City Council Meeting May 5, 2009

This meeting was the last meeting for Council Members Joy West and Tony Felker.  Bot could not seek reelection due to term limits.  Congratulations to Bob Allen and Patrick Fallon who were elected to fill their seats.  I filled Bob Allen’s seat when he could not seek reelection due to term limits.  Our Charter allows Council Members to seek election after taking a year off.  I look forward to working with them both. Congratulations also to John Hoxie who is our newest Frisco ISD School Board member.  I hope everyone attends the May 19th meeting to thank Joy and Tony for their years of service to Frisco as well as welcome the new Council Members.

We spent the most time discussing the proposal for a Cigar Bar in Frisco Square.  Our current smoking ordinance does not allow such an establishment. The proposal discussed was a potential change to the smoking ordinance to allow this type of specialty use. There were several concerns including the impact to any residential areas, impact to surrounding businesses, as well as how a change could potentially open more unintended consequences.  There was enough Council support to give staff direction to bring us a proposal that may mitigate all of our concerns.  We also wanted more time to solicit citizen impact so please let us know if you have any comments.  Here is a link to a news story.

Council unanimously approved the contracts with the Museum of the American Railroad.  Here is a press release for this exciting announcement.

Council extended our solid waste and recycling service contracts with Community Waste Disposal, IESI, and Champion Waste Services.  If you remember from last summer, CWD had asked for an amendment to their contract to adjust for the high gas prices.  Council denied that request but we stated that we would consider a variable cost component for fluctuating gas prices in our next contract.  This new contract does allow for that pricing component which is consistent with other cities.  These providers have served Frisco well and have also been great community partners.  We also want Frisco to be a good place to do business.  This contract is a fair compromise that will provide the high level of service our citizens expect at some of the lowest rates in the area.

Thanks as always for reading and I hope everyone can attend the meeting on the 19th!

April, A month in Review

Long time no talk!  I apologize to all of the readers who enjoy the Council updates.  I have had a very busy month and just now getting caught up. As I mentioned in my last posting, I took my family to Disney World for a long overdue vacation.  Unfortunately, when you are self employed, the work does not go away when you take a vacation!  Between my work busy season, kid’s Spring Break, City Council responsibilities, Frisco Education Foundation scholarship interviews and selections, and Relay for Life, I am  just now coming up for air.  I appreciate everyone’s patience.

The April 7th meeting was a full agenda.  This was followed by one of the shortest agenda we have ever had on April 21.  I will provide updates from both meetings in this single post.

Proclamations:

 – on April 7th we had a Relay For Life Proclamation.  Relay For Life is a passion for myself as well as Mayor Maso.  Mayor Masois a cancer survivor.  Our family has been touched by cancer as well including the loss of my Mother-In-Law from pancreatic cancer a few years ago.  We have been associated with the Frisco-Online.com Relay team for several years and our teams have been the top earning teams for several years.  I think we will pass the $50k mark this year for all of our team’s earnings.  Last year at Relay for Life, Maher proclaimed his team was going to unseat the Frisco-Online team from the top spot.  We had some light-hearted trash talk during the proclamation.  By the way, no chance he has of surpassing our team!  There are some strong teams this year so we have some work to do to keep our title.  The event is upcoming on May 1.  To learn more check out www.FriscoRFL.com

– on April 21 we had 3 proclamations.  The first was for the Dallas Diamonds Women’s Professional Football Team.  They are playing an upcoming game in Frisco and are looking to make Frisco their permanent home.  They are working toward their 4th World Championship this year after a 69-0 opening win.  The second proclamation was for Earth Day which was celebrated on Saturday, April 25th.  You may have seen some of the thousands of volunteers around town picking up trash as part of the Clean It and Green It campaign.  We also had another Chunk Your Junk events which has become very popular.  Finally, our Urban Forestry Board gave some Tree Identification Tours.  I went on this tour last year and learned quite a bit about the natural landscape in Frisco.  The last proclamation was for Andrew Chen who is now the #1 ranked table tennis in the World for his age class.  A few Council members had some fun with Andrew as a few of us feel we are fairly good at table tennis.  Between the Mayor, Scott Johnson, and myself, we had some legendary ping pong games at our offsite last year.  Of course, I do not need to tell you who ultimately won the crown in those brutal tournaments.  However, I want no part of Andrew as I sure he would have skunked me!

