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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1965/11/29-Agenda-Pre-Council i 00, AIN I , MINUTES PRE-COUNCIL CONFERENCE November 29, 1965 Present Late Absent 1. Barr 8. Hoover (Item 2) None 2. Kemble 9. Jones (Item 2) 3. Eagle 4. Hamm 5. Deen 6. Shannon 7. Stovall I t e m Follow-Up 1. Lunchecn Meeting - American Institute of GWEN - notify Planning Dept on Friday of Planners - Gulf Southwest Chapter - Noon all Council reservations for Satur- Saturday, December 4, 1965 day noon luncheon The City Manager asked if any of the Council Members could attend this luncheon meeting, at which time speakers would discuss rapid transit matters. Mayor Barr said he could attend. The City Manager asked any other Council Members to notify his office before Friday if they could attend. Councilman Hamm reminded the Council of a program to be held in Dallas on December 16, set up by- U.S. Steel, showing recent rapid transit trends. 2. Design of Downtown Traffic Signal Con- DICK - have Buckman get letters of satis- trol System (M&C TE-22) faction from other cities doing sim- ilar work, and transmit to Council Mr. Dick Conley and Mr. Edward Cleary were by IR as soon as available present, representing Wilbur Smith & Associates, Traffic Engineering Consultants . Councilman Kemble asked if the traffic signal control system would be designed to add more signals later if needed. Mr. Conley said yes. Councilman Shannon asked if the study on traffic made about 18 months ago would assist in this work. The City Manager replied that the transportation-planning study by Voorhees, Burgwin, and Martin would be helpful to this project. Mr. Con- ' ley confirmed that all previous studies, which the Traffic Engir_eering Department has in its file, would be used in the consultants ' work. Councilman Hamm asked if there are many competing consulting firms in this work. Mr. Conley said that there are not many that specialize in traffic signal consulting work. Councilman Hamm asked if Wilbur Smith is primarily an engineering firm. Mr. ;Conley said yes, and that it specializes in traffic and transportation engineering studies. Councilman Hamm asked if Wilbur Smith has done this kind of work for any other city the size of Fort Worth. Mr. Cleary replied that studies are under- way in New York City and Nassau County. Also studies have been done in New Haven, Conn. ; Philadelphia; and Scranton, ,.Penn. Councilman Hamm asked how the con- sultants base .their fee on a job like this. Mr. Conley ,.W +., said that similar type studies in the past furnish guide- lines for fee setting, Councilman Hamm asked, if the scope of the project is expanded, how is the fee adjusted. Mr. Conley said that the work calls for control of 138 in- tersections, expandable to 160 intersections in the future, and that a set fee was established for this scope of the project, which should not need to be expanded. Councilman Hamm asked if we have the necessary traffic information available for the consultants. The Traffic Engineer re- plied that we do in most cases, but that new counts at cer- tain rebuilt intersections would be made and furnished the consultants in the next few months. Councilman Eagle asked how many bidders the New York City system had. Mr. Cleary said that there were three bidders on two basic types of traffic signal control equipment. Councilman Hamm asked if the Fort Worth system will use line voltage. Mr. Cleary said that it is anticipated to use 100% line voltage, Mr. Kemble asked if the downtown convention center would be taken into account. Mr. Cleary said the system would be designed to be flexible enough to take care of the final street design around the convention center. Mayor Barr asked how far ahead the control system was designed to pro- vide for. Mr. Conley said that a minimum of 10 years and probably up to 20 years . Mayor Barr asked if the control system will be able to take care of new traffic loads at any one place. Mr. Conley said that the system would take into account possible new freeways and future traffic gen- erators and be flexible enough to take these into account later. Councilman Hoover asked if certain streets were f closed to provide more room for hotels or other large buildings if the signal timing could be adjusted. Mr. Conley said that the time-space diagrams on traffic signals will provide for this. Councilman Hoover asked what percent of the time of consultants would be taken to analyze the types of signal equipment. Mr. Cleary said it was difficult to estimate since it was a continuing effort throughout the work. Mayor Pro-Tem Jones asked if the regional transporta- tion study due for completion about January 1 could be used in this work. Mr. Conley said that he will try to incorporate all useable information of this variety. The Traffic Engineer said that the information on this study is available now in unpublished form and can be obtained for this work. Council- j man Hamm asked the City Manager how many firms have been talked i to about this work. The City Manager replied that in this specialized field only a few Firms are qualified. He mentioned one in Toronto, Canada, and one in California. Councilman Hamm asked if there is a firm in Houston. The City Manager said that there is none he is aware of. Councilman Hamm asked if the City had any proposals from others, particularly to com- pare costs of the services. The City Manager said that the City had not received any other proposals, and he considered the City must select the consultant on reputation and ability to perform the work. He said that Wilbur Smith & Associates is a top-rated firm in this regard. Councilman Kemble asked how much money was anticipated to be spent for the signal sys- tem. The Traffic Engineer replied that the total amount to be spent on the improved downtown traffic signal system is anticipated to be $750,000, and that the control system would cost $300,000 to $350,000. Councilman Shannon asked again about the recent traffic study. The Traffic Engineer said that this earlier study concerned only transportation needs and not types of signals or con- trols. Councilman Hamm asked if we had written or checked out references on Wilbur Smith. The Traffic Engineer said no, not completely. Councilman Hoover asked again if the previous study was related to this work. The Traffic Engineer said that it certainly ties into this wo rk. Councilman Hamm asked the staff to get written reports of whether other cities were satisfied with the work of Wilbur Smith & Associates. At the regu- lar meeting M&C TE-22, Downtown Traffic Signal Control i Design Contract, was held over for further consideration when the information requested at the Pre-Council Con- ference•is available. 