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HomeMy WebLinkAbout010416 WS 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 Peifer, City Manager Alan Petrov, City Attorney Thelma Lenz, City Secretary CITY COUNCIL WORKSHOP MINUTES The City Council of the City of West University Place, Texas, met in a workshop session on Monday, January 4, 2016, in the Municipal Building, 3800 University, West University Place, Texas beginning at 6:00 p.m. Agenda Items were as follows: Call to Order. Mayor Sample called the meeting to order at 6:00 p.m. in the City Council Chambers. Council and Staff in attendance were: Mayor Pro Tern Kelly, Councilmembers Ballanfant, Reilly and Turner, City Manager Peifer, City Secretary Lenz, and Public Works Director Beach Discuss the scope of the Facilities Master Plan Task Force Mayor Kelly said to him the scope is very simple because since there is already a Master Plan in place. He said Council should just have at task force look at the November 15, 2015 Facilities Master Plan Update and provide Council input on it. He said there are two main things that need to be addressed by a task force: (1) How does the Baptist Church's announcement that it will build on Amherst affect the Master Plan; and (2) If the Master Plan needs review /revisions, what would they do differently? Councilmember Turner said she looked at this report (which she prefers to call it), as the culmination of a review of the space the City has, what it needs and where it can put people. She said the City has space for everybody that works at the City today and for everybody who is going to work at the City in 2024, but there are a couple of buildings in desperate need of repair in the short -term (1 — 5 years). Councilmember Turner said to her those buildings would be more of a useful topic for a task force to deal with. She said the report has a few scenarios regarding a couple of buildings and Council needs to start paying attention as to what will become of them. She said the library would be number one on her list and because of the deed restrictions she would also fold in the Community Building. She said she would put facility maintenance buildings in 3r' place. City Manager Piefer said Council has three different ways of addressing library repair needs: Focus on the life safety issues only (approximately $300,000), rehab the current footprint to what libraries provide now ($3.2 million), or construct a new library. He said constructing a new library or rehabbing the existing footprint is roughly about the same amount of money and no square footage is gained. Councilmember Reilly said this is putting the cart before the horse. He said to him figuring out what to do with the library is exactly what he would want the Facilities Master Plan Task Force to do. He said in the current and previous Master Plans several recommendations are given and City Council Workshop Minutes, January 4, 2016 they are very significant things, and none which he believes have gone through the sort of citizen input typically seen as with the Parks Master Plan. He said there are significant recommendations in the Master Plan that are presented as givens, yet they haven't been publicly vetted. Councilmember Reilly said if Council were to decide today to replace the library, that would be met with shock by most residents in the City because they don't see it as a facility that is about to fall down in 1 to 5 years and the same thing for the maintenance facility, which is why he would like a task force to be charged with performing a condition assessment of the City's facilities and evaluate the recommendations in the Master Plan as well as those in previous plans to see if there is something that the citizens really want. Councilmember Ballanfant said he would like to see any genuine justification for moving the maintenance facility outside the middle of the City. He said the current site is the best operation site there is. City Manager Peifer said the 2015 Master Plan Update is just a planning tool for what the City envisions in 5, 10, 15 or 30 years and beyond. Councilmember Reilly said he understands that it could be a planning tool, but a recommendation to move the maintenance facility out of the City Center is in the report, so he feels it's more than just a planning tool. Councilmember Reilly said he would like a task force to evaluate the need for immediacy. Councilmember Turner suggested Council direct a task force to only look at the 3 or 4 buildings that are considered to be in poor condition. Councilmember Reilly said Councilmember Turner is making conclusions about which facilities should be looked at before the facilities' conditions have been assessed and before Council has heard the public's desire. He said she is assuming that the public wants the library to be rebuilt and the maintenance facility to be looked at. Councilmember Reilly said he feels that Council is making a lot of assumptions. He said the 2015 Facilities Master Plan has a lot in it and said though some are not controversial, there are some things he feels that if a Citizen Task Force looked at it, they might think that the