HomeMy WebLinkAboutMIN 09.10.2013 CC-WMinutes of the Meeting of the Governing Body
of the City of Georgetown, Texas
Tuesday, September 10, 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:
Patty Eason, Tommy Gonzalez, Rachael Jonrowe, All Council Present.
John Hesser, Steve Fought, Jerry Hammerlun
Staff Present.
Paul E. Brandenburg, City Manager; Laurie Brewer, Assistant City Manager; Jessica Brettle, City
Secretary; Bridget Chapman, City Attorney; Kimberly Garrett, Parks and Recreation Director; Wayne
Nero, Police Chief
A Presentation of Aquatic Facilities Master Plan -- Kimberly Garrett, Parks and Recreation Director, Laurie Brewer,
Assistant City Manager, Robert Johnson, Parks and Recreation Board Chair
Eason, Gonzalez absent.
With a Powerpoint Presentation, Garret review the Aquatic Master Plan for 2013-2020. She introduced Bob
Johnson, the Chair of the Parks Board to the City Council. Johnson said, 15 months ago, the Parks and
Recreation Advisory Board put together a subcommittee to look at aquatic facilities. He said it was born out of
the CIP process. He noted they were looking for a comprehensive plan for aquatics in Georgetown that was
aligned with the Parks and Rec Master Plan and fit within the model of a signature destination. He said they
have studied budgets, usage, expenditures, looked at surrounding communities, did on site inspections and
performed audits. He said they are glad they took the time and did not implement any actions abased on their
pre -mature judgements. He briefly reviewed the recommendations for the Council. He described the Master
Plan Prioritization including the Village Pool minor upgrades completed and ongoing, River Ridge ADA
accessibility projects and an upgrade to the Williams Drive facilities. He mentioned that the Recreation Center
pools are in fine shape. He said the biggest issue for them was the Tennis Center pool. He said 15 months ago,
they would have said it is something they do not want the City to invest in. He noted, however, they recommend
keeping the Tennis Center pool up and running and consider future facility consolidation. He said they
recommend a thoughtful retirement of the pool facility but noted they want to give it at least another couple of
years.
Eason arrived at the dais.
Garrett went over each of the recommended pool improvements in greater detail. She noted this is just an
update and not in front of Council for action. Johnson mentioned, including costs, what will be improved and the
history of the pools. She showed Council a map of where all of the pools are located and reviewed the future
aquatic plans for the City. She said there is a good opportunity for a splash pool in the southeast and southwest
quadrants of the City. She reviewed the future aquatic plans including West Side Park, Garey Park and
southeast Georgetown. She said they are looking to do a playground type pool or splash pad in that area of the
city. She said the City could even incorporate a theme some of the splash pads to make it a signature
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destination. She spoke about the Parks and Recreation Master Plan that was completed in 2009. She spoke
about how these aquatic goals are consistent with the Master Plan.
Jonrowe thanked Garrett and the members of the Parks and Recreation Board for their hard work. She said she
is impressed with the progress they are making with the ADA issues. Jonrowe asked about the River Ridge
baby pool and Garrett said the lifeguards take an hourly attendance of who uses that pool and the baby pool
does not get utilized. Jonrowe asked and Garrett said GISD pays for the heating of the pools and pays rent
when they need to use it. Hammerlun asked about the schedules for the ADA compliance issues and when
those will be resolved. Garrett said the ADA accessibility for the River Ridge is in this year's CIP. She said the
planning and design money for Williams is in this year's budget but the actual improvements are in the
2014-2015 budget. Hammerlun asked and Johnson explained the retirement plan for the tennis center pool.
Hammerlun said the splash pad at the recreation center is a fabulous service. Hammerlun asked and Garrett
said the City will be doing the maintenance for the splash pad at the Arts Center. Fought said he especially likes
the idea of in house work. He said the southeast part of town definitely needs something like this. Fought said
he is having a disconnect with the Village and River Ridge Pools. He noted it sounds like those are surrounded
by HOAs and it seems that limits the access to those pools. He asked why the City runs those pools. Garrett
said they were given to the City years ago. He asked why the City kept these pools/parkland and Garrett said it
is hard to get rid of parkland. Garrett said any citizen is welcome to go to those pools and there are citizens that
drive across town to go to certain pools because they like it. Johnson spoke about how River Ridge pool is used
heavily for birthday parties and other events. He said the Village Pool is the largest pool in the City for the swim
team communities. Hesser asked about swim lessons and Garrett said that was offered at four different pools.
