Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutMIN 02.22.2011 CC-RThe City Council of the City of Georgetown, Texas, met in Regular Session on the above date with Mayor George Garver presiding. .... -,"........I—, I—— ­," I—— I I Council Present: 1 Council Absent: Patty Eason, Gabe Sansing, Danny Meigs, Bill All Council Present i Sattler, Pat Berryman, Dale Ross, Tommy I i: Gonzalez ------------ Staff Present, Paul E. Brandenburg, City Manager, Mark Sokolow, City Attorney; Jessica Breftle, City Secretary; Micki Rundell, Chief Financial Officer, Jim Briggs, Assistant City Manager; Elizabeth Cook, Director of Community Development; Robert Fite, Fire Chief; Wayne Nero, Police Chief, Laurie Brewer, Finance Director-, Lorie Lankford, Controller, Thomas R. Benz, Systems Engineering Director, Mike Elabarger, Planner III; Glenn Dishong, Utility Director; Jennifer Bills, Housing Coordinator; Mike Peters, Information Technology Director, Kathy Ragsdale, Utility • Director; Terri Calhoun, Real Estate Services Coordinator; Mark Miller, Transportation Manager; Edward Polasek, Transportation Services Director :u, • Session - To •-. no earlier than 06:06 PM convene an Executive Session at the request of Texas • Code .♦ •.g • -■ • from the Mayor City Manager Comments The City will hold elections for City Council seats for Mayor and Districts 2, and 6 on May 14, 2011. The first day to file for candidacy is February 12, 2011, and the last day to file for candidacy is March 14, 2011. Action from Executive Session Motion by Ross, second by Sansing to approve the purchase agreement with Avant in substantially the same form as presented by Chisholm Trail with a two year feasibility study and a$20,000 earnest money as to meet the needs of the City and Chisholm Trail. Prior to the final acquisition of the property, Chisholm Trail will notify the city as to the status of the feasibility review and the projected cost allocations. The City will obtain an undivided interest in the land at the time of the acquisition. Approved 7-0 Motion by Ross, second by Eason to adopt Option D as to finance the 100 South Austin project and staff will bring back the necessary documents thereon. City Council Meeting Minutes/ Page 1 of 8 Pages Sattler asked and Brandenburg said this motion would just approve option D, but any corresponding formalized agreements or contracts will have to be brought back to council and approved at a public meeting. Berryman said she will vote against this tonight in that she disagrees with giving one project this much money. She noted, if you look at other projects in the city that have had made impacts to the community, they have not received this much money. Sansing said the majority of this is for infrastructure which will move the processes up and get it paid for. He said this saves the City from putting a lot of money into making these infrastructure improvements. He said he is for this and he thinks its great. Sattler said he is not in agreement of spending a lot of money for a business, but he is in favor of this motion so he can see the final documents when they come back to council for a vote. He said, however, he will vote for moving the process forward. Approved 6-1 (Berryman opposed) Public Wishing to Address Council On a subject that is posted on this agenda: Please fill out a speaker registration form which can be found on the table at the entrance to the Council Chamber. Clearly print your name and the letter of the item on which you wish to speak and present it to the City Secretary on the dais, preferably prior to the start of the meeting. You will be called forward to speak when the Council considers that item. On a subject not posted on the agenda: Persons may add an item to a future City Council agenda by contacting the City Secretary no later than noon on the Wednesday prior to the Tuesday meeting, with the subject matter of the topic they would like to address and their name. The City Secretary can be reached at 512/930-3651. B - Update from Pedernales Electric Cooperative (PEC) regarding PEC activities in the Georgetown area Tessa Doehrman introduced herself to the Council and said, if there are any questions about Pedernales activities in the area, they should contact her. She said she will be coming back to the Council Will any company business updates from PEC. She said she is there to introduce herself as the contact for the City. Berryman asked and Doehrman said, in reference to having a PEC office in Georgetown, they are trying to make sure they have the best use of all of their offices. rcni •- - TIM-FU271-11141TIel - - -farr• one single vote. A councilmember may pull any item from the Consent Agenda in order that the council discuss and act upon it individually as part of the Regular Agenda. I ----------- Special Session held on Tuesday, February 8, 2011 -- Jessica Brettle, City Secretary Sattler asked about