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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMIN 09.28.2010 CC-WThe 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, Bill Sattler, Pat Berryman, Dale Patty Eason Ross, Tommy Gonzalez, Gabe Sansing Staff Present: Paul E. Brandenburg, City Manager; Mark Sokolow, City Attorney; Jessica Brettle, City Secretary; Micki Rundell, Chief Financial Officer, Elizabeth Cook, Community Development Director; Jennifer Bills, Housing Coordinator; A Consideration and possible action to provide direction to the Housing Advisory Board and staff regarding the completion of the Housing Element of the Comprehensive Plan -- Jennifer C. Bilis, AICP, LEED AP, Housing Coordinator and Elizabeth A. Cook, Community Development Director Eason and Berryman off the dais. Mayor summarized the item and introduced Bills to the audience. Bills said Tim Todd, chairman of the Housing Advisory Board will be giving the presentation. Mayor described the difference between the Housing Advisory Board and the Housing Authority Board. With a Powerpoint presentation, Todd described the Housing Element of the City's 2030 Comprehensive Plan. He said he is speaking tonight as a member of the Housing Advisory Board. He introduced the other members of the Housing Advisory Board to the City Council. He noted the members of the Housing Advisory Board are engaged and care a lot about housing in Georgetown and are working very hard on behalf of the Board. He said the Housing Element has come up for discussion with the Council many times before and added the process dates back to 2006. He said there are fourteen required long range elements of the Comprehensive Plan and he described those elements. He said the Housing Element is one of the required elements that has never been adopted. He described the process that was undertaken in order to create the draft Housing Element. He said, once a Housing Element is approved, it will serve as a guide for the Housing Advisory Board and City Council when considering City initiated projects or requests from other housing developers. He spoke about the term "affordable housing" and noted there is some confusion as to what affordable housing is and how the City of Georgetown approaches affordable housing. He said the Board considers affordable housing the kind of housing which people of median wage would be able to afford. He added this is not low income housing. He spoke about why the Council should approve a Housing Element and said it is required by the City Charter and is used as a guide when considering housing options in the City. He spoke about City participation in projects such as Habitat for Humanity's Old Mill Village. He spoke about the benefits of providing affordable housing such as economic benefits, environmental benefits and the fact that people can live and work within the same area. He described the Housing Element draft that was completed in 2008. He described what the element consisted of and said it was used to create a projected future demand for affordable housing in Georgetown. He said the study used during the process found that there was a significant need for affordable City Council Meeting Minutes/ Page 1 of 5 Pages housing in the 50 to 80 percent of Area Median Income, gross income of $35,985 to $57,575 for a family of four in 2009. He said the finding also included that more affordable rental units are needed in the area. He said the single family market is currently providing housing to 80% of the Area Median Income and above. He said from the findings, fifteen policy recommendations were crafted. He said theses recommendations cover policies that the City can implement over the next 15-20 years. He said, once these recommendations are adopted, they will be used as a focus by the Housing Advisory Board to implement programs as the City Council directs. He went through the Housing Element timeline that ranged from February 2008 to March 2009. Berryman arrived at the dais. Todd said the goal is the adoption of the Housing Element of the 2030 plan. He spoke about how the City can get to that point and said the Board can work with the Council on outstanding issues with the draft Housing Element. He said he would like for members of the Council to work with the Housing Advisory Board to help draft this element. He said he is not going to described the entire fifteen recommendations, although he said that they have downsized those into what the Board feels are more achievable goals. Gonzalez said, from the presentation they were given, it seems like the percentages show that the City is on target for providing affordable housing to citizens. Gonzalez asked and Todd said he feels the biggest gap is with regard to rental homes. He said he feels rentals will become more important in the future as people's lifestyles are changing due to the current economic climate. He said there will be more people looking for affordable housing in the rental area. Sattler asked and Todd said he thinks the information provided by the Census Bureau gives the Board a base line and a place to start. Todd added there is other information available at the state level that provides the Board with more detailed information as well. Sattler asked and Todd agreed the recent Census data is an excellent starting point. Ross asked and Brandenburg said Census data should be certified back to the City by the Spring of 2011. Ross asked if Council needs the Census data in order to update the plan. Todd said he does not believe it is necessary to have that data. He noted the new data will help the Board reform the basis of the data they already have. Bills said the Housing Element pulls from various sources including real estate data. She said the Board recommends two things: that this Element be adopted as a "snapshot" in time and then they can update it during the annual update process. She said the other option would be to update the Element after