HomeMy WebLinkAboutMIN 09.08.2009 CC-WMinutes of the Meeting of the Governing Body
of the City of Georgetown, Texas Tuesday,
September 8, 2009
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:
Keith Brainard, Gabe Sansing, Dale Ross, Ben All Council Present
Oliver, Pat Berryman, Bill Sattler, Patty Eason
Staff Present:
Paul E. Brandenburg, City Manager; Patricia E. Carls, City Attorney; Jessica Hamilton, City Secretary;
Mark Thomas, Economic Development Director
Minutes
Policy Development/Review Workshop - Call to order at 04:00 PM
A Quantum Logic Devices Presentation -- Mark Thomas, Economic Development Director
Thomas introduced the item and said Doctor Brousseu, of Quantum Logic Devices (QLD), is an occupant of the
Texas Life Sciences Community Center (TLCC). He gave a brief history of the TLCC as well as an overview of
the other companies that have moved into the center. He said the goal for TLCC is to recruit the type of
companies that are about to go commercial with their products. He said the hope is for those companies to
break out and create jobs in the community. He noted Doctor Brousseau and his family has been a big supporter
of TLCC and added they wanted to assist in any way they can
Pendland, current President of the TLCC, said the Texas Life Sciences Collaboration Center was a creation of
the City of Georgetown, the Georgetown Chamber and Southwestern University. He noted, in the first two years
of its operations, it has attracted many new companies and opportunities to Georgetown. He introduced the
president of Quantum Logic Devices, which contributes to the study of cancer treatment. He said Quantum Logic
Devices is a game changer. He noted Cass Wheeler is also in attendance and has been a past president of the
American Heart Association. He said this is not a new science and the diagnostics have already been tested, but
noted this is a specific application that has the potential to save 50,000 lives in America next year. He said this is
big time stuff and has to do with making this testing methodology available through open architecture
Speaker, Doctor Louis Brousseu, showed the City Council an example of the products Quantum Logic Devices
produces. He said, in April, they delivered to NASA a box the size of a handheld calculator of which small chips
plug into. He said astronauts can use those chips to do medical diagnostics in space. He described the product
and how it works and noted how amazing it is that they are being made in Georgetown Texas. With a
PowerPoint presentation, Brousseu gave statistics about heart attacks in this Country. He said one of the
problems with the current technology is, when a patient presents a chest pain to the Emergency Department, he
or she receives an ECG. He noted only 30% of those tests come out positive for a heart attack and only 55% are
actually admitted to a hospital. He said their company can cut down on the time, costs as well as improve the
testing accuracy. He spoke about the current approaches to test for a heart attack including colorimetric assays
and single molecule counting. He said the longer it takes to get the diagnostic back from the lab, the more the
tissue dies. He said their company can test at the desired point of care and can give results to the patient in less
than 5 minutes.
City Council Workshop Minutes/September 8, 2009
Page 1 of 2 Pages
Brousseau continued to describe the product they produce. He spoke about where their company wants to go
with their product and noted they would like for it to be connected to a smart phone. He showed Council a slide
demonstrating the company's competitive advantages in this industry. He said the primary advantage is the
factor of time, but also a matter of cost. He said it would be important to him to be able to make a difference in
people's lives. He spoke briefly about the strategic relationships they have made and noted, with this sort of
capability, there are a lot of applications that can be created. He spoke about QLD's other possible opportunities
such as Unirray, Cardiodicium, Idiormedica and MyVet. He said QLD will always remain the manufacturing entity
behind all of these applications. He spoke more about Cardiodicium and said it is a spin out company of QLD.
He said they have world class advisors in cardiology and laboratory medicine and noted the many tests that
could be conducted with this technology. Cass Wheeler, CEO of the American Heart Association, said he is very
excited to work with Brousseau and Pendland. He said he has reached out to a number of people in the
cardiovascular community and added this new technology could truly be a game changer. He said he is
optimistic and added all of the people he's spoken to have been very positive.
Brousseau spoke about the cardiac testing market including 3,500 hospitals and 45,000 ambulances. He noted
this shows how the numbers can expand rapidly. He said it is simple enough that people in nursing homes and in
hospice centers would be able to monitor themselves constantly. Brousseu concluded his presentation and
summarized their funding plan. He said their company is requesting $125,000 from the Georgetown Economic
Development Corporation. He said this will assist in building a test product for diagnostic clinical trials at the
University of Minnesota. He gave Council two other comparable of similar products, Abbott and Singulex. He
thanked the Council and said, two years ago, he applauded the City Council for putting together the TLCC. He
said he hopes the Council realizes that this venture has started to pay off. Thomas said this item is also posted
for discussion in Executive Session.
