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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMIN 07.24.2012 CC-RMinutes of the Meeting of the Governing Body of the City of Georgetown, Texas Tuesday, July 24, 2012 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, Danny Meigs, Bill Sattler, Tommy All Council Present. Gonzalez, Jerry Hammerlun, Rachael Jonrowe, Troy Hellmann Staff Present: Paul E. Brandenburg, City Manager; Jessica Brettle, City Secretary; Bridget Chapman, Acting City Attorney; Micki Rundell, Chief Financial Officer; Laurie Brewer, Assistant City Manager; Jim Briggs, Assistant City Manager; Robbie Wyler, Historic District Planner; Valerie Kreger, Principal Planner; Jennifer Bills, Housing Coordinator; Keith Hutchinson, Public Communication Director; Edward G. Polasek, Transportation Services Director; Minutes Regular Session - To begin no earlier than 06:00 PM (Council may, at any time, recess the Regular Session to convene an Executive Session at the request of the Mayor, a Councilmember, or the City Manager for any purpose authorized by the Open Meetings Act, Texas Government Code Chapter 551.) A Call to Order -- Meeting called to order at 6:17 PM Pledge of Allegiance Comments from the Mayor - Welcome and Meeting Procedures - Proclamation in honor of World Breastfeeding Month Rachael Jonrowe read the proclamation to the audience. A representative was not present to accept the the proclamation. City Council Regional Board Reports City Maijager Comments - Budget and Tax Rate Meeting Schedule - Irrigation Schedule Action from Executive Session There was no action out of Executive Session. Public Wishing to Address Council On a subiect 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 City Council Meeting Minutes/ Page 1 of 8 Pages forward to speak when the Council considers that item. On a subiect 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 - Tessa Doehrman from Pedernales Electric Cooperative (PEC) regarding PEC activities in the Georgetown area Doerhman of the Community and Economic Development group at PEC. She said she is here to provide a few details about things that are happening at the cooperative. She said, about a year and a half ago, they stopped delivering franchise checks and went to direct deposit. She said they have made a commitment to maintain a relationship with the cities. She said she is here to talk about some of their programs including their "do it yourself' workshop where members can learn more about how to conserve energy. She said the next event in the area will be on November 7 in Marble Falls from 1pm-3pm. She said, on July 21, they had their annual meeting that was held at the Hays Performing Arts Center in Kyle. She said they wanted to meet in a more densely populated service area. She said, at that meeting, they re-elected board directors. She named the current board directors. She said they voted on organizational changes as well. She spoke briefly about their "Beat the Peak" Program. Statutory Consent Agenda The Statutory Consent Agenda includes non -controversial and routine items that Council may act on with 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. C Consideration and possible action to approve the minutes of the Workshop and Regular Council meeting held on Tuesday, July 10, 2012 -- Jessica Brettle, City Secretary Eason made a correction to the minutes and referred to Item I regarding the Board and Commissions attendance policy. She said she wanted to make sure the minutes reflected that she voted against amendment. D Consideration and possible action to approve the declaration of one City owned dump truck to be disposed of by sale to Operations Management International, Inc. (CH2M Hill OMI) -- Trina Bickford, Purchasing Manager and Micki Rundell, Chief Financial Officer E Forwarded from the Parks and Recreation Advisory Board: Consideration and possible action to approve the declaration of football field fixtures as surplus, to be disposed of using online auctioneering services of Gaston and Sheehan Auctioneers, Inc. of Pflugerville, Texas -- Trina Bickford, Purchasing Manager and Micki Rundell, Chief Financial Officer F Consideration and possible action to approve a Resolution authorizing execution of the Partial Assignment of Receivables relating to the funding of the Master Development Fee out of MUD Bond proceeds pursuant to the Water Oak MUD Agreement -- Bridget Chapman, Acting City Attorney G Consideration and possible action to approve a Resolution authorizing a Real Estate Contract, releasing assessment liens, and authorizing the execution of a Memorandum of Lease Termination related to the Fire Station Bays -- Bridget Chapman, Acting City Attorney H Consideration and possible action to appoint Wayne Turner to the Airport Advisory Board to fill a vacancy -- Mayor George Garver I Discussion and possible action to authorize the Mayor to execute a Letter of Support for the Lone Star Circle of Care -- Paul E. Brandenburg, City Manager Motion by Meigs, second by