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HomeMy WebLinkAbout101909S CC Min0 The City of West University Place A Neighborhood City CITY COUNCIL Bob Kelly, Mayor Bob Fry, Councilmember George Boehme, Councilmember Steven Segal, Councilmember Chuck Guffey, Councilmember STAFF Michael Ross, City Manager Alan Petrov, City Attorney Thelma Lenz, City Secretary CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES City Council of the City of West University Place, Texas, met in a special workshop and special session on Monday, October 19, 2009, in the Municipal Building, 3800 University Boulevard, West University Place, Texas beginning at 5:00 p.m. SPECIAL WORKSHOP Agenda items were as follows: CALL TO ORDER Mayor Kelly called the meeting to order at 5:02 p.m. Council and staff in attendance: Mayor Pro Tern Fry, Councilmembers Boehme, Segal and Guffey, City Manager Ross, City Attorney Petrov, City Secretary Lenz, Police Chief Ken Walker, Fire Chief Steve Ralls, and Assistant City Manager/Public Works Director Chris Peifer. Also present was Jeff Gerber with Pierce Goodwin Alexander & Linville (PGAL). Public Safety & Public Works Facilities Matters related to the police, fire and public works facilities. Jeff Gerber with PGAL reviewed and summarized the three options previously discussed. He said his firm has been spending more time on Option 9, which consists of tearing down the existing Public Works facility and building a police facility on that site, because this is what he recommends and what he believes staff is recommending. Mr. Gerber said in all of the options and estimates, there are components related to the Fire Department to reconfigure the sleeping quarters and restroom/locker room to provide for single occupancy self-contained sleeping quarters in order to accommodate female firefighters. He said all the estimates also include a small office for the Fire Department, as well as reconfiguration to raise the apparatus bays without having to remove the roof by removing the eyebrow from the outside and replace all the doors. Mr. Gerber said Option 2 is the most expensive at a cost of $10.9 million because it requires the Braeswood component; Option 6 is $6.4 million and Option 9 is $6.8 million. He then reviewed the breakdown of fees for Option 9. City Manager Ross said if Council wants to move forward, staff would recommend that PGAL be authorized to prepare a request for proposals from the contractors and get them on board to begin work as soon as possible. City Council Minutes, October 19, 2009 Councilmember Segal asked if the bid on the police station is a single bid. Mr. Gerber said he recommends a single/complete bid. Councilmember Guffey said he is concerned with having to tear down the Public Works facility that is only about 15 years old. Councilmember Segal said he agrees with the Police Chief that in the long run it is better for the police station to be separate and by itself rather than next to City Hall near day-to-day City operations. Chief Walker said he feels this is the chance to do something right and get us to where we want to be eventually. Mayor Kelly said he spoke with the architect that built the Public Works building who said that the building is well-built and was built to residential construction standards because Council at that time wanted that kind of look for that building in a residential neighborhood. Mayor Kelly agrees with Councilmember Guffey that it is hard to consider tearing the Public Works building down and thinks it requires serious thought. At this time, Councilmember Segal moved to recess the Special Workshop meeting at 5:35 p.m. Mayor Pro Tem Bob Fry seconded the motion. MOTION PASSED. Ayes: Kelly, Fry, Segal, Boehme, Guffey Noes: None Absent: None Workshop recessed to conduct special meeting SPECIAL MEETING (BEGINNING AT 5:30 P.M. IN THE COUNCIL CHAMBERS) Mayor Kelly called the special meeting to order at 5:37 p.m. Agenda items are as follows: City Secretary Lenz confirmed that the Notice of the special meeting was duly posted in accordance with the Texas Government Code, Chapter 551. 1. Public Hearing on Tax Rate Matters related to the second of two public hearings to hear comments for or against the proposed tax rate for the City of West University Place. The public hearing opened at 5:38 p.m. Finance Director Daugherty presented and explained that two public hearings are required to be held when a taxing jurisdiction proposes to raise more tax revenue than the amount collected in the previous year. The first hearing was held on October 12, 2009. Also as required, Ms. Daugherty announced that the vote on the proposed tax rate will be voted on at the regular meeting of the City Council on October 26, 2009, beginning at 6:30 p.m., in the City Council Chambers. With no public comments, Mayor Kelly closed the hearing at 5:42 p.m City Council Minutes, October 19, 2009 2. Interlocal Agreement with Harris County Matters related to an Interlocal Agreement with Harris County for mutual aid services relating to emergency management. Fire Chief Steve Ralls