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HomeMy WebLinkAbout101215 CC MinThe City of West University Place A Neighborhood City CITY COUNCIL Susan Sample, Mayor Bob Kelly, Mayor Pro Tern Burt Ballanfant, Councilmember Brennan Reilly, Councilmember Mardi Turner, Councilmember STAFF M. Chris Piefer, Interim 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 regular session on Monday, October 12, 2015, 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 Sample called the meeting to order at 6:30 p.m. in the City Council Chambers. Council and Staff in attendance were: Mayor Pro Tern Kelly, Councilmembers Ballanfant, Reilly and Turner, Interim City Manager Peifer, City Attorney Petrov, City Secretary Lenz, Finance Director Daugherty, IT Director McFarland, Police Chief Walker, and Public Works Director Dave Beach John and Sam Marian with Boy Scout Troop 211 led the Pledge of Allegiance. City Secretary Lenz confirmed that the notice of this meeting was duly posted in accordance with the Texas Government Code, Chapter 551. 1. Public Comments Alida Drewes, 6112 Fordham Street, spoke to say she wanted to repeat what she said at the October 5th special meeting for Mayor Pro Tem Kelly's benefit due to his absence at that meeting. Ms. Drewes then preceeded to repeat what she stated at the October 5th meeting. 2. Second Public Hearing on Tax Rate Matters related to a second public hearing to hear comments on the proposed tax rate. Recommended Action: Hold second and final public hearing on the proposed tax rate. The public hearing opened at 6:35 p.m. Finance Director Daugherty presented and reviewed the PowerPoint presentation presented on first reading at the special meeting of October 5, 2015. After the presentation, Councilmember Ballanfant stated that he thinks Council needs to go ahead and move this process forward. Councilmember Reilly said staff did a great job of putting the budget together, but said he would like to see an alternate budget at the effective tax rate so Council can justify to the taxpayers why Council is increasing taxes. He appealed to the rest of Council to agree to direct staff to prepare an alternate budget recommending items to cut from the budget in order not to have a tax increase. City Council Meeting Minutes, October 12, 2015 Councilmember Reilly made a motion to direct staff to prepare an alternate budget at the effective tax rate. In response to Councilmember Ballafant's question as to what preparing an alternate budget would entail, Mr. Peifer said it would entail finding $411,000 to remove from the city manager's proposed budget. Councilmember Turner said her recollection from the budget workshop is that the bulk of the $411,000 was for things Council was not prepared to change or cut. Mayor Sample said there are mainly three areas being increased — the equipment replacement fund, which is pay -as- you -go; the vehicle replacement fund, which is pay -as- you -go; and labor costs, which have already been approved. She said because the labor costs have already been approved, the pay -as- you -go funds would have to be reduced. She said she is a big fan of pay -as- you-go and not borrowing and asked the Finance Director to explain the benefits of pay -as- you -go fund accounts. Finance Director Daugherty explained that pay -as- you -go funds help stabilize the cost of replacing high dollar items that are costly, but not costly enough to be considered for a debt issuance. She said using the pay -as- you -go also shows that the City has planning foresight, which helps the City maintain its AAA bond rating. Councilmember Ballanfant confirmed with Ms. Daugherty that pay -as- you -go funds allows the City to set aside money in order to address future equipment needs. Councilmember Reilly reiterated that he would like to see an alternate budget so show the reasons for the increase in taxes. He said if staff recommends cutting the equipment replacement fund because it doesn't see any other savings possible that are realistic, then that discussion needs to be had, but the discussion can't be had right now because Council doesn't know where the $411,000 would come from. He said at some point, if property appraisals don't go up every year and yet Council still wants to give employees raises every year, etc., staff will have to get used to justifying those increases to the taxpayers to the extent it is believed they are necessary, and so he would like to see Council start that process now as an institutional change. He said that is just good government. Councilmember Turner said one of things not being emphasized enough is the stability of the City's revenues and expenses in terms of