Hesser said the only question he has is regarding the bath house at the Williams Drive Pool. Garrett said the
bath house is about 2,500 square feet. Hesser also asked about information regarding revenues being
generated by the pools. Mayor made a few comments and said he endorses the need for a pool on the
southeast side. Mayor asked about the closing of the tennis center. Garrett said they would like to relocate the
tennis facilities to the West Side Park.
B Presentation on Phase Two of the Creative Playscape -- Kimberly Garrett, Parks and Recreation Director; Eric
Nuner, Parks and Recreation Assistant Director; Laurie Brewer, Assistant City Manager and Tim Bargainer,
Baker-Aicklen and Associates, Inc.
Eason left the dais.
With a Powerpoint Presentation, Garrett described the background of the creative playscape and the process to
replace it. She said the replacement was identified in 2011 that made the retirement concrete. She said the
money for the replacement is included in next year's budget.
Eason arrived at the dais.
She said today she would like to talk to Council about the opportunities for public input, address the community
concerns, present the preliminary plan and the remaining timeline and next steps. She said there was an initial
public input meeting on May 13. She described that for Council. She said in June, they involved their day camp
kids and had them flag their favorite and least favorite things and have them be designers for the day. She
continued to describe some of the design process for the Council. She said the staff did some playscape visits
and she described those visits for the Council. She said they also released an online survey for the opportunity
for community input. She said the online survey has been posted to the parks website since June. She said
they have received 104 responses so far. She reviewed some of the community concerns that have come up so
far.
Gonzalez arrived at the dais.
Garrett explained why the existing structure is not grandfathered in terms of ADA. She described the elements
of the playscape that will be re -purposed in to the structure. She spoke about why the playscape did not last as
long as some had anticipated. She said the new playscape will not be made of wood due to durability and
maintenance concerns. She introduced Tim Bargainer, who described the initial design concept for the new
playscape to the City Council in detail. He showed Council a loose sketch of the entry area for the playscape.
Mayor asked and Garrett said the funds for this is located in the Capital Improvement Projects and the money is
from bond issues that have been passed in the past. She said they do not have a true cost element and noted
this is just the initial design.Garrett spoke about the training assistance parks department has been doing with
the Fire Department with the old playscape. She said the two departments worked together to use the current
playscape for fire fighter confined space training. She spoke about the next steps in the process and said the
design concept is going to the Parks Board on September 12th. She noted the design concept will be provided
to the public on September 19th at 6:30PM at the Community Center. She said the existing playscape will be
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removed by the end of September. She said the goal is to present the final concept to the Parks Board and City
Council in November for approval. She said the bid approval will be done in January 2014 and said the
estimated project completion should be done during the Spring 2014.
Eason said she appreciates this and she could have used this information months ago since she has been
receiving many questions from her constituents. She said this looks like it is going to be much more involved
than originally planned. Garrett confirmed the footprint will be larger. Eason asked and Garrett said the existing
bathroom to the playscape is there but the site work ad dirt work and engineering will be done to upgrade the
restroom. Hesser said he has a lot of questions about this. He asked about the water feature and how that is
going to function. Bargainer said the blue on the picture is more of a paving/surfacing and not water. Hesser
asked and said it seems there will need to be some kind of staffing there. Garrett said the City rents the parks
areas but noted there is no staff person currently on site. Hesser spoke about maintenance costs. He asked
what those going to be. He said his issue is the previous playscape was not maintained and he wants to make
sure that does not happen with the new playscape. Garrett said the older playscape was made of wood and it
required a lot of maintennace. She said the new one will be more durable. She siad the maintenance will
decrease on the new playscape. She said there will be no maintenance until something breaks and there is a
replacement schedule for that. Hesser asked and Garrett said this has a 20-25 year life. Fought spoke about
the security and ADA and how important that is for this type of project. Fought said Hesser's questions on
maintenance are critical. Fought asked and Garrett spoke about when this will be corning back to Council.
