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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMIN 05.10.2016 CC-WMinutes of it Meeting of the Governing Body of the City, of Georgetown, Texas Tuesday, May 10, 2016 The Georgetown City Council will meet on Tuesday, May 10, 2016 at 3:00 PM at the Council Chambers, at 101 E. 7' St., Georgetown, Texas The city of Georgetown is committed to compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). If you require assistance in participating at a public meeting due to a disability, as defined under the ADA, reasonable assistance, adaptations, or accommodations will be provided upon request. Please contact the City Secretary's Office, at least four (4) days prior to the scheduled meeting date, at (512) 930-3652 or City Hall at 113 East 81" Street for additional information; TTY users route through Relay Texas at 711. Mayor Ross called the meeting to order at 3:00 PM. All Councilmembers were in attendance. Policy Development/Review Workshop — Call to order at 3:00 PM A. Presentation from the Animal Shelter Advisory board regarding current improvements and accomplishments at the animal shelter — Jackie Carey, Animal Shelter Manager and Wayne Nero, Chief of Police Jackie Carey, the Animal Shelter Manager, provided the presentation. She explained that the last Animal Shelter presentation was brought to Council in 2011. She said that the intention of the presentation is to tell all of the great accomplishments at the shelter. Carey said that a favorite Shelter term is that they are the home of the unique breed club - no mutts, just unique breeds. She said the Shelter is closed on Wednesdays, which is the day they perform all surgeries. Carey listed the Objectives of the Shelter: Animal Shelter vs. Animal Services Programs Services Projected Growth and Statistics Friends of the Georgetown Animal Shelter Volunteers Future Challenges Carey explained that the goal of the Shelter is to provide a community of safe, adoptable animals, while achieving the no kill policies. Carey went on to show the services provided at the Shelter: Free Spay/Neuter Clinics (for cats) — 3 per year Low -Cost Vaccine Clinics (free microchips) — 5 per year Public Assist Program — Low Cost Options Pet City licensing/registration — Rabies Control P.A.W.S. (Pets Are Worth Saving) Program — Partnership with GPD and GFD Ordinance Enforcement — Cruelty/Neglect and Complaints Wildlife Concerns (Trapping) Carey then explained the Shelter Programs Leading to Adoption: Temperament Testing — Match -Up II Dogs Playing for Life Working Minds Obedience Training Barn CatIAPA Program — Feral cat population control PetSmart Partnership Unique Breed Club — Pets of the Week Rescue Coordination Carey went on to present a Historical Trend Map from of 2006-2015. She said that they are proud of the 24% increase in impounds in the last nine years and the 80% decrease in total animals euthanized. Carey next spoke on Projected Population Growth for 2015 - 2018 and how it will affect the Shelter. She explained that there is a projected 30% increase in impounds in just the next 3 years. Brainard asked how one could know how many cats and dogs are in the City. Carey said that there is a formula established by the American Veterinarian Association that has general statistics on animals per household. She explained that apartments are predicted to have more animal counts because of the turn- around in residents. She also explained that apartment dwellers cannot keep their animals, in many cases, and the animals are turned into the shelters. Hesser asked how many adopted animals are returned. Carey said 4%. Ross asked if the Shelter had more dogs than cats. Carey said more dogs by far. Carey presented a slide showing comparisons of outcomes of dogs in shelter. She explained that the Williamson County Shelter has a return to owner rate of 24%, while the City of Georgetown Animal Shelter has a return to owner rate of 40%. Carey then presented a slide showing the Outcome of Cats in Shelters for 2014-2015. She explained the Regional Kennel has 6% die. The City only had 1 death. Carey spoke on the No Kill Policy and how it has been met and provided articles showing recognition from across the Country of the Georgetown Animal Shelter and their commitment and success. She said that this is very unusual for city our size. The Georgetown Animal Shelter has also been called the best run shelter in all of Texas. Carey went on to speak on the Friends of the Georgetown Animal Shelter, a non-profit counterpart, which supports the Shelter by raising money for projects not covered by the City's budget. Nonprofit fund raising for the Shelter raised $151,390 from 2011-2015. Carey showed a new "catio" which is a screened in porch for cats, considered a retreat. The Shelter