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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCC Minutes 2008-09-29 Special 9/29/2008 3004 STATE OF TEXAS )( CITY OF FRIENDSWOOD )( COUNTIES OF GALVESTON/HARRIS )( SEPTEMBER 29, 2008 )( MINUTES OF A SPECIAL MEETING OF THE FRIENDSWOOD CITY COUNCIL THAT WAS HELD ON MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 2008, AT 6:00 PM AT FRIENDSWOOD CITY HALL, 910 S. FRIENDSWOOD DRIVE, FRIENDSWOOD, TEXAS, WITH THE FOLLOWING PRESENT CONSTITUTING A QUORUM: MAYOR DAVID SMITH MAYOR PRO TEM ANDY RIVERA COUNCILMEMBER MIKE BARKER COUNCILMEMBER JIM BARR COUNCILMEMBER JIM HILL COUNCILMEMBER LESLIE REID COUNCILMEMBER BILL HOLBERT CITY ATTORNEY BOBBY GERVAIS ACTING CITY MANAGER ROGER ROECKER CITY SECRETARY DELORIS MCKENZIE Mayor Smith called the meeting to order. 6:00 PM—CLOSED EXECUTIVE SESSION "�" Council convened into Executive Session in accordance with the Texas Government Code, pursuant to Section 551.071 — Consuitation with attorney concerning pending or contemplated litigation; a settlement offer; or a matter in which the duty of the attorney requires it and Section 551.072: Deliberation regarding real property. RECONVENE INTO OPEN SESSION ACTION ITEM ""Councilmember Barker moved to approve authorizing the Mayor to execute an amended earnest money contract, in an amount not to exceed $2.6 million, with Wight Realty Interests, Ltd., to purchase approximately 60 acres of land for park purposes in the vicinity of FM 528 and the Friendswood City limits, being more particularly described as Lots 30, 45, 46 and 47 of the subdivision of the I & GN RR Company Survey No. 22, Abstract 693, and two 10 acre tracts out of BCAD Property ID 180382, 180389, and 180393. Seconded by Councilmember Rivera. The motion was approved unanimously. SPECIAL SESSION A discussion was held regarding proposed amendments to the City Charter. Councilmember Rivera stated he requested this to be on the agenda for the October 20, 2008, Council meeting and further stated that finro years ago the Charter Review Commission did a superb job. Some items were identified during the recent storm of Hurricane Ike and would like to make some changes. ,�... 9/29/2008 3005 ..,� Mayor Smith stated the Charter requires that every five years it must come up for review but State law allows it after two years. Councilmember Rivera and Mayor Smith suggested that this be taken up by Council and not by a Charter Review Commission. Mayor Smith asked if there are any items that Council wishes to be added for the May 2009 Election such as emergency appointment of a Mayor Pro-Tem and stated Council would need to have the completed items ready before February to be placed on the ballot. Councilmember Barr stated there are some people at the meeting tonight who may wish to speak and thinks they should be allowed to speak. Councilmember Rivera stated he thinks that would be premature. Councilmember Holbert stated he does not agree with Councilmember Rivera that it is premature, it has been before the public for the last ten days and stated there is really no significant backup material, this is just a list of five items before Council and does not see where waiting would make a difference. Mayor Smith stated it will not hurt anyone. Councilmember Hill stated he thinks that putting the items before the people for a vote would be an abuse of power by not putting it before the Charter Review Commission first. Councilmember Barker stated he agrees with Councilmember Hill and believes Council has a lot on their plates. Councilmember Barr stated he thinks there is a provision that is in place and thinks they should use it. Councilmember Reid stated she does not necessarily agree with the process of the Charter Review """ Commission, it is a lengthy process, would like to present the items to Council and then Council can accept, reject or add to any changes and wants to have the opportunity to review the proposed changes and the current language. Councilmember Hill stated that two of the items that were discussed by the past Charter Review Commission were not presented to the voters. Mayor Smith stated this is why he wanted to have this discussion with Council. The Charter Review Commission gives recommendations to Council for consideration and then Council places all or none of the recommendations on the ballot. The five year review is meant to be extensive and that is not what is being proposed. Time is of the essence if Council wants to have the proposed Charter amendments completed by February in order to call an election. Councilmember Holbert stated he thinks Council should go ahead and discuss the five items proposed. Councilmember Holbert then read and listed the five items into the record 1. Emergency appointment of Mayor Pro-Tem 2. City residency required for City Manager 3. Creation of single member district 4. Council pay and compensation requirements for unpaid expenses 5. Role of Mayor and associated duties and responsibilities and stated Council can decide on the items tonight and stated he is unaware of any un-rooted problems in the Charter that need to be resolved immediately. Mayor Smith stated he just learned that the seven day posting requirement for ordinances is defined by the Charter itself. Councilmember Barr stated there may be a reason for the seven day ordinance posting requirement and further stated because of loss of time due to Hurricane Ike, by Council and Staff, and the amount of items that sit before Council, would prefer to continue to discuss and make a decision and would like to allow �"'' those to speak that want to speak on the proposals. 