Sattler to approve the consent agenda in its entirety including the correction to the minutes. Approved 7-0 Legislative Regular Agenda Council will individually consider and possibly take action on any or all of the following items: Public Hearing and First Reading of an Ordinance amending the 2001 Downtown Design Guidelines -- Robbie Wyler, Historic District Planner and Valerie Kreger, AICP, Principal Planner (action required) City Council Meeting Minutes/ Page 2 of 8 Pages Wyler reviewed the item and what has been done with this in the past. He said he has provided Council with a hard copy of the redlined version of the changes. He siad the material provided gives staff a view of the area covered under the guidelines. Eason asked and Wyler said he went into detail regarding design compliance in the guidelines.Wyler said that is more of a UDC issue. Eason said she wants to address the actual architecture of the building. Wyler said the City will need to have more meetings and consultations on that issue. Gonzalez said he would like to set a timeline to come back with those recommended changes to address the architectural design. Cook said, right now, the UDC does not lay out specific requirements that someone get a certificate of design compliance for construction. She said that would need to be changed, which is more than a 30 day process. Cook said, if Council wants HARC involved related to the new construction, that would also be longer than 30 days. There were many questions about the direction from Council on this issue. He said his concern is that a structure meets a certain style but not specific details. Public Hearing was opened at 6:45 PM Speaker, Renee Hanson, spoke about the design guidelines and the benefits of these amendments. Public Hearing was closed at 6:47 PM Wyler read only the caption of the Ordinance on first reading after satisfying the requirements of the City Charter. Motion by Jonrowe, second by Meigs to approve. Approved 7-0 Jonrowe said she would like to see some residential guidelines for infills that will allow for flexibility but also be compatible in terms of design. She said she liked the idea for providing exceptions for exceptional design. Gonzalez said he is not sure about the idea of allowing exceptions. He said the goal is to keep the area with the charm it currently has but noted there can always be an appeals process. He said he would also like to stick with the general styles without stifling self expression. Eason asked about construction in the design guidelines. There was much discussion regarding this issue. Wyler spoke of instances where someone who wanted to build in Old Town would be required to go to HARC for approval. Jonrowe asked and Cook said the design guidelines are the rules and the UDC determines when the guidelines apply to a project. Motion by Gonzalez, second by Eason to direct staff to further explore the suggested amendments to the UDC and design guidelines regarding new construction. Approved 7-0 K Public Hearing and First Reading of an Ordinance to adopt the Housing Element of the 2030 Comprehensive Plan -- Jennifer C. Bills, AICP, LEED AP, Housing Coordinator and Laurie Brewer, Assistant City Manager (action required) Bills reviewed the item and said this is a required element of the City Charter for the Comprehensive Plan. She noted the Housing Advisory Board has been working on this element for the past four years and Council has seen several incarnations of the document. She reviewed the past direction on this issue. She said the current element consists of five sections and she briefly reviewed those for the Council. She reviewed some of the incentives the workforce housing builders would be able to receive through the proposed housing element. She said the second recommendation was to increase the amount of land zoned for multi family housing. She said this element will help direct where to build multi family housing in Georgetown. She said the Board will be able to look at what area of town the workforce housing should be built. Public Hearing was opened at 7:08 PM Speaker, Lalena Parkhurst, said she serves on the Housing Advisory Board. She said this is a lot of information for Council to digest. She said she would like to emphasize that this is about broad brush strokes regarding Housing in Georgetown. She said the Board is trying to paint a broad picture of Housing in this community. She said she thinks the most important thing is that, if Council approves this, they are saying they believe Georgetown should work toward making sure there is workforce housing available to the community. Speaker, Clay Woodard, said he would like to add his thoughts to the purpose of this document.. He said he wants to take an extremely long and detailed document and pare it down to be something that is understandable. He said he wants to take the new census numbers and demonstrate their is still a shortage of workforce housing in the community. He said he would ask that Council recognize the document for