We also had a special visit from Collin County Commissioner Joe Jaynes who presented a check in the amount of $5 million for improvements to Independence Parkway.  This was part of the last county bond package that was approved by the voters.  We are thankful for the great relationship with Collin County.  We are also working hard to developing a similar strong relationship with our Denton County commissioners.

A few of the important things that were discussed in the last few meetings include:

– We passed our water efficiency program.  Council Member Crowder had asked for a delay on this vote to look at other market based pricing alternatives.  Gary Hartwell provided us with the requested information and also showed how we can add additional market based alternatives in the future.  We also reserve the right to raise rates at any time.  My preference was to see the effects of the new efficiency plan as well as education before imposing higher rates on our citizens.  We were required to submit our plan by May 1.  The goal of the plan was to set long term water goals as well as to make it easier for our citizens to understand when they should and should not water.  If you have never taken advantage of Frisco’s free sprinkler audit I recommend every schedule one at least every few years.

– We are excited to announce our newest tenant in Historic Downtown.  Music Maker Enterprises will be leasing the old City Hall space on Main Street to start the School of Rock.  They are focused on 7-18 year old’s performance based music education.  There are currently 60 schools in the country. This is the program that actually was the motication for the movie School of Rock.  We are excited to welsome them to Frisco!  Here is a link to one of their recent performances: http://lakewood-dallas.blackwhiteread.com/view/article/7740?r=3073

– Council approved the recommendations of our Ethics Committee.  The committe has been working very hard over the last few months drafting their recommedations.  It was interesting to hear how challenging the task became for them.  It was important for the committee to create a policy that created a public trust of the public officials.  They also worked to make the guidelines very clear so Council always knew what the public expects of us.  We are all very thankful for the hard work put in by the committee.

– After a lengthy discussion, Council approved a resolution supporting legislation relating to local options regarding mobility improvement projects.  We all realize the troubles we have with funding transportation projects.  TxDot claims they are out of funds.  Tollroads are popping up all around us.  The fuel tax has not been adjusted since the early 90s and diversions continue.  This legislation would allow local control over funding projects.  The citizens would have the right to vote on a variety of fees to fund transportation projects, which could include rail.  I do support more local control as we know better what our citizens needs than the state level.  Passing this legislation would not prohobit us from other funding ideas as well.  Stay tuned!

Early voting starts Monday, April 27th.  Make sure you get out to vote!

City Council Meeting – 3/17/2009

Mayor Pro Tem Tony Felker was sitting in for Mayor Maso this week as the Mayor was out of town.  The agenda was kept very light and we were wrapped up before 8 pm.  I was not complaining about the light agenda as I had flown back from Disney World that morning.  I had planned to stay up late one night while on vacation to get through my packet and was pleasantly surprised by the light agenda so I could get to bed earlier than expected.  This meeting also fell on St. Patrick’s Day which made many people glad to get out early.  I was lucky that nobody noticed I had forgotten to wear my green tie!

There was only one proclamation which was for “Fix a Leak Week.”  The is the first nationwide effort to make citizens aware of the water we waste from unknown links through our home and sprinkler systems.  The average home wastes 11,000 gallons of water per year because of leaks and is the most common source of water waste (yes even more than over watering your lawn!).  This is a great time to remind people the valuable sprinkler audits Frisco provides at no charge.  I recommend everyone taking advantage of this program.  Here is a great resource to learn more:  Web Link

The Finance Department presented us with the Annual Report Dated 9/30/2008.  I had already review these in detail as I serve on the Budget and Audit Committee.  The auditors had provided us with a clean opinion on our financial statements and also praised the internal control environment of our Finance Department.  Nell Lange and staff do a tremendous job with not only our financial reporting but with our budgeting process as well.  So  much so that they are starting to pile up the awards.  The following awards were presented at our Council meeting:

• The Purchasing Division received the Achievement in Excellence in Procurement award for the 4th consecutive year.  Frisco is only 1 of 16 cities in Texas who received this honor this year.
• Tom Johnston received his Certified Public Purchasing Officer license
• The Finance Department received the highest form of recognition in Government reporting for the 8th consecutive year by receiving the Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting.

Congratulations to the entire Finance Department for the high standard of excellence you have set for Frisco!

There were only 2 other significant topics on the agenda.  One was reconsidering the emergency exit for Chapel Creek.  This topic was tabled until the next meeting and I will review it more then.  The other topic was regarding a Mosque in downtown Frisco.  We approved this SUP nearly 2 years ago.  If you recall this was a fairly controversial topic at the time.  The Mosque had promised to be good neighbors and 2 years later they have done everything that has been asked and more.  The Mosque was seeking a 3 year extension on their SUP as the tough economic climate has pushed back their ultimate relocation.  In this request there was no opposition which states volumes about how they have been a good neighbor in downtown Frisco.  The request was unanimously approved.

