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Home My WebLink AboutMIN 04.21.2008 CC-WThe City Council of the City of Georgetown, Texas, met in Regular Session on the above date with Mayor Gary Nelon presiding. Council Present. Patty Eason, Gabe Sansing, Keith Brainard, Bill Sattler, Pat Berryman, Farley Snell, Ben Oliver 1 Council Absent; All Council present Paul Brandenburg, City Manager; Tom Yantis, Assistant City Manager; Jim Briggs, Assistant City Manager for Utility Operations; Patricia E. Carls, City Attorney; Sandra D. Lee, City Secretary; Micki Rundell, Director of Finance and Administration; Terry Jones, Support Services Construction Manager; Leticia Zavala, Controller; Lisa Haines, Accountant 11; Lorie Lankford, Chief Accountant; Kathy Ragsdale, Utility Office Manager; Anthony Lincoln, Fire Chief; Clay Shell, Assistant Fire Chief; David Morgan, Police Chief; Kevin Stofle, Assistant Police Chief; Jerry Pate, Police Lieutenant; Elizabeth Cook, Planning and Development Director; Keith Hutchinson, Public Information Officer; Randy Morrow, Director of Community Services; Kimberly Garrett, Parks and Recreation Director; Kelly Bressler, Human Resources Generalist; Mark Moore, Chief Building Inspector; Terri Kahabka, Code Enforcement Officer; Tamera Baird, Chief Plans Examiner; Mark Thomas, Economic Development Director; Tom Benz, System EI ngineering Manager; Mark Miller, Transportation Services Manager; Terri Calhoun, Paralegal A Presentation and discussion regarding the Preliminary Report of the City of Georgetown's current efforts to establish and maintain a competitive position in its defined market and review of current benefit options and compensation strategies -- Kevin Russell, Human Resources Director Russell and Micki Rundell, Director of Finance and Administration, gave Council a presentation regarding compensation. Russell told Council the City's compensation strategy seeks to attract and retain competent employees through market sensitive pay and benefits, and rewards employees based on individual and team performance. Rundell explained the current TMRS statewide difficulty. Russell said, beginning in January 2009, staff is considering design changes in the employee health insurance due to the rising costs. He noted that a Request for Proposal for the benefits process will go out in July, saying it is expected that there will be a 10 to 15% increase. Russell explained consumerism as a way to rethink the City benefits to employees by asking employees to use smart shopping strategies and take ownership of the health care decision-making for themselves and their family. He displayed a comparison with other cities, showing that the City of Georgetown is one of the "richest" programs for employee benefits. He said currently, the City pays 100% of the employee health premium, but the City may go to a 90%-10% or 80%-20% split for the regular plan, while continuing 100% for the employees who choose the Health Savings Plan. He said there would possibly be added options for the 457 Plan; continuing the wellnesslincentive programs such as biometric testing, flu shots, and annual exams. He said the City is considering 95% of Round Rock's salaries for the Public Safety employees; a COLA adjustment based on a 3 -year rolling average CPI; 3.5% budget estimate; and pay -for -performance bonuses. He said there will be a follow-up workshop on this subject on June 9, 2008. There were questions from the Council. B Discussion and possible direction to staff regarding the City of Georgetown Facilities Plan -- Tom Yantis, Assistant City Manager City Council Meeting Minutes/April 21, 2008 Page 1 of 3 Pages With a slide presentation, Yantis gave Council an update on the Facilities Plan. He said the Facilities Plan was adopted in September, 2003, and calls for provisions for Immediate, 5 -Year, and Long -Term needs; greater centralization of City facilities on the west side of Downtown; and utilizing City -owned property first before acquiring additional property. He said a citizen bond committee was formed to address immediate needs; and propositions in the November 2004 Bond Election were approved. He displayed pictures of what has been built in the last year, such as the new Public Library; relocation and construction of Fire Station Number 1; renovation of the Community Center; renovation of the old WCAD building for IT; construction of the Airport Tower; and currently underway, the expansion of the Recreation Center. He said five-year needs from 2003 have become immediate needs for the Police Department, Municipal Court, Georgetown Utility Systems, and additional fire stations/upgrade of existing fire stations. He noted the options for addressing the immediate needs such as: renovating the old library for municipal court; conducting a needs assessment and analyzing options of constructing a new building or acquiring an existing building for the Police Department; renovating the Georgetown Municipal Complex (GMC) to accomodate more employees; developing a storage yard on propery across FM1460 for Georgetown Utility Systems; identifying the best location for the next fire station; and renovating Fire Station #2. He suggested there are other issues to be considered, such as how to use the old fire station downtown; whether to keep the city office building on the Square; whether to move the Visitor Center to the existing Municipal Court space once Court moves; providing more parking for downtown offices; and adopting a policy of office space standardization. He said the new five-year needs are space constraints in City Hall; space constraints at the GMC; a continuing need for additional fire stations; and expansion of the kennel at the Animal Shelter. He said a presentation will occur in June on the Parks Master Plan. Yantis said the staff needs direction from Council on what to do with the old fire station and old city office building; what is the best solution for the Police Department; and whether the City should purchase property for a downtown parking garage. There were questions and comments from the Council. Speakers, Bob Weimer and Larry McCormick, explained to Council a proposition for leasing the old downtown fire station for a brew pub/restaurant, including a Georgetown -brewed beer and a Georgetown -brewed root beer. He said they would like to have some of the old fire station equipment to decorate the facility, and they would dedicate a room for Southwestern students to shoot pool, throw darts, play shuffleboard, etc. He suggested that they would also reserve a portion of the building to the Georgetown Artworks Group. There were questions from the Council. Weimer distributed a proposal on the dais, and McCormick said the investors in the project would give over 20% of their profit to the Georgetown Art Works (GAW). The City would receive 75% of the rent and GAW would receive 25%. McCormick explained that the brew pub/restaurant would bring people to Georgetown, the old fire house as a brew pub would provide a revenue stream to fund Georgetown Art Works to use to develop a center for the arts. Executive Session In compliance with the Open Meetings Act, Chapter 551, Government Code, Vernon's Texas Codes, Annotated, the items listed below will be discussed in closed session and are subject to action in the regular session that follows. C Sec.551.071: Consultation with Attorney - Advice from attorney about pending or contemplated litigation and other matters on which the attorney has a duty to advise the City Council, including agenda items - Texas Indigenous Council, et al. v. City of Georgetown , et al., Cause No. A08 -CV -062 LY, in the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas - Consideration and possible action regarding possible claims related to water quality pond engineering services D Sec 551.072: Deliberations about Real Property - Consideration and possible action to deliberate the purchase of real property for city facilities - Consideration and possible action to deliberate the sale of real property or city facilities 5:24 p.m. -- recessed to Executive Session 6:20 p.m. -- returned to Open Session and adjourned The meeting Was adjourned at 06:20 PM. Approved : Attest: City Council Meeting Minutes/April 21, 2008 Page 2 of 3 Pages City Council Meeting Minutes/April 21, 2008 Page 3 of 3 Pages City Secretary Sandra Lee