item R from the last meeting concerning Task Order HDR 11-02 regarding preliminary engineering of the Southwest Bypass. Sattler asked and Polasek confirmed, at the previous meeting, the city approved an interlocal agreement which said the county would pay up to $300,000 in expenses for that preliminary engineering for the bypass study. He noted the County has since approved the interlocal agreement and now any work done under the task order will be paid for by the city and then the city will be reimbursed per the interlocal agreement. Sattler asked and Polasek noted the actual task order is at $272,000. County Commissioner Valerie Covey nodded in agreement with this summary. Consideration and possible action to authorize the application to FEMA for the Assistance to Firefighters Grant Program, Fire Prevention and Safety (FP&S) Grant for the amount of $60,654 -- Robert Fite, Fire Chief Fite said the City is looking into training some of the shift firefighters as fire inspectors so they can perform some commercial inspections and help out the Community Development Department He congratulated Assistant Chief Shell for all of his hard work on these grant applications. Mayor asked and Fite said the new truck parked outside is thanks to a grant they received from the Texas Forestry Service. He said, if this state needs this truck, they call and request it from the city and then all of the city's costs are reimbursed. He noted this was on the council agenda four or five months ago. E Consideration and possible action to accept a Training Grant for $2,070.00 from the Texas Forest Service — Robert Fite, Fire Chief Fite said the fire department is receiving this grant to send three firefighters to Texas A&M to aircraft firefighting school and structure firefighting school. City Council Meeting Minutes/ Page 2 of 8 Pages F Consideration and possible action to accept the independent audit of all accounts of the City reported in the Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR) for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2010 -- Laurie Brewer, Finance Director and Lode Lankford, Controller G Consideration and possible action to accept the City's Quarterly Financial Report, which includes the Investment Reports for the City of Georgetown, Georgetown Transportation Enhancement Corporation and the Georgetown Economic Development Corporation (GEDCO) for the quarter ended December 31, 2010 — Micki Rundell, Chief Financial Officer, Laurie Brewer, Finance Director and Lorie Lankford, Controller H Consideration and possible action to approve Task Order MEI -1 1-006, with McCord Engineering, Iof College Station, Texas, for professional services related to the FY2011112 Capital Improvement Planning (CIP) and Electric Master Plan, in an amount not to exceed $24,000.00 -- Thomas R. Benz, Systems Engineering Director and Jim Briggs, Assistant City Manager I Consideration and possible action regarding an adjustment to the existing task order agreement for work related to the selection, evaluation and consultation of future Wholesale Energy Option Contracts with McCord Engineering, in an amount not to exceed $45,000.00 -- Jim Briggs, Assistant City Manager J Consideration and possible action to authorize professional services related to evaluation, review, recommendations, implementation and QSE services related to certain energy supply contracts from McAndrews and Associatesi of Round Rock, Texas, in an amount not to exceed $20,000.00 -- Jim Brigg% Assistant City Manager Motion by Sansing second by Meigs to approve the consent agenda in its entirety, including questions of items Ci D and E. Approved 7-0 Legislative Regular Agenda Council will individually consider and possibly take action on any or all of the following items: at 30109 Spyglass Circle -- Mike Elabarger, Planner III and Elizabeth A. Cook, Director of Community Development ][A"; this accessory unit be used by the owners and not an outside person. He said the Planning and Zoning Commission agreed with staff s recommendation and voted unanimously for approval. willill 19,71 No persons were present to speak. wmmm�- ��-H M-1WITA T =ated at 1623 Rivery Boulevard -- Mike Elabarger, Planner III and Elizabeth A. Cooki Director of Community Development 1iotA,4-wWf in conformance with the future land use map of the city. Planning and Zoning Commission agreed with staffs recommendation and voted unanimously for approval, Speaker, RJ Tingley, owner and developer of the property, said he is here at the meeting to answer any questions from council. He showed the Council a picture of the area in question. He said he has been in close contact with the neighbors on Oak Lane and added they wanted to make sure they were not forcing anything down anyonds throat. He noted he has approached neighbors to address any concerns they may have. He said City Council Meeting Minutes/ Page 3 of 8 Pages this