HomeMy WebLinkAboutMIN 07.27.2010 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:
Tommy Gonzalez, Gabe Sansing, Dale Ross,
Danny Meigs, Patty Eason, Pat Berryman, Bill
Sattler
Testi
Council Absent:
All Council Present.
Paul E. 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; Terry Jones, Support Services Construction Manager; Paul Elkins, Electric
Operations; Glenn Dishong, Utilities Director; Jordan Maddox, Interim Principal Planner;
Regular Session = To begin no earlier than 06:07 P
(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
-..
Comments from the Mayor
- Welcome and Meeting Procedures
- Parks and Recreation Month Proclamation
Mayor presented the proclamation to members of the Parks and Recreation Advisory Board. The Chair of the
Parks Board, Kent Buikema, made a few comments about what the Board is involved in at this time.
City Manager Comments
A Public Hearing on the 2010/11 Budget and the First Readings of all Budget and Tax Ordinances are
scheduled for August 24th and the second readings are scheduled for September 14h. Each of these meetings
will be noticed and posted. For questions relating to the budget process, please visit our website at
http://files.georgetown.org/budget-workbook/ or contact Micki Rundell at 930-3676.
Action from Executive Session
There was no action out of Executive Session.
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.
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Page 1 of 9 Pages
On a subject not posted on theagenda: 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 - As of the deadline, no persons were signed up to speak on items other than what was posted on the agenda.
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 sale of scrap electric meters to Texas Meter & Device (TMD)
of Waco, Texas in the amount of $900.00 -- Trina Bickford, Purchasing Manager and Micki Rundell, Chief
Financial Officer
E Consideration and possible action to approve a resolution to appoint Austin Bryan, Chair of the Economic
Development Advisory Board to serve in Position 2 of the Rivery Park Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone
(TIRZ) Board of Directors -- Micki Rundell, Chief Financial Officer
F Consideration and possible action to approve a resolution to appoint Connie Watson, Chair of the Main Street
Advisory Board to serve on the Board of the Downtown Georgetown Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone
(TIRZ) -- Micki Rundell, Chief Financial Officer
G Consideration and possible action to approve a resolution to appoint David McLaughlin, Assistant
Superintendent GISD, to serve on the Board of the Williams Drive Gateway Tax Increment Reinvestment
Zone (TIRZ) -- Micki Rundell, Chief Financial Officer
H Consideration and possible action to authorize the purchase of a 20' permanent water line easement
(Parcel A26) and a 25' temporary construction easement adjacent thereto from Joseph Everett Sybert in
the amount of $31,120.00, plus closing costs not to exceed $1,500.00, in connection with the 2006
Annexation Utility Improvements Project -- Terri G. Calhoun, Real Estate Services Coordinator and Glenn
Dishong, Utility Director
Consideration and possible action to approve the First Amendment to Task Order ESP 08-001 with Espey
Consultants, Inc., of Austin, Texas for professional services related to the 2006 Annexation that will
increase the task order by $5,995.00 making the total of the task order $16,195.00 -- Glenn Dishong, Utility
Director
J Consideration and possible action to approve an amendment to the General Services Agreement dated
November 26, 1991 between the City and Camp, Dresser, and McKee Inc for services related to the permitting
of the Cimarron Hills Wastewater Treatment Plant in the amount of $48,140.00 -- Glenn W. Dishong, Utility
Director
K Consideration and possible action to accept a Training Grant for $1,800.00 from the Texas Forest Service --
Robert Fite, Fire Chief
L Consideration and possible action to accept the Georgetown Fire Department's 2nd Quarter report for 2010
-- Robert Fite, Fire Chief
Motion by Sansing, second by Gonzalez to approve the consent agenda with the exception of items M and C
which were pulled to the regular agenda for discussion. Approved 7-0
Legislative Regular Agenda
Council will individually consider and possibly take action on any or all of the following items:
C Consideration and possible action to approve the minutes of the Special Meeting on Monday, July 12th and the
Special Meeting, Workshop and Regular Council Meeting held on Tuesday, July 13, 2010 -- Jessica Brettle, City
Secretary
Motion by Berryman, second by Sansing to add to the discussion of the July 13, 2010 Council meeting the
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reference made by Ellen Davis that the District Attorney and Berryman are both republicans. She added, in the
discussion, the speaker cast aspersions on the decision of the District Attorney. Berryman noted she would like
this discussion added back into the minutes. Approved 7-0