received a $50,000 donation from a citizen who specified that the monies be used for cats. The money grew to $74,000 and has contributed to the catio, awnings, cat play equipment, trailer graphics, cat condos, a dishwasher and glass walls, important for cat comfort. Carey explained that cats are healthier if able to run loose. Carey went on to speak on the Shelters Volunteers: 150 Active Volunteers (6 VIPs) Offsite adoption events Dog walking/training Cat chores and socialization Small repairs/maintenance Transporting/fostering Dog baths/grooming Cottages Alzheimer's facility Photos/Videos for online use Administrative tasks Carey explained that last year 150 people worked 3,555 volunteer hours and the VIPs included 6 people who worked an additional total of 2,349 hours. This amounts to a savings to the City of $100,803. She then spoke on future challenges that the Shelter will face because of increased growth and increased demands. The Shelter does not want to tum any animals away or have to euthanize. Carey explained that the Shelter will need expansion and this presentation was to outline the great progression the Shelter has experienced. They would hope to continue the wonderful accomplishments. Mayor Ross said the Shelter does a great job. He complimented the number of volunteers and the no kill accomplishment. Ross asked if the general economy affects the Shelter. Carey said that it affects it a great deal. She said many more animals are turned in at the Shelter when homes are lost. John Njagi, the City's Multi -Media Specialist, showed a video that he had created of the Georgetown Animal Shelter. It showed the daily routines at the Shelter, the animals, and the hard-working staff. Carey said money would be needed for a new facility if the Shelter wanted to operate with services as they are. Brainard asked what will be needed. Carey said a likely need would be an adoption center. Brainard asked if animals received at the Shelter need to reside within the city limits. Carey confirmed that they did and said that address ID is required. Morgan said future needs will be shown in the master plan study — both short term and long term needs. B. Budget - Compensation & Benefits —Tadd Phillips, Human Resource Director Tadd Phillips, Human Resource Director, provided the compensation and benefits presentation. He explained that compensation and benefits are two key elements in the budget and stated that recruitment and retention of excellent employees is one of the City Council's goals. Phillips said that the FY2017 Proposed Budget will include a Compensation & Benefits program aligned with Fiscal and Budgetary policy. He explained that compensation includes a market study of similar salary ranges in the region utilizing updated methodology and merit pay for performance or Civil Service Step pay plans. Phillips then gave a Compensation Overview: • Council's strategy to attract, hire, develop and retain the best people and compensate them for the value they create • Tactics include establishing and consistently administering a competitive compensation program based on performance results Phillips provided a slide on the Total Rewards Strategy to Performance and Results. He explained the Compensation Approach, provided a Compensation History, Merit History and explained Employee Turnover. Ross asked if EMS was included in the Fire Department market adjustments. Phillips confirmed. Jonrowe asked if a jump is seen in the last half of the year with employee turnover. Phillips said the last half is slightly higher. Phillips said these are regularly low numbers and will be similar in the second half. He explained that turnover with fire and police personnel generally takes place within the probationary period of the first 18 months. Gonzalez asked if the City keeps numbers of hired personnel correctly, registering true costs. Phillips said there is statutory criteria in hiring police and fire positions, which is more restrictive than non -civil service. Phillips then provided a slide on Market Summary: • New: Defined Central Texas jobs vs. Texas Area - Where do we recruit and lose employees? - Most positions (64% of benchmarks) compared to Central Texas - Management and specialized municipal professional positions compared to both Central Texas and Texas area comparators - Industry specific comparators used selectively: Bryan, TX utilities, New Braunfels utilities, CPS Energy, LCRA, College Station, Waco Phillips showed the Market Comparators Central Texas Texas Area Austin Sugar Land Cedar Park Grapevine Leander Denton Pflugerville Flower Mound Round Rock Williamson County San Marcos New Braunfels Hesser asked why the City does not use Temple and Waco in comparisons. Phillips said comparisons are done with similar organizations and similar size. Phillips