property has been brought to its highest and best use. He said this is an LORA transmission line lot and has presented quite a challenge to get anything done at all. He said it has no expansion capability and it is at where it can be. He described the property and the easements and setbacks involved. He spoke about the only addition to the property. He noted the neighbors have said that the new owners are probably the best use for the property and added it will be an art gallery and frame shop. Public Hearing was closed at 6:28 PM Elabarger read only the caption of the Ordinance on first reading after having satisfied the requirements of the City Charter. Motion by Sansing, second by Berryman to approve the Ordinance on first reading. Approved 7-0 0 Consideration and possible action to authorize an Attorney/Client Engagement Agreement with Sheets & Crossfield, P.C. for the provision of outside legal Services to assist in the negotiation and legally draft an Industrial District Agreement for execution between the City, Texas Crushed Stone, and the Weir Trust, in partnership with Williamson County for the specific purpose of executing an Industrial District Agreement with both Texas Crushed Stone and Weir Trust Partners with the intent of securing Right -of -Way for the Southwest Bypass Project --Paul E. Brandenburg, City Manager Mayor moved this item up earlier on the agenda. Brandenburg said the City has been negotiating with Texas Crushed Stone and other property owners along the southwest bypass for the right of way. He said Charlie Crossfield has been working with the city on these issues and this will just formalize that agreement He added this will allow both the city and county to work with Charlie Crossfield and his firm on issues concerning this project Motion by Sansing, second by Meigs to approve the agreement Sattler asked and Commissioner Covey said she does not see any conflict in that the City and County are partners in the project. Vote on the motion: Approved 7-0 P Consideration and possible action to authorize the Mayor to execute an Industrial District Agreement with Texas Crushed Stone -- Paul E. Brandenburg, City Manager Brandenburg said this item was discussed in Executive Session as to where the City is with the agreement He noted staff is confident the city is there in substance and content He added staff will finalize the agreement and tweak some of the language for council approval at the next meeting. M Consideration and possible action to accept the summary of 2010 Racial Profiling Report as mandated by the State Legislature -- Wayne F. Nero, Chief of Police Nero reviewed the item and gave a brief overview of the report He spoke about the standards that are driven from the legislation, including for the city to have a written directive that governs racial profiling, that there be data collection on all motor vehicle and pedestrian stops, that the city collect and analyze the information and the city must adopt certain standards to review all video recordings of stops. He spoke about the background and data has been given to the council in the report. He said the city is only required to report on stops where a citation is made, but it goes further than that and reports all motor vehicle stops. He spoke about how the CAD/OSSI transition affected this report as well. He referred to page 38 and the complaint analysis and added there were no complaints filed in 2010 regarding racial profiling. He reviewed the percentage of stops according to each race and he noted that data is consistent with the demographic makeup of Georgetown. He said that all races were warned about 50% of the time. He noted there were searches conducted in less than 2% of each demographic. He spoke about the Brazos Technology and the shortfalls of that program. He noted, because of those shortfalls, they have purchased the racial profiling module of the new OSSI program. Mayor asked and Nero said this document will be posted online on the Citys website and it will also be sent to the State where it can be accessed via their website. Mayor asked and Nero said he does not know how long it will archived on the State's website in that this is the first time they've done this. N Discussion and possible action regarding the Boards and Commissions attendance policy and meeting dates— Pat Berryman, Councilmember District Mayor reviewed the item and said Berryman brought up questions about this issue at the last Council meeting City Council Meeting Minutes/ Page 4 of 8 Pages He noted, since it was not on the agenda for action, it was reposted for discussion. Berryman said this Council and Mayor have made every effort to be as fair as possible with the boards and commission. She said each Mayor oversees this process and Mayor Garver puts the committee together to review the applications. She said the Assistant City Secretary was a huge help throughout