HomeMy WebLinkAboutMIN 09.13.2011 CC-WMinutes of the
of the City
Tuesday,
The City Council of the City of Georgetown, Texas, met in Regular Session on the above date with Mayor
George Garver presiding.
Council Present:
Danny Meigs, Bill Sattler, Tommy Gonzalez, Troy
Hellmann, Rachael Jonrowe
Council Absent:
Patty Eason, Pat Berryman
Staff Present:
Paul E. Brandenburg, City Manager; Bridget Chapman, Acting City Attorney; Jessica Brettle, City
Secretary; Jim Briggs, Assistant City Manager; Micki Rundell, Chief Financial Officer; Robyn Rye,
Records Coordinator, Rachel Saucier, Assistant City Secretary; Cari Miller, Tourism Director; Keith
Hutchinson, Public Communications Director; Kathy Ragsdale, Environmental and Conservation
Services Director
Minutes
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A Presentation to update City Council on City Links Project, the City's Advanced Metering Infrastructure -- Kathy
Ragsdale, Environmental & Conservation Services Director and Jim Briggs, Assistant City Manager
Eason, Berryman, Gonzalez absent.
Zavala introduced herself and said she is the project liaison for the advanced metering initiative (AMI)
replacement project. She introduced the other staff leads for this project. She spoke about City Links and said
it is the name of the advanced metering initiative that is being implemented by the City. She described an AMI
and said it means advanced metering infrastructure. She said it is a two-way communication through wireless
technology that collects interval meter data. She said the city will be collecting consumption meter data at 15
minute intervals for electric and every hour for water. She said many people refer to AMI as a second
generation AMR system. She noted, with this new program, a staff person will not be going to people's homes to
collect readings.
She said the three primary components of the AMI is an advanced meter, the two way communication network
and a processing center. She said it has a meter data management system that houses all of the data. She said
they are changing and upgrading the existing AMR system because it has been in place since 1998. She said
Georgetown was one of the first cities that went to that type of technology. She said the communications
network for the current system is technologically obsolete and the City can not expand the system any longer.
She said staff felt they would gain more functionality at the same cost. She summarized the benefits of this
program for both and city and customers. She said, for customers, they will be able to access daily water and
electric usage and account information over the internet. She said it will enable a wider range of rate options
and will provide expanded services, like leak monitoring. She said it also allows the flexibility in the future to let
the customer pick their own billing cycle. She said there are a lot of things that will allow the City to utilize this
new technology to better serve the customers.
Ragsdale spoke
about the communication plan for the project and
why staff felt that it is needed.
She said they
started the plan
internally and came up with a team that was going
to handle the majority of this
portion of the
City Council Meeting Minutes/
Page 1 of 4 Pages
project. She said staff educated the city workers on the project in case they receive questions while out in the
field. She said everyone has gotten at least three letters in phase one of the project to keep customers updated
on the installation of the new meters. She said this communication method will be used in phase two as well.
She said the City has created a web page for the project and she described its contents for the Council. She
showed Council the implementation schedule Phase 1 map so citizens can see if they are included in this
upgrade. She said there is also an archive of all letters that have been sent out. Sattler asked what Council
should do if someone does not want to participate in the program. Ragsdale said there is no option for
someone to opt out of the upgrade. Sattler asked what the City tells someone who thinks we are spying on
them. Ragsdale said the City is not spying on anyone and, to operate the appliances from a remote site would
require a certain software in the meter that is compatible with a chip in the appliance. She said, right now, that
software is not being put in the meter. She noted, at this point, you can't even do this. Mayor asked what we are
doing with the old meters and if there is opportunity for resale. Koopman spoke about resale opportunities for
the meters. There was much discussion.
B Records Management Update -- Robyn Rye, Records Coordinator
Mayor introduced the item and defined what records management means and how it affects the City. With a
Powerpoint presentation, Rye said records management is the practice of properly disposing of files when they
need to be disposed of. She said the City does not have the ability to keep all types of record files. She spoke
about Records Management and why it is important to the City. She said the Texas State Library lays out the
legal responsibilities, improves efficiency, is environmentally responsible and there is also a cost savings. She
said there is also less staff time spent looking for items if there is an efficient records management system in
place. She said the private sector is not required by law to retain documents for any particular period of time, but
noted cities and other public entities are under strict law because they are under legal obligation to maintain
records according to the Texas State Library. She said the City has documents that date back to the creation of
the City in 1848. She said the City Secretary's Office is tasked with keeping all permanent records from 1848
forward including charters, ordinances and resolutions. She showed Council a picture of what the City's
historical notebooks look like now and what staff hopes them to look like in the future. She spoke about how the
City's historic records need preservation. She said preserving the past helps the present and future by allowing
the City to learn from the past and also bring up recurring issues. She described some interesting finds from
historic records. She spoke about the evolution of Records Management in the City. She said the City has
recently restarted the Records Management Committee. She said they tasked the committee with preparing
basic records inventories of each of the city departments. She said they also wanted to know where those
documents were located in the City facilities. She said she scheduled a Texas State Library (TSL) training for all
City employees to discuss all aspects of records management in order to make the employees aware of the
importance of this concept. She described the current Records Management projects that are happening
throughout the City. She spoke about Iron Mountain and how it is the City's off sight storage facility. She
described the types of records at that facility and the process for the destruction of those records. She described
for Council the incorporation of the new Texas State Library Retention Schedules and how the City will be using
these new schedules going forward. She said the new TSL schedules will be released in April of this year. She
said currently the City has eleven schedules on file at TSL and that number will be reduced it to six. She spoke
about the future and the implementation of a new electronic records management software. She said the City
will be receiving a Laserfiche Pilot Program, which will allow the City to standardized processes for open records
requests, destruction requests and litigation holds. She continued to describe the electronic records
management program.
