The Council Chambers are reopened to the public! This council meeting is on Tuesday.
You can sign up online to speak at council meetings in person or via Zoom online at this link up to 15 minutes before the scheduled meeting, which is typically at the 7:00 Regular Meeting. You may alternatively share your thoughts by emailing the council members any time at our email addresses here, or by 4:00 PM the day of the meeting at councilcomments@plano.gov. The council meeting will be livestreamed on PlanoTV.org and on the City of Plano Facebook page.
Preliminary Open Meeting
(Whenever Executive Session, which starts at 5:00 PM, ends)
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Discussion and Direction regarding Plano Housing Authority, public facilities corporations and tax exemptions
Regular Meeting (starts at 7:00 PM)
Notable Consent Agenda items are at the bottom of this post.
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Proclamation: April 18-24, 2021 is National Crime Victims’ Rights Week
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Proclamation: April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month
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Certificate of Commendation: The Sam Johnson Recreation Center for Adults 50+ has received reaccreditation from the National Council on Aging
Comments of Public Interest: every meeting, anyone can speak about anything for up to three minutes, with 30 total minutes allotted for this segment.
Items for Individual Consideration
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Item (1): (Request to table to April 26) expand the Specific Use Permit (SUP) for the Rowlett Creek Wastewater (Sewage) Treatment Plant
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Item (4): (Request to table to April 26) redone 1/2 acre south of 14th Street and west of P Avenue from Retail to Light Industrial-1
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Item (5): Amend the current zoning for Urban-Mixed-Use-1 on 156.3 acres at the southwest corner of Plano Parkway and Alma Drive to modify the location and size of multifamily uses; the location, size, and height of office and hotel use; increase the number and adjust the location of single-family residence attached uses, and adjust other development standards. This was approved 8-0 by Planning & Zoning, and appears to rearrange the mix of retail, office, residential, and restaurant without really increasing density, but I’m still researching it
Notable Consent Agenda Items
Total of $3,923,008 of your money in proposed expenses
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Item (c): $1,571,969 for Jasmine Lane, Jasmine Court, and Kathy Court Paving and Water Line Reconstruction
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Item (e): Revised and Restated Economic Development Agreement for JPMorgan Chase
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Item (i): Appropriation of $500,000 from the General Fund unappropriated balance to OVERFUND the Police. That’s right, Defund the Police is so not a thing in Plano that we’re overfunding them
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Item (j): Transfer a total of $1,640,294 from unappropriated fund balances to provide a mid-year 2% across the board pay increases for city employees. Some of the reasons for this are outlined below
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We did not provide any raises at all last year
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We deliberately cut expenses last year, given the uncertainty, and did not raise taxes (as explained above)
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Our economic situation has stabilized—we kept property taxes flat, and while hotel/motel taxes took a big hit, our sales tax revenue over the past year was less than 10% below forecast
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Along with #3 above, CARES Act funds were able to help offset some of our expenses, so that we could provide a moderate salary increase while cutting other expenses
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Our compensation is formulated to be competitive with the market, and many other area cities not only provided raises for their staff in the last year, but haven’t exercised the fiscal restraint we have in keeping property taxes flat
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While some people are most assuredly hurting, the job market in North Texas has also stabilized. The loss of 96,000 jobs which some believe is attributable to Plano is actually from the entire Dallas-Plano-Irving area, which is one of three sections into which the entire DFW area is divided by the TWC and Bureau of Labor Statistics
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Our staff’s purchasing power is subject to inflation just like everyone else, and with the recent federal spending-spree, inflation is about to become a huge problem
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Plano is the City of Excellence for a reason, and it’s our staff and our people. Our staff was able to figure out how to maintain an exceptional level of service when we kept taxes flat for the first time in 24 years, despite years of lobbyists at the State Capitol foretelling Municipal Armageddon if we couldn’t keep jacking up taxes by 8 percent every year. Our staff came through and proved them wrong, and they deserve just consideration
Review City Council agendas and minutes here.