this process. She said it takes weeks for Rachel to put that together. She said the prior Mayor would have a subcommittee that looked at this. She noted Mayor Garver now has opened up the meetings to the entire Council. She said these are posted meetings that are open to the public. She said it has been a very open process. She suggested that Council consider going back to the original process of interviewing the candidates. She said the interviews help Council get a real feel of the candidates, their talents and their priorities. She said it would also help clarify the problem that has arisen with the attendance issue. She said, prior to attendance standards, the City had problems getting quorums. She spoke about how the term limitations and attendance policy came into place She said it is clear that more information could be helpful during this process. She noted some board members serve on subcommittees in addition to the meetings they are expected to attend. She said, in addition to that process, there are folks that found themselves in situations where meeting dates needed to be change and then they were not able to attend She said she would like for all applicants who are interested be interviewed She spoke about meeting times. She noted some of the meetings are being held too early in the day, as some of the board member have jobs to attend during the day. She said she would like to see the City moving Boards and Commissions times to where more people can serve. She said these are just questions she would like to bring up for discussion. Sansing said there have been two Boards that have switched their meeting time. He said, however, that change is at the discretion of the Board. He noted the meeting times for each board are all dependent on the preference of the members. Berryman said she welcomes the idea of allowing the boards to choose their meeting dates and times. She spoke about the selection of Chairmen of the Boards. She said she would like to seek input from the Boards on who they would like to see as Chair. Sansing said, right now, the bylaws of each of the Boards dictate those rules. Berryman asked that staff and Mayor to communicate a little more with the Boards and talk to the people who want to be on the Boards and Commissions and open up the process as much as possible Eason said she is in full support of going back to the interviewing of applicant She was part of that process in the past and she found it to be a good way to meet new candidates. She said that would also be a way to flush out issues regarding attendance requirements. Eason said she would also like to add that two two year terms are insufficient time to really utilize someonds abilities on the boards. She said she would like to see that members could have a third two year term and a maximum would be six years of service- Brandenburg said, in March, the Assistant City Secretary and Assistant City Attorney will be bringing to Council a project they have been workinc, on for some time. He said they are reviewing all of the Board bylaws and looking at standardizing all of the content in those bylaws. He said there is a flexibility now in how Boards selects their meeting dates He noted it may be a good idea to take council action prior to each appointment process to decide on a new plan of action. He said he feels Council should seta policy each December on how they would like to do the process each spring. Mayor spoke about how interviews have been done in the past He said, if any Council member knew a candidate, they were asked to speak briefly about the candidate to the committee. He said, if Council had questions about an individual, they would ask that person for an interview. Mayor spoke about how much time it would take to interview everyone that applies. Mayor thanked Council for their participation. He said, next year, a committee of the whole should be appointed and can look at the applicants at an earlier date. He noted Council could invite the applicants they would like to speak with in for an interview. He said, in the interest of time, it would not be a good idea to invite everyone that applies for an interview. Berryman ask that staff show the attendance for Board members that includes all of their subcommittee work as well. She said, when looking at attendance, it would be good to see how much attendance they are given the Board Sansing said he does not agree with that because it is at the board meetings where the actual votes take place and not at the subcommittee meetings. Sansing agreed with the Mayor in that the interview process was time consuming He reviewed the process and how it was done in the past Mayor reviewed the history of the attendance issue as well as the idea of excused absences. Berryman said she would like for Council to be able to have an explanation as to why a Board member is absent from more than 25% of the meetings. She