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Home My WebLink AboutSEPTEMBER 15, 2009 - SPECIAL MEETINGSPECIAL MEETING -September 15, 2009 I. INVOCATION, PLEDGE & ROLL CALL Councilmember Henderson gave the invocation followed with the pledge to the flag. The City Council of the City of Port Arthur met in Special Session on Tuesday, September 15, 2009 at 4:10 p.m. in the City Council Chamber, City Hall, with the following members present: Mayor Deloris "Bobbie" Prince; Mayor Pro Tem Elizabeth °Liz" Segler; Councilmembers Morris Albright, III, Martin Flood and Thomas J. "Tom" Henderson; Assistant City Manager/Operations John Comeaux, Assistant City Secretary Sherri Bellard and City Attorney Mark T. Sokolow. Councilmember Robert E. "Bob" Williamson joined the Special Meeting at 4:13 p.m. Councilmember Jack Chatman, Jr. joined the Special Meeting at 4:18 p.m. Councilmember John Beard, Jr. joined the Special Meeting at 4:25 p.m. Councilmember Dawana K. Wise was absent from the Special Meeting. The Sergeant At Arms was absent from the Special Meeting. II. DISCUSSION OF THE 2009-2010 BUDGET Assistant City Manager/Administration Rebecca Underhill appeared before the City Council to discuss the 2009-2010 Budget. The Mavor requested that the following dialogue be made a Dart of the record: Mayor Prince: Have you figured out how we can do the four percent (4%) without a rate hike? Assistant City Manager/Administration Underhill: That is an awful lot. That was like $1.5 Million. Because the budget, as a reminder, the budget that you received last Tuesday was balanced. It had all those items in there that we talked about. We had additional Police Officers matching the ICOP Grant. We had additional staff in some key places. We had an additional Container Operator. We had contractual increases with Police and Fire. We had a 4% increase for non-civil service. We had the Elevator Project here at City Hall. We had the GPS Project. We had a whole laundry list of things. We also had the match for the Pleasure Island Commission, for their FEMA projects. I want to make it clear, that does not include any funding for the Marina Project. They are intending to come back to us with a plan for the Marina. But the $169,000, that is in there for their match, is for all of their other projects exclusive of the Marina. We had all of that in there. We had no increases to water and sewer, or garbage fees. But we did have an increase to the property tax rate; back to the effective tax rate, which is 79.2%. The difference between the 79.2% and the 76%, which was last year's rate, is about $1.5 Million. If we go all the way back to the 76%, we would have to find $1.5 Million, which is an awful lot. Without going through departments and looking at programs and reducing programs. What we did do...is we went through basically the departments of the general fund, and came up with nearly $400,000 for some costs that we could reduce and some things we could shift around. I guess, Mayor, what I would counter is...up until year before last, for many years it has been 77.5%. If we were to go back to 77.5%, that would basically cut the amount of money I need to find in half. That would reduce revenue by about $750,000. I have found over $300,000 of that so far. And we can probably, between now and the end of the week, find the rest. But it is going to be very difficult to get that $1.5 Million without going and looking at programs. Councilmember Flood left the Special Meeting at 4:50 p.m. Mayor Prince reouested the following dialogue be made a part of the record: Councilmember Williamson: I understand that we have made an agreement. The Manager and the Pleasure Island Commission have made some agreement about taking over some of the grass cutting there. Assistant City Manager/Administration Underhill: I had asked the Manager about that last week and he did not indicate that there was an agreement. Councilmember Williamson: What do you think, Mayor? Were you at the meeting? Mayor Prince: He did not say we would now, he did say that it came up. Assistant City Manager/Administration Underhill: So there is no money in the budget to cut grass. Now there is the Park's grass cutting and that is on a different page. We are talking about grass cutting? Mayor Prince: I do not see how we can afford to cut grass. Councilmember Albright: