Frisco City Council notes — May 5, 2009

by Jeff Cheney of Blogging Frisco

This meeting was the last meeting for Council Members Joy West and Tony Felker. Both could not seek reelection due to term limits. Congratulations to Bob Allen and Patrick Fallon who were elected to fill their seats. I filled Bob Allen’s seat when he could not seek reelection due to term limits. Our Charter allows Council Members to seek election after taking a year off. I look forward to working with them both. Congratulations also to John Hoxie who is our newest Frisco ISD School Board member. I hope everyone attends the May 19th meeting to thank Joy and Tony for their years of service to Frisco as well as welcome the new Council Members.

We spent the most time discussing the proposal for a Cigar Bar in Frisco Square. Our current smoking ordinance does not allow such an establishment. The proposal discussed was a potential change to the smoking ordinance to allow this type of specialty use. There were several concerns including the impact to any residential areas, impact to surrounding businesses, as well as how a change could potentially open more unintended consequences. There was enough Council support to give staff direction to bring us a proposal that may mitigate all of our concerns. We also wanted more time to solicit citizen impact so please let us know if you have any comments. Here is a link to a news story.

Council unanimously approved the contracts with the Museum of the American Railroad. Here is a press release for this exciting announcement.

Council extended our solid waste and recycling service contracts with Community Waste Disposal, IESI, and Champion Waste Services. If you remember from last summer, CWD had asked for an amendment to their contract to adjust for the high gas prices. Council denied that request but we stated that we would consider a variable cost component for fluctuating gas prices in our next contract. This new contract does allow for that pricing component which is consistent with other cities. These providers have served Frisco well and have also been great community partners. We also want Frisco to be a good place to do business. This contract is a fair compromise that will provide the high level of service our citizens expect at some of the lowest rates in the area.

Thanks as always for reading and I hope everyone can attend the meeting on the 19th!