the census figures come in. Bills said the Board wants to make sure it is on the right track. Mayor asked and Brandenburg said the 2030 plan has the various Elements and some, but not all, have been adopted at this time. Brandenburg added those Elements are adopted over time. He said the process for the creation of the Housing Element was funded three years ago in order to adopt whichever components Council would like to implement. He noted some of the data in the current draft is becoming older and added it has been recommended that the Board look at the State level for newer housing data. He said he thinks the City needs to have better data as to where Georgetown is in terms of its affordable housing needs. He said he would like for Council to take action on this fairly quickly, at least regarding the fifteen priority recommendations of the Element. He said the options are to put this on the future Council agenda and then pick out the recommendations that Council wants to adopt or to send this back to the Advisory Board for further study. He said the City spent good money to create the original draft of the Element. He reiterated that Council does not have to approve all fifteen recommendations. Gonzalez asked and Todd said some of the fifteen elements have been separated out. Mayor asked if Council would like for the Board to go back, look at the elements and then rank the priorities in order of importance and bring those back to Council. Bilis said in December of 2008, the board ranked their priorities according to the conditions the City was in at that time. Todd said the one priority the Board agrees on is whether or not to treat affordable housing as a major policy issue in Georgetown. Todd said the process would be for direct Council input regarding the high priority items. Sansing said this has been talked about for a long time and, while the ideas haven't changed that much, the cost of land has changed a lot. He said this makes the opportunity to build affordable housing less and less of a reality. He noted, without subsidy, it becoming more difficult to create something that the Council may want. He noted the term "affordable" has negative connotations and suggested a name change for those terms. He said he is convinced that the City can build nice neighborhoods and houses that are priced for the working class community. He said there are still some issues out there that need to be addressed. He said he is in favor of putting this in place but noted he does not think it can happen under the current economic circumstances. Gonzalez suggested the city call this "middle class housing." He said it would be good to find what the median salary is in Georgetown and where those people are able to live. He noted there needs to be more specific data on Georgetown's housing needs. Todd said the Board is concerned with multiple styles of housing and not just home ownership, including multi -family housing and rental housing. Gonzalez asked and Todd said the idea is for people to come here with middle wage salaries and be able to purchase a home or be able to rent an apartment as well. Sattler said he would like for the Board to use the Census data as much as possible in City Council Meeting Minutes/ Page 2 of 5 Pages making these evaluations. He said this could be done within the year. Sattler spoke about the priority recommendation regarding the waiving of all municipal impact fees and development fees for affordable housing units and added he would like to see how those fees would be paid by the City. Ross asked for clarification on number four priority regarding treating non-profit and for profit affordable housing developers as a special class of developers. Bills said this was created when the Authority was first starting to work on Sierra Ridge. She said when affordable housing developers first start out, there is a steep learning curve. She noted this addresses the issue of working with those developers more closely in getting the affordable housing developments in place. She said the City would get them in touch with outside development firms as well. Brandenburg described the section in the plan that addresses this issue more fully. Sattler asked if it would be possible to have special conditions for the streets, roads, gutters and sidewalks for affordable housing in order to make the lots a little cheaper. Bilis said, in the City's Unified Development Code, there is an attainable housing Ordinance that addresses this issue. Sattler asked and Bills confirmed the City has already started on this and added it would make the land go further. Mayor asked and Todd said there has been considerable discussion on the Board regarding the upcoming Census numbers. He said he thinks Sattler has a good point in that those numbers need to be taken into consideration. He added, though, the Board is wanting to bring this forward because they have been sitting on this for about a year. He said the Board would like to see some progress made toward the ultimate goal of adopting the Element. Motion by Sansing, second by Meigs that the Council adopt the high priority items 1-4 as a starting point. He added that priority item number 2 should include the statement "once the numbers are identified via the 2010 census" to the end of it and that priority number 3 add the statement "once areas of land have been identified for such development" to end of it. Sattler said he agrees Council should address these things but noted there is too much uncertainty at this time. He said he agrees this needs to be done but noted he thinks there needs to be more certainty. Sansing said this gives the Council a starting point and added that is also why he added those caveat statements to the priority points. Gonzalez said he agrees with where Sansing is going and said this motion will give the Board the power to go back and gather more information on the priorities. Gonzalez made a friendly amendment that the Advisory