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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMIN 04.23.2013 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: Patty Eason, Danny Meigs, Bill Sattler, Tommy All Council Present. Gonzalez, Rachael Jonrowe, Troy Hellmann, Jerry Hammerlun Matt Present: Paul E. Brandenburg, City Manager; Jessica Brettle, City Secretary; Bridget Chapman, Acting City Attorney; Micki Rundell, Chief Financial Officer; Jim Briggs, General Manager for Utilities, Laurie Brewer, Assistant City Manager; Jackie Carey, Animal Services Manager; Kimberly Garrett, Director of Parks and Recreation; Kevin Russell, Director of Human Resources and Civil Service; Ed Polasek, Transportation Services Director Minutes Mayor called the meeting to order -- 2:02PM Meeting recessed to Executive Session under Sections 551.074 of the Local Governement Code -- 2:03PM Meeting returned to Open Session -- 4:00PM A Presentation and discussion of the proposed amendments to Title 7 of the Code of Ordinances relating to Animals -- Bridget Chapman, Acting City Attorney and Jackie Carey, Animal Services Manager Jonrowe absent. With a Powerpoint Presentation, Chapman provided Council with the proposed revisions to Title 7 of the Code of Ordinances regarding Animals. She noted the Ordinance has been updated to reflect what the City actually does. She said they started with a reorganization of the Ordinance. She quickly reviewed each of the chapters to let Council know what is in each of the chapters. She said in the definition section, they moved the penalties to the end, they defined key terms and the substantive provisions moved to relevant revised chapters that makes it easier to read and understand. She said this is a very public used Ordinance. She reviewed each of the chapters of the Ordinance and the relevant changes they are proposing to each of the sections. She said under Chapter 7.02, Licenses and Permits, they have beefed up the Commercial Sales Permit section and moved vaccinations and rabies to another section. She said they are requiring local raising of animals for commercial sales. She said the animals must be a minimum of 8 weeks old to be sold or transferred and each animal transferred can be accepted for return within one year of the transfer. She described the different types of licenses and permits for the Council. She said Chapter 7.03 addresses the care and keeping of the animals and she described the provisions in this section. She said Chapter 7.04, the animal control chapter and said they added an animal intact fee and the sterilization requirements when an animal is sterilized. She said roadside sales are still prohibited. She said animals at large have been redefined to include unaltered and unvaccinated cases. She said they have also amended the nuisance section to include animals at large, prohibition on unattended food for extended periods. She said Chapter 7.04 continues with impoundment and City Council Meeting Minutes/ Page 1 of 4 Pages adoption and she defined those terms under the Ordinance. She said, if someone wants to adopt an animal from the shelter, it requires a contract. She provided the Council with a list of "nuisances" with regard to animals. She spoke about Chapter 7.05 related to dangerous and aggressive dogs. She noted this is very strictly regulated under State law when injury or death occurs because of a dog. There was much discussion regarding this section. Brandenburg asked and Chapman said this is related to at -large dogs. Chapman said it would not be a violation if it occurred on the property where the dog is kept. Chapman described Chapter 7.06 and said wild and exotic animals as defined in the ordinance as generally prohibited within the city limits. She said all of the vaccination and rabies provisions are in Chapter 7.07. She said they have revised this section to comply with state law. he described this section in length. She said, in Chapter 7.08 regarding enforcement, penalties and fees, they have revised this to reflect Animal Services practices, they consolidated enforcement, fees have been updated to cover expenditures and they designation the enforcement officials. Hammerlun thanked staff for their hard work and encouraged everyone to go and visit the animal shelter. He said the revisions to this Ordinance have been intense and said pet owners are committed, passionate people. He said, as the population grows in Georgetown, the pet and animal population grows also. Gonzalez said Carey runs a great shelter and thanked her for her service. B Presentation and possible direction on future Cemetery operations -- John Hesser, Chair, Parks and Recreation Advisory Board and Kimberly Garrett, Director of Parks and Recreation Garrett introduced herself and Hesser, the Chair of the Parks Board, as well as Charles Brashear. With a Powerpoint presentation, Garrett provided a history of this issue. She provided Council with some background, general comments and research conducted by the Parks Board. She said IOOF Cemetery, which stands for the International Order of Oddfellows, was given to the City and is operated and has been maintained by the Parks Department since the early 1990s. She said funds from the sale of plots and fees are used as an offset to maintenance and operating costs. She said, at the current rate of sales, they estimated through 2040 