May 17, 2016 City Council on 2016-05-17 5:30 PM

(indistinct chatter) (indistinct chatter) (indistinct chatter) (indistinct chatter) (upbeat music) - Wanted to welcome everyone to this Denton City Council meeting Tuesday, May the 17th, 2016 at 6.30. If you would stand with me, if you're able to pledge allegiance to the Texas and the United States flag. - I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. - Honor the Texas flag. I pledge allegiance to the Texas, one state under God, one land indivisible. - All right, the next item on the agenda is items for individual consideration. Agenda item two, two A, which is consideration, adoption of an ordinance canvassing the returns and declaring the results of the regular municipal election to elect two city council members to place five and six and a mayor to place seven held in the city of Denton on May the 7th, 2016 and providing an effective date. Mr. City Manager. - I'm sorry mayor. I think Jennifer is that? - Yeah, I did it. - I think Jennifer's supposed to. - No. - Okay. - Thank you mayor. I'm gonna stay here and read the results because I have to do the voting board. So I will be reading the total votes cast in each of the races for each of the candidates. So let us start. For place five, Dalton Gregory, 2,953, Deborah Deb Armentor, 1,902, Mike Cheves, 762, Sam Ortiz, 93, and Will Wooten, 146. For place six, Greg Johnson, 2,897, Sarah Bagheri, 3,013. And for mayor, place seven, Chris Watts, 4,756. And I also wanted to mention that on the front page of your ordinance that you have in front of you that there were 6,113 ballots cast in the election. So if you get a favorable motion and second to this ordinance, you will be declaring that for place five, the person elected will be Dalton Gregory. For place six, it'll be Sarah Bagheri, and mayor, place seven, Chris Watts. - All right, thank you, Madam City Secretary. We have a, Council Member Rodin. - Thank you, Mayor, I move approval of this ordinance. - Council Member Hawkins. - I second. - We have a motion and second, let's vote on the board. Oh, I'm sorry. - And mayor, just clarifying, the ordinance we are acting on is the one that was handed out, not the one in your backup, because there were marginal changes because of the provisional votes. So it's the ordinance in your, it's your death. - All right, thank you. Let's vote on the board, please. Motion carries seven, zero, and I will come and present the certificates of election. - Sarah Bagheri, if you come forward, yes. This is your certificate of election with your city of Denton Peehan, and congratulations and welcome aboard. - Thank you. - You bet, thank you, thank you very much. (audience applauding) Council Member Gregory, Mayor Pro Tem, come on down. - Mr. Chairman, congratulations. - Thank you. - And now, Mayor, your certificate of election. - Thank you, thank you, thank you. (audience applauding) - I brought the mic with me. I needed another one of these pins too. I can't find my other one. At this time in the agenda, I wanna invite Council Member Johnson for any comments at this time. - Thank you, Mayor. Well, it is my honor to have had the opportunity to serve this great city for the last two years. It's something that not many people get to do, and I have learned so much from all of you and from our staff and from a lot of our citizens over the past two years. I will cherish the friendships with staff and with my colleagues here that I've made, but I'm not dead, so those will continue, I hope. Dalton, I will miss our sparring matches and work sessions, your ability to make me question my thinking. I will not miss your terrible jokes. (audience laughing) Joey, I will in fact miss your jokes. The way you care about people is inspiring to me, and the way that you handled this deal in this election season is the epitome of first class. Kevin, I will miss your insightfulness, your ability to articulate the issues, and your willingness to challenge. But I will not miss your suit with the bike helmet look. (audience laughing) Mayor, I will need you to call me once a week just to say I respect the process. (audience laughing) So that I don't have, I don't wanna have withdrawals on that. Seriously, I've learned so much from you in the past couple years, and I hope that that continues. To all my colleagues here, I will never make fun of a lady. So to all my colleagues here, and to those who have served before us, thank you for your willingness to serve. Thanks to all the staff members for your late nights, ladies and gentlemen at the top, for responding to my request for information over and over, and for your service to our great city. And for the record, George, I won every thermostat war 'cause they ran on it up there with me. (audience laughing) To my team at Varis, thank