CITY OF IVANHOE Minutes of 11th, 2012 **********************************

The regular City Council meeting was called to order by Mayor Brockhouse at 7:02 PM. All Council members were present. 62 audience members attended. Invocation was given by Patsy Morris. Mayor Brockhouse led the Pledge of Allegiance.

Several individuals had signed up to address Council in Communications from the audience: Cindy Costilow invited those in attendance to enjoy the annual Haunted Trail. Raymond Harrison requested information about the whereabouts of the dog that bit him. He stated that he was not drunk at the previous meeting, he attends AA meetings, and meets with the probation officer for his community service work. Debbie Shoemaker spoke in support of Councilwoman Bennett as a Minister, and her involvement with the Centers for Spiritual Living. David Fields expressed concern about Councilwoman Bennett going door to door, introducing herself and seeking votes and badgering his wife. He expressed forgiveness to those who have said bad things about his wife. Gaylyn Muzny commented that City Council had failed to perform due diligence before spending tax dollars on the animal control program and asked who is going to reimburse citizens the amount spent on the program. She spoke of a lawsuit against the city. Marilyn Pokorney asked why the animal shelter had taken priority, and questioned police security. Stephanie Pokorney asked Council to provide details on the advantages and disadvantages of living in the City. Tabitha Riley commented that the City is fabricating laws to suit the needs of those who run it. Janis Landry said she does not go on hearsay and likes to find things out for herself; she met with Councilman McIntyre, and followed through with writing a letter to the state expressing concern about the City’s animal control program. Feels the city has wasted $12,000 of the city’s money. Sharon McIntyre voiced that there is not going to be any fines relating to the animal shelter, she noted it is time to clear up a few things: that lies have been flying around the community, generated by a few who have a vendetta against some of the Council Members. She said it is politically motivated, including a flyer that was circulated about the animal control program, which included an ending statement to vote those individuals out of office. Ms. McIntyre gave a rebuttal to allegations involving the animal control program. Jim Beattie addressed his comments to Councilman McIntyre, and questioned notification to the governor about the animal shelter. Janis Landry called a point of order to be able to speak again. Council sought advice from the city attorney, then declined her request, since she had previously addressed Council. (Recording of Communications from audience and meeting are available at city hall) With the allotted time having been exceeded for Communications from the audience, Mayor Brockhouse moved to the agenda:

Agenda item #1: Mayor Brockhouse introduced Steve Jordan with the engineering firm of Schaumberg & Polk to provide an update on the engineering side of the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) application. Mr. Jordan in turn introduced Troy Whitehead who has been assisting getting the information compiled on the streets identified by Council as being eligible for CDBG funding. Thus far the engineers have made two trips to look at the roads to develop cost estimates from an engineering perspective. The initial cost estimates indicate the $275,000 grant funds will not be sufficient to do the roadwork on Lancelot, Camelot North and Durwood. As a result, the engineers are working cost estimates on Durwood since that street serves the largest population. Even then, Mr. Jordan said the grant would not fund work on the entire length of Durwood. The next step after the cost estimate will be the design phase. Mayor Brockhouse then introduced Randy Blanks from the grant writing firm of David Waxman & Associates. Mr. Blanks explained the grant application will be developed from input received from the engineers in time for submission to the Tx. Dept. of Agriculture by the Oct. 26th deadline. Street work is acceptable for applying for CDBG funds as long as the work is for an area that meets the low to moderate income criteria. A CDBG grant does not require matching funds from the City. Following the information presentation, Councilwoman Bennett made the motion to adopt Resolution #2012-14R Authorizing submission of the CDBG application for the city. Councilman McIntyre provided the second, and the motion passed unanimously.

Agenda item #2: Councilwoman Bennett made the motion to approve the Council minutes of 13th, 2012 regular meeting, September 17th, 2012 workshop, and September 17th, 2012 special meeting. Following discussion on wording on the September 17th, 2012 special meeting minutes, Councilwoman Bennett revised her motion to include a correction to the September 17th, 2012 special meeting minutes. Councilman Elliott made the second to approve each of the minutes with said correction, and the motion passed unanimously.

