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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMIN 12.11.2012 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, Rachael Jonrowe, Jerry Hammerlun, Bill Sattler, Tommy Gonzalez, Patty Eason Troy Hellmann Staff Present: Paul E. Brandenburg, City Manager; Bridget Chapman, Acting City Attorney; Jessica Brettle, City Secretary; Micki Rundell, Chief Financial Officer; Chris Foster, Financial Analyst; Shelley Nowling, Assistant City Secretary; Jim Briggs, General Manager for Utilities; Laurie Brewer, Assistant City Manager Minutes A Aging Initiative Update -- Paul E. Brandenburg, City Manager Sattler, Gonzalez, Eason absent. Brandenburg described the Aging Initiative and the goals of the group. He said, every two or three years, the City puts out its own survey but noted this one is focusing on aging in the community. He said staff had a very good meeting last Friday with Bonner and the Aging Initiative group. He said he was interested in the results from the aging survey and how it affects the City and its growth. He noted he is very excited about how the group and the City will be able to utilize the survey results moving forward. Bonner thanked Council for giving their time to the group. He said the aging initiative was brought into being with a vision of the Chisholm Trails Community Foundation. He introduced the citizens who participated in this process. He said a copy of the report of the results from the survey has been given to the Council. He gave a brief background of the survey and said they enlisted the Indiana Center on Aging to administer this survey. He noted Georgetown was the lowest in population to do the survey but has the highest percentage of people over 60 who filled out the survey. He said roughly 10% of that age group in Georgetown filled out the survey and spoke about how that is an extraordinary participation level. He said they think they have done an adequate job of canvassing the community to find out the perceived interests of that age group. He noted they hope policy makers will find this information useful. He said the next action step is the formation of five task forces in the various areas identified as areas of growing concern by the survey. He noted these areas are communication, senior community engagement, senior health, aging and place and transportation. He said they are not interested in siloing the creation of modalities called task forces that are redundant to what the city is already doing. He said they are wanting to work collaboratively to get at making Georgetown ever better for senior adults. He asked that the City post the report as a link on the website and participate with them and the ongoing work of their task forces so that the seniors of Georgetown continue to find this a place they are proud to call home. He introduced Mike Weir, who summarized some of the key findings of the survey. Mike Weir introduced himself to the Council and summarized the findings of the survey. He said, to begin with, he wanted to recognize the limitations of the survey. He said what is on the screen in front of Council is a City Council Meeting Minutes/ Page 1 of 3 Pages combination of statements from the report as well as questions from the survey instrument that address those particular questions. He listed some of the topics covered in the survey. He spoke about the high participation in the survey and said, though there was a 10% response rate, it was not a random sample. He said part of the process was to have polling as well as focus groups, which confirmed what the survey reported. He said both groups noted a lack of access to public transportation their decline in private transportation use. He spoke about some of the other questions in the survey related to mobility and transportation. He said it is his hope that the task force would be able to look at other models for what the City has in Georgetown and be able to find some solutions. He said he worries that if City staff works on its own in isolation that there will be a bus route and noted he is not sure that is the solution. He spoke about the importance of having a task force participate with the City in this effort. He noted, with housing 85% of older adults own their own homes. He spoke about the housing related questions and issues contained in the survey. He said the survey reveals that the housing needs of the older community are greater than anticipated. He spoke about social engagement and how it seems women become more isolated as they age and that is not as much the case for men. He spoke about what services respondents would like to see implemented including public transportation improvements, information resources, neighbordhood alert system and affordable day care. He listed some other services as well. He said the survey also covers computer access to information. There was much discussion regarding the results of the survey. Meigs said this issue is one thing about Georgetown that is very unique and noted it is best for all entities to work together to solve some of these issue. He said the City does a huge amount in transportation, most having to do with infrastructure. Weir said he would like to see one group of people that is either led by or that has the transportation individuals from City government working with representatives from other entities dealing with the transportation issue. Hammerlun asked where the city is with respect to Georgetown moving forward with regard to public transportation. Brandenburg said it is going to be a big issue for the City in 2013 because the city will need to address what to do short term and long term. He said, during the next seven months, Council will be very engaged in this issue. He spoke about the fact that they want to make sure no one in the community falls through the cracks regarding transportation services. Polasek spoke about the city's discussions with Capital Metro about how to continue transportation services in Georgetown. He summarized the next steps in this process. Hammerlun asked and Polasek said staff will have to be back to Council with a specific plan by the spring. Hammerlun said he is glad he is aging in Georgetown because the city has the wisest people who knows gathered together to work on this. He said he appreciates the work the team is doing. He said there is a lot of momentum and energy there and it appears there is a couple of areas where the City has a natural leadership role and noted transportation is one of them. Brandenburg spoke about the City responsibility on these issues including Ed Polasek with transportation, Jennifer Bills with