Notes from Waco City Council Meeting - March 23, 2010

I'll just hit the highlights for this update. The agenda can be found at this link CLICK HERE and everything passed. 

RES-143 and RES-144: My commentary can be found on an earlier entry, but I'd like to add the new information I learned. AHP exceeded their first contract's requirement for jobs. The contract called for 136 jobs and they ended up with 151. In response to my email, Ms. Herbert asked whether foreign ownership was a consideration. Mr. Groth indicated it is not currently, but it could be in the future if the council wishes. A question arose about the jobs created being local jobs. Mr. Groth answered that at least 40% of the jobs were to be filled local employees. They audit to check this. The city will be giving up about $78k in tax abatements, but there will be $325k in receipts.

I'm not thrilled with this money going to a foreign-owned company, but it will create local jobs and increase the tax base. The more money we collect from companies reduces the chance that property taxes will have to increase.

An interesting fact came to light during this discussion. I learned that at least one of the city council members either reads or has seen this blog. My first reaction was to freak out a bit. I'm used to sitting in the background and having my writing read by my circle only. My second reaction was that this is a good thing. It demonstrates that the council members are interested in knowing what the citizens think about what comes before them. Ms. Herbert brought up another point on a different subject that I had received a comment about. I do not know if the person who left the comment also contact Ms. Herbert or if she saw it on this blog. Either way, the council DOES care about what we think. We should do our duty and tell them what we think and ask questions when we don't understand.

Related to ORD-172: I'm totally fine with the dropping of the speed limit in the area covered by this ordinance. There was MORE discussion about dropping the limit on the section of New Road that was left at 40 to 35. I drove this road today to see what I thought. I think this is ridiculous. This section of road is much wider and in better condition than the other section. There is NO residential and no back out drives. More than that, it was VERY busy and I believe that dropping the limit would cause congestion - assuming people obeyed the limit (which they don't). Actually, I wanted to see how many signs would have to be changed. This is not as big a deal as I thought it might be because there are only two on that stretch of road and both of those were on the overpass. I think only one would be in Waco's part. The city limit is not clearly delineated. I don't think that's enough signs. In fact, I don't think there enough speed limit signs in this city anyway. That's a fight for another day.

One last note about Chief Brent Strohman. When I returned for the business session of the meeting, Chief Strohman commented on how many notes I was taking. He told me that he would be glad to share his public safety presentation with me. I don't know if he knows about the blog or thinks I'm merely a concerned citizen, but I was very encouraged by his openness and willingness to share this information with a citizen and the public. From what I have seen, the Chief is a well-respected man and we are lucky to have him.

Spay or neuter law in Waco - may charge to keep pets not spayed or neutered

http://www.wacotrib.com/news/88891967.html

This will be discussed at the 3pm city council work session.

Article about the Associated Hygienic Products deal with WMCEDC

http://www.istockanalyst.com/article/viewiStockNews/articleid/3969396

I searched on the Trib and could not find an article about this, but I got it in a Google alert. This tells about the deal. I really hate that these articles come out on the same day as the city council meeting and citizens do not have a chance to research.

WMCEDC to give $440k and tax abatements to locally run, but foreign owned company???

The following two items are on the Waco City Council consent agenda for tomorrow. Items on the consent agenda do not have to be discussed in the open meeting and can be approved en masse with one vote.

RES-143

Consider approval of a resolution authorizing a Program Project Agreement between the Waco McLennan County Economic Development Corporation (WMCEDC) and Associated Hygienic Products, LLC (AHP) in an amount up to $440,000.00 (of which up to $220,000.00 will be provided by the City of Waco) in exchange for a $10,000,000.00 investment in personal property, the creation of 55 new full-time jobs, and the retention of 152 current full-time jobs at AHP’s facility located at 2101 Texas Central Parkway in Waco, Texas; and authorizing the City Manager to execute all necessary documents in connection therewith.

RES-144

Consider approval of a resolution authorizing an Industrial Tax Abatement to exempt a percentage of the taxable value of new Personal Property at Associated Hygienic Products (AHP) facility located at 2101 Texas Central Parkway; and authorizing the City Manager to execute all documents necessary to complete this transaction.

