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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCC Minutes 2006-05-01 Regular 5/1/06 2481 STATE OF TEXAS )( CITY OF FRIENDSWOOD )( COUNTIES OF GALVESTON/HARRIS )( MAY 01, 2006 )( MINUTES OF A REGULAR MEETING OF THE FRIENDSWOOD CITY COUNCIL THAT WAS HELD ON MONDAY, MAY 01, 2006, AT 7:00 PM AT THE 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 ACTING CITY MANAGER ROGER ROECKER CITY SECRETARY DELORIS MCKENZIE Mayor Brizendine called the meeting to order. 7:00 PM — REGULAR SESSION The invocation was given by Pastor Mike McAlister with Friendswood Church of Christ. Mayor Brizendine led the Pledge of allegiance to the United States and to the State of Texas. SPECIAL RECOGNITION AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Acing City Manager Roger Roecker presented the Five Star Award for the first quarter of 2006 to Domingo Rubio, Jr. "Junior"to all the employees, has worked for the City for more than 16 years, having worked in Utility Billing and now as a Water Meter Technician in the Utilities Division of Public Works. Junior is the City's second two-time award winner, having previously received the Five Star Spirit Award in 1998, and now has been selected as the award winner for the first quarter of 2006. Junior was nominated by several employees who interact with him on a daily basis. The nominations included comments such as: "Jr. always goes above and beyond the call of duty." "He is always so helpful and knowledgeable" when dealing "with utility customers' concerns." And "many, many times I have seen Jr. go one step farther for our residents. He is a great asset to the City." These comments are typical of Junior's attitude and way of doing his work. He is courteous, competent, enthusiastic, reliable and professional - all of the attributes of a Five Star Employee. City Council presented the ninth Community Spirit Award to Mayor Brizendine for his countless hours presenting proclamations, attending meeting after meeting, reading to the school children, attending functions, putting out fires, battling floods, attending fund raisers, giving generously, personally helping those in the community, and too many others that cannot be listed. COMMUNICATIONS FROM THE PUBLIC Councilmember Peden, 103 Eagle Lakes Drive, speaking as a citizen, stated he and Mayor Brizendine have been at odds with one another, but there have been several things they were allies on, stated Mayor Brizendine has made him a better man, stated he is a fierce competitor and doesn't like to lose, stated 5/1/06 2482 sometimes he misunderstood what Mayor Brizendine said, realizes now that it wasn't against him, but against his idea, stated Mayor Brizendine has been kind and supportive, and is thankful for that, read a Proclamation for Mayor Brizendine from City Council for his service as a Councilmember and Mayor of the City, stated he didn't do this because Council, did this because he genuinely likes Mayor Brizendine and considers him a friend, appreciates what he has done and will miss him. Marie Marlowe, 412 Shadow Bend, Imperial Estates Section 2, provided history regarding Mary's Creek Bridge named after Mary Brown, an early Quaker settler, recapped those that use the bridge as a pedestrian bridge, recapped history of the City and the development of Imperial Estates Section 1 and 2, stated there are only two wooden bridges left in City, this is a very quaint and serene area, and asked Council to please keep the bridge. Richard Tindall, 207-B Skyview, stated closing Mary's Creek Bridge to automobiles is the dumbest thing to ever consider, trip over bridge is beautiful, serene, spoke on heritage of bridge, urged Council to keep the bridge open to automobiles, incentive to keep area beautiful, no incentive to keep trees and maintain beauty of the area, the bridge was in place long before the subdivision was in place, selfishness to close except to pedestrians, and urged to not be a party to closing this asset to the City. Troy Hopkins, 2605 N. Mission Circle, stated he is glad the nasty ordeal the City went through is over, glad that this will be decided at the polls rather than in court, commended Mayor Brizendine and thanked him, rather than leaving the City in shambles, a lot has been done, Mayor Brizendine has been enormously successful, stated that he cares about this City, and the job is not done, our ancestors once rode in covered wagons, today we are exploring the galaxy, the path to the future is always changing, hope all will take pride in the City and will guard her from future embarrassment. Former Mayor Evelyn Newman, 302 Friends Knoll Lane, thanked Mayor and Council for the wonderful program for the opening of the Evelyn Newman Amphitheatre, thanked Director of Community Services Jon Branson and his Staff, thanked Mayor Brizendine for the beautiful plaque, thanked the Parks and Recreation Board for preparing Centennial Park and for the two dozen roses presented to her, thanked Friendswood Independent School District and County for their partnership to build this Park, thanked the City and stated it was very special to be honored by naming the pavilion after her. Lorna Zeitler, 304 Friends Knoll, read a prepared statement regarding the investigation of Mayor Pro-Tem Smith, stated the outcome of the