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HomeMy WebLinkAbout040912 CC Min0 The City A Neighborhood City CITY COUNCIL Bob Fry, Mayor Susan Sample, Mayor Pro Tern Ed Heathcott, Councilmember Joan Johnson, Councilmember Dick Yehle, Councilmember of West University Place STAFF Michael Ross, City Manager Alan Petrov, City Attorney Thelma Lenz, City Secretary CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES The City Council of the City of West University Place, Texas, met in special and regular sessions on Monday, April 9, 2012, in the Municipal Building, 3800 University, West University Place, Texas beginning at 5:00 p.m. SPECIAL WORKSHOP (BEGINNING AT 5:00 IN THE CONFERENCE ROOM) Call to Order. Mayor Fry called the meeting to order at 5:00 p.m. Council and staff in attendance were: Mayor Pro Tern Sample (arrived at 5:04 p.m.), Councilmembers Heathcott and Yehle, City Manager Ross, and City Secretary Lenz. Councilmember Johnson was absent. Workshop agenda item was as follows: 1. Community Survey Matters related a community survey. Council and staff met with Dr. Richard Murray of the University Houston, to discuss matters related to conducting a community survey, including timeframe and methodology. Some of the points made by Dr. Murray (throughout the discussion) were: • It's best to conduct a survey before public schools are recessed for the summer and people leave for vacation. • Random sampling is a common methodology when conducting a survey. He recommends random sampling for the City because a City this size the sample will probably yield a very high degree of reliability of what the larger population in the community thinks. • Typically, a telephone survey can be done in approximately 5 days. • Telephone surveys usually yield very good results. • People tend not to send back mailed questionnaires, so those that do send them back may not be reflective of everybody in the City. • With mail surveys, the City would have to send out information informing residents ahead of time letting them know to expect the survey and what it entails. The City would also have to send two or three follow -ups in order to try to get a good response rate. • Recommends surveying a minimum of 400, and maximum of 500, residents via telephone, with 12 -14 minute interviews. • Most questions will be closed ended, but should include some open -ended questions to provide people the opportunity to give feedback on what they think. • Recommends 30 to 50 items on the survey, starting with "easy" topics and ending with the more "difficult' topics. City Council Minutes, April 23, 2012 • Recommends 30 to 50 items on the survey, starting with "easy" topics and ending with the more "difficult" topics. City Manager Ross confirmed with Council that staff would provide a draft of topics for review /discussion at a workshop on April 23, 2012. Regarding funding, City Manager Ross stated that funding for this project originated in the solid waste /recycling automation survey funding approved in the 2012 Budget; so, a portion of the costs associated with the survey will be paid with the solid waste /enterprise fund budgeted for the recycling survey and there may be a small percentage of funds taken from the General Fund to make up any difference. Mr. Ross said, as of now, it is a solid waste /recycling survey, but said Council can extend it to be a community satisfaction survey if Council wants to include its goals as possible survey topics. Mr. Ross said staff is recommending a phone survey of 400 residents, but if Council has strong feelings for the written versus the phone survey, it can be discussed. In response to Mayor Fry's question as to how many service topics will be on the survey, Mr. Ross responded that staff isn't necessarily proposing to do a community survey unless it is Council's wish to do so. He said he just wanted to discuss the previous community surveys and if Council thought it was time to do another community satisfaction survey, then we might want to include those topics again. He said he just wanted to give Council options. After further discussion, it was confirmed that the City would conduct a telephone survey rather than a written survey. Mr. Ross said staff knows the general questions to ask from the solid waste /recycling perspective, but needs from Council to inform staff whether a customer satisfaction survey is an important component. If not, he said staff has a good idea of what to bring back for Council review between now and the next meeting. One topic Council discussed including was parkland acquisition (use of authorized debt to purchase park land, in addition to the use of additional debt, which would include a tax increase). Councilmember Heathcott stated that he personally would vote it down, so he wants to be sure that this is something Council would want to do before asking the residents. He said he would not want a question that would imply that we would increase taxes, period. Councilmember Yehle said the survey is to find out what the people's appetite is and so it's not right to preclude a solution because someone will not be in favor of it. Mayor Fry asked all of Council if they would be in favor of including the debt increase for parkland topic in the survey and all responded, yes, with the exception of Councilmember Heathcott. Councilmember Johnson suggested including questions about the new Recreation Center and Colonial Park pool and tennis courts in the survey, since they are new buildings. The Town Center project and street parking were also suggested. Mr. Ross said there are so many variables it might not be feasible to include those two items. 