Gonzalez arrived at the dais.
She said this software will allow the to classify documents based on type. She spoke of the ultimate goals of the
new program. She said the next steps for the city's Records Management Program is to implement the
digitization software as well as the implementation of signature pads to minimize the paper we create with those
type of signatures. Mayor asked and Rye described how the City keeps old Charters if a new Charter is passed.
Mayor asked and Rye reviewed the pros and cons of the City's compliance with the Texas State Library
retention schedules. Mayor asked and Rye described how the City maintains paper records versus electronic
records. There was much discussion regarding the storage and preservation of the City's historic records.
Brandenburg said records management is not glamorous, but it is important as it's required by law. He spoke
briefly about the complexity of records management.
C Presentation regarding the Georgetown Cycling Challenge-- Paul E. Brandenburg, City Manager; Cari Miller,
Tourism Director and Keith Hutchinson, Public Communications Director
Brandenburg spoke about
the Cycling
Challenge and
how it would
be a good
event
that would be held
downtown. He said this is
an event the
City is looking
at for May of
2012. He
spoke
about the amount of people
City Council Meeting Minutes(
Page 2 of 4 Pages
that would come to Georgetown to watch the event. He said the City would like to keep the route downtown
around the square. He spoke about AirFest and how it is comparable to this event in the amount of people it
would attract to the City. He said there is a resolution on the regular agenda to designate this as a major city
sponsored event.
Hutchinson spoke about how he is a cycling fan and added why it would be beneficial to have a cycling event
downtown. He said his department looked at what it would take to have a cycling event downtown. He said they
think they could get on the state cycling calendar on May 19 and 20, 2012 with this event. He spoke about the
different rides included in the "Cycling Challenge." He spoke about how they are also looking at a mountain
biking race around Lake Georgetown. He said Billy Kurtz, who works with Council member Troy Hellmann, is a
former pro bike racer. He said Kurtz connected the City with Andrew Willis from Holland Racing, a company
that stages bike races around the country. He said Holland Racing holds races in Austin, they know what they
are doing and they hold great events.
He introduced Chrissy Baker, who spoke about what the proposed criterium race may look like. Baker thanked
Council and said Holland Cycling has done 136 events and counting throughout the country. She said they
would like to have a competitive bicycle racing event in Georgetown from May 19-20, 2012 called the
Georgetown Cycling Challenge. She said it would be a "criterium" race around the Georgetown Square. She
spoke about a criterium race and described how it is a fast race and could be considered the F1 of cycling. She
said they plan to have about 500 competitors and, with those competitors, come their families and friends. She
said, generally, it would attract 2,000 people or more. She said one of the things they found with their events is
as the event gets established, it would introduce Georgetown to the cycling community and each event would
grow quickly each year. She said the plan is to start out as a state event and then grow into a regional or
national event. She said a national calendar event is a huge event where buses of people come to a town to
race. She showed Council the proposed course for the race. She described the proposed schedule for the
event with a packet pick up on Friday, the race on Saturday and then another set of races on Sunday. She said
participants will spend the night and will each spend about $350 while in Georgetown. She said they will need
enforcement from the City Council including road closures along with police, fire/EMS and Public Works. She
said, just to get this event off the ground, they would like to apply for Conventions and Visitors Bureau Hotel
Occupancy Tax (HOT) funds for assistance.
Jonrowe asked and Baker said the figures given to Council is for the Georgetown Cycling Challenge, which is
the Criterium race. Jonrowe spoke about implementing a mountain biking and racing event as well. Jonrowe
asked and Baker said mountain biking courses would be easy to put on. Meigs asked and Baker said Holland
Racing started in 2008. She said they have a weekly event on a Thursday night in Austin which attracts over
300 competitors. She spoke about to her weekend events that vary depending on where they are located.
Mayor asked about liability and Baker said the nature of these races is that they are sanctioned by USA cycling.
She said USA cycling is the insurer but they also approve the course before they insure it. She said each
competitor is required to sign a waiver before starting a race and that is essentially the waiver of liability.
Jonrowe asked and Baker said there are several different categories for each criterium race. She spoke about
the different types of races that would be included in the Georgetown Cycling Challenge. Mayor asked and
Baker said in the Tour of Austin, they had a 60 + age range race. Baker asked that Council ring the cow bells
that were just given to them and said that is a tradition within the bike racing world. There was much discussion
of the event.
Mayor asked and Hutchinson said, on the Resolution tonight, there will be a financial impact of about $15,000 to
be given to the cycling event. Cari Miller said they currently have about $20,000 in their fund for CVB co-op
grants.
Meeting recessed to Executive Session under Sections
551.071, 551.0743
551.087 -- 4:10 PM
Meeting returned to Open Session and
adjourned --
6:03
PM
City Council Meeting Minutes/
Page 3 of 4 Pages
Adjournment
The meeting was adjourned at 06:03 PM.
Secretary Jdssica Brettle
City Council Meeting Minutes/
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