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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMIN 07.13.2010 CC-RThe 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: Danny Meigs, Gabe Sansing, Tommy Gonzalez, All Council Present Dale Ross, Pat Berryman, Bill Sattler, Patty Eason ... Staff Present: Paul Brandenburg, City Manager; Mark Sokolow, City Attorney; Jessica Brettle, City Secretary; Micki Rundell, Chief Financial Officer; Jim Briggs, Assistant City Manager; Elizabeth Cook, Community Development Director; Regular Session = To begin no earlier than 06:33 PIVI (Council may, at any time, recess the Regular Session to convene an Executive Session at the request of the Mayor, a Councilmember, or the City Manager for any purpose authorized by the Open Meetings Act, Texas Government Code Chapter 551.) -..- . : _. Comments from the Mayor - Welcome and Meeting Procedures -Presentation of Proclamation to Williamson County Cities and Health District in recognition of World Breastfeeding Month No one was present to accept the proclamation. City Manager Comments There were no comments from the City Manager Action from Executive Session Motion by Eason that the Council direct staff to thoroughly research, by hiring an independent attorney, the current employment contract with the City Attorney and to do the research and investigation into whether or not this contract is legal. She added that all the activities involved in the writing of the contract and all sequence of events going into the development of the contract be researched and that this person check into and research the legality of the hiring of the Assistant City Attorney. She said council needs to have a meeting with the attorney after he or she has made their determination because Council never had the opportunity to meet with the attorney who made the original decision. She said she would also like to have the Director of Human Resources, Kevin Russell, present at that meeting and noted he has made written statements about the process of the development of the contract. She said she has a lot of questions about this and has not been able to talk to anyone directly. She said Mr. Sokolow shall not be present in the discussions with both people and she added they need to have independent counsel that can let Council know what has gone through and what has been involved in the creation of the contract. She said she requests this be done as soon as possible before City Council Meeting Minutes/ Page 1 of 7 Pages the next City Council meeting and that a special Executive Session be called to answer these questions. Motion 22, 2010 -- Jessica Brettle, died for lack of second. Public Wishing to Address Council On a subject that is posted on this agenda: Please fill out a speaker registration form which can be found on the table at the entrance to the Council Chamber. Clearly print your name and the letter of the item on which you wish to speak and present it to the City Secretary on the dais, preferably prior to the start of the meeting. You will be called forward to speak when the Council considers that item. On a subject not posted on the agenda: Persons may add an item to a future City Council agenda by contacting the City Secretary no later than noon on the Wednesday prior to the Tuesday meeting, with the subject matter of the topic they would like to address and their name. The City Secretary can be reached at 512/930-3651. B - Nancy Neve of Pedernales Electric Cooperative (PEC) regarding update of PEC activities in Georgetown Neve read a letter from PEC to the City of Georgetown. Berryman asked and Neve explained why the PEC offices in Georgetown have closed. Berryman asked and Neve described how customers will be able to pay. Neve presented a franchise check to the City of Georgetown. C. - Ross Hunter and Rick Williamson regarding public investigation of the City Attorney Hunter said he is here tonight to ask the Council to conduct an investigation into the City Attorney specifically as a result of numerous allegations made in the press in recent months. He said this is specifically regarding articles published in the Austin Bulldog and the County Sun. He said the specific study he would like to look into is Mr. Sokolow's decision to reimburse Councilwoman Berryman $13,000 for which the requirement to produce receipts was waived at the hand of the City Attorney. He said Council is the perfect body to investigate the dealings of City personnel. He said there is no reason why this is something Council does not know about. He said this will be an issue that does not ever go away unless it is cured in the three branches of government. He says he does not think they should limit the investigation to that issue, but it definitely needs to be addressed. He added, somehow, the people of the town need to be reassured by the City. He spoke about the hiring of