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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMIN AUG 26 1975 REGULAR SESSION CITY COUNCIL - CITY OF BEAUMONT HELD AUGUST 26, 1975 BE IT REMEMBERED that the City Council of the City of Beaumont, Texas, met in regular session this the 26th day of August, 1975, with the following present: HONORABLE: Ken Ritter Mayor Don Cash Councilman, Ward I Vi McGinnis Councilwoman, Ward II *Calvin Williams Councilman, Ward III Leroy Evans Councilman, Ward IV Howard McDaniel Acting City Manager Kenneth Wall City Attorney Myrtle Corgey City Clerk *arrived during discussion of Agenda Item V. -000- The Invocation was given by Reverend Newton Huffhine, Washington Boulevard Christian Church. The Pledge of Allegiance was led by Councilman Evans. -000- Mayor Ritter issued one proclamation: "Jerry Lewis Muscular Dystrophy Telethon Weekend in Beaumont" - August 31 through September 1, 1975. _000- The Minutes of the regular session of the City Council held August 19, 1975, were approved on a motion made by Councilwoman McGinnis and seconded by Coun- cilman Evans. Question: Ayes: All Nayes: None -000- Resolution 75-296 authorizing award of bids for furnishing four (4) typewriters for the Central Dictation System for the Police Department to IBM in the amount of $2, 520. 00, this being the only bid received, was approved on a motion made by Councilman Cash and seconded by Councilwoman McGinnis. Question: Ayes : All Nayes: None -000- Resolution 75-297 authorizing Stewart Title Company to be retained for the necessary title research on the Civic Center, CAP 45-B-01, was approved on a motion made by Councilwoman McGinnis and seconded by Councilman Cash. Question: Ayes: All Nayes: None -000- Resolution 75-298 authorizing the City Manager to give written authorization to Turner, Collie & Braden and Schaumburg & Polk, Inc. Engineers, to perform certain tasks and provide engineering services necessary to comply with pro- visions of Environmental Protection Agency Step 1 Grant (Infiltration-Inflow Analysis of Sanitary Sewer System - total contract price not to exceed $270, 000) was approved on a motion made by Councilman Evans and seconded by Councilman Cash. Question: Ayes: All Nayes: None -000- -146- August 26, 1975 Resolution 75-299 authorizing the acceptance of 5.5 acres of land in the North End of the City from Mrs. Ethel S. Dickson and authorizing the payment of $450. 00 for taxes on same was approved on a motion made by Councilwoman McGinnis and seconded by Councilman Cash. Question: Ayes: All Nayes: None -000- Resolution 75-300 authorizing payment to Frank Lomonte in the amount of $2,500. for services rendered in connection with valuation of oil and gas properties was approved on a motion made by Councilman Evans and seconded by Councilwoman McGinnis. Question: Ayes: All Nayes: None -000- Resolution 75-301 renewing the City' s agreement with Henry Homberg providing for Tyrrell Park Municipal Golf Course management service for a five year term was approved on a motion made by Councilman Evans and seconded by Councilwoman McGinnis. Question: Ayes: All Nayes: None -000- An ordinance establishing library card fees for non-residents of the City of Beaumont, to be effective October 1, 1975, was held for action by request of the Legal Department for clarification of the wording. (To be discussed at Workshop Session. ) -000- Reverend J. Boyd Davis, 4410 Ironton, requested 4-way stop signs be installed at Cleveland and Fillmore Streets. Mr. W. E. Kinnear, 1810 Washington Boulevard, thanked Council for inclusion of the $5, 000 homestead tax exemption requested by Senior Citizens in the 1975- 76 Budget. Mr. McDaniel told Mr. Kinnear he had no knowledge of this being included in the Budget. Council asked to discuss this matter further. Mr. Ben J. Rogers, San Jacinto Building, P. O. Box 1310, addressed the Council to request two things: first, he requested Dowlen Road Extension be assigned as the No. 1 priority for construction under the CAP Bond program; and re- quested a letter stating City' s committment not to reevaluate Parkdale Mall properties for four or five years. Mr. Wall advised Council he would look into the issuance of such a letter and report back to Council. -000- PUBLIC HEARING PROPOSED BUDGET - FISCAL YEAR 1975-76 Mr. McDaniel read the following letter: "August 12, 1975 Honorable Mayor and City Council City of Beaumont Beaumont, Texas Lady and Gentlemen: In accordance with the applicable provisions of the City Charter of the City of Beaumont and statutes of the State of Texas, the proposed budget for fiscal year 1975-76 is presented. This year' s budget is the second step in the development of a program bud- geting format which will greatly enhance the usefulness of the budget document as a management tool. Two primary changes are present in this proposed budget -147- August 26 , 1975 as opposed to last year's format. The first change involves a description of each work program carried out in all City departments and divisions. This section will replace the program com- ments section presented in last year's budget and will provide more in-depth information con- cerning all programs conducted by the City of Beaumont. The second and possibly most signifi- cant change in this year's format is that the budget will actually consist of two separate docu- ments, one being the financial document which will be presented to you in accordance with char- ter requirements and the second which will be a program summary which will be finalized when the financial portion of the budget is adopted. This program summary document will Provide a narrative description of the function, work programs, and program measurements of all depart- ments. It is felt that this two part format will have much greater utility in that any elec- ted official, citizen, or staff member can obtain information relative to the programs of the City of Beaumont without having to search through a combined financial and program narrative document. This approach has been utilized successfully in such cities as Charlotte, North Caro- lina, and Dallas, Texas. While our program summary is not quite as sophisticated as those pre- viously mentioned, I feel that it