Oliver said he read an article about Abbot in the newspaper. Brousseu said Abbott has certain products that can
bring results in two minutes for only certain tests. He noted the cardiac testing is stated as ten minutes and a
cardiologist would say it takes much longer than that Brandenburg noted and Brousseu said they have
presented a competitive timeline because there are other corporations trying to develop a similar product He
said those other corporations lack the technology and development that QLD has. Thomas thanked Council for
their attention and said this is a different way of looking at incentives. He noted this is an opportunity for them to
build prototypes that can lead to attracting larger amounts of capital.
Meeting recessed to Executive Session under Open Meetings Act Sections 551.071, 551.074, 551.087 -- 4:42
p.m.
Meeting resumed and adjourned -- 5:45 p.m.
Adjournment
The meeting was adjourned at 05:45 PM.
Approved :
Mayor George Garver
City Council Workshop Minutes/September 8, 2009
Page 2 of 2 Pages
Attest:
City Secretary Jessica Hamilton
RESOLUTION NO.
A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF
GEORGETOWN, TEXAS AUTHORIZING THE MAYOR TO SIGN THE
ADVANCE FUNDING AGREEMENT WITH THE TEXAS DEPARTMENT OF
TRANSPORTATION RELATED TO THE NORTH AND SOUTH AUSTIN
BRIDGES PROJECT.
WHEREAS, the Texas Transportation Commission passed Minute Order Number 114335,
authorizing the State to undertake and complete a highway improvement generally described
as reconstruct the North and South Austin Avenue bridges from 2nd Street to Morrow Street,
Georgetown, Texas called the "Project"; and,
WHEREAS, for the Project the term reconstruct includes replacement, rehabilitation,
preservation, protection, and/or anti-icing/deicing for bridges and tunnels on a public road; and
WHEREAS, as part of the administration of the Project, the Capital Area Metropolitan Planning
Organization, by resolution number 2014-11-4, awarded the City of Georgetown a total of
$1,299,174 in Surface Transportation Program Metropolitan Mobility (STP -MM) for the Project;
and
WHEREAS, in order to determine which alternative best serves the interests of the citizens of
Georgetown, the City supports a study of alternatives including the following (1) do nothing,
(2) alternative alignment, (3) maintenance, (4) rehabilitation/preservation and/or (5)
replacement through a public involvement process which is also a requirement of the National
Environmentally Policy Act (NEPA); and
WHEREAS, the STP -MM award by CAMPO, using the term reconstruct, may require the City
of Georgetown to submit to CAMPO a Transportation Improvement Project (TIP) amendment
in the Spring of 2017 based on the decision resulting from the range of alternatives undertaken
by the City of Georgetown; and
WHEREAS, TxDOT works with the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and other
federal agencies to comply with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and uses the
TxDOT environmental compliance process for state and local projects, where TxDOT is the state
approval authority;
WHEREAS, the Advance Funding Agreement between TxDOT and the City allocate funds
including a City contribution of $142,000 for the environmental review and is required for
TxDOT approval.
Resolution No. 03:� a I lc - t Page 1 of 2
Date Approved 3 a a
NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF
GEORGETOWN TEXAS:
SECTION ONE. The facts and recitations contained in the preamble of this resolution are
hereby found and declared to be true and correct, and are incorporated by reference herein and
expressly made a part hereof, as if copied verbatim.
SECTION TWO. The City Council of the City of Georgetown finds it to be in the best interest of
the citizens of Georgetown to enter in the Advance Funding Agreement with the Texas
Department of Transportation related to the North and South Austin Avenue Bridges Project.
SECTION THREE. The Mayor is hereby authorized to sign this Resolution and the Advance
Funding Agreement and the City Secretary to attest thereto, on behalf of the City.
SECTION FOUR. This Resolution shall become effective on the c�aday of K�4-r 2016.
PASSED AND APPROVED on the o -; day of irNW c�s , 2016.
ATTEST:
S
Shelley Nlin City Secre
APPROVED AS TO FORM:
Charlie McNabb, City Attorney
CITY OF GEORGETOWN, TEXAS
By: �ZA—
Dale
Ross, Mayor
Resolution No. O a t Lo^ L. Page 2 of 2
Date Approved 36alaotLp