Motion by Eason, second by Berryman to edit the July 13, 2010 special meeting minutes regarding social
service funding to add a motion that was made to direct staff to ask other social service organization to work
with the Williamson County Health District to add the Get Fit Program to their programming. She noted this was
to make sure this program was promoted, even though the City could not provide it with funding. Eason said
she would like this direction to staff to appear in the minutes. Approved 7-0
Motion by Gonzalez, second by Berryman to approve the amended minutes. Approved 7-0
N Consideration and possible action to place adoption of the proposed 2010 tax rate on a future agenda --
Micki Rundell, Chief Financial Officer
Rundell described the item and said this is the first step in the adoption of the tax rate and, therefore, the
budget. She said the Texas Tax Code requires the Council to have a record vote to place an item on a future
agenda. She noted the proposed rate is $0.35622, which is the same as the previous year and less than the
effective rate. She said, because it is lower than the effective rate, the City will not be required to hold public
hearings or to publish any type of notices. She said this motion will allow staff to go forward with placing this
item on the agenda and Council will not have to have the public hearings as they have had to do in the past.
She said this motion will also set the tax rate and, in turn, fund the City Manager's budget. She described the
total certified assessed valuation for the year as being over $4.6 billion, of which, $207 million is still under
review. She said it included $98.9 million of new property, which is a .004% decrease from last year's valuation.
She said the actual valuation is about $63 million dollars more than was originally thought, which will mean an
additional $225,000 in revenue. She noted this additional revenue can be appropriated into the 2010 budget, if
Council so chooses. She mentioned Brandenburg's idea to use the funding for an employee cost of living
adjustment (COLA). She spoke about the average home value in Georgetown and noted the average
homeowner in Georgetown will pay a little more than $658 worth of taxes per year.
Motion by Sansing, second by Eason to place adoption of a tax rate of $0.35622 cents per $100 valuation,
equaling $0.21987 cents for Maintenance and Operation and $0.13635 cents for debt service, as an action item
at the August 24, 2010 Council meeting to be held at 6 p.m. at City Council Chambers, at the northeast corner
of Seventh and Main Streets, Georgetown, Texas and that the extra $225,000 in the budget be used to fund a
cost of living adjustment for City employees. Vote on the motion: Eason, Sansing, Gonzalez, Berryman,
Ross, Sattler and Meigs voted in favor of the item. Approved 7-0
Gonzalez said being able to add the 2.5% COLA increase to the City staff salary will be very beneficial to the
morale of the employees.
O Discussion and possible action regarding standardization of Council Compensation -- Pat Berryman,
Councilmember District 5
Berryman briefly described the changes that were made to council compensation in 2008. She added she
wants to clarify she is not calling for a standardization of Council compensation. She noted she is looking for
clarity on all the issues regarding compensation. She said over the past few months, she has been the subject
of slander and rumor mongering regarding how the City has handled Council compensation. She added she
has placed this item on the agenda to gain clarity on a very confusing topic. She noted she has been on the
Council for the past 4 years and, every two years, the Mayor appoints a committee to review this subject. She
spoke about the member composition of the 2008 compensation committee. She spoke about the salary
increases to $300 for Council and $450 for the Mayor per month. She said there was also to be an $800
reimbursement for expenses and noted there was a stipulation made that they wanted to relieve some of the
paperwork from the Council. She spoke about all of the paperwork Council is provided with every year. She
said this was an attempt to make this process less difficult for the Council and yet, acknowledge the fact that
Council had expenses that were not covered. She said the committee in 2008 proposed that they would have
an $800 stipend that would be considered an expense reimbursement. She said the committee also said, if
Council wanted to itemized each expense, they could receive the money before taxes. She added, otherwise,
the $800 would be taxed. She said most of the Council applied for the money. She said there was a challenge
to her expense reimbursement request because she worked for the state. She described why the $800 is not a
salary, but expense reimbursement, which she is allowed to receive even as an employee of the state. She
noted she asked the Attorney General's office about it and they said she would be allowed to receive the money.