Agenda item #3: Supervisor of Dams Rusty Harrison summarized the dam inspection reports he had emailed to Council earlier. Mr. Harrison noted some additional cracking has occurred on the Charmaine Dam apron, and that it is time to cut grass on the dams between now and mid-. He has calculated the footage of the seams that need to be re-caulked on both concrete dams in preparation for going out for bids; his estimate on material cost for re-caulking is $45,000. He said he didn’t feel qualified to develop the bid specifications for the re-caulking project. City Secretary C. D. Woodrome said he would contact Waxman & Assoc. for recommendations. Councilwoman Bennett asked when the most desirable time for the caulk work to be done before making the motion to move forward with getting bids for re-caulking the dams, Councilman Elliott provided the second, and the motion passed unanimously.

Agenda item #4: Councilman Preston reviewed the history of funds expensed on streets since the city’s inception. $0 spent in 2010 due to no funds available. $48,000 spent out of a budgeted $125,000 in 2011, and $160,000 spent in 2012 on an initial budgeted amount of $95,000. The condition of the streets puts the city in a catch 22 situation of trying to keep streets passable following rains, when the ditches and culverts do not function properly. Councilman Preston noted that the city has expensed over $11,000 on Durwood in 2012 to correct part of the drainage problem. The cost estimate from the engineer developing the proposal for the Community Development Block Grant application shows $195,000 for ditch and drainage work and a sand oil top, and that would not get all of Durwood. It is the challenge the city faces with streets that have been neglected, and to continue the long term plan to get the drainage issues resolved, balanced with the routine maintenance like the street right of way mowing that is about to begin. The item was information only, with no action from Council.

Agenda item #5: Councilman Morris, as Security Committee liaison, provided the Sheriff Dept. summary of calls responded to in Ivanhoe during the month of September (copy attached). He detailed an incident involving Troy Costello the deputy assigned to Ivanhoe who was backing up other officers. Since a fatal shooting was involved, all of the officers were placed on administrative leave, meaning the city was depending on the sheriff to find deputies to fill in until the regular deputy returned to duty. Deputy Costello would be available for the night of Halloween and the Haunted Trail activities, but other deputies would have to work the weekend preceding Halloween.

Agenda item #6: City Treasurer C. D. Woodrome provided a review of the end of year financial spreadsheet in conjunction with the required quarterly report. Mr. Woodrome had also provided the full fiscal year financial summary in the Councils packet for review prior to the meeting. He recommended the Council include the monthly spreadsheet report of the city’s finances on the city website, to provide citizens with information about how the city funds are spent. Councilman McIntyre motioned to accept the September financial report as presented and to include the monthly financial reports on the city website. Councilwoman Bennett made the second, and the motion passed unanimously.

Agenda item #7: Councilman Elliott motioned to adopt Resolution #2012- 15R designating the official newspaper for FY 2013. Councilwoman Bennett provided the second, and the motion passed unanimously.

Agenda item #8. Councilwoman Bennett provided a summary of the efforts made to bring high speed broadband internet service to Ivanhoe over the past few years. The latest effort is working with Connect Texas, an organization that will promote Ivanhoe to prospective service providers. Connect Texas requires a community champion to serve as the contact for the city, and to work with interested groups to develop the community assessment needed by Connect Texas. Councilwoman Bennett then presented the motion to appoint city secretary C. D. Woodrome to serve as community champion for the Connect Texas project. Councilman Elliott made the second and the motion passed unanimously.

Agenda item #9: Councilwoman Bennett expressed appreciation to Karen Sikora, Chairwoman of the City Planning & Zoning Commission for the ongoing work on the Zoning Ordinance. Ms. Sikora noted the Commission had taken on the labor intensive project of putting the Zoning Ordinance into a codified form which saved the city between $7,000 and $11,000. Those are the fees that law firms charge. The codified version of the Zoning Ordinance was provided to City Council for review at the September meeting along with three new Ordinances to be included in the Zoning Ordinance. The required public hearing was held on Oct. 4th. Councilman McIntyre noted from personal information he has, the majority of the work to codify the Zoning Ordinance was done by Ms. Sikora, and for her labor, there should be a Karen Sikora recognition day in Ivanhoe. The agenda item was information only, and no action was taken by Council.