presented and explained that this agreement will allow the City to enter into a mutual aid agreement with Harris County and officially unite the Emergency Management efforts of both jurisdictions. Mayor Pro Tem Bob Fry moved to adopt the Interlocal Agreement with Harris County. Councilmember Segal seconded the motion. MOTION PASSED. Ayes: Kelly, Fry, Segal, Boehme, Guffey Noes: None Absent: None 3. Joint Resolution with Harris County Matters related to a joint resolution with Harris County establishing the Harris County Emergency Management organization as designated in an interjurisdictional emergency management plan. Fire Chief Steve Ralls presented and explained that this resolution is part of the documentation relating to Interlocal Agreement. Councilmember Segal moved to adopt the Joint Resolution with Harris County. Mayor Pro Tern Fry seconded the motion. MOTION PASSED. Ayes: Kelly, Fry, Segal, Boehme, Guffey Noes: None Absent: None 4. Geotechnical Services and Construction Materials Testing for Recreational Facilities Matters related to Geotechnical Services and Construction Materials Testing for Recreational Facilities with Terracon Consultants, Inc., for services relating to recreational facilities. City Manager Ross presented and explained that the original amount of the first contract was $36,000 for the work associated with the Recreation Center and later he approved a Change Order in the amount of $9,000, which brought the total to approximately $45,000. Mr. Ross said because the Recreation Center and Colonial Park projects are tied together, staff and the City Attorney thought it would be best to combine the contracts. He said by combining the two projects the costs will exceed $50,000 and, therefore, requires City Council approval. Mr. Ross said staff is requesting authorization to enter into a contract with Terracon Consultants for up to an amount of $100,000 for geotechnical services and construction materials testing services for the recreation projects. Mayor Pro Tern Fry moved to approve expenditures of up to $100,000 to Terracon Consultants. Councilmember Segal seconded the motion. MOTION PASSED. Ayes: Kelly, Fry, Segal, Boehme, Guffey Noes: None Absent: None City Council Minutes, October 19, 2009 With no other business before Council, Councilmember George Boehme moved to adjourn the special meeting at 5:50 p.m. Mayor Pro Tem Fry seconded the motion. MOTION PASSED. Ayes: Kelly, Fry, Segal, Boehme, Guffey Noes: None Absent: None Mayor Kelly reconvened the special Workshop in the Conference Room at 5:58 p.m., and heard from the members of the public that requested to speak. Bernice Joseph, 2907 Tangley, spoke to ask if the city has a long-term master plan looking at locations for public works and police and fire. She said if there isn't a plan, maybe the City should begin there first. Ms. Joseph also had concerns about the cost per square foot for the proposed facility and how it compares with similar facilities. City Manager Ross said PGAL did a master plan first and looked at all the city-owned land, properties, and facilities. Ms. Joseph said she assumes that the master plan addressed the issue of tearing down a 15 year old building as opposed to using the building for a number of more years. Mr. Ross said it was one of the considerations in the master plan. He said when you are planning for the future you try to put things in the place where they should go and said we did not want to be a staff that would recommend something that would appear to be a band-aid. He said staff and the professional consultant determined that in the long run the best location for the police facility is where the existing public works facility is. Councilmember Segal said he was on City Council at that time and one of the hang-ups was not being able to work a trade with the church for its property. He said, if he recalls, the conclusion of the Council at the time was that if we were starting from scratch and all the land was vacant, the police building would be where public works is now. Fred Schiller, 6608 Vanderbilt, spoke to say that he has been a resident of West U for about 18 years and said Council needs to step back and do a little more work on this. He said he recommends that this be put to a referendum to the citizens, but really thinks Council is jumping the gun and needs to do more feasibility studies on the existing police station. Mr. Schiller said there are a lot of things that can be done that could make the existing police facility better. He said there is a lot of wasted space, which can be solved with total configuration. He said if Council goes with what is being proposed it is wasting taxpayer's money. Kyle Pentecost, 2606 Centenary, spoke to say that he has been a resident for over 30 years and said it is very interesting to him that when the police department was built brand new they were told it would be good for 30 to 50 years and here we are 20 years later talking about tearing it down. He said residents were also told that the Public Works facility would last 60 or 70 years and 15 years