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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCC Minutes 2009-03-02 Special 03/02/2009 3079 STATE OF TEXAS � )( CITY OF FRIENDSWOOD )( COUNTIES OF GALVESTON/HARRIS )( MARCH 02, 2009 )( MINUTES OF A SPECIAL MEETING OF THE FRIENDSWOOD CITY COUNCIL THAT WAS HELD ON MONDAY, MARCH 02, 2009, AT 5:30 PM AND A REGULAR MEETING AT 7:00 PM AT FRIENDSWOOD CITY HALL COUNCIL CHAMBERS, 910 S. FRIENDSWOOD DRIVE, FRIENDSWOOD, TEXAS, WITH THE FOLLOWING PRESENT CONSTITUTING A QUORUM: MAYOR DAVID SMITH MAYOR PRO-TEM ANDY RIVERA COUNCILMEMBER MICHAEL BARKER COUNCILMEMBER JIM BARR (arrived at 5:41 PM) COUNCILMEMBER JIM HILL COUNCILMEMBER LESLIE REID COUNCILMEMBER BILL HOLBERT CITY ATTORNEY BOBBY GERVAIS ACTING CITY MANAGER ROGER ROECKER DEPUTY CITY SECRETARY MELINDA WELSH Mayor Smith called the meeting to order. SPECIAL SESSION ""�" A discussion was held with Sheri Riveron, Grant Consultant, regarding grant funding and opportunities. Sheri Riveron discussed disaster funding and stated after the President declared a disaster, the Department of Commerce offered the Economic Development Administration Program. The City submitted an initial paper stating this is what the City would like to consider and if the Economic Development Administration approves the paperwork, then the City gets an invite. This is what the City has now but the matching requirements are not known until later and this is a reimbursable program. The project began discussions in November and an invitation was given to the City on February 23, 2009. The water and sewer project on FM 2351 is to begin funding in the beginning of April, usually these things take a long time and this is at warp speed. The Housing Authority Development (HUD) project is in but has not released guidelines yet. The Houston Galveston Area-Council (H-GAC) came up with a formula and the next step is for Galveston County to figure out how they want to deal with incorporated cities and after that the City should start getting notices, this will also move at warp speed since these are considered shovel-ready projects. Councilmember Rivera asked since the City is in two counties, basically there is a third packet (funding category) that everyone can compete for; can the City compete for additional dollars available that everyone else is eligible for on a competitive basis. Sheri Riveron stated early on it was decided not to go with Harris County and is not sure if the City could compete with that third funding category. Councilmember Rivera stated Harris County got a higher share of the money and Council should go for some of that and Sheri Riveron stated the City could be in a mix with Galveston County. Mayor Smith stated using Mud Gully as an example, it is in Harris County and the City committed to $1 million if Harris County funds their portion. Sheri Riveron stated it would have to be split up between housing and non-housing, and infrastructure. Councilmember Rivera stated the City can be competitive with infrastructure since the City does not have housing needs. Sheri Riveron stated allocations and method of allocation has the City's numbers added in there already for Galveston County. Councilmember Rivera stated the same argument could be said for the Harris County portion. Councilmember Hill stated the Mud Gully's largest expenses will be land acquisition, receiving money for ,�, land would be good. Mayor Smith stated that is one thing the City does not contribute to is land acquisition and Sheri Riveron stated she is getting ready while waiting for regulations to come out. 03/02/2009 3080 ...� Council must keep an open mind that discussion is difficult to have without regulations but have to move forward because all other entities are. Council should gather their thoughts now. Councilmember Reid asked about already submitted projects for Galveston and Sheri Riveron stated none have been submitted yet and are currently looking at needs, rules have yet to be released. Mayor Smith stated Fire Marshal Terry Byrd has been updating a list of things needed for Galveston County, one example is does the City need more generators and other items such as this, Sheri Riveron stated backup power sources are needed. Chambers County, City of Houston and Harris County have received the most funds and the remainder can compete for the rest of the money. Mayor Smith stated if the City has Friendswood/Harris County side needs can go to H-GAC with those requests. Councilmember Rivera asked when stimulus dollars come down would the City use the same basic formula. Sheri Riveron reiterated that this is a fast moving process and federal government will reallocate funds to someone else so the City has to be ready, Mayor Smith stated the City will have to be ready with engineering and more. Andy Rivera stated the guiding principles should be can we do this quickly. Councilmember Barr stated that Sheri Riveron had stated she had success with this in Houston a few years ago and goes back to the Pavement Master Plan and further stated that is an avenue that could be taken. Councilmember Rivera stated of $814 million, 66% could go to housing and 44% to infrastructure which is just the first phase and there may be a second and third phase of money. Mayor Smith asked what funds should the City not ask for and Sheri Riveron stated the City has to have an impact of natural disaster in 2008 and the City of Friendswood had wind damage so the City qualifies, there must be a clear need from the disaster and actual