about the funding of the airport and strong support for continued operations at Meacham Airport. 2. HEARING BY THE CITY COUNCIL TO ABATE• PUBLIC NUISANCES (M&C G-7137) - TOM DAVIS, ACTING CITY SERVICES DIRECTOR Tom Davis, Acting City Services Director, reported that the appropriate property owners have been notified of the violations of the Fort Worth City Code and ordered to abate the nuisances. To date, compliance-has not been achieved. Therefore, according to City Code Sections 11A-55 ET SEQ, the Director of City Services requests that a public hearing be held by the City Council and the subject properties be declared nuisances to be abated by Friday. July 24, 1987. Councilman Lancaster asked if there have been efforts by city staff to up speed up the mowing process. Mr. Davis said that the process has already been advanced by two weeks. Councilman Murrin was concerned about the ticketing process for high grass violations and the conflict of the issuance policy. He suggested that Code Enforcement broaden their perspective in issuing tickets to other violations in the same general location. Yet. he recognized the excessive workload of the staff. Mr. Harman, City Manager stated that Council would have to review this concern closely because it conflicts with the budget reduction recommendations to reduce mowing of city lots. 3. OFFICIAL NEWSPAPER ADVERTISING CONTRACT - JUDSON BAILIFF, FINANCE DIRECTOR Mr. Bailiff recommended to Council that the proposed bid award for the official newspaper advertising contract go to the current newspaper contract 'Fort Worth Star-Telegram' . He explained that the original contract is to expire July 31, 1987 and that in order to establish a contract based on the fiscal year schedule a new bid would need to be awarded in October. The selection was based on the lowest bid and broadest circulation numbers. 4. QUESTIONS/ANSWERS CONCERNING CURRENT AGENDA ITEMS - DOUGLAS HARMAN, CITY MANAGER Mr. Harman reminded Council of the July 13, 1987 Official Signing Ceremony to be held in the City Council Chambers. S. OVERALL REVIEW OF USER FEE ISSUES - CHARLES BOSWELL, DIRECTOR. OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT SERVICES Mr. Boswell provided Council with an update on information concerning the evaluation of current city user fees. In summary Mr. Boswell recommended that the user fee structure basis be approached in the following format; * Identifying Services for Pricing; * Implement Classification Scheme for City Services; and * Implement Residential Discounts. He stated that city staff would begin a process of classifying all city user a fees, developing a non-resident user feg structure for selected services and finalizing user proposals to hike fees for the 1987-88 budget year. He added that the classification categories would be as follows: * Self-supporting service - one which "predominantly benefits the private individual, as opposed to the larger community, such as sign inspections, barricades and liquor licenses; * Partially self-sustaining service - one which does not "accrue solely to individuals," tennis courts, library fees and animal impoundments; and * No-cost recovery service - one which is not " divisible by individual benefit," such as air pollution monitoring or street maintenance. Council expressed concern about the effect of non-resident fees. Councilman Williams asked how the issue of non-resident and visitor status might affect the fee structure. Mr. Boswell said that there are still areas that require more review. City Manager Harman indicated that in some cities visitors are offered a discount for use of certain services, in effect producing a net-benefit to the visitors. Council urged staff to review the introduction of non-resident fees into the city's user fee structure. 6. REVIEW OF DEVELOPMENT COSTS - COUNCILMAN GAREY GILLEY The City Council Development Committee, composed of Mayor Bolen, Councilman Garrison and Councilman Gilley, appointed David M. Griffith and Associates to conduct a cost/revenue study on the city's fees for development services. It was determined by the consultants study that the city spends $1.7 million per year to support development activities. However, fees fail to cover 33 percent of the city's cost. The following are additional issues for consideration identified by the consultants study: - current subsidy levels related to development services for each activity construction inspection, plan review, planning and zoning, building permits); - development of policy outlining city's goal on development subsidies and recovery costs; - fee structure to meet objectives; and - phase in of new fees and/or increases over defined period of time. Councilman Gilley concluded by saying the city must move forward in getting the development fees close to actual costs. He said a trade-off would be required and suggested that the inspection section improve it's response time. New development fees are not expected to be implemented until next budget year however, Councilman Gilley recommended that the City Council Development Committee and city staff begin discuss alternative fee structures for the future. 