2 of 7 City Council Minutes, April 23, 2012 Dr. Murray suggested including just about everything in the initial draft and edit later, rather than to start with a minimal draft and have to add at the end. He said he can start with the committed solid waste component and work the rest of the survey around that. It was also suggested that mayor and council term limits and the reduction of polling places be included. Regarding the Town Center project, Councilmember Heathcott spoke to say that including the Town Center project in the survey might prove to be difficult. He said he thinks we are still too close to it and thinks it should be a separate survey at a different time. City Manager Ross stated that unless there comes a need to call a meeting sooner, discussion of the community survey will be on the next agenda. At 5:50 p.m., Mayor Fry called for a 5- minute break and everyone returned at 5:55 p.m. to begin discussions on Item 2. 2. General Mobility Funding Matters related to the City of West University Place's Congestion Mitigation/Traffic Management Agreement with the Metropolitan Transit Authority (METRO). At 5:55 p.m., Mayor Fry recessed the workshop session and convened into executive session under Section 551.071 of the Texas Government Code to discuss general mobility funding. At 6:20 p.m., Mayor Pro Tem Sample moved to closed the executive session and reconvene into the workshop session. Councilmember Johnson seconded the motion. MOTION PASSED. Ayes: Fry, Sample, Heathcott, Johnson, Yehle Noes: None Absent: None 3. Adjourn With no action taken, Councilmember Johnson moved to adjourn the workshop session. Councilmember Yehle seconded the motion. MOTION PASSED. Ayes: Fry, Sample, Heathcott, Johnson, Yehle Noes: None Absent: None REGULAR MEETING (BEGINNING AT 6:30 P.M. IN THE COUNCIL CHAMBERS) Agenda items were as follows: Call to Order: Mayor Fry called the meeting to order at 6:30 p.m. Council and staff in attendance were: Mayor Pro Tern Sample, Councilmembers Heathcott, Johnson, and Yehle, City Manager Ross, City Secretary Lenz, City Attorney Petrov, Finance Director Daugherty, Parks and Recreation Director O'Connor, IT Director McFarland, and Police Chief Walker. 3of7 City Council Minutes, April 23, 2012 Pledge of Allegiance: Boy Scout Aneil Maratha, Troop 125, led the Pledge of Allegiance. 4. Public Comments Gregg Thompson and Tom Pielech requested to wait and speak on Item #8 when it is discussed Nabila Kinghorn, 3402 Tangley, spoke to say that approximately 200 -300 bike riders were riding down Westchester at about 10:00 p.m. on March 301' and that she was not aware of this event. She said the riders were loud, boisterous and out of control. She said supposedly it is a group that does this every last Friday of the month, randomly throughout town. Ms. Kinghorn commended Officer Love who is working on this to try to find out more about the group. Ms. Kinghorn also stated that she doesn't believe citizens are abiding by the rules of leaving trash out before the scheduled pick -up time. She said she has neighbors that will miss a Friday pick -up and leave the trash out until the following Tuesday. Pieter and Janet Vrancken requested to wait and speak on Item #6 when that item is discussed 5. General Mobility Funding Matters related to the City of West University Place's Congestion Mitigation/Traffic Management Agreement with the Metropolitan Transit Authority (METRO). A. Matters related to the approval of an Interlocal agreement between the participating METRO multi- cities. Mayor Fry explained that the City has for years been part of an agreement with Metro that raises 1% additional sales tax that goes to Metro for mobility funding and said the City receives 25 % of that 1 %, which totals about $250,000 a year for the City's mobility projects. Mayor Fry said there is a referendum, sponsored by Metro, coming up to decide whether the agreement stays in place therefore, the 14 cities that are part of Metro are banding together to ensure that this agreement continues in the future by hiring a consultant for assistance at the State level. Councilmember Heathcott moved to authorize the city manager and city attorney to draft and approve an Interlocal Agreement between the fourteen jurisdictions and divide the cost for the consultant. Councilmember Yehle seconded the motion. MOTION PASSED. Ayes: Fry, Sample, Heathcott, Johnson, Yehle Noes: None Absent: None B. Matters related to engaging the services of a consultant. Councilmember Heathcott moved to authorize the city manager to engage the services of a consultant to assist with the state legislative matters. Councilmember Yehle seconded the motion. MOTION PASSED. Ayes: Fry, Sample, Heathcott, Johnson, Yehle Noes: None 4of7 City Council Minutes, April 23, 2012 Absent: None 6. National Volunteer Week Matters related to a proclamation to proclaim April 15 -21, 2012 as National Volunteer Week in the City of West University Place. Mayor Fry recognized volunteers of the Good Neighbor Team and proclaimed April 15 -21, 2012 as National Volunteer Week in the City of West University Place. 