Work Session Notes - May 20, 2024
I can read smoke, no joke
As always, my comments will be in bold italics. Please share this Substack with a friend or leave a comment if you find it valuable or interesting.
PUBLIC COMMENTS ON WORK SESSION ITEMS
CONSIDER THE CONSENT AGENDA
WRITTEN BRIEFINGS
Council may ask for discussion, further information, or give direction to staff on an item posted as a written briefing.
1. Investment Portfolio Summary
Staff will provide a copy of the Portfolio Summary Report to Council for this quarter.
Each quarter, staff provides the Portfolio Summary Report for Council to review. The city manages eight portfolios to cover immediate, medium-term and long term expenses. The book value of the City’s investment portfolio as of March 31, 2024 is $873,822,263. The portfolios are:
Treasury Portfolio
The Treasury Portfolio is the primary source of funding City operation and maintenance expenditures. All budgeted revenues as well as bond proceeds are deposited into the Treasury Portfolio. The portfolio is managed so that sufficient liquidity is achieved at all times to support the ongoing operations, maintenance and capital improvements of the City.
General Obligation Interest & Sinking Portfolio
The General Obligation Interest & Sinking Portfolio pays periodic debt service on tax supported debt. Ad Valorem tax collections is the major revenue source. The portfolio is managed to ensure that debt is paid when it becomes due.
Rate Mitigation Portfolio
The Rate Mitigation Portfolio was established in 1997. The assets in the portfolio may be used to either pay Garland Power & Light Electric Utility debt service or to offset rate increases of the Electric Utility.
Economic Development Portfolio
The Economic Development Portfolio serves as a funding source for economic development initiatives. The portfolio maintains ample liquidity since a major expenditure can occur within a short amount of time.
CMH Landfill Portfolio
The CMH Landfill Portfolio holds invested funds that will be used to expand the Hinton Landfill when a current refuse cell reaches its capacity. The portfolio is managed so that funding is available when needed.
Water & Sewer Reserve Portfolio
The Water & Sewer Reserve Portfolio is required by Water & Sewer bond covenants. The City is required to set aside a reserve which serves as additional assurance to a bond holder that Water & Sewer debt will be paid when due.
CIP Interim Financing Portfolio
The CIP Interim Financing Portfolio is comprised of funds which will be spent in the General Obligation, the Electric Utility and the Water & Sewer Utility Capital Improvement Programs. The funds are managed to achieve maximum liquidity.
Grants & Other Portfolio
The Grants & Other Portfolio is comprised of funds that have been granted to the City by Federal or State agencies which are yet unspent. Maximum liquidity is required in this portfolio.
With immediate funding needed in many cases, the maturity date of the large majority of our portfolios is only one day.
2. Ordinance Creating Municipal Electrical Maintenance Technician License
Consider an ordinance amending Chapter 30 of the Code of Ordinances, authorizing the City to issue municipal electrical maintenance license to employees of governmental entities conducting limited "electrical work," as defined by the Texas Occupations Code, on public property owned or controlled by the governmental entity.
This item will allow city to issue electrical maintenance licenses for employees to perform “limited electrical work” on city-owned property. This does not mean that the work will be of lower quality. An electrical technician must have at least 8,000 hours of on-the-job training under the supervision of a master electrician or maintenance electrician, and pass a maintenance electrician examination.
This is very similar to what corporations such as oil companies do with their engineers that design and maintain their own equipment. As a civil engineer who designs publicly facing infrastructure, I must have a professional engineering license. But my college roommate who is a mechanical engineer who works for Exxon Mobil designing oil equipment, he does not need to be licensed due to the industry exemption in Section 1001.057 of the Texas Engineering Practice Act.
3. FY 2023-24 Budget Amendment No. 3
City Council is requested to consider FY 2023-24 Budget Amendment No. 3, which is scheduled for formal consideration at the June 4, 2024, Regular Meeting. FY 2023-24 Budget Amendment No. 3 includes adjustments to the Electric Utility Fund.
This amendment is necessitated due to the Olinger and Spencer Plants having more starts (464) in FY 2022-23 than any fiscal year prior. The previous high was in FY 2005-06 with 368 total starts. The additional wear and tear resulted in more maintenance costs that we had budgeted.
Additionally, and I don’t know how this happens, a boiler contractor finally invoiced GP&L for work done in fiscal years 2021 through 2023. If I fail to invoice my clients for work done each month, I’m in hot water with our accounting department. If the unbilled work gets three years old, I probably won’t be working there much longer.