7. INTERNATIONAL SISTER CITY CONFERENCE SCHEDULING - 'TRIER SIGNING CEREMONY - PAT SVACINA Pat Svacina, Assistant to the City Manager spoke for Mary Palko, Conference Chair, who was unable to attend the Pre-Council. Mr. Svacina provided Council with Sister Cities activity schedule for the coming week. The activities will commence with the Sister City signing ceremony in City Council Chambers on July 13th. There are 45 guests expected from Trier, 12 officials and 31 choir members and spouses. They arrived July 11th and stay through July 18th. The Sister Cities International Inc. Conference expects approximately 1,000 delegates. In conclusion Mr. Svacina announced that various activities would occur throughout the week in connection with both events. B. HEALTH CARDS - HIV VIRUS (I.R. NO. 7203) DR. BROOKS TAYLOR, PUBLIC HEALTH DIRECTOR Dr. Nick Curry, Public Health Department Official, spoke for Dr. Taylor who was unable to attend Pre-Council. Dr. Curry reported that exams to identify HIV- positive does not guarantee that food handlers will remain free of the disease, but that proper training is necessary. Dr. Curry stated that like syphilis, it is highly unlikely that the infection would be transmitted while engaging in customary food handling activities. Therefore, there is no indication for HIV examinations for food-service workers. Councilman Lancaster asked that health officials investigate requiring exams and issuing cards to persons who tested negative. Currently, according to Dr. Curry the health cards indicate that the individual has been certified of a one-hour course in safe food handling. An eight-hour course has been recommended for food handlers as opposed to the one-hour course. In conclusion Dr. Curry said that health officials "assure the public that there is no known risk of developing AIDS as a result of food or beverage exposure." 9. STATUS REPORT ON RENTAL INSPECTION COMMITTEE - TOM DAVIS, ACTING CITY SERVICES DIRECTOR Mr. Davis informed Council on the status of the report currently being composed by the Rental Inspection Committee. The committee has thus far identified some issues concerning the growing effect of large apartment complexes and the large number of rental units on the city and neighborhoods. The following are areas the committee has identified which could enable the city to establish a rental registration program: * indentify minimum housing codes required of rental units; * revise and update current building codes; * compose a handbook which identifies potential code problems and ways to bring rental units to standard code; * register all rental units; * develop a fee structure for rental registration; and * recommend passage of ordinance to permit code inspectors to perform inside inspections. The Committee has found that the most difficult problem with implementing the Rental Registration Program is locating the property manager/owner. Rental units in Fort Worth constitute 40 percent of all housing units in the city. Many of the rental property owners live out of town which slows the process of developing a rental registration program. The committee will be meeting again on July 22, 1987 to further review their proposals and recommendations. Mr. Harman suggested that the Housing Committee composed of Councilwoman Webber, Councilman Williams and Councilman Lancaster be kept abreast of the committees progress or be invited to the next meeting. Councilman Williams indicated a joint meeting would be appropriate. 