HomeMy WebLinkAboutMIN 10.23.2012 CC-WMinutes of the Meeting of the Governing Body
of the City of Georgetown, Texas
Tuesday, October 23, 2012
The 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, Bill Sattler, Rachael Tommy Gonzalez
Jonrowe, Jerry Hammerlun, Troy Hellmann
Staff Present:
Paul E. Brandenburg, City Manager; Bridget Chapman, Acting City Attorney; Jessica Brettle, City
Secretary; Wayne Nero, Police Chief; Susan Morgan, Finance Director; Micki Rundell, Chief Financial
Officer; Jim Briggs, General Manager for Utilities; Laurie Brewer, Assistant City Manager
Minutes
Policy Development/Review Workshop - Call to order at 03:30 PM
A Public Safety Operations and Training Complex -- Paul E. Brandenburg, City Manager and Wayne Nero, Police
Chief
Mayor called the meeting to order at 3:32 PM.
Jonrowe, Gonzalez absent.
Brandenburg provided Council with an update of the Public Safety Operations and Training Complex. He said
he provided the Council with a rendering of the project as well as the project schedule. He said the project is
moving along with the schedule. He spoke about the size of the facility and how it has gone up to 73,000 square
feet. He noted staff is trying to get the building down below 70,000 square feet. He spoke about some of the DB
Woods improvements that will need to take place to make way for this facility. He said the next step the Council
needs to take care of is the Construction Manager at Risk for the project, which is the missing piece of the
puzzle that should have been taken care of months ago. He said staff intends to negotiate and agree on a
contract in the next week or so. He said the final agreement with Bartlett Cocke will be brought back to Council
at the next meeting. He said the size of the facility has gone back and forth a little bit. He spoke about the
addition of some of the sizes of rooms as well as the need for extra space for mechanical reasons. He listed
why the space needs have increased. He spoke of the idea regarding a shooting range and said the City will
probably not do the range until later around 2017 or 2018. He noted the range can be an additional $2 to $3
million. He spoke about how the City is still on schedule for the development. He said he would like to have
more regular meetings with Council regarding this project. He said the voters approved up to $29 million for this
facility. He spoke about how the facility will house fire administration as well.
Hammerlun asked and Brandenburg said they can get the Council a copy of the program for the project.
Hammerlun asked about the cost estimating for the construction. Chapman said the cost estimate is usually
based on cost per square foot. Hammerlun asked and Brandenburg said Council can get a copy of the facility,
site cost and other information available. Hammerlun asked about the status of the cave investigation and
Brandenburg said Terracon will be coming in to continue the study. Brandenburg explained the process for the
investigation. Hammerlun asked and Brandenburg said there has been no negotiation yet with the construction
manager at risk on this project. Hammerlun said he thinks the City has lost its advantage with going with CM at
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risk at this point. He said he would suggest going back to competitive sealed proposals for this project. Sattler
agreed with Hammerlun and added the city has lost all advantage with going with the CMAR method. He noted,
if the City took this to competitive bid, the city would receive ten sealed bids as opposed to one bid.
Brandenburg said that item will be coming back to the Council at the next meeting for consideration. Sattler said
he thinks the City has lost all of its advantage. He said he thinks we need to reconsider whether or not we want
to go CMAR. Meigs asked and Brandenburg said it is a Council decision regarding the method they would like to
use. Brandenburg noted the City will lose time if it wants to change methods. Meigs said he is not a construction
person but noted the arguments that have been made seem to make sense to him. Hellman asked about the
cave investigation. Hellmann asked and Brandenburg said the City did not know about the cave issue when the
location for the facility was chosen. Eason said she is upset about this issue and noted she is the city's
representative on the Williamson County Conservation Foundation. She said she would expect people are
working with the foundation's scientists on what can or can not be done. Brandenburg said the City has not
even gotten that far yet. Eason said, as far as the rest of the issue, she is no expert in construction and she
would have to hear a lot more what folks are considering and what it all means in terms of going out to bid or
not. She noted she can not really give an opinion except that she knows people are ready to get started with
this project. Mayor said it is clear there is sentiment to look at whether or not there are merits to bidding this out.