what they intend it to be, as a starting point. He asked that Council recognize this type of housing as being very important City Council Meeting Minutes/ Page 3 of 8 Pages to the City. He said he thinks it can have wide ranging positive impact to the tax base. He said the document is a starting point and he asked permission from Council to delve deeper into the issue. Public Hearing was closed at 7:13 PM Bills read only the caption of the Ordinance on first reading after having satisfied the requirements of the City . Charter. Motion by Jonrowe, second by Sattler to approve the Ordinance on first reading. Motion by Hellmann, second by Gonzalez to amend the original motion to include his language about maintaining an appropriate ratio of workforce housing in the community. Approved 7-0 Jonrowe thanked everyone on the Housing Board for their work on this. She said the Council has talked in the past looking at the economic impact these kind of developments may have on single family residences. She said, when the Council looks at ratios, they cshould onsider dividing the City in regions and also consider school districts. There was much discussion. Eason asked if the Board needs further direction from the Council in addition to the approval. Bills said, as staff and Board time permits, they will continue with the plan and move forward. Brewer said, if we can have this as a starting point and continue working with the Board, they will be coming back to Council later with more input. She said it will not be a stagnant document and will keep working on it with Council's direction. Vote on the original motion as amended: Approved 7-0 L Consideration and possible action to place adoption of the proposed 2012 tax rate on a future agenda and to set dates for two public hearings -- Micki Rundell, Chief Financial Officer Rundell said the Texas Tax Code requires the Council have a record vote on the 2012 tax rate that is necessary to fund next year's tax rate. She said the proposed rate is below the effective rate but the City Council is able to go above that rate. She described the requested motion. She said the debt portion of the tax rate is fixed and can not be changed. She noted that portion is necessary to meet the City's debt obligations. She said the other portion is variable and noted the Council can move that portion all the way up to the rollback rate. She spoke about the public hearing schedule for the tax rate. She noted if the Council votes to go higher than the effective rate, it will start a public hearing process but it will not hold the Council to that rate. She noted it can be changed at a later date. Meigs said it is his opinion that the City needs the flexibility to have a slightly higher rate but in order to meet the city's five year goals. He noted, in order to reach those goals, the city should have a public hearing and listen to citizens about this. Motion by Meigs, second by Hammerlun to place adoption of a tax rate of 0.41 cents per $100 valuation, equaling .23637 cents for Maintenance and Operation and .17363 cents for Debt Service as an action item at the August 28,2 012 Council Meeting to be held at 6pm at the City Council Chambers at the northeast corner of 7th and Main in Georgetown, Texas and to set two public hearing as required by law to be held on Tuesday, August 14th at 4pm and Monday August 20th at 4pm at the City Council Chambers at the northeast corner of 7th and Main in Georgetown, Texas. Gonzalez said he would not like to go over the recommended rate. Jonrowe said the City should go higher than the effective rate. She spoke about the acceleration of the City of Excellence projected. Rundell said anything above the effective rate will lessen the impact of the projects. She noted any additional revenues will go toward any projects Council will like to implement. Jonrowe said she would like to start at 42 and then work the way down and get public feedback starting at that rate. Rundell briefly described how Council will be able to use the extra funds and noted the Council does not need to determine that today. Hammerlun said 41 is in the middle and noted the City does need to step out a little bit. He said the public hearing process is good and noted he would like to go through that process. Sattler asked and Rundell said a lot of bonds have been authorized that have not yet been sold yet. Sattler said he is guessing the rate would go up to .53 by the time all of the bonds have been issued. Sattler said he could live with a little bit of a tax increase because of what it is being used for and if it is fully implementing the compensation for employees. He said, as of right now, he needs to say that it should stay at .3975 but noted he needs to talk to his constituents before he can feel comfortable raising taxes higher than the cent approved by the voters. Meigs said, by placing this in front of the citizens, it does not hold the Council to that rate. He noted, on the 28th, the Council can choose to go to the effective rate. He said it