With a light agenda this time around, I am sure we will pay for it with a tough agenda next week.

Thanks again for reading and I hope everyone enjoyed their Spring Break!

City Council Meeting – 2/17/2009

Our meeting this week was fairly short with mainly procedural votes taking place.  I wanted to first thank our Police and Fire Departments for their tribute to our fallen soldier, US Army Corporal Peter Courcy.  It was very touching welcome home.  You can read more about this story in the Frisco Enterprise Article.

I want to congratulate Liz Metting for being awarded the 2009 Engineer of the Year award from the American Society of Civil Engineers.  Liz is currently Frisco’s assistant director of engineering. Liz and her team oversee a Capital Project Program with $200 million of projects under construction and design.  Her team also reviews all private development plans for compliance with City standards.  Liz has over 20 years of experience in transportation and municipal engineering projects throughout Texas, including transportation planning, final design and municipal program management. Liz and her husband Mark have continually served as volunteers for a number of organizations including MATHCOUNTS, Preston Trail TSPE, Dallas ASCE, Texas Section ASCE, City of Plano, HOA and school PTAs. She also has enjoyed serving as a volunteer for Girl Scouts and has been recognized as an Outstanding Leader, Green Angel and Outstanding Volunteer.  Liz is a tremendous asset to the City of Frisco and we are thankful she represents the citizens of Frisco so well.

 Another proclamation was given to the Frisco Canyons Rock Climbing Team, “Team Canyons.”  Team Canyons has represented Frisco in competitions throughout the USA as well as competitions in Canada for the World Cup.  The team was the Regional Bouldering Competition Winner and a few members won individual competitions as well.  Congratulations to Team Canyons for your awards!

During citizen input, we had a special visit from teenager Adam Lee.  Adam lives in my neighborhood and along with his friends, are avid BMX riders.  They had constructed some ramps in our neighborhood creek area.  When one of our HOA Board members, Wenter Blair, became aware of the violation she saw it as a great opportunity to help the kids with their passion.  She decided to work with the kids to help the City develop our future skate park.  The kids have taken an active role in the development of the park and were excited to express their ideas to the City Council.  We have put them in touch with our Parks and Rec Department so they can have an mechnism to share their passion on what a Frisco skate park should look like.  As a Council, we greatly appreciate when our residents, especially our youth, show a vested interest and passion on how the City is developed.  I also want to thank Wenter for the leadership and direction she has shown to help the kids positively work on their passion.

I will conclude by mentioning our recent trip to Austin for Collin and Denton County Days with the Legislators.  Mayor Maso, Council Member Johnson and Felker, myself, Assistant City Manager Henry Hill, and Jim Gandy along with EDC staff spent 2 days in Austin to discuss issues important to Frisco in the upcoming session.  There were also many members from the Chamber representing Frisco as well.  It was a very productive trip and we had discussions with most of our representatives.  This was the first year it was done as a joint event with Collin, Denton, and Grayson Counties.  I felt this was a great way to handle the event as we had an opportunity to discuss isses with Denton and Collin County and did not feel the pressure of splitting our time.  More than anything, it was an opportunity to continue to build strong relationships with our regional leaders which is crucial when we are representing Frisco in front of our County and State Leaders.

Here is a picture from our trip:

City Council Meeting 2/3/2009

I was honored to have the family of Sheila Elliott, as well as other families effected by Congenital Heart Disease, in attendance to recognize February as Congenital Heart Disease Awareness month.  If you have never heard Sheila’s amazing story, I encourage you to read her journey here.  1 in 88 children are born with this form of heart disease and it is the #1 cause of deaths in the first year of a child.  Sheila encourages everyone to remember to regularly donate blood.  One of her son’s surgeries was delayed because they did not have enough plasma.

We are all excited to announce the hiring of our new City Secretary Jenny Page.  Many of you remember the retiring of long time City Secretary Nan Parker last year. The process has been a long one as there were many fine candidates seeking the job.  I commend staff for working overtime to make up for the open position while we found the right candidate.  Ms. Page will be moving here from Dayton and should be starting in time for our first meeting in March.  She is just in time as we start getting ready for our next election next May.

