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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCC Minutes 2006-02-13 Special, Work Session 2/13/06 2435 STATE OF TEXAS )( CITY OF FRIENDSWOOD )( COUNTIES OF GALVESTON/HARRIS )( FEBRUARY 13, 2006 )( MINUTES OF A SPECIAL MEETING OF THE FRIENDSWOOD CITY COUNCIL THAT WAS HELD ON MONDAY, FEBRUARY 13, 2006, AT 4:00 PM AT THE FRIENDSWOOD PUBLIC LIBRARY, 416 SOUTH, FRIENDSWOOD, TEXAS, WITH THE FOLLOWING PRESENT CONSTITUTING A QUORUM: MAYOR KIMBALL BRIZENDINE MAYOR PRO-TEM DAVID SMITH COUNCILMEMBER LAURA EWING COUNCILMEMBER JOHN LECOUR COUNCILMEMBER TRACY GOZA COUNCILMEMBER CHRIS PEDEN COUNCILMEMBER MEL MEASELES CITY ATTORNEY JOHN OLSON CITY MANAGER RON COX DEPUTY CITY SECRETARY MELINDA WELSH City Secretary Deloris McKenzie was absent from the meeting. Mayor Brizendine called the meeting to order. 4:00 PM —SPECIAL SESSION Discussion was held regarding nominations and appointments to the City Manager Selection Committee. Mayor Brizendine recommended, due to the possibility of having 3 new members on Council, to not start the process of choosing a selection committee until after the election, and to have everything ready for after the election. Councilmember Smith agreed it would be best to have everything in order to move as quickly as possible. Councilmember Goza stated if the City is going to hire a consultant, then a committee is not needed. Councilmember Measeles stated he had discussed the process of finding a new City Manager with other cities, and 3 of the 4 he talked to agree that a selection committee is the worst idea because it gets political, and recommended a headhunter. **Councilmember Goza moved to go to Item 4 on the agenda - Discussion and possible action regarding hiring a consultant to assist in the City Manager selection process. Motion failed for lack of a second. ***Councilmember Smith called for a Point of Order, asked if it is possible to combine all items in the Special Session for discussion at the same time. City Manager Ron Cox stated that in talking with City Attorney John Olson, the committee would delegate responsibility and would be subject to the Open Meetings Act, and suggested not do the committee at all. Councilmember Measeles stated the committee would have to do Open Records Act training thinks process should start now and the new Council would be a part of the decision, suggested doing away with the committee and use a headhunter. Councilmember Peden suggested to not have a committee, would be delegating authority and work and that is not a good idea, that is what they were elected for, should not have a committee and select search firm, should have an Acting City Manager and get the ball rolling, is not comfortable with waiting until after the election, cannot stop governing, thinks Council needs to get the process going and not wait. Councilmember LeCour stated he had concerns with what might happen if there is a turnover, philosophy can change, and then do 180 degree turn in the selection process, could disrupt the process if the City does this before the election, also does not want to have to 2/13/06 2436 pick and preference with people because it sounds like you are saying one is better than the other, regarding the selection committee, would cause hurt feelings and division, asked if the applicants would be subject to Open Records Act. City Manager Ron Cox stated they would. The applicant would have to fill out a Disclosure Statement. Thinks the City should go with a headhunter or outside consultant. Councilmember Ewing stated that the City does not need a selection committee but a headhunter, thinks the public should have a voice, suggested to have a public meeting and allow people to come forward with input from citizens for Council to give direction to the headhunter. Mayor Brizendine stated that it sounded like the consensus was to do away with the committee and use a headhunter. Discussion was held regarding approval of the City Manager selection process and timeline. Councilmember Smith suggested altering the timeline and hiring a professional firm so they can start soliciting. Councilmember Goza suggested amending the timeline to hire a consultant right away, asked when Acting City Manager would be put in place. Mayor Brizendine stated that would be on the next agenda. City Manager Ron Cox asked if it would be okay to put it on Executive Session. The answer was yes. Councilmember Ewing stated as soon as the consultant is in place and then have a public meeting. Councilmember Measeles asked what the process is for choosing a consultant. City Manager Ron Cox stated he recommends establishing a Request for Proposal (RFP), stated there is a firm the City used when he was hired that is still in business. Mayor Brizendine asked City Manager Ron Cox to summarize in written form the selection process for a consultant and give to Council by Thursday, and to schedule for a workshop for Monday, February 