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New council discusses chamber, senior center, development
By Chris Roark, croark@starlocalnews.com
The new Flower Mound Town Council is hitting the ground running.
More like a dead sprint.
Within minutes of Mayor Tom Hayden and new council members Bryan Webb and Steve Dixon getting sworn in Monday night, the council announced a work session for Tuesday with Lakeside DFW officials to discuss the town’s mixed-use ordinance and how it can work within the ordinance.
Among those was the relationship between the town and the Flower Mound Chamber of Commerce. Four representatives from the chamber attended the meeting to discuss activities the chamber has had in the past -- some as a joint effort with the town and some without -- and to share ideas on how the two entities can re-establish a strong relationship.
Hayden and other council members have said that relationship has weakened in past years.
Among the ideas going forward is an iPhone application that would feature both town and chamber information jointly. Chamber director of operations Cindi Howard and director of membership services Kathy Beahm said the application ideally would feature links to the town and the chamber, key contact information for both entities and a directory of businesses, with chamber members perhaps being highlighted.
Other ideas included having joint luncheons as a way to attract new employers.
Beahm suggested the town and chamber work together to underwrite a major seminar for businesses.
“It would help expose small businesses to leadership skills and teach them ways to have success,” Beahm said. “That way, businesses don’t have to go to Dallas for that. We need to look for ways to help them. They may know their product, but they might not know how to market it.”
Other ideas were for town officials and chamber representatives to attend monthly chamber meetings from other communities as well as to have a small business roundtable to understand their needs.
“This would allow us to see if we can help clear up some of the roadblocks that some of these businesses face,” said Mayor Pro Tem Kendra Stephenson.
There were several other topics council members want to address in the coming months. They agreed that while some of them may not be possible to implement, it is still worth examining. Among the topics were:
Working with homeowners, businesses
Deputy Mayor Pro Tem Mark Wise said residents often complain about the various obstacles they face when trying to obtain a permit for any kind of home improvement. He suggested a list on the town’s website that outlines the requirements to eliminate surprises.
Webb said the town needs to establish a benchmark of its development ordinances, both to compare internally and against other communities.
“What fees are we hitting our residents with, and do they make sense?” Webb said, pointing specifically to the town’s alarm fee. “Do they need to be changed? Do they need to be increased? And one of the first ones I would like to take a look at is the alarm fee.”
Regarding development fees, Hayden said it’s important to figure out which fees are state required and which ones put the town at a disadvantage.
Dixon noted the town’s current policy of requiring developer fees up front. He said the fear is a developer spends a lot of money up front but then doesn’t get the entitlements.
“I’m not saying we should lower our standards,” Dixon said. “But we don’t want to lose our competitive advantage because our frontloading policy is different.”
Council members also said a change in customer service philosophy may be needed. Instead of using policy as a way to say no to residents and developers, they said, town officials should be trying to find ways to make requests workable.
Economic development
Hayden said the money generated in the Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone (TIRZ), which is a commercial corridor near the FM 2499/FM 1171 area, is expected to reach $40 million by 2025.
“We need to have a long-term plan for that money,” Hayden said.
Hayden stressed the need to diversify the town’s tax base and said one idea would be to make the executive-level staff members’ compensation based on successfully doing that.
Many of the council member’s ideas went back to having a strong working relationship with the chamber as well as meeting with businesses to find out what problems they have experienced.
“What can we do to facilitate small businesses?” Hayden said.
Senior center
Webb said it’s important that the town moves forward with plans for a permanent senior center.
“We need to establish a plan and a road map, with a ribbon-cutting date in the end, for a standalone permanent senior center,” Webb said. “That would include location, size and funding. And we need a measuring stick for this so we can see how we’re doing.”
Hayden told Webb that per the parks master plan update, the senior center is proposed to be located next to the Community Activity Center. He said it is expected to be 18,000 square feet and to cost between $5 million and $6 million.
But he said since it would be considered more of a luxury than a necessity, it would likely require a voter-approved tax increase. Hayden said it would likely cost the homeowner of a $300,000 home an extra $20 a year in taxes.
Webb said he is not suggesting a tax increase but said the conversation on how to move forward needs to begin soon.
“It can work if we plan for it,” Webb said.
Protocol at town hall
Dixon provided a list of ideas he would like to see incorporated at council meetings, such as examining the legality of a council member or a staff member being allowed to answer a question raised by a resident during the public participation portion of the meeting.
Historically, the council members and staff members have declined to answer questions or comment during public participation, citing an opinion by the attorney general that prevents them from doing so.
Dixon said if there is a legal way to do it, he would like a resident to have their questions answered that night instead of waiting a few days to get a response back away from the meeting.
Dixon also encouraged a more in-depth teaching of council members’ roles and duties when they are elected or appointed.
He also suggested more items be discussed during the town manager’s report besides just capital improvement project (CIP) updates, as well as all meetings taking place at town hall where they can be recorded.
Stephenson suggested joint council work sessions with boards and commissions.
She also recommended allowing residents to form a group to give a 15-minute presentation on their support or opposition to an item instead at a council meeting of limiting residents to three minutes to speak. She said extra time would allow residents to give more in-depth reasons for their support or opposition. Webb said groups could be limited on a first-come, first-serve basis.
“It would give more power back to the residents,” Stephenson said.
Parks and recreation
Hayden said the town needs to research ways to have more practice fields, as well as parks on the west side of town.
Stephenson said the town should look into partnering with Lewisville ISD to use their fields since many of them go unused, she said.
Wise said more attention is needed on the town’s smaller parks.
“We have spent a lot of money on Heritage Park and that area,” Wise said. “We need to start looking at the smaller parks and have more updated amenities.”
Dixon said he wants the town to look into adding covered areas in all parks, improving the restrooms at the bigger parks and adding bike lanes on heavily traveled bike trails.
Single-member districts
While charter review commission decided not to include the option for single-member districts on this month’s election ballot, some council members said it’s worth discussing for the future.
Another change to the town charter can’t take place until 2014. Stephenson said a lot of research can be done in the meantime.
“The community has to be behind it. It’s a big job,” Stephenson said. “But there are people out there who are disappointed that it didn’t happen.”
Stephenson suggested talking to communities who do have a single-member districts, such as McKinney and Roanoke, to see how well it works, as well as other cities that don’t use it to find out why.
During the charter review commission meetings, town attorney Terry Welch described the problems with single-member districts.
“We heard Terry’s viewpoint, but now let’s take it to the next level,” Stephenson said.
Dixon and Stephenson said it would be important to also have two at-large council members to provide equality.
Other items
Other topics that council members want to address in the coming months include considering a master plan update, discussing the town’s long-term traffic plan and making the council’s ethics and code of conduct policy more consistent.
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