Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutMIN 01.08.2013 CC-WMinutes of the Meeting of the Governing Body.: of the City of Georgetown, Texas Tuesday, January 8, 2013 The 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: Bill Sattler, Tommy Gonzalez, Rachael Jonrowe, Patty Eason, Troy Hellmann, Bill Sattler Jerry Hammerlun Staff Present, Paul E. Brandenburg, City Manager; Jessica Brettle, City Secretary; Bridget Chapman, Acting City Attorney; Jim Briggs, General Manager for Utilities; Kathy Ragsdale, Conservation Services Manager; 6nutes . A Presentation and discussion of the proposed changes to the Water Conservation Plan, the Drought Contingency Plan, and the interdependence between the plans -- Kathy Ragsdale, Conservation Services Manager and Jim Briggs, General Manager for Utilities Mayor called the meeting to order at 4:32 PM. With a Powerpoint Presentation, Ragsdale spoke about Water Conservation in Georgetown. She spoke about the statewide requirements for having a water conservation plan. She said the 2030 Comprehensive Plan lists conservation water resources and reduction of the use of water as one of the important aspects of government. She said the current water conservation plan was put into effect in 2009 and the goals are to ensure that Georgetown continues to have an adequate water supply and to meet water usage goals set out in the plan. She said the current water loss is at about 15%. She said the measurement for all of these goals is the per capita usage within hte City. She said the per capita goal right now is 190 gallons per capita daily. She said the goal for 2018 is 180 gallons and, for 2030, the city would like to hit 160. She noted the State goal is 140 and the City is currently sitting at 241 per capita. Jonrowe asked and Ragsdale said the state wants our goal to be 140 now. She said the proposed changes to the current plan includes changes to the water ordinance, drought contingency pan and conservation plan. She said this is the first change is to change the three day watering schedule to the standard irrigation schedule for the City. She noted this means, year round, the city would have three days of irrigation. She added they would do a few changes to the basic criteria of the plan so that it only really restricts the automated irrigation systems but a person can still water by hand. She noted, right now, the violations go through municipal court and are enforced by a police officer. She noted they are advising that we use administrative penalties as a stop gap between the judiciary process and violation. She said in the drought contingency plan, since they want to move the first phase to the standard watering schedule, the drought contingency plan would only be active when we are in a drought. She noted our phase one will be the same phase as with the neighboring cities. She said the administrative penalties will be used to enforce the drought contingency plan as well. She noted they are going to address landscape incentives in the drought contingency plan. She said they are in the process of creating a landscape committee to address standards the city would like to set. She noted there are also metrics to the conservation plan that will be changing. Mayor asked what Ragsdale means by metrics. She said every municipality or water service area calculates their per capita differently and noted they are trying to standardize the metrics so, if the City does not meet the metrics set by the State, they would be able to impose additional standards.. She showed Council an illustration showing the City Council Meeting Minutes/ Page 1 of 3 Pages interdependence between the plans. The proposed plan is going to be a strategic plan where all the elements fit together so that the City can influence the customers' usage with rates and tiers. She showed Council the difference between the current system and the proposed system. She noted the proposed plan is mandatory three day schedule throughout the year with three rate tiers. She showed Council a list of the proposed rate tiers and she described each of the tiers. Gonzalez asked and Briggs said, if you stay in the first tier, your rate goes own. Ragsdale showed Council the amount of people that fall into each of the tiers. Jonrowe asked and Ragsdale said this set of tiers is for residential use only. Ragsdale showed Council a chart of the revenue the City would bring in with the new plan. She showed a graph of the revenue allocation with the new rate tiers. She spoke about the enforcement under the current plan and how it would compare to the proposed plan. She noted, under the proposed plan, there will be a penalty under the first violation. She said, however, the first violation fee would be waived by attending a water conservation class. She noted the second violation would be an administrative penalty, the third would be the penalty and the installation of a restrictor device and the fourth violation would be filed with municipal court. Gonzalez asked what would happen if a person got to the point where they were