2001-10-11 ** *Report — Not Official Minutes * **
A quorum was not present and discussions did not constitute a regular meeting.
1 JOINT UTILIZATION COMMITTEE
2
3 REPORT
4
5 October 11, 2001
6
7 Joint Utilization Committee Members Present: Patsy DuPre, Chair and City Council
8 Representative; Jerry Lawrence, Vice -Chair and CISD Board of Trustees
9 Representative; Greg Standerfer, City Council Representative (arrived at 6:15 p.m.)
10
11 Committee Members Absent: Bill Eden, CISD Board of Trustees Representative;
12 Wendi Carlucci, City Council Appointed Citizen; John Rollins, CISD Appointed
13 Citizen; and Bobby Rawls, Parks and Recreation Board Representative
14
15 Guests: Karen Cienki, Southlake Election Judge, and David Baltimore, CISD Election
16 Judge
17
18 Staff Members Present: Steve Polasek, Deputy Director of Community Services; Dr.
19 Derek Citty, CISD Assistant Superintendent for Administrative Services
20
21 Agenda Item No. 1, Call to Order
22 Chairman Patsy DuPre called the unofficial meeting to order at 6:10 p.m.
23
24 A quorum of voting members was not present.
25
26 Agenda Item No. 2, Administrative Comments
27
28 There were no administrative comments.
29
30 Agenda Item No. 3, Consider: Approval of the Minutes from the September 13, 2001
31 meeting
32
33 The minutes will be considered at the regular Joint Utilization Committee meeting in
34 November.
35
36 Agenda Item No. 4, Consider: Recommendation to approve the Interlocal Agreement for
37 Park, Playground and Other Recreation Facilities as amended.
38
39 This item will be considered at the next Joint Utilization Committee meeting in
40 November.
41
42 Greg Standerfer arrived at this time.
43
44
45
October 113, 2001 JUC Report Page 1 of 7
** *Report — Not Official Minutes * **
A quorum was not present and discussions did not constitute a regular meeting.
1 Agenda Item No. 5, Discussion: Update on May election process
2
3 Southlake Election Judge Karen Cienki said she would reserve her comments about the
4 future of the next May election site until after the next two elections are held, which will
5 be in November (Local Option and State Constitution) and January (Crime Control). She
6 stated there were no commitments to hold the City election at the school. The two
7 upcoming elections will be held in Town Hall. 7,000 ballots have been ordered for the
8 Local Option Election on November 6 and a record turnout is expected for that election.
9
10 CISD Election Judge David Baltimore informed the group that all November Precinct
11 elections would be held at one location.
12
13 Ms. DuPre and Mr. Lawrence asked Ms. Cienki to share her opinions about the election
14 process and any problems that may have been encountered by the City during the joint
15 election that was held at the school.
16
17 Ms. Cienki responded with several basic problems.
18
19 Early access to the election site: She explained the biggest problem City election
20 staff had was that they could not get into the school site to set up for the election
21 until after the children were dismissed from school, which caused them to not get
22 home until late in the evening. They then had to turn around and be up at 4:00
23 a.m. the next morning to be at the site and ready for the polls to open at 7:00 a.m.
24 Ms. Cienki said whereas at the Town Hall site, election arrangements can be set
25 up early and staff can be done with the election preparations by 3:00 p.m. in the
26 afternoon.
27
28 Furniture: According to discussions with the CISD, the school would provide
29 furniture for City election staff members. Ms. Cienki said the chairs provided by
30 the school were from the library, which were designed for children, not adults to
31 sit in for fourteen hours. There were problems with getting suitable substitute
32 furniture delivered to the election area.
33
34 Phone: The phone that the CISD provided election staff was only able to send
35 outgoing calls and staff could not receive incoming calls.
36
37 Ms. Cienki said that although the City did get more space than they had at Johnson
38 Elementary, another table had to be added and another will need to be added next year.
39 She said that they were bursting at the seams to do everything under one roof.
40
41 Mr. Lawrence asked Ms. Cienki if she thought they would have to hold the election at
42 separate locations? Ms. Cienki responded yes. Ms. DuPre said she believed the elective
43 boards would be reluctant to do that, however, the boards had not been made aware of all
44 the problems either.
