Frisco City Council notes — May 6, 2008

* The first was given to Rick Stadt for motorcycle safety awareness week. Their mission is to inform car drivers of the dangers that motorcyclists face and to educate drivers on their “Share the Road” campaign. There are over 770,000 registered motorcycles in Texas. Council Member Jim Joyner has four alone! Currently 20-30 cities have begun installing “Share the Road” signs. Mr. Stadt encouraged us to begin the program here in Frisco and we instructed staff to start looking into it.



* Members of the Urban Forestry Board accepted a proclamation for being named to the 2007 Tree City USA list for the 5th consecutive year and the 2007 Growth City Award for the 4th consecutive year. This included increasing the number of trees planted as well as educating the public. I was able to attend the Arbor Day celebration last year at Frisco Commons and take the tree tour. That park is a hidden gem of Frisco and I was amazed by the variety of trees we have here in Frisco.



* Marla Rowe, Frisco Convention and Visitor’s Bureau, accepted a proclamation designating May 10-18 as Frisco Tourism Week. DFW is the #1 tourism destination in Texas and the area contributed $1 billion in local and state taxes through tourism. The Top 10 attractions in the state (in order) are the Alamo, the River Walk, San Marcos Outlet Malls, State Capitol, South Padre Island, Cabela’s, Kemah, Six Flags, Sea World, and Moody Gardens. Marla discussed our regional partnerships to begin promoting Frisco as a destination as well as our upcoming “Shop Frisco” campaign.



* Finally, the Mayor surprised City Manager George Purefoy with a framed edition of Public Management Magazine. Mr. Purefoy was recognized in the magazine for his efforts in building Frisco into what it is today. With over 9,000 members, this publication is the official magazine for local government. It is nice to see Mr. Purefoy getting national recognition that all of us in Frisco have always known, that we have the best City Manager in the country!

* We revised our Clean Air Ordinance to make the ordinance more enforceable. Lately we have been working with the residents in Hunters Creek and Turnbridge Manor to try and improve the standards of our batch plants at Custer and 121. There was a public hearing at the same time of our Council Meeting. There will be much more to this issue in future meetings.



* We officially approved the online meeting streaming software that I have discussed in future meetings. I am very excited on how this new technology will help us engage more citizens in what is happening within Frisco.



* We approved a lease with the Boys and Girls Club of Frisco. They will be moving into the space that used to be occupied by City Hall, the Police, and the Library. The City will be leasing the property to them for $1/year and they will make substantial improvements to the facility. They provide a tremendous benefit to our community and we are happy to help them move into a larger space. Approximately 4,000 children participate in Collin County. Of this 550 are registered in Frisco. The average daily attendance is 146 and these numbers are expected to grow at the new facility.



* The final item was hearing an ethics complaint filed against Council Member Matt Lafata. There were two separate clients filed by a single person. The first complaint was reviewed in a special called meeting last week where Council voted unanimously to take no further action. The second complaint was heard during the Council meeting and the Council voted unanimously to reject the complaint.