Have you been to the Library yet?  If not, you seem to be one of the few in Frisco!  The Library shared their tremendous growth #s with us.  Total library transactions increased 77% in December from last year to over 100,000 transactions.  Patron visits were nearly 44,000 in December, an increase of 116% from December of last year.  Library Director Holley mentioned the biggest challenge has been managing programming attendance as well as parking.  We hope to start resolving the growing parking problem with the construction of the City Hall parking garage.  I asked Director Holley to bring us some information about Library capacity to see how long this facility will service the needs of our residents.  That discussion will take place at a future meeting.

The Friends of the Frisco Public Library are hosting a 64 Questions Trivia Contest on Saturday February 28th, 2009 at the First United Methodist Church beginning at 1:00pm.   A $400.00 prize will be awarded to the winning team.  Each team of 8 (or less members) will answer 8 questions in each of 8 rounds.  The entry fee is $120.00 for a decorated table and $80.00 for and undecorated table.  (Table sponsors keep the decorations)   Entry forms and rules and more information can be picked up at the Frisco Library First Floor Reference Desk or send an email to friends@friscolibrary.com and the form and rules will be emailed to you.  Completed forms and entry fees must be received by Feb 18th.  Enter early to have the best selection of decorated table themes. Call Judy Clark at 214-387-0128 for more information.

We have also seen similar growth in resident use of other facilities such as the Senior Center and the Frisco Athletic Center.  Total members registered at the Senior Center in December were 1,636, almost a 10% increase from last year at this time.  A total of seventy-nine programs were offered during the month of December with 1,129 Seniors taking part in these activities. This compares to 869 participants taking part last year at this time. This reflects a 30% increase from this past year. The use of volunteer assistance continued to be a major resource for the Senior Center. In December alone, over 375 hours of volunteer service was provided for the Center. This was an increase of 63% from December of 2007.

 

In December, the FAC had a total of 13,895 members, compared to 8,733 members in 2007 at this time. This year’s totals represent 4,099 separate monthly and annual accounts compared to 2,527 accounts last year. Daily attendance at the FAC for members averaged 1,054 for December 2008, as compared to 717 this past year.  The early returns for January show even higher growth as our citizen’s try to hang onto those New Year’s resolutions.

A few of the upcoming events from the Parks and Rec Department:

• 12th Annual Daddy Daughter Dance – Saturday, February 7, 2009 at the Frisco Convention Center. Tickets went on sale Saturday, January 10th . At the time of this report, over 3,600 tickets had been sold for this year’s event.

• 5th Annual Trick-a-Trout Kid Fish – Saturday, February 14, 2009 at Frisco Commons Park. Spend your Valentine’s Day morning with your family at this great kid fishing event. Held each year at the Frisco Commons pond, this event helps to provide young boys and girls a chance to fish for fresh trout that are stocked by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department each winter especially for this event. The fishing starts at 8:00 am and continues during the day with the general public invited to fish after 11:00 am. Last year’s attendance exceeded 1,000.

We again discussed the old City Hall building at 6891 Main St.  I did have an opportunity to tour the building with our property manager since our last meeting.  After seeing the condition of the building, I do feel an investment in the property is warranted.  The types of improvements we are seeking is to bring the property to a market condition for a shell space.  All of the improvements will be of a nature that would help attract a potential tenant that all tenant’s would require anyway.  We will also be looking to use available city personnel with experience in some of the trades we will require.  The building has been sitting empty for a few years so we are hopeful this improvements will help attract a much needed quality tenant in the downtown area.

A few other noteworthy items include:

• Deina McNabb, Owner of Lochrann’s, was appointed to the Board of the Convention & Visitors Bureau representing the Downtown CBD/Frisco Square Retail Sector.
• We decided to table the action item to rename US 380 to University Dr.  Instead, we may look at maintaining a dual name such as 380 University Dr.  380 does carry the University name in Denton as well as McKinney.  The push in the name change was to make the road consistent.  However, we do not want to lose the naming significance of this major thoroughfare.

A few of us will be traveling to Austin on Monday and Tuesday for Collin and Denton County Days.  This is an opportunity for us to meet with our state representatives about issues important to Frisco in the upcoming session.  I will give a full report after our few days there.  I hope everyone has a great weekend!

