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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMIN JAN 31 1989 REGULAR SESSION - TOWN MEETING CITY COUNCIL - CITY OF BEAUMONT HELD JANUARY 31, 1989 - 7:00 P.M. BEAUMONT INDEPENDENT SCHOOL SYSTEM ADMINISTRATION BUILDING 3395 HARRISON AVENUE BE IT REMEMBERED that the City Council of the City of Beaumont, Texas, met in regular session this the 31st day of January, 1989, with the following present: HONORABLE: Maurice Meyers Mayor Bob Lee, Jr. Councilman At Large Andrew P. Cokinos Councilman At Large Lulu L. Smith Councilman, Ward I Mike Brumley Councilman, Ward II Audwin Samuel Mayor Pro-Tem Councilman, Ward III David W. Moore Councilman, Ward IV Albert E. Haines City Manager Lane Nichols City Attorney Rosemarie Chiappetta City Clerk -000- The Invocation was given by the Reverend Durley Sams, Saint James United Methodist Church. The Pledge of Allegiance was led by Colby Crenshaw, son of Mr. and Mrs. Will B. Crenshaw, 195 W. Caldwood. -000- Mayor Meyers announced an Executive Session in accordance with Section 2(g) of the Open Meetings Act to consider appointment, employment, evaluation, reassignment, duties, discipline, or dismissal of a public officer or employee following the Town Meeting in the Third Floor Conference Room at City Hall. -000- As hosts of the Town Meeting, Councilman Cokinos and Councilman Lee welcomed citizens and explained that the desire of Council is to give citizens who cannot attend day Council meetings the opportunity by conducting these community evening meetings and thanked Beaumont Independent School District for use of their beautiful facility. -000- A Proclamation was issued to the Daughters of the American Revolution: February is designated as "American History Month" in Beaumont. -24- January 31, 1989 Kelly High School students, Allison Germer, Ray Deshotel, Elizabeth Stonecipher, and Derek Baden, in celebration of Catholic Schools Week, presented a fruit basket and tid-bit tray to City Council in appreciation for their service to the community and Catholic schools. In addition, tangible gifts are being given by Kelly students to their school teachers and administrative leaders, as well as service gifts of assisting teachers in each class period. -000- Mayor Meyers explained that the format tonight will be to exclude business items (except the Consent Agenda) to move forward to departmental presentations and allow time for citizen input on any subject. If all questions cannot be answered satisfactorily tonight, an answer will be forthcoming. No one wished to address the Consent Agenda. -000- The following Consent Agenda items were considered: Approval of the Minutes of the Regular City Council session held January 24, 1989 and the Special City Council session held January 26, 1989. The Consent Agenda was approved on a motion made by Councilman Cokinos and seconded by Councilman Moore. Question: Ayes: All Nayes: None -000- At the beginning of the Town Meeting portion of the meeting, City Manager Haines introduced Assistant City Managers Pete Shelton-- Public Safety, Maxie Patterson--Human Resources, and Betty Dunkerley--Finance who will not be involved in departmental presentations tonight. -000- Three briefing items were presented: PUBLIC WORKS DEPARTMENT Assistant City Manager S. A. Webb presented an overview of innovative methods that the Public Works Department has been using over the past few years in the wake of tight budgets, extreme weather conditions, extreme State and Federal guidelines that have been imposed. " The number one job facing most cities across the nation today, as well as the City of Beaumont, is maintaining and refacilitating its existing infrastructure. Among other things this includes streets and drainage, water and sewer systems. " Mr. Webb stated significant progress has been made in many areas. A video showing the method of pipe repair of a sanitary sewer system involving a 10-inch cured-in-place pipe installation on Crestwood Drive was viewed. The repair was made by Insituform Gulf South, Inc. by inserting a polyester-fibre felt tube saturated with thermal setting resin into the line through existing manholes. When the tube cures in place, the -25- January 31, 1989 finished pipe liner conforms to the shape of the line with only a fractional reduction in the inner diameter of the line and a minimal loss in capacity. The initial procedure appears more costly, but this particular project was completed in four days with no inconvenience or awareness to individual households. The old method would have taken four months and warranted digging up back yards of residents. POLICE DEPARTMENT Police Chief George D. Schuldt reviewed the 1988 Annual Law Enforcement Activity Report indicating an overall 20 decrease from 1987 in criminal homicide, negligent homicide, rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, larceny/theft, auto theft, and arson. Homicides were down 9 cases, burglaries down 550 cases, thefts down 100 cases, and rapes down 4 cases. Robberies were up 98 cases, auto thefts up 189 cases, arsons up 14 cases, and aggravated assaults up 38 cases. Beaumont Police Officers responded to 109, 046 calls for service. A video portraying various activities in curbing the crime rate, offering more services with no increase in the budget, and utilizing in some cases community support was presented. Innovation includes the B.I .T. (Burglary Investigation Team using five detectives who solely investigate burglaries) , a new Traffic Enforcement Unit implemented to aid reducing traffic accidents by rigidly enforcing the traffic laws, the use of computers in pinpointing crime areas and soon to be incorporated into dispatching, institution of new shift hours to increase patrol response to citizen calls, use of Air-1, the Police Department' s single-engine Cessna 210, institution of a Problem-oriented Policing Program in October, 1988 involving community assistance in solving persistent community problems, a five-man Special Services group specializing in narcotics and vice investigations, the STAR (Special Tactical and Response Unit) , SWAT Team, Crime Stoppers, Neighborhood