Housing, Kimberly Garrett with Parks and the Chiefs with public safety. Bonner said this is sweet music and noted on behalf of the working group, it seems the Council "gets it." He called this a new depth in collaborative effort. Mayor thanked Bonner and asked that he send a timetable of when the task force meeting will be held. B Update on the City's Sales Tax revenue profile including historical information as well as sales tax revenue projections -- Micki Rundell, Chief Financial Officer and Chris Foster, Financial Analyst With a Powerpoint Presentation, Foster provided an update on the City's sales tax revenue and where that revenue comes from. He said there are about eight different sales tax categories and noted the largest is retail. He showed Council a graph of each sales tax segment and the growth in the segments. He pointed out the information segment and noted, for one quarter, it was higher than building materials. He said the City's information sector is growing while it is not in other cities. He spoke about what contributes to this sector, including data centers. He said there is a lot of population moving into this area and noted that is expected to continue. He said, because of this, the building materials sector will continue to carry Georgetown. Brandenburg said we have a lot of car dealerships here and there is an assumption that we can sales tax from vehicle which is not the case. He said the only money we get is from parts and repairs. Foster said there is a great correlation between increase of sales tax revenue and increase in inflation.He said they target between 2 and 4% each year for inflation. He reviewed the sales tax forecast and said we have been pretty good over the past few years. He noted 2012 was a 6.4% increase over last year. He said he is showing a $250,000 jump in 2013, which is a 3.11 % change. Meigs congratulated Foster for his projections and noted he is happy that the City budgets conservatively. Jonrowe said he thinks it is good to be conservative but not too conservative but noted the amount over budget can not be spent on recurring items. She noted it speaks volumes about the quality of staff that the City does continue to meet such high standards. C Review of the Open Meetings Act -- Bridget Chapman, Acting City Attorney With a Powerpoint Presentation, Chapman said Eason asked for this presentation. Chapman said the purpose of the Open Meetings Act has been described by the Texas Supreme Court to protect the public interest. She summarized the various elements of the Open Meetings Act including quorum of members, public notice of City Council Meeting Minutes/ Page 2 of 3 Pages meetings, managing discussions at open meetings, recording of meetings and enforcement of the act. She noted, generally, there are two types of meetings and she described those for the Council. She said a quorum is five members of the City Council or four City Council members and the Mayor. She noted the other kind of meetings are closed meetings or executive sessions. She noted the generally applicable closed session provisions are consultation with attorney, deliberation regarding real property, personnel matters, economic development negotiations, and deliberations about prospective gifts. She noted all action coming out of executive session is taken in open session. She listed the exceptions to the Open Meetings Act. She noted action taken during a meeting that is not posted correctly is voidable but can be ratified at a later meeting. She noted the criminal offense comes when a member knowingly participates in a meeting that is not posted correctly or should not be a closed meeting. She described the penalties for this offense. She said the second criminal offense under the act is conspiring to circumvent the Act by meeting in numbers less than a quorum for the purpose of secret deliberations. She spoke about walking quorum and its definition. She noted it is rare for Texas prosecutors to seek criminal penalties for Open Meetings Act violations. She said the investigations are usually local. She noted, more importantly, it is extremely difficult to prove a violation of the Act and she described why this is so. She said, in Travis County, they have only prosecuted one open meetings act violation in the past ten years. She described the San Antonio case regarding a walking quorum and, in that case, they were indicted but the punishment was to take more open meetings act training. She spoke about the current open meetings challenge going on the the City of Austin and described the collateral damage of the Open Meetings Act violations. Chapman summarized the Governance Policy the City just recently revised. She said the Council authority is held collectively, not individually. She reviewed the summary of the Governance Policy and what it stated about the duty of the Council. She noted the Council and the Mayor shall conduct business in open meetings. She added elected officials shall not given direction or orders to staff. She noted communication between Council and staff shall be through the City Manager. She said it also requires the City Manager to coordinate meetings between staff and Council. She reviewed staffs recommendations for compliance with the Open Meetings Act. She said all City related business should be done through the City email address and she described why that is the recommended method. She continued to describe the main points of the Governance policy. Mayor asked and Chapman said the.City Manager has discretion on how he will handle requests from a Council member to meet or speak with staff. Brandenburg said that issue came up during the formation of the procedures and he gave an example of how he would handle this type of situation. He said staff also needs to let him know when a meeting is taking place so that he can notify the Council. He noted all information or documents given to one Council member needs to be given to all Council members. Mayor asked and Chapman said there is not currently an enforcement provision in the policy or repercussions if these things occurred. Mayor asked and Chapman said if there was enough Council interest in a particular subject matter, there will be a Workshop. Chapman said the policy makes it the City Managers discretion as to whether or not a meeting is appropriate. There were many questions and much discussion. Meeting recessed to Executive Session under Sections 551.071 and 551.072 of the Texas Local Government Code -- 4:51 PM Meeting returned to Open Session and adjourned -- 6:10PM Ard Mayor ' rge Garver City Council Meeting Minutes/ Page 3 of 3 Pages Adjournment The meeting was adjourned at 06:10 PM.