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HomeMy WebLinkAbout022414 CC MinThe City of West University Place A Neighborhood City CITY COUNCIL Bob Fry, Mayor Susan Sample, Mayor Pro Tern Ed Heathcott, Councilmember Joan Johnson, Councilmember Dick Yehle, Councilmember 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 a regular session on Monday, February 24, 2014, in the Municipal Building, 3800 University, West University Place, Texas beginning at 6:30 p.m. Agenda Items were as follows: Call to Order. Mayor Fry called the meeting to order at 6:30 p.m. in the Conference Room. Council and Staff in attendance were: Mayor Pro Tern Sample, Councilmembers Heathcott and Yehle, City Manager Ross, Assistant City Manager /Public Works Director Peifer, City Secretary Lenz, City Attorney Petrov, Police Chief Walker, and Fire Chief Taylor. Councilmember Johnson was absent. Boy Scout Robert Rice, Troop 55, led the Pledge of Allegiance. Secretary Lenz confirmed that the Notice of the meeting was duly posted in accordance with the Texas Government Code, Chapter 551. 1. Public Comments This is an opportunity for citizens to speak to Council relating to agenda and non - agenda items. Steve Wells, 5658 Cheena Drive, Houston, Texas 77096, spoke in his capacity as the pastor of the South Main Baptist Church and said a number of his congregants live in West University Place. He strongly encouraged Council to keep credit access businesses out of the City because they are bad people who are selling lies. He said those businesses have an average annual percentage rate of 538 percent in Texas, with the standard in Houston being 22 percent every two weeks. Mr. Wells said they also provide auto title loans and 140 vehicles a week are repossessed in the City of Houston. He said $240,000,000 in fees leave communities through these businesses and so he again asked Council to please keep them out of the City. 2. Department Staffing Matters related to staffing in the Administration Department. Recommended Action: Approve funding for an Executive Assistant position in the Administration Department. City Manager Ross presented and said staff recently completed the recruiting process for the Communications Manager position, but the process produced only one viable candidate who had to back out due to family commitments. He said in retrospect, he believes a part of the problem with finding several good candidates for the position was the fact that administrative support functions, handled by the Executive Assistant, were combined into the functions of the Communication Manager's position. City Council Minutes, February 24, 2014 Mr. Ross said because the two positions were combined, the Executive Assistant position was eliminated in this year's budget, but based on what was just learned by going through the recruiting process, staff is now asking Council to recreate and fund the Executive Assistant position to handle the day -to -day administrative departmental support functions and to approve staff's request to re- advertise for the Communications Manager position without the administrative responsibilities in the description. Councilmember Heathcott asked if funds are available. Mr. Ross said not only are there funds from not having filled the position to date, but there are also funds available in the General Fund reserves for these types of scenarios, but it requires Council to okay appropriation of the funds. He said although it is being brought before Council now, staff will bring it back before Council at the end of the year to appropriate the specific dollar amount. Councilmember Yehle said he is sure that this will not affect Budget dollars, but as a subset of the Budget, a headcount of full -time equivalents (FTEs) is managed, so this would increase the FTEs by the end of the year. He said this will become an issue next year, because if the same number of FTEs are maintained, there will be a bigger budget next year. Mayor Fry said he was skeptical about a Communications Manager being asked to do clerical work, so he said this is worth a try and thinks it is the right move to make. Councilmember Yehle said he thinks it is the right move to make, also and believes there are possibilities of moving administrative functions within all departments, potentially to avoid the net increase next year. City Manager Ross said staff will make every effort to avoid an increase in staff next year and said he is working with departments to see if that will be possible as the year goes on. Mayor Fry said the main goal at this time is to hire a good Communications Manager. Councilmember Yehle moved to establish two positions, the Executive Assistant position and the Communications Manager position in lieu of the combined single position. Councilmember Heathcott seconded the motion. MOTION PASSED. Ayes: Fry, Sample, Heathcott, Yehle Noes: None Absent: Johnson 3. Credit Access Businesses Matters related to an ordinance regulating credit access businesses, including payday loan businesses, in West University Place. Recommended Action: Consider approval of an ordinance regulating credit access businesses in the City of West University Place. City Manager Ross presented and said this is an issue that has been gaining attention around the State and most of the