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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCC Minutes 2006-02-06 Regular 2/6/06 2428 STATE OF TEXAS )( CITY OF FRIENDSWOOD )( COUNTIES OF GALVESTON/HARRIS )( FEBRUARY 06, 2006 )( MINUTES OF A REGULAR MEETING OF THE FRIENDSWOOD CITY COUNCIL THAT WAS HELD ON MONDAY, FEBRUARY 06, 2006, AT 3:00 PM AT FRIENDSWOOD CITY HALL COUNCIL CHAMBERS, 910 S. FRIENDSWOOD DRIVE, 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. 3:00 PM —WORK SESSION Discussion was held regarding the City Manager Selection and the Transition Process. City Manager Ron Cox discussed the timeline offered, which continues to September and is a fairly aggressive schedule, but it is timed so any City Manager you might hire can arrive before school starts, should he or she have children and also gives time for the city election to be completed, as some applicants will want to wait for the outcome of the election before applying, stated he has used this timeline when choosing department heads, suggested the committee framework of the selection committee should be a local pastor, a Friendswood Independent School District person, a Chamber of Commerce person, two business people, and a City Department Director with a facilitator, and would work with Council and Staff on criteria. Mayor Brizendine asked Council to focus on the committee and the number of people on the committee. Councilmember Ewing stated she would like two school district employees and add a retired person. Councilmember LeCour stated in his experience a smaller number in group is better, likes having two school district employees, Councilmember Goza stated two School District employees are appropriate, Mayor Brizendine agreed and stated it is very important to include Harris County in the input. Councilmember LeCour stated the committee should have a Harris County business person, Mayor Brizendine stated the City should dedicate a position for Harris County instead, Councilmember Smith asked when we say Chamber person, are we saying business person or employee, and likes having an odd number. Mayor Brizendine stated should we drop the Chamber person and have a businessperson from each side of the county. Councilmember Ewing thinks it is important to have people from both school districts. Councilmember Smith stated the business people should be members of Chamber. Councilmember Measeles asked if committee people would be Friendswood residents, Mayor Brizendine stated they would discuss tonight. Mayor Brizendine stated Friendswoodians would choose better since they know the history, needs, and the heritage and uniqueness of our environment. Councilmember Measeles asked should we consider someone from the legal field, City Attorney John Olson was asked and stated he has no opinion on this, Councilmember Measeles suggested someone from the county, and likes the retired person addition. Councilmember Peden stated, "less is more" on this committee, find people who might fit in 2-3 requirements, believes the City needs input from both school districts. 2/6/06 2429 Councilmember LeCour stated persons on the committee should be Friendswood residents. Mayor Brizendine stated Council has consensus on a representative from Clear Creek Independent School District (CCISD) and Friendswood Independent School District (FISD). Councilmember Peden stated he disagrees with not allowing non-residents since employees with the school district do have a stake in City government whether they are Friendswood residents or not, thinks we should be cautious about using residency as a hard and fast rule, thinks most should be. Mayor Brizendine agreed with Councilmember Peden. Councilmember Goza asked about policy on committee members being residents only. Councilmember Smith stated the smaller amount of committee members the better, suggests five with an alternate just in case someone drops out. Councilmember Peden suggested Council come up with a number, Councilmember Goza suggested five members as well as Councilmember Peden. City Manager Ron Cox stated there would be no representation from Council because of the privacy issue of candidates. When Council gets the finalists applications it would be public information. Mayor Brizendine stated there would be some City Manager candidates that do not want their City to know they have applied for this position. City Attorney John Olson stated once a list of candidates have been submitted he does not think they are protected. He will research this issue and get back to us. The committee may be subject to the Public Information Act also. Councilmember Ewing stated the alternate position might be a good one for a pastor. Mayor Brizendine asked if the consensus was two School District employees, two business people, one department director and a pastor as an alternate. Councilmember Ewing stated a retired person is left out. City Manager Ron Cox stated maybe the department director could be an ex-officio but Councilmember Ewing stated