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1962 02 13 CC Minutes, Special1720 MINUTES OF THE SPECIAL MEETING OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF BAYTOSIN February 13, 1%2 The City Council of the City:-of Baytown, Texas met in special session on Tuesday, February 13, 1962, at 7 :00 o'clock p.m. in the Council Room of the Baytown City Hall with the following members in. attendance: Seaborn Cravey W. L. Ward C. A. Hansen Velma J. Ansley Roy H. Hughes James M. Bryan Al Clayton J. B. LeFevre Edna Oliver Absent: George Chandler The Mayor called the meeting to ed, afterwhich, the City Manager was vestigation of the system used by the of supplying gas to Baytown. Councilman Councilman Councilman Councilman Councilman Councilman Mayor City Manager City Clerk City Attorney order, the Invocation was offer - asked to give his report of an in- gas company for determining the cost City Manager's Statement - Houston Natural Gas Corporation - Rate Increase "I visited the Houston office of the Houston Natural Gas Corp., in an effort to determine what methods the company used to prorate cer- tain indirect ex to the City of Baytown as shown as their "State- ment of Operation, Baytown Palnt No. 281." No attempt was made to deter- mine the accuracy of their figures; only the basis used to allocate cer- tain expenses of the City. "I am convinced that the methods used are sound and in accordance with accepted accounting practices, however, considerable doubt remains in my mind as to whether the method ;used to determine the "rate base" in Baytown is sufficiently accurate to be used as a basis to figure the rate of return on net investment in the City of Baytown." Discusstion - Varied Jackson Hinds, Vice President of the Company, again reviewed the schedule of present and proposed rates and elaborated on the general operation procedure of the Company; it was his contention that the company was not making an excessive return on its investment in Baytown. The discussion included income tax proration, weather factors and other opera- tional costs which made Baytown differ from the rest of the system. The Council asked that the rate assessed against Baytown consumers correspond with the other towns and cities included in the system. This rate is 5.44% against the 5.94% for Baytown. The discussion also included possible rate hearing before the Texas Railroad Commission. If this was decided upon, Mr. Hinds assured the Council that the Railroad Commission was consistently granted gas companies in Texas a 6* per cent return on their investment and this would make rate per consumer much higher than the rate the company is now requesting. As it was evident that no decision would be reached at this meeting, further discussion was tabled until the February 22nd meeting. Ad_i ournment Councilman Cravey moved for the meeting adjourn. Councilman Ansley seconded the motion. The ayes were unanimous and the Mayor declared the meeting adjourned. ATTEST :; Al Clayton, ayor l.it- na Oliver, City Clerk