given a restrictor device. Briggs explained, this would force the pipe to be limited so the resident could not run the irrigation system while running the washing machine. He reminded Council this would only be for repeat violations down the line. Hammerlun asked and Briggs said these types of devices are being used around the country. Ragsdale continued to expand upon the proposed penalties and violations. She reviewed the landscape incentives. She noted the current plan is not in compliance with what the state is asking the City to do. She added this new proposed plan will address the requests from the state. There were many questions and much discussion. Meigs asked and Briggs spoke about how the City currently measures water loss. Meigs asked and Briggs said around 25-30% of residents water more than three days a week.Hammerlun asked and Briggs said the first reading of the Ordinance approving this will be at the next meeting. Hammerlun asked and Briggs said the City has to do a lot more regarding water. Briggs said this City is not very conservation conscious. He said Austin and San Antonio has shamed Georgetown with what they have done with water conservation He said the City needs to do more education as well as incentives. Jonrowe asked and Briggs said the City has looked into many plans around the country and the world. Jonrowe said it will be helpful for Council to see that information and plans other cities have done. Jonrowe said she thinks Georgetown should be shining in this area. Brandenburg spoke about trying to come up unique ways to come up with landscaping solutions. Briggs said a lot of the design for the irrigation systems will focus on objectives such as being able to get trees and plants near the home watered, but forgoing lawn irrigation to not more than once a week. He said all of this is dependent on the design of the system and there could be some level of incentives to get residents to make a transition to a better system. B Update on the Public Safety Operations and Training Facility -- Paul E. Brandenburg, City Manager Brandenburg provided a brief summary of the status of the Public Safety Operations and Training Facility. He said there were some unknowns regarding the caves on the property and noted they will be moving the tactical building away from that area to address the issue. He noted there have been some costs savings with certain issues. Ian Reeves, President with Architects Design Group, said they have been working closely with Bartlett Cocke construction team. He said they have come back with the first cost analysis and noted it is where they hopes it would be. He spoke about where the City is in the current state of the project, which is at 40% of the design effort. He said the project still remains on the schedule they were given based on the time allotments per phase. He said they have revised a site plan development concept to co -locate the firing range and the ancillary training structure as a single structure. He said it is going to take the City 5.5 months to complete the design once the notice to proceed to received. He provided Council an update of the project schedule. He said they would like to submit for permits at 90% construction documents phase. He said they will be submitting to TCEQ nine weeks from the notice to proceed. He said, based upon the published schedule, they look to start construction on June 21. He continued to described the building and construction schedule. He said another two months have been added to the schedule for building commissioning. Wood, the chief estimator of the Austin Office of Bartlet Cocke said, before the holidays, they received a design development packet of documents. He said they studied it, did their own analysis, went out to almost 100 subcontractors and completed an analysis and scope of work of the project. He reviewed the estimated cost of the development. He also reviewed the off-site improvements costs required. He described the cost of both the tactical training building and the firing range. He noted the success of this project really lies in the training buildings. He showed Council the updated site development concept and noted a cavern was found on the property which prevents any development anywhere near it. He showed Council photo renderings of the facility. Hammerlun asked about the secondary access allowance. Brandenburg said the secondary access is the back road behind the station. He noted, in the future, the City thought about including it in a road project package but City Council Meeting Minutes/ Page 2 of 3 Pages added it can wait. There was much discussion regarding the details of the design and cost of the facility. Hammerlun asked and Wood said the construction management team is happy with the current schedule. Recessed to Executive Session under Sections 551.071 and 551.072 of the Local Government Code -- 5:46PM Returned to Open Session and adjourned -- 6:38PM Approv Mayor Geo a arver City Council Meeting Minutes/ Page 3 of 3 Pages Adjournment The meeting was adjourned at 06:38 PM.