likes having department director voting. Councilmember Ewing stated she likes having seven members and add pastor as a voting member and a retired person. Councilmember Measeles agreed since five may be leaving out people in areas that need representation. Councilmember Peden stated he thinks seven will slow the process down and is for it being quicker rather than slower, does not see added benefit. Councilmember Ewing stated every single group is represented except for retired persons/seniors, can let the pastor position go. Councilmember Goza stated he thinks five is plenty. Councilmember Smith stated we should look at people before looking at their representation. Councilmember Ewing stated you should not combine retired with school district or business people since they need to be active. Councilmember Peden stated it is a political decision more than anything else that we would have both school districts, we should focus on quality people. Councilmember Measeles stated let us choose five and move on, does not think the focus should be on a speedy decision. Councilmember Smith stated the committee should be five persons and use the list of 10 types and fill those spots with quality people. Mayor Brizendine asked Council how they would decide on five committee members with one alternate. Councilmember Measeles asked if Council would choose the members or someone else, the answer was Council will choose. Councilmember Peden suggested throwing out names at a Council meeting and deciding on those. Mayor Brizendine stated that is a speedier process and likes it. Councilmember Peden suggested John Ring who is a business owner and FISD School Board member. Councilmember LeCour asked if this should be discussed yet because it is not on the agenda, is not prepared to nominate anyone yet. City Manager Ron Cox stated this was scheduled for next week's workshop. Mayor Brizendine stated Council is not nominating but just throwing out names. City Attorney John Olson stated this should not be discussed in this meeting since it is not on the agenda. Mayor Brizendine disagreed. City Attorney John Olson stated he is being conservative and consistent, there is no penalty to discuss and further stated it is okay to toss out names but make sure it is understood these are not nominations, the process can be discussed but not the nomination. Councilmember LeCour stated he is concerned with the timeline because with the upcoming election, and if there is a change in Council, how would it effect this committee and the selection process, would discourage the committee if there is a philosophy change after the election and should the committee be named after the election. Councilmember Peden stated if we waited to govern due to the outcome of the next election you would get nothing done, says waiting would be damaging, would have to appoint a longer interim, needs to move forward, cannot adopt anything tonight. Councilmember Smith reminded the timeline is a proposed schedule and outside forces will be at work, these are target dates. Mayor Brizendine clarified that a meeting will be set next Monday to discuss nominations and it will be on the agenda. It was decided to have Council bring names to the City Manager by Wednesday to discuss at the next meeting. City Manager Ron Cox stated an outside person takes the field of applications and 2/6/06 2430 determines which ones are more qualified. If you do this in-house then those applications are subject to open records. The smaller the group of applications is that goes to the committee the better for the candidate. Mayor Brizendine asked why the committee cannot do this and City Manager Ron Cox explained again because of the Public Information Act. City Attorney John Olson stated again that he would research. Councilmember Peden stated he is afraid a headhunter would eliminate businesspersons that might be good candidates and only focus on persons with City Manager experience. City Attorney John Olson reminded Council they would tell the headhunter what criteria to use to review the applications. Mayor Brizendine stated, if it is an open records issue, then have a headhunter review applications but if it is not have the committee do this and keep the process expeditious. Councilmember Ewing stated she thinks we need a headhunter because of the committee members' time that would be required to accomplish the task of eliminating numerous candidates by reviewing applications. Councilmember Smith asked City Manager Ron Cox what was done in the past. City Manager Ron Cox stated that a headhunter usually did the initial screening and there was not a selection committee, City Attorney John Olson reported that Council was the selection committee. City Manager Ron Cox asked if we want an action item on the next agenda and Mayor Brizendine said no since we would not have an opportunity to approach the person so we cannot make a decision yet. It was decided to have an action item on the next agenda to nominate, they will then