damage or failure to function. Mayor Smith stated the animal shelter would qualify since animals had to be moved during the storm. Councilmember Barr stated the records storage would qualify also. Councilmember Barker asked Sheri Riveron if she had seen something in the Capital Improvement Project Program that would qualify and she stated that she would not take anything off the list yet until the City knows the regulations and if it can attach more items on the list to the storm, the more successful it will be. Mayor Smith asked about the school district and Sheri Riveron stated the school district could partner with the City. Councilmember Rivera stated this that would make the City more competitive and Sheri Riveron '""' stated this is all a moving target. CLOSED EXECUTIVE SESSION Council convened into Executive Session in accordance with the Texas Government Code, pursuant to 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, Section 551.072 — Deliberation regarding real property and Section 551.074— Personnel Matters(Interim City Manager Performance Review). Council convened into Regular Session at 7:00 pm with no action taken later in the meeting. RECONVENE INTO OPEN SESSION 7:00 PM—REGULAR SESSION The invocation was given by Pastor John Wise with Friendswood Community Church. Mayor Smith led the Pledge of Allegiance to the United States and to the State of Texas. SPECIAL RECOGNITION AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS A proclamation for "Communities in Schools — Bay Area Day" was presented to Jay Gurry by Mayor Smith. Mr. Gurry thanked Mayor and Council for their continued support, there are now 16 counselors with Mr. Gurry on the Board of Directors. ...� 03/02/2009 3081 ,�. Interim City Manager Roger Roecker presented the Distinguished Budget Presentation Award to Administrative Services Interim Director Cindy Edge and Budget Manager Katina Hampton and stated this represents a significant achievement and was a goal from the "Lynn Bucher days" that got this goal started; thanked Senior Staff for the entire process and Cindy Edge credited Katina Hampton with getting it all together. COMMUNICATIONS FROM THE PUBLIC Fred Krch, Friendswood resident, addressed Council and stated he has not been to a Council meeting since the beginning of the year and heard there was a discussion about creating a Homeowner's Association (HOA) Committee, stated he contacted the League of Women Voters and suggested Mayor Smith and Council talk to them; stated his son purchased land and the HOA told his son he had to pay $100 and when he purchased another house it was $50; stated Council should keep their hands off HOA's, the City has enough problems without handling that. He stated that he gave all of Council a handout about the Bill of Rights and stated this nation would not have become a nation without the Bill of Rights. The Bill of Rights and Constitution as a whole are useless and further stated he is currently reading a book on this subject. He informed that he has a proposition that will not cost the City a dime, is a civil engineer and has done analysis for the Corp of Engineers, proposes to sample the stretch of road from FM 518 to Lake Road, will tell how much clay and sub base, will need someone to unlock the gate and give him time to collect samples. Bobbie Jones, Friendswood resident, addressed Council and thanked Public Works Director Kaz Hamidian, Councilmember Barr and the rest of Council for her new street and the corner of Laura Leigh to Townes Road that was finished today, stated she is concerned about Deepwood and who the bid goes to, one wants to come on her property and lay pipe down and stated she does not want to do that, ^ another contractor got permission from Whitcomb, pipe should come from across the street to save the park and asked Council if this has been all worked out. Mayor Smith stated it is on the agenda for tonight. COMMUNICATIONS FROM COMMITTEES AND SPECIAL REPORTS An Annual Report was given from the Parks and Recreation Board Chair Thomas Goodwin. Tom Goodwin, 17 year resident of Friendswood, thanked Community Services Director James Toney and Staff for their assistance, land was needed for parks to meet the population of the City and thanked Mayor Smith and Council for their efforts in buying 60 acres. Councilmember Barr stated there will be one more town meeting this Wednesday night and citizens will have an opportunity to express themselves. Mr. Goodwin introduced co-chair Tierni Sager who was present and thanked Grant Consultant, Sheri Riveron for her help. CITY MANAGER'S REPORT The Interim City Manager Roger Roecker reported on the Police-to-Citizen System (P2C). In June of last year the OSSI software was approved by Council and included integrated pieces of software and a mobile system where reports can be done in the car, significant improvement has been made, was part of the Multi-Year Financial Plan, the Police Department has been using the system since July 2008 and has been tested for several months and is now live on the City's website. Mayor Smith asked if this could be put on the PEG Channel and Interim City Manager Roger Roecker stated yes. Councilmember Barr stated that it should be sent out on Groupbuilder more than once and Mr. Roecker stated Staff will send it in the report. � 03/02/2009 3082 � The Interim City Manager reported on Friendswood being named the Best Affordable Suburb for 2009 in the Business Week magazine, this recognition is certainly a testament to this community's low crime