HomeMy WebLinkAboutMIN 05.24.2011 CC-SThe City Council of the City of Georgetown, Texas, met in Regular Session on the above date with Mayor
George Garver presiding.
Council Present:
Patty Eason, Danny Meigs, Bill Sattler, Pat
Berryman, Tommy Gonzalez, Troy Hellmann,
Rachael Jonrowe
Council Absent.
All Council Present
Staff Present.
Paul Brandenburg, City Manager; Kevin Russell, Director of Human Resources and Civil Services; Mark
Sokolow, City Attorney; Jessica Brettle, City Secretary
Regular Session
(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.)
A Call to Order -SPECIAL SESSION TO BEGIN NO EARLIER THAN 2:00 PM
Berryman absent.
Mayor called the meeting to order at 2:00 PM.
He granted the microphone to Mark Sokolow, who requested to speak to the Council.
Sokolow said he appreciates the opportunity to speak to the Council. A transcript of his remarks is outlined
below:
"I appreciate the opportunity to present the following observations to the City Council. I have been working
with cities since 1989. It has always been exciting and I thoroughly enjoy working for the citizens of each
city that I have served. For those of you who were not in the hiring process or who recently met me, I would
like to let you know why after an extensive search, the City Council of Georgetown chose me. It was based
on my qualifications, education, experience, and accomplishments. I am a proud Texan. I was born in
Houston while my father was stationed at Ellington Air Force Base and after my father retired from the
military, we returned to Houston, Texas.
Berryman arrived at the dais.
I went to Westbury and Bellaire High School and was there at the same time that Mayor Garver was the
superintendent of HISD. Not only was I a student under Mayor Garver but also Council member Berryman's
husband went to Bellaire High School at about the same time. I received a Bachelor's in History from the
University of Houston and a law degree from the University of Houston. I was licensed in May 1980 and in
my family's tradition, I joined the military. I was in the JAGC in the Navy from 1980 to 1984 wherein I
served at the Naval Legal Service Offices in Pensacola and in Philadelphia. I served in the capacity of a
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defense attorney, prosecutor, appellate staff attorney, brig magistrate, claims attorney, and legal assistance
attorney. I take great pride in the service that I have provided to my country. When 1 left the service, I
returned to Houston with my wife and first child and went to private practice. From late 1984 to early 1989, 1
was in private practice and worked on personal injury litigation, collections, family law and criminal defense.
In early 1989, 1 decided to get into municipal law and joined the legal department of the City of Galveston. I
was their litigation attorney and worked on the tax reinvestment issues. Within approximately 18 months, I
was made Acting City Attorney. Thereafter in 1991, 1 accepted the position of City Attorney for the City of
League City and worked there until 1996. At League City, I worked on all aspects of the city government
and especially the incentive programs involving the municipal utility districts and the development of quality
subdivisions. 1 also worked on flooding issues, and was involved in the condemnation wherein we obtained
the land to build a drainage detention pond for Bayridge. In 1996, 1 was hired as the City Attorney of Port
Arthur and worked there for over thirteen years. I was instrumental in bringing in the grant program for
Community Prosecution Program wherein my office supervised teachers and counselors who provided
programs for at -risk youth. The programs included anger management classes, self esteem classes,
parenting classes, and lectures from nationally known speakers including Judge Mathis and provided
individual counseling to at -risk children. I also worked on the industrial district agreements and with the City
Manager developed incentives that brought millions of dollars of industrial revenue to the City while creating
a business climate, which encouraged the expansion of the businesses and the retention of local
businesses and residents. I also obtained my Masters in Public Administration from Lamar University and
in my spare time, I taught political science at Lamar University and Lamar State College. I found working in
Georgetown to be rewarding and a challenge. I believe the Council decision to retain me after a nationwide
search, was an honor to me and was the correct decision. In the May 10, 2011 Council Meeting, there was