noted she thinks it is necessary to give the people who apply for the Board the courtesy to meet them face to face. Berryman asked, in the Fall before the next process, that Council determine the policies and procedures that they want to use throughout this process. She said she thinks Council needs to decide how they want to proceed in the future regarding the interviews and attendance. Ross said this is an optional item that the citizens choose to participate in. He said they know what the requirements are when they sign up and they should take the time off if they do not feel they will be able to attend the meetings. Ross said he is not happy with the idea of an excused absence policy. She noted she did want this moment to pass without making some kind of statement of how this will be handled in the future. There was much discussion on this issue. City Council Meeting Minutes/ Page 5 of 8 Pages Motion by Berryman, second by Sansing to interview first time applicants or other applicants as requested by Council during the next appointment process. Brettle reviewed how the interviews had been done in the past Eason said she would like to also say that when she was involved under Mayor Nelon, they didn't interview every single person. She said they only interviewed the people who were new or unknown to the Council members Chapman said no motion can be made on this issue in that the agenda item is only posted for the attendance policy and meeting dates and not for the interview process. Mayor agreed and said an item regarding the interview process will be placed on the next agenda. Berryman withdrew her motion and Sansing withdrew his second. No action was taken. Q Consideration and possible action to award the contract for the Lake Water Treatment Plant --Phase III Expansion to Cunningham Constructors & Assoc., Inc, of Georgetown, Texas, for the amount of $10,351,187.00 — Thomas R. Benz, P.E., Systems Engineering Director, Glenn W. Dishong, Utility Director and Jim Briggs, Assistant City Manager Benz described the item and said this will add 8.8 million gallons of water per day to the plant He pointed out changes to a few words in Article 5 of the contract. He noted the other aspect of this is Cunningham constructors included an alternate option to save some money. He said the engineers will look at this and see if it meets the City's specifications and, if so, the amount will be about $200,000 less. Motion by Berryman, second by Meigs to approve the contract. Settler asked and Benz said the deduct from Cunningham was for control panels and control units. Sokolow commented that Cunningham called him and said he thought it would be must cheaper and went out for bid to save the City some money. He said he appreciated what Cunningham has done. Sansing agreed and said Mr. Cunningham was the one who thought the original bid was too high He thanked Mike Cunningham for saving the taxpayers a lot of money. Vote on the motion: Approved 7-0 R Consideration and possible action to submit an application to Williamson County to request FT 2011-12 Community Development Block Grant funding -- Jennifer C. Bjlls� AICP, LEED AP and Elizabeth Cooki Community Development Director Bills described the item and added this is the annual application to the County to apply for the Community Development Block Grant funding they receive as an entitlement County. She noted she is unsure about the amount of funds available this year. She said these funds are required to be used in low income areas and she showed Council a picture of the block groups that are the eligible areas in Georgetown She noted these areas have at least 47% of the population earning 80% of the area median income or lower. She noted the tract geography will change with the 2010 Census but some of the areas will not change significantly as they are fully developed. She recommended that the city apply for the continuation of the sidewalk improvement project that has been ongoing over the past six years. She showed Council the areas and sidewalks that the City has received funding for in the past. She spoke about the renovations being made at the Madella Hillard Community Center and their requirements for sidewalk improvements. She added the city will be assisting them in accomplishing those improvements. She said the total cost for that project will be a little more than $69,000 in construction and $10,400 in engineering. She said the second priority project is to complete a sidewalk route along the east side of Austin Avenue that would connect from Williams Drive all the way to the existing sidewalk toward the high school. She said the cost for that project is $185,440 in construction and $27,800 in engineering. She explained why she was required to separate the construction and engineering costs in the application Motion by Sansing, second by Berryman to approve the application. Approved 