Board come back with specific numbers and targets regarding what they would like the City to pursue. He said the Council could then take that information and move forward. Sansing accepted that amendment. Berryman said she is troubled because Council has rushed into these things before and they have proven to be a mistake. She thinks the City needs to look at the data as accurately presented, including the census bureau results, and look at the data further prior to making a decision. She said the economy has not progressed as promised and as predicted. She noted she thinks land prices will stabilize or lower over the next year. She noted everyone has their own opinions and she added the Council should make decisions based on facts and not personal opinions. She said this Element is addressing a lot of serious issues and noted she would like the facts. She said the affordable housing she thinks the City needs is for people to be able to buy homes in Georgetown and not necessarily rent apartments. Sattler made a second friendly amendment to direct staff to react to the Census results and address the top four priority items in the Housing Element as soon as possible after the results have been received. He said he would also like for staff to review the cost of waiving the development and impact fees. Brandenburg said there will be no calculation of cost because it will vary depending on each project. He noted those funds will be coming from the general fund as well. Sattler said, however, it would be good to have an example of fee waivers for affordable housing. Bills said these are policy recommendations of things the City should look at but noted the Council can still come up with the process to follow through with those policies. Sattler said a plan and process definition would be helpful. He said the Council should direct staff to establish a plan and a process that Council can review in the future. There was much discussion about the top four priority areas in the Element. Ross said he would like to see what land is currently zoned and where the Board thinks Council should be looking going forward regarding these type of developments. He added, on priority 4, he thinks this opens up the issue of why a developer needs special treatment if the community development department is doing its job. He noted there is a perception that it is hard to build in Georgetown. He said the bigger issue is why do developers of affordable housing even need special treatment. Berryman said there is not a motion needed and added it seems that the Board has received direction based on the conversation tonight. She added she would like for this to be addressed after the Census data has been received. Todd said the Board's goal is to help streamline the development process in the City. He spoke about the fact that building from scratch in Georgetown is a pretty arduous process. He said streamlining that process will make developing in Georgetown more desirable. He said, if you are a developer of affordable housing and want to build in Georgetown, the City should want to help make the process as smooth as possible. Berryman asked why the City would want to do that for only a special type of developers and not for all developers. She also asked why the City would want these developers to be able to bypass the Unified Development Code processes. She noted other communities City Council Meeting Minutes/ Page 3 of 5 Pages have streamlined their development process, but those developments are not as good as those in Georgetown. Mayor reviewed the motion on the floor. Sansing said his goal is to adopt this Element once the City gathers all the information that Council has discussed on the dais tonight. He said this would get adopted and put into place when Council has all the information they need. Berryman asked and Sansing said the Council is not approving the Element as is, but it is approving the Element once Council receives the necessary information. Berryman said it sounds like he is asking that Council approve the Element no matter what sort of information is gathered. Gonzalez said the Council is adopting a process pending the information that will come in at a later date. Sansing said his goal is to approve the element with all of the caveats that Council has talked about today. He said, if those caveats come in and the Council does not want to approve the Element, then it will change or go away. Ross said he can not vote to adopt any of the elements and added he thinks Bills and Todd are clear on the Council's wishes. Todd said he hears Sansing saying that the high priority items become the policy recommendations for the Housing Advisory Board to work on and bring back to Council at a later date for further review. Brandenburg said those four items do not become a part of the plan until Council sees further information on those items. Vote on the motion as friendly amended twice: Approved 5A (Berryman opposed) (Eason absent) Berryman said she thinks Council needs to adopt these items in the Spring after the census data comes in. B Discussion and possible action regarding the City Council employee performance appraisal process -- Tommy Gonzalez, Councilmember District 7 and Danny Meigs, Coucilmember District 3 Mayor described the item. Gonzalez said there were adjustments made that were brought up at the last meeting and they would like to see if Council would like to adopt this form. He asked that this form be adopted for the City Attorney performance review and added the form will be changed according to the needs of the City Manager and City Secretary as well. Sansing asked and Meigs said, when this form was put together, they did not have the existing City Manager document and process. Meigs asked Council that he and Gonzalez be able to combine the best aspects of both forms into one document. Sansing brought up the issue of scoring and how that is different between the existing form and the new suggested