7. Electronic Agenda Matters related to authorizing staff to move forward with the electronic agenda process, which includes the purchase of iPads and other necessary equipment and applications, and also authorize the City Manager to develop procedures and policies to meet the intent of Council's approval. City Manager Ross reminded Council that this is an effort to reduce paper and save personnel time associated with assembling and distributing the Council agenda packets and recommends authorizing staff to move forward with the project. Mayor Pro Tern Sample moved to authorize the staff to move forward with the electronic agenda process and authorize the city manager to develop policies and procedures to meet the intent of Council's approval. Councilmember Johnson seconded the motion. MOTION PASSED. Ayes: Fry, Sample, Heathcott, Johnson, Yehle Noes: None Absent: None 8. Recreational Facilities Matters related to construction and variances regarding the recreational facilities. City Manager Ross presented this item and explained that Tri -Sports has requested permission to move forward with the construction of two of the Little League baseball fields and four batting cages on the west end of the city's West U Recreation Center property. He said the City and Tri -Sports negotiated phasing of these improvements at the time the Rec Center was being constructed and this is another phase in the on -going improvements and partnership between the City and Tri - Sports. Mr. Ross stated that Tri- Sports will construct and maintain these field improvements with the expressed understanding the improvements will become the property of the City once they are completed and installed. Mr. Ross said some of the construction varies from our Code and requires Council approval. They are the following: (1) exceed the 35 -foot height requirement by 5 feet for a 40 -foot high foul ball safety fence along the eastern portion of the ball fields; (2) the number of total fixtures allowed; and (3) setback variance. Mr. Ross said staff recommends approval of variances 1 -3 as listed above. After Councilmember Yehle raised concerned why just the eastern side was being approved for fencing and not the south side, Parks and Recreation Director O'Connor stated that the south side 5of7 City Council Minutes, April 23, 2012 was inadvertently omitted and the recommendation should include approval for both the south and eastern portions of the ball fields. Tom Pielech, 4208 Ruskin Street, spoke to ask Council to vote "no" on all the requested variances so as to not take parkland away from the citizens of West University Place. He said he's sure Council would never consider granting a homeowner any of these variances. Mr. Pielech said Tri- Sports is a good organization, but they do not need to take parkland from the citizens of West U when they already have existing inexpensive space that they can use. Councilmember Heathcott confirmed with staff that when the fields are not in use, the space is still available to the public. Mr. Ross stated that these fields were built with the intention of Tri -Sports using them. Councilmember Yehle moved to approve the variances requested with the modification of the ball safety fence being on the southern and eastern portions of the ball fields. Councilmember Heathcott seconded the motion. MOTION PASSED. Ayes: Fry, Sample, Heathcott, Johnson, Yehle Noes: None Absent: None 9. Consent Aaenda All Consent Agenda items listed are considered to be routine by the City Council and will be enacted by one motion. There will be no separate discussion of these items unless a Council member requests in which event the item will be removed from the Consent Agenda and considered in its normal sequence on the agenda. A. City Council Minutes Approve City Council Minutes of March 26, 2012. B. Water Rate Increase Matters related to the City of Houston's water rate increases, including adoption of an ordinance. C. Resolution Appointing Members to the Friends of West U Parks Fund Matters related to a resolution appointing members to the FWUPF. D. Ordinance Amending the 2011 Annual Budget Matters related to an ordinance amending the 2011 Annual Budget. Councilmember Johnson moved to approve the Consent Agenda as presented. Councilmember Heathcott seconded the motion. MOTION PASSED. Ayes: Fry, Sample, Heathcott, Johnson, Yehle Noes: None Absent: None 10. Reports by Council /Staff 6 of 7 City Council Minutes, April 23, 2012 City Manager Ross reminded the public of the Town Hall meeting being held tonight at 7:30 p.m. at the Community Building to discuss street parking. There will also be two meetings on the same subject on Thursday, April 12`" at 3:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m. 11. Adiourn At 6:58 p.m., Mayor Pro Tem Sample moved to adjourn the meeting. Councilmember Johnson seconded the motion. MOTION PASSED. Ayes: Fry, Sample, Heathcott, Johnson, Yehle Noes: None Absent: None P-repara elma A. Lenz, City Secretary Date Apl5roved 7 of 7