a Motion by Mayor Pro Tem Ross and second by Councilmember Sattler that the City Attorney's
performance and status will be considered and final action taken at the next regularly scheduled City
Council meeting. It was approved 7-0. The regular meetings are scheduled at 6:00 PM., which makes it
more accessible to the public and is the same time that public hearings are scheduled. The next regular
council meeting therefore would have been May 24th at 6:00 PM. I have a concern that this special meeting
at 2:00 PM. is at an earlier time than was as delineated in the Motion of Mayor Pro Tem Ross and it will
raise questions as to how that was decided and who made the decision thereon. It also brings it to a time
that most of the public cannot be in attendance. 1 have a concern as to the release of the 2011 evaluations
in a manner that was different than the release of the 2010 evaluations. On August 24, 2010, there was a
Motion by then Council member Ross and seconded by Council member Gonzalez for the City Attorney to
release my 2010 evaluations with the redactions as suggested by the Attorney General in his letters dated
August 23, 2010 and August 3, 2010. It was approved 7-0. Based on the council approved motion, my
office released the 2010 evaluations with the redactions as approved by the Attorney General's office and
released on August 25, 2010. Last week, four documents pertaining to my 2011 evaluation were released
publicly on the Internet. It included my self-evaluation, the Council evaluation, the staff evaluation and the
survey. Previously, I was informed that Ms. Dickie had requested an Attorney General's opinion as to the
release of these 2011 documents. By releasing these documents in this manner, it has deprived the City
Council and the new council members of reviewing the rationale and opinion of the Attorney General's
office on the 2011 evaluation and it will raise questions as to who authorized the release. It should have
been a council decision made in a transparent manner and in an open meeting. It also brings into a concern
as to apparently inconsistent advice being received. On July 8th, 2010 the City Council received an opinion
from an outside law firm that my evaluations are confidential and should not be disseminated. If there was
a change in position thereon, the premature release of the 2011 evaluations deprived the City Council and
the new Council members of the ability to review the new opinion of the outside firm and give their input as
to why. The release of the 2011 documents should have been made as a result of a Council decision in a
public vote. The release of the 2011 documents also deprived the City Council of the ability to segregate
out and put in a confidential file the portions of the documents that the Attorney General indicates does not
need to be disclosed as they are privileged. The segregation of documents into confidential folders has
been allowed in the past and is allowed under the Code of Ordinances. Also, what was released was not
the full evaluation and did not include the related materials. The release on the internet did not include my
email dated September 22, 2010 on the evaluation and communication, my email dated October 19, 2010
on the evaluation process and my email dated December 14, 2010 on remarks that should never be made.
It also did not include my February 2011 letter that I handed out to each council member during my
discussions on my evaluation. The decision to release the documents should have involved a discussion as
to the need to release all of the documents and not just a few of them. Again, the City Council should have
been consulted and they should have been the ones to authorize the release in a transparent and open
manner, by a public vote, the same way it was done in August 2011. The City Council should investigate
the release of these types of documents, which occurred without City Council approval as to prevent such
activity from re -occurring. Later I would like to discuss with your permission by February letter wherein I
indicated to the Council that I helped assist staff with over $4 million in savings. That type of letter, which is
what 1 gave to you- if you are going to release the rest of the evaluation, in all fairness, that should have
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been released as well. Even based on the limited documents that were published on the Internet, I have
now received support, mostly from the minority community and I appreciate that, as they know what I have
promoted in other cities, which included the retention of local residents and the fair treatment of minorities.
