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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMIN 06.14.2011 CC-WThe City Council of the City of Georgetown, Texas, met in Regular Session on the above date with Mayor George Garver presiding. Council Present. "; Council Absent. Patty Eason, Danny Meigs, Rachael Jonrowe, Troy Pat Berryman, Bill Sattler, Tommy Gonzalez Hellman 9PUPWaTla "I Paul E. Brandenburg, City Manager; Jessica Brettle, City Secretary; Bridget Chapman, Assistant City Attorney; Jim Briggs, Assistant City Manager; Micki Rundel, Chief Financial Officer; Lorie Lankford, Controller; Keith Hutchinson, Public Communications Director; Ed Polasek, Transportation Director; r Thomas, Economic Development Director; A Georgetown Aging Initiative Presentation -- Mayor George Garver Berryman, Sattler and Gonzalez absent. Mayor introduced Dan Bonner to the audience and the City Council. Bonner thanked the Council and said he was glad to meet the new Council members. He said he would like to give Council a brief background on the Georgetown Aging Initiative. He said the Aging Initiative was the vision of Bob Brent, the Chisholm Trail Community Foundation and he listed the other staff members who were involved in the creation of this project. He said they tried to envision what they could do to sustain the distinctive senior friendly environment of the community. He said, over the past two years, they have expanded their discussion to include up to twelve people and other charitable groups in the City. He said there are already members of Georgetown who make Georgetown the destination it is for retirees. He said their purpose is to preserve, strengthen and expand the senior friendly culture of Georgetown over the medium to long term future. He said there may be short term benefits during this data gathering phase, but the goal is to build on what Georgetown already is. and provides to the elderly. He said their goal is to assist all people in the community, not just those who live in Sun City. He introduced others who are at the meeting and who have helped him throughout his endeavor to the Council. He said he and the group with him would like to propose a formal partnership with the City on this endeavor. He said the Council has been given a packet that describes their definition of the project, their vision, assessment goals and objectives. He said it also defines what co-sponsorship means in this situation. He said they are not asking the City for money, but they are asking that the City host the survey document on the city's website. He said they are also asking that the City provide free meeting space for their focus group meetings. He said the focus groups will also concentrate on sub -populations of seniors throughout the Georgetown community. He said the third request is for the city to assist in providing local data to inform the assessment process. He said they have gathered community voices to be a part of this working group. He introduced those representatives to the City Council. He said they are here to answer any technical questions Council may have. Mayor spoke about how the City Manager works with these type of community groups. He suggested that the City Manager chooses a staff person with whom the aging initiative could work with and, if anything needs to come back to the Council, they can do so accordingly. Brandenburg said he has reviewed the request for City City Council Meeting Minutes/ Page 1 of 3 Pages sponsorship and does not see a problem with this action. He said staff will put an item on the future agenda with a formal motion to enter into this partnership. He said he does not see any difficulty with this and Council will see something at the next meeting. Meigs asked about the end results of this project and Bonner said this first phase is a serious grassroots data -gathering process among people 60 and older in the community. He said the timeline would be throughout the Fall. He referred to Vickie Orkut of Family Eldercare who spoke about how the survey will be created and how the data will be studied and used. Orkut said, after the data is gathered, the group will study the information and determine what the priorities are in the community. Eason said she is expecting that this will be able to enhance information for the City Council as well. She said this will be extremely helpful in getting answers to questions about needs in the community. She said it will help the City Council with decisions on how to prioritize items for the budget. Bonner agreed and said the needs assessment is an important component of this project but added that is not the entirety of their concern. He said they would like to also identify untapped assets among the seniors in the community. Bonner introduced Angela Atwood, CEO of Family Eldercare, to the Council. Atwood spoke about the Family Eldercare summer fan drive and said they are honored to be a part of this planning process. B Overview of proposed 2011/12 Capital Improvement Projects -- Jim Briggs, Assistant City Manager and Micki Rundell, Chief Financial Officer With a Powerpoint Presentation, Briggs said this is an ongoing process about priorities and capital improvements. He briefly described the process for the Council. He provided a brief outline of what will be discussed at today's meeting. He said both the GTAB and GUS Board recommend approval of the CIP Projects for inclusion into the City's 2011/2012 budget. He said the City has made the CIP budget available to the citizens for comments and as of June 2nd, the 2012 plan has received 588 hits. He said transportation received the most views, with water and energy services behind it. He said the plan starts in January with internal department meetings. He said the division meetings will be held in February. He said the final plans are presented to the Boards and the final conclusion will be when the Council adopts the budget. He said the program funding for 2011/12 comes from a variety of sources and he listed those sources for the Council. He said the summary of the plan shows where the funds break out for each project. He said the CIP will address the need for water, wastewater and irrigation projects to be able to maintain a superior