3. Schedule for Police and Municipal Office Building NOBLE AND GENE - prepare report Construction (IR #84.8) requested as soon as possible Councilman Hoover asked what the City gains by getting an-architect soon on this project. The City Man- ager replied that the architect could start oa design immediately and would take several months to complete hie work, during which time land acquisition could be proceeding. Councilman Stovall asked if a local or out- side architect is being considered. The City Manager ,r, said that he talked Council direction on this matter. C071ncil-inan Hamm commented that there is a possibility that part of the site could be eligible urban renewal assistance. The City Manager replied that none of the cost of the building itself could be under urban re- newal grants because it does not qualify, being a city- wide project. Councilman Hoover asked about the earlier Convention Center discussion that it could have been un- der urban renewal. Further discussion clarified that the land itself might have been purchased for the Center after clearance as part of an urban renewal project, but the Convention Center project cost would not count against the one-third local share of an urgan renewal project cost. Councilman Stovall asked whether or not Civil Defense pro- grams might provide Federal assistance. Mayor Barr thought the staff should be asked to look into these matters. Councilman Hoover said he thought it takes 20% substandard buildings to declare an area eligible for urban renewal. The City Manager thought the percentage was higher. The Mayor asked for a report next week on possible Federal aids to the project. The City Manager said that he understands the Council would like a report describing possible Federal programs•to assist in the cost of the land and building, which would be provided as soon as possible. 4. Mansfield Road Paving Improvements (M&C G-878) NAN Councilman Stovall asked if the prior difficulty with this project on where to locate a water main had been re- solved. The City Manager replied that it has been determined that the main will not be in Old Mansfield Road at the loca- tions called for in this paving project. There were no other questiOps at this time. At the regular meeting, Councilman Hoover ask-ed if the specifications on this project provided for collector use later. The Public Works Chief Engineer AVNk 's' replied that the specs called for. A," hot mix asphaltic concrete on gravel base, which provides for higher fre- quency of heavy loads than a normal residential street (which has 6" hot mix on gravel base). Councilman Hoover asked if this had been considered as a business or truck route. The Chief Engineer replied that it has not been so considered. Mayor Barr asked if independent appraisals had been made of property along Old Mansfield Road. There- after the City Attorney questioned Luther Meacham, an inde- pendent appraiser on this project. Then followed some citizens commenting on the project, mostly wishing the Council would set the paving width at 30' rather than 36' , and saying the residents were generally in favor of paving, but not the widening of Old Mansfield Road. The Council made no changes in the paving width of 36' and made no changes in the assessments, but passed a motion closing the hearing and levying the assessments . 5. General Sanitation Permit Fees DICK - work with Jack Floyd to get I.R. on interpretation of permit Councilman Eagle said that at the regular requirements, and include the three meeting he would make a motion to change the locations mentioned by Council ordinance. so that general sanitation food permit Members. fees would cost $19 for the forst wo permits, $10 each for permits 3, 4, & 5, and $5 each for all per- mits in excess of 5. Councilman Hoover commented that this would mean each permit for number 3, 4, and A,, 5 would cost more than each of the first two permits . Councilman Hamm asked about the breakdown of time re- quired for inspections. The City Manager said that a time study was made to determine how long an inspector took for each inspection. Councilman Hamm said that his study showed less than 40 minutes to be taken in each establishment, and unless travel time was con- sidered, the figures didn't seem to match up. He also said that in.spentions after the first one in the same establishment take much less time. The City Manager said that this was pointed out in one of the reports . Mayor Barr said that a better test of the permit fee is the overall cost of the program as it relates to total income from all food sanitation permit fees. This concluded discussion at Pre-Council Conference. At the ;regular Council meeting Mr. W. R. Ray, and Mr. Gene Ancis appeared, representing the food establish- ments. Councilman Hamm made the same points he did at Pre-Council Conference, and also commented that the interpretation by Health Department Inspectors did not appear to. be consistent or logical. He mentioned a small establishment on the west side owned by a Mr. Grindstaff, where the inspector had spent 14 minutes in the store writing out three permits (one for groceries, one for meat-cutting, and one for sandwich making), and threatened to write a fourth one for baking pies, because the operator did so at home and brought them into the store., Councilman Hamm said he also checked two other stores and found the inspectors only spent about 10 minutes making ,.their inspections there. Councilman Kemble said he thought the fees should be graduated by the size of the store. The City Manager said that if the Council Members would naive the particular stores the staff would be glad to provide information on how permits are applied. Coun- cilman Hoover mentioned two places that he knew about - a Mr. Rodriquez at North Main & Central, and another place at 300 North Side Drive. Mayor Barr said he thought it might be well to have a meeting to explain the Health Department interpretation of the permit re- quirements. Councilman Eagle made the motion he suggested at Pre-Council Conference to amend Ordinance 5436, Section 19-421 to change the permit fees. The motion was passed by a five to four vote. Mayor Barr asked Mr. Ray to get with the Health Director to discuss interpretation of the permit requirements. The Mayor asked the staff to furnish a report on how the permits were to be interpreted. 6. Study of Incinerators (M&C C-603) LINE - follow up on consultant study Councilman Kemble said he was glad the staff was ready to look into the matter because it is a serious problem. Councilman Stovall asked if burning dead animals at the City incinerators comes under the rendering ordinance. This M&C was approved at the regular Council Meeting. 7. Other M&C's of November 29, 1965 NOBLE - GENE .- please include this in report requested at regular Councilmam Hamm said that last week he had re- Council meeting on all past action quested a report on the duties of the Community Im- on Code Enforcement Program. provemer,t Coordinator, and _at he had not received it.. He would like to have a job description on this r position. This request was made again by Councilman Hamm at the regular Council meeting.