She said she applied for the amount and Rundell came back to her said she couldn't get paid the $800 based
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on the opinions of the auditors and the Texas Municipal League. She said, this past Fall, there were several
Councilmembers who were asking questions about the compensation policy. She noted those Councilmembers
were asking about why they could not receive benefits and why the money was coming from different pots in the
budget. She said she researched why she could not receive the expense reimbursement and added Rundell did
not have any documentation supporting the City's decision on the matter. Berryman said she pulled together
the audio of the compensation meeting, the minutes and the resolution and provided that information to the
auditor. Berryman noted, after they received the information, they reversed their decision. She noted both the
auditor and TML said Berryman was entitled to the money just as the rest of the Councilmembers were. She
said not one of the other Councilmembers who received the $800 filed any kind of documentation or receipts.
She noted Brandenburg said she was eligible for the money and was paid the money. She said, in light of all
this, Councilmembers are trying to do the right thing. She said most of the Councilmembers in Georgetown are
a hard working group and they do not ask for much. She noted she asked the compensation committee for
clarity and said she is tired of getting beat up about something she did nothing about. She said the new
committee in 2008 came back with an interesting approach. She noted they decided to do categories for
reimbursement and noted Council does not need itemized accounting for their expenses. She noted the
committee also said Council could file for mileage, home office, meals and loss of income. She noted they need
clarity on those categories. She said she has not filed hers yet because she is in need of some clarity. She
said there are only two areas where she thinks there should be a standard amount. She spoke about two
categories for which there could be suggested amounts. She said one of those categories is cell phone usage.
She noted the City issued the Mayor a business phone at a cost of $100 a month. She noted that is a standard
that could be applied to each Councilmember and their cell phone use. She said a suggested amount could be
based on what the City already spends on the Mayor's cell phone. She noted the second category would be the
home office issue. She said this issue is confusing because they try to look at the IRS and what they charge for
home office use. She said the City could find out how much it is costing them to provide a space for the Mayor
and use that as a starting point or a standard that Council can look at and use for their reimbursement. She said
the biggest problem is that, when a Council member fills out the form, a member of the public can take that form
and beat Council over the head with it. She said she is asking that Council consider allowing staff to explore the
cost for cell phone and office used for the Mayor and use that to standardize the amount for Council. She said
Council should not have to do averages and the City needs to create something more in depth. She said she
wants to protect future Councils from what she has gone through.
Mayor asked and Berryman noted she would like for there to be a motion to address the issues that she has just
discussed. She said she would like for Council to discuss it and added she would also like to hear from the
public. She noted, before 2008, the Council was not given a sliding scale on the $800. She noted it was $800 or
nothing. Berryman said the 2008 compensation committee did the best they could on a confusing topic. Mayor
spoke about the need to appoint a new committee to review this information in order for there to be a
modification made to the compensation. Ross said he does not believe that is correct because what was passed
last time was for the salary section and not the expense reimbursement. Rundell read the section of the City
Charter regarding compensation and said it references only salary and not expense reimbursement. She noted
it is clear that there are two components of this compensation Ordinance, salary and expenses. Mayor referred
to the chair of the 2008 committe, Ben Oliver. Oliver said he is here if there are any questions from Council. He
said the committee recognized the two step process, a salary component and expense reimbursment
compensation. He said they did this is order to seek more transparency.