As stated before, I have over twenty years of municipal experience and as someone undiplomatically
pointed out, 1 am getting older. It is time to move on and I will retire. The effective date must allow enough
time for transition to an experienced attorney who can take over which is a requirement of the Code of
Ordinances and the personnel policies. The financial package in the proposed Retirement Agreement is
substantially equal to the May 18, 2011 proposal that I received from Ms. Dickie with due consideration as
to the financial impact of the suggested new effective date as to ensure a smooth transition and the deletion
of any available compensation from the Texas Workforce that was previously offered. The proposed
effective date will be July 1, 2011. This allows the City Council at the next regular meeting, to appoint an
Interim Attorney and to approve the Retirement Agreement that has been properly posted and available for
the public to review prior to the approval by the City Council. The Code of Ordinances does require that
proposed contracts need to be placed in the packets for public approval prior to Council action. I am
recommending that you appoint as an Interim City Attorney, either Randy Stump who is an experienced
municipal and local attorney or Trish Carls. After you make your decision as to who will be the Interim City
Attorney, I can work with either her or him as to discuss the status of pending items which includes the
award of the construction contract to DNT and the affect of the CHASCO challenge as well as the
bankruptcy proceeding, the development of the agreement between Grape Creek, GEDCO, the City and the
Reinvestment Zone as to bring another winery to downtown Georgetown, the development of the
agreement with Lone Star as have them relocate a portion of their operations in the Georgetonian and keep
their headquarters in Georgetown, the negotiation of an Emergency Service Organization Agreement with
Williamson County as to receive assurance of a minimum response time, for example 12 minutes or the
City has an option to call other ambulances to come to the scene, the resolution of the dispute with Pulte
Homes over improvements that need to be made in Sun City as to avoid flooding , the remaining licenses to
be signed with Texas Crushed Stone and with Georgetown Railroad Company as well as other pending
projects in the legal department. By placing the contract on the June 71h agenda, you are also complying
with portions of the agreement that requires a 21 -day mandatory review period. There is a recognition that
the payment of the six months are also being made to me so that I will be available to assist the City in any
legal proceedings against the City. As Council member Gonzalez is aware, he made the motion to award
the construction contract to DNT at a recent GTEC Board meeting based on my advice and it will save the
City approximately $800,000. DNT submitted a bid for $6,282,850 while the CHASCO bid was much
higher. This item is scheduled to be reviewed and acted on at today's regular council meeting. If Council
member Gonzalez or the remainder of the Council have questions as to my legal advice, I would
recommend that you defer the award of the contract to DNT and refer the matter to another attorney outside
of my office. Nevertheless, I am quite willing to work with the new Interim City Attorney as to defend that
decision as well as defend any other decisions that I have made during my tenure with the City. 1 have
inserted a provision in the Retirement Agreement wherein we agree not to disparage each other and work
together in the future as a team. This is important for the transition process and for the future defense of
city claims. I will be a Georgetown retiree and I want to take pride in the fact that I was a part of this
organization and was able to contribute on many projects whether it was the Lake Water Treatment Plant
Expansion, the purchase of land on D.B. Woods for the fire and police training facility, the award of the
construction contract for SE1, the economic development agreement with San Gabriel which will hopefully
bring economic development to downtown and on other projects. I met with the Director of Personnel and
we both have concerns as to the anonymous surveys and the prudency of having them. Apparently, he has
received remarks, which were just as bad. In Port Arthur, we had programs to educate employees to be
sensitive to diversity and other ethnic groups. I would recommend that the City of Georgetown adopt similar
programs. It is very disenchanting that there are staff members who have expressed some very
inappropriate remarks in an anonymous and cowardly fashion as to use words such as "Old Dog" or
"Monkey". The Council should take prompt action as not to give the impression that you are indifferent to
the sensitivities of the minority population and of employees who are working at a later stage of their lives. 1
do appreciate the following Council comments: "His department has saved the city money. His suggestions
on the 4A Board have protected the taxpayer financially as well. Any complaint from staff about his fiscal
conservatism is not listening to the taxpayers of Georgetown and the fiscal conservatism they are
demanding from all of us within our city bureaucracy". I do appreciate the following staff comment: "Being
that Mark has many years of experience as a City Attorney, his knowledge base regarding municipal legal
issues is broad. It is also evident that Mark cares a lot about his job and he works very well under pressure.