maintenance facility shouldn't be moved. He said they could make what he feels is a policy decision. Councilmember Reilly said it would also behoove Council to look at the City's valuable piece of land on Dincans, as well as realize the value of the old golf course property at Ruffino Hills. He said looking at those two properties is just as important, if not more, than looking at the building issues. Councilmember Ballanfant said if the City has a solid building, it's functional and it's been upgraded over time, he wants to know the real justifications why Counci would change that. He said there is nothing in the report that causes him to think there is any crisis that needs to be addressed. Mayor Sample said the Master Plan is for future planning 2of6 City Council Workshop Minutes, January 4, 2016 Councilmember Ballanfant said it's fun for people to put together books like this and dream all kinds of good things that might be nice to do someday, but he wants to have real engineering and structural justification before even having this discussion. Mayor Sample said one of the recommendations in the report is to pay for an assessment of the condition of every building and asked Councilmember Ballanfant is that something he would agree to have done. Councilmember Ballanfant said he would agree with something like that. Councilmember Reilly said he feels the document is deficient in a lot of ways, but the main problem he has with it is that it doesn't reflect citizen input and it's being used to justify very significant decisions, for example, the need to rebuild the library. He said he thinks that is an atrocious idea. Councilmember Turner said Councilmember Reilly is making some great points, but in terms of the buildings, she doesn't think the citizens particularly care about the outbuildings around Public Works or the break room in Public Works. She said she is suggesting that the four buildings pointed out in the report as being the most vunerable and oldest receive the assessment. Mayor Sample pointed out that the City did receive a lot of input for the Parks Master Plan because citizens use the parks and the recreational facilities. She said residents don't go to the lunchroom in the maintenance building. Councilmember Reilly said he is looking for a huge amount of citizen input on significant projects that will result in the issuance of significant amounts of bonds and therefore significant taxes to be paid for by the residents. He said just because it is a building project for a maintenance facility that the residents don't use directly, doesn't mean that the residents are not interested in it. He said residents are extremely interested in the amount of money the City spends and Council has the responsibility to justify that. Councilmember Reilly said the buildings can't be addressed in a vaccum, because in his mind the other facilities have to be addressed at the same time because they might provide some planning opportunities for the City's vacant land as well. Mayor Pro Tern Kelly said Options 1 and 2 are the only options available from this plan because the plan is premised on the fact the Community Building would be moved behind City Hall and that's no longer possible, which negates the other options. Councilmember Turner said Mayor Pro Tern Kelly makes a very good point, because Options 1 and 2 are the only options because according to the deed restrictions the City is not to have anything else in that space, other than a park. She said if the City doesn't have the Community Building contiguous with the Library in that space, unless for a park, the City runs the risk of losing that land completely. Councilmember Turner reiterated that she would like a task force to focus on the four buildings (library, community center, Public Works outbuildings, which are the older parts of those structures not built with bunker strength, and the maintenance facility) regardless of where it comes out. She said she doesn't think a task force needs to look at anything else and said she thinks the City should go ahead and appoint a task force while waiting for the building assessment. 3of6 City Council Workshop Minutes, January 4, 2016 Councilmember Ballanfant said he doesn't believe the City needs to do anything unless the buildings are in some kind of fundamental risk of a roof collapsing or a wall caving in. Mayor Pro Tem Kelly said the simplest thing is to have a task force look at the plan to determine if it is still relevant and provide it's recommendations regarding location of facilities, etc. He said all we are asking from the members of a task force is their input. Mayor Pro Tem Kelly asked what is the disadvantage of having the task force look at the whole egg rather than just part of it. Councilmember Turner said the other S or 9 buildings don't appear to be in dire need of anything being done to them, so she is trying to focus on something topical that a small group can review in a short of amount of time. Mayor Pro Tem Kelly said he doesn't see this task force as making a decision that the City needs to do something right away with anything. He said he thinks Council needs to