Sokolow said there needs to be an Ordinance to amend an Ordinance. He said it is not on the agenda tonight to
amend the existing Ordinance. He said what was passed was Ordinance 2010-15 and noted there were two
readings on April 13, and 27th, 2010. He said it became effective on June 1st after the May election. He said
there was also an expense reimbursement form that was adopted for use with the Ordinance. He spoke of lost
income and how that is calculated for the form. He said the Finance department will not investigate the
reasoning or the information provided on the form. He added, if a Councilmember wanted it to be non-taxable,
he or she must provide receipts to the City. He said what Councilmember Berryman is asking for is if staff could
give her suggestions or guidelines for how to fill out the form properly. He said he thinks she is looking for
consistency between what each Councilmember files. Mayor said he understands that the committee wanted to
provide flexibility to suit each Councilmember's needs. He said, if the staff were to administer the amounts, it
would not be fair to them either. Sokolow said the Council is constrained to use the form that was approved in
the Ordinance, but Berryman is wanting some clarity on how to fill out the form and what amounts to use for
each category.
Sattler asked and Rundell said staff does not have a City phone and, in rare cases, they have a phone
allowance. Eason asked and Rundell said employees do not turn in receipts for phone usage because the
stipend is taxable. She noted, as a general rule however, staff needs receipts for their expenses. Eason asked
about home office expense and asked if it would be okay to use the formula created by the IRS. Rundell said
that formula has a lot of information that could be considered private. Rundell said employees get $50-$70 a
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month, taxable, for professional use for their personal phone. Eason asked about the expense reimbursement
form and giving each Councilmember a formula to use for each of the categories. Ross said he thinks the intent
of the committee was honorable, but sometimes there are unintended consequences. He said he does not see
how this improves transparency because the forms use averages and the amounts vary from person to person.
He said this also puts the finance department in a difficult position because they are told not to question
anything. Gonzalez said putting the formula on the sheet may lead people to believe that people actually use it.
He said some Councilmembers may use it and some may not and there is no indication of who will use it and
who won't. He noted he sees no problem with the current form because every Councilmember is accountable to
their constituency and he doesn't think it will work to go back and forth on the issue with the form. He said he is
perfectly fine with how the system is and added he just wants to get through this issue.
Berryman said she is looking for a definable amount for each category. She noted there is confusion from
Council as to how to respond to this and noted she would like to clear up the confusion and help the other
Councilmembers avoid trouble. Sansing said he pays taxes on the whole nine yards and added he does not
claim any expenses on his taxes for Council business. He said he can see where it would make filling out the
form easier by putting a solid amount on each category but he noted that is not the intent of the committee. He
said he does not see the issue with the form but added anyone on the Council ought to be able to take the
monies as long as the law allows it. He said the fine line is the difference between salary and reimbursed
expenses. Sansing said he asked the Attorney General's office and said this issue should be handled locally.
Berryman said the Attorney General told her this should be handled locally through the committee. Meigs said
he was surprised by the lack of documentation that was required when this first came up and added, when this
comes up again, he would support additional documentation just like any business owner would from his or her
employees. Berryman said she would like to have more documentation on certain issues, including mileage.
She noted, where they can, their should be documentation. She said the process just needs to be less
confusing.
Speaker, Ruth Roberts, said she would like to commend Councilmember Berryman for bringing up this issue.
She noted it is time to clear this up. She said the key is to keep it simple. She noted she would hope the forms
would be limited to one page and that anything that would be influenced by consideration of ones own taxes be
left up to the members own judgement.
Speaker, Karen Miller, said she is in agreement with the last speaker. She noted she is in agreement with
Berryman that the Council needs to do this. She said the easiest thing is to give Council the $800 and let them
write it off in their taxes.
