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".)