City Council Meeting - October 7, 2009

Mike Hoover and I attended the 6:00 pm Waco City Council meeting. It was FAST and furious. They have a 3:00 pm Work Session where most of the discussion is done and the agenda for the evening meeting is set. It seemed they had pretty much decided how everything was going to go.

There were two proclamations made. That was nice. There were two public hearings to give the public the opportunity to make comments. No one had any comments.

There is a process by which citizens can be heard on any topic. Apparently, a card is to be filled out and submitted to the council. I didn't see where the cards were. The citizen will called upon to make a 3-minute presentation. No action is taken by the council on these items. I believe that these will be taken into consideration and that council members may take the issue up in the future...or not.

Mike and I agree that attending the 3:00 pm session will be more fruitful so that the discussions can be observed. After looking at the minutes of the meeting, it seems that not everything makes it to the evening session.

It's also obvious that I need to learn more about the process. It would be nice to fully understand what is meant by "first reading" and "second reading".

Minutes of the meeting are available on the city website the day after the meeting. Click HERE to view the minutes of yesterday's meeting and meetings for the past six months.

I find myself wanting more information about some of these items. Many items seem a bit cryptic not having been to the meeting.

COMMENTS ON SOME OF THE ITEMS
09-538 - This is about spending TIF funds for two projects: $150,176.00 for Brazos River clean-up, $300,108.00 to TexasFirmHoldings, LLC (Beard, Kultgen, Brophy, Bostwick, Dickson & Squires, LLC) for renovations at 220 S. 4th St.

I read in the Trib that the Brazos River clean-up was to purchase and renovate a boat that will clean-up the river. I would like to understand the TIF process better. There was a comment on a story in the Trib yesterday from an attorney saying that the TIF money cannot simply be used on "something else." There is an outstanding question about the $300k to a law firm to renovate a building. Does anyone have input on this?

Several items related to continuation of existing agreements. These all seem pretty much normal. 09-543 does not have a dollar amount. I'm curious to know who much it costs to operate the impound lot.

09-549 is for the purchase of 10 police cars for $307,789.50.

09-550 awards a contract for renovation of the Hoover Library in an amount not to exceed $1,914,140.00. I believe this was part of a bond election a few years ago.

09-557 adds an additional pedestrian trail to an existing project for renovations to Cameron Park. The new trail will add an amount not to exceed $57,274.00 bringing the total contract
amount to $4,226,762.00.

Personally, I have a lot to learn about the process. I'm considering requesting a meeting with my councilman to discuss the general workflow. I've found a considerable amount of information online, such as all the city ordinances. It's possible there is a document explaining the process.

Comments and questions are welcome. We'll find the answers together!!!