approach the nominees and if they cannot or are not interested they will review at the next meeting and possibly nominate more. 4:30 PM —CLOSED EXECUTIVE SESSION Council convened into Executive Session in accordance with the Texas Government Code, pursuant to Section 551.074 — Personnel Matters - City Manager and Section 551.071 — Consultation with Attorney concerning pending or contemplated litigation; a settlement offer; or a matter in which the duty of the Attorney requires it. Council convened into Regular Session at 7:00 pm with action taken later in the meeting. RECONVENE INTO OPEN SESSION 7:00 PM — REGULAR SESSION The invocation was given by Pastor David Ruzicka with CrossCreek Community Church. Mayor Brizendine led the Pledge of Allegiance to the United States and to the State of Texas. SPECIAL RECOGNITION AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Mayor Brizendine honored the Friendswood Rapids Soccer Team, who won the 2005 South Texas Youth Soccer Association Super II, State Championship in the 12 and under category for the second year in a row. Mayor Brizendine introduced Head Coach David Montz, who then introduced the players, Joshua Montz, Eric Wright, Michael Rich, T.J. Scott, Vance Smith, Evan Piccione, Patrick Schultz, Chase LeGrand, Alexander Hines, Gunner Holle, Rudy DeHoyos, Tyler Dement, Jacob Baird, Alex Ferraiuolo, Aaron Campbell, Conrad Beck, Drew Anderson and Assistant Coaches Bill and Michelle Rich, and Trainer David Stewart. Councilmember Smith presented a certificate of recognition to Scott Gordon, wife and son, and Jay Delesandri with the Lighthouse Charity Team for their dedication and volunteer spirit in our community. Mr. Gordon stated they were proud to be a part of the Hurricane Rita response. Mayor Brizendine presented a proclamation to City of Friendswood Budget Officer Lynn Bucher, honoring her for her 30 years of service. Mayor Brizendine stated that the book of Mark says, "Love the Lord with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your might and with all your strength," and Lynn epitomizes this. 2/6/06 2431 She has done a great job with the City and is a person with a kind and loving heart. Ms. Bucher has served the City of Friendswood as Bookkeeper, Accountant, Accountant and Data Processing Coordinator, Data Processing Supervisor, Acting Finance Director on two occasions, Administrative Accountant, and Finance Officer. Lynn Bucher spoke and stated that working for the City has been a wonderful experience, introduced her daughter, granddaughters, son Christopher, son Jeff, daughter-in- law and thanked her family for being understanding, thanked Administrative Services Director Roger Roecker, could not have asked for better leadership from Roger, thanked Cindy Edge who is the backbone of the department and a very good friend, thanked Councilmember Ewing for her sweet words. Roger Roecker spoke and stated Lynn's reception was nice, former employees came back to honor Lynn along with her church friends and family, had people asking today how many people he was going to have to hire to replace her, her work ethic, grace, and her incredible memory will be missed. The best compliment he can give someone is he feels he is a better person from having known. City Manager Ron Cox stated he would like to congratulate her on entering this new phase in her life, appreciates her grace and kindness, is always helpful, thanked her for getting to spend 15 of the 30 years at the City with her. Councilmember Ewing spoke about mission trips and church activities they shared. Councilmember Smith spoke about how invaluable Lynn has been to the City and thanked her family for their sacrifice. Councilmember Peden stated he envies her and will miss her expertise and the faces she would make at meetings when he would give wrong information. Councilmember Measeles stated he will miss her smiling face and positive attitude, gave retirement advice, which is to learn to take naps, wife Shirley says congratulations too. COMMUNICATIONS FROM THE PUBLIC Councilmember Measeles introduced Gene Hollier and Emmeline Dodd, representatives from the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, and stated Emmeline has been a volunteer for over 20 years, and Gene Hollier is a retired U.S. Air Force pilot. Emmeline spoke and stated there is a Nasa/Clear Creek/Friendswood Go Texan Subcommittee who gives out scholarships. Councilmember Measeles has been a big help, Councilmember Goza donated money and won Name Your Street. Mr. Hollier spoke and gave history of the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo and the scholarship opportunities, mentioned Deloris McKenzie's daughter winning a scholarship, will top $200 million dollars in scholarships this year. Asked for Council's support for the Nasa/Clear Creek/Friendswood Metro Go Texan Subcommittee, gave information about the annual Trail Ride Route, which will start in Alvin and end at Johnson Space Center in Clear Lake on February 21, where they will