McKinney City Council summary - printed from North Texas e-News

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 all City Council meetings, 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 AT&T U-Verse channel 99, Time Warner Cable channel 16 in McKinney, and live on the city’s Web site, www.mckinneytexas.org. All meetings are archived for on-demand viewing on the Web site. Meeting summaries are accessible on the city’s Web site, www.mckinneytexas.org, or by signing up for the regular electronic newsletter, also available on the Web site.

Deputy City Manager Jim Parrish and Information Technology Director Don Grammar gave City Council an update on Information Technology projects, including the 2009 strategic technology plan, short and long-range planning, and implementing software projects this year.

During the work session, City Council voted to fill two vacated positions on the McKinney Arts Commission by appointing new members Barbara Johnson and Linda Spina. The openings were due to two resignations.

City Council tabled the discussion about applicants to fill the tenant position on the McKinney Housing Authority Board until March 29 to allow for more time to review several recent applications.

Mayor Brian Loughmiller gave City Council an update on the status of the economic development initiatives underway this year as part of their top priority for 2010. Current projects underway include Tax Increment Finance districts (TIF) and working with other neighboring cities for area-wide economic development partnerships.

As part of every work session, City Council then discussed the agenda for the next two regular meetings.

Mayor Loughmiller read a proclamation naming March 27 as Earth Hour Day in McKinney. McKinney will join cities around the globe celebrating Earth Hour on Saturday, March 27. The proclamation announces support for extinguishing all non-essential lighting and power in city government buildings and public landmarks between 8:30 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. – Earth Hour – on that day to conserve energy. City Council also urges all McKinney residents and businesses to participate by turning off all non-essential lights during Earth Hour.

Mayor Loughmiller also read a proclamation supporting a community-wide effort to bring to Google to McKinney to test an ultra-high speed fiber network. McKinney wants to be the test community for Google fiber optic trial because Google is “moving at the speed of McKinney.”

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 meeting this week only contained items on the consent agenda. All consent agenda items passed, including the minutes of several meetings with items 10-110 through 10-121.

With item 10-122, City Council approved amendments to Ordinance 2010-02-003 to add more early voting locations for the special bond election.

City Council tabled item 10-123, a resolution to support the Texas Department of Transportation reconstruction project of the portion of Industrial Blvd. that they maintain, to review additional information.

Items 10-125, 10-126 and 10-127 were all related to grant applications for federal funding to enhance public safety efforts.

To watch the City Council work session, click here.

To watch the City Council meeting video, click here.

Brian Loughmiller, Mayor • Pete Huff, Mayor Pro Tem / At Large • David Brooks, At Large • Don Day, District 1

Geralyn Kever, District 2 • Travis Ussery, District 3 • Ray Ricchi, District 4