said he did not recall the criteria that Waco and Temple did not meet, but he will look into it and provide Council with an answer. Hesser asked if Georgetown was lagging in the market place. Phillips explained that some positions are and other are not. The policy is that any City of Georgetown position salary that is 5% less than its comparable cities salaries would need to be pulled up in order to compete fairly. Phillips explained that pay structures were reviewed in March and April of 2016. He explained what the City is comparing. He said the midpoint salary range to the market average midpoint is reviewed and actual salary to market average salary is compared for some executive or single incumbent positions. Phillips said that salaries within 5% are considered market comparative, while those less than 5% are considered below market competitive. Phillips provided a Market Summary chart: • 228 Non -Civil Service job titles • 100 Benchmark job titles (44%) Phillips showed the preliminary results: • Within Market: 72% Below Market: 28% Phillips said that 20% of current positions will be impacted with the market summary. He said this generally would mean a 2% increase for a below market position. He added that if a job needs to be brought up by multiple paygrades, there would be a 4% increase. Phillips provided the Civil Service Market Information Plan: • Review all ranks against Central Texas comparators • Compare Minimum to minimum — common practice for step systems • Considering changes to structures including early career step acceleration for ranks of Firefighter and Police Officer • Topic of discussion with Chiefs and in Meet & Confer Phillips said that turnover is generally in the first 2 to 3 years for police and fire positions. He said that by accelerating pay in those years, the City would be able to better retain good people. Phillips went on to speak on Employee Benefits. He showed pictures of employee events and explained a great family environment for the City of Georgetown employees. A slide on Benefits History was shown next: Self -Insurance began January 1, 2014 • Plan year begins January 1 — Fiscal year is October 1 • Changed administrator/network from Aetna to United HealthCare January 1, 2016 - Significant reduction in stop -loss and administration costs - Employee experience has been positive - Too early for good financial data • Expenses significantly under budget in Fiscal 14 & 15 Phillips spoke on the Self -Insurance Fund Reserve. He explained that the initial target was $1 Million by fiscal year 2017. He explained that the City has current reserves of $2.13 million. He explained that this is due to claims expense under budget, insurance fund for authorized unfilled positions and expenses charged in departments corrected for 2015. Phillips does not anticipate the reserve to grow again at this level, as growth was primarily due to one-time items. Phillips said that the Human Resources Department is currently soliciting proposals for employee clinic feasibility, employee health intervention programs and wellness tracking software. He said that they will also solicit proposals for dental insurance programs and review funding methodology. Bids for flexible spending and Cobra administration are also being solicited. Phillips went on to explain the early benefits projections. He was pleased to announce that the fund reserve target has been met. He said that it is too early to project claims expense under United HealthCare (UHC) but the industry trend would be a an annual 2% increase in administration, an annual 15% increase in stop loss and an annual claims increase of 10%. Phillips said that, based on current known expense trends and the fund reserve status, it is not anticipated that there would be a need to increase contribution levels for City employees for the next fiscal year. He said that staff would continue to track projections, working closely with a consultant. Gonzalez asked Phillips to research and bring to Council the percentage of the general fund used for public safety employees and what percentage was for non -safety employees as compared to the total fund. Phillips asked Gonzalez for clarification. Gonzales said he would like to know the total of salary and benefits and the comparisons of public safety versus non -public -safety employees. Jonrowe asked what the lowest hourly rate in the City is. Phillips did not have an exact figure with him but will report back. Phillips said some of those positions have been identified in the market study. Brainard thanked Phillips and staff for their good work. C. Presentation and discussion regarding Police Patrol Staffing Study — Wayne Nero, Chief of Police and Eric J. Fritsch, Ph.D., Professor and Chair University of North Texas Department of Criminal Justice Chief Nero