4. TxDOT Click It or Ticket Grant May 2024
City Council is requested to consider approval for a resolution pertaining to the 2024 Selective Traffic Enforcement Program (STEP) Click It or Ticket (CIOT) Grant, and authorization for the Chief of Police to execute any required documents to finalize the transaction.
5. TxDOT Operation Slowdown Grant 2024
City Council is requested to consider a resolution for the 2024 Texas Department of Transportation (TXDOT) Selective Traffic Enforcement Program (STEP) Operation Slowdown Grant and authorize the Chief of Police to execute such documents necessary to complete the transaction.
I’ll take these two items together. TxDOT offers grants for two programs to enforce seatbelt laws and traffic safety laws. The grant for the Click-it or Ticket and the Operation Slowdown Grants are for $6,312.12 each. Anytime we can get State money to fund our operations with only a few strings attached, we will gladly take it.
6. Next Generation 9-1-1 Statutory Distribution of Funds Certification
City Council is requested to consider by minute action a request from the Police Department to allow the City Manager to execute a statutory distribution of funds certification with the Commission on State Emergency Communications (CSEC).
This item authorizes the City Manager to accept funds transferred from the Texas Broadband Infrastructure Fund to Next Generation 9-1-1 Service Fund to begin the implementation of ESInet and NG9-1-1 in our current Vesta 9-1-1 call handling system.
The ESInet system will allow 9-1-1 callers to send multimedia information to dispatchers about an emergency through videos, text messages, or photos in addition to the traditional voice call. The new digital system will also allow the transfer of calls based on the caller’s location data.
VERBAL BRIEFINGS
Council may ask for discussion, further information, or give direction to staff on an item posted as a verbal briefing.
7. Parking Enforcement Program Update
Staff will provide the Council with an update on the Parking Enforcement Program.
Our parking enforcement program, since its implementation in February 2020, has been one of our more popular programs. Shown below is the number of parking complaints received in FY 23-24 from eAssist.
As you can see from the map below, complaints occur throughout the city.
From those complaints, a City Marshal is dispatched to investigate and issue a ticket or warning. The Marshals issue an average of 1246 tickets/warnings per month. The number of tickets written is larger than the number of complaints because the Marshals not only look at the complaint location, but the surrounding blocks for violations as well.
I am interested in your feedback on whether you have used eAssist to make a parking violation complaint, and how you think the program is working.
8. 2024-2025 CDBG, HOME and ESG Federal Grant Allocation
The Community Development Department will provide a presentation concerning the distribution of Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funding, HOME Infill Partnership Grant (HOME) funding, and Emergency Solutions Grant (ESG) funding.
Last regular meeting, the Council heard testimony from organizations requesting community development funding. In this item, the Council will make a final decision on allocating those funds. Personally, I gave more weight to those organizations who showed up to ask for funds than those who didn’t bother to come to make a presentation.
From the agenda packet, there is still some discussion to be had as two applicants fell below the $5,000 minimum grant amount after a 2.56% adjustment down (third column). The Council average allocations are in the second column of the table below.
9. Development Services Committee Report
Chairperson Hedrick of the Development Services Committee, with the assistance of staff, will present Council with a committee report and recommendations on items related thereto.
I will update the Council on two items recently discussed in the Development Services Committee.
The first is regulating tobacco and vape sales in relation to distance from high schools. There are 288 retailers in Garland selling tobacco and/or vaping cartridges and accessories. Current state law regarding tobacco sales includes the following:
Makes an employee who sells tobacco to a minor criminally responsible for the violation, which is a Class C misdemeanor.
Requires tobacco retailers to verify the age of purchasers appearing to be younger than 27 years of age through the use of photo identification.
All tobacco retailers must post a warning sign required by law and provided by the Texas Comptroller’s office stating “Under 18 No tobacco. I can't sell, You can't buy.”. The signs display the following warning: PURCHASING OR ATTEMPTING TO PURCHASE TOBACCO PRODUCTS BY A MINOR UNDER 18 YEARS OF AGE IS PROHIBITED BY LAW. SALE OR PROVISION OF TOBACCO PRODUCTS TO A MINOR UNDER 18 YEARS OF AGE IS PROHIBITED BY LAW. UPON CONVICTION, A CLASS C MISDEMEANOR, INCLUDING A FINE OF UP TO $500, MAY BE IMPOSED. VIOLATIONS MAY BE REPORTED TO THE TEXAS COMPTROLLER’S OFFICE BY CALLING 1-800-345-8647.