Agenda item #10: Mayor Brockhouse presented for second reading and adoption of Ordinance #2011-27 (c) Zoning Ordinance with additional ordinances to be included in the Ordinance as Chapter 3: Buildings, and Building regulations, Chapter 6: Use regulations Article 1. For the legal sale of all Alcoholic Beverages including Mixed Beverages, and Chapter 8: Animals & Reptiles-Domestic and Exotic. A called point of order from the audience requested the Ordinance be read in its entirety. Councilwoman Bennett motioned to table Chapter 8 until the meeting for further research. Councilman McIntyre made the second, and Council unanimously passed the motion to table. Councilman Preston expressed that he has made money on every house that he has had through the years, and encouraged the Council to consider property values for everyone, in view of the newspaper articles that makes the Council look like blooming idiots, which is not in the interest of anyone who wants to sell their house in Ivanhoe for more than what was paid. Following his comment, Councilwoman Bennett and City Attorney Timothy McDonough read Chapter 3: Building and Building regulations in its entirety, Mayor Brockhouse read Chapter 6: Use regulations Article 1. For the legal sale of all Alcoholic Beverages including Mixed Beverages in its entirety, and the list of recommended changes to existing Ordinance #2011-28 (b). Councilwoman Bennett motioned to adopt the adoption of Ordinance #2011-27(c), but withdrew the motion. City attorney McDonough explained that since one of the proposed Ordinances to the Zoning Ordinance had been tabled, no action could be taken until the 3rd reading, with whatever changes the Council decided at that time.

Agenda item #11: Councilman McIntyre withdrew the item he placed on the agenda for discussion/action for work to be done on the city’s information sign at the entrance.

Agenda item #12: Mayor Brockhouse reviewed the proposed processes for implementing rate increases by investor owned water utility companies as developed by the Senate sub-committee and investor owned utilities. A rebuttal is being developed by the attorney representing Ivanhoe in the Texas Ratepayers United political action committee. The Mayor said he anticipates a phone conference of the group prior to the next senate sub-committee meeting on the subject by the end of November. The item was information only, and no Council action was taken.

Agenda item #13: Councilwoman Bennett provided information as follow up to scheduling training for the Zoning Board of Adjustments which had been tabled at the September Council meeting. Former City Attorney Bob Montgomery had agreed to provide the training if it could be scheduled with the ZBA members on Oct. 19th or 26th. The training would take between one hour and two hours. No Council action was taken following the information.

Agenda item #14: On a matter that was tabled from September in order to have a sign up period for individuals who are interested in serving on the Zoning Board of Adjustment, Council held a secret ballot of the three individuals who had signed as being interested: William Beattie, Phd, David Cleland, and Shelly Walker . Following the secret ballot being counted by city secretary C. D. Woodrome and city attorney Tim McDonough, and results announced, Councilwoman Bennett motioned to appoint Shelly Walker to fill the vacancy on the ZBA. Councilman Preston made the second, and the motion passed on a vote of 4 for and 1 abstain (Elliott).

Agenda item #15: Councilman McIntyre motioned to withdraw the agenda item tabled from previous months to list dilapidated houses which the owners will be notified must be demolished if they are over 50% destroyed from hurricanes or other reasons. Failure to respond to these letters are authorization for the "city" to handle demolition. Councilman McIntyre explained the withdrawal was due to the matter being included in the Chapter 3 portion of the Zoning Ordinance that will be addressed at the December Council meeting. Councilman Elliott provided the second to withdraw, and the motion passed unanimously.

Mayor Brockhouse called a recess of Council at 8:59 PM to meet in executive session with the city attorney (Agenda item #18) pursuant to Texas Government Code §551.071, and §551.074. The Mayor called the Council back to regular session at 9:21 PM.

Agenda item #16: Councilman McIntyre explained that further research by the city attorney is needed, and made the motion to table until the November Council meeting discussion/action on City Council Members appointed as TCEQ Reps, Animal Control Officers and Code Enforcement Officers and how we resolve these issues. Councilman Morris made the second, and the motion passed.

Agenda item #17: The item to consider for discussion/action appointing liaison/alternate to the ZBA board from City Council which had been tabled from the September Council meeting was withdrawn on unanimous vote of Council. Councilman McIntyre made the motion to withdraw the item, with second by Councilman Morris.

With no Council Comments (Agenda item #22) and no other matters to be acted on, Councilman Elliott made the motion to adjourn at 9:25 PM, with a second by Councilman McIntyre, the meeting was concluded.

Respectfully submitted,

C. D. Woodrome City Secretary