began the presentation on a patrol staffing assessment of the Georgetown Police Department. He explained that as the City grows, the workload grows. It is important to determine the correct amount of staff needed for patrol. Nero introduced Dr. Eric J. Fritsch, a professor of Criminal Justice at the University of North Texas. Dr. Fritsch is a well-known expert in these studies and has created a well-known model for these studies. Fritsch thanked the City Council for their time. Fritsch explained the methodology of the study and the importance of building a 5 year strategic staffing plan. He presented an overview of a patrol staffing assessment. Fritsch explained his research and background, as well as his research methods and methodology. He explained the quantitative component of the assessment. The purpose of the assessment is to correctly answer the question of how many patrol officers are needed to reach performance targets. Fritsch explained calls for service and response times. These were broken out into three levels, including Priority "P", Priority 2 and Priority 3. He explained that the validity of the numbers was extremely important. Fritsch then explained concurrent validity. He spoke on best practices and said that the City of Georgetown response times were too high. Brainard asked Dr. Fritsch if he said that response times were too high. Fritsch confirmed. Gonzales asked if 6 beats reduced to 5 is the cause of lower response timess. Fritsch said that there are two things that drive response times. One would be the size of the area of coverage. Cory Tchida, the Assistant Chief of Police, explained that the change in zones does not affect these numbers. He explained the comparison of the number of beats and how the same number of officers is still out there in the same overall area. Tchida said that the number of officers working affects response times but not the number of beats. Professor Fritsch said that 1970 was the first response time study. He said that this was the first time that it was determined that best practice would dictate response times of 5 minutes. He explained that this is what most cities strive for. Ross said Georgetown needs to benchmark data to see how we stand up to other cities. Ross said that in 2014 to 2015 response times went down. Fritsch said that self -initiated time has increased. The professor said he would not benchmark this because other cities categorize their calls differently. There is a need to understand how they categorize. Fritsch said there are too many variables. Ross asked if there is a meaningful difference in 24 seconds from one year to another and asked what Georgetown response time should be. Frisch said 5 minutes for Priority "P" calls, 8 minutes for Priority 2 calls and less than 12 for Priority 3 calls. Brainard asked what was meant by "different community". Fritsch gave an example. He said Dallas would not be able to reach a 5 minutes response time. He said that the costs to accomplish this would be too much for a city that size. Brainard asked if choosing to live in a city such as Dallas would mean that you are electing to have a slower response time from police officers. Dr. Fritsch confirmed and said the total number of officers needed is unachievable. Gonzalez added that the level of priority calls would probably be 10 times higher in a city such as Dallas than in Georgetown. Ross said Georgetown needs good priority numbers in order to have significant conversation. Fritsch said that is what has been done. Dr. Fritsch provided three Options for the City of Georgetown: Option 1: Addressed increased calls for service and back-up unit responses only, with a recommendation of 41 patrol officers in 2020-21. Option 2: Addressed increased calls for service and back-up unit responses and decreased response time, with a recommendation of 44 patrol officers in 2020-21. Option 3: Address increased calls for service and back-up unit responses and decreased response time, with a recommendation of 46 patrol officers in 2020-21. Hesser asked how many days Georgetown was short-handed. Chief Nero explained that minimum staffing is utilized. He explained that no shift will ever have 8 staffed officers because of training, vacations, sick time, etc. Nero said, because of these factors, there are 5 officers and 1 supervisor every day. Hesser said this is a priority issue and staff should be scheduled to have 8 officers on duty at all times. Nero said if one takes a benefit day, there will not be 8. Nero explained that overtime would need to be paid, which is cost prohibitive. Gonzalez asked if the City was waited too high in non -traffic officers. He questioned the City having 32 patrol officers and 44 other officers. Gonzalez asked why the other 44 were not available. Gonzales said that the City