form. Gonzalez said, ideally, he would like to stick with the new scoring. Sansing agreed with Meigs and said, blending the two forms would be the ideal. Gonzalez agreed and said his goal would be to make this the final draft for the City Attorney. Berryman spoke about the 360 review process and how the responsibility is being placed on the City Manager. She said it is difficult to do this process within the City and she noted there are ways to do this outside of the City, including the use of independent website surveys. Meigs agreed and said he would like to talk to Brandenburg about how he would like to streamline this process. Berryman said she would like to talk to outside entities for advice to find out how to access outside versions of 360 reviews. Sattler asked about the form being initially received by the Pro Tem and then the fact that it is forwarded to the Mayor and added he would like for this to be sent to the rest of the Council as well. Gonzalez said the Council will receive all forms as a complete package after they have been compiled by the Mayor and Mayor Pro Tem. Meigs said each Councilmember will complete a draft evaluation form. Sattler asked and Meigs said, as he understands it, the self evaluation and 360 evaluation as well as the combined group of evaluations will be sent to the entire Council as a package. Brandenburg said the self evaluation form should be different from the Council's grading forms as well as the 360 form. He added, in the past, the self evaluation form was also provided to the Council prior to their review. Meigs said that makes sense and Berryman asked that Council proceed in that way. Gonzalez said Council has received some feedback in order to complete a good final draft. Berryman asked and Gonzalez said they do not need a motion to approve this document as it is still a working draft. Berryman said it seems Council would like to see the employee self evaluation form prior to the Council members doing their own evaluations. She added Council would also like to see an independent form for the 360 appraisal that will enable people to be more anonymous and honest. She added she understands that Council would also like a blending of the existing City Manager form and well as the proposed form. Ross asked and Meigs said the data from the 360 evaluation is important data for the Council to receive but it will not be a part of the formal evaluation of the employee. Ross asked and Gonzalez said the 360 review will be used to show the employee and Council what other people are thinking of the employee's job performance. Gonzalez added the 360 review could be used as information based data. Ross said, once the numbers are tallied, Council can vote as a whole on what the final score should be. Gonzalez said each Council member can use the information provided by the 360 review as much or as little as they would like. He said each Council member submitting a review will rate each category using their own opinion as well as the information received from the 360 review. Ross said he still thinks Council needs a safety net. Ross said and Meigs noted he agrees that Council should approve the final numbers but that will occur during the consolidation process. City Council Meeting Minutes/ Page 4 of 5 Pages Ross said, if he gives Brandenburg all zeros, that will skew the job performance and final number rating. He said that could take Brandenburg down from Exceeds Expectations to Meets Expectations. Meigs agreed and, in the spirit of full disclosure, the Mayor and Mayor Pro Tem should meet with any Council member who does something like that and ask that they justify that score. Gonzalez said, if someone genuinely feels an employee is zeros across the board and is able to justify that, you can not discount that particular member. He said the form is set up to provide the employee with an average of their performance. Ross disagreed and said two or three members could completely game the system with this form. Meigs said he would be in favor of adding a process point that requires that all zeros and all fours be discounted. Gonzalez said any review that may look like a false review could be thrown out and added, the Council must provide comments and details for any rating of 0 or 4. Brandenburg said point four of the proposed process summarizes this thought process. Gonzalez said he is expecting a certain level of integrity for each member of the Council. He hopes that people will take the performance evaluation seriously, regardless of personal opinion of the employee. Sansing asked about written comments and if those can be given weight as well. He noted their needs to be both points and written comments. Brandenburg brought up the essay categories on the current City Manager form. Meigs agreed that there should be written comments and noted some categories in the existing City Manager form are good and should be included as well. Berryman agreed that those elements should be included. Mayor said, to attach a numerical score to anyone but the City Council itself, may not be where the Council wants to go. Mayor said the City Council wants to maintain flexibility in their review. Meigs and Gonzalez said they have enough to work with and will come back with a revised form at a future meeting. Berryman asked and Brandenburg said the 360 review was tallied by the Mayor in the past. Berryman said she thinks it is unfair to expect Brandenburg to gather those documents and present it to the Council because it may put him in an uncomfortable position. Ross said he agreed with Mayor by saying that the Council should take the information from the 360 review and give it the importance it deserves. Mayor thanked Meigs and Gonzalez for their hard work. Recessed to Executive Session under Sections 551.071 and 551.087-- 5:23 p.m. City Council Meeting Minutes/ Page 5 of 5 Pages Returned to Open Session and adjourned -- 6:00 p.m. The meeting was adjourned at 06:00 PM. Sec