report cost about$5,000 but at what cost to two volunteers, Dr. Rebecca Hillenburg and Councilmember David Smith are true leaders and greatly admired, Rebecca's resignation should be rejected and she should be reinstated as a member of Community and Economic Development Committee. Dan Illerich, 2876 Love Lane, stated the City is in best fiscal position it has ever been in, thanked Mayor Brizendine for that, everything he thought he would want to say has been said, thanked Mayor Brizendine from his heart for a job well done, knows Mayor Brizendine will not miss the harassment and criticism he unfairly received, thanked Mayor Brizendine for his courtesy, thanks for a job well done from an ordinary citizen and may God bless. CITY MANAGER'S REPORT Acting City Manager Roger Roecker reported on Hurricane Preparedness Activities. Hurricane season begins June 1, and continues through November 30. Due to the closeness of the season, this is an update on the preparations underway in the event the City is "visited" by the next Katrina or Rita. The Governor has tasked each Council of Governments, in the City's case H-GAC, to develop a Regional Unified Command structure. This would result in the counties and cities within the H-GAC area designating a single person to be in charge of an emergency event, such as a hurricane evacuation. In response, the H-GAC Region has developed a Regional Catastrophic Incident Plan that includes a 5/1/06 2483 representative of each of the 13 counties in the H-GAC region, as well as a representative from the Cities of Houston and Galveston. The cities and counties will operate very much as the City has in the past, with each entity being responsible for its own evacuation assessment. The committee will however, work out the details necessary to operate a Joint Information Center to ensure consistent public information is provided to our citizens. The regional Traffic Management Plan for evacuations has been revised. It will include established contra-flow procedures, should an evacuation be necessary. In short, the plan calls for contra-flow lanes on I-45 to begin in Montgomery County in the vicinity of the Woodlands, and continue up to US 287. The I-10 contra-flow lanes will start in the Brookshire area and continue through to San Antonio. The contra-flow lanes on US 290 will begin at State Highway 6 and continue to Austin and Waco. The local planning efforts kicked off last Tuesday, April 25, as Terry Byrd and the Emergency Management staff hosted the City's 12th Annual Hurricane Preparedness meeting at the Emergency Operations Center. A total of 53 people attended the meeting and included employees from all departments of the City, as well as external partners. These included the utility and telephone companies, school districts, debris management contractors, the National Weather Service, and representatives of Galveston County, Harris County, and the State Office of Emergency Management. Each department, company, and agency shared its current status regarding hurricane preparations. Beginning Tuesday, May 2, Friendswood will participate in the State Hurricane Exercise. This exercise will last three days and will be designed to test the changes to the area's evacuation plan. In addition, exercises will take place that are intended to test the City's ability to communicate with Emergency Operation Centers using amateur radio operators and satellite phones. The Emergency Management Staff will represent the City in this exercise and provide a report on the results of this event. Thanks to the Emergency Operations Staff for leading the City's efforts to continually improve the preparations for dealing with the next catastrophic event that comes this way. Acting City Manager Roger Roecker reported on FM 2351 Traffic Signal and Drainage Project. Since the City has received several recent inquiries about a couple of projects near FM 2351, it might be appropriate to present a short report of the status. The first project is the newly installed traffic signal at FM 2351 and Woodland Trail. In response to the inquiries concerning the traffic signal, Staff contacted the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) and Texas New-Mexico Power (TNMP). Prior to activating the signal, TNMP must provide power. However, TNMP personnel have reported to City Staff that TxDOT has placed their meter loop beside the wrong pole at that intersection. As a result, TNMP is currently coordinating with TxDOT to relocate this meter to the correct location. Once this is done, TNMP can then install the necessary transformer to provide the power. This will take approximately ten working days. While the activation of the signal is contingent upon how quickly TxDOT and TNMP can coordinate their efforts, it is expected that the signal will be activated within the next few weeks. The second inquiry regarding FM 2351 relates to the TxDOT drainage project located between Live Oak and FM 518. This project consists of converting much of the open ditch along FM 2351 in this area to underground storm sewer. There have been several questions from citizens relative to this project's construction start date. TxDOT reports that this project was scheduled to begin earlier in the year, but the contractor was delayed by a utility conflict. They have been revising the project design and plan to begin construction in the next few weeks, possibly as soon as May 8. ACTION ITEMS **Councilmember Goza moved to approve action regarding restriction for the use of Mary's Creek Bridge to pedestrian traffic only. Seconded by Councilmember Measeles. The motion was approved unanimously. **Councilmember Peden moved to approve adding an Administrative Records Clerk for the City Secretary's Office. Seconded by Councilmember Smith. The motion was approved unanimously. 