45
October 113, 2001 JUC Report Page 2 of 7
** *Report — Not Official Minutes * **
A quorum was not present and discussions did not constitute a regular meeting.
1 Transporting City election materials to and from site: Ms. Cienki said that the
2 election arrangement is not just about convenience for the voters, but it is for the
3 Election Judge and the workers that are conducting the election. She said that City
4 election personnel have to transport all the election documents back and forth to
5 the election location.
6
7 Ms. DuPre asked if that problem could be solved if the school district was willing
8 to give the City election staff a secured, locked location to store the election
9 materials at the election site and thereby eliminate the transporting problem? Ms.
10 Cienki said they did not want to do that.
11
12 Summertime runoff election: Another issue of concern was if there was need for a
13 run -off election. Ms. Cienki said run -off elections must be held in the same
14 original location as the initial election was, according to the Department of
15 Justice. She said that means that after the regular school session is let out in June,
16 the air conditioning would have to be turned on and everything would have to be
17 re- opened up. Ms. Cienki said there might be only about 700 voters for the run -off
18 election. Mr. Lawrence said utilities would not be a factor with the school since
19 the air conditioning is left on throughout the summer.
20
21 Ms. Cienki said election documents would still have to be transported to and from the
22 election site each night to work on everything after the election. She said arrangements
23 have to be made with the school for the County to deliver the election supplies and voting
24 machines. The voting boxes are secured by the police and kept at the City dispatch office
25 at night. Ms. Cienki said the City election staff have proved to all the residents that their
26 signal vote does count with the City. She said election staff go through every list and
27 compare every signature on the County sheet each election night. Everything must be
28 done by Sunday night and the Council canvases the votes on Tuesday night.
29
30 Mr. Lawrence addressed the points Ms. Cienki had raised. The phone issue will have to
31 be resolved. He commented that election personnel should not have to drag furniture and
32 everything back and forth from one location to another. Regarding the furniture issue, the
33 school has adult -size tables and chairs in the conference rooms, principal office,
34 counselor offices that could be used and that is a solvable problem.
35
36 Mr. Lawrence asked if those problems could be worked out, were there other things that
37 would prevent the City from utilizing the same facility? Mr. Lawrence commented it was
38 of no consequence to him where the elections were held, however, one of the original
39 purposes of holding the elections at the same location, was for the convenience and ease
40 of the voters. Mr. Standerfer agreed that it is definitely convenient to only go to one place
41 for both City and school district elections, and wasn't aware that there were any
42 problems.
43
44 Another reason for having one election site at the school was because of the parking;
45 there is more parking at the school than at Town Hall.
46
October 113, 2001 JUC Report Page 3 of 7
** *Report — Not Official Minutes * **
A quorum was not present and discussions did not constitute a regular meeting.
1 Ms. DuPre asked if there could be a comfortable place at the school site that the City
2 election officials and workers could use for the processing work, instead of having to
3 transport everything back to Town Hall. Ms. Cienki held that because of the close
4 scrutiny that the election workers give to the election process, the City's record of
5 accuracy is perfect - -- the books always balance.
6
7 Mr. Lawrence suggested that the issues be compiled, a determination made as to whether
8 they are insurmountable or if they could be resolved and then a recommendation be
9 made.
10
11 Ms. Cienki said that from time to time she had been asked by people in the community
12 why the City doesn't handle the election the way the school district does and then related
13 an experience she had at a recent election with Michael Boutte. She said she tells them
14 that she is doing it according to state law.
15
16 CISD Assistant Superintendent for Administrative Services Dr. Citty said this was the
17 first he had heard about any of the issues that had been mentioned and said that although
18 Ms. Cienki was bringing up some excellent points, if they were not communicated to the
19 school district, then there was no way that the district could take steps to resolve them.