 

City Council Meeting 1/20/2009

After a few months of having historically light agendas, there was plenty to talk about in this meeting. I want to first wish a happy birthday and congratulations to fellow Council Member Tony Felker who was named President of the Frisco Chamber this week. Also, fellow Council Member Joy West celebrated the birth of her first grandchild. We also want to thank Collin County Commissioners Joe Jaynes and Matt Shaheen for attending our meeting. Both commissioners have territory in Frisco and faced elections last May. Joe was reelected and Matt is a newcomer serving his first term. Newly elected Denton County Commissioner, Hugh Coleman, was unable to attend. We will likely invite him to a future meeting. I look forward to working with them further in the future.

We had a large attendance for this meeting due to the discussion of the Dog Park. Over the last year we have received a great deal of input encouraging the development of a Dog Park in Frisco. The supporters are well organized and have a website that you can learn more about their efforts. To read more visit www.FriscoDogPark.com. Staff has been looking for many years to find a place where a dog park could fit. I feel they have found the perfect place in BF Phillips Park. The proposed location is located on the lower side of a ridge which separates it from the rest of the park. This location has limited alternative uses and is also separated from housing and businesses. The cost of the project will likely run similar to what the city typically spends on a neighborhood park. This park will have the opportunity to offer another unique venue to our residents and bring together dog lovers from Frisco and surrounding cities. I support activities that promote active lifestyles and this will be another venue for our residents to become active. This agenda item revised the master plan. We will still need to allocate funding and timing for the project. With the difficult times in our budgets, there is no anticipated date yet set for funding. We are thankful for the numerous supporters of this project who have offered their time, talent, and treasure by trying to find sponsors as well as offering their volunteer time.

Here is a picture of the revised plan:

 

 On another topic, we had a lengthy discussion on how to proceed with the old City Hall. The City has been seeking a tenant ever since moving out of the location. Some of the space has been filled with Frisco Ski and Sports renting some of the space as well as the courthouse moving into the location. Approximately 6000 sq ft of the hard corner still remains vacant. The concern is the potential for continued deterioration of the building due to being vacant. Staff was proposing investing some money into the facility to make it more attractive for potential tenants. Several Council Members, including myself, expressed concern of investing too much money into the facility unless we had confidence in attracting a tenant. Staff was directed to put all options on the table including looking at potentially selling the space to a private entity that may reinvest in the facility. This will continue to be a discussion point of the coming months as we look at creative ideas to best utilize this space in a challenging market.

All of our cycling friends paid us another welcome visit to discuss the management agreements of the Frisco Superdrome. This is a great partnership with the Community College and the Superdrome Management Group. The Superdrome attracts thousands of visitors each year from all over Texas. We currently have an Enterprise Fund established to fund the maintenance and operations of the facility. The interest income on this fund pays for the management agreement and is not funded out of our general fund. In addition, the management group raises much of their own money through advertisements and event revenue. This vote was to extend the management agreement as well as to approve an outlay this year of approximately $98,000. This will also be funded out of the Enterprise Fund. I have a good friend that is an avid cyclist that keeps trying to get me out on the track. Our family has taken up bike riding as one of our favorite activities and so I am getting closer to being convinced to give a few laps on the track.

I want to quickly finalize a discussion point we have had over the last few weeks regarding the Municipal Storm Water Utility System Fee. If you recall, we were discussing how to best allocate the cost of providing this unfunded mandate by the state. Many Council Members, including myself, initially were opposed to a tiered structure where those with larger lots paid a higher fee. We had asked for staff for prepare information regarding a single tier structure. In this week’s backup, staff presented the methodology for providing a tiered structure. The fee is based on the amount of impervious space in any given lot. For instance the structure of the home, the driveway, patios, pools, and other impervious items create more runoff from storm water rather than being absorbed into the ground naturally. Staff has conducted statistics of 19,000 homes in the various tiers to calculate an average impervious amount per household. The fee for each tier was then calculated based on these averages. Council voted unanimously to approve the recommended tier approach based on this additional data. The fee for this service will run between $2-4/mo depending on your lot size.

A few other items of note include:

• Staff asked for Council direction regarding the potential of renaming Coleman Blvd to another name. The plat actually still labels this street as Frisco St which needs to be corrected since Frisco St no longer connects. Coleman is the entrance to Frisco Square. The former developer had placed the Coleman street signs up long ago. Several businesses and residents expressed their objection to the name change due to the inconvenience and possible business interruption. Council was sympathetic to those concerns and gave staff direction to bring back proposals for possible names, including the option of leaving the Coleman name in place. If a name change were to happen, many agreed that it would be done sometime in the future to allow the businesses and residents plenty of time to plan for it.
• There were a few items mentioning “involuntary annexation.” Several have asked what this means. Essentially it just means that the City had approached the landowner about annexation, it does not mean the City is acquiring the land involuntarily from the landowner.
• The Mayor and Council gave Chief Borchardt high marks for the Coffee with the Mayor this month. I was able to attend as well as we watched the demonstration of our Central Fire Station Emergency Operations Center. It was estimated that over 100 people came to see the demonstration of this state-of-the-art facility. I had seen the demonstration last year but I was impressed with the innovations just over the last year. It has since been integrated into our traffic control systems as well as our FISD school cameras. It is certainly reassuring to know that if we are ever faced with an emergency, our departments will have the best available tools to serve and protect our families. Those that viewed the demonstration left impressed and proud with the level of service our police and fire departments offer Frisco.
• Our annual rainfall in 2008 was 38.9 inches, compared to 68.1 inches in 2007. Consequently, there was more water usage in 2008 with an average usage of 233.8 gallons per person per day compared to 196.1 in 2007. The State of Texas has a target rate of 140 gallons per person per day. However, our annual usage is consistent with our near neighbors. The largest use is for lawn sprinklers. Frisco does require each new home to have a sprinkler which is why rain gauges and sprinkler conservation systems have become mandatory as well.

If you would like to see the video of any agenda item just follow the following link and lick on the agenda item:

http://sire.friscotexas.gov/sirepub/pubmtgframe.aspx?meetid=77&doctype=AGENDA

Please let me know if I may answer any questions.

City Council Meeting – 1/6/2009

The first meeting of the new year certainly brought some exciting change.  We are exciting to unveil the launch of our new online webcasts.  You can now watch the City Council meetings live from the comfort of your own home.  In addition, you will be able to access past meetings by simply clicking on the topic of interest and the video will jump to that item.  This will bring a new era to how we communicate to our residents and help us bring local government closer to you.  You can see this meeting at this link.  I want to thank our IT and Communications Department for all of their hard work over the last year in getting this system implemented.

As I mentioned in a previous post, Shelley Holly was formally introduced as the new Library Director.  In her report, she stated she expects an increase in library usage because of the economy.  She feels that residents will seek out more free programming and low to no cost entertainment as they watch their budgets.  If you are not yet a member, you can get your library card online at the City site. In February, the annual spelling bee contest is being replaced with a Trivia Bee.  Teams can be formed with up to 8 participants.  If you are good at trivia, now is your chance to show that knowledge and pick up the ultimate bragging rights!

The City of Frisco was recognized as a National Award Winner for outstanding participation in the “25th Annual National Night Out” crime, drug, and prevention program.  This not only included the neighborhood parties, but also other porgramming such as the Battle of the Badges blood drive, the Police vs. Fire basketball game, and a Health and Safety Fair.  This year was the largest # of parties ever hosted in Frisco.  We placed #4 in the country for out city size compared to #9 last year.  Congratulations to the Police and Fire and all others involved for another successful year. 

Council unanimously approved a Memorandum of Understanding between Frisco and McKinney to provide temporary Frisco Fire/EMS response in a temporary fire district in western McKinney.  This area is within the Frisco ISD zone and currently can be more efficiently managed by our departments, as opposed to McKinney’s.  It is common for cities to work together to share services and a good policy to be a godd neighbor.  As Chief Bochardt eloquently said, if Frisco’s Department is able to get to someone faster than McKinney, we would rather take that responsibility regardless of their address.  As McKinney’s infrastructure continues to grow, they will eventually take back this area of coverage.

A few other points from the meeting:

• the discussion of the Municipal Storm Water Utility System Fee Schedule that was tabled last week was tabled again until the 2nd January meeting.  Staff needed additional time to prepare revised estimates.
• Parks and Rec 2 February events including the Daddy-Daughter Dance and the Trick-A-Trout fishing event at Frisco Commons Park
• Mr. Bobby Baggette was named to the vacant “At-Large” seat on the Arts of Collin County Commission

City Council Meeting 12/16/08

It is amazing how quick the year goes by.  I cannot believe this was already our last meeting of 2008! 

I had mentioned from last meeting that Library Director, Dr. Ron Heezen, is leaving us shortly.  He certainly has left a legacy behind.  This Tuesday, he and staff were presented with the 2008 Achievement of Excellence in Libraries Award.  The Southlake Library Director, who oversees the process for the Texas Municipal Library Association, was also on hand.  To be eligible for this award, the Library had to prepare a full binder of information for the application process.  The rigorous standards only resulted in 22 out of 565 Libraries in Texas meeting the guidelines for the award.  Congratulations to the Frisco Library for this prestigious honor!