7-0 Consideration and possible action to approve the purchase of 13 Panasonic Toughbook computers and Related Mounting Equipment from Paradigm System Solutions (DIR Vendor) in the amount of $73,633.00 -- Mike Peters, Information Technology Director and Micki Rundell, Chief Financial Officer Peters described the item and said these are rugged notebook computers that can tolerate vibration, heat and the rough conditions from being out in the field in a vehicle. He said these will go along with the purchase of police vehicles as well as to replace some antiquated computers that currently exist City Council Meeting Minutes/ Page 6 of 8 Pages Motion by Sansing, second by Berryman to approve the purchase. Approved 7-0 T Discussion and possible action to authorize the disbursement of funds for the payment of Insite fees to Tyler Technologies in the amount of $59,000 annually -- Kathy Ragsdale, Utility Office Director and Micki Rundell, Chief Financial Officer Ragsdale spoke about Insite and said it is the online payment program for the utility office and municipal court She said it has increased 8% in the past year. She said the City takes about 2,600 payments every month via this program, which is 11% of the payment. She said the web publishing and customer inquiry part of the cost is a set fee for the two programs. She said the transaction fees are set by the amount of transactions that are actually performed. She noted it is $1.25 per transaction and the City absorbs that fee instead of passing it along to the customers. She explained why this is done. Mayor asked and Ragsdale confirmed the city is close to being able to allow customers to donate a dollar or two to help people in need. She described the timeline for that implementation. Motion by Sansing, second by Gonzalez to approve the disbursement of funds. Approved 7-0 U Forwarded from the Georgetown Transportation Enhancement Corporation (GTEC)-. Consideration and possible action concerning a proposed Possession and Use Agreement with the Lera Bro Hughes Trust No. 2 in the amount of $1,168,000.00, in connection with the acquisition of real property for t street right-of-way and easements in connection with the Southeast Arterial One Roadway Project -- T I Calhouni Real Estate Services Cobrdinator� Thomas R. Benz, P.E., Systems Engineering Director I Benz described the item and said it was approved by the Georgetown Transportation Enhancement'Corporation He said this is a project staff has been working on for quite a while. He added it is advertised out to bid and this agreement will allow the city to start construction while negotiations are still in place with the property owners Sansing reminded Council that Terri Calhoun discussed this in Executive Session earlier in the evening. Forwarded from the Georgetown Transportation Advisory Board (GTAB): Consideration and possible action to approve the purchase of the 2011 model Rosco Chip Spreader 9CSh, off of the State BuyBoard Contract #345-10 from Closner Equipment Co., Inc. of San Antonio, TX for $134,569.00 -- Mark Miller, Transportation Services Manager and Edward G. Polasek, ACIP, Transportation Services Director Miller described the item and said this chip seal process takes three pieces of equipment He described the three pieces needed. He said this process is used more on rural type streets. He said this will give proper coverage to these roads. Motion by Sansing, second by Berryman to approve the purchase. Sattler asked and Miller said you can always find abetter process but the prices start to go up as you use a more advanced process. Sattler asked and Miller clarified the process used in Sun City is micro -surface, which is different from this one. Sattler asked and Miller described how timing affects the chip seal process. Brandenburg indicated this equipment will be owned by the City and there will be no errors because the City will have control of the process. Vote on the motion: Approved 7-0 W Forwarded from the Georgetown Utility System (GUS) Advisory Board: Consideration and possible action to approve the contract for the construction of 2006 Annexation Phase 11 to McLean Construction, Ltd., of Killeen, Texas, in the amount of $1,312,998.40 — Thomas R. Benz, P.E., Systems Engineering Director and Jim Briggs, Assistant City Manager Sansing left the dais. Benz said the Phase 11 annexation is in the northwest part of town. He said McLean Construction has done an excellent job for the City in the past. # =.. eas .Z 1 !1;1 1pj�- City Council Meeting Minutes/ Page 7 of 8 Pages Company LLC — Jim Briggs, Assistant City Manager Briggs described the item and read only the caption of the Ordinance on first reading after having satisfied the requirements of the City Charter. Approved City Council Meeting Minutes/ Page 8 of 8 Pages Meeting adjourned at 7:37 PM The meeting was adjourned at 07:37 PM. es , CU* eftcreta �Jsica �BrettPe