Speaker, Diane Nagy, said she agrees with the two speakers preceding her. She noted she would like to see
Council get along and behave in a more professional manner. She asked for the partisan politics to stop. She
asked that things like this should be dealt with within the City Council and she noted she is glad this has been
brought up. She noted this needs to be settled once and for all. She said she would like for the Council to work
for their constituents on issues that affect us all. She said there was found to be no wrong doing and this issue
should be put to bed.
Speaker, Lalena Parkhurst, said there has been a good discussion about this and noted, if there is an option to
claim reimbursement, Council may get some flack. She said it is unfortunate that people can be ugly
sometimes, but that's what Council signs up for. She said she agrees that there should be simplicity, but noted
the focus should be on what the tax payers want and need from their Council. She noted the citizens have a
right to know how the Council's salary is being paid.
Speaker, Bill White, said he is here in support of Berryman and added he is not one of her constituents. He said
the mark of any Council is the ability to rise about any partisan politics that may be present. He said, in the last
decade spent in Georgetown, he has found that it is a rare and wonderful city. He noted the City should occupy
its time with issues of the City rather than personal attacks. He said he is a commissioner and spoke about the
expense chart used on the state level and said there are ceilings placed on certain expenses. He said the
simpler the City keeps this issue, the better. He said the categories set by the committee was a good idea and
added he thinks setting standard rates for each category will simplify things. He noted he would like to put this
thing to bed.
Speaker, Gail Parks, said this whole reimbursement process has been reduced to politics and rumor mongering.
She said time and words that could have been spent constructively for the City have been wasted. She said it is
obvious that there needs to be a standard used for this issue. She noted something needs to be done and
added Council should take care of this so it does not have to be revisited later. She said her and her husband
have lived in Georgetown for 25 years and she thanked current and past Council's for serving well.
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Speaker, John Yearwood, said he does not think this will do any good. He said the facts and the truth have been
ignored by Berryman's detractors and noted why should this solve anything. He said there are political
opponents out there attacking Berryman. He said all of the papers have vindicated you and asked why should
the citizens think her detractors lay off. He said a lie told often enough becomes the truth and noted there are a
lot of Councilmembers in the room that should be ashamed of themselves.
Speaker, Ross Hunter, said he came to the meeting focused on addressing the posted item. He said he thinks
it is great that Council discussed what they did. He said if a Councilmember has any interest in what is
discussed, they should recuse himself. He said, as one of the detractors, he would like to publicly reject any
implications of partisan politics. He said this is not a partisan manner and said this is a Georgetown matter. He
said some of what Berryman said was news to him and noted he had never heard that story before. He said the
only thing Council will get beat up for is the lack of transparency. He noted Sansing takes an admirable stance
by admitting that he takes the whole taxes amount. He added he thinks it is odd that the Council makes that
much money anyway. Hunter said the matter is transparency and added too much information has got to be
better than too little information. He said if the public would have known all that Berryman explained tonight,
then things wouldn't have gotten to where we are now. He noted Oliver had said that the expense
reimbursement forms are open records but noted, the City Attorney has been blocking open records. He said
by just taking the 800 a month stipend, it would put their monthly allowance to way higher than any other
comparable city.
Speaker, Pamela Winn, said she was asked if she would look into the salary circumstance as it has evolved.
She noted she could not find any printed information or verbal information given that would substantiate these
charges brought against Ms. Berryman. She said, when she came to the last meeting, she took notes and said
there were two references made to the Republican party. She said, in the more that 30 years being in
Georgetown, she did not know the City Council was a partisan group. She noted she always believed that each
Councilmember was elected by their district according to their needs. She said she believes Mrs. Berryman has
cleared up the issue this evening and noted she has made it clear with written documentation. She said she
believes it is time to stop this character assassination.
