Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutMIN 08.10.2009 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: Council Absent: Keith Brainard, Gabe Sansing, Dale Ross, Pat Berryman, Bill Sattler, Patty Eason, Ben Oliver Staff Present: Jessica Hamilton, City Secretary; Shirley Rinn, Administrative Assistant to the City Manager A Call to Order Mayor called the meeting to order -- 4:01 p.m. B Discussion and possible action regarding funding allocations for contracted social services and youth programs for 2009/2010 budget year -- Mayor George Garver Mayor reviewed the history of this item and summarized the application process for social service and youth program funding. Motion by Brainard, second by Ross to begin working with the alloted amount of $357,250 in the current year's budget. Brainard asked and Rinn confirmed that is the total amount approved for the budget. Ross said, because of the change in the policy, the allocated amount for both the social service and youth organizations does not restrict Council to that number. Approved 4-2 (Sansing, Eason opposed) (Oliver away from dais) Mayor said Council will go through the organizations alphabetically. Oliver returned to dais. Berryman spoke of the Assistance League of Georgetown and said it seems to meet the social service guidelines. Motion by Brainard, second by Ross to recommend $3,600 for the Assistance League of Georgetown. Approved 6-1 (Sattler opposed) Motion by Ross, second by Brainard to recommend $4,000 for Bluebonnet Trails. Approved 7-0 Motion by Sansing, second by Oliver to recommend $9,000 for the Capital Area Rural Transportation System. Approved 7-0 Motion by Ross, second by Sansing to recommend $15,000 for Faith in Action Caregivers. Approved 7-0 Motion by Brainard, second by Ross to approve $10,000 for Family Eldercare. Oliver said there are six people receiving support from this program. He said this is an excessive amount to fund services for six individuals. Brainard withdrew his motion. He said he has concerns about Family Eldercare and raised the question of City Council Meeting Minutes/August 10, 2009 Page 1 of 4 Pages funding from the County. Ross withdrew his second. Motion by Berryman to withhold funding for this organization. Motion died for lack of second. Sansing asked and Mayor said the decisions made at this meeting will be the final decisions made for funding these organizations. Mayor suggested that Council come back to organizations that Council has questions about at the end of the process. Sattler said the reason he voted against the Assistance League of Georgetown is because he feels they need more money. Oliver said these actions are preliminary in nature and there will be a final motion at the end. Motion by Berryman, second by Eason to recommend $55,000 for the Caring Place. Sansing said he will have to support the funding they received last year instead of the current year's request. He said, if he votes to increase funding, it will have to be with the youth organizations. He said there needs to be accountability for the organizations that are funded by the City. Berryman said the Caring Place has had a tremendous increase in people asking for funding and housing assistance. She said they are in a unique situation and asking for $5,000 more than last year is worth it. Approved 6-1 (Sansing opposed) Motion by Brainard, second by Berryman to recommend $10,000 for the Georgetown Project. Berryman said the extra amount they are asking for will go toward training day care workers as well as parents who have lost their children. She said this organization has recently lost their funding from United Way. Approved 7-0 Motion by Brainard, second by Oliver to recommend $24,000 for Habitat for Humanity of Williamson County. Substitute Motion by Sattler, second by Sansing to recommend $35,000 for Habitat. Ross asked and Sattler said Habitat does a lot of good for the community. Sattler added they are expanding to 15 houses this year. Sansing said, if this organization helps keep money in the community, the City should offer them in kind services in addition to cash funding. Berryman said, when she took the tour of this facility, this money will be going toward purchasing new land. She said this money will not be going toward basic human need and noted she is not sure she wants to approve this for the purchase of land. Brainard said Habitat was recently awarded $150,000 from a Williamson County Community Development Block Grant. Ross asked and Sattler said Round Rock will be helping to fund this organization as well. Brainard said all or most of the money from Round Rock is not coming from their general fund but from CDBG funds. Brainard made an amendment to the original motion to fund the program $24,000 in cash as well as in kind City services not to exceed $11,000. Sattler accepted this amendment. Ross said he does not see how the Council can vote for somethig like that. Oliver agreed and said he is hesitant to vote on this as a mandate. He said he would be more comfortable with voting for the $24,000 and then asking staff to research the possibility of providing the $11,000 worth of in kind services. Ross said he would be in favor with what Oliver said. Ross made a second amendment to the original motion to recommend $24,000 in cash funding including having staff investigate providing an additional $11,000 worth of in kind services. Vote on the original motion as amended twice: Approved 6-1 (Eason opposed) Eason said this program is essential to families in the City. She said this has been a huge benefit to lower income citizens. She said this organization works to revitalize neighborhoods in the community. Ross said the Literacy Council has been grandfathered by the Council in the past because they do not meet the current guidelines. Motion by Ross, second by Sansing to recommend $3,500 for the Literacy Council. Approved 7-0 Motion by Ross, second by Berryman to recommend $100,000 for Lone Star Circle of Care. Approved 7-0 Motion by Ross, second by Berryman to recommend $12,000 for Stonehaven Senior Center. Ross noted this organization is also grandfathered by the Council. Sansing said he is not sure if this organization would be considered grandfathered by the Council, but he does agree this fits the definition of a social service organization as created by Council in the past. Eason read the wording for the City's definition of qualified social service funding organizations. Approved 74 Motion by Sansing, second by Berryman to recommend $45,000 for the Williamson County Crisis Center. Brainard said, in his opinion, there is no better place to put this money. Amended Motion by Brainard, second by Berryman to recommend $45,000 with an additional $5,000 as a challenge grant. Approved 7-0 Motion by Sansing, second