later, we are talking about tearing it down. Mr. Pentecost said it seems that the City has the idea that it has unlimited checkbook with taxpayer's money and thinks we need to do what Mr. Schiller recommended and reconfigure and rework what we already have. Dick Yehle, 6401 Rutgers, spoke to say that he is pleased that Council is taking the long view of where things should be operationally and not just economically, though that is certainly a factor. He said his concern with the various options being thrown around is that temporarily putting public City Council Minutes, October 19, 2009 works where the police facility is currently is not a long view. He said he thinks Council needs to come up with a plan that eliminates the current PD facility. Joan Johnson, 6615 Westpoint, said she agrees with the other speakers. She said we have done a great job in updating things in West U, but says we have a huge debt right now. She said maybe we do need to do some upgrading, but doesn't think we need to build everything brand new right now. Councilmember Boehme said he was very apprehensive about a new PD facility when the issue first came up long ago, but after touring the facility he feels that it is a disaster. He said he respects everyone's opinion, but he plans to vote for a new police station because he believes that the facility has been substandard from day one and that today it is an 8-track tape player in an I- Pod world. He said more space, infrastructure, and technology is needed and he plans to support it. Mayor Pro Tern Fry asked Mr. Gerber how long will it take him to do plans once he is given the go ahead. Mr. Gerber replied no later than June 2010. Mayor Pro Tern Fry asked if the proposed new facility site has room for expansion. Mr. Gerber said there is flexibility. Mayor Pro Tern Fry asked Mr. Peifer if the existing police facility is adequate for Public Works use. Mr. Peifer said the administration function will fit into it. He said the operation fleet component will not be disturbed until the final portion of construction. City Manager Ross said the idea is that the Milton operations would stay where they are and the Amherst components will move into the existing police facility. Councilmember Guffey said people are going to think we are crazy. We say the police station is no good, we are going to tear down the public works building, and we're going to remodel the police station and put public works in there. He said we can't remodel it for the police, but we can remodel it for the public works and one day we are going to have to build a new public works facility. He said people are not going to think this is logical. In response to Mayor Pro Tern Fry's question as to what would be logical, Councilmember Guffey said the simplest thing would be to tear down the police station and build a new building on the same site or attach it to the fire station, which is proposed in Option 6. Councilmember Guffey said the police station is in pretty bad shape, but tearing down the public works building just doesn't seem like the right solution. Councilmember Segal said Option 6 does seem to make more sense than rebuilding the Police Station in the same spot if Option 9 is not selected. Mayor Kelly said you can argue whether you need a police station, but you can couple the argument with where you're going to put it. He said you have to also think about how you're going to pay for it. He said it is one thing to go forward with a new police station and use certificates of obligations, but when you get into a more massive undertaking of tearing down a less than 15 old building and doing a band-aid approach on the old police station, you are getting more into master planning and he thinks that should go before the voters. City Council Minutes, October 19, 2009 Chief Walker said Option 9 is where we all want to eventually end up. He said it will be very difficult for police to add to Option 6 later. He said 10 or 15 years from now the Council will be right back where this Council is now. Mayor Pro Tern Fry said he keeps thinking what is best for the City long term and he believes Option 9 is the best long term, but now we have to figure out what will fly best with the voters. Councilmember Boehme said Mayor Kelly and Councilmember Guffey make good points, but he thinks we need a state-of-the-arts public safety facility. He said it is important to have a consensus of the Council and move forward to take advantage of construction prices. Mayor Kelly said if we are going to build a new police station, he is of the opinion that Option 6 would be more sellable. City Manager Ross said if there is a consensus, staff can bring forward a proposal to begin the design process. Council gave direction for staff to bring something to them on Option 6. With no other business, Mayor Pro Tem Fry moved to adjourn at 7:05 p.m. Councilmember Guffey seconded the motion. MOTION PASSED. Ayes: Kelly, Fry, Segal, Boehme, Guffey Noes: None Absent: None Adjourned :Prepared B V%1 EST U O P, v Y~~r a A. Lenz, City Secretary K Date Approved: T F'fAS