20. Councilmember Goza asked for an action item on the agenda to go ahead and start the RFP process. Councilmember Peden stated the consultant should have input into the timeline. Mayor Brizendine agreed, Councilmember Smith stated Council should have a blank slate and not a published timeline and take one step at a time. Councilmember Peden stated there should be a deadline so Council can have something to work with. Councilmember LeCour stated Council needs milestones to make sure the process is on track. Mayor Brizendine stated that Councilmember Ewing suggested a public meeting and Councilmember Peden stated there is plenty of room in Communications from the Public where citizens have an opportunity to speak. Councilmember Ewing stated her issue with that is that this is a big issue and needs to be set apart so citizens have an opportunity for input, communications have been a big issue and would like to continue in that vein. Councilmember Peden stated the public has lots of opportunity to provide input to Council, but has no objection with having a public meeting. Councilmember Smith stated he sees both sides, agrees that Council needs to improve public relations. Councilmember Goza stated he sees no need for a public meeting, and the City could send out info on email by utilizing Groupbuilder, etc., reminded when Council hired the Police Chief there were 450 people at the meeting. Councilmember LeCour stated he has no problem with a public meeting, will be there to hear what the citizens have to say. Councilmember Measeles stated Council has emphasized communications and has no objection to a public meeting. Mayor Brizendine stated he feels the same way, more communication is always good, suggested to the hire consultant and ask him to put together a timeline, a job task scenario and add a public meeting somewhere early in the process. Mayor Brizendine stated it sounds like everyone agrees that hiring a consultant is a good idea and will get information from City Manager Ron Cox on Thursday. Discussion was not held regarding hiring a consultant to assist in the City Manager selection process. This meeting was adjourned at 4:50 PM 6:00 PM —WORK SESSION Discussion was held with members of the Main Street Zoning Committee. City Manager Ron Cox stated this is from a previous discussion of concerns, this allows Council to discuss with Main Street members. A question and answer session was held with Main Street Committee Chair Bill Finger who stated to put this in perspective, this committee was created in December of 1999, Alton Todd and Tony Banfield, are also members and are present tonight to answer questions, gave a brief history with the first Chairman being Councilmember Chris Peden, Mayor Kimball Brizendine was a member of the committee in 2003, 2/13/06 2437 lots of people involved, final presentation was last April, they did acceptance of the Implementation Plan, gave a brief history of the Main Street Zoning Committee, then asked Council if they had any questions. Mayor Brizendine asked Council if they have any questions, then stated one of the issues that keeps coming up in Council was wet/dry issue, is it a deal-killer with Main Street redevelopment. Chairman Bill Finger stated the plan was developed where Main Street remains dry, the development might be slower, if the citizens want it to not be dry, other outside groups besides Main Street Committee could handle that. Councilmember Ewing stated there has been lots of discussion about who would handle the development, the City or the private sector. Chairman Bill Finger stated Council could either do nothing and Main Street would become less important as commercial, or a second option would be the City could undertake the redevelopment process itself, a third way to go forward is for the City and Council to form a Local Government Corporation (LGC), which is an entity unto itself that has its own government, there is an out for the City with this because Council could dissolve it at any time, a fourth would be that interested parties would form a non-profit corporation to redevelop the Main Street area, if they did that the City would have no influence over what they do, corporation has no obligation to put anyone from the City on the board. The Chairman (LGC) could market the area, could buy and hold property and sell it to developers, has the power of eminent domain, could raise money to carry forth their activities. An LGC was recommended with 9 members serving 3 year terms, appointed by Council, was recommended the City fund the first year with a $75,000 budget. Councilmember Measeles asked if Council could restrict an LGC regarding eminent domain, Chairman Bill Finger was not sure, but stated he knows there could be add-on rules by the City but not sure about eminent domain. Councilmember LeCour asked what an LGC could do. Economic Development Coordinator Karen Capps answered questions. Councilmember Measeles asked about grant money