I found that AHP is a wholly owned subsidiary of DSG, Disposable Soft Goods International. DSG is based in Hong Kong with operations centers in South East Asia and Greater China. They make diapers - at least at the Waco facility which is located at 2101 Texas Central Parkway.

The website says that the Waco facility opened in 2009, but I believe that there was some kind of takeover. Didn't Weyerhauser make diapers? I wish I had time to investigate that further.

It is not clear whether the $10m will be new investment or if it's on their current holdings.

Comments? Do we tell our city council that we do not want to support foreign interests? It is not on the County Commissioners agenda for this week and they would also have to approve. In the past, we have seen the commissioners act the week following the city council.

Links: 

AHP Company History: http://www.ahp-dsg.com/company/history.asp

Waco City Council meeting agenda: http://www.waco-texas.com/meetings.asp

Contact information for the city council: http://www.waco-texas.com/council.asp - This page has their pictures. Clicking on their pic takes you to their bio and at the bottom of that is a link to a form where you can submit a message. This "form" method is new since they reworked the website and I haven't used it yet. I got a very quick email response when I used another form on the site.

WCCC-TV: For your safety

I was flipping through channels tonight (Tuesday are awful for TV in my opinion) and I landed on the Waco City Cable Channel. A show called "For Your Safety" was on. There were three guests: the police chief, the Emergency Management Coordinator, and on more that I already forgot. (My memory is terrible lately!)

Anyway, the part I want to call attention to is the interview with Frank Patterson, the Emergency Management Coordinator for Waco-McLennan County. I found it interesting because I had heard that we didn't HAVE an emergency management plan in McLennan County. Maybe this will shed some light on the situation. It seems they have done a poor job of communicating this plan to the public. Maybe they are exaggerating about how big the plan is. I don't know, but here is a place to start to learn more about it.

The interview with Mr. Patterson starts at the 8:55 mark.

Here's the link: http://www.waco-texas.com/videos/Gallery/wccctv-for-your-safety.asp

City Council Meeting is rescheduled for May 23rd

The Waco City Council would normally have met today, but a couple of months ago they rescheduled this meeting for next week, May 23rd.

The ballot is set for Waco City Council Races

http://www.wacotrib.com/news/87104492.html

The above is a link to a story on the Trib describing the races for seat on the Waco City Council. Yesterday, March 8, was the last day to file.

Here are the candidates:

MAYOR
Jim Bush
Addis McNamara

DISTRICT III
Randy Riggs

DISTRICT I
Wilbert Austin
Carol Dugat

I am happy to see some competition for the seats. The only way for citizens to have a voice is to have a choice.

Notes from Waco City Council Meeting - March 2, 2010

PH-112 - This is the one about the man working as an open air vendor at Parkwood and Bosque. The gentleman decides to withdraw his request and resubmit again as an O-3. I believe Larry Groth said this would allow for some special permitting and would be a better fit.


The consent agenda passed unanimously with no exceptions.


RES-114 - Adding $240,621.91 for an Aviation General Consultant. I have a question as to what this is and why it's needed. I arrived late and did not hear the explanation for this in the work session. My apologies.


RES-118 - This is to approve the acquisition of an easement on nearly 4 acres owned by Skinny's, Inc. It states that it's for the "Waco Regional Runway Safety Area Project." During the work session, it was stated this was for "slope and navigation easements." It will cost some money because the city will have to remove some signs and lightpoles.


RES-119 - This is for an additional $75,000 to be added to the total amount of $435,035 for the Panther Way Reconstruction Project. Groth stated that some of the residents were requesting $500 or so. Instead of coming back one at a time for these additions, they are lumping in an additional $75,000 to cover these costs. It is not expected that all these funds will be used.


RES-121 - Release of proposed amendments to the Consolidated Action Plan in an amount not to exceed $309,744.00 for public comment. This is for the HUD Consolidated Plan regulations. There is an amount associated with this because money is being moved around from project to project. Some projects got cancelled and the money was moved to another where it could actually be used. Some of these were for sidewalks - that's a good thing. Part of this is stimulus money which can't be used on parks, so it was moved to another project where it could be used. There were timelines associated with some of the money and it could not be used on the project on which is it designated. The money was moved to projects who could spend the money in the time frame.