looking at the City's bond ratings. She said the City is AAA because its budget is well- managed and staff goes through a great deal of effort to make sure the City is spending money in the right places. At this time, Mayor Sample called for a second to Councilmember Reilly's motion to direct staff to prepare an alternate budget at the effective tax rate. Motion died due to lack of a second. Mayor Pro Tern Kelly said Council went through the budget with staff at the budget workshop and said when looking at the big picture, he feels staff did a good job of assembling the budget and presenting it to Council. He said Councilmember Reilly makes some valid points and thinks that his suggestion could be considered during the next budget process, but he doesn't see a real problem with the budget or the increase being proposed this year. 2 of 6 City Council Meeting Minutes, October 12, 2015 Councilmember Reilly said he also wanted to point out that in a very short period of time there will be a significant decrease in the amount of the City's debt service fund due to the retirement of debt, so he doesn't think it is too much to ask future taxpayers to bear the lion's share of sewer and water and road improvements, otherwise taxpayers in the future are going to get a 25 percent tax reduction on the backs of today's taxpayers. Councilmember Ballanfant said that one of the fundamental flaws of the election cycle and the City's budget cycle is that with every new Council that comes in, it is almost immediately handed the budget for the City without enough time to prepare a list of collective Council questions. He said he thinks the comments heard from Councilmember Reilly have some validity, but he thinks it is a little too late to try and restart the analysis of the whole thing, especially when there are state statutes relating to deadlines. He said the budget was thoroughly discussed in a 5 -hour workshop and said next year the Council and staff can work out a lot more input so that a great appreciation of the structure of the budget and the details will be available. Mr. Peifer said in the future staff will try to begin preparations earlier so that Council can review the proposed budget and offer its counterpoints beforehand. With no further discussion, the Public Hearing closed at 7:08 p.m. 3. Public Hearinq on the 2016 Budget Matters related to a public hearing to hear comments on the 2016 City Budget. Recommended Action: Hold public hearing on the City's 2016 Budget. The public hearing opened at 7:09 p.m. Finance Director Daugherty presented this item and gave a PowerPoint presentation on the 2016 Budget. A summary of the budget highlights is as follows: Revenue • Proposed tax rate of $0.33179 per $100 value • Maintenance and Operations is $0.18321 (5.35% decrease from prior year) • Interest and Sinking Fund is $0.14858 (11.68% decrease from prior year) Water and Sewer Rates There are no water or sewer rate increases included in the this budget. However, future rate increases may be necessary for increased cost of water purchased from the City of Houston. Solid Wate Fee A 30% solid waste fee increase included in this budget. o $3.68 per month for seniors and disabled rate class o $7.24 per month for regular rate class Expenditures • Personnel and Compensation • Updates to the compensation plan, including the full year fudning of the udpates to the compensation plan as approved in the 2015 budet. • Includes a 3% structure and salary adjustment on January 1, 2016, continuing the compensation policy approved in the 2015 budget, as well as an average 3% merit increase on anniversary date. • TMRS funding rate of 13.01 % for 2016. 3 of 6 City Council Meeting Minutes, October 12, 2015 • Decreases the number of full -time employees from 123 to 122, eliminating the Management Analyst position in the Water and Sewer Fund. • Increased transfer to Technology Management Fund primarily related to the compensation plan updates by $171,000, of which $84,000 is for compensation plan udpates. • Increased transfer to Capital Reserve Fund for financing future special parojects by $421,000. • Increased transfer to Equipment Replacement Fund for incremental financing of future capital -type pruchases by $777,000. • A $34,000 increase to ?, which includes the replacement of the expansion joints in the pool and on the pool deck at Colonial Park as well as re- staining the stamped overlay on the deck. • A $25,000 increase in consultants' fees, which includes public works professional services for updates to the comprehensive master plan and subdivision ordinance regulations. After a brief discussion, the public hearing closed at 7:28 p.m. 