is a step in the right direction and has much potential for further refinement. Once again as in the past four fiscal years, a tax rate of $1.59 per $100 of assessed va- lue is being proposed. A breakdown of this rate indicates that $1.06 is allocated to the gen- eral operating fund, $0.51 to the debt service fund which has been increased to anticipate a $20 million sale of CAP bonds, and $0.02 to the Capital Improvement Program (CIP) fund. Anti- cipated revenues with which to operate the City are estimated at $38,666,523 for the 1975-76 fiscal year, which includes interfund transfers and balances brought forward in the amount of $8,354,480. Projected expenditures in this budget are $35,174,569 compared to estimated ex- penditures of $27,232,610 for fiscal year 1974-75. Significant increases in personal services in the proposed budget are partially a result of implementation of the compensation plan as proposed by the U.S. Civil Service Commission. Initial indications are that this plan has done much to bring municipal pay ranges to a much more comparative level as compared with private sector rates of pay. In addition, collective bargaining involving the Police and Fire Departments resulted in an increase of approximately 13% in Police personnel services and approximately the same in the Fire Department. An exact percentage is not known due to impending arbitration proceedings involving the City of Beaumont and the International Fire Fighters Association. Increases in budgeted personnel have been kept to the absolute minimum possible. Compre- hensive Employment and Training Act (CETA) funds will be used to the maximum degree in pro- viding required additional personnel. In departments which the Council indicated strong inter- est for continued emphasis, funds have been allocated to absorb positions when Titles 11 and V1 of the previously mentioned act expire, which is expected to be June 30, 1976. Those depart- ments which will benefit most significantly by this approach will be Parks and Recreation De- partment and Tax Department. Those employees hired under Title I of that act are presently being absorbed due to the fact that these funds will expire by September 30, 1975. Funding is included in the proposed budget to continue development of Beaumont Munici- pal Airport. These expenditures will allow implementation of Phase II of the improvement pro- gram which will bring this facility up to general utility airport standards which will allow toy the safe and expeditious operation of aircraft. The assessment paving program is proposed to continue at a slightly increased level. Ex- penditures in this program were estimated at $365,000 as compared to last year's $350,000 esti- mated outlay. One of the two new programs proposed includes a street lighting improvement program for both residential streets and major thoroughfares. The proposed program will improve residen- tial lighting over a 10 year period and thoroughfare lighting over a 5 year period to accepted illumination engineering standards. In addition, a major thoroughfare marking program is pro- posed which will provide permanent plastic reflective street markings on those thoroughfares over a 5 year period. If federal funds are obtained through the Federal Aid Highway Act, this program can be accomplished within a two year period of time. The revenue sharing program is continuing as directed by the Council with emphasis upon completion of street construction as originally projected for utilization of revenue sharing funds and CIP funds. The Five Year Capital Budget as required by City Charter is presented as a supplement to the operating budget in the format of a status report on capital improvement programs projected for the upcoming fiscal year, and the following four fiscal years. -148- August 26, 1975 During fiscal year 1975-76 the City of Beaumont will be continuing in accordance with the precedent set during the past five years of progress. The initial projects of the Citizen's Activities Program will be the primary emphasis during this fiscal year and planning for the subsequent CAP projects will continue. The staff of the City of Beaumont stands ready to con- tinue progress made in past years and with the leadership of the City Council can make our Bi- centennial year a milestone in the history of our City. Respectfully submitted, /s/ Howard McDaniel Acting City Manager -000- Mr. Namaan Woodland, 5640 N. Circuit and Vice-Chairman of the Library Commission, addressed Council to request increases in the Library budget in such areas as salaries, travel and meeting expense, supplies, cleaning, organizational dues, maintenance, automobile allowance, etc. Mr. Jim McNicholas, 180 W. Caldwood and with the Chamber of Commerce Task Force, requested that consideration be given for improvements in the trash pick up for the City. Father Eugene Farrel, Our Mother of Mercy Catholic Church, asked about $130 ,000 budgeted for Tourist Bureau. Mr. Maury Meyers, Chamber of Commerce explained that this is direct revenue from the Hotel-Motel Occupancy Tax. Father Farrel then asked about the following areas of the budget: Revenues from payments in lieu of taxes (City Manager said these are justified projections expected to be received through renegotiations with Industry outside the City) ; asked why Lavaca Street construction is funded through CIP funds and Sarah Street construc- tion is to funded through Revenue Sharing; asked how Phelan Boulevard was to be funded (Manager said through CAP funds) ; and asked how the Civic Center Complex was to be built chroncligically and if it would compare with the capacity of the Lake Charles Civic Center , (Manager advised that several phases of the Complex would be built at the same time and that no budget for the Complex had been es- tablished at this time so capacity is not known. Mr. Joe Jolivet, 605 E. Simmons, asked that the corner of East Simmons and Pine Street be checked so that blind corner caused by overgrown bushes, etc. , can be corrected. -000- There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned. -000- I, Myrtle Corgey, 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 held August 26, 1975. Myrtle Corgey City Clerk -149- August 26 , 1975