there will be enough to offset expenses. She provided Council with a background of the citizen's memorial gardens and where that is located. She said there is no stipulation for what the City could do with that property. She noted there is no revenue collected for plot sales and there are very few burials happening there. She added the property is actually not platted for burials. Jonrowe arrived at the dais. Sattler asked and Garrett confirmed a burial can be done for free on the property as long as the person contacts the Citizen's Memorial Association. Gonzalez said it seems this opens up a whole new set of issues if it is not done properly. Hellmann asked and Garrett confirmed we own the land for the citizen's memorial garden but noted the City does not manage it as a cemetery. She said the City received a grant from the Texas Historical Commission for surveying to help identify graves and create a location map. There was much discussion and many questions. She provided Council with a location map of the Citizen's Memorial Garden. She introduced John Hesser to the Council. Hesser provided some general comments to the Council and he provided Council with a recommendation from the Parks Board. He complimented the staff for putting the history of this issue together. He said they are projecting to build out before 2040 and noted, the question they are faced with is what to do with future burials beyond that. He spoke about where the Board started their research and look into how other City's managed their cemeteries. He said they found cities that formed 501 c3 organizations. He noted they also found cemetery boards that were established. He said most of the responsibility fell to the Parks Board or the City Streets Department. He said they tried to find the reasons why other organizations felt they were not successful in managing their cemeteries. He said the Parks Board is recommending the City file for a 501 c3 Corporation, which means they would appoint officers and board, write bylaws, write policies and procedures and prepare funding strategy and budget. He showed Council a draft timeline of the recommendation including when to file for the 501 c3 and the appointment 4 or 5 people write the bylaws and other relevant documents. He concluded and said the two options to consider are to continue the current operations funding the cemetery expense out of current revenues or the approval for a 501 c3 corporation. Sattler asked and Hesser agreed he is recommending that a Board be set up in order to give the cemetery the attention it needs.Eason said she knows they have taken a look at IOOF and other cemetery issues once before. Garrett said that was part of the initial presentation done back in October. She said this is all the same information Eason said she did not hear any information about how many different ways a person can be laid to rest and if those options are available. Hesser said the Board thinks the numbers need to be looked at before the City can make that type of decision. Eason said, before she is willing to go further, this needs to be looked at by Finance and Legal related to those other burial opportunities. Eason said it seems to her this should be a subgroup of the current Parks Board instead of a new Board. She said the thing she would support would be to City Council Meeting Minutes/ Page 2 of 4 Pages go forward with a full review of this information and other opportunities. Hellmann asked and Hesser said the City is not obliged to sell cemetery lots. Hellmann asked and Hesser said the City could sell this to a separate party who has interest in running a cemetery. He noted the City is committed to perpetual care of the cemetery. Meigs asked and Hesser said he is just suggesting putting the 501 c3 in place. Jonrowe said she agrees with Eason and said she thinks there is no need for a stand alone committee. Jonrowe spoke about looking at possible fundraising opportunities for the cemetery as well. She said she thinks government at some level has a commitment to the deceased. Gonzalez said he would like to go back and figure out at one point where all of this went array. He said the City needs to start putting aside money in the coming years to fund these type of cemetery operations. Sattler asked and Hesser confirmed there is an additional concern and expense with the citizens memorial association. There were many comments and Brandenburg said he does not think the City should be in the cemetery business but noted there is the perpetual care issue for each of the cemeteries. C 2012 Compensation Study Overview and Update Paul E. Brandenburg, City Manager; Micki Rundell, Chief Financial Officer and Kevin Russell, Director of Human Resources With a Powerpoint Presentation, Rundell provided a history of compensation and the recent action taken by Council on this issue. She said a compensation survey and study was done to research compensation in Georgetown. She said the goal of the study was to ensure fair and competitive pay for employees. She said this project was communicated through GGAF and Council. She said there was an estimated implementation cost of $1.5 million after the study first came back. She said the implementation was discussed for the 2013 budget in a 60/40 plan. She said they addressed public safety separately. She said the 60% was implemented in last year's budget. She said the