9/29/2008 3006 Don Seyfert, past member of the Charter Review Commission, addressed Council and read an e-mail into the record regarding the proposed single member district change, stated this was his personal view and not the view of the past Charter Review Commission. Councilmember Holbert stated he does not see any one of the five items that are needed at this time. Don Seyfert stated he thought Mayor Smith was asking the opinions of the members of the Parks and Recreation Board to help Council go through the process of having a Charter Review Commission. Councilmember Barker asked who placed this item on the agenda. Mayor Smith stated it was he and Councilmember Rivera's thought to have a discussion to see if Council would like to discuss items that may need to be considered for Charter amendment and would have liked to give a little background on the items. Councilmember Hill stated he would like to invest a little time on this tonight and save a bunch of time for later. Councilmember Reid stated she would like to hear an explanation but would like to have a chance to read the Charter. Councilmember Holbert stated it is late to consider the Charter given that Council governs under it, is not pleased with the process of receiving backup material tonight and does not appreciate it. ""�` Councilmember Rivera stated he had proposed this discussion for the October 20, 2008, Council meeting and did not intend for this to be discussed tonight due to the lateness of getting backup material to Council. Mike Sharp, past Charter Review Commission member, addressed Council and stated he looked at specific items with support of varying Staff, it is the prerogative of Council to place things on the ballot and the process is in place for changes to the Charter and thinks this is circumventing the process unless there is an emergency. Mayor Smith stated he believes that Councilmember Rivera would be best served to move to table this item until a later meeting, does not want anyone to think this is being rushed into, if Council wants to have a Charter Review Commission it is not a problem. Councilmember Barr asked of the five issues given are any of them emergencies? Mayor Smith replied he feels that number one and two are emergencies. Councilmember Rivera replied number one, two, and five; will be more efficient and more effective. Councilmember Barr stated he can understand number one and two, as to the residency issue, he understands that a contract would be sufficient. The City is 21 square miles and during Hurricane Ike all of Council worked hard to represent all of Friendswood, does not believe the City is large enough and does not expect to be compensated, possibly needs to be reviewed annually, seems very vague. Councilmember Barker stated he feels obligated to hear why Council thinks this is important and asked if ,� there were any emergency items. 9/29/2008 3007 � Councilmember Rivera stated with all due respect it was put on the agenda for discussion and had five items that were potential items. Robin Hall, past Charter Review Commission member, addressed Council and stated not everyone on Council was on Council last time the Charter Review Commission reviewed the Charter. Ms. Hall read items from the past Commission recommendations and addressed the Mayor Pro-Tem issue. Mayor Smith stated the Mayor Pro-Tem issue is not meeting emergency management requirements. Ms. Hall stated the Charter Review Commission recommended policy be established regarding Council compensation, something that Council could consider every year at budget time. Mayor Smith stated he thought Council found a few small number of items for consideration that Council could call for a Charter amendment. Ms. Hall stated she thinks this would be circumventing the process if do not have Charter Review Commission process. Mayor Smith asked even for one item? Ms. Hall responded and stated absolutely so, if anything is out of compliance that does not meet the law, absolutely shou�d be taken up by the Charter Review Commission. Mayor Smith asked where Council was going to go with the process. Councilmember Barr stated and suggested that Council go down the list of the five items. �" Councilmember Reid stated with all due respect that Mayor Smith and Councilmember Rivera are not prepared and asked Council to wait on the process for a later date and does not understand why Council is suggesting not waiting with such angry tones. Councilmember Holbert apologized to Councilmember Reid and stated he did not imply that Councilmember Reid had not read the Charter. If it is important enough for us to have committees for these discussion such as the Parks and Recreation Board on the sports park then surely it is reasonable to have a committee made up of professionals and diverse enough to look into these five Charter considerations. Mayor Smith stated that what Councilmember Barr was stating was that if Council was going to take up anything it should have a committee to review it. Councilmember Holbert stated Council takes the input from committees and feels it is important and feels Council needs to step back and wait until it is a real action item, was a little upset about this when he was cornered by a citizen six weeks ago and was told by the citizen about two of the items that would be on this list, would hate to see this Council damaged, Council works so well together. Mayor Smith stated he wanted to bring this before Council for discussion to see if Councit thought it was important enough to move forward and also recognizing there is a time limit. Councilmember Holbert stated he would personally like this to be placed on the October 20, 2008, Council meeting agenda. Councilmember Barker asked if this would be a vote up or down action item for the next meeting. �" 9/29/2008 3008 � Mayor Smith stated he will have information prior to the meeting to