SPECIAL NOTE: Larry Groth thought it was a good point to mention that two men were at the meeting who had won awards and should be recognized. I missed the first gentleman's last name, but his first name is Dennis. He was named Equipment Operator of the Year for the state of Texas. Groth mentioned that he is an excellent equipment operator who can operate every piece of equipment the city uses. His supervisor, Steve Boyles, was recognized with a state award for his asphalt recycler. This project saves the city about $90k a year. When the project was first planned and approved, it was thought to have a 5-year payback; now it appears it will have about a 2-year payback. GOOD STUFF right there!!! Way to go, Steve and Dennis!!!!


RES-122 - Some used equipment will be bought at a public auction. The council asked who would check out this equipment to make sure it was serviceable. Groth stated that the purchasing department and the people who will use the equipment will check it out before purchase. This is a significant cost savings.


RES-123 - Approving $248,974.80 for 30-month leases on golf carts from a company in Atlanta. I didn't get the answers to the questions I had. It seems this is the normal course of business. They are renewing a few months early because some of the batteries are going dead and it's cheaper to replace early than it is to buy the new batteries. These carts are used on the golf course and in some other departments (like the zoo).


RES-124 - This awards a contract to TTG Utilities, LP in Gatesville for the Barron-Landon's Branch Open Cut Sewer Line Rehabilitation Project. Groth stated 55% of the funding for this is from the EPA.


RES-126 - Accepting a grant from US Department of Transportation for the Airport Improvement Program. It's for $526,315.78 which includes a local match of $425,315.78. It was mentioned this would be for a taxiway.


ORD-127 - Changes the speed limit of New Road from Cobbs Dr. to Waco Dr. to 45 mph and to retain a speed limit of 40 mph from Waco Dr to the Beverly Hills city limit. I thought this would be cut and dried and a very good thing. The council spent what I considered to be an inordinate amount of time discussing whether the limit from Waco Dr to the BH city limit should be dropped to 35. Herbert and Rodriguez were the main parties of the discussion. They were concerned that there are lots of drives, a school, and a Walmart entry which could be made safer by a lower limit. For one thing, they couldn't take action in this meeting anyway. Secondly, the street is much wider in that section than the other section. Thirdly, the city spends a great deal of time and money on studies and professionals whose job it is to keep the traffic moving while maximizing safety. To her credit, Mayor DuPuy asked Larry Groth if any study about speed limits would contain accident information. He indicated it would. I appreciate her being the voice of reason in this matter.


ORD-128 - This is the second reading of a rezoning ordinance. They want to change 820-1006 N 4th St. and 807-1009 N 5th St. from R-1B to Planned Unit Development. This passed with no further discussion.
Two presentations were made at this meeting. One was about public safety and the other was concerning Cooperative Purchasing agreements. I watched the public safety presentation, but I had to leave to go vote and I missed the one about purchasing agreements.


These are my notes on what I considered important. Please remember that replays of the meeting broadcasts are on WCCC-TV and online at http://www.waco-texas.com/wccctv-council.asp. The video from the latest meeting is not up as of this writing, but I'm confident it will be there. This link will also lead to the television schedule.


FIRE SAFETY


Fire prevention is credited with a drop in structure fires. This is due to the placement of early detection devices, and fire prevention education.


Waco has not seen a death from a structure file in several years.


Smoke scares are up probably due to education. People are calling when they see only smoke instead of waiting for a fire.


The chief made an interesting note: Three things start fires: men, women, and children.


Larry Groth also credited better code enforcement for the good report about structure fires.


Randy Riggs asked if transport could move to the city instead of being contracted out. The Chief responded that it's something to look into. It would require an investment in equipment and personnel.


Riggs asked what improvements were needed. The Chief responded that better dispatch would help. It would be good to be able to have two people on dispatch at all times. He would like to eliminate cross-scheduling. Better coverage would also be good. I believe it was Groth who stated that we have *enough* stations, but they aren't in the right places. There is at least one station that should be relocated. This will be handled as part of the budget process. A new one would be built and the other would be retired.