Fought said it would help him to have a line point for the decisions that need to be made by Council. Hammerlun
said great questions have been raised so far and said he is happy with the process so far. Hammerlun asked as
soon as more information about this project is available, including cost, the Council should receive it. He asked
if the City has any documentation on the utilization of the current playscape. Garrett said the City estimates they
received 25,000-30,000 visitors per year. Hammerlun said it would be helpful to install something in order to
show the utilization of the new playscape. Jonrowe said she loves this plan and loves the way they incorporate
all of the time periods into the playscape. She said she loves the new entrance and she thinks children love the
idea of passing through something. Jonrowe said it looks like there are a lot of shade trees and she is happy
about that. Johnson said they will be putting in more trees than there are currently. Jonrowe aksed that they
incorporate something for people to hang their pinatas. Gonzalez said it was a great presentation and he loves
the concept. He spoke about security but asked if there will be extra security in the back areas. He said, as a
parent, he would like to know it won't be easy for a child to leave the back of the area. He said he has recently
seen a lot of money go into Parks and noted he would like to see complete numbers on the parks projects.
Mayor asked about security cameras.Garrett said the City has cameras at the Recreation Center but they have
limited visibility. She said that is something they have looked into expanding.
C Distracted While Driving —Wayne Nero, Police Chief
With a Powerpoint Presentation, Waits spoke about distracted driving and how that does not necessarily mean
just texting. He said, however, one of the huge issues he sees on the rise is texting. He said they are going to
focus a lot of their attention on texting but added it goes way beyond that. He provided Council some statistical
information regarding distracted driving. He spoke about the current Texas law and said a person is not allowed
to text in Texas while under 18 years old or motorcyclists under 17, while operating a bus when a minor is
present or passing through a school zone. He said people still don't know about this law. He said in 2011, Perry
vetoed HB 242 looking to ban texting while driving statewide. He said, since 2009, more than 23 municipalities
have city ordinances that address use of wireless communication devices. He noted enforcement action varies
from city to city. He said there were some exceptions granted in some of the city ordinances, including the use
of GPS, texting while stopped, making telephone calls and emergency communications. He said there is always
a question of whether this is a state or local issue. He described both sides of that opinion. He spoke about
some of the cities they contacted and how often the law is enforced. He described the pros and cons of this law.
He listed some components that would go into a sample ordinance and said they would like to make sure an
Ordinance has some teeth to it. He said the City needs to be clear and concise with what the offense is. He
listed some possible exemptions or affirmative defenses. He said they are asking for City Council direction for
how to move forward. He said the Council can defer the action by staying within the existing state law or direct
staff to draft a sample ordinance for review and possible direction.
Gonzalez said he does not think the City should spend more time on this without better ways to enforce it.
Jonrowe asked and Brandenburg confirmed there definitely has been an increase in accidents due to increased
population as well as inattentive driving. He said, as the City increases population, the traffic will also continue to
increase. Jonrowe said it would be ideal for the state to take the initiative on this. She said even talking on your
phone while driving is more distracting then driving under the influence. She thinks the City should go forward
and proceed with a sample ordinance. Hammerlun said he is not ready to move forward with a sample
Ordinance at this point. Fought said it is all interesting but he would like to proceed first with educating the
community on distracted driving. He said he does not understand why the insurance companies can't assist with
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this effort. Hesser said he does not understand why we would want to write a law we cannot enforce. Eason
said, the case of an accident, her thought is that this can be used to ensure that there is penalty for having
texted or having been distracted. She asked if this is something the department can check out before doing an
Ordinance. Tchida said he was the senior crash investigator and noted the act of subpoening is more complex
than it sounds. He said there is a back end complexity to this that does not have a good return on investment.
He said they absolutely look into that for fatalities but not for all accidents. Mayor provided some observations
about this as well. There was much discussion.
Meeting recessed to Executive Session under Section 551.0715:03PM
Meeting returned to Open Session and adjourned -- 6:OOPM
Adjaurnmen
The meeting was adjourned at 06:00 PM.
Appro e A t:
Mayor Ge e Garver Cit ecretary JKsica Brettle
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