the Assistant City Attorney and noted that also seems the procedures used for that process were improper. He noted he is going to say it lies with Council to use the power of the City Charter and conduct an investigation into this. He said Council's inaction speaks just as loudly as its action. He said this is an exercise in open government. He said he hopes for an agenda item placed by one or more members who believe in open government to consider the option of mounting an investigation on these various issues. Berryman said there was an investigation made to her salary reimbursement and noted the district attorney looked at this, closed the file, and said there was no basis for prosecution or any further action her. Statutory Consent Agenda The Statutory Consent Agenda includes non -controversial and routine items that Council may act on with one single vote. A councilmember may pull any item from the Consent Agenda in order that the council discuss and act upon it individually as part of the Regular Agenda. D Consideration and possible action to approve the minutes of the Workshop and Regular Council Meeting held on Tuesday, June 22, 2010 -- Jessica Brettle, City Secretary E Consideration and possible action to authorize staff to increase the Commercial Wholesale Fuel Margin from $0.15 per gallon to $0.1782 per gallon effective October 1, 2010, and to adjust the "Margin" every two years thereafter according to the Dallas, Fort Worth, TX CPI -W number -- Travis McLain, Airport Manager and Paul E. Brandenburg, City Manager F Consideration and possible action to increase the Fuel Flowage Fee at the Georgetown Municipal Airport from $0.10 per gallon to $0.14 per gallon, effective October 1, 2010, and to adjust the Fuel Flowage Fee every two years thereafter according to the Dallas, Fort Worth, TX CPI -W number -- Travis McLain, Airport Manager and Paul E. Brandenburg, City Manager G Consideration and possible action to authorize staff to increase T -Hangar, Tiedown, and Hangar A monthly rental rates by 10%, effective October 1, 2010; by an additional 10% effective October 1, 2012, and by an additional amount effective October 1, 2014 to be calculated by the CPI -W increase from September 2002 to July, 2014, minus the two, 10% adjustments made in 2010, and 2012. Thereafter, adjust the rental rate every two years effective October 1, based upon the July CPI -W number for Dallas, Fort Worth, TX -- Travis McLain, Airport Manager and Paul E. Brandenburg, City Manager City Council Meeting Minutes/ Page 2 of 7 Pages H Consideration and possible action to authorize the Mayor to execute a Tower Operating Agreement (TOA) with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) -- Travis McLain, Airport Manager and Paul E. Brandenburg, City Manager Discussion and possible action to set a Public Hearing for August 24, 2010, pursuant to Chapter 395 of the Local Government Code to receive public comments regarding a Road Impact Fee concerning the Proposed Land Use Map and Capital Improvements Projects list as part of the Road Impact Fee Draft Final Report -- Thomas R. Benz, P.E., Systems Engineering Director and Jim Briggs, Assistant City Manager for Utility Operations J Consideration and possible action to authorize the deposit of the Award of Special Commissioners in Cause No. 10-0531-CC2, The City of Georgetown vs. James E. Robinson, Trustee, for the James E. Robinson Family Trust, et al., County Court at Law No. 2, Williamson County, Texas, in the amount of $49,660.00, in connection with the condemnation of a 15' permanent utility easement and a 50'x 35' temporary construction easement necessary for the construction of the GE20/40 Dual Circuit Electric Line Project along SH 29 East -- Terri Glasby Calhoun, Real Estate Services Coordinator and Thomas R. Benz, P.E., Systems Engineering Director K Consideration and possible action to approve an Inter Local Agreement between the City of Georgetown and Georgetown Independent School District for participation in the Cooper / Forbes Driveway Improvements Project -- Mark Miller, Transportation Services Manager and Edward Polasek, Transportation Director N Consideration and possible action to appoint L. E. Williams to the Georgetown Airport Advisory Board to fill a vacancy -- Mayor George Garver Motion by Ross, second by Sansing to approve the Consent agenda with the exceptions of items L and M, which were pulled to the Regular Agenda. Approved 7-0 Legislative Regular Agenda Council will individually consider and possibly take action on any or all of the following items: O First Reading of an Ordinance annexing into the City of 234.70 acres out of the Lemuel S Walters Survey, for Madison at Georgetown Section 1, located at 4565 SH 195, south of SH 195 and north of Sun City and Shady Oaks Estates Subdivision -- Edward G. Polasek, AICP, Principal Planner and Elizabeth Cook, Community Development