is City Council Meeting Minutes/ Page 4 of 8 Pages important for Council to hear from the citizens on this and noted that is why he supports this. Hellmann said extra savings may allow for the City to invest some money now because the City has a chance to save millions of dollars in the long run. Helllmann said he likes those type of elements but noted he is trying to be conservative. There was much discussion. Eason said she is opposed to voting any way that shuts the public out of the process. She said her preference would be to hear all of the opportunities at the 42 cent level because that is the only way the City can legitimately look at all options before moving forward. She said it is fine to cap at 41 tonight but added, ultimately, that is going to be the number the city will need. She said what worries her on the 39 cent amount is the fact that it depends a lot of expecting certain return on utility income. She said it is hard to say a city will get a certain amount if the weather is better. She said she thinks it is chancy to try and say that there will be income from retail sales as well. Jonrowe asked and Rundell said, if the motion fails, the recommended rate will go forward. Motion by Jonrowe, second by Eason to amend to vote to place adoption of a tax rate of 42 per $100 valuation, equaling .24637 cents for Maintenance and Operation and .17363 cents for Debt Service as an action item at the August 28,2 012 Council Meeting to beheld at 6pm at the City Council Chambers at the northeast corner of 7th and Main in Georgetown, Texas and to set two public hearing as required by law to be held on Tuesday, August 14th at 4pm and Monday August 20th at 4pm at the City Council Chambers at the northeast corner of 7th and Main in Georgetown, Texas. Vote on the motion to amend: Tommy Gonzalez - No Rachael Jonrowe - Yes Jerry Hammerlun- Yes Bill Sattler- No Danny Meigs- No Troy Hellmann- No Patty Eason- Yes Motion to amend failed. ORIGINAL MOTION: PASSED Tommy Gonzalez- No Rachael Jonrowe- No Jerry Hammerlun- Yes Bill Satter- Yes Danny Meigs- Yes Troy Hellmann- No Patty Eason- Yes Original motion passed. M Consideration and possible action to authorize City sponsorship of the Georgetown Grand for 2013 -- Keith Hutchinson, Public Communication Director and Laurie Brewer, Assistant City Manager Brewer said last year, the City sponsored the Georgetown Grand and noted staff is looking to present feedback and get direction on how the Council would wish to proceed with thos event in the coming year. She described City sponsored events for the Council. She said other City sponsored events included the Christmas Stroll as well as the Red Poppy Festival. Brewer said tonight staff would like to know whether or not the City should move forward with the event, incorporating all of the proposed changes. Mayor asked and Brewer said, in the original contract, there was a 60 day window after the event to determine whether or not to move forward and continue next year. She said staff recommends not approving the contract as is, but incorporating changes. Mayor asked and Chapman said, if the City does not want to continue with this event, they would need to terminate the contract. With a Powerpoint presentation, Hutchinson reviewed this past year's Georgetown Grand event. He presented the plan as presented by Holland Racing last year. He described the pre -event promotions and media at the event. He provided Council with a snapshot of the event including the races, activities and entertainment. He said after the race occurred, the City sent a survey to participants and received 243 responses. He said those responses were not in Georgetown zip codes. He said the economic impact was about $264,874. He said 98.7% said yes they would come back for similar event next year. He showed Council percentages of where people came from across the state and nation. He said they received feedback from downtown businesses and said they received mixed reports. He said some restaurants did well and some did okay. He said the retail on the square generally had poor sales. He said some of the specific issues that came up was the access on City Council Meeting Minutes/ Page 5 of 8 Pages Austin Avenue. He described some potential changes for 2013. He said they are suggesting moving the event to September, adding a crosswalk on Austin Avenue, using seventh street and eighth street for festival areas, having a 5k run on course early Saturday, a Kids ride on course Saturday morning and more advertising to increase spectators. He provided Council with a possible change for the course. He described the next steps in this process. He said August 12 is the deadline for Holland Racing to apply to USA Cycling for the National Criterium Calendar. He said they will then finalize a date with USA Cycling in the Fall of 2012. Speaker, Dan Marek, spoke about the economic impact of the race on his business. He said the last race did not work for the downtown merchants. He said the new track would shut down the entire