you so much for putting up with me not being around much for the last two years and never once complaining. For your personal sacrifice of opportunities that you could have worked on, but we chose not to because of my city council role. You guys are the definition of team. To my family, Leah, Hannah, Olivia, Caroline, and Luke. I won't look at 'em 'cause I'm a big crier, big softy, but Leah, for your ability to teleport and be at baseball and ballet at the same time, seven miles apart. For not punching people who interrupted our family dinners out because they wanna talk about the pothole on their street. You are a rockstar, lady. Dang it, and I love you. I had to get that out. Children, for understanding when dad wasn't at your game. So God has a lot of missions for me. One of 'em's to teach big men they can cry in public, it's okay. For, it's just him letting the love out, you know. Kids, for understanding when I wasn't at your game, performance, or home for bedtime stories, daddy is back 100%. To the citizens of Denton, I love our CVB tagline, original and independent. Let's be that. In a time when across our country, it seems people feel like they must choose sides when confronting an issue, or attack or discredit those who disagree with their view. Let's set an example and lead people back to civil discourse and debate. That's what built this great country, and we've lost it somewhere along the way. We can lead it back. Let's attack ideas, not people. Let's work toward common ground and then build on it. Let's seek first to understand others' points of view, so they will seek to understand ours. I fell in love with Denton, Texas when a group of guys invited me to join their table at Jupiter House Coffee, where there were students, judges, business people, and retired guys all sitting together and talking. I dealt they all agreed on every issue, but they talked and they listened. I'm a better man because I've listened to these people up here. I'm a better man 'cause they were willing to listen to me. I don't know if they're better 'cause they had to listen to me, but I'm smarter now because of it. And shocker, I wasn't always right. Did you hear that, honey? It happens. We always talk about how Denton is just different than other cities. Let's prove it. It can be done. To the people who have said to me, I would never do that thankless job, or I don't know why you subject yourself to that ugly stuff people write about you and you don't fire back, here's why. My grandfather and my father taught me to serve. Hey, not with their words, but with their actions. It's our obligation to serve. To them I say, read Teddy Roosevelt's "Man in the Arena." It's not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who's actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs, who comes short again and again, because there's no effort without error or shortcoming, but who does actually strive to do the deeds, who knows great enthusiasms, great devotions, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at his worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat. I thank you to my colleagues for your willingness to serve, and to you, Sarah, for your willingness to serve. Thank you for having the courage to serve. To you all, I say press on, knowing that with every vote you cast, you'll make someone mad. Be true to yourself, and make decisions that are best for all citizens based on facts. 12 years ago, I asked God to give me the gift of humility, and he's given me plenty of opportunities since then. In a few minutes, I'll step down. God, if you're listening, I think I'm really good in the humility department. But if I need some work in a week or two, I need a break. But it's not often you lose something and see immediately all the things you want. I'm very proud of what we accomplished these last two years, but more than that, I've won many relationships I'd have never had, and friendships that were forged in fire. I have pledged to be a resource to Sarah, and to help her any way I can to keep moving Denton forward. I ask you all to get behind these people up here, and help them in any way you can, knowing that you will not always agree. So my last challenge as a councilman, I wanna challenge all of us in our city to not fall prey to the ways of national politics, pitting us against each other in a more venomous way than ever before. Let's unite and keep Denton original and independent. I'd like to close with my favorite scripture verse, and offer it to all of you. It's Jeremiah 29, 11. "For I know well the plans I have for you," says the Lord, "Plans for your welfare and not for woe, "so as to give you a future of hope." Thank you for allowing me this time. God bless you all, and God bless Denton, Texas. (audience applauding) (audience