Director Polasek introduced the item and read only the caption of the Ordinance on first reading after having satisfied the requirements of the City Charter. He noted the two public hearing were held in June said they have been asked to withhold the second reading to allow for the other concurrent applications to catch up. He said the other applications are the preliminary plat and rezoning, which will be taken to the Planning and Zoning Commission. He showed Council a map of the area involved and said the plat is consistent with what was introduced on March of 2008. He described that development agreement and provided Council with the application status. He spoke about the annexation public hearing issues that came up. He said City Council directed staff and Developer to meet with neighbors to discuss development issues. He said the development agreement is for off-site wastewater and the land use plan only. He said there will be offsite improvements required by the agreement, whether in or out of City Limits. He said the current draft shows that the local streets in Shady Oaks do not exceed design capacity. He said this property was identified in the 2005 annexation priority map as a yellow, or medium priority, area. He described the potential retail sales tax for the area. Mayor asked and Polasek described the motion needed for the item. Motion by Sansing, second by Eason to approve the Ordinance on first reading and move forward with the process as described. Paul Lanahan spoke about his plans for the area. He said, on June 14th, per the direction of the Council, he met with the neighborhood about his plans. He spoke about the changes that were made to the plan as a result of the meeting. He said he has heard about the connectivity issues but disagrees with the request to close a lot of the roads. He spoke about adding parks between the two properties to serve as a buffer. He said their leaders have meetings set up with Chisholm Water Supply for the water model and added he wants to ensure Council that water will be coming to the area. He said they have been in the area for the past four or five years and added they look forward to being annexed into the City. City Council Meeting Minutes/ Page 3 of 7 Pages Speaker, George Devillar, said he would like to take the opportunity to update the Council on the neighborhood association's effort to mitigate the negative impact of the development. He said he feels both parties have acted in good faith in addressing the issues. He said he received a call from Mr. Lanahan asking the ad hoc committee to consider a change to the plan. He said he would like to request again that all questions related to the Madison development be extended to the latest date as allowable by law. He said this extension will allow both entities to reach an amicable agreement. Sansing said he is a bit confused about the September 28th extension that was mentioned in Mr. Devillar's letter. Polasek clarified and said this will allow the other applications and documents to catch up to this one so the annexation does not happen before all the other documents are complete. Vote on the motion: Approved 7-0 M Notification of action by the Mayor to appoint Daryl Jellison to the Georgetown Housing Authority to fill a vacancy -- Mayor George Garver Pulled to the Regular Agenda by Ross. Ross suggested that this item go under Mayor's comments at the beginning of the meeting since it does not require a vote from and all members unable the City Council. by staff. Mayor agreed. L Consideration and possible action to amend the Historic and Architectural Review Commission (HARC) Bylaws -- Elizabeth A. Cook, Community Development Director Pulled to the Regular Agenda by Gonzalez. Gonzalez said, in the bylaws, there are two training programs that are stated as voluntary and he said those sessions should be mandatory. He said, if a member is not able to attend, staff should pull together materials and give a briefing of the information to the absentees. He said a member of HARC should be a voting member of the City and not just the extra territorial jurisdiction, but noted he will grandfather current members who do not meet these qualifications. Sansing asked and Gonzalez confirmed, with his proposal, a member would have to live in the City limits and be a registered voter in order to serve on HARC. Sattler asked about people who have real property or own a business in the City. Gonzalez said, if they own property in town, he would be willing to have them be exempt from the voting criteria. Berryman suggested the property owner could be anywhere in the City limits. Gonzalez agreed. Motion by Gonzalez, second by Berryman to amend the bylaws to say, in order to become a member of HARC, one must be a registered voter in Georgetown and/or own property in the City of Georgetown and any current member who does not meet that