01111988 Regular Meeting - Laserfiche WebLink

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-7- 17. Sec. 11.09, Regulation of rates, should be amended as follows: "As permitted by law, the Council shall have full power, after notice and hearing, to regulate by ordinance, the rates of every privately-owned public utility operating in the City...." JUSTIFICATION: The City no longer public utilities amendments clarify clear that this Sections 11.10 and has the power to regulate the rates of all operating in the City. Thus, the recommended the City's subservience to State law and makes section applies to privately-owned utilities. 11.11 apply to municipally-owned utilities. 18. Sec. 12.01, Publicity of records, should be renamed as "Public access to records" and deleted in its entirety and the following substituted therefor (a copy of the present Sec. 12.01 is attached as Appendix E) : "All information collected, assembled or maintained by the City pursuant to law or ordinance or in connection with the transaction of official City business is public information and available to the public during normal business hours of the City under the terms and conditions provided in the Texas Open Records Act as amended." JUSTIFICATION: Regulation of public records by the City Councilor the Mayor has been completely supplanted by actions of the State legislature through the Texas Open Records Act. The suggested new section is based on language found in the Texas Open Records Act. 19. Sec. 12.02, Personal interest and Code of Ethics, should be amended by adding a part (5) to Subsection (c) to provide an additional responsibility and duty of the Ethics Review Commission as follows: "Review and monitor financial reports required by Election Code with respect to city-sponsored elections." the Texas ~JSTIFICATION: The legislature in 1987 changed financial reporting requirements to provide that all financial reports pertaining to local elections should be filed with the City Secretary. The Ethics Review Commission regularly reviews the financial reports required by the City's Ethics Ordinance. In light of the legislature's recent action, the financial reports which now should be filed with the City Secretary pertaining to elections could be seen as an adjunct to the City's own financial requirements. At the present time, no official organization or entity has any responsibility for reviewing such reports. This lack of oversight detracts from the significance of filing such reports.