applauding) - All right, next item on the agenda is item 2B, which is considering the option of ordinance canvassing the returns and declaring the results of a recall election held in the city of Denton on May 7th, 2016, and providing an effective date. - Great. Let me just click on that. Okay, Mayor and Council, thank you very much. Again, I'll start out with just the total votes cast. There were, again, 6,113 ballots cast in the election. Total votes cast. Yes, 504. No, 1,256. So upon favorable motion and second for the ordinance that is at your desk, that has new figures in it, you will be declaring that Council Member Joey Hawkins is not removed from office by recall. - Council Member Johnson. - Thank you, Mayor. It is with great pride that I move approval. - Council Member Wasney. - I second the motion. - Let's vote on the board, please. - I have to vote? - Of course you do. - I can't use myself. (laughing) - Motion carries, seven, zero. Congratulations, Joey. (audience applauding) - Okay, the City Secretary would come down at this time. Is this when we administer the oath of office, in which is our agenda item two, C. - Thank you, Mayor and Council. I will be administering the oath of office in the places as designated, and so if Council, no, excuse me, Mayor Pro Tem Gregory will come down. - And even invited, yeah. - My much older brother. - Much older. - Smarter. - Better looking, more money, his wife, Yoni, my daughter, Heather, and my grandchild. And my wife, Donna. - Oh, it's right here, sorry. Let's do this so everybody can hear you. If you will raise your right hand and repeat after me. I, Dalton Gregory, do solemnly swear. - I, Dalton Gregory, do solemnly swear. - That I will faithfully execute the duties. - That I will faithfully execute the duties. - Of the office of City Council Member, place five. - Of the office of City Council Member, place five. - Of the City of Denton, Texas. - Of the City of Denton, Texas. - And will to the best of my ability. - And will to the best of my ability. - Preserve, protect, and defend. - Preserve, protect, and defend. - The Constitution and laws of the United States. - The Constitution and the laws of the United States. - And of this state. - And of this state. - And the charter and ordinances of the city. - And the charter and the ordinances of this city. - So help me God. - So help me God. - Congratulations. (audience applauding) (audience applauding) - All right, now we'll do place six, so Ms. Begaria will come forward. Family members? Come on, come on, come on. - Everybody come on down. - They're shy. - That's all right, we got lots, come on. It's an important day. That's right. Script here. All right, Sarah, if you will raise your right hand and repeat after me. I, Sarah Begaria, do solemnly swear. - I, Sarah Begaria, do solemnly swear. - That I will faithfully execute the duties. - That I will faithfully execute the duties. - Of the office of city council member place six. - Of the office of city council member place six. - Of the city of Denton, Texas. - Of the city of Denton, Texas. - And will to the best of my ability. - And will to the best of my ability. - Preserve, protect, and defend. - Preserve, protect, and defend. - The constitution and laws of the United States. - The constitution and the laws of the United States. - And of this state. - And of this state. - And the charter and ordinances of this city. - And the charter and ordinances of this city. - Thank you. - Thank you. - Thank you. (audience applauding) - Sarah. - Sarah. - I'm going that way. - Yeah, yeah, you're coming up here, sister. - You can go either way you want. (audience laughing) (audience applauding) - Okay, Mayor Watts. (audience chattering) - All right, if you'll raise your right hand and repeat after me. I, Chris Watts, do solemnly swear. - I, Chris Watts, do solemnly swear. - That I will faithfully execute the duties. - That I will faithfully execute the duties. - Of the office of mayor of the city of Denton, Texas. - Of the office of mayor of the city of Denton, Texas. - And will to the best of my ability. - And will to the best of my ability. - Preserve, protect, and defend. - Preserve, protect, and defend. - The constitution and laws of the United States. - The constitution and laws of the United States. - And of this state. - And of this state. - And the charter and ordinances of this city. - And the charter and ordinances of this city. - So help me God. - So help me God. Thank you. - Thanks. (audience applauding) (audience applauding) (audience chattering) - No, no, no, yeah, yeah, we're good. We're good. That's why you have good people. All right, we'll move on to agenda item 2D, election of Mayor Pro Tem. Council Member Gregory. - I nominate Kevin Roden to be Mayor Pro Tem. - Okay, any