criteria being grandfathered in until the end of their term. Further, that the trainings offered would be mandatory trainings and all members unable to attend the meetings be briefed on the content by staff. Speaker, Peter Dana, strongly objects to the idea that someone who does not live in Georgetown, but only owns property in Georgetown, they are hoping to be able the City of Georgetown. to serve on HARC. Mayor said all members of the City's Boards and Commissions start with an application and, if they are unknown to the City, they often hold interviews with applicants. Mayor said someone just living in the City does not automatically qualify for the Boards. Sattler asked and Gonzalez said he would be willing to amend the item for HARC members to own property in the historic area of Georgetown. Mayor asked if it would be appropriate for staff to look at this issue further and then be brought back to Council with a recommendation. Cook said she could propose some revisions to the language at the second reading of the HARC ordinance, which is an item to be discussed later at this meeting. Gonzalez again reviewed his proposal. Cook said HARC reviews applications from properties that are in the downtown overlay district as well as properties throughout the City that are designated as high priority historic property. Berryman said, if you allow anyone who has a house in the City be a member of HARC, they may or may not even be a member of the City or the Country. Berryman rescinded her second. Sansing seconded the motion. Gonzalez withdrew his motion. Ross suggested that these issues so back to staff so they can bring recommendations back to the Council. Gonzalez agreed. P Report by the Arts and Culture Board about the grants to local nonprofit arts organizations that the Board has made this fiscal year -- Charles Aguillon, Chair; Eric Lashley, Library Director and Randy Morrow, Director of Community Services Speaker, Aguillon, gave a brief overview of what has been going on with the Arts and Culture Board. He said they are hoping to promote an image for the City of Georgetown. He said they consider this a community City Council Meeting Minutes/ Page 4 of 7 Pages service and added they are open for questions about the Arts and Culture Board report that was given to the Council prior to the meeting. Mayor gave accolades to the Board. Aguillon said there are people who are chomping at the bit to hold exhibits in San Gabriel Park . Speaker, Peterson, thanked Council for the grant they gave to the Georgetown Festival of the Arts last year. He spoke about how that grant money was used. He said 20% of the audience for the park concert did not live in Georgetown and 50% of those in attendance at the larger concert were from out of town. He thanked Council again for their support. Berryman thanked the Arts and Culture Board for the direction they have taken. Brandenburg said there was a presentation at the Workshop regarding future facilities and the possibility of using the old library as an arts and culture venue. He said he thinks Council is receptive to that. Q Discussion and possible action regarding public concerns relating to press reports about improprieties in the conduct of certain City business over which the Council exercises authority and for which Council is responsible -- Patty Eason, Councilmember District 1 and Tommy Gonzalez, Councilmember District 7 Eason said, because the citizens were not allowed to make statements on action that was in Executive Session, she is going to move forward with this item. She described her item. She said there will be no action tonight but a council member may place an item on a future agenda if necessary. She read the item summary previously provided to the Council and general public. Eason said any speaker will be stopped if their comments are off base. She said this is about open government and it is not about character assassination. She said it is something that Council should hear and added they should be unafraid of what citizens have on their mind. Mayor said he believes in protocol and noted the Chair's responsibility has less to do with content and more to do with process. He said the item is an awkward one in which to get a grasp on. He said he believes government should be as open as possible but noted it has to fall within the constraints of the process allowable by law. He said it appears that a number of individuals have anticipated that they can speak to this item. He said he will recognize those individuals unless a motion is made otherwise. There was discussion regarding whether or not this item is appropriate to be discussed openly on the dais. Berryman said she feels that it may not be a good idea to talk about this in public because the City received an outside legal opinion that recommended the Council not move forward with this. Motion by Berryman to vote on whether