Watch, Operation Teddy Bear, Adopt-A-Cop, and a puppet show used for educational programs are all innovative vehicles used by the Police Department to deter crime. Recognition was given to Deputy Chief Jack McCanne, Captain Joe Crutchfield, Lt. Ed Woodsmall, Officer Gabe Duriso, Lt. Melissa Ownby, Sgt. Allwin Berra, and Office Dan Colschen for their assistance in producing this excellent in-house video. In answer to a citizen query, Chief Schuldt reported that the average response time to a robbery call is about three minutes. It is considered a high-priority call. COMMUNITY SERVICES The third and final presentation was given by Assistant City Manager John Gorman reflecting the changes and new service levels made under the reorganization of that department. The Recreation Division under the management of Luke Jackson was reorganized in the Spring and Summer of 1987 and involved examining the existing programs for ways to strengthen them and consideration given to the feasibility of creating new programs. The -26- January 31, 1989 first full year under Mr. Jackson' s management was completed with fiscal year 1988, and they prepared an annual report of that division to distribute. The Recreation Division has had substantial involvement in community affairs. A video presentation highlighting activities of the Recreation Division special events was viewed and included scenes from physical fitness classes, athletic leagues and tournaments, playgrounds, use of community buildings, basketball, softball, volleyball, and many other activities. In conjunction with City Council, the Recreation Division was instrumental in providing a Juneteenth Celebration, the Ethnic Heritage Festive, Concerts on-the-Move, and Sunday-in-the-Park from April through November with more than 12, 000 participants. They serve as support to these Council-promoted functions. This presentation will be used for other community education discussions by members of this division. Mr. Jackson introduced members of his staff: Ms. Jennifer Sooy (responsible for the video) , Ms. Beverly Salim, Best Year' s Center Coordinator, and Ms. Karen Norwood, Secretary and then reviewed the Annual Report for Fiscal 1988 Recreation Division by giving statistics for level of participation and types of programs. On the cover of the report is a picture of Tiffany Smith, Tammy Coleman, Jannorra Jarreau, and Crystal Miller who are members of the Beaumont Track Club. They received First Place at the TAAF State Championship in the 400 and 800 Meter Relays in College Station. This tremendously successful program was spearheaded by Mr. Lou Cappi. Ms. Beverly Salim, Best Year' s Center Manager, gave an overview of the operation of that facility. Some of the services provided for Senior Citizens, age 50 and over, include various recreational activities, an information referral service, and special programs such as income tax assistance and holiday luncheons and parties. Mayor Meyers congratulated Mr. Luke Jackson, a former member of the 1967-68 Philadelphia Seventy-Sixers Basketball Team, (whose teammates were Wilt Chamberlin, Hal Greer, Wally Jones, Billy Cunningham and Chad Walker) who has been selected to be part of a team of former basketball players called The Legends who will be playing at The Summit in Houston on February 11th. Along with Mr. Jackson, Zelmo Beatty, Calvin Murphy, and Rudy Tomjanovich will participate in this exhibition game. While Mr. Jackson was on the Seventy-Sixers team they had the greatest record in N.B.A. history with a record of 68 wins and 13 losses. As spokesperson for Council, Councilman Smith expressed appreciation to Mr. Lou Cappi for developing such a phenomenal track program, for the Recreation Department support in Council endeavors, for the Senior Citizen program at Best Year' s Center and all the programs under this division. -000- Mr. E. J. Reeves, 725 Yount, addressed Council to compliment Mr. Webb, Chief Schuldt, and Mr. Gorman for their presentations stating this is the -27- January 31, 1989 most informative and communicative Council meeting he ever attended, but expressed disappointment that there not more citizens present to enjoy the presentations. Mr. Reeves suggested Council develop a better way to communicate with the citizens, especially through the newspaper, the kind of information presented tonight. Mr. Phillip LeBlanc, 6970 LeBlanc Road, addressed Council regarding street and drainage problems, particularly streets crossing Bigner Road that received repair this past summer. All the streets in the area were repaired except LeBlanc Road. Mr. LeBlanc questioned the selection of streets to be repaired. Mr. LeBlanc was advised that with the limited resources available, streets are repaired on the basis of greatest need. -000- Mayor Meyers shared Mr. Reeves desire that more citizens could have seen the departmental presentations and confirmed Council' s desire to continue the evening Town Meetings to allow community participation and pledged to push harder for greater participation and attendance. Councilman Cokinos thanked those who attended the meeting and expressed his pleasure with the program. Councilman Lee also commended the three presentations, thanked Beaumont Independent School District again for use of their building, and announced that the next Town Meeting will be conducted in Ward I . Councilman Moore thanked each department for preparing the videos and thanked his fellow Council members for their dedication to the programs of the City. On behalf of some of the citizenry, Councilman Moore thanked the Police Department for their methods of handling situations and interacting with the media to bring forth statements such as one he observed last week. -000- There being no further business, the regular City Council session and Town Meeting was recessed to conduct an Executive Session in the Third Floor Conference Room at City Hall. -000- I, Rosemarie Chiappetta, City Clerk of the City of Beaumont, Texas, certify that the above is a true copy of the Minutes of the regular City Council session and Town Meeting held January 31, 1989. Rosemarie Chiappetta City Clerk -28- January 31, 1989