downtown. He said they should leave some of the downtown open and amend it to allow three or four merchants to sit on the board and have a say on how the track is placed. Motion by Meigs, second by Hellmann to extend the Georgetown Grand another year. Gonzalez said he thinks the Grand was a great event but noted he hears what Marek is saying. He said, for the City to have this criterium, that a majority of the members of the Downtown Georgetown Association agree to this. He said the bulk of what he saw was that retailers lost a lot of money!during the event. He said, while he would like to have the event, he would also like to have a happy medium. He said he does not want to benefit one group as opposed to another. Gonzalez wants staff and organizers to sit down and work with the downtown folks. Hutchinson said, when staff was looking at the original course, there was definitely an effort to try and not have impacts on residences. He noted the original intent was to have a downtown criterium and to bring people downtown. He noted it is difficult to put a course downtown and not effect people. Meigs said it is a great idea to involve the downtown business owners in the planning of this event. He said his experience was that it was a fantastic event that was well organized. Jonrowe spoke about the importance of getting business owners' feedback on multiple routes. She noted, as a downtown homeowner, she was negatively effected. She said the event needs to be in September. She said she would like to see presentations made to the business owners and get their feedback on multiple routes. She said she would like for staff to come back to Council after these meetings before the Council decides on a route. Sattler asked if it would be appropriate to have the downtown business owners as part of selection committee for the route. Hellmann said he enjoyed the event and noted he thought it was the coolest thing he has experienced in Georgetown. He said adjusting the route would be good and noted it would be nice to find a balance and compromise to help everyone. He supported that there be continued discussion on this route. Eason said she would like to give this another chance this coming year and noted one year is not enough to judge whether or not this will be a success. She said it is a good idea to move this to the Fall. She said her number one concern was all of the negative feedback from the downtown merchants. Eason said this event is very different from others that are done and noted the City needs to have a significant input on the course and noted, for her, the route for the coming year is going to be significant for her. She said she thinks they require that the downtown merchants have a bigger participation on how this is planned. She said, if we get a repeat of what happened this past year, she is not going to be interested in supporting this in the future. She said she wants to see some improvement in communication and coordination. She said she is not looking to make everyone happy but noted it has to be a win win situation. Vote on the motion: Approved 7-0 Brewer said what she heard at the meeting this morning was a commitment from the business owners to work with the staff for the future of the event. She said the list that the Main Street manager has includes DGA members, business members as well as property owners. Brewer said she can bring back a resolution to determine how to proceed. She said she thinks the City is under a time frame to determine whether or not to make a bid for the racing event. Brewer said there will not be a route that will make everyone happy. There was much discussion. Gonzalez said one of the biggest impact is the fact that the City closes down the square. He spoke of the importance of involving downtown business owners. Motion by Jonrowe, second by Sattler to authorize staff to take immediate action to find a way to involve the downtown merchants in the city's decision to implement the Georgetown Grand event in the coming year. Approved 7-0 N Forwarded from the Georgetown Transportation Advisory Board (GTAB): Consideration and possible action to approve Task Order KPA-12-006 with Kasberg, Patrick & Associates, LP (KPA) of Georgetown, Texas, for professional engineering services related to the preliminary engineering design and report preparation for the Southeast Inner Loop Schematic Design from IH35 to Rockride Lane (CR 110) in the amount of $706,000.00 -- Edward G. Polasek, AICP, Transportation Services Director and Bill Dryden, P.E., Transportation Engineer City Council Meeting Minutes/ Page 6 of 8 Pages Polasek described the item and showed Council a map of the project. He said this is the only segment of the southeast inner loop where the Council has not done any studies beyond the existing roadway. He said this item is to do those studies that will include a corridor analysis that involve the property owners as well as ultimate design projects. He said this is the study that moves the City forward of reversing the