For those of you following the budget, you will notice that November revenue collections are down from prior year.  November and December are high receipt months as most people and lenders with escrow accounts make their tax payments before the end of the year.  A few of our large lenders delayed their payment until December so we should see that correct itself in next month’s report.  Sales tax collections have a 2 month lag.  However, we were encouraged to see October have a 4% increase over prior year.  November and December are the highest sales tax months of the year so we are anxious to see how the economic conditions will effect Frisco this year.  Our building starts are also showing a very low trend, similar to all parts of the country.  In 2006, we capped at over 3600 building starts that year (over 300/mo).  Total for November and December combined for approximately 100.  This would put us on pace for far less than the already low 1200 permits we saw last year. We will be watching this over the next few months as well to see if we need to make any budget adjustments.

Council also approved a new communications tower for the public safety radio system.  This is part of the $8 million bond approved by the voters in our last bond election.  We currently share a system with Plano.  However, both cities are switching to new technologies and Frisco needs this plan to reach the entire city as we continue to grow.  Staff worked diligently looking at a variety of options.  Their recommendation was to invest in a single tower near the Police Station.  This is one of the highest points of the city and would provide the best coverage at the most affordable cost.  The tower will be a 260 ft self supporting tower with no guy wires.  While we would all prefer to not have to build towers, Council was unanimous in agreement that public safety is our biggest priority.  The other options of 2-3 smaller towers throughout the city did not provide full coverage and was also more expensive.

A few months back, I mentioned that all cities received an unfunded federal mandate to implement a Municipal Storm Water Utility System.  Most area cities have already implemented a fee to implement this over the next 5 years.  We received a staff recommendation to take the same approach.  The cost of compliance of this program will start at about $1.3 million in 2009 and grow to $2.1 million in 2013 under full implementation.  Under the proposed schedule, the average household would pay $2/mo in 2009-2010 and $2.60/mo starting in 2011.  This proposal is lower than what has been implemented in other cities.  The current proposal also has 3 tiers depending on lot size, with the larger lots paying more.  Council asked staff to bring back a single tier system for consideration at our next meeting.

Many of you know that the Dr. Pepper Stars Center is currently being expanded.  Kurt Thomas Gymnastics used to lease part of the space out but they moved out to another facility once construction began.  This is a very desirable location and the space has been quickly leased again.  Zoom Sports will take over the space once construction is complete.  Zoom currently operates a smaller facility in Frisco and is seeing this 12,000 sq ft space as an opportunity to expand their business.  Theyh provide physical therapy and sports training services.  You can learn more about them at their website.

Council approved the purchase of a tract of land near Frisco Square and the Heritage Museum.  The city owns much of the surrounding land and this purchase will provide the city with a great deal on control as to how that area ultimately develops.

If you recall from the 11/4 Council Meeting, we had tabled an item to consider the extension on the purchase option for land near Grand Park.  The item was tabled to work with the develop to change language protecting a pecan tree grove on the land.  Council and staff felt it was important to do everything within our power to preserve these majestic trees.  An agreement was reached and the extension was approved.  I look forward to seeing how they may utilize this unique tree farm in their development plans.

I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday.  I’ll see you in 2009!

City Council Meeting 12/2/2008

I apologize for the delay in getting this summary out and appreciate your patience.  Dana and I celebrated our 7th wedding anniversary on December 8.  Between that and all of the great holiday events Frisco and our partners have offered, I have not been able to keep up!  Our meeting agenda was fairly light this week.

Proclamations:

• The Texas Fallen Soldiers Project was recognized for the work they do.  The artist, Phil Taylor, creates paintings for families with fallen soldiers.  It is a project that has seen their demand explode with 2 requests a week.  Unfortunately, the artist can only deliver 2 per month so they are looking for additional support to be able to provide this service to all of the deserving families.  Mr. Taylor realized this passion when performing a tribute to Frisco Resident Ben Dossett.  Many of you remember Ben was a High School senior who lost his life in a motorcycle accident a few years ago.  Mr. Taylor presented the Dossetts with such a tribute and was touched by the response.  He quickly learned he wanted to be able to touch more lives in such a powerful way amongst a great tragedy.  You can learn more at www.texasfallensoldiers.com
• Some of our local fire department were recognized for their hurricane recovery efforts.  Many of our finest served Frisco well by helping out other communities in their great time of need.
• Dr. Ron Heezen, Frisco’s Library Director, was recognized for all of his years in service to Frisco and the Library. Ron is truly the best in the business and was instrumental in getting the new Frisco Library off to such a successful start.  His talents and his welcoming nature will be surely missed.