He is friendly, honest and tries his best to get along with his fellow coworkers. Mark has also hired an
excellent staff who are patient, smart and display an incredible amount of customer service. His staff are
hard workers who go out of their way to make sure they can address the needs of fellow staff in a quick and
timely fashion." Attached is the version of the proposed Retirement Agreement, which 1 believe that the City
Council will find to be fair and appropriate. "
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He said he would like to pass out copies of the retirement agreement to the Council. He provided the signed
retirement agreement to Martha Dickie. He provided council with other documents related to his employment
with the city and he described those documents. He showed Council a version of the August 3, 2010 Attorney
General's letter opinion, which authorized the release of a redacted portion of his evaluation. He read a portion
of this letter for the Council. He showed council the Executive Session motion on August 24, 2010, which asked
Sokolow to withdraw the lawsuit and release the redacted evaluations. He said the motion at the last meeting
said nothing about a release of of Executive Session. He showed Council the April 11, 2011 Open Records
Request from the Williamson County Sun for his evaluations and any related documents as well as legal
papers. He showed Council the minutes of the May 10, 2011 meeting regarding the motion concerning the City
Attorney's employment status discussion. He spoke about the letter dated February 22, 2011 about his $4
million in savings. He continued to describe the documents being provided to the Council. He said the Sun
asked for the three related documents and added the Council should see those documents, which are the
emails. He said he was disappointed as to the packets released on the agenda that included the evaluations,
but not these supporting documents and emails. He spoke about the questions that were raised about the
hiring of the Assistant City Attorney. He said he would like to pass out a memo that shows that he backed her
up in a very difficult circumstance. He said there were questions or remarks about the communication that he
has had with other department heads. He noted he has provided Council with an example of this type of
communication. He spoke about how he deals with the County and added he has provided Council with an
example of how he communicates with them. He said there are senior staff members that do appreciate what
he's done for the City. He said he has provided Council with his mid -year status report. He said tonight the
Council has an item about DNT and Chasco and added the Council has a challenge from CHASCO as well. He
said there was a challenge from Ken Martin about the release of the evaluations to him. He said what was
released was determined as correct by the Attorney General's Office and upholds the integrity of his legal
assistant. He said there are also a few memos on some recent events. He said he was not provided with the
request to the Attorney General's office for the release of his 2011 evaluations. He reviewed to the Council the
Open Records Request that was received by the Attorney General's office from Martha Dickie and her law firm.
He continued to describe this request to the Council. He said, in his opinion, it should have been a Council
decision to release the evaluation documents to the public. He added he also had concerns about the posting
of the special meeting. He said, at the next Council meeting, they should appoint an Interim City Attorney and
also review the agreement that has been presented to them. He noted he suggests they consider the amount of
transition time and added his original employment contract had a transition time of 90 days. He said he has
enjoyed working with several employees at the City. He spoke about the Director's Meetings on Monday
mornings and how he has enjoyed the camaraderie between the senior staff.
Council recessed for 5 minutes and then convened in Executive Session under Section 551.071 of the Texas
Open Meetings Act -- 2:45 PM
B Personnel Action: Discussion and decision regarding the employment status of the City Attorney, Mark
Sokolow. The City Council wishes to provide all the legal prerogatives specified by the City Charter and State
Law to the City Attorney. Outside attorney Martha Dickie will assist the Mayor with this responsibility during this
meeting.
Council returned to Open Session at 4:55 PM
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
- Discuss with Martha Dickie, outside attorney, the legal aspects of items B and D
•
D Discussion and possible action regarding potential settlement of all claims with City Attorney Mark Sokolow.
Mayor reviewed this item and introduced the City Council's outside attorney on this issue, Martha Dickie, to the
audience. Dickie said they have negotiated with Sokolow and he has agreed that he will be retiring from the City
of Georgetown effective June 14, 2011. She said he will be receiving six months severance pay and the Texas
Municipal League will be paying 3 months of that amount. She said there is a full comprehensive release of all
matters between the city and Sokolow. She said Sokolow has agreed to participate with the City in any way
City Council Meeting Minutes/
Page 4 of 5 Pages
after his retirement. She said this document will be available to anyone who wants to review it.
