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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMIN 06.11.2013 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, Tommy Gonzalez, Rachael Jonrowe, L All Council Present. Jerry Hammerlun, John Hesser, Steve Fought Staff Present. Paul E. Brandenburg, City Manager; Bridget Chapman, Acting City Attorney; Jessica Brettle, City Secretary; Micki Rundell, Chief Financial Officer; Jim Briggs, General Manager of Utilities; Edward G. Polasek, Transportation Services Director; Wesley Wright, Systems Engineering Director; A Presentation concerning the TxDOT Texas -Oklahoma Passenger Rail Study -- Edward G. Polasek, AICP, Transportation Services Director and Jim Briggs, General Manager of Utilities With a Powerpoint Presentation, Polasek gave a brief history of the 1-35 and Rail studies. He spoke about the My35 corridor plan which was completed in 2009. He said TXDOT has taken on the job of participating in a study for rail from the border to Oklahoma City. He introduced Jennifer Moczygemba of TXDOT who provided a brief overview of the study and what has been discovered to date. Moczgemba provided a brief history on TXDOT and its involvement with Rail. She said, since 2005, TXDOT has had the responsibility of rail planning in the state. She continued to speak of the formation of the rail division of TXDOT. She said this is a passenger rail study that came about in 2008. She said it was a challenge for a lot of states to plan for rail systems due to the influx of new funds for rail. She said Texas was lucky enough to get some of the funds but didn't get the large dollars because it did not have any projects that were shovel ready. She said, in 2009-2010, there was some planning money available. She said that is where the money for this study came from. She said, when they applied for the grant, the study was called the Oklahoma City to South Texas Passenger study. She said they estimated the project at $14 million. She said it is an 850 mile long corridor and it connects multiple metropolitan areas. She added it makes it something that could be viable. She said the South Texas portion included anything south of San Antonio. She said the study gives them a service development plan and she reviewed what would be included in that plan. She said there is also an environmental document associated with the plan. She showed Council a map of the existing passenger rail lines in the state and said the current lines are serving through AMTRAK. She spoke about state supported routes and how those routes under 750 miles must be partly subsidized by the state. She provided the Council with some numbers regarding the current AMTRAK service in Texas. She said, several years ago, TTI had done a study for TXDOT looking at city pairs and other statewide studies for rail. She spoke about the DFW to Houston and DFW to San Antonio routes and how those have been approved. She spoke about levels of service and defined the different levels for the Council. She described core express service, regional service and emerging/feeder service for the Council. She spoke about the statewide ridership study and what is included in that study. She said it does not make sense to have high speed rail everywhere in Texas. She spoke City Council Meeting Minutes/ Page 1 of 4 Pages about how they determine the levels of service according to city pairs. She said they are receiving input from the statewide passenger rail steering committee and community working groups. She described some of the feedback that was received as a result of those meetings. Fought said he is having a hard time distinguishing between the definition of passenger rail and commuter rail. Moczygemba said the best way is to determine the type of trip. She said home -work, work -home is commuter rail. She noted inner city high speed trips would be passenger rail. She said commuter trips are typically not over 70 miles. She continued her review and said they then took the city pairs and looked more specifically on a corridor, which is the Texas -Oklahoma corridor. She said the passenger rail study looked at that corridor and determined the levels of service for that corridor. She showed Council a map of the TOPRS study area and the existing rail. She spoke of what they are studying and what they are not studying. She said they are studying intercity and high speed passenger rail improvements and various speed and service levels, capacity enhancement and connections. She said they are not studying commuter rail, light rail, streetcar, highways, airports or other non -rail modes. She spoke about how decisions are made and how TXDOT works with the Federal Railroad Administration. She provided Council with a schedule of the process. She said they have stakeholder meetings scheduled for next week. There was much discussion regarding the public meeting schedule. She provided Council with the initial demand assessment of the proposed routes. She said the highest demand is the DFW to San Antonio route. She said the medium demand lines are from DFW to OKC and from San Antonio to Monterrey. She described the next steps in this process. She spoke about the various avenues of public involvement throughout this process. Jonrowe asked and Moczygemba spoke about how they have been working with the NCTCOG, DART Light RAIL, DCTA, etc. and how their plans will integrate. She said they have also been working closely with LSTAR. She said there are different trips people make and they need to get a system together that addresses all of those needs. Jonrowe asked and Moczygemba said they have to look at the economic development impacts but noted that is something that is still evolving. Hammerlun spoke about the realities on the funding side in terms of competition for the same dollar. Moczygemba said those are challenging issues and added they are trying to stay informed. Hammerlun asked and Moczygemba said, by law, there is not one entity that has the authority to require everybody to report things to them. She spoke about a passenger rail plan that needs to be updated each year. Frought spoke about the nature of difficulty between this rail and freight. Moczygemba said many issues play into that relationship and added the largest difficulty comes from the freight rails being privately owned. She expanded upon this issue. Hesser asked and Moczygemba said they do not know whether a route will go through Georgetown. She said they would not consider stops for cities less than 10,000. She said they have thought about a large park and ride that may work best in this area. Hesser asked and she spoke about the various factors that have to be considered for having rail in the Georgetown area. Hellmann asked and Moczygemba said this plan will show