might be top heavy in supervisors and non -patrol officers. Councilmember Eby said it would help to get through the rest of presentation prior to making policy conversations. Fritsch said there were probably 6 officers on the streets most days. Fritsch spoke on population increasing. Brainard asked if population growth is considered in these recommendations. Dr. Fritsch said the recommendations are not based on population. Fritsch explained that not everyone who moves here calls police. He explained that population is important but does not go into the math of these recommendations. Fritsch said that Priority calls should typically get a backup call or response. Ross asked if the City needs to look at deviation on both ends. He asked how many times there has been no response to a priority call and how many calls took over 10 minutes of response time. Fought said the focus of the study is response time. He spoke on a Kansas City Patrol study from 35 years ago. Fought said response times are easily fixed, but it is still important to provide the visibility of an officer on the street. Fritch said they are looking at allocation and deployment. Fought said there needs to be a scattered diagram showing all response times. Fought said it is hard for a policy maker to understand without a scattered diagram. Fritsch said it is an employment issue and sufficient staffing is this issue. He said that the deployment discussion is when to staff officers and where to place them. Fritsch said that calls for service are not linear. Jonrowe asked about Priority P calls and if these are essentially for police or if Fire and EMS might be first on the scene. Nero said these calls are primarily police. Ross asked if staffing levels are more driven by calls than population. Fritsch confirmed. Ross brought up the Sun City population and how it would only require minimum staffing. Ross said that there were 32 crimes in Sun City last year. Ross said that Sun City is 28% of the population of Georgetown and accounts for only 4% of the crime. Fritsch explained zones vary in size and are set up according to needs. He said an easy crime rate zone will be much larger. Fritsch said that some beats in some cities are not even staffed. Gonzalez asked if the assessment could be about the placement of officers. Fritsch said his was an allocation study regarding the number of officers. Fritsch said he would likely need more raw data to do that assessment. Morgan explained that this is intended to be a planning document. He said it is the very beginning of how the City should look at patrol staffing. Morgan said the assessment is meant to be a planning topic and will need Council feedback. He explained that Council will look at this with a variety of perspectives and should have continuing dialogue. Jonrowe said she appreciated the presentation and looks forward to future discussions. She mentioned the need to evaluate busy areas. Jonrowe said she would like to hear from the citizens about how they feel about the overall performance of the police department. She said she knows this is just the beginning of discussions. Jonrowe said visibility of officers is not always accepted as a good thing in some neighborhoods. She said the City would need to provide data to citizens and evaluate people's perceptions. Mayor Ross said it is helpful to do this long term planning. Chief Nero thanked Dr. Fritsch and Assistant Chief Tchida. He said it is great to be looking at this data for planning purposes. Mayor Ross recessed the meeting to Executive Session under Sections 551.071, 551.072, 551.074 and 551.087 at 4.55 PM. Executive Session In compliance with the Open Meetings Act, Chapter 551, Government Code, Vernon's Texas Codes, Annotated, the items listed below will be discussed in closed session and are subject to action in the regular session. D. Sec. 551.071: Consultation with Attorney - Advice from attorney about pending or contemplated litigation and other matters on which the attorney has a duty to advise the City Council, including agenda items - Sneed Industrial Agreement - PUC Docket #45596 — PEC v. GUS - PUC Docket #45866 — LCRA TSC CNN Application Sec. 551.072: Deliberation Regarding Real Property - Discussion of the appraised values of real property regarding the Rivery Blvd. Extension Project Sec. 551.074: Personnel Matters - City Manager, City Attorney, City Secretary and Municipal Judge: Consideration of the appointment, employment, evaluation, reassignment, duties, discipline, or dismissal - City Secretary Evaluation - Municipal Court Judge Evaluation Sec. 551.087: Deliberation Regarding Economic Development Negotiations - Tamiro Plaza Phase 2 Adjournment Mayor Ross adjourned the meeting at 6:00 PM. Approved by the Georgetown City Council on 5'a`� I I (-P Date Dale Ross, Mayor