HomeMy WebLinkAboutMIN 05.22.2006 CC-WThe City Council of the City of Georgetown, Texas, met in Regular Session on the above date with Mayor
Gary Nelon presiding.
Council Present: Council Absent:
Mayor Gary Nelon, Henry Carr, Farley Snell, Ben Doug Smith, John Kirby
Oliver, Patty Eason, Gabe Sansing, Pat Berryman,
Councilmember-Elect, District 5
Paul Brandenburg, City Manager; Tom Yantis, Assistant City Manager; Jim Briggs, Assistant City
Manager for Utility Operations; Patricia E. Carls, City Attorney; Shirley J. Rinn, Deputy City Secretary;
Micki Rundell, Director of Finance and Administration; Laurie Brewer, Assistant Director of Finance and
Administration; Randy Morrow, Director of Community Services, Kevin Russell, Director of Human
Resources, Kimberly Garrett, Assistant Director of Parks & Recreation, Joe Lara, Utility Financial
Analyst, Keith Hutchinson, Public Information Officer, Shelly Hargrove, Tourism Director and Main Street
Manager, Terry Jones, Director of Support Services, Glenn Dishong, Water Services Manager, Mike
Mayben, Energy Services Manager, Tom Benz, Systems Engineering Manager, Clay Shell, Assistant Fire'
Chief, David Morgan, Chief of Police, Kevin Stofle, Assistant Chief of Police, Anthony Lincoln, Fire Chief,
Tamara Baird, Mark Miller, Transportation Services Manager, Terri Calhoun, Paralegal
Policy Development/Review Workshop = Call to order at 04:00 P
A Presentation and discussion on the City's proposed 2006/07 Capital Improvement Program for both
utilities and general capital improvements --Paul Brandenburg, City Manager
Brandenburg addressed the Council regarding the City's proposed 2006/07 Capital Improvement
Program. He told them that GUS has reviewed and approved the proposed CIP. He told the Council that
more details could be found in the binders that were provided with their packets. He gave an brief overview
of the process of compiling and approving the proposed CIP. He also went over funding for the CIP
projects, as well as specifically identified the proposed CIP projects for water, wastewater, transportation,
and stormwater. He also went over CIP projects for General Government. There was an additional
clarification of the process of approving projects in the budget process. He also discussed Annexations and
the five (5) year plan.
Gabe Sansing and Ben Oliver arrived at 4:04p.m.
There was additional discussion regarding the street maintenance sales tax and the status of ongoing
maintenance to the City's roads. Briggs and Rundell indicated that while the City probably won't ever "catch
up" with the needed road maintenance, it is "keeping up" with the needed maintenance, and that the City is
doing better on road maintenance than it was before the sales tax was approved.
There was also discussion regarding cost of providing services to annexed areas and whether those
amounts are included in the CIP, the proposed dog park and how to fund it, as well as flooding concerns on
College Street.
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There was additional discussion regarding the importance of providing information to the citizens regarding
the sales tax for road maintenance and the strategy and process.
B Presentation and
discussion regarding the Games of
Texas -
Randy Morrow, Kimberly Garrett, Assistant
Director
of
Parks
and
Recreation
and
Randy
Morrow,
Director
of
Community Services
Randy Morrow introduced Sharon Prete, Executive Coordinator for the Games of Texas. She gave the
Council an overview of how Williamson County was chosen to host the Games of Texas for the next two
years. She told the Council there are 7 partners in this venture. She gave the Council an over of the Texas
Amatuer Athletic Federation. She told them that this event is the largest multi -sport activity in the State of
Texas and that the dates for the Games are July 21-23, July 27-30, 2006, July, 20-22, 2007 and July
26-29,2007
She also went over all of the events being hosted during the event and told the Council how important it
was for all of the partners to work together regionally to make this event a success. She went over the
publicity and promotion efforts to get the word out about the event and told the Council who the sponsors of
the event were going to be.