ask them to look at everything and see just what would be a Faciltiies Master Plan from their standpoint. For instance, what are the pros and cons of locations, pros and cons of a new building versus an old building, and how much longer can the City go with one or the other and then they provide the information to Council for a decision based on the report. Mayor Sample said what Mayor Pro Tem Kelly says makes sense, but the fact is it's probably not needed for the all of the buildings such as the Rec Center. Councilmember Turner noted that Page 3, first paragraph, of the plan states that the plan is to identify the space needs for each department of the City. She said that's all the plan is. Councilmember Reilly said if that's all it is then why does it state that the City needs to relocate facilities out of the City Center and expand parking in the City Center. He said if that's all it is, why does it say these things? He said he thinks Council is going to appoint people who are very qualified to evaluate the document to see whether or not all of the recommendations and assumptions make sense and then recommend changes and Council will decide whether it agrees with them. He said he is fully on board with Mayor Pro Tem Kelly that Council needs to have this committee evaluate the document and agrees with Councilmember Ballanfant that there be a building condition assessment before discussing which buildings need to be changed in 1 to 5 years. He said it may be true, but he hasn't seen any evidence of that. Councilmember Turner said looking at the list on Page 10, the relocation of Public Works continues to be problematic, consolidation of City -owned properties is a long -term goal since there are no opportunities at the moment, expansion of parking would be only if the City figures out a way to buy more land, rebuilding the animal control facility is underway; so, the facilities she would like to see the task force review are the only facilities left. Mayor Pro Tem Kelly said he just doesn't see any advantage of limting the task force unless there is some big hurry to do something. He said he would rather let the task force chew on it and give them a time limit to report back to Council. Councilmember Turner asked if the buildings assessment could be limited to buildings built prior to 1990. Mayor Sample said she thinks all the buildings should be assessed. Councilmember 4 of 6 City Council Workshop Minutes, January 4, 2016 Reilly said he doesn't think there is a need to do an assessment on the Municipal Building, the Rec Center, the Colonial Park Pool or Police Station. Councilmember Reilly said he would like staff to come back to Council for a vote on a list of the buildings recommended for a condition assessment. Regarding the Wastewater Treatment Plant facility, City Manager Peifer indicated that the facility was not included in the report because it is regulated by a state entity and is serviced and looked at all the time. After further discussion, Councilmember Reilly recommended that Council review the entire Facilities Master Plan and that the City's Facilities Master Plan Task Force make any recommended changes to this document. Failed due to lack of a second. Councilmember Turner moved to limit the scope of the Facilities Master Plan Task Force review to the following buildings: • Library • Community Building (to include the Senior Center) • Public Works out buildings (as defined in the 2015 Master Plan document) • Public Works Maintenance Facility Mayor Pro Tem Kelly seconded the motion. Councilmember Reilly moved to amend the motion to exclusively include recommendations regarding the Dincans facility. Mayor Pro Tem Kelly seconded the amended motion. Amended motion passed. Ayes: Sample, Kelly, Ballanfant, Reilly, Turner Noes: None Absent: None Councilmember Reilly moved to amend the original motion to explicitly address what to do with the Ruffino Hills property. Motion filed due to lack of a second. A vote was made on the original motion by Councilmember Turner. Motion passed. Ayes: Sample, Kelly, Ballanfant, Turner Noes: Reilly Absent: None After a break, Council discussed composition of the Task Force and it was agreed to have eleven (11) members on the Task Force. Council then discussed the applicants and after the selection process was vetted, the following were appointed to the Facilities Master Plan Task Force: • Orval Marlow • Mimi Tsai 5 of 6 City Council Workshop Minutes, January 4, 2016 • Keith Cole • David Flame • Owen Rutz • Brad Burke • Bruce Beneke • David Kukendahl • Eddie Matthews • Mark Plagens • Frank Griffin 2. Take any desired action After appointing the members to the task force, Cuoncilmember Reilly moved that Council appoint a chairman. Councilmember Kelly seconded the motion. MOTION PASSED. Ayes: Kelly, Reilly, Ballanfant Noes: Sample, Turner Absent: None Councilmember Turner moved to approve the appointment of Owen Rutz as chairman of the task force. Mayor Pro Tem Kelly seconded the motion. MOTION PASSED. Ayes: Sample, Kelly, Ballanfant, Reilly, Turner Noes: None Absent: None 3. discussion, Mayor Sample adjourned the meeting at 8:40 p.m. moo. 6of6