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Paris council approves bond refunding, Atmos settlement, permits, appointments and contracts
Summary
At its Sept. 14 meeting the Paris City Council authorized refunding of 2010 certificates to save an estimated $172,000, approved a negotiated Atmos Energy settlement (average residential increase about $5.15/month), extended the local COVID-19 disaster declaration 120 days, issued multiple solid-waste permits, removed and replaced a Historic Preservation Commission member and approved IT and plaza contracts.
The Paris City Council on Sept. 14 approved a slate of administrative and operational items, including a debt-refunding plan, a negotiated utility settlement, multiple permits and two municipal contracts.
City staff member Anderson recommended redeeming the city’s 2010 certificates of obligation and issuing new debt while interest rates are lower. Anderson said the refinancing would reduce the average interest rate from about 3.9% to about 1.45% and produce roughly "$172,000" in savings over the remaining 10 years. The council authorized staff and the city's financial advisor to proceed with the refunding, voting unanimously.
On a separate matter the council approved an ordinance adopting a negotiated settlement between the ACSC steering committee and Atmos Energy Corporation Mid-Tex Division. Anderson said the amount recommended translates to roughly $5.15 per month for the average residential customer and about $15.48 for the average commercial customer; the council voted to approve the settlement and related tariffs unanimously.
The council extended the mayor’s declaration of local disaster for public-health reasons (COVID-19) for an additional 120 days at staff recommendation. "I'd recommend that you extend that disaster declaration for another hundred and 20 days," Harris said, noting the extension preserves possible disaster-aid eligibility and avoids repeated short renewals. The extension passed unanimously.
Council approved six separate solid-waste collection permits (items 13–18), each requiring an affirmative vote under city rules. Permits were issued to: Sanitation Solutions; Raymond Taber d/b/a Waste Connection of Northeast Texas; Richard Mark Boswell Jr. d/b/a Dumpsters Drop LLC; Nelson and Tana Stowell d/b/a Countryside Disposal, LLC; Mike Veil Jr. and Justin Miller d/b/a MJ Outdoors LLC; and Jotz Rentals LLC. Each vote carried unanimously.
On boards and commissions, staff asked the council to remove a Historic Preservation Commission member (Alexander) for nonattendance and failure to take the oath of office; the council removed Alexander and appointed Jennifer Long (District 5) to the vacant seat. The appointment passed 4–1.
The council approved a $129,999 professional-services agreement with Sterling Inc. to upgrade the city’s data-center hardware and add mirrored secondary-site hardware and backup appliances. IT representative Klinkerman described failures on older server clusters and said the upgrade would provide higher availability and disaster recovery; the agreement passed by unanimous vote.
Finally, the council approved using $31,000 from an underspent 2019–20 community-development budget to hire Hargis Electric (and a related contractor) to install recessed, low-voltage LED landscape lighting at the downtown plaza, including programmable color fixtures for holiday illumination; the item passed unanimously. Bedford noted a mock lighting demonstration would be held after dark on Wednesday for council and public review.
Several motions were approved by unanimous voice vote; where recorded, the Historic Preservation appointment was 4–1. The council convened an executive session under Texas Government Code and later reconvened with no action taken.
Votes at a glance (selected items): - Consent agenda: approved (unanimous) - Budget ordinance (Item 9): approved (unanimous) - Refunding certificates (Item 10): authorized to proceed; estimated $172,000 savings (unanimous) - Atmos Energy settlement (Item 11): approved; ~ $5.15/month residential impact (unanimous) - Extend disaster declaration (Item 12): approved for 120 days (unanimous) - Solid-waste permits (Items 13–18): six permits approved (each unanimous) - Historic Preservation Commission: remove Alexander (unanimous); appoint Jennifer Long (4–1) - Sterling Inc. professional services (Item 20): $129,999 contract approved (unanimous) - Plaza lighting (Item 21): $31,000 approved for installation (unanimous)
The council also held an executive session for economic development and property deliberations and reconvened without action.
