Local News
Nov. 17-18 McKinney City Council meeting summary
By City of McKinney
Nov 20, 2009

November 16-17, 2009 

The McKinney City Council convenes for regular meetings on the first and third Tuesday of every month, usually at 5:30 p.m. in the Council Chambers of City Hall, 222 N. Tennessee St. Citizens are welcome to join the City Council meeting in person, where they can make comments at the beginning and end of the meeting, or during Public Hearing items.  

Council meetings are aired live and in rebroadcast on Time Warner Cable channel 16 in McKinney, and live on the city’s Web site, www.mckinneytexas.org. All meetings also are archived for on-demand viewing on the Web site.  

Work Session Meeting summary

Monday, Nov. 2

The City Council met for a regular work session on Monday, Nov. 17 after a daylong planning session for economic development and a tour of the city-owned building at 210 McDonald St., which formerly served as the Collin County Courthouse.  

On Monday night, members of City Council reviewed a study by a second consultant, Faithful+Gould (F+G), under the purview of a Council Committee comparing costs of demolishing the courthouse building at 210 McDonald St. and rebuilding a municipal complex to costs of renovating the same structure for the same purpose.  

The Council concurred the long-term operational and maintenance costs, which the study indicates equals $24 million additional over the first twenty years, was too expensive to justify renovating the existing courthouse building. With an additional $10 million dollars just to bring the building up to code before any renovations were made, the renovation costs were also deemed too expensive when compared to building a new facility with comparable space. The Council directed staff to seek demolition bids, but not commence the demolition until a mid-December meeting had taken place.  

City Council also discussed allocation of Collin County funding, CCART services and the 201 bond election committee and reviewed regular agenda items for the Dec. 1 regular meetings.  

Regular Meeting agenda summary

Tuesday, Nov. 17

Information Sharing

Blue Star Flag Presentations: Mayor and City Council recognized local families on behalf of their family members who are currently serving in the military through the city's Blue Star program. The Blue Star Flags are presented to McKinney families of servicemen and servicewomen currently deployed in the service of our country. The flag is designed to hang in a front window of a family’s home. Recipients are honored at the first council meeting of the month. The following citizens were recognized during the Nov. 17 meeting.

«                                             Jill Lopez  in honor of her son, Benjamin Lopez, presented by Council member Travis Ussery

«                                             Joann Brockman in honor of her son, Jim Parsons, presented by Council member Ray Ricchi

«                                             Karen Davidson in honor of her husband, Robert Phillip Davidson, presented by Council member Geralyn Kever

Consent Agenda

This portion of the agenda consists of non-controversial or “housekeeping” items required by law. Typical consent items include board minutes, ordinances and resolutions. The two items on the consent agenda passed, including 09-493, an ordinance amending the FY 2009-10 budget to re-appropriate items and projects carried over from the previous year, and 09-494, a resolution authorizing a contract for the construction of the airport sewer project.  

End of Consent Agenda

Regular Agenda

09-106PFB: This item was tabled from the meeting held on Oct. 20 and later discussed during the Nov. 2 work session. The property in the item is located in the City of McKinney’s Extraterritorial Jurisdiction (ETJ) between the Town of New Hope and the City of Princeton and is currently made up of two tracts. The applicant proposed subdividing the existing western tract into two lots so the owner of the eastern tract can purchase approximately seven acres from the western tract. The item was approved with the recommended conditions.

Public Hearings

Items 09-0496 and 09-497 in the public hearing section of the agenda passed. Both items approved grant funding for projects by the McKinney Community Development Corporation (MCDC) and previously approved by their board. When applications for MCDC funding exceed $100,000, both the MCDC board and City Council must approve.  

Item 09-496 approved a grant of $500,000 to the Boys & Girls Club of McKinney for renovations and repairs to their club building. Item 09-497 approved at grant in the amount of $124,282 to the McKinney Fire Department for restoration work and computer equipment.