by Berryman to recommend $6,000 for Willamson Burnet County Opportunities. Approved 7-0 Eason said she does not believe For the Love of Christi meets the City's guidelines. She said they are solely requesting funding for counseling services and noted the Council funds transportation, health, food, and physical needs of citizens. Mayor and Oliver agreed with Eason. No motion was made. Berryman said the Council is now up to $292,100 and noted that is almost right on the mark of what was funded last year. Ross City Council Meeting Minutes/August 10, 2009 Page 2 of 4 Pages asked and Rinn reviewed the current total as compared to last year's total. Motion by Sansing, second by Eason to recommend $34,780 for the Boys and Girls Club. Sattler asked and Berryman said the extra money requested is to open up a second facility as well as the expansion of services to other areas in the community. Brainard asked and Berryman said she is not sure how much of this will be one time money. Sansing noted the organization actually reduced the original requested amount because of a grant they received last year. Alternate Motion by Brainard, second by Ross to fund $25,000 for the program. Sansing said he feels the Council should fund the youth programs as much as possible. He said he thinks they need it more than anybody else. Eason said one of the reasons they are needing this increase is because their current program has been so successful. She said they have kids there all of the time and noted the program keeps the children out of trouble and off of the streets. She noted they are an effective organization. Berryman said this program is doing a remarkable job of teaching life skills to kids who are left alone. She said she thinks what they are doing is important. Vote on alternate motion: Failed 3-4 (Sansing, Eason, Sattler, Berryman opposed) Vote on original motion: Approved 5-2 (Brainard, Ross opposed) Motion by Sansing, second by Eason to recommend $3,000 for the Cultural Citizen Memorial Association. Approved 7-0 Brainard spoke about the Palace Theatre and said he spoke with the Chair of the Arts and Culture Board, Charles Aguillon. Brainard said Aguillon mentioned the Board has money set aside and is interested in funding the Palace's scholarship program. Motion by Brainard, second by Berryman to suggest the Palace Theatre contact the Arts and Culture Board in order to seek funding for their program. Berryman said she finds this exciting because that was the original intention of the Arts and Culture Board. Approved 7-0 Brainard spoke about Partners in Education and said he is not sure if the City taxpayers should have to pay for a school district purpose. He added he is not sure if this meets the youth funding parameters. Garver said there are probably several organizations that applied who could speak with the school district for more participation and funding. Oliver said school districts depends on other organizations to help support special aid for students. He said he recognizes Brainard's concern, but he does not think the Council should leave it all up to the school district to help support this program. Sansing said he supports the organizatin but does not think the City should use taxpayer money to support it. Ross said he is not sure this program qualifies for funding. Brainard said, since this request was made, the program was approved for an additional $15,000 from the Georgetown Health Foundation. Eason said, in the guidelines for these requests, the Council may consider providing funding to programs for children and youth who have little or no access to City programs. She read the specific guidelines. She said she is viewing this organization as a service that the City can not provide for its citizens otherwise. She noted she sees this as an educational service and said access is not affected by City funding. Motion by Oliver to approve the funding at $7,000. Motion died for lack of second. Motion by Sansing, second by Ross to recommend $11,000 for the Getsemani Community Center. Approved 7-0 Motion by Sansing, second by Brainard to recommend the current year's funding of $10,000 for the Georgetown Project. Approved 7-0 Sansing said he believes the Exceptional Georgetown Alliance meets the criteria. Motion by Sansing, second by Oliver to recommend $10,000 for the Exceptional Georgetown Alliance. Brainard said this service is an unmet need in this community. He said he will heartily support this $10,000. He said he would like for staff to also look into the possibility of having the City's Parks and Recreation Department help parents of children who are autistic or mildly mentally retarded. Vote on the motion: Approved 7-0 Motion by Oliver, second by Sansing to confirm the total allocated amount for both the Social Service and Youth Funding. Amended Motion by Sattler, second by Berryman to increase the funding for Assistance League of Georgetown by $1,400 to $5,000. Vote on Amendment: Approved 6-1 (Oliver opposed) There was much discussion. Mayor asked and Rinn said the total is at $293,500 compared to $291,250 in last year's budget, which is a difference of $2,250. Eason asked and Mayor reviewed the approved amount for Habitat for Humanity. He said the Council voted to fund $24,000 in cash as well as a request to look into providing $11,000 worth of in kind services. Rinn said there is a separate utility fund set up for in kind needs and payments. Brainard asked and Rinn said that fund is completely separate from what is being discussed at this meeting. Mayor asked and Rinn said the total amount approved to be spent does not include the $11,000. Mayor said it would make sense to add $11,000 to the total in excess of the current budgeted amount bringing the total excess to $13,250. Ross City Council Meeting Minutes/August 10, 2009 Page 3 of 4 Pages said he is okay with being over the budgeted amount as it stands right now. Amended Motion by Eason, second by Ross to fund the extra $11,000 originally approved for in kind services to Habitat for Humanity in cash. Approved 7-0 Sattler asked and Rinn recapped the recommended amounts for the two funds. She said $357,250 was the original budgeted amount and she noted the total is now $373,280. Rinn went through all of the allocated amounts. She said the total Social Services allocations is $304,500 and Youth Services allocations is $68,780. Brainard asked and Oliver said the Council has exceeded the total budget amount by $15,380. Mayor suggested Council concentrate on the total amount. Motion by Brainard, second by Sansing to approve the total allocated amount at $373,280. Approved 7-0 C Adjourn Meeting adjourned -- 5:18 pm Ad'ournment The meeting was adjourned at 10:30 PM. N• Mayor George Garver City Council Meeting Minutes/August 10, 2009 Page 4 of 4 Pages Ul