have a dinner and dance. Don Johnson, 810 Myrtlewood, addressed Council and stated he was there to speak about proposed Ordinance T2006-03 on the agenda tonight and the desnagging project, which he has spoken about before. He stated this project is a flop, the maximum amount of benefit it should have provided was not much. The Drainage District already gets tax money and we should not fund more, this is a Mickey Mouse project that does not work to help with drainage. City Manager Ron Cox stated this is a last fiscal year's work and will not be paid until we get a report on the work that was done. Mike Sharp, 1200 Shooting Star, addressed Council and announced his candidacy for Position 1, stated he and his wife are long-time veteran Houston Police officers and he is now a consumer bankruptcy attorney, is concerned with increasing tax rates, first thing he would do is cut taxes, has eminent domain concerns, and would change the City Charter to deal with that. Jim Hill, 2404 S. Friendswood Drive, addressed Council and read a brief statement, stated he has lived here 60 years, announced his candidacy and will announce for which position later, wants to change the charter regarding eminent domain, wants to make it business friendly instead of begging businesses to come. Cindy Bohannon, 2102 McKissick Drive, addressed Council and stated she would like to speak regarding the Brittany Bay extension, both routes are ecologically sensitive, putting this road in erodes 2/6/06 2432 Friendswood's small town feel, did not want to become like Clear Lake by putting another major road in, asked Council to consider not building this road, does not benefit constituency, every Councilmember needs to see the land this road will destroy. Wayne Hale, 904 Applewood Drive, addressed Council and stated he has lived here 17 years, is here to discuss the Brittany Bay extension, and would like to register his opposition particularly to the red route, but to the extension in general. COMMUNICATIONS FROM COMMITTEES AND SPECIAL REPORTS Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) Chair Kevin Holland gave their annual report, will hold a retreat after Council has their retreat to discuss P&Z goals, further discussed goals achieved in 2005 and plans for 2006. CITY MANAGER'S REPORT City Manager Ron Cox stated that he had no report. ACTION ITEMS **Councilmember Goza moved to accept the resignation of the City Manager. Seconded by Councilmember Smith. The motion was approved unanimously. City Manager Ron Cox stated that he would like to reiterate that no Councilmembers have asked him to leave either current or past, is feeling led to start something new, looks forward to coming back in 91 days to come back and sit in the audience as a citizen. ORDINANCES **Councilmember LeCour moved to delete Item 10 on Attachment A of Ordinance No. T2006-03, "Galveston County Consolidated Drainage District De-Snagging Project, $100,000. 2004 budget for the City's contribution to the drainage district project was not expended in fiscal year 2004 and the budget lapsed into General Fund Balance. Reappropriate the lapsed funds," from this ordinance. Seconded by Councilmember Peden. The motion was passed 6-1 with Councilmember Measeles opposed. **Councilmember Measeles moved to approve the First and final reading of Ordinance No. T2006-03, An Ordinance of the City of Friendswood, Texas, adopting "Budget Amendment II" to the "Original General Budget of the City of Friendswood, Texas, for the Fiscal Year 2004-2005"; providing for supplemental appropriation and/or transfer of certain funds; providing for severability; and providing other matters related to the subject. Item 10 on Attachment A was deleted from this Ordinance. Seconded by Councilmember Smith. The motion was approved unanimously. **Councilmember Smith moved to approve the First and final reading of Ordinance No. T2006-04, An Ordinance of the City of Friendswood, Texas, adopting "Budget Amendment I" to the "Original General Budget of the City of Friendswood, Texas, for the Fiscal Year 2005-2006"; providing for supplemental appropriation and/or transfer of certain funds; providing for severability; and providing other matters related to the subject. Seconded by Measeles. The motion was approved unanimously. 