being available for this type of work. Chairman Bill Finger stated there is, but there has to have an entity to apply and accept grants. Mayor Brizendine stated interim zoning measures are being worked on that would help and have a positive effect. Chairman Bill Finger stated it will help those already there but will not help people wanting to come in. Mayor Brizendine clarified that it will help get the City there, and Chairman Bill Finger agreed. Mayor Brizendine stated the City and Council are not supportive of eminent domain, if Council could resolve this it would help, asked the Main Street Committee to attempt to synopsize in bullets why it think it is important for the City to take a role, Tony Banfield stated this all started as a streetscape project, developed into how the City can make Main Street look better, communities are doing this all over Texas, making their downtown look better. If the City lets it go like it is, which it has for 25-30 years, have a few buildings that are okay, some are not so good, if Friendswood is going to be more than just a large subdivision then it needs to develop a core and devote more money in the budget for streetscape for Main Street. If the City does not want to make a commitment then it should quit talking about it and quit having the meetings. Councilmember Peden asked what if the City bought detention from Galveston County Consolidated Drainage District and did something with land used for detention, stated it is time to make a commitment to do something or forget it. Councilmember Ewing reminded that several months ago, some members of Council did not want to move forward. Councilmember Peden stated Council did not want money to be put in ideas but in action, replacing poles in downtown would be a streetscape benefit, asked Karen Capps to get prices on poles. Mayor Brizendine discussed burying utility lines, which costs in the millions. Councilmember Smith stated the bottom line is how much would it cost a prospective developer after buying property, building a building, permitting process, adhering to zoning requirements, does it pay them to do it and is it profitable. Councilmember LeCour asked what revitalize means, Tony Banfield stated restaurants, retail, there is not enough land for big box retail, and The Woodlands, Sugarland and Brenham are good examples. Councilmember LeCour asked why the City does not use current economic development personnel to work on downtown revitalization, Karen Capps stated Staff does, but downtown needed it's own identity, Chairman Bill Finger stated the City needs a redevelopment coordinator. Councilmember Goza stated he owns a building downtown that has been vacant, thinks redevelopment should be done with a Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone (TIRZ), if the City does when does funding stop, as a business owner does not see a need to fund the LGC. Mayor Brizendine stated he thinks Council is lacking in additional information and needs to get it, hears from Council that streetscape is important, what would the recommendations be and associated cost, also heard that preliminarily that Council would keep redevelopment in the City, if the City handles it internally what are the needs and costs associated with it, 2/13/06 2438 also heard buying offsite retention would be a benefit. Tony Banfield said there are already businesses being helped with offsite retention. Councilmember Smith suggested getting an example from other cities doing this and a timeline (short and long for comparison). 7:04 Mayor called a 5-minute recess. Discussion was held and a presentation from Dannenbaum Engineering on National Economic DevelOopment (NED) Plan for Clear Creek was given. Interim Director of Community Development Dan Johnson introduced AI Flores and Brett Sachtleben, with Dannenbaum Engineering, who gave a PowerPoint presentation, discussed purpose, organization/entities, background, planning process, preliminary National Economic Development(NED) Plan results, and an alternatives comparison. Further discussion was held regarding other alternatives for additional flood stage reduction in Friendswood, Brett Sachtleben discussed Preliminary NED Plan, alternatives comparison, etc. A question and answer session was held regarding benefits/cost ratio with Council asking if Dannenbaum Engineering was looking at history to determine the cost of damages, detention versus channelization, asked if Dannenbaum Engineering looked at alternatives outside the NED Plan and present to Corp of Engineers, concerns with correct statistics, what kind of allotment for remediation is there, environmental impact, etc. City Manager Ron Cox asked to meet again to find out what is the locally preferred plan, are there any new alternatives not part of the NED, etc. A motion was made and approved to adjourn at 7:52 PM. �� _ �� ayor Kimball W. Brizen ine Attest: �� fR�d+ . � �� � u d Deloris McKenzie, TRMC � f City Secretary r�T� � �,