or not this is appropriate to discuss. Motion died for lack of second. Motion by Berryman to table this item until a future date. Motion died for lack of second. Speaker, Sherry Dana, described her experience reading the most recent article of the Williamson County Sun. She said, when she read that Mr. Sokolow sent his resume and cover letter to the Attorney General, she became concerned that he does not know the letter of the law. She said she feels he is going to extraordinary lengths at taxpayer expense to protect himself from the people who hired him. She noted he is giving the impression that he has something to hide and added it seems wise for Council to hold off on additional contractual protections until these issues are solved. Speaker, Ellen Davis, thanked Eason for making this possible. She said she has seen many strange things in Georgetown over the past year. She said the City decided to stop using a City Attorney who seemed to be competent. She noted a small number of Councilmembers served on the hiring committee for a new City Attorney and said, after his hiring, the Attorney approved a payment to one of the Councilmembers who was on the search committee. She noted, after his hiring, the Attorney hired an Assistant City Attorney who is a neighbor of the same Councilmember and did not meet the minimum requirements posted for this job. She added the new City Attorney is not responding to any open records requests regarding these issues as well. She noted there may be legitimate explanation for all of this, but until Council hires a outside attorney for investigation and explains the situation, the public will suspect the worst. She noted Berryman stated earlier that the District Attorney's office has cleared her of any wrong -doing, but added Berryman did not state which District Attorney she was talking about. She noted the District Attorney she is probably talking about is from Williamson County and is a Republican. She added Berryman is also a well placed Republican in the community, so she is afraid that does not mean anything to her that that particular District Attorney has cleared her. Speaker, David Tope, said the heart of this topic revolves around the issue of transparency and he noted closed sessions make it harder for citizens to know what is driving Councilmembers and their decisions. He said he works in the defense contracting business and he said transparency creates a better relationship between the two parties involved. Speaker, Ruth Roberts, said she was not expecting to speak this evening so she did not come prepared. She City Council Meeting Minutes/ Page 5 of 7 Pages thanked Eason for making an offer to avoid some of the unpleasantness that is obviously going to descend on the City. She said more newspaper articles will be written about this as this issue will not be solved this evening. She would also like to thank Ken Martin for going back to his roots and reporting on these issues. She also thanked Ben Oliver and the publishers at the back of the room for going into the issues and presenting a lot of material to the public. She said she hopes Council will take to heart what is being said at this meeting and will investigate the issue further. Speaker, Kendall Young, said he has been a citizen of Georgetown since 1991 and added he has served on the GUS Board for 5 years and has had a lot of time spent with the Council. He said he thinks there is a fog over the City that needs to be cleared up. He said we need to have open government and added the City has a problem and we need to tend to it. Speaker, Rick Williamson, said he is here to register his voice in unison with the citizens, the OldTowners Blog and the Austin Bulldog who oppose the Council's mysterious involvement with the City Attorney. He said he has read the articles regarding the performance of the City Attorney and if someone wrote a story like this about you, would you not want your name to be cleared and vetted in public view. He said he knows this is what the public wants because full and open disclosure is always what the public wants. He said the question is if the public can count on the Council for full and open government. Speaker, Ross Hunter, said the clouds that are over the heads of the people being talked about in these news stories will never go away and it will follow them throughout the years. He said, if Council does nothing, than citizens must accept those stories as the ultimate truth on this matter. He said, unless you act to create open government, there will not be open government. He said an open government exists by work and not by right. Speaker, Karen Davis, said she expresses her support and agreement with Ross Hunter's earlier remarks and repeat his call for public investigation of actions made by the City Attorney. R Discussion and possible action on recommendations from the Ethics Commission on