allow Council to review. Councilmember Barr stated he would also like to add an agenda item on appointing a commission for this process, and does not want to jeopardize the relationship of the Council. Councilmember Rivera stated he takes responsibility for not providing the backup information at an earlier time. Mayor Smith thanked the past Charter Review Commission for input and appreciates their hard work and continued interest. A discussion was held with the Parks and Recreation Board and Staff regarding parks facilities and City policies for sports field usage and associated fees. Community Services Director James Toney introduced the Parks and Recreation Board and the Youth Sports Groups represented. Mayor Smith recapped the discussion of the proposed expansion of athletic facilities and field usage and resources to make these accommodations fit the youth programs. The Parks and Recreation Board asked why the Board was not made aware of the recent purchase of property to be used for the sports facilities. Councilmember Holbert provided an explanation as to why the Parks and Recreation Board were not .�. advised. The Parks and Recreation Board feel it has been stepped over as far as this decision,just like in the West Ranch scenario. Councilmember Barker stated it was absolutely necessary to keep this confidential because of the chance of a developer coming in and taking it. Councilmember Rivera stated the Parks and Recreation Board asked Council for help and different options were looked at concerning land, whenever it is talked about the City wanting to buy land the prices go through the roof. Councilmember Hill stated this has been a long search and Council has done well. Councilmember Barr stated the information on the sports park was sensitive that if any of it was dispensed there was no Option Two and is looking forward to working with the Parks and Recreation Board on the sports park. Councilmember Barker stated there will be help needed from the Parks and Recreation Board to get this sports park up and going. Mayor Smith stated Council has had a lot of work in front of them, Council is going to need the Parks and Recreation Board's help in going out for bond funds to make the investment in the youth programs, there is a lot to accomplish and Council is ready to talk regarding athletic facility and field usage. 9/29/2008 3009 � Councilmember Barr stated there is a lot of work to do towards looking at the usage agreement and he asked Community Services Director James Toney to review the current and proposed policy and have the subcommittee review the fees for non-residents. Council is looking at a rough estimate of $50.00 to $55.00 and also could be $75.00 for non-residents and that would support administering the program, stated he does not support fees for Friendswood residenYs children and the majority of the usage should be with Friendswood resident children and they should comes first, would also like to see the revenues paid directly to the City rather than a third party. Mayor Smith stated he heard four items from Councilmember Barr that have to do with change and one of the items was the change of 85% Friendswood kids requirement to the reduction of 75°/a Friendswood kids requirement playing on the sports fields including language provoking privileges, no fees for Friendswood residents and no one should make money leasing the fields and the fees should be paid to the City. Councilmember Barr stated if the primary user group is not using the facility then suggests that there is a uniform user group policy regarding maintenance and usable needs to be looked at. Councilmember Holbert stated effectively with Phase One of development of playing fields there is going to be an increase of 50% or more and asked Community Services Director James Toney if the City has looked at the percentage and will the City have excess facilities. Community Services Director James Toney stated the City would not have excess facilities. Councilmember Barr stated there are a lot of organizations that would want to lease those fields to offset the cost of operating those fields. ...� Councilmember Rivera stated a lot of kids participate in select leagues and with that percentage asked would the select league that Friendswood kids play on have to pay. Councilmember Hill stated the way these groups get away from the 75% to 85% of the kids not being from Friendswood is saying that 75% to 85% of the organization is from Friendswood and stated that is a loophole. Councitmember Barr stated he suggests that the policy state 75% to 85 % must be Friendswood kids, not the organization. Mayor Smith asked the Parks and Recreation Board and sports field users for their input. Community Services Director James Toney stated the language for the 75% to 85% is suggested to replace the term to the majority of the kids. David Montz, Parks and Recreation Board Member, presented information regarding soccer field usage. Mayor Smith stated there is more work that needs to be done and only the surface was scratched. The Parks and Recreation Board gave some recommendations and Mayor Smith asked Council to review the information that was provided and stated Council will need to work with the Parks and Recreation Board further along with Staff and set up additional meetings. Councilmember Rivera asked for timelines for the use of the facilities. Councilmember Barker thanked the Parks and Recreation Board and stated their work is appreciated. � 9/29/2008 3010 Councilmember Reid stated she would like a breakdown of all fields and percentages of users and age groups. This meeting was adjourned at 9:13 PM. f, 1� \, Ma r Dav d. Attest: ��� FR'Epoa A � � � . � �� - u o De oris McKenzie, TRMC * * City Secretary � 14r� � �+