10. SEAL COATING ALTERNATIVES (I.R. 7202) - DALLAS WILLIAMS, ASSISTANT DIRECTOR, TRANSPORTATION/PUBLIC WORKS AND NANCY AMOS. ASSISTANT DIRECTOR, TRANSPORTATION/ PUBLIC WORKS Nancy Amos, Assistant Director of Transportation/Public Works provided Council with an overview of the seal coating process and the alternatives for the process. Ms. Amos reported that the seal coating process has been a key component of the City's Street Maintenance Program for a number of years. The maintenance process is inherently messy and inconvenient for citizens. She maintained that there is a lack of understanding by citizens of how the process works and it appears that there is little appreciation for any improvements in the street's condition as a result of seal coating. Ms. Amos said TPW proposes that the 1987-88 street maintenance program restrict seal coating to streets which originally were constructed using the seal coat method. Changing this maintenance procedure would result in a reduction in the number of lane miles treated each year. Council was concerned about the change because using an overlay method would cost more and would reduce the number of lane miles to be repaired. To .restrict seal coating and use more of the overlay method, the city would be able to repair only 518 lane miles next year for $9.1 million. The 518 lane miles would be about 100 lane miles less than targeted in the current year's program. It would cost the city $11.8 million, an increase of $2.7 million, to maintain the current goal of 618 lane miles through a more intensive overlay program. Council remained concerned about the alternatives proposed and requested that further review be done before the proposal is approved. In particular Mayor Bolen asked about the quality of work of the seal coat process versus the overlay process. Councilman Lancaster asked what education program is used for the citizens. Ms. Amos said that doorhangers are used to inform the citizens of the various street maintenance programs and processes. Councilman Gilley asked when the consultant report would be presented. Dallas Williams said that it would be ready in the near future. 11. MONTHLY REPORT - CHARLES BOSWELL, DIRECTOR, OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT SERVICES Mr. Boswell provided Council with an update of the City's Capital Improvement Projects with the aid of a video program. The presentation addressed the current status of progress during the preceeding month. Some of the projects that were covered are outlined below; * The HVAC System was installed in the Police Administration and County Jail in late March and is operational; * The Gateway Park Concession Building design is underway. Architects are Jackson and Ayers; * Design hag currently been completed for the following Park projects: Capps Lighting, Rolling Hills Soccer Fields and Trinity Park Fishing Piers; * Southside Service Center is complete and ready to be occupied. Councilman Gilley asked how staff has addressed the federal statute on strip mining relating to the Mosier Valley. Mayor Bolen was concerned about the conflict of the potential for reduced hours in existing libraries while establishing new libraries such as the Southwest Regional Library and the Diamond Hill Library. 12. 9-1-1 UPDATE - ROD BREMBY, ASSISTANT TO THE CITY MANAGER Mr. Bremby provided Council with an update on the 9-1-1 system. He informed Council that currently the 9-1-1 Communication District and Southwestern Bell Telephone Co. have not developed a method for the 9-1-1 system and city computers to merge and communicate. The 9-1-1 computers can get information to the city emergency center, however addresses and telephone numbers cannot be transferred automatically into the city's computer and dispatching system. Efforts are underway to locate a protocol converter that will enable the two systems to communicate. The official starting date for 9-1-1 is August 2, 1987. Councilman Zapata suggested that if the system has not been fully developed there should be a delay to ensure a working system. Mayor Bolen also suggested a delay if the system is not fully operational. Mr. Bremby stated that both parties are working at finding the appropriate options. In particular if a working converter is not available by July 17th the system would be delayed. 13. REMEDIAL WORK, THIRD FLOOR PROJECT - DAVID IVORY, SENIOR ASSISTANT CITY MANAGER Mr. Ivory informed Council of the repairs to City Hall under the City Manager's emergency authority. There are structural problems in the girders of the roof which requires remedial work. The first phase will include cutting and removing the 90-feet-long, five-feet-thick and nine-feet-wide concrete beams into 21 ,000 pound chunks. The repairs are estimated to take 60 days at a cost of $1.8 million. Mr. Ivory also said that the work would be done at night to ensure safety. No meetings would be permitted in the north end of the building between 5:30 p.m. and 8 a.m. daily or on weekends. 14. CHANGE IN AUGUST AND SEPTEMBER CITY COUNCIL MEETINGS - DOUGLAS HARMAN, CITY MANAGER Mr. Harman announced that due to the remedial work being done on the roof, staff recommends that the City Council night meetings for August and September be rescheduled.