We are still a couple of meetings away... Councilmember Chatman: Yes. But if we finalize the budget, that means we are putting them off until next year. No. Because, why have these Joint Meetings with these people and blow smoke up them? And then when they are not around, we act like we do not know what they are talking about. They gave us outlines, forms. And we did agree that we were going to mow those two areas: The Music Park, Logan Park, and that little playground area. And we were going to maintain that area, which is what was said. It was not said, maybe, I do not know, we are going to think about it. It was said, that is what we are going to do. Councilmember Williamson: Why don't we go ahead and add that in to this budget? Since you were able to find that $400,000, whatever the estimated cost... City Council Minutes -Special Meeting September 15, 2009 2 Mayor Prince: My question is then for you, Becky, you said you found half of what? Could we come up into the 4%? Assistant City Manager/Administration Underhill: The $750,000 was half the amount to reduce the tax rate to 77.5%. The money I was finding was related to moving the tax rate around. So it was coming back down off of that. Mayor Prince: And while I appreciate Pleasure Island and everything. You know I love the Island. And for the record, when we meet, I am not the one of those who blows smoke up anything when it comes to meeting with any group. We are sincere when we meet with these people. So I want that on the record, and I do not act like I do not know what we talked about when we have met before. That is for the record. III. ITEMS REQUIRING INDIVIDUAL ACTION (1) P.R. No. 15497 - A Resolution Authorizing The Mayor To Execute An Agreement To Contribute Funds As It Pertains To The Development Of The FM 365 Project From Spur 93 To US 69 (ROW CS] NO.: 0932-01-099) (Account No. 303- 1603-591.89-00, CIP001) The Mayor introduced the above-mentioned Proposed Resolution. The motion was made by Councilmember Albright and seconded by Councilmember Beard that Proposed Resolution No. 15497 be adopted. Assistant City Manager/Administration Rebecca Underhill appeared before the City Council to inquiries regarding the FM 365 Project. Proposed Resolution No. 15497 was adopted becoming Resolution No. 09-413. Voting Yes: Mayor Prince; Mayor Pro Tem Segler; Councilmembers Chatman, Albright, Beard, Williamson and Henderson. Voting No: None. The caption of Resolution No. 09-413 reads as follows: RESOLUTION NO. 09-413 A RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING THE MAYOR TO EXECUTE AN AGREEMENT TO CONTRIBUTE FUNDS AS IT PERTAINS TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE FM 365 PROJECT FROM SPUR 93 TO US 69 (ROW CS] NO.: 0932-01-099) (ACCOUNT NO. 303-1603-591.89-00, CIP001) (2) P.R. No. 15498 - A Resolution Authorizing The Mayor To Execute An Agreement To Contribute Funds As It Pertains To The Development Of The FM 365 Project From ]ade Avenue To Spur 93 (ROW CS] NO.: 0932-01-100) (Account No. 303-1603-591.89-00, CIP001) The Mayor introduced the above-mentioned Proposed Resolution. City Council Minutes -Special Meeting September 15, 2009 3 Upon the motion of Councilmember Albright, seconded by Councilmember Chatman and carried unanimously, Proposed Resolution No. 15498 was adopted becoming Resolution No. 09-414. Voting Yes: Mayor Prince; Mayor Pro Tem Segler; Councilmembers Chatman, Albright, Beard, Williamson and Henderson. Voting No: None. The caption of Resolution No. 09-414 reads as follows: RESOLUTION NO. 09-414 A RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING THE MAYOR TO EXECUTE AN AGREEMENT TO CONTRIBUTE FUNDS AS IT PERTAINS TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE FM 365 PRO]ECT FROM JADE AVENUE TO SPUR 93 (ROW CS] NO.: 0932-01-100) (ACCOUNT NO. 303-1603-591.89- 00, CIP001) IV. ADJOURNMENT Upon the motion by Councilmember Chatman, seconded by Councilmember Williamson and carried unanimously, the City Council adjourned their Special Meeting at 5:42 p.m. An audio-tape of this meeting is on file in the office of the City Secretary and is made a part of the official minutes of this meeting. MAYOR DELORIS °BOBBIE" PRINCE ATTEST: ASSISTANT CITY SECRETARY SHERRI BELLARD END OF SPECIAL MEETING HELD: September 15, 2009. APPROVE City Council Minutes -Special Meeting September 15, 2009 4