Hammerlun said no question the intensity he feels is based on the importance of this project for the City. He
said he is concerned about the fact that the City does not have a construction manager as part of a team. He
said none of his comments reflect to the importance of the building and added his issue relates specifically to
construction and construction costs. He said costs are going up and they are going up every day. He said he
would like to give strong consideration for going with competitive sealed proposals. Hammerlun asked and
Brandenburg said Michael Seery is heading up this project. Brandenburg noted Seery is the point person to
handle that.
Jonrowe arrived at the dais.
Brandenburg said the staff originally planned to come back on the 13th with the contract with the construction
manager at risk. He noted, however, now staff will have the options available to the Council at that time as well.
Brandenburg said but having today's meeting, the staff can be prepared to discuss the other options. Nero said
he and the Fire Chief are not the construction experts by far. He asked if there are any questions about where
things are located on the rendering. There was much discussion regarding the design.
B Public Safety Compensation Plan -- Paul E. Brandenburg, City Manager
Brandenburg provided Council with a summary of the public safety compensation plan. He said one of the
things Council wanted staff to look at was competitive pay for public safety. He noted staff is looking at both
recruitment and retention issues. He said the study originally recommended $70,000 for the fire department,
which has been included in the amounts. He noted, in addition, each department got $100,000 to work on their
step plans. He said the step system is lengthy and the systems given to Council have been modified. He spoke
about where the money would go and why it is important to implement it now instead of waiting until January. He
said the police would need another $219,000 and the fire would need $100,000 to fulfill the whole plan.
Brandenburg said staff is open to how Council would like to adopt this plan. He asked that Fite describe his step
plan and how this would address the issues. Fite said currently the City has an 18 step pay plan. He noted if the
staff person is at a 13 year level but switches positions, he or she stays at that level. He noted it is a linear
system that has worked okay in the past four or five years, He said he is proposing to shrink this into a 9 year
step. He said if the fire fighters are promoted in the new place, they start over at their rank. He said the goal of
this pay plan is to prevent the newer, younger fire fighters from leaving. He noted it gives incentives for fire
fighters to stay and grow a leadership program in the City. Fite said he is about to lose two more fire fighters to
Austin. He said he would like to present a plan to try to fix this. Hellmann asked and Fite described the money
included in the plan is both the $70,000 originally approved as well as the additional $100,000 per year. Meigs
said he understands the cost in not only financial but moral. He asked and Fite said, out of all of the proposed
plans, he recommends Draft B. He said Draft A gets the City by, but he does not want to just get the City. He
added he wants to fix the problem. Sattler asked and Fite confirmed this plan will help solve the problem. He
noted this is not a "Robert Fite Plan" but a "Georgetown Fire Department Plan." Jonrowe asked and Fite said he
wants to talk about Round Rock Fire Department. He sad the City goes on the same calls and events with him
and noted it is hard no to compare with Round Rock. He said this plan will bring the department to a range
between 91 and 95% to Round Rock. He said the steps are different because Round Rock is at 11 years and
his is 9. Jonrowe spoke about the importance of setting a precedent with the next chief. She said this would
demonstrate the importance of City of Excellence with the City. She noted her inclination is to go with Plan B.
Nero spoke about the attrition and retention issue in the police department. He noted the attrition in the last
three years has not been good and said the City has hired 21 officers but has lost 23. He spoke about the
retention of the last three years and noted, of the 21 officers hired in the last three years, only 13 are left. He
spoke about why the retention is concerning to him. He said the hard part for them is the quality of applicants
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coming in. He spoke about working on the image and the culture of the police department. He discussed the two
proposed plans for the police department to the Council. He said a goal for him would be the nine year plan and
he described this plan to the Council. Jonrowe asked and Nero said the cost of the nine year plan would be a
difference of $219,000. Jonrowe said she knows they do not like to compare to Round Rock but noted a lot of
the guys in the field do compare themselves to Round Rock. She said, right now, she likes the nine year plan.
Hammerlun agreed with Jonrowe's sentiments. Sattler had questions regarding the various salaries in the
different step plan structures. Hellmann asked and Nero confirmed this plan includes the 10 vacancies.
