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Regular Meeting November 1, 2005 7 . Page 7 decision" of the City Council to deny the requested increase The City I received a letter from the Railroad Commission to Centerpoint dated October 5, 2005 stating that the appeal by Centerpoint was premature and the Railroad Commission would not assign a docket number to the appeal He stated the City Council adopted a Resolution on October 18, 2005 that 1) suspended the proposed rate increase indefinitely until CenterPoint published an adequate public notice of the increase, and 2) scheduled a hearing by the City Council to begin on the proposed rate increase for the November 1, 2005 Council Meeting Mayor Narvaiz stated Staff has recommended Council make a motion to continue the hearing until such time as CenterPoint a) publishes an adequate public notice of its proposed increase, and b) furnishes complete responses to the requests for information submitted to Centerpoint by the attorney representing the City, Mr Jim Boyle of Austin Mr Mihalkanin moved to continue the hearing until such time as Centerpoint a) publishes an adequate public notice of its proposed increase, and b) furnishes complete responses to the requests for information submitted to CenterPoint by the attorney representing the City, Mr Jim Boyle, and Mr Thomaides seconded the motion, which passed unanimously Mayor Narvaiz introduced a discussion regarding implementation of authority of municipality to alter speed limits to 25 m p h Sabas Avila, Assistant I Director of Engineering, stated prior to May, 2005, Municipalities were required to perform an engineering study in order to alter speed limits on certain roads The 79th Legislature passed a law, which allows Municipalities to lower speed limits to 25 m p h without the need of an engineering study for roads that meet certain criteria The criteria include 1) the highway is in an urban district, 2) the highway is not an officially designated or marked highway or road of the state highway system, 3) the prima facia speed limit is unreasonable or unsafe, 4) the highway is 35 feet or less, and 5) the highway does not prohibit parking on one or both sides He also stated on October 18, 2005, the Transportation Advisory Board reviewed the new law and recommended that Council consider implementation of House Bill No 87 with regard to safety in areas with increased traffic and visitors The Advisory Board recommended that the following areas be reviewed first 1) perimeter school streets, especially those with direct access to parking lots, 2) parks perimeter streets, 3) streets in Historic Districts, 4) areas of potential safety hazards such as blind hills, sharp curves and 5) areas with higher than average number of traffic accidents Mr Mihalkanin stated on Hopkins Street there is not much of a transition between speed limits from Wonder World Drive going toward Bishop Street He stated he also feels this area should be considered for the 25 m p h speed limit Mayor Narvaiz stated she supports I the recommendations of the Transportation Advisory Board Jane Hughson, Chair of the Transportation Advisory Board, stated the Transportation Advisory Board does not recommend these areas should automatically be lowered, but they feel they should be individually reviewed