Speaker, Steve Fought, said elected public service is a high calling and often difficult and contentious. He said
he is speaking in favor of openness, transparency in all levels of government. He said he is in favor of
Berryman and of the proposal to simplify this contentious issue. He said he a resident of Sun City and noted he
has consistently found her to be open, honest, hard working and with the City's interest in mind. He noted when
he reads material that is contrary from his experience with her, he wonders if he is getting the whole story. He
said it is inconceivable that Berryman would be dishonest in making these claims. He said the standardization
idea is a great idea.
Speaker, Ben Oliver, said the committee tried to provide more transparency to the public that was not there
before. He said the committee also discussed whether or not the City should get rid of the expense portion of
the compensation and just have a monthly salary for Council. He noted the extra $800 allows for people of
lesser means who would have a financial loss if they served to be a Councilmember be able to serve. He said
they decided to continue with this $800 amount to continue to support that thought process. He spoke about
what the committee considered expenses to be, which is money that needs to be taken out to serve on Council.
He noted they did not address other kinds of expenses. He said it becomes muddied when you move beyond
the specific out of pocket expenses. He said the other option was not to have expense reimbursement at all. He
spoke about the salaries of surrounding cities and noted they are simple because most provide no salary or
reimbursement at all. He said the simplification which can not be done now because of the charter should be
considered in the future when compensation can be taken up again. He noted the future committee should look
at simplifying the salary to be similar to surrounding cities. He said no one serves on Council for the money. He
added they want to do the best job possible for the citizens of the community.
Speaker, Henri Knipper, said the Council could use the same amount that are used by the City employees. He
noted, for the mileage, there are online tools where you can measure the distance. He said there should be a
simple flat rate for any and all expenses.
Sansing spoke about the form that is being used and noted it is very easy to fill out. Staff showed the form to the
audience. He said to simplify it even more makes no sense to him. He said to go with a flat rate would be good
but the existing form is already very straight forward. He said this discussion has gotten out of hand and added
he is ready for all of this to be resolved. He said the Council should have been home an hour ago. He said he
is hopeful that the public now has a grip on how simple the form is. Berryman said the issue is not how simple
the form is and noted there is too much generalization. She said the Council needs to have conformity. Mayor
reviewed the issue on the floor. He said it would be good for the attorney to see if this could be something that
can be changed and then have staff come back at a later meeting with suggestions. Mayor thanked the
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audience for their input. Eason said she is not interested in changing this form and noted she thinks full
accounting with full itemization and receipts attached should be required. She added the reason this has been a
problem is because receipts were not turned in as required. Gonzalez said he is dumbfounded as they keep
going around in circles on this issue. He said each Councilmember should be accountable for their own
expenses. He noted if a Councilmember abuses their power, then their constituents can kick them out. He
noted he doubts any of the Councilmembers have claimed the whole $800 worth of expenses. He said he has
averaged $250 to $300 worth of expenses each month. He noted he does not think anyone will be able to come
up with a solution that every member could be satisfied with.
Motion by Gonzalez, second by Sansing to leave the form the way it is and take up this issue again when the
next compensation committee is formed.
Ross said he can work with the documents Council has been provided. He noted each Councilmember can
provide as much or as little detail as they want. He said he will provide a lot of detail and noted he does not
know how enlightening that will be to people. He said, based on the political environment, this should not be the
burning issue of the day in Georgetown.