rate, high level of education, and general quality of life. Affordability was the key in this study and the City is proud to have been mentioned as an affordable community that can still provide top notch schools, low crime and a reasonable commute. Moreover, the City is even more proud to have been mentioned as the most affordable suburb in the entire State of Texas. ACTION ITEMS **Councilmember Rivera moved to approve the disposition of Bid No. 2009-03 for the 2008-09 Asphalt Street Project and award to Main Lane Industries and authorize the Mayor to execute the contract. Seconded by Councilmember Barker. The motion was approved unanimously. "*Councilmember Barker moved to approve the disposition of Bid No. 2009-04 for the re-bid of the Deepwood Force Main Replacement Project and authorize the Mayor to execute the contract. Seconded by Councilmember Reid. ***Councilmember Barr moved to table the disposition of Bid No. 2009-04 for the re-bid of the Deepwood Force Main Replacement Project Seconded by Councilmember Hill. The motion was approved unanimously. Mayor Smith stated Councilmember Hill informed him he would like to remove amending the Council Oath of Office to add wording to the effect of"swear to uphold the City Charter of the City of Friendswood". **Councilmember Barr moved to approve authorizing the acceptance of a $6,000 donation from Friendswood Rotary Club and appropriate $3,500 from General Fund reserves to implement a "Movies in ^ the Parks" program. Seconded by Councilmember Rivera. The motion was approved unanimously. **Councilmember Barker moved to approve authorizing the acceptance of a proposal from HDR-Claunch & Miller for consulting services for preliminary engineering and environmental assessment for the Friendswood Link Road project and the appropriation of funds. Seconded by Councilmember Rivera. The motion was approved unanimously. ""Councilmember Rivera moved to approve discussion and direction to amend the City's Water Conservation Plan to meet requirements from Texas Commission on Environmental Quality and Texas Water Development Board. Seconded by Councilmember Reid. The motion was approved unanimously. "'`Councilmember Holbert moved to approve scheduling a future Council workshop to discuss the City of Friendswood's plans to issue debt. Seconded by Councilmember Barker. Councilmember Holbert stated that he came up with this agenda item after the last Council meeting. It was brought to his attention that the City could not issue Certificates of Obligation (CO's), had worked on these projects for months and done research, found himself in the same conundrum and could not imagine a City Council that would put their laws out of line with State law. In 1997 there was a Charter Review Commission that approved that the Charter be in line with State law on issuing CO's. Council worked hard on different projects and left the last meeting with no intent to violate the Charter, stated he is in awe that the process was politicized in the past and deviated from State law. Council passed a resolution to have a bond referendum to put non-essential issues before the voters, essential items we�e going to be done by CO's and explained briefly Certificates of Obligation and asked how can the City ��"'"' address infrastructure issues when the bonding capability is between $10-11 million dollars, the City 03/02/2009 3083 �..... cannot do this without raising taxes and questioned if this was the proper time due to the state of the economy. If a person owns property worth $250,000 it would raise taxes around $8.05 a month, stated he and Council have worked hard and diligently for months on this, has been scolded by citizens that stated he should have understood the Charter contained this provision and stated he missed it because he studied everything at the State level where it is allowed, could not imagine a Council would go against State law, would like to resurrect this so Council can get these projects going with a five-year plan and would like to know what net effect taxes would be. Mayor Smith stated the subject is whether to have a workshop on March 9, 2009, which would be the deadline to change bond items and March 16, 2009, is deadline to cancel an election. Councilmember Barker stated Council has to rethink completely and is running out of time, lots of things have changed since Council first discussed this issue months ago, it would be prudent to try to tap into funds from stimulus package instead of issuing debt, has to be done in a timely basis, can have an election in November. City Attorney Bobby Gervais stated he would have to check with bond counsel on dates. Councilmember Reid stated she is conflicted on whether to open a can of worms again, Council hashed this out and wish list has not changed, part of their discussion was the economy, if alternative funding is found then Council will just not issue the bonds and stated she does not want to unwind the past. Councilmember Rivera stated they were elected to make decisions and move forward, if Council gets funding from stimulus then this is one bond that will not have to be issued, if the City can get grants for other projects then Council is still in the same boat, does not want to rehash decisions, wants to move forward, the need is still there, supports the Charter but if State law allows the Council to do it, is ready to move forward. Councilmember Barr stated he is for having a workshop to get together and gather thoughts and make a decision, if it does not increase tax rate