Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Frisco City Council notes: August 19, 2008

By Jeff Cheney of Blogging Frisco

Tonight was a relatively short Council meeting as we adjourned before 8:30. We started with a proclamation given to the Preston Ridge division of the Daughters of the American Revolution honoring “Constitution Week.” For our history buffs, this week we celebrate the Constitution signing by 39 delegates at Philadelphia’s Independence Hall on September 17, 1787.

The Police presented the City with an award received by the National Association of School Resource Officers. The award, presented at a conference in Phoenix, awarded Frisco’s School Resource Officer program as one of two “Model Programs”. Congrats on a job well done!

The IT Department in cooperation with Police and Fire presented a request for an interlocal agreement between the City and Frisco ISD where the City will provide software and services for the enhancement of an emergency preplanning solution. This project will improve communication between the ISD and Public Safety Departments and allow for easier exchange of information as it relates to our school buildings. This is a cutting edge program that will lead to a safer environment for our children. The ISD was considering a third party component that cost a similar amount. By partnering with the City, they will have a better solution that integrates directly with our Police and Fire systems. The ISD is paying for the initial implementation and our commitment is to pay for half the cost of future updates to the information. This project is a testament to our great partnership with the ISD.

We held our first public hearing on our proposed tax rate. You may have read the notices of a tax rate increase. This is confusing to many citizens since our proposed tax rate is holding steady at .45% of assessed value. However, since our appraisal values have increased, the state requires us to disclose a notice of an effective tax rate increase. Essentially, if your assessed value increased, your total tax will increase even though the rate is holding steady. No citizens showed up to speak on the item.

We appointed an ad hoc committee to review the Code of Ethics Ordinance. Our City Attorney recommended we review this ordinance on a regular cycle, just like our other ordinances. The Ad Hoc committee is made up of six residents, the City Attorney, and the City Manager. We will review their recommendations within the next few months.

A few other items:

- We accepted the resignation of George Bailey, Board of Adjustment member. Mr. Bailey is relocating out of the area. We appreciate the service Mr. Bailey has provided.

- We approved a contract for our sports field concession services to R.S. Lim and Son, Inc. The vendor will pay an annual fee to the City for the use of facilities and will sell products to patrons. This was a result of a request from FBSA, FFL, and FSA who no longer desired to perform such services due to declining volunteers to run concessions.

- We approved the purchase of a mobile command and communications vehicle in the amount of $1.3 million. This vehicle will allow for a mobile unit to handle complex emergency incident management with a communication repeater system to insure continuous communications between all involved with the incident. Available funds are appropriated through 2007 GO bonds.

In other news, we recently had a public meeting to discuss a proposed dog park at BF Phillips Park. There were roughly 100 citizens in attendance, most supporters of the project. Some residents discussed valid concerns that City staff did a great job of addressing. In addition, many great ideas were generated from the public meeting. Staff will continue to work on the concept and will likely bring it before Council for a decision within the next few months.

We have another public meeting this Thursday at Bledsoe Elementary to discussed a proposal to expand the Stewart Creek plant. The meeting begins at 7 p.m. if you are interested in attending.

Have a great week!

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