She said Sokolow will sign and tender today a letter regarding his retirement effective June 14, 2011.
Motion by Gonzalez, second by Meigs to approve the retirement agreement with Mark Sokolow. Approved 7-0
Dickie said the
other thing
discussed is that there will be attached a
copy of his February letter as well as a
transcript of his
comments
made earlier today to the minutes of this
meeting.
Sokolow thanked Council for their time. He said this is a fresh start and he accepts the Council's decision as to
the amount of transition time they prefer. He said Georgetown is a beautiful place and he would proudly join the
other retirees. He said, in the last two months here, he has lost over 20 pounds by just walking the trails. He
said he thinks Randy and staff have done a wonderful job with the local parks. Sokolow thanked Council for the
opportunity to serve the City of Georgetown.
E Presentation by the
Director of Human Resources
for the City of
Georgetown of previous evaluations and
related
information
regarding the performance and
management
of the City Attorney.
F Comments from employee(s) relative to the performance of the City Attorney.
.<.
G Presentation to Council by City Attorney. The City Attorney will have one hour to present any information he
wishes to share.
H Comments from the audience. Three minutes will be made available to each person in the audience who
wishes to address the Council relative to this issue. Please complete a request form to be allowed to address
Council.
This item was pulled from the agenda by the Council.
Discussion and possible action by the City Council.
This item was pulled from the agenda by the Council.
J Adjournment.
Motion by Jonrowe, second by Meigs to adjourn.
Adjourned at 5:03 PM
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Page 5 of 5 Pages
The meeting was adjourned at 05:03 PM.
Secretary'essica Brettle
A
EST. 3648
GEOROETOWN
TEXAS
February 22, 2011
MARK SOKOLOW, CITY ATTOP\.NEY
CITY OF GEORGETOWN
Dear Mayor, Mayor Pro Tem Ross, and Council Members.
Since October 19, 2009, the following are key matters
wherein I have had a significant impact which may not have
otherwise occurred.
6/19/2010
'Purchased 20.1772 acres on O.B.
Wood Road at $1.75 psf for
$1,533,534. Saved $2.50 psf from
other site at Shell Road which
was offered at $3.75 psf.
12/7/2010
'Clarified Elster Agreement as to
incorporate project support
services of $523,000 on Page 3 of
the agreement into the Exhibit
"A" of $7,880,565.16.
Savings.$1,280,000
Savings: $523,000
510 W. 9"' St. I P.O. Box 409 1 Gaorgetmva Texas 73627-0409 1 (512) 930-3354 I (51D 931-7657 (fax)
wmv.georgetowii.org I i*lsokaio;v@georgetoivn.org
11/23/2010
i'
CommitteeLakewater as to address concerns
on $12,469,899 recommended by
Project _ • now
rebid, it is $10,351,187.
4%23/2010
*Settled the litigation of First
Citizens Bank vs. City for only $
20,000 as our liability was over
$113,480 due to failure to honor
2,n assignment. _ • had R' •
9.ctive since !'.
'Stopped daily citations which
appeared harassing to business
community, i.e. Jimmy Jacobs
Custom Homes was cited 30
consecutive times.
*Lessened risk of Texas Crushed
Stone Industrial. District
Agreement by removing City's
assumption of full .liability,
inserting limited liability of EL
217 and requests County to share
in liability.
I bring to the City over 20 years experience with cities which
litigation/riskinclude not only document review, but also
analysis. I appreciate the confidence that you have placed M my
Though
that I have saved the City monies in an efficient manner, which I
believe the
. citizens
. . and . busm*ess community
appreciates.
Also, I have promoted policies to treat the business
community and local community with additional consideration.
Sincerely,