4. Change of Meeting Dates Due to Holidays Matters related to changing the meeting dates for November and December 2015 due to the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays. Councilmember Turner moved to hold the two meeting dates in November on November 9 and November 16, 2015. Mayor Pro Tem Kelly seconded the motion. MOTION PASSED. Ayes: Sample, Kelly, Ballanfant, Reilly, Turner Noes: None Absent: None Councilmember Turner moved to hold the two meetings in December on Decenber 7 and 14, 2015. Councilmember Reilly seconded the motion. MOTION PASSED. Ayes: Sample, Kelly, Ballanfant, Reilly, Turner Noes: None Absent: None 5. Future Agenda Items Matters related to future agenda items. See attached list of future agenda items. Discuss and take any desired action. Councilmember Reilly requested that a review of exemptions for city -owned properties that are leased to other entities be added to the October 26the agenda. He said he would like to discuss this issue before approving the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the church. Councilmember Reilly also requested that town center zoning and industrial zoning be on the October 26`h agenda for discussion in order to provide some direction to Zoning and Planning to start looking at those issues. Mayor Sample said before adding the Instutional Zoning item, she would like to discuss the concept to see if Council as a whole wants it on an agenda. City Attorney Petrov said because it is not on the agenda for tonight, it can be discussed but only in the context of whether to put it on a future agenda. 4 of 6 City Council Meeting Minutes, October 12, 2015 Mayor Sample said she doesn't think institutional zoning needs to be on an agenda and asked what problem is there that needs to be discussed. Councilmember Reilly said the discussion about the substantive reasons is something that can be discussed at the next meeting. He said he is not an expert on institutional zoning or town center zoning and he wants it on the agenda in order to provide direction to the Zoning and Planning Commission. Mayor Pro Tern Kelly seconded Councilmember Reilly's request to add town center zoning and institutional zoning to the October 26`h agenda. Mayor Sample requested that base flood elevation and maximum height requirements for homes be added to the October 26`h agenda. Mr. Peifer noted that the refinancing of bonds item has been moved from the November g`h agenda to the November 16`h agenda. 6. 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 the City Council Minutes of September 28, 2015. Recommended Action: Approve Minutes. B. Senior Board Appointments Matters relating to a resolution appointing members to the Seniors Services Board. Recommended Action: Approve resolution appointing Rebecca Dozier and Ruth Becker to the Seniors Services Board. C. Matters relating to a resolution appointing a member to the Recycling and Solid Waste Reduction Board. Recommended Action: Approve resolution appointing Jennifer Sickler to the Recycling and Solid Waste Reduction Board. D. Recycling Contract Matters related to authorizing staff to enter into a contract with a third -party wholesaler for the City's recycling. Recommended Action: Authorize staff to enter into a contract with a third -party wholesaler for the City's recycling. Councilmember Reilly moved to approve the Consent Agenda as presented. Councilmember Ballanfant seconded the motion. MOTION PASSED. Ayes: Sample, Kelly, Ballanfant, Reilly, Turner Noes: None Absent: None 7. Manager /Council Reports 5of6 City Council Meeting Minutes, October 12, 2015 A. Facilities Master Plan Task Force — Mr. Peifer reported that staff received 26 applications for the Facilities Master Plan Task Force. B. Municipal Court Personnel — Mr. Peifer reported that staff received 5 to 6 resumes and interviews have been scheduled for October 22, 2015 beginning at 6:00 p.m. Mr. Peifer also reported that staff has narrowed the executive search firms to three top candidates and all three would not charge for coming for an interview, although the one in Florida prefer to be interviewed via Skype. Councilmember Ballanfant said he doesn't know if Council needs to pick a search firm because he doesn't know if Council will be searching for a city manager. Mayor Pro Tem Sample said to add the executive search item to the October 26th agenda 8. Adjourn With no further discussion, Councilmember Turner moved to adjourn the meeting at 7:58 p.m. Mayor Pro Tem Kelly seconded the motion. MOTION PASSED. Ayes: Sample, Kelly, Ballanfant, Reilly, Turner Noes: None Absent: None ��ST UP�oG Prepare By: v � The ma A. Lenz, City Secretary . Date Appr ed rFXAS ..