future amendments to the City's Ethics Ordinance -- Walt Herbert, Vice Chair, Ethics Commission Herbert said, last year, the Ethics Commission took an extensive review of the Ethics Ordinance. He said there were a series of recommendations to amend the Code that were made by the Council. He said there was a little fuzzy place in the language of the Code at the end of last year that the Commission felt needed to be addressed this year. He said that fuzzy place had to do with the term "family member." He said the Commission addressed this issue at their meetings. He said they felt it was crucial to fix the term so that no one would have any doubt about that language anymore. He said Council has the substance of the proposal as it came from the Commission and he said he would be willing to answer any questions Council may have. Ross thanked Herbert and the Commission for their time. He said this has become a really terrific document. Motion by Sansing, second Ross to approve the recommendations from the Commission. Approved 7-0 S Consideration and possible action for approval to purchase modular office furniture and file room rolling files from Furniture For Business through the TxMAS purchasing contract, and dispatch furniture from Watson Furniture Group through the Houston -Galveston Area Council in the total amount of $225,239.98 -- Terry Jones, Support Services Manager and Micki Rundell, Chief Financial Officer Jones described the item. He said Council approved the remodel of the municipal complex last month with the idea to remove as many walls as possible to create a more flexible space. He said this purchase is the last step in that process. He said this purchase was not approved by the General Government and Finance Subcommittee because a meeting of the committee was not held in July. Sansing asked and Rundell said the money for this was allocated from last year's budget. Motion by Sansing, second by Ross to approve the purchase. Gonzalez asked and Jones said it is not possible to purchase these items locally. Approved 7-0 T Consideration and possible action to approve a Resolution of the City Council of the City of Georgetown requesting the Texas Municipal League, Senator Ogden, Representative Maldonado and Representative Gattis to support the introduction of legislation that amends Section 214.197 of the Local Government Code pertaining to false alarm fees -- Mark Sokolow, City Attorney Sokolow read the Resolution to the Council. Motion by Sansing, second by Gonzalez to approve the City Council Meeting Minutes/ Page 6 of 7 Pages Resolution. Brandenburg reviewed why this Resolution was created and noted it will address the issue that, according to State law, a local community can not raise of the false serve alarm fees above a certain level. Vote on the motion: Approved 7-0 U Public Hearing and First Reading of an Ordinance amending Section 2.50 of the Code of Ordinances pertaining to the Historic and Architectural Review Commission (HARC) -- Elizabeth A. Cook, Community Development Director Cook introduced the item and read only the caption of the Ordinance on first reading after having satisfied the requirements of the City Charter. She said this is the companion Ordinance change that goes with the bylaws approved and discussed earlier. She described the proposed changes to the Code. She said the most notable change is to add the three commissioners in training to the Commission. Public Hearing was opened 8:12 p.m. Speaker, Peter Dana, said he would like to reiterate it is a real mistake to allow non-residents and non-voting members of the community to serve on the HARC Board. Public Hearing was closed 8:14 p.m. There was much discussion by Council as to whether or not non-residents that own property in the City should be able to serve on the Board. Council asked and Cook reviewed the suggested changes that were given to her so that staff may come back to Council at a later meeting with those suggestions incorporated into the bylaws and Code. Motion by Gonzalez, second by Ross to approve the Ordinance on first reading. Approved 7-0 V First Reading of an Ordinance establishing the classification and number of positions (Strength of Force) for all the City of Georgetown Fire Fights and Police Officers pursuant to Chapter 143 of the Texas Local Government Code pertaining to Civil Service -- Paul E. Brandenburg, City Manager and Kevin Russell, Director of Human Resources and Civil Service Brandenburg described the item and read only the caption of the Ordinance on first reading after having satisfied the requirements of the City Charter. Motion by Sansing, second by Gonzalez to approve the Ordinance on first reading. Approved 7-0 George Garver City Council Meeting Minutes/ Page 7 of 7 Pages Motion by Ross, second by Gonzalez to adjourn. Meeting adjourned at 8:23 p.m. The meeting was adjourned at 08:23 PM. essica Brettle