other, Council Member Hawkins. - Does that need a second? - No, but I wanted to also call for any other nominations if anybody has any other nominations. Council Member Wasney. - I'd like to nominate Dalton Gregory, who has served honorably as Mayor Pro Tem for the last two years. And I would like to see him continue in that position. - Okay, Council Member Gregory. - Thank you, thank you, Council Member Wasney. I appreciate the honor to do that. And it's been an honor to serve as Mayor Pro Tem for this past year. But I would respectfully decline the nomination. I will not run if nominated, and I will not serve if elected. (audience laughing) - Okay, thank you. Any other comments, questions, nominations? - I would like to nominate Council Member Wasney. - Okay. All right, any others at this time? Now, Madam City Attorney, correct me if I'm wrong, but the process here is we take a vote on the nominations as presented, is that correct? In the order in which they were presented? - That is correct. Each Council Member will have one vote. - Okay, so it's really, if a Council Member, if a nominee gets four votes, simple majority is the only thing required, is that correct? - That is correct, yes, sir. - Okay, all right. All right, so our first nominee then was Council Member Kevin Roden, which was nominated by Mayor Pro Tem, current Mayor Pro Tem Gregory. And we do not need a second on that, or do we need a, but we need a, go ahead. - You need a vote on that, you do not need a second on that . - Okay, so we have a motion for the nominee of Council Member Roden for Mayor Pro Tem. We do need a second. Do, no, oh, I thought you said we did need a second. Oh, okay, I'm sorry. Then we will go ahead and let's vote on the board, please. Oh. - By hand. - Oh, by hand. The script, I'm telling you. All right, we have a motion for Council Member Roden to be Mayor Pro Tem for this upcoming Council year. And vote is signified by raising of your right hand as an affirmative vote, at least at this time. So all in favor of that nomination, please indicate by raising your right hand. Okay, so we do have four votes. So Council Member Kevin Roden will now be the next Mayor of Pro Tem. Thank you. (audience applauding) Now I'll come down for what I was coming down for originally, which was agenda item two E, which is resolution of appreciation for Greg Johnson. So Mr. Johnson, if you could join me down front with any of your family members, that you would like to accompany, I'd encourage you to do that. (audience chattering) - My wife, my oldest daughter, Hannah, Olivia, Caroline, and Luke. They came out in that order. (audience laughing) (audience applauding) - We have a resolution of appreciation which this will require a vote. Oh, yes, there's another one. Okay, good, all right. Did everybody hear the introductions? Okay, good, thank you. We have a resolution of appreciation and I'm gonna read this and then we will need a motion in a second and we will need to vote on that. So resolution of appreciation, greetings. - Greetings. - Greetings. - Greetings. Whereas Greg Johnson is standing whereas Greg Johnson has served as City Councilmember place six of the City of Denton from May 2014 through May 2016. The City of Denton has been extremely fortunate having enjoyed the dedicated and outstanding contributions of Greg Johnson's efforts to make Denton a better city. And whereas Greg Johnson, among his many contributions to the community, has served, and I'm gonna list a lot of committees, the Council Airport Committee, Audit Finance Committee, Council Mobility Committee, Hotel Occupancy Tax Committee, Convention and Visitors Bureau City Representative, Council Community Event Center Committee, Council Historic Landmark Committee, Development Code Review Committee, Economic Development Partnership Board, Downtown Denton TIF Reinvestment Zone Number One Board, Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone Two Board, and is an alternate on the Regional Transportation Council. And whereas Greg Johnson always served above and beyond the efficient discharge of his duties in promoting the welfare and prosperity of the city and has earned the full respect of his fellow council members, colleagues, and citizens of Denton. And the loss of his services will be keenly felt. Now therefore, the City Council, the City of Denton hereby resolves that the sincere and warm appreciation of Greg Johnson felt by the citizens and staff of the City of Denton be formally conveyed to him in a permanent manner by reading this resolution and to the official minutes of the City of Denton and forward him a true copy thereof. Be it further resolved that the City of Denton does hereby officially and sincerely extend its thanks to the Honorable Greg Johnson for a successful