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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCC Minutes 2007-07-23 Special 07/23/2007 2742 STATE OF TEXAS )( CITY OF FRIENDSWOOD )( COUNTIES OF GALVESTON/HARRIS )( J U LY 23, 2007 )( MINUTES OF A SPECIAL MEETING OF THE FRIENDSWOOD CITY COUNCIL THAT WAS HELD ON MONDAY, JULY 23, 2007 AT 4:00 PM AT FRIENDSWOOD CITY HALL COUNCIL CHAMBERS, 910 SOUTH FRIENDSWOOD DRIVE, FRIENDSWOOD, TEXAS, WITH THE FOLLOWING PRESENT CONSTITUTING A QUORUM: MAYOR DAVID SMITH COUNCILMEMBER LAURA EWING (arrived at 4:28pm) COUNCILMEMBER JOHN LECOUR COUNCILMEMBER JIM HILL COUNCILMEMBER LESLIE REID COUNCILMEMBER ANDY RIVERA CITY ATTORNEY JOHN OLSON CITY MANAGER BO MCDANIEL DEPUTY CITY SECRETARY MELINDA WELSH ADMINISTRATIVE SECRETARY SHARON PARKS Councilmember Peden and City Secretary Deloris McKenzie were absent from the meeting. Mayor Smith called the meeting to order. 4:00 PM—WORK SESSION A discussion was held regarding expanding parking facilities at City Hall. City Manager Bo McDaniel gave an explanation of what is needed and introduced Interim Community Development Director Les McMahen who spoke about Option I, angle parking and is worried about the utility lines and sprinkler systems, the preliminary cost would be $35,000 or below. Option II parking would be going out to the north and west of City Hall connecting the east of the swimming pool parking lot, the existing trees may intermix with the parking spaces and there may be a need to remove a couple of trees for 20-25 parking spaces. Option III is taking advantage of the Fire Station parking lot and utilizing the pedestrian bridge and making an opening in the fence to put a sidewalk in, it is a relatively easy piece of work and would be in the $5000 range. Mayor Smith stated the peak parking issues were when City Hall used to house Municipal Court, during the time of elections and heavy park usage. A Fire Department representative stated their parking lot is full with their department's vehicles and Community Development vehicles and has reached its peak in parking spaces. Mayor Smith stated the best utility for space is locating the parking in Option II between City Hall and the pool parking lot and the cost is also better. Councilmember Reid stated she does not like Option I and also likes Option II as well, Councilmember Rivera agrees with Option II, and Councilmember Hill stated his guys would still pour the drive for the City, Mayor Smith stated the cedar and tallow trees are less important to lose as opposed to the historic oak trees. Les McMahen stated there is a concern with detention but has not gotten that far with Option II. Councilmember Rivera recommended to study Option II and Councilmember Reid asked about how much extra parking space will this provide with City Manager McDaniel stating it would be 25 or so spaces. City Manager Bo McDaniel would like concurrence from Council on how to proceed further and Council concurred to proceed and bring back for Council's consideration. 07/23/2007 2743 A discussion was held regarding the purchase of two fire trucks for the Friendswood Volunteer Fire Department, the Fire Station #4 Project to be located on FM 2351, the property exchange with Forest Bend Homeowners Association, the possible expansion of Fire Station #3 in Forest Bend and the Friendswood Volunteer Fire Department contract. Fire Chief Jeff Smith and President of the Friendswood Volunteer Fire Department Rick McFee spoke regarding Truck Number 1 that is a replacement and was approved and budgeted last year. A truck at Station 3 is beyond its length of life and approaching 23 years old and will be 24-25 years old by the time the new truck arrives. The purchase of the trucks will be funded out of the Fire and EMS fund and will not be coming out of the City capital and would like for the City to consider carrying the finance charge for the Fire department to improve their cash flow. Jeff Smith stated the trucks they are buying are not 5 or 10 year trucks but long range investments. The truck that is being replaced is Engine 30 the current reserve truck and it will go as a trade-in, there are currently 2 engines at Station 3 which are Engine 3 and 30 that were originally purchased for Station 3 and are not up to standard with other trucks. The trucks need to be replaced with the most state-of-the-art truck to better serve the citizens. The previous Homeowners Association administration were not willing to negotiate land swaps and the administration now is willing to work with them and decided it was the time to get a standardized piece of equipment. Station 3 is the only one that has a problem with size and the roof had to be repaired and patched up and held up well during hurricanes and tropical storms. Mayor Smith asked if the parking lot that belongs to Forest Bend affects the egress and ingress of traffic flow and Jeff Smith stated it has never been a problem. Mr. McFee suggested placing better markings of the parking spaces and a better topping on the parking lot. Jeff Smith stated placing a small pumper in Station 3 would be a step backwards. The fire station is located on the north side of the creek and that is a big asset. When Clear Creek starts to go under it is considered a fire protection for Heritage Park, Forest Bend and Autumn Creek. Rick McFee stated a coverage engineering study was done on the coverage of Station 3 and it is perfectly located. The station is vital for the fire protection of the Harris County side of Friendswood. Jeff Smith stated they have a good relationship with the Forest Bend Fire Department and they help each other out with fire calls and because of that there will be no need to purchase more or larger pumps. Mayor Smith restated to understand that the City would finance the loan and the fire department would pay the City back out of their Fire/EMS funds, there is one more year left of financing to pay to the City on the ladder truck. Administrative Services Director Roger Roecker explained how it is now an 8 year financing instead of 7 because of time and interest rates. The first truck would be paid out of the Fire/EMS funds and the other truck, if approved, would have the same terms. Mr. McFee stated their 15 year plan covers all their rolling stock as well as some major capital. Mr. McFee stated they are building a new fire station with 4 Class A pumpers and if they go with 4 stations and 4 trucks and one goes out for maintenance then one station would be shut down. Jeff Smith stated they recently had a 4 month long maintenance