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96. Regular Meeting December 7, 2005 Page 14 Mr Guerrero moved for adoption of the Ordinance amendment of the amount to $3,990,000 00, and Mr motion, which passed unanimously on emergency, including Mihalkanin seconded the I Mayor Narvaiz introduced for consideration adoption of an Ordinance on emergency, the caption which was read as follows AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SAN MARCOS, TEXAS, WHICH SHALL CONSTITUTE AN ORDER BY THE CITY TO REQUIRE CENTERPOINT ENERGY ENTEX TO CEASE AND DESIST FROM CHARGING ILLEGAL AND UNLAWFUL RATES, TO ISSUE REFUNDS, AND TO FILE A REPORT WITH REGARD TO COSTS EXPENDED IN CONNECTION WITH THE APPEAL OF ORDINANCE NO 2005-34, MAKING FINDINGS WITH REGARD TO THIS ORDER, INCLUDING PROCEDURAL PROVISIONS, AND DECLARING AN EMERGENCY Mr Mihalkanin moved for adoption of the Ordinance on emergency and to amend to take out the penalty section and relabel the remaining sections, and Mr Guerrero seconded the motion Mr O'Leary stated on June 30, 2005, CenterPoint Energy Entex filed a Statement of Intent to increase its base rate within the City On August 1, 2005, the City Council adopted a Resolution suspending the proposed increase for a period of 90 days He stated after review of the notice of the proposed increase published by CenterPoint in the Austin newspaper, the Council adopted an Ordinance on I September 6, 2005, ordering CenterPoint to 1) republish notice of the proposed rate increase in more conspicuous manner, and 2) update the test year upon which it was basing its need for the proposed increase He stated even though the City's position is that Entex needs to republish the notice in order to begin changing the increased rates, the City Council, out of an abundance of caution, opened a hearing on the proposed rates at its November 1, 2005 meeting, and voted to continue that hearing pending publication by Entex of proper notice, and responses to our discovery requests He also stated although Entex's official notice to the City described the proposal as an average 19 42% increase in revenues from residential customers (including gas costs, which are the bulk of each bill), Staff has since calculated that the proposed increase in base rates for residential customers is actually 74 57% He stated the Staff recently learned that Entex implemented its proposed increase as November 3, 2005 The Attorney representing the City, Mr Jim Boyle of Austin, has now recommended that the City Council adopt the proposed Ordinance to order Entex to 1) cease charging the increased rates, and 2) refund to its customers any overcharges collected by Entex since it implemented the increased rates Mr Mark Taylor stated the District Judge in Crockett, Texas, ruled the Legal Notice published by Centerpoint for the City of Crockett was an insufficient notice He stated this ruling was appealed I He stated a mediation meeting is set for December 20, 2005, which all the Mayors in the coalition will attend Mr Thomaides stated he read an article that natural gas cost has gone down significantly Mr Mark Taylor