it does not violate the City Charter. The roads, records retention building, animal control facility all need to be done and would like to discuss one more time and come to a consensus. Council has been working on this since June or July of last year. It was decided to move needed projects out of budget last year so effective tax rate would not increase with the understanding that the City would do bonds this year to accomplish needed "r" projects. Councilmember Hill stated all projects are worthwhile and needed, brought up the Charter issue last week and no one on Council knew of this issue before last Monday night, could not call all of Council and tell them because of the open meetings law, stated he had to bring it up because of knowledge he had, if the City does all the projects it will be less than $10 a month on a $250,000 house, would like to provide services that are needed for Friendswood, nothing ever goes as planned, when Council hits a bump in the road Council sees if it could be smoothed out, Council has shown they can work together. Councilmember Reid asked if this language was not in the Charter would Council be having this discussion and the answer was no. Mayor Smith stated whether environment changed or new information, the idea is to put a workshop together to see if Council is on the same path, the workshop may not change a thing, in the past Council has worked through issues well whether the issue is legal or not, does Council still have right timing and would the strategy change, Council can work it out with trusting in the process, Council does have a limited amount of time and hates that Councilmember Rivera will not be able to be here next Monday. Mayor Smith read the Charter item about issuing debt and Councilmember Holbert explained the problem in simple terms stating if everything got done it would increase taxes $8.05 a month on a $250,000 house. Councilmember Holbert stated he is mentally and physically exhausted by this process, the economy is bad and not likely to get better in the next 6 months, citizens would have a new library, civic center, double the amount of green space, fix drainage in downtown, fixed streets and more, would like to find a way to make it happen to get it done. Councilmember Rivera stated the worst case scenario would be $24 million for all the projects and is concerned with economy but can get things done cheaper, this is a mixed blessing, the more you put it off the more expensive it is, the economy too can bounce back and then will pay 20% more for these items, does Council really need to meet again. Further discussion was held between Mayor and Council. Councilmember Barker stated he would like a workshop. ,�„ Councilmember Barr stated he would also like a workshop but only with Councilmember Rivera there with transparency. 03/02/2009 3084 ..� Councilmember Reid stated she preferred no workshop. Councilmember Holbert stated he wouid like a workshop. Councilmember Rivera stated he does not want a workshop, Council has already discussed and would like to move forward and make hard choices that the Council was elected to do. Mayor Smith stated let Council compromise and not schedule another meeting unless Councilmember Hill or Councilmember Barker wants more discussion. The motion failed 3-4 with Mayor Smith, Councilmembers Barr, Reid and Rivera opposed. RESOLUTION ""Councilmember Rivera moved to approve Resolution R2009-13 - a Resolution of the City of Friendswood, Texas, approving the submission of a grant application to the United States Department of Commerce, Economic Development Administration, for the FM 2351-Beamer Road Phase I Water and Sanitary Sewer Infrastructure Project; designating the Mayor as the City's representative in seeking eligible grant funds under the Economic Development Administration (EDA) for Fiscal Year 2009 Economic Adjustment Assistance Program — Disaster Appropriations; agreeing to provide applicable matching funding for the project, as required by the terms of the EDA grant. Seconded by Councilmember Rivera. The motion was approved unanimously. COMMUNICATIONS FROM THE MAYOR AND COUNCILMEMBERS Mayor Smith, Councilmembers Rivera, Holbert, and Hill stated they had no report. "'"' Councilmember Reid reported on Friendswood Independent School District (FISD) student, Cole Cragin, who broke a record for the backstroke. Councilmember Barr reported on a Town Hall meeting this Wednesday night at 7:00 PM to receive input on the Parks Master Plan and stated Saturday night the FISD Education Foundation has their annual gala at Space Center Houston. CONSENT AGENDA **Councilmember Rivera moved to approve the Consent Agenda as presented A. Authorize Council to invoke Rule 1(A) of the Rules of Procedure to schedule the regular March Council meetings for March 2 and March 23, 2009, due to Spring Break the week of March 16, 2009. Seconded by Councilmember Barker. The motion was approved unanimously. RECOVENED INTO EXECUTIVE SESSION Council reconvened into Executive Session in accordance with the Texas Government Code, pursuant to 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, Section 551.072 — Deliberation regarding real property and Section 551.074— Personnel Matters(Interim City Manager Performance Review). Council convened into Regular Session with no action taken later in the meeting. ..� 03/02/2009 3085 ,,... A motion was made and approved to adjourn at 10:00 PM. i � ayor David J.H. Smith Attest: f � F R�ENp� D oris cKenzie, T M �► � City Secretary v o � * � �qt� � �+pW � �