SOLUTIONS ARCHIVE 2004

I'm attempting to obtain copies of No Wake Ordinances. The ordinance relates to operation of vehicles during flooding or high water periods. If you have an ordinance, I would appreciate a copy.

Jim Elliott, El Campo Police Department, 303 East Jackson Street, El Campo, TX 77437-4590; 979-543-5311; Fax: 979-543-3100; Emal address: jelliott@ci.el-campo.tx.us

The City of Hempstead in the near future will be providing maintenance for four cemeteries located in the City and is interested in seeing what rules and regulations, fees, etc. other cities are using for cemeteries maintained by their City. We would be particularly interested in seeing a copy of the contract if maintenance of the cemetery is contracted out.

James R. Vines, City Administrator, City of Hempstead, 1125 Austin Street, Hempstead, Texas 77445, 979-826-2486 – Office; 979-826-6703 – Fax; jvines@alpha1.net

What kind of incentives are cities offering to help promote residential development in their jurisdiction. Any suggestions are welcome.

B.J. Owen, Director of Special Services, City of Kilgore;
(903) 984-5081; inspection@cityofkilgore.com .

Are there any cities that are providing financial support to Teen Centers. Our local Boys & Girls Club is the process of establishing a Teen Center.

R.Dale Lewis, Dir. Of Admin., City of Burkburnett, 940 569-2263 dlewis@burkburnett.org

Does anyone have recent experience in evaluating and/or privatizing your solid waste collection? We are looking for lessons learned and approaches used, as well as the evaluation of the privatized service a year or more after changing.

Please send information to Michael Ross at mross@westu.org .

The City of Borger is beginning a Charter Review process. I have been asked to head the committee and would like to hear from any cities of about the same size as Borger (10,000-25,000) who have recently reviewed their Charter to provide us with samples or guidelines we can use for our Charter.

James Mosley, james@mgjm.com , Chair of City of Borger Charter Review Committee, 806-273-2857.

We are establishing a Wellness Program for the City of Canyon employees and would like a policy in place. We would like to know if you have a Wellness Program and if you have a Policy for us to use?

Jo Carol Boyles, Secretary to City Manager, City of Canyon, 806-655-5000, jocarol@wtxcoxmail.com

The City of Hewitt will be negotiating a new gas franchise agreement during the next year. We would like to see a few examples of recent gas franchise agreements. If anyone has signed a gas franchise agreement in the past few years, please let me know.

Barry Sullivan, Asst. City Manager, at (254) 666-617, bsullivan@grandecom.net , or P.O. Box 610, Hewitt, TX 76643.

I am trying to find grant money of other funding sources to support an additional staff position in code enforcement for the city. If there is anyone with experience in getting this type of funding, please let me know.

Steve Methven, Code Enforcement Manager, P.O. Box 1049, Greenville , Texas 75403 or e-mail smethven@ci.greenville.tx.us .

Does anyone have an interlocal agreement with their county to house city prisoner's in the county jail, rather than operating a city facility or a holding cell? Such an agreement might cover such thing's as a per diem charge, liability issues, how a person will be processed into the jail, etc. We would appreciate a copy.

Jim Blystone, City Manager, City of Kaufman , 972-932-2216, 972-932-0307 (Fax), jblystone@tvec.net

Is anybody charging for maintaining railroad rights of way thru your towns. Who maintains the right of way in your town.

Dale Lewis, Dir. of Admin., City of Burkburnett , dlewis@burkburnett.org

The city of Overton would like to compare in-house maintenance operations of water, waste water and streets with contracting out to a private sector company. Is there another city that has recently been able to compare these types of operations?

The City of Bellaire is beginning a Charter review process. It has been some time since the City reviewed/revised its charter and it is felt that the assistance of a Charter Review Consultant would be beneficial in this process. I am looking for information from cities that have gone through a Charter Review process recently and suggestions for consultants that might be able to help us.

Bernie Satterwhite, City Manager, City of Bellaire, PH (713) 662-8228, bsatterwhite@ci.bellaire.tx.us .

The City of Longview , population 75,000 is beginning the process to totally replace our telephone system. Some portions of the system are more than 20 years old and customer service and performance are being negatively impacted.

If anyone has recently undergone a partial or total system replacement / upgrade, would you please send information on processes, features selected, specifications, requests for proposals and other pertinent data to: Laura Hill, City of Longview, Parks and Recreation Director, 903-237-1392, lhill@ci.longview.tx.us , P.O. Box 1952, Longview, TX 75606

Do any cities allow the Zoning Administrator to grant a variance of say 25% to 50% of the required setback for properties that meet a specified set of prerequisites (i.e. line up with existing buildings, etc)? Anything not meeting the prerequisites would have to go before the Board of Adjustments.