Vote on the motion: Approved 7-0
P Forwarded from the Georgetown Utility System (GUS) Advisory Board:
Consideration and possible action for the award of the bid for ISF scheduled replacement of two 1990 model
wire puller/tensioner with an overhead puller/tensioner and an underground wire puller for the Electric
Department to Sherman & Reilly of Chattanooga, Tennessee in the total amount of $101,340.00 -- Terry Jones,
Construction Manager
Jones described the item and said the wire pullers are scheduled for replacement. He spoke about where the
funding for this purchase will be coming from. Motion by Sattler, second by Gonzalez to approve the award of
bid. Approved 7-0
Q Forwarded from the Georgetown Utility System (GUS) Advisory Board:
Consideration and possible action to award the bid for two substation transformers to Texas Electric
Cooperatives, Inc, of Georgetown, Texas in the amount of $1,286,490.00 -- Glenn Dishong, Utility Director
Dishong described the item and said this item went to the Georgetown Utility System Advisory Board and was
recommended unanimously. Ross asked and Dishong said they can expect to get a better price for purchasing
two transformers instead of one. Motion by Sattler, second by Berryman to approve the award of bid Approved
7-0
R Forwarded from the Georgetown Utility System (GUS) Advisory Board:
Consideration and possible action to approve the Second Amendment to Task Order No. SBE- 09-003 with
Steger and Bizzell Engineering, Inc. of Georgetown, Texas for professional services related to 2006
Annexation that will increase the task order by $29,610.00 making the total of the task order $317,332.00 --
Glenn Dishong, Utility Director
Dishong described the item and described why there is an amendment to the task order. Motion by Sansing,
second by Sattler to approve the amendment to the task order. Approved 7-0
S Forwarded from the Georgetown Utility System (GUS) Advisory Board:
Consideration and possible action to approve the Fourth Amendment to Task Order IG -09-001 with Inland
Geodetics LP., of Round Rock, Texas for professional services related to 2006 Annexation that will increase
the task order by $14,500.00 making the total of the task order $244,536.00 -- Glenn Dishong, Utility Director
Dishong described the item and said this increases to appropriately provide water and wastewater service to the
Landry Tract as a result of the 2006 annexations.
Motion by Sansing, second by Sattler to approve the amendment to the task order.
Sansing asked and Dishong said, in his latest discussions with Mr. Landry, there is an impression that there is a
significant improvement to the service Mr. Landry will be able to provide for the property but noted it also falls in
line with the service plan. Dishong said he believes it is an improvement. Vote on the motion: Approved 7-0
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T Forwarded from the Georgetown Utility System (GUS) Advisory Board:
Consideration and possible action to approve Task Order SEL -10-003 with Schneider Engineering, Ltd. of
Boerne, Texas, for professional engineering services related to the addition of a power transformer at the
Rivery Substation for $193,458.00 -- Glenn Dishong, Utility Director
Dishong described the item and said this is for the design work at the substation that will be necessary to add
one of the transformers to the project. Mayor asked and Dishong said this new transformer would double the
capacity at the station. Dishong said the existing transformer at the location is owned by LCRA and the City
incurs a fee for the use of that service. He noted this new transformer will save the City money. Motion by
Sansing, second by Berryman to approve the task order. Approved 6-0 (Ross absent from the dais)
U Public Hearing and First Reading of an Ordinance on a Comprehensive Plan Amendment to change the
future land use from Medium Density Residential to Employment Center for 39.39 acres in the Berry
Survey, to be known as Grande Offices, located at 1010 County Road 152 -- Jordan J. Maddox, AICP,
Planner III and Elizabeth A. Cook, Director of Community Development
Maddox described the item and said the next two items are related to the same project, Grande Offices. He said
the applicant is requesting a rezoning to industrial. He said that rezoning would not work unless there was a
comprehensive plan amendment to change the area to an employment center. He noted staff is supportive of
both the land use change and the rezoning. Maddox read the caption of the Ordinance on first reading after
having satisfied the requirements of the City Charter.
Public Hearing was opened at 8:05
No one was present to speak
Public Hearing was closed at 8:05 p.m.
Ross returned to the dais.
Motion Sansing, second Berryman to approve on first reading. Approved 7-0
V Public Hearing and First Reading of an Ordinance on a Rezoning from AG, Agriculture to IN, Industrial for
39.39 acres in the Berry Survey, to be known as Grande Offices, located at 1010 County Road 152 -- Jordan
J. Maddox, AICP, Planner III and Elizabeth A. Cook, Director of Community Development
Maddox described the item and read the caption of the Ordinance after having satisfied the requirement of the
City Charter.