issue and they would have had to shut down if there was not a truck in reserve. Mayor Smith stated the Insurance Services Office (ISO) gives ratings which effect homeowner's insurance and Fire Marshal Terry Byrd stated Friendswood is currently a 3 rating. Mr. McFee stated the new truck would go into the new fire station and could buy now and pay next budget year, it takes approximately 300 days to construct the truck. Councilmember LeCour clarified that they only want 1 truck since 1 is already funded and Mr. McFee stated that was correct. Mr. Roecker stated it was a capital lease and payments would start next fiscal year of 2007-08. Jeff Smith asked if they have money now and Mr. McFee stated there is $150,000 in the account currently and a new ambulance is also in this budget. Jeff Smith stated the contributions on the water bill is what keeps them going and Councilmember Hill asked if the City could put a reminder on the PEG channel about the contributions. Mayor Smith asked where most of the money was going and Jeff Smith stated maintenance is 60% of the budget such as the transmission that went down recently and that was costly. City Manager McDaniel stated by the time these trucks are taken out of service the new trucks would be needed and seems reasonable to him. There are reservations about the Forest Bend site and would like the station comparable to life cycle of vehicles, is the parking lot capable of handling the vehicles and the growing pains that go with it, this may be an issue down the road. Mayor Smith stated land swap has been a difficult problem to work through and this will benefit the community at large but does not want to damage the relationships, may need to make sure and address the problems in a timely manner. Mayor Smith stated he understands there is a problem with the bid and the contractor does not want to build. We are 07/23/2007 2744 outside of the bid bond period now so we cannot hold their feet to the fire. The City has plans and the desire but no contractor to build, this is not an issue of if we will build the fire station but how we will build it and the City will need to explore the alternatives. Mr. McFee stated they have been waiting 8 years so we will wait a few more months for this to happen. Interim Director of Community Development Department Les McMahen stated the low bidder, Thomas E. Rack, LP, sent an official letter stating he did not want to pursue with the contract to build. Other qualified contractors were contacted and one was Gamma Construction Company but indicated they wished to withdraw and were asked to reconsider if there was a $128,000 difference in bid price. Mayor Smith stated they are a Friendswood company and was disappointed when they did not get the bid and hopes they are willing to work with us, whatever Gamma's answer is need to have a Plan A and a Plan B. The City Manager stated we are prepared to go through the bidding process again if needed. Les McMahen stated the City and Forest Bend Homeowners Association had a meeting to discuss access easement, land swap and to receive boards approval to proceed with the process so the City could begin work. This is a matter of getting all information put together to get Council's approval to move things along. The City Manager stated he would like to designate a fire lane. Mayor Smith stated he would like help looking at the long range possibilities and changes that may happen in the future. Mr. McFee stated the next priority for replacement would be Station 1 and after that would be Station 5. Mr. McFee thanked the City Manager for giving him in-depth information on the property exchange. A discussion was held regarding the Multi-Year Financial Plan (MYFP) for the City of Friendswood. Administrative Services Director Roger Roecker introduced his new staff inember Katina Hampton, Budget Manager and Rhonda Bloskas, Accounting Manager. Mr. Roecker stated the numbers will change on budget but would like to focus on the process. MYFP objectives are to anticipate future events, make decisions accordingly ahead of time and plan for those decisions and allows you to see the life cycle impacts of operational and capital decisions you make today, this is a valuable strategic management tool with a five year outlook. Types of planning are variety of comprehensive (ideal) includes land use plan and development related impact fees, strategic plans (optimal) for an interim term of three to five years, includes multi-year financial plan and Capital Improvement Plan, operational/tactical (practical) are for one year and includes budgets, cash flow and short term Capital Improvement Plan and ad hoc plans are contained within departments, recipe for strategic financial planning is Comprehensive Land Use Plan, Vision 2020, add capital programs include the cost of construction, debt service, operating impact, which includes cost of catch-up or maintenance or future growth and departmental operation plans which includes cost of changing or adding services and it become the foundation for the first year for the operating budget. MYFP highlights are more practical planning window, your plan, 4 years of history, alternative revenue streams, ability to show the impact reducing of programs or services, identifies alternative revenue enhancements such as sales tax options, burglar alarms permits, Emergency Medical Services fees, drainage fee, transfers from water and waste water and tax assumption of effective rate of plus 3%. In summary, the policy issues have a compounding effect of making decisions or not making decisions, all share cost equally regardless of direct benefit, some pay proportional cost of benefit, the remainder of cost will be charged to all or there is generational equity. The drivers of assumptions, Municipal Cost Index versus the Consumer Price Index, is based on three indexes that are the Consumer Price Index, Producer Price Index and the Construction Price Index, growth, revenues, expenditures and fund balance target. The key revenue assumptions come from property, sales and franchise taxes, building permits from construction and alternative revenue streams, such as drainage fees, alarm and special event permits, half cent sales tax options, and assessments. The expenditure assumptions are personnel, operations and maintenance and new personnel and equipment related to serving growth. This meeting was adjourned at 6:50 PM. 07/23/2007 2745 i _ __- __ _ � Mayor D vid ' . . Smith Attest: , � � � De oris McKenzie, TR C City Secretary �►°� ��'���a � V � #' � a r�� � ��