By Rodney Williams

Managing Editor

Tuesday night’s Van Alstyne City Council meeting was dominated by talk of an issue that’s been brewing since November of 2011. Following the November departure of Van Alstyne’s former city manager, Denny Wheat, Place 5 Councilman Billy Plake took on the duties of an interim city manager for part of the next week at the behest of the City Council in a vote taken at a special Saturday session. However, when the question arose as to whether it was within the law for Plake to act as both councilman and interim city manager he retroactively declined the position. To some, however, the damage was done and the question was raised as to whether or not, according to state statutes and local government code, there would need to be another election for the Place 5 seat in May of 2012 as opposed to 2013 when it was naturally up for grabs. Complicating matters was that Plake was re-appointed at the board’s December meeting leading some to speculate that Plake had resigned his Council seat by taking on interim city manager duties, thus the need for re-appointment. On hand at Tuesday night’s meeting then was City Attorney Julie Fort and McKamie Krueger managing partner William M. Krueger, III to address the issue. The contention of both attorneys was that the Council acted in accordance with powers permitted it through Texas State Local Government Code. The hinging point of the argument was that Plake was a volunteer and not a city employee since he was not paid for his service. Krueger stated that code stated that the volunteer council member doesn’t lose his or her job which the citizens voted for “because they agreed to do additional work, to go above and beyond the call. Those folks aren’t punished that way, otherwise you would have councils appointing other council members to additional work so that they would be removed from office. You would see that across the State of Texas in situations where they were looking to remove councilmen.”

At one point, Councilman Jim Smith questioned Fort as to why she didn’t provide the pertinent information early on in the process in order to avoid this issue altogether. Fort replied that she answered the question posed to her at that point concerning the gap between the departure of one city manager and the arrival of another. Fort stated that additional duties can be ascribed to council members per the local government code. She also stated that Plake had previously asked her if he would have to run again and she gave that answer in writing. Smith also referenced the Council’s Saturday morning emergency work session on Nov. 12, and further questioned Fort as to whether or not she would have let the vote go on at that point in time if she knew then what she knows now. “I think the vote was to give him additional duties,” Fort responded. “He was never made an employee of the city was my understanding of what the vote was.

“You all didn’t do anything wrong,” she added. One item addressed by Van Alstyne City Manager Philip Rodriguez concerned the speed at which this item was finally addressed. “One of the concerns we have right now as a community is that the sort of lack of responsiveness that the City Counil had initially is one that’s problematic for myself as city manager and for mayor and council,” Rodriguez said, adding that he wanted to get past the political rhetoric and address key issues, i.e., infrastructure. Ultimately, city officials determined that, on advice of legal counsel after careful research, particularly that research as it pertained to Section 22.072 of the Texas State Local Government Code in which it is stated that an elected official may be assigned extra duties, a special election will not need to be held and the Place 5 seat will not come up for re-election until May of 2013. “The City will not be asking for a special election for Councilman Billy Plake. From all indications I got tonight – and I tried to get some visual cues even from the Mayor and Council - it absolutely looks resolved to me,” Rodriguez said. “One of the issues we had from the timing before I got here till I got here today was ensuring we knew what the background was. I’m confident based on the attorney’s assessments that we can absolutely defend the position we’ve taken as a city.”

“I think the right thing was done,” Krueger said. The Place 5 debate wasn’t the only thing on Tuesday night’s Council agenda. Of pressing concern was a regular agenda, non-consent item in front of Council presented by Rodriguez asking Council to consider and take action regarding an ordinance establishing a fee schedule for various fees related to service provided by the City of Van Alstyne including but not limited to: permit/inspection fees, water and sewer system connection fees, water/ewer disconnection fees, impact fees and installation of water meters. The focal point of the discussion was that Rodriguez considers the fees charged by the City in these regards to be excessive and may, in fact, be hampering new business growth, especially in the old downtown area. His proposal is to charge actual costs plus a 15 percent transaction fee on items listed. For example: the City currently charges $153.84 for inspection related to changing out a water heater; under the new provisions that amount would be reduced to roughly $88. “One of my main concerns right now is our downtown business district,” Rodriguez said after the meeting. “Those are older buildings that have a lot of code issues to bring them up to current code. They’re very expensive for folks to go in and do things with those buildings. The more we can get our fee structure to not be an impediment I think that will help inspire some people to invest here.”

In other Council happenings, authorization was given to Van Alstyne Police Chief Tim Barnes to apply for a grant through the Criminal Justice Program to fund a replacement patrol unit for the next fiscal year. This unit would replace a high-mileage vehicle currently in use. “It’s our oldest patrol car with over 92,000 miles on the clock,” Barnes said. “Normally, you don’t want a vehicle on the road with around 100,000 miles on it.”

The grant will require no financial contribution from the City, and the replacement Dodge Charger will come with a five-year, 100,000 mile warranty which will reduce maintenance costs, a prime consideration when replacing a high-mileage unit. Authorization was also given to Chief Barnes to apply for the Selective Traffic Enforcement Program (STEP) grant in the amount of $20,000. This grant has a maximum value of $20,000 to fund the ability to increase compliance with traffic laws and reduce alcohol-related crashes on U.S. Highway 75. An ordinance was approved repealing ordinance 585 and adopting the 2009 editions of the Building, Residential, Fire, Plumbing, Fuel Gas, Mechanical, Energy, International Codes and the 2005 Edition National Electric Code. Council Notes: Regarding the Place 5 debate, Section 22.072 of the Texas local government code reads: POWERS AND DUTIES OF MUNICIPAL OFFICERS; BOND. (a) The governing body of the municipality may require a municipal officer whose duties are prescribed by this code to perform additional duties. (b) The governing body may prescribe the powers and duties of a municipal officer appointed or elected to an office under this code whose duties are not specified by this code.