status. He noted the Georgetown water supply has a superior rating with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ). He said this is determined by many factors and he listed those for the Council. He said the funding for water services improvements comes from a combination of cash, debt financing, and capital recovery fees. He said the impact fees were set last year and did not indicate proposing an increase. He said this was brought to Council and it was determined that the City would not increase the amount of fees because of economic conditions. He noted staff believes staying static on the fees is the best policy. He said water line upgrades are a part of the plan and include over a million dollars in the next budget for various streets including Paige Street, the north side old town, Tin Barn Alley, 17th Street and Austin Avenue and South Austin Avenue. He described the proposed improvements in those areas. He said the West Loop Waterline Phase 1 is a continuation of a project on the west side and is also included. He described that project for the Council. He listed the wastewater projects for 2011/2012, including Edwards Aquifer compliance, wastewater line upgrades, a South IH 35 force main improvement, Sun City lift station fourth pump, lift station upgrades and the Pecan Branch Waste Water Treatment Plant Expansion. He described each one of those projects in detail. Mayor asked and Briggs described a force main pipe for the Council. He described the transportation services CIP projects and said this operation is managed by Ed Polasek and Mark Miller. He said their CIP provides for maintenance and rehabilitation of road segments identified by the Pavement Management information System. He said the five year plan is funded from the general fund and street maintenance sales tax. He said funding for transportation services projects comes from the Street Maintenance budget and, due to lower than expected sales tax revenues, the budget was reduced. He said the current pavement condition index (PCI) is an 85, which is the City's target. He said the city has been above that in the past. He noted the streets will be retested in 2011 and the results will be released this year. He noted Georgetown's streets are in good condition overall. He described the transportation projects in the 2011/12 CIP and the cost for each, including street maintenance and street rehabilitation and rejuvenation. He spoke about stormwater drainage utility and said this is under Ed Polasek and the transportation group. He said the stormwater drainage utility manages and maintains stormwater infrastructure operations and facilities. He said the CIP continues to address federal regulations regarding stormwater control in municipalities. He said it is a smaller part of the operation, but certainly not a small impact. He said the funding for five year capital program comes from the stormwater drainage utility. He said other stormwater projects are curb and gutter replacements as well as the Maple Street drainage ditches. He spoke about the Energy Services CIP projects and added they are broad with details about this because the city competes with other suppliers in the area. He said this CIP addresses the community's need for superior electric service and is determined by many factors, including that it meets state and federal requirements, rehabilitation of aging infrastructure, service improvement for reliability and customer base load growth. He said City Council Meeting Minutes/ Page 2 of 3 Pages the funding for the five year CIP comes from rates and fees that are charged through the electric utility. He described the energy services CIP projects in detail. Mayor asked and Briggs said the city is able to recover some costs from the old equipment that is retired off of the system. Briggs described the several methods used to recover those costs. Rundell briefly spoke about the City's General Capital Projects and added it mainly focuses on public safety improvements and projects that were begun in the previous year. She said the funding for general capital projects is mainly debt, though there are sometimes cash transfers from other funds for specific purposes. She said, this year, the focus is on the new public safety facility that was recently approved by voters. She listed the few other items in the plan as well. She said this plan will be officially adopted as part of the annual budget which will occur at the last meeting in August and the first meeting in September. Brandenburg referred the Council to the CIP book as well, which has more detailed information on each of the projects on this list. Mayor asked and Brandenburg described how items and projects get placed on the CIP project list. He said a lot of planning that has gone into each of these projects. Mayor asked and Brandenburg said nothing will come to Council without being vetted by other boards unless it is an emergency situation or purchase. Hellmann asked and Briggs said this year's list is less than last year's GIP. Briggs spoke about how the estimates of potential revenue will affect the amount of projects on the list. There was much discussion. Hellmann asked and Rundell said all of these programs are funded through the rates and, therefore, will not affect the tax rate for the community. Rundell added it could be funded through debt but it depends on how the year goes and if there is any available uncollected revenues. She spoke about the public safety facility project and the corresponding bond reimbursement resolution. She said the city does not intend to release any of the bonds this year, and therefore there will not be any tax rate impact for next year. Jonrowe asked and Rundell said staff reviews impact fees every three years but it can be reviewed at any time if Council wishes. Briggs said, unless the City sees some major changes in the economy and new development being sustained and growing, it may not be a good idea to look at raising those fees. There were many questions. Recessed to Executive Session under Sections 551.071, 551.072, 551.086 and 551.087 -- 5:03 PM Returned to Open Session and adjourned -- 6:12 PM City Council Meeting Minutes/ Page 3 of 3 Pages The meeting was adjourned at 06:12 PM.