implementation date was October 1, 2012. She noted they did not want to place any employee over 107% of the midpoint of their pay range. She said they modified Phase 2 to become 80/20 instead of 60/40. She said, with that extra money, they were able to go in and adjust the meets employees to 90% of market. She described Phase 2.5, which will be to fund the full increase for the high performers. She described Phase 3. She said they are recommending that Council fund Phase 2.5 as of May 1 st due to excess funds. She noted this approval does not require any additional fund appropriation. She spoke about maintaining the new compensation plan and how that would work. She described a Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) and said it is not meant to move employees to midpoint. She said it is based on CPI changes. She said they had employees that were hired below market and the City needed a method to recognize years of experiences. She continued to describe how an employee would move through the pay range under the new plan. She reviewed the costs associated with the implementation of Phases 1-3 of this plan. Russell showed Council the pay range illustration and how an employee would lay within the pay range. He spoke about doing a COIR every other year. He said there will be a COLA as well as a pay range market adjustment each year to make sure all positions remain competitive. He said the pay structure will move 2% and the employee will stay in that relative spot in the pay range. He described employee pay maintenance. He said, in the past, the City only had the cost of living adjustmenst and not longevity and/or pay for performance pay. He spoke about pay for performance and the new plan and how this will solve the compression issue. He provided Council with an employee pay illustration. He said he applied this new plan matrix to the 2011/2012 evaluations and the average pay increase was 1.8%, with a total cost of $277k + benefits. Rundell reviewed the recommendations and said they are requesting to implement Phase 2.5 at mid -year 2013. She said they are recommending the budget funding for Phases 3 and 2.5 for October 1, 2013 (FY 2013/14) and the implementation of the maintenance policy. She concluded and said the pay plan requires on-going maintenance. She said the staff would like to write the policy to designate budgeted funding for maintenance. She said they are requesting to implement Phase 2.5 at mid -year, which does not have additional financial impact on the 2013/14 budget. She said the 2013/2014 estimated maintenance costs include a possible COLA and an additional 2% for progression and merit pay. Mayor asked and Rundell described the related action item on the Regular Agenda. Sattler asked and Rundell spoke about what would happen if the Council delayed this decision. Sattler asked and Rundel said the maintenance policy for the plan will be approved at the next Council meeting. Hammerlun asked and Russell said he is comfortable doing the internal salary. Jonrowe said that was very thorough. Gonzalez thanked staff and said he thinks it is important we do this so that the City does not find itself five or six years down the road with another salary gap. D Discussion and possible direction to staff regarding the Williamson County Bond Program for 2013 and future Transportation Bond Programs -- Edward G. Polasek, Transportation Services Director and Micki Rundell, Chief Financial Officer With a Powerpoint Presentation, Polasek said the County Commissioners have requested that the City submit parks projects and up to three transportation projects for bond funding. He said the Parks Board met on April 11 City Council Meeting Minutes/ Page 3 of 4 Pages to compile their list of projects. He said the first item they recommended was the hike and bike trail expansion from Booty's Road Park to Williams Drive, the Sidewalk Trail on Madrid between Georgetown Village and Serenada, and land acquisition adjacent to Georgetown. He showed Council maps of the proposed parks projects. He said the Parks Board also recommended the County to consider a location near Georgetown for a county -wide rodeo arena and expo center. He said the staff recommendation is for trail connectivity between Garey Park to the County's Regional Park. Polasek said, for the Road projects, the staff recommended criteria is for a project under City approved design and a project with possible City/TXDOT construction administration. He said the candidate projects discussed with GTAB were the IH35 NB Frontage Road (Williams to Lakeway), SH29 Bypass (SH 29 to Leander) and D.B. Wood Road (SH 29 to Byapass) as well as the D.B. Wood Road widening. He showed Council a map of these projects. Polasek said, once staff gets direction to move forward, they will prepare the documents and submit to the County by the deadline. Mayor asked and Polasek said Council can change the list if they so choose. Motion by Eason, second by Meigs to direct staff to go forward with the proposed list. Approved 7-0 Meeting recessed to Executive Session under Sections 551.071 and 551.087 of the Local Governement Code -- 5:35PM Meeting returned to Open Session and recessed the Executive Session -- 6:33PM Adjournment The meeting was adjourned at 06:33 PM. Approved wry Jzv,- Mayor Georg Garver City Council Meeting Minutes/ Page 4 of 4 Pages est. Ci cretary J sica Brettle