20
21 Ms. DuPre suggested that these points be written down to help the City and the District
22 work through the issues that occur with a single election site.
23
24 Ms. DuPre commended Ms. Cienki for bringing these points out and said that the District
25 was willing to address the concerns that she had.
26
27 Ms. Cienki reiterated her concern about not being able to get into the Middle School
28 cafeteria until 4:00 p.m. — she needs to begin set up at noon. The earliest the set up could
29 began would be around 2 -3:00 p.m., which would allow for the cafeteria to be cleaned
30 after the lunch periods.
31
32 Ms. Cienki said there is a two -hour window where items have to be cleaned up and
33 transported to a secure location for overnight storage. By holding the election at Town
34 Hall, that process can begin earlier and thereby allow the election staff to complete
35 everything by 1:00 a.m. versus the 3 -4:00 a.m. it now takes. She said this is the way the
36 City has always done the elections.
37
38 Ms. Cienki said that by law, there could only be two election clerks per precinct.
39
40 Ms. DuPre mentioned using the new police station and asked how many parking spaces
41 would be available there?
42
43 Dr. Citty offered to meet with Ms. DuPre, Sandy LeGrand, Karen Cienki, the District
44 election personnel and anyone else to work on the issues and then to bring back to the
45 JUC in December either the solutions to the problems or and explanation of why they can
46 not be solved.
October 113, 2001 JUC Report Page 4 of 7
** *Report — Not Official Minutes * **
A quorum was not present and discussions did not constitute a regular meeting.
1
2 Ms. DuPre thanked Mr. Baltimore and Ms. Cienki for their participation this evening.
3
4 At this time Ms. DuPre made the announcement that there would not be a voting
5 quorum present at this meeting and that any items requiring a vote would not be
6 discussed.
7
8 Agenda Item No. 6, Discussion: CISD Project Update
9
10 This item was not discussed.
11
12 Agenda Item No. 7, Discussion: City Project Update
13
14 A copy of the City Project Update was included in the JUC packets. The report contained
15 information about various City road construction projects.
16
17 Agenda Item No. 8, Discussion: Future Joint Use Facilities, Projects and Goals
18
19 This item was not discussed.
20
21 Additional Information
22
23 The November JUC meeting agenda will include the amendment to the Interlocal
24 Agreement for Park, Playground and Other Park Facilities and an agreement between the
25 City and the CISD for CIS field.
26
27 Ms. DuPre suggested canvassing all the people that attend the JUC meeting and if a
28 meeting could not be held on November 8, a special meeting could be held at an
29 agreeable time to vote on those two agreements.
30
31 Mr. Lawrence briefed the members about the school district's decision timeline for the
32 two -high school issue. Coinciding with the next CISD Town Hall meeting, a survey will
33 be mailed to all registered voters. There will be a two -week deadline. On October 22, the
34 CISD board meeting will discuss demographics. Following the decision being made on
35 November 12 on whether to have two high schools, a decision will be made regarding
36 what will be done during the interim period based on whatever option is decided upon by
37 the Board at the November 22 meeting.
38
39 Mr. Lawrence reviewed the Robin Hood element for JUC members. He said, "In 1989 a
40 court decision was made that because there was not equalized funding between the
41 schools, a law was passed to set up County Education Districts and in 1991 they
42 implemented the first Robin Hood. The Carroll ISD fell into it in 1992. In 1993, it was
43 ruled unconstitutional and the impact on the CISD was very minimal. In 1993,
44 Legislature passed another emergency bill called Senate Bill 7 that set up the current
45 immigration formula. In 1993 it was challenged again and they had an Edgewood
46 Decision. That was challenged in 1995 and the Supreme Court ruled that Edgewood No.
October 113, 2001 JUC Report Page 5 of 7
** *Report — Not Official Minutes * **
A quorum was not present and discussions did not constitute a regular meeting.
1 4 said that Senate Bill 7 is okay; that you can live with it and this is fair. There was a law
2 suit within the last year or so that challenged it again saying we are now imposing a State
3 income tax because there are over 140 school districts that have reached the dollar
4 amount. They challenged it on the constitutionality and lost in the lower courts. One of
5 the reasons they lost is that they were saying that with only 140 districts impacted, the
6 case was not very strong. It will be challenged again and will go to the Supreme Court.