2/6/06 2433 **Councilmember Goza moved to approve the First reading of Ordinance T2006-05, An Ordinance amending Appendix C of the Friendswood City Code, said Appendix C being City of Friendswood, Texas, Ordinance No. 84-15, as amended, originally adopted the 19th day of November, 1984, and being the Zoning Ordinance of the City, by changing the zoning classification of a certain 1.0 acre tract of land, more or less, from Agricultural District (A-1) to Neighborhood Commercial District (NC), such tract also being a portion of Lot 52 of the Sloan Subdivision, John Dickinson League, City of Friendswood, Galveston, County, Texas; providing for the amendment of the City's official Zoning Map; providing a penalty in an amount not to exceed $2,000 for each day of violation of any provision hereof; and providing for severability. Seconded by Councilmember Smith. The motion was approved 6-1 with Councilmember Peden opposed. COMMUNICATIONS FROM THE MAYOR AND COUNCILMEMBERS Councilmember Measeles had no report Councilmember Peden commented on the article regarding "Galveston County Reads Day" and stated he wanted to clarify that he did not say the Mayor banned the book and apologizes if anyone misunderstood, Council did not ban the book from the Library, thanked Library Director Mary Perroni for accepting him at their recent meeting and making him a little more interested in the book, he asked what is the driving force behind the Code of Ethics ordinance, do not limit the debate among the committees, Staff and Council. He would like to congratulate Brian Harclerode who attained the rank of Eagle Scout, Friendswood is the home to many Eagle Scouts and it speaks well of the community. Councilmember Smith asked Council to look at the minutes from the recent P&Z meeting, the work they are doing is stellar, thanked City Attorney John Olson for being at the recent P&Z meeting and helping them. Councilmember Goza stated at the State of the City Address the Mayor announced he would not run again, we should celebrate his accomplishments and stated Mayor Brizendine has done a wonderful job. He then stated he would like to announce his candidacy for Mayor in the upcoming election, has filed the necessary reports and will file his application to be on the ballot at his earliest convenience. Councilmember LeCour stated he missed the meeting where the City Manager announced his resignation, stated that the City Manager had called him later to inform him that he had tendered his resignation, and stated that as a manager of people, when an organization is good and you work to help the people to be the best they can be, one of the down sides of that is when they have reached the top of that mountain, they are going to look around for a taller mountain. Mr. Cox has done that, and he is excited about his going out in the world and hunting that larger mountain to climb, and the City is very excited for him and wishes him the best and he is going to do well because he is a very successful person here. Councilmember Ewing stated she and Councilmember Smith attended the Light House Cooking Team fundraiser where they announced next Sunday that ABC television will have a special about East Texas and will spotlight the cooking team, asked everyone to please tune in, thinks it is at 7:00 PM. Announced he Clear Creek Nature and Cultural Tourism Council event on February 22 and announced April 22 is the annual Spring Sparkle. Mayor Brizendine stated he was concerned about the placement in the Library of the book featured for Galveston County Reads Day. He reported that he read to 160 plus children at Cline Elementary this 2/6/06 2434 morning, enjoyed the State of the City Address and the retrospective of 2005 achievements, the workshop earlier discussed the City Manager and the selection process, which will continue, the goal is to move as expeditiously as possible. CONSENT AGENDA **Councilmember Smith moved to approve the Consent Agenda with the exception of Item D—Approve and authorize the Mayor to execute a lease/purchase agreement with Wells Fargo Brokerage Services, LLC, for replacement of computer hardware and software. A. Authorize the acceptance of streets, drainage and utilities for Friendswood Oaks Subdivision for the contractor's one-year maintenance period. B. Authorize the acceptance of streets, drainage and utilities for Oak Creek Forest Subdivision for the contractor's one-year maintenance period. C. Approve and authorize the Mayor to execute the dedication of a Public Utility Easement within the Public Safety Building site to Texas-New Mexico Power Company. E. Approve and authorize the Mayor to execute an interlocal agreement with the City of Pearland, Brazoria County, Brazoria Drainage District #4, and Galveston County Consolidated Drainage District for a joint grant application to the Texas Water Development Board to fund the Cowards Creek Watershed Study. F. Approve minutes of January 9, 16, 23 and 26, 2006 Meetings. Seconded by Councilmember Ewing. The motion was approved unanimously. "*Councilmember Smith moved to approve Item D — Approve and authorize the Mayor to execute a lease/purchase agreement with Wells Fargo Brokerage Services, LLC, for replacement of computer hardware and software. Seconded by Councilmember Goza. *"`*Councilmember Peden moved to table Item D — Approve and authorize the Mayor to execute a lease/purchase agreement with Welis Fargo Brokerage Services, LLC, for replacement of computer hardware and software. Seconded by Councilmember LeCour. The motion was approved unanimously. A motion was made and approved to adjourn at 9:13 PM. � Gt� ` Mayor Kimball W. Brizendin Attest: c O� FR'�Iflpa o �. �o , �' o D loris McKenzie, TR C City Secretary �t � a���,� � �+�'