5/1/06 2484 COMMUNICATIONS FROM THE MAYOR AND COUNCILMEMBERS Councilmember Ewing congratulated Fire Marshal Terry Byrd for being appointed to represent the county on the Emergency Management Committee, attended two Council meetings this week, glad these meetings are behind us, attended the Chamber luncheon honoring the Honors students, attended reception for City Manager Ron Cox, attended the Evelyn B. Newman Amphitheatre grand opening, asked that Dr. Rebecca Hillenburg be reconsidered on a future agenda, thanked Mayor Brizendine for all that he has done for the City, has known Mayor Brizendine since college, stated he roomed with her husband, it has been a treat and honor to know him. Councilmember LeCour reminded everyone that the National Day of Prayer is this Thursday, apologized to City Manager Ron Cox for missing his reception, complimented Mayor Brizendine for his compassion to new Councilmembers, thanked him for his leadership, diverse opinion, Council is getting along well with each other, that happens because of the Mayor's Leadership and passion, learned a lot from Mayor Brizendine about passion and principle, life has changed for the better and a lot learned from Mayor Brizendine. Councilmember Goza reported that Jaxon Appelt, a graduate of Friendswood High School and Texas A&M football playerjust signed as a free agent with the Tennessee Titans, and attended a lot of ineetings Councilmember Smith reported he attended a lot of ineetings, and thanked Director of Community Services Jon Branson forjob well done with the dedication of the Evelyn B. Newman Amphitheatre. Councilmember Peden stated when elections come around some of his supporters ask him if he was going to run for Mayor, stated that a Mayor is someone that removes a pebble from your shoe, stated he is that pebble and not the remover of the pebble, stated a lot of people dislike Mayor Brizendine because he is good at what he does, Mayor Brizendine made him a better person and appreciates for all he has done for this City and for the School Districts, and stated Mayor Brizendine gave more than he took. Councilmember Measeles reported that he attended the amphitheatre dedication, was an outstanding program, looked at what all the City has accomplished, attended City Manager Ron Cox's reception, he will be missed, reminded everyone of the Concert in the Park each Friday night, urged everyone to attend, thanked Mayor Brizendine for all that he has done for the City, really appreciates all that he has done. Mayor Brizendine reported that the City was awarded the Government Finance Officer Association Distinguished Budget Presentation Award, reported this award was received for the second or third year in a row, rated proficient in 4 categories, congratulations to Acting City Manager Roger Roecker and Staff, attended several meetings, most surrounded around City Manager Ron Cox leaving the City, stated being Mayor has been a high honor for him, a lot of challenges, did not think it would be a smooth road but did not think it would be quite this rough either, you don't just step into this Mayor position, you grow into it, thanked those who supported the Mayor, City Secretary Deloris McKenzie and her Staff, it is not an easy task to keep him in order and on task, and they have done an excellent job, have become very dear to him, would love to have them as close friends for the rest of his life and grow old with them, their commitment of energy and time in trying to accommodate the needs of the Council and citizenship is beyond belief. This Council has not been easiest, but seconding some previous comments, having gone through brutally honest deliberations, for the most part what came out was excellent, stated that is the beauty of this community, everyone brings something different to the table, different strengths and weakness, that is how he views this Council, the Citizens do not want seven cookie cutters, thank you for this great honor, thanked his wife Jo Beth, she has been a sweetheart and a true friend. 5/1/06 2485 CONSENT AGENDA **Councilmember Goza moved to approve the Consent Agenda as presented - A. Authorize the Mayor to accept a release of license agreement and to execute a new License Agreement for a Buyout Property on Clearview Avenue. B. Authorize the Mayor to execute the grant award acceptance page for the Emergency Management Performance Grant for fiscal year 2006. C. Approve appointment of City representative to the Local Board of Trustees for the Texas Emergency Services Retirement System. D. Approve Minutes of April 10, 2006 Meeting. Seconded by Councilmember Peden. The motion was approved unanimously. A motion was made and approved to adjourn at 8:20 PM. r (�l� \ Mayor Kimball W. Brizendin Attest: � � �f � �o� F R�LN,p�$ ' � � o D loris McKenzie, TRMC o City Secretary � * a �,�r� � �*�,