career as Council Member Place Six. So Mayor Pro Tem, if you would sort of conduct the vote. Oh, oh, oh, you're Mayor Pro Tem, I'm sorry. Mayor Pro Tem, that's gonna be hard to get used to. Mayor Pro Tem, Roden. - We have a motion. Dalton Gregory, Council Member Gregory. - I so move. - I so move. - Council Member Hawkins. - I second. - Is this gonna be a vote on the board? All in favor, show with your right hand. Passes unanimously. - Vote carries. Let me give this to you. And we'll present you with a plaque. Thank you, thank you. (audience applauding) Thank y'all for serving one up to us. It's a huge raise. - Thank you. (audience applauding) - Thank you. (audience applauding) We also have a plaque that you can put up beside your picture, the council picture. (audience laughing) City of Dent, Texas, special recognition. The City of Denton expresses its gratitude to you, Greg Johnson, for your devotion and invaluable service to your city by serving from May 2014 to May 2016 as a member of the Denton City Council. Citizens such as you are priceless assets to our community. Your contribution to the City of Denton is most appreciated. Thank you so much for serving. (audience applauding) - At this time, I wanted to, I'm gonna invite you to say some remarks, but at this time, if there's any council members that wanted to say some remarks, I wanted to invite you to do that this time. - Sure. - Yes. - You know, Greg, you were awesome for Denton before you got on City Council, which is why you're such an asset when you were here. I've loved serving with you. We've violently agreed and nonviolently disagreed at times, and I appreciated that. I can say without a doubt that on every issue, I learned from you, learned from you, learned from your perspective, appreciated when you pushed back at me, but you were the type of person that even if we were in opposite extremes on a particular issue, we'd meet and have some coffee and talk about it and work through the issue, and even if we disagreed at the end of the day, we're still buds, and I appreciate that. Kids, you have one heck of a dad, and if a couple of you were older, I'd say it in more explicit terms, but one heck of a dad. I appreciate it especially getting to know you as a family man, and that is a great example for us all, so thank you for your service. Thank you guys for loaning him to us for two years. - Greg, it has been an honor to serve with you the last two years. Just getting to know you, you've become one of my closest friends, and that's not gonna change, so I look up to you in a lot of ways. You are a great leader. You make things fun, and there's a lot of times where I would be very stressed out, and you have a way of kind of making me realize, you know, maybe it's not as big as I thought it was, and I really appreciate that about you. I've learned a ton from you. You bring so much knowledge to this board, and I just really appreciate it. I've grown a lot because my time that I've got to spend with you, so I appreciate that, and I really look forward to working with you too, Sarah, so I just thank you family for giving up two years of Greg's life to this thing, and just gonna miss you on Tuesday nights, so anyway. - You were a football player. I was in the band. You lean a little to the right. I lean a little to the left. You're strong and young. I'm not. And the first six months you were on council, you and I were really wondering an awful lot about each other, but I'll tell you, I've learned a lot from you, and just like a good teacher, you're a good student too. When we were, when the three of us were running two years ago, I was listening to you and thinking, well, this is gonna be interesting as this guy gets in, and you didn't even have an opponent then, so I was figuring you were gonna get in. It's been a pleasure. It's been an honor. I count you as a good friend, and I say this publicly, I love you. - All right. I just went blank. Thank you. No, I've got it. You said I've gotta call you and give you a recording. I'm gonna start today. I trust the process, my friend, because I trust who controls the process, and I thank you so much for serving, for stepping out there, especially with all the commitments that you have, both professionally and personally. I think that took a lot of courage. I think it's taken a lot of patience on everybody's part. It's taken a lot of sacrifice and commitment on other people's parts, and I thank you for that. I thank your family for picking up the slack and helping in that regard, because really, the worth of a man is really not more than much than the family that stands behind him and with him, in front and beside and everywhere around as is needed. But thank you so much for your inspiration to me. I've watched you, both as a colleague, as