metropolitan areas (i.e. Dallas, Austin, Houston, Bellaire) have adopted ordinances such as the one being proposed for West University Place. He said West U is proposing the ordinance so that it isn't the only place where credit access businesses can go and function in a way that some feel are detrimental to the recipients. City Attorney Petrov spoke to explain credit access businesses. He said they basically refer to the auto title loan businesses and the payday loan businesses, and that part of the issue revolving around them is the fact that in the opinion of some the State doesn't regulate them enough, so they 2 of 4 City Council Minutes, February 24, 2014 have a lot of leeway in respect to their practices. He said as a result, several cities have stepped into the void and adopted some regulatory provisions, not particularly onerous provisions so not to shut down the businesses, but rather to establish some basic regulations. Mr. Petrov said the regulations are based on a model ordinance that the Texas Municipal League (TML) promulgated, so all the cities that have passed such an ordinance followed the model ordinance from TML. Mr. Petrov stated that when cities first started adopting regulatory ordinances, the credit assess businesses within those cities began suing, some of which are still ongoing, alleging that the cities overstepped their authority, because they don't have the authority under State law to adopt such regulations. He said TML is recommending that if a city chooses to regulate, that it not do anything different than what has been proposed as the model ordinance, which is the ordinance before Council tonight. Mayor Pro Tern Sample said if the proposed ordinance follows the language of the TML model, then she's good with the ordinance and she moved to approve an ordinance regulating credit access business in the City of West University Place on first reading. Councilmember Heathcott seconded the motion. Councilmember Yehle said payday lenders are not popular with him, but if someone wants to use them and they are legal, he doesn't have a problem with them. He said he worries about the legal side and becoming a targeted city. He said no one is going to sue Houston, but they might sue West U and he doesn't know if the City would be supported by other communities in defending that suit. City Attorney Petrov said there are ongoing suits and he believes the suits have involved many of the major cities, so he doesn't know if they would ignore Houston. He said TML is defending those suits and that if they targeted West U, it would be covered by its insurance. Councilmember Yehle asked if cities feel strongly about this, why they aren't proposing legislation to the State? City Manager Ross said that TML has proposed legislation on behalf of cities, but they were outnumbered the last time around by the lobbyists for the credit access businesses. Councilmember Yehle said he doesn't have arguments to make other than it doesn't feel right legislating a business that is doing what the State condones. Mr. Petrov said he understands Councilmember Yehle's concern, but his concern is simply the fact that if the City is the lone area that doesn't regulate, then the concentration of those businesses will be driven to this location. Councilmember Heathcott said he supports what is trying to be done, because he feels that this industry is preying on uneducated people and taking advantage of their lack of knowledge. He said in this particular case, government needs to step in and make some laws that give those people protection. Mayor Fry said he supports this so that West U won't be the only City that does not regulate and be open for them to come and do business here. He said the other thing is that if somebody sues the City over something it believes in then let them come on. Councilmember Yehle said he doesn't think the things being proposed are bad, the concept is a principal that he is not totally comfortable with, yet. Mayor Fry said the City is not excluding them from being in West U, just limiting what they can do 3 of 4 City Council Minutes, February 24, 2014 At this time a vote was made on the motion by Mayor Pro Tem Sample and second by Councilmember Heathcott. MOTION PASSED. Ayes: Fry, Sample, Heathcott Noes: Yehle Absent: Johnson 4. Consent Agenda 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 Minutes of February 10, 2014 City Council meeting. Mayor called for a vote to approve the Consent Agenda as presented. MOTION PASSED. Ayes: Fry, Sample, Heathcott, Yehle Noes: None Absent: Johnson 5. Council /City Manager Reports No reports from the City Manager. City Manager Heathcott said the Zoning Board of Adjustment had a discussion regarding the possibility of meeting on the fourth Thursday as opposed to the current third Thursday and asked if moving the date /time is something the City can request or does it have to be with ZBA's consent. City Attorney Petrov said that, generally, the boards and commissions establish their own meeting nights. 6. Adjourn With further business, Councilmember Yehle moved to adjourn the meeting at 6:55 p.m. Mayor Pro Tern Sample seconded the motion. MOTION PASSED. Ayes: Fry, Sample, Fjeahbott; Ye Noes: None tk"/ A sent: Johnson P By! Thelma A. Lenz, City ecretao Date Approved 4of4