Hellmann asked and Nero said it is impossible to get a nine year step with the $125,000. Mayor asked and
Brandenburg said this will be coming back at the next meeting for official action and noted it sounds like Council
would like to see the nine year plan.
C Overview of the 2012/13 Citizen's Quality of Life Survey -- Susan Morgan, Finance Director and Micki Rundell,
Chief Financial Officer
Mayor asked and Rundell said it has been three years since the last survey was distributed. Mayor summarized
the citizen's surveys that have taken place in the past. Rundell said the goal would be to have the feedback and
results from the survey available in time to revise the visioning plan.
With a Powerpoint Presentation, Rundell showed Council a preview of what will be done for this year's survey.
She spoke about why it is good to do a survey. She noted it provides feedback to Council, it is a "report card" on
how City has managed its resources and it is an element of the Business Plan. She provided a brief
background of this survey and noted the first one was done in 2001 and was called the "quality of life survey."
She said it was done in response to issues regarding development. She noted Finance took the survey over in
2004 and noted they took that survey and broadened the scope to include areas such as transportation, parks,
quality and value of services and needs. She noted they used that information for the 2004 bond referendum
that funded the library and the recreation center. She noted the City did not use it for 2010. She summarized
some of the past findings and noted the issues have remained the same. She noted the number one issue has
always been transportation and managing growth. She said the main topics are improving congestion,
managing growth and more job opportunities. She said the City really focused on quality of life and noted the
last survey showed that residents moved to Georgetown for location and its "good caring people. She spoke
about some of the positive transportation options as well as economic development aspects included in the
survey. She said value of services, safety of citizens, quality of City services and customer service are also
included in the survey. She noted the past surveys have been a telephone survey. She noted they added an
internet component in 2010. She noted the internet component was not integrated into the results. She said
there were 400 completed surveys. She noted 52 questions were answered. She noted some of those questions
are related to demographics. She said other areas include transportation, quality of life, economic development,
city services and values. She spoke about some of the past questions used and noted they have been very
consistent over the years. She said the majority of the questions are still relevant. She noted those questions
address or reaffirm the City of Excellence. She said the quality and value of the questions are important for
measuring performance and trend analysis. She noted the RFP for this is currently out and noted the vendor
selection will be determined by the end of October. She noted the process is to be determined. She said, once
the vendor is decided, the Council will begin to work on the questions to be included in the survey. She said staff
will come back to Council in November or Decembertro review or amend the questions. She said the survey will
be conducted in late January or early February time frame. She said the results will be brought to the Council
for the February 26 Council meeting. She noted the staff will use the survey to update the business plan for the
City of Excellence and will be a prelude to the 2013/14 budget process. Eason said she does not have any
specific questions but noted, originally, she was not in support of surreys. She noted she has learned to greatly
appreciate the surveys in helping the Council understand the pulse of the citizens. She said she has found it to
be an extremely valuable tool. Hellmann said he thinks surveys are powerful tools to get feedback from citizens.
Hellmann said he would love to receive more responses if possible. Rundell noted the issue is that it has to be
an even sampling of the community. Meigs agreed and noted it would be good to have more than 500
responses to this survey. Rundell said, if the City wants to do a larger survey, the City will need to invest more
money into the process. She said she will find out if there would be an increase in cost. Sattler asked and
Rundell said Council will be able to give staff ideas on the types of questions Council wants to include in the
survey. Hammerlun said he has no questions. Jonrowe said she is very excited about the survey. She noted
she would like to tweak some of the youth related questions. Rundell said the City Council can adjust any of the
questions according to what is going on in the City. She noted, however, the City is limited on the type of
questions that can be asked. Mayor said Council should not be after more numbers, but an accurate estimate
of what the total community believes. Rundell assured Council it will be an accurate sampling of the population.
Mayor said the real issue is the issue of telephones not being available as most people use cell phones and not
land lines.
Gonzalez arrived at the dais.
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Rundell said the goal is to come back with a related item on the November 26 agenda.
Meeting recessed to Executive Session under Sections 551.071 and 551.072: 4:50PM
Meeting returned to Open Session and adjourned -- 6:03PM
Adjournment
The meeting was adjourned at 06:03 PM.
Approve
Mayo G- e—orgegarveF
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