As many of you know, the legislative session is just around the corner.  Frisco does set priorities that we communicate to our legislative leaders.  We passed a list of priorities and topic opinions.  The list is far too long to detail here.  However, you may view the full document at the following link

There were some changes approved to the Sexually Oriented Business Ordinance as a result of findings from a study performed by the Texas City Attorney’s Association.

Council approved a water rate increase of roughly $.41/thousand gallons.  The rate had not been increased since 1994 and as a result, our water utility fund has been running negative.  Our new rates are still highly competitive with surrounding cities and are designed to balance the budget in our water utility fund.  The average family in Frisco will only see a change in their water bill by a few dollars.

Finally, Council made appointments to update the City’s Comprehensive Zoning Ordinance.  This group will work over the next 12 months with staff to provide direction in updating the future development plans of the City.  Given that Frisco is still less than half developed, this is an exciting time to be involved in a group such as this.  Those appointed are Steve Cone, Chris Fuller, Dustin Gibson, Michael Hottinger, Kevin Jerich, Donald Simmons, Bill Woodard, Jay Young, John Zapata, Baxter Brinkman, Barbara, Gallegos, Jim Gandy, John Hamilton, Steve Hulsey, Chris Hunter, Geralyn Kaminsky, Susanne Kerley, Robert Oullette, Jeanne Patterson, Lori Stroud, and Jim Wilson.  Thanks to all of those that expressed interest!

City Council Meeting – 11/18/08

Mayor Maso was not with us at the beginning of the meeting as he was filming a tribute to news anchor Clarice Tinsley with Fox 4 News.  Clarice is celebrating 30 years of service.  The Mayor joined us shortly in executive session.  To see more about Clarice’s accomplishment, you can visit her tribute page.

The proclamations this week were:

• Evan Sousa was recognized for becoming an Eagle Scout.  As part of his accomplishments, Evan helped raise over $1,200 through a carwash benefitting Frisco Cares clinic. Congrats to Evan for this achievement.
• Jim Gandy, President of the Frisco EDC (“Economic Development Corporation”), was recognized for receiving his Certified Commercial Investment Manager (“CCIM”) designation.  Jim stared with Frisco in 1996 and has been integral in Frisco’s rapid development.  He feels this designation will help him with understanding the perspectives of business owners and developers looking to do business in Frisco.
• Leadership Frisco Class 12 was recognized.  Leadership Frisco is a Frisco Chamber program where 20 citizens participate in a year long class to learn more about the city and seek leadership opportunities in the community.  Each year they also work on a project that serves as their legacy.  Class 12 announced their project will be social services focused and will seek ways to raise money for our local charities and promote volunteerism.  At a time of tough economic times, I cannot think of a more appropriate focus.  I look forward to seeing the accomplishments of Class 12.

A few weeks ago, staff presented the Budget and Audit Committee a proposal for hiring a 3rd party auditor to review our internal controls.  The Committee is made up of me, David Prince, Bart Crowder, and staff members.  I was pleased with this discussion as a former CPA auditor, I understand the importance of internal testing, even when you think everything is going well.  This process should ensure the city is operating as efficiently and effectively as possible.  I applaud our staff for their leadership in approaching Council with this recommendation.

In our Fire Monthly report, I was extremely impressed with the amount of education that our Fire Department does.  In October alone, staff attended 271 events and reached 36,336 residents to teach about Fire Safety.  Our Fire Department’s policy is the best way to fight a fire is to prevent one.  The dedication to education contributes to our Fire Department’s excellent ratings.

In our regular agenda, our main item was approving the revised Hike and Bike Trail Master Plan.  The previous plan was done in 2002 and needed updating since parts of town have developed differently than planned.  The plan calls for a 5 year goal to link major sections of trails to form larger pieces of connectivity.  Staff also worked very closely with the cycling community to develop bike routes. Improving the connectivity of our trails system was a priority established by Council and I look forward to this work over the coming years.  The finished product will not only connect Frisco, but will also connect to the trails system of other cities as well.

A few other items of note:

·         Speeds limits were adjusted on a number of roads.  You can see a full list here

·         Jeff Snowden was reappointed to the Denton County Transportation Authority

I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving.  I am certainly thankful for having the opportunity to live, work, and serve such a wonderful and dynamic community.