John Castro, Director Community Services, City of Plainview , Ph: (806) 296-1120, Fax: (8060 296-1125, jcastro@ci.plainview.tx.us

The City of Sweetwater Public Works Department would like to have information on "Utility Cuts" for future reference. We would like to see what measures are taken to prepare for street and alley pavement cuts for utilities and any fees assessed to the customer.

Dorothy Rannefeld, Administrative Assistant, City of Sweetwater, P. O. Box 450, Sweetwater, TX 79556-0450. Our fax number is 325-235-3984. Our e-mail address is ldlbj@aol.com . Thank you for assisting us in this matter.

The City of Seguin is investigating the possibility of requiring public service announcements to be placed on vacant sign message boards. We would like to communicate with any city having such a requirement, or having experience in this matter. Thank you.

Donald Smith, Planning Director at plandir@ci.seguin.tx.us .

The City of Kaufman has been asked by some local business owner's to control pigeon's in our CBD , does anyone have a plan for reducing/controlling pigeon's? If your city has a plan, please share it with us. Thank you.

Jim Blystone, City Manager, 209 S. Washington, Kaufman, Texas 75142, 972-962-5321, jblystone@tvec.net

I was interested in gathering any information from municipalities that have recently transitioned from a full volunteer fire department to a combination department (part paid/ part volunteer department). I am especially interested in how the hiring process was conducted.

Linda Ballard, Personnel Administrator, City of Seabrook , 281-291-5680, lballard@seabrook-tx.com

I am searching for examples of multi jurisdictional alliances (in Texas) to provide facilities and services. An example would be a joint municipal and ISD project to create an aquatics center for joint use.

James B. Stewart Director/Jefe, Victoria Public Library, 302 North Main, Victoria, Texas 77901-6592, 361/l572-2704

Our city is in the process of establishing an industrial park and are working on an ordinance for it. Does your city have such an ordinance that you could share to help us with this project?

Sharon Barnes, Groesbeck EDC, 401 W. Navasota St., Groesbeck , Texas 76642, Phone; 254-729-5375; Fax: 254-729-8155; Email: srbarnes@glade.net .

Our depository considers any uncashed check outstanding for 180 days or more to be stale dated, or void. The City's checks themselves contain the verbiage, "Void after 180 days." Recently, we have had several payees try to cash such checks, and our depository has returned them unpaid. The payees then contact the City and request that we reissue checks to them. We have no problem with reissuing the checks, but there some additional costs involved in doing so (e.g., stop payment fees, personnel time, etc.). Provided that we originally made payment to the proper remittance address, we feel that we should be able to charge a check reissuance fee to recover our costs. We are interested in determining whether any other cities have policies/fees in place for these situations. Any information provided would be appreciated.

Steven W. Kutra, Director of Finance, City of Sealy , Texas, P. O. Box 517, Sealy, TX 77474-0517, Phone: (979) 885-3511, E-mail: skutra@ci.sealy.tx.us

We would like to see a template for RFQ to update our Municipal Comprehensive Plan. Our last Plan was done in 1995.

Yvonne Griffin, City Secretary of Cibolo at Cibolo@texas.net

The City of Keller is interested in learning how other cities are dealing with record retention of email communication. Do you have a policy stating what email communication requires retention, does it require printed paper copies of all email correspondence, etc? How are you dealing with open records requests for correspondence between city employees and various vendors, citizens, other city departments, etc.? If you have a written policy we would appreciate a copy, either in hard copy or email.

Contact: Pauline Drewry, Director of Human Resources, City of Keller, P.O. Box 770, Keller, TX 76244, or email to: pdrewry@cityofkeller.com

We have several customers with cooling towers and these customers currently pay sewer charges based on their water consumption. Since much of the water goes to evaporation and not into our sewer system, we are considering establishing a new sewer rate class for them. I would like to know if other municipalities have instituted a special rate for their cooling tower customers.

Rachel Osgood, Key Accounts Manager, Georgetown Utility Systems , 512/930-8131, ROsgood@georgetowntx.org

I would like to know if anyone has an ordinance that prohibits scavenging from garbage cans, trash or rubbish in their Town. If you have considered an ordinance along these lines and decided not to implement it, please contact our Town and let us know why.

Donna Welsh, Town Manager, Town of Trophy Club , Dwelsh@trophyclub.org , 682-831-4607

Has anyone passed an ordinance regulating the "motorized scooters"? If so, could you please e-mail me a copy of the ordinance?

Alice A. Rodgers, TRMC, City Secretary, City of Lake Jackson , arodgers@ci.lake-jackson.tx.us , (979)415-2403, fax:(979)415-2503