the plan for Texas and will incorporate the efforts being made by the Lone Star Rail District. Hellmann asked and she confirmed this study is an independent look at what the state needs in terms of rail. Hellmann asked and she said the full plan will be done in December 2014. Eason thanked Moczygemba for her presentation and noted this plan also incorporates the work being done by the Lone Star Rail District. There was much discussion about the relationship between this plan and the Lone Star Rail District. B GUS Capital Improvement Plan - Utilities & Transportation -- Wesley Wright, Systems Engineering Director and Jim Briggs, General Manager of Utilities With a Powerpoint Presentation, Briggs introduced the Capital Improvement Plan for 2013-2014. He provided a brief outline of this process. Wright reviewed the CIP process in detail for the Council. He said the Capital Improvement process starts in January, the list in finalized in April, the list is presented to Boards and City Council in May and June and it is adopted along with the budget in September. He spoke about the water/wastewater projects and noted the total costs of projects in this department. He said the water revenue typically comes from utility rates. He said the water CIP is driven by customer based growth and noted everything is pretty much service and rehabilitation. He spoke about the water main cost for next year and what that entails, including the Shell Road line, the North Georgetown Addition and Street Rehab. He said the major item in the Water CIP is the Sequoia Elevated Storage tank project. He noted it will cost almost $6 million and he spoke about why it is needed. He spoke about the Wastewater CIP Improvements including the Edwards Aquifer Recharge Zone, Street Projects and Lift Station Upgrades. He spoke about the various plant upgrades planned for the upcoming year. He added there are no proposed irrigation system upgrades this year. He spoke about the Transportation projects and said the City does most of its streets work in the summer. He spoke of transportation services and said they manage, maintain and repair City streets and right of ways. He spoke about the plan to apply a rejuvenator to various roads in the City which will add another 3-5 years to the life of the pavement. He spoke about the street maintenance projects, including cutler repaving and chip seal. He spoke about some of the street rehabilitation projects totaling $556,000. He spoke about stormwater projects in the plan and said the proposed projects are related to curb and gutter replacements. He said $435,000 has been set aside for potential buyouts of the Smith City Council Meeting Minutes/ Page 2 of 4 Pages Branch watershed. He showed the Council a list of additional future proposed stormwater projects and their related costs. He spoke about the current residential drainage fee and said it is $4.75 per residential unit. He said the proposed rate is $5.25 per residential unit and he described how the revenue from this increase will be used. He spoke about the Airport CIP and why they only have planned out two years of projects. He said the proposed projects include the design of a parallel taxiway and medium intensity runway lights. Hellmann asked about the arterial reserve and Wright said it was for long term maintenance. Hellmann asked and Wright described in further detail the Smith Branch buyouts and the process for this. Hesser asked about the Serenada culvert improvements. Wright said there is a section of Serenada that is in the City, so it is included in the City project. Fought asked and Wright confirmed the airport study will be incorporated into the plan next year. Polasek spoke about how the airport business plan will be used to program next year's Airport GIP. Jonrowe asked about the buyouts and Wrights said all buyout options will come back to Council for a final decision. Jonrowe said a lot of the improvements are in her district. She asked about the coordination of these projects so that they are not happening all at once. Wright said staff will sit down and determine the best way to handle improvements so that customers are only affected once. Gonzalez asked and staff confirmed the Smith Branch buyouts are still at 16 homes. Wright spoke about the pavement condition index and spoke about how Council has directed staff to maintain an 85 or above. There was much discussion regarding street maintenance. C Fiscal and Budgetary Policy - Workshop presentation and discussion on revisions to the Fiscal and Budgetary Policy for the 2013/14 budget cycle -- Micki Rundell, Chief Financial Officer Hellmann left the dais. With a Powerpoint Presentation, Rundell reviewed the Fiscal and Budgetary Policy and the proposed revisions to the policy that are up for approval on the regular agenda. She said this was reviewed by the General Government and Finance Committee. She provided Council with a historical overview of the Fiscal and Budgetary Policy. She said it was adopted in 2001/02 and is based on recommended "best practices by GFOA." She noted the policy is reviewed and updated annually as part of the budget process. Fought left the dais. She spoke spoke about "police compliance" as defined in the policy. She said the policy requires 1.5 times coverage ratio for all funds with debt service requirements. Hellmann returned to the dais. Fought returned to the dais. She described the major sections of the policy, including the policy purpose, fund structure and basis of budgeting, fund balance policy, operating budget, revenue management, expenditure policies, purchasing policy, budget contingency plan, capital improvement program, capital maintenance, accounting and financial reporting, debt management, other funding alternatives, financial conditions, reserves and stability ratios, internal controls and staffing and compensation. She described how the contingency funds are spread throughout the City as well as the process for internal audits. She reviewed the major areas with proposed changes for discussion. She said the City added a table of contents. She noted the power contract credit reserve was added, they updated the document to reflect the City of Excellence, increase the auditor's contract from three to five years and add the inclusion of the new compensation program. She spoke about the next steps in this process and thanked the Council for their time. Meeting recessed to Executive Session under Section 551.071 and 551.086 of the Local Government Code -- 5:13 PM Meeting returned to Open Session and adjourned -- 6:39PM Adjournment The meeting was adjourned at 06:39 PM. City Council Meeting Minutes/ Page 3 of 4 Pages Approve ,iw—� M yor eorge arver City Council Meeting Minutes/ Page 4 of 4 Pages A est: C S cretary Jelssica Brettle