Public Hearing was opened at 8:07 p.m.
No person was present to speak.
Public Hearing was closed at 8:07 p.m.
Motion by Sansing, second by Gonzalez to approve the Ordinance on first reading. Approved 7-0
W First Reading of an Ordinance amending Chapter 2.20 of the Code of Ordinances relating to "Ethics" --
Jessica Brettle, City Secretary
Brettle described the item and read only the caption of the Ordinance after having satisfied the requirements of
the City Charter.
Motion by Ross, Sansing to approve the Ordinance on first reading. Approved 7-0
M Consideration and possible action to amend the Historic and Architectural Review Commission (HARC)
Bylaws -- Elizabeth A. Cook, Community Development Director
Moved to the regular agenda by Councilmember Gonzalez.
Cook described the item and noted staff has prepared some amendments for Council based on their discussion
at the last meeting. She described the changes, including requiring two mandatory training sessions with a
makeup session provided by staff as well as requiring all members be registered voters or own property in the
historic areas in the City.
Gonzalez said some residents have shown concern about the stipulation that a member must own historic
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Page 8 of 9 Pages
property in the City and added he wants to make sure Council is in agreement with this change. Ross said if a
person owns a business in the historic district but does not live in the City, they are still a part of the community
and should serve on the Board. Sansing and Berryman agreed. Cook read the section of the bylaws with the
proposed changes. Berryman asked and Gonzalez said the thought is if a person does not live in or own
property in the historic area, they should not be able to make decisions for that area. Mayor asked and Cook
clarified what these proposed changes would do. She said a member would have to be a registered voter or
own real property in a historic area. She added if a person is a registered voter but not a property owner, they
will also be eligible.
Motion by Sansing, second by Ross to approve the amendments to the bylaws.
Eason said there is a concern in the community that a person who does not live in Georgetown but owns
property will have influence on the community if they do not live here. Mayor said that concern is controlled in
the Boards and Commissions recruitment process. Ross asked why the City would want to be exclusive instead
of inclusive if a person has an impact on the community because they own historic property here.
Speaker, Peter Dana, said he has been in town for 31 years and he noted they are interested in historic
buildings in downtown areas. He said he is concerned with allowing HARC membership to include folks that are
not from Georgetown. He said HARC should be looking after the City and the residents of the City and not after
investors who own property and business here. He said he would like for Council to reconsider this request. He
said he doubts someone Council doesn't want can get onto the Board, but noted the precedent of allowing a
Board member who can come in purely because they have financial interest seems strange to him.
Ross asked and Cook said M and X are paired and have parallel wording and content. Sansing said he thinks
this is fair that a person who invests in the community should have a say in it as well. Eason said she is going
to vote against this because other Boards do not have this stipulation. Ross said he is in favor of this motion
and noted he is in favor of inclusion instead of exclusion and noted the chances of a business owner who does
not live in the City wanting to serve on the Board is slim. Vote on the motion: Approved 6-1 (Eason opposed)
X Second 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 described the item and read only the caption of the Ordinance on second reading. She noted the changes
to the Ordinance reflect the changes made to the bylaws in the previous item. Motion by Gonzalez, second by
Ross to approve Ordinance 2010-21. Approved 7-0
Y Second Reading of an Ordinance establishing the classifications and number of positions (Strength of
Force) for all the City of Georgetown Fire Fighters 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 second reading. Motion by
Ross second
by Sansing to approve
Ordinance 2010-22.
Approved 7-0
Motion by Ross, second by Sattler to adjourn. Approved 7-0
Meeting adjourned at 8:17 p.m.
cif
Mayor
City Council Meeting Minutes/
Page 9 of 9 Pages
The meeting was adjourned at 08:17 PM.
Attest:
Jessica Brettle