TRAFFIC


There are 3200 crashes annually. Intersection crashes of of the greatest concern because they are the most severe and cause the most damage. Right angle and head on crashes were the type of crashes causing greatest concern for the same reason.


The council was surprised to see how few accidents involved drugs and/or alcohol.


There was a discussion about red light cameras. Although they had been discussed before the council before, it has been decided that the city will not proceed with these. In places where they have been placed, they are being pulled out for legal reasons. They are too expensive and not as effective as they should be for that kind of investment.


The Chief informed that the cameras we see are for detection of vehicles to regulate the traffic lights. These cameras are better at detecting the vehicles than the induction loop detectors. This is the "old-style" detector where loops in the road create a magnetic field that is interrupted when a ferrous vehicle drives over it.


Only 2.5% of crashes involve pedestrian/cyclist. This is a 16% reduction most likely due to improved sidewalks and crosswalks. Riggs asked about countdown times for pedestrians. The Chief would like to make sure they are effective before seeking to install them here. Some people appear to have trouble recognizing that the flashing hand on the current signals means that it is not safe to enter the intersection and have sufficient time to cross safely.


Larry Groth, to his credit, mentioned that as a ratio these counts would not appear nearly as bad.


Riggs stated that these types of accidents should be "at all costs." He may have misspoken here and did not truly mean that we would spend any amount of money necessary to eliminate these accident. It struck me wrong as there is a line of diminishing returns.


The Chief indicated that 18th and Bosque is much safer now that there is better coordination of the lights. A longer light enables most drivers to clear the entire intersection as the light is longer. 18th Street in general is much better because they reduced the number of lanes from 4 to 3 by installing right turn lanes.


POLICE


There has been an 8.5% decrease in calls. Reported crimes have also increased. The Chief indicated he could not identify a factor that might have caused this. We normally expect an increase in both crimes and calls during hard economic times.


Animal control calls is the third largest segment of calls behind the Waco Police and the Sheriff.


Crime rate for 2008 (the last year counts are available) was 6837/100,000. That's and 8% decrease while the decrease was 2% statewide. In this timeframe, the population increased by 3% which contributes to the drop in the rate.


88% of crimes are property crimes and 12% are violent crimes.


Riggs asked The Chief what could be done to improve. The Chief indicated that public education and marking your property (so that it can be returned if found) are two ways to improve results.


SPECIAL NOTE: The Chief also indicated that the city will perform - FREE OF CHARGE - a home or business security audit to find weaknesses or where security could be improved.


It is CRITICAL that thefts are reported. This is how trends are tracked and improvements can be made. Groth stated that he has heard people complain about how many thefts there are in their area, but when he asks if they reported them, they have not. The police cannot know what isn't reported.


There were 23 traffic fatalities this year. This is up from 19. None of the fatalities where in areas indicated as high volume areas.


For police traffic patrols, speeding and DWI are their primary focus. Beat officers work in the same places at the same times so that they learn what is going on in the area.


The City Council received an ethnicity report. This was not shared in the meeting.


The police like that WISD has closed their campus. The WISD police have an agreement with the WPD that if students are observed not in school, they will be picked up and brought back to school.
Councilmember Herbert asked about ordinances against texting while driving. She made a joke about making it against the law to put on make-up while driving or to READ while driving. Groth asked if we want to apply the necessary manpower for those types of offenses.


PERSONAL OBSERVATIONS


This is the first work session I have been able to attend. I realize this is where the majority of the work happens. In the future, I'll try to attend these as much as possible. It's also the first one I've attended after I thought about running for a council seat myself. Although I have decided not to pursue that at this time, it has changed my perspective.


EDITED NOTE: Removed the words "I agree" since I had removed the sentence preceding. Corrected "Gross" to "Groth" (One of my bosses is named "Gross".)

Cool Feature on the City of Waco Website

The City of Waco website has a cool, new feature. When you go to one of the pages, there will be a black "Notify Me" button hovering on the left side of the page. Click it, and it will ask for your email address and it will notify you by email when the page is updated.

I have signed up for notifications on the "Meetings" page so that I will be notified when the agenda for the next meeting has been added and when the agenda is updated after the meeting.

COOL!!!

Here is the link to the meetings page and it's also on the right. http://www.waco-texas.com/meetings.asp