bridge structure on 1460. He noted this study will justify shifting that bridge structure. Motion by meigs, second by Gonzalez to approve the task order. Approved 7-0 O Forwarded from Georgetown Utility System (GUS) Advisory Board : Consideration and possible action to accelerate the timing and funding for wood pole inspection & treatment services by Osmose Utility Services, Inc., of Tyrone, Georgia in the estimated amount of $235,000.00 -- Paul Elkins, Energy Services Manager and Glenn Dishong, Utility Director Elkins described the item and said there are roughly 4,500 poles left to inspect. He said most of those poles are not along major thoroughfares and noted they expect a higher reject rate. He said this inspection also collects asset information on each of the poles. Motion by Gonzalez, second by Sattler to approve. Meigs asked about poles that have been vacated in his neighborhood. He said his neighbors are wondering when the unused poles will be removed. Elkins said there is a notification going to Suddenlink to remove their connections so that the City can remove the poles. Vote on the motion: Approved 7-0 P First Reading of an Ordinance renaming Washam Drive to Fontana Drive consistent with the findings of the Street and Facility Naming Committee recommendation -- Edward G. Polasek, AICP, Transportation Services Director (action required) Polasek said the City received a request to rename a road from Washam Drive to Fontana Drive. He said the property owners submitted the paperwork and it went to the street naming committee. He said the recommendation is to do some type of treatment at Northwest Boulevard that would change the character of the street. He read only the caption of the ordinance on first reading after having satisfied the requirements of the City Charter. Motion by Hellmann, second by Gonzalez to approve the Ordinance on first reading. Approved 7-0 Q First Reading of an Ordinance amending Chapter 2.24 of the Code of Ordinances relating to City Council Procedures -- Bridget Chapman, Acting City Attorney and Jessica Brettle, City Secretary (action required) Chapman said this is the first reading of the Ordinance adopting the Council Procedures. She read only the caption of the Ordinance on first reading after having satisfied the requirements of the City Charter. Motion by Meigs, second by Hammerlun to approve the Ordinance on first reading. Approved 7-0 R First Reading of an Ordinance amending Chapter 2.36 of the Code of Ordinances related to the attendance policy for City Commissions, Committees and Boards -- Paul Brandenburg, City Manager and Bridget Chapman, Acting City Attorney (action required) Chapman described the item and said this allows for excused medical absences. She read only the caption of the Ordinance on first reading after having satisfied the requirements of the City Charter. Motion by Jonrowe, Gonzalez to approve the Ordinance on first reading. Motion by Eason, second by Jonrowe to amend the Ordinance so that Section 2.36.010 (D) does not require a note from the doctor. Eason said she is somewhat insulted that someone would need a note from the doctor to prove that there were really ill. Gonzalez said the reason the doctor's note is there is because members are already receiving two absences. He said this is to allow for absences on top of that and added the note would discourage abuse of the provision. Jonrowe said, if the City is trusting these people with the responsibility of helping make choices for the City Council Meeting Minutes/ Page 7 of 8 Pages City, they should trust them on whether or not they are sick. Meigs said he thnks Council is opening up a can of worms with this change. Hellmann agreed with Eason. Vote on the motion to amend: Approved 6-1 (Gonzalez opposed) Vote on the original motion as amended: Approved 5-2 (Meigs, Gonzalez opposed) S First Reading of an Ordinance amending Section 10.16.035 and Section 10.16.040 Parking Restrictions of the Code of Ordinances of the City of Georgetown, Texas -- Paul E. Brandenburg, City Manager and Bridget Chapman, Acting City Attorney (action required) Chapman said the City Manager met with Judge Gattis earlier today. Fite said the County is in the engineering phase of the garage. He said he vowed in writing it will be done in August of 2013. Brandenburg and Fite recommended the City extend this until that date and noted that would be the final deadline for the County. Motion by Hellmann, second by Gonzalez to approve the Ordinance on first reading. Chapman read only the caption of the Ordinance on first reading after having satisfied the requirements of the City Charter. Approved 7-0 T, Consideration and possible action to approve a Resolution declining extension of amended parking restrictions for the Williamson County Justice Center -- Paul E. Brandenburg, City Manager and Bridget Chapman, Acting City Attorney This item was pulled by staff. Adjournment The meeting was adjourned at 09:06 PM. Approved Mayor Georar7er City Council Meeting Minutes/ Page 8 of 8 Pages