a council member, and also just as a person, and it's been a pleasure to get to know you, and I'm sure our paths will cross again, and I look forward to what is in store for you in the future because I think you have a lot to contribute to a lot of different areas that will bring people great joy and will really, truly just continue to make a big impact in people's lives. So thank you very much, Mr. Johnson. (audience applauding) - So, wanna give you a couple minutes? You wanna say anything else? - Well, I think you all probably heard enough from me up there earlier. That was the prepared part, but I will say, I'm the same person I am today as I was before I got on city council, and I think that that's how we all should be. While I appreciate people walking up to me and saying, "I'm so sorry," don't be, because I gained a lot back, but I don't regret serving at all, and I grew personally a lot, and I'm sure that there are folks out there that wish I wouldn't have served, and I think there's probably some folks out there that are glad I did, but either way, wherever you fall on that, I just can't urge enough that we do have a special city, and folks don't always agree, but we have a special city because there's a lot of great people before us who figured out how to make it great and build it, and so probably one of my greatest inspirations in my life is my grandfather, my mother's father, who was a police officer his whole life, and he had a farm, and I used to work out on his farm with him in the summertime, and we'd be building a fence, and one time we're building a fence, and we're about halfway down, and I've got the old school post hole diggers, and I look up, and there's another fence about 20 feet over , and I realize it's running the same distance as the one we're building, and so I said, "Papa, why are we building this fence? "There's a fence right there," and he said, "Well, son, sometimes you build a fence "because you need a fence, "and sometimes you build a fence "because you just need to build something." Well, I didn't get it. I was probably like 13, but I think when I was about 25, I looked back on that, and I realized what it was. He was pouring into me. He was taking that time building a fence to teach me about Jesus, about how to treat a lady, about how to serve, and there's a few things he told me that stuck with me, but when I was a little bit older, and he was getting on in years, and we would sit and talk, and he said, "We're talking about business," and he was a cop, so what does he know about business? And he said, "If you wanna make yourself better, "find somebody who's the direct opposite of you, "and sit down with them and have a cup of coffee "and listen to them, and hope that they'll listen to you, "and you'll probably never agree, "but you'll both leave the table a better man." And so if there's anything I can impart on us, because there's been some really challenging times in these chambers the last few years, last couple years, is let's sit down and have that cup of coffee. Not me and you. You had your time with me. I will gladly have a cup of coffee with anybody, but what I would encourage you to do is to sit down and have that cup of coffee with the people that are on the opposite side of the issue from you, and really seek to understand where they're coming from. And you probably won't agree, but I bet you'll both leave the table a better person. And let's really, really unite and focus on making this, keeping this city great, and make it even greater, and not focus so much on the small differences. That would be my challenge to us all, and I really appreciate people coming out tonight, and Sarah, I really appreciate your willingness to run, and I really appreciate you beating me, because I get to be with this lady every Tuesday night, and I think that's a better deal. Thank you very much. (audience applauding) - I wanted to invite Council Member Begari. If you'd like to say a few words, I know it's, just wanted to give you that opportunity. - Thank you, Mayor. I just wanna thank everybody that participated in our democratic process, and talked to their neighbors, learned about the issues, got to know me. I met so many people that, I've been here for a long time, and I'd never met them before, and I'm so grateful for them. Some of them are in the room. Wow, I just, I feel very lucky, and I hope that I can bring good, kind of getting emotional a little bit, but a good perspective to the Council, so thank you. - Thank you. - Thank you. (audience applauding) - All right, we will have one more item before we adjourn, and that's concluding items. Any Council Member have any concluding items? Nope, all right. We will then adjourn. Thank you all very much for coming out, thank you. (audience applauding)