7 What does that all mean? What does Robin Hood do? It basically takes everything we
8 have — if you take every child that we have in the District — and they are weighted so that
9 you get more for some kid than you get others. It comes out to be about 1.17 per child
10 which is multiplied by the M &O rate, which is $1.42, times the Robin Hood threshold,
11 which is 300,000 — that's what we get to keep under Robin Hood for every child we have
12 in this District. Everything over that $300,000, property -value wise, divided by the
13 number of weighted students, comes out to be about $337,000 per student. So that
14 $37,000 above the $300,000 is what is subject to be recaptured back into the State. But
15 we get to keep everything below that $300,000 limit. So as we have increasing
16 enrollment, we do get money under Robin Hood. And that is one of the misconceptions —
17 they're taking money away from us. The way to look at Robin Hood is not how much
18 they are taking away because once you are over that threshold, it is irrelevant, because it
19 is what you get to keep that matters because they never take away from your M &O
20 budget. And that threshold is continually being raised. It started at $280,000 then to
21 $295,000, now it's at $300,000. Next year it will go to $305,000. What that means in a
22 lower court decision on Edgewood, they said we don't want any more — we want 85% of
23 the Districts in the state to be receiving Chapter 42 money; receiving money back from
24 the Chapter 41 schools. Chapter 41 are the wealthy schools. If they break that 85%
25 threshold then it is turned upside down and the Edgewood decision and the Senate Bill 7.
26 Dallas would do that — they would go from receiving end to above Chapter 42 status, and
27 they won't let that happen. It will not go away."
28
29 Mr. Standerfer and Mr. Lawrence shared more information about how Highland Park and
30 Coppell have fared in Robin Hood.
31
32 Basketball Practice Courts
33
34 Mr. Philips, (address not given) a Southlake citizen, talked briefly about his encounter in
35 trying to locate a practice area for a team recently in Southlake. He has talked with
36 several citizens in town that are frustrated in trying to find a practice location also. When
37 he was trying to find a basketball court he visited with the school and was told to see the
38 City Parks and Recreation Department. Parks & Rec referred him to the Athletic
39 Department. He asked if there could be some centralized, computerized calendar for
40 reservations of all the available joint use facilities? Mr. Polasek explained the provision
41 of the Interlocal Agreement for Parks, Playground and Other Recreational Facilities and
42 that the City had the option or ability to use of certain facilities throughout the year.
43 Three times a year the City submits their schedule of events to each of the principals. It
44 comes back through each of the athletic departments signed off by Coach Ledbetter and
45 then goes to Dr. Gillum for signature and approval, then back to the City. When people
46 call the City wanting to use school facilities, City staff will put them in touch with either
October 113, 2001 JUC Report Page 6 of 7
** *Report — Not Official Minutes * **
A quorum was not present and discussions did not constitute a regular meeting.
1 Coach Ledbetter for outdoor facilities or the individual school for use of the gymnasiums.
2 The City does not have the ability to schedule usage of those facilities other than for the
3 programs the City has requested. This process can be looked at again but it is the City's
4 preference for the schools to schedule their facilities.
5
6 Mr. Philips was referred to Dr. Derek Citty with the CISD to discuss the possibility of
7 using the school gymnasiums for basketball practice.
8
9 Ms. DuPre asked if area churches had ever been approached about using their fields for
10 practice? Mr. Polasek mentioned the agreement with St. Martin -in- the - Fields for practice
11 soccer fields and said that the City may want to look into that possibility further.
12
13 Agenda Item No. 9, Adjournment
14
15 The group ended their discussions at 7:59 p.m.
16
17
18
19 Patsy DuPr hair
20
21 Attest:
22
23
24 Steve Polasek, Deputy Director of Communi'ty-S.ervices
25
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October 113, 2001 JUC Report Page 7 of 7