Vending machine and self-service sales are restricted except in places not open to those under 18 years of age or in places used as cigar humidors.
Giveaways of free samples and coupons to anyone under 18 are prohibited.
Sales of cigarettes of less than 20 per pack (Kiddie Packs) are prohibited.
Requires a retail permit. The fee funds administration of the bill and enforcement and awareness programs.
Retailers are subject to the following penalties upon failure to adequately supervise or train employee. All offenses must be within a 12-month period.
First offense: up to $500 fine.
Second offense: up to $750 fine.
Third offense: up to $1,000 or 3-day permit suspension.
Four or more offenses: permit revocation (can apply after six months)
Retailers must inform employees that tobacco sales to minors are illegal.
The retailer is protected from permit revocation if his employees attend a comptroller-approved training program. There is no protection from permit revocation if a retailer has eight violations within a two-year period.
Minors are penalized for purchasing or possessing tobacco products and must attend a tobacco awareness program or do community service. Failure to attend the tobacco awareness program or do the community service may result in a suspension of the minor’s driver’s license. A violation is punishable by a fine not to exceed $250. Upon producing evidence of attending a tobacco awareness program or doing the community service, the charge may be dismissed except in the case of repeated offenses.
Outdoor advertising is prohibited within 1,000 feet of a church or school.
Ultimately the Committee decided that there are existing laws in place regarding sales, however the issue is with enforcement. The Committee would specifically like to start enforcing 1000’ setback from schools for advertising to better protect our youth from the dangers of smoking.
For the second item, I suggested the Committee review zoning regulations surrounding drone delivery bases after I noticed that the City of Plano added some zoning standards around this use. The City Attorney stated that there is nothing in current GDC that disallows drone delivery services as they can be an auxiliary use in our current districts. Therefore, no action was recommended.
10. City Manager Preview of the June 29 City Council Workshop
City Manager, Jud Rex, will provide a preview of some of the material to be covered at the June 29 City Council workshop. Workshop topics will include the City’s mission and vision, strategic focus areas, FY2025 budget priorities, and direction on key long-term funding decisions.
The much anticipated June workshop will set many of the priorities for the new council term. I have four areas of focus during my final year as District 7 councilman.
Implement a cost of living adjustment (COLA) for our city retirees.
Analyze and allocate street repair funding based on the data received from our complete streets analysis that is finishing this month.
Finish the current Bond Program and prepare for a new bond election based on the results of the Bond Study Committee’s recommendations.
Continue the Economic Development program through smart, strategic purchases of property and the quick disbursement of those properties to developers through partnerships for reconstruction.
There will certainly be more to come on this topic next month.
CONSIDER APPOINTMENTS TO BOARDS AND COMMISSIONS
Terms are usually staggered whereby at least half of the membership has previous experience. Members are appointed based on qualifications.
11. Mayor Scott LeMay
Dorothy White - Library Board
ANNOUNCE FUTURE AGENDA ITEMS
A Council member, with a second by another member or the Mayor alone, may ask that an item be placed on a future agenda of the City Council or of a committee of the City Council. No substantive discussion of that item will take place at this time.
EXECUTIVE SESSION
12. The City Council will adjourn into executive session pursuant to Sections 551.072, 551. 087, and 551.071 of the Texas Government Code to deliberate or discuss
Economic development matters related to commercial or financial information that the City has received from one or more business prospects that the City seeks to have locate in or near the territory of the City and with which the City is conducting economic development negotiations, or to deliberate the offer of a financial or other incentive to a business prospect (551.087), in the vicinity of West Miller and attorney/client matters concerning privileged and unprivileged client information related to the same (551.071).
The purchase, exchange, lease or value of several tracts of real property for economic development purposes (551.087), located in in the vicinity of the State Highway 190 corridor within the City of Garland (551.072) and attorney/client matters concerning privileged and unprivileged client information related to the same (551.071).
Economic development matters related to commercial or financial information that the City has received from one or more business prospects that the City seeks to have locate in or near the territory of the City and with which the City is conducting economic development negotiations, or to deliberate the offer of a financial or other incentive to a business prospect (551.087), including the possible purchase of real property located in the vicinity of South Garland Road and Interstate Highway 635 (551.072), and attorney/client matters concerning privileged and unprivileged client information related to the same (551.071).
ADJOURN
One of my favorite bands of Montreal released a new album last Friday and since we are talking about tobacco and smoking regulations this week, I’ll include the song “I Can Read Smoke” off of of Montreal’s album Lady on the Cusp.