C Presentation regarding update of City of Georgetown's current efforts to establish and maintain a
competitive position in its defined market. A review of the current compensation philosophy, target
markets, and market position --Kevin Russell, Human Resources Director
Kevin Russell addressed the Council to go over what the City has done to this point regarding
compensation and where the City is headed in the future. He went over the City's current compensation
philosophy and strategy. He discussed recruitment and retention issues related to Public Safety
Compensation. He told the Council that after the City of Georgetown adjusted its pay scales, Round Rock
implmented an 8% increase in its pay structure. Because of that, the City of Georgetown is currently about
83% of Round Rock's current market.
There was discussion regarding the issues related to filling vacant positions in public safety vs. utilizing
dollars to adjust salaries.
Russell clarified to the Council that the City of Georgetown is competing for police officers with other cities.
He also gave an overview of the Civil Service hiring process and told the Council that there were 12
applicants who tested for recent police officer positions and that the City will end up hiring 2 out of 6
positions advertised.
Russell told the Council that the issues related to police officer recruitment is universal and not just an issue
for Georgetown. Russell told the Council that Round Rock is also short on the hiring of vacant positions.
There was additional discussion regarding whether or not Round Rock is chasing Austin, which would mean
that Georgetown is chasing Austin.
There was also a discussion regarding the City's current policy on vehicle use as compared to other
communities. Brandenburg indicated that fuel costs have had an impact regarding the City's current vehicle
use policy.
Russell also gave an overview of the compensation plan for the Fire Department and told them that the City
is now 87-88% of market compared to Round Rock's current pay structure.
Russell told the Council what the approximate cost would be to bring salaries more in line with Round
Rock's.
There was additional discussion regarding the Council's financial policy and what the City needed to do in
order to remain policy compliant.
The Council went on to discuss what the City needed to do to address the salary issues, especially in public
safety, which appear to be getting worse. It was indicated that dollars needed to be allocated as quickly as
possible to public safety in order to address some of these concerns. There was additional discussion
regarding mechanisms to fund salaries, bonuses, etc. , as well as a mechanism to bring on additonal
positions.
Russell then went on to discuss the compensation issues related to the non-public safety employees and
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gave the Council an overview of the Job Classification Study that was done to review the City's non-public
safety job descriptions.
He explained to the Council that an Adivisory Committee comprised of City employees had been formed to
review and make recommendations regarding compression issues. Some of those recommendations
included implementation of a Pay for Performance salary increases, and a reduction of bonus payments.
There was additional discussion regarding turnover rates, and the Council requested that they be provided
a list of the employees who have left the City and their reasons for leaving. COLA increases were also
discussed.
The City Council also indicated they would like to see some firmer staff recommendations as to how Council
should set policy regarding compensation, including funding public safety compensation now, as well as
funding compensation and staffing levels in fiscal year 2007.
Recessed at 5:35pm to Executive Session.
Reconvened at 6:00pm to Regular Session.
Adjourned at 6:00pm
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.
D Sec.551.071: Consultation with Attorney
- Advice from attorney about pending or contemplated litigation and other matters on which the attorney has a duty to
advise the City Council, including agenda items
E Sec.551.086: Competitive Matters
- Presentation and possible action to approve the 2006-2007 Electric Capital Improvement Projects Plan -- Michael W.
Mayben, Energy Services Manager and Jim Briggs, Assistant City Manager for Utility Operations
- Consideration and possible action to approve the extension of the contract between McCord Engineering and
Georgetown Utility Systems, to provide engineering services related to the planning, design, and review of the City's
electric system improvements, system construction, system expansion, and system mapping. Mike Mayben, Energy
Services Manager, Jim Briggs, ACM Utility Operations
F Sec 551.072 - Deliberations about Real Property
Consideration and possible action concerning the acquisition of 5.107 acres from Bobby Ray Guthrie, Trustee, for future
City electric department operations and warehouse. -- Jim Briggs, Assistant City Manager for Utility Operations
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The meeting was adjourned at 06:00 PM.
Attest:
Cf
rley Rinn, Deputy