Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout092616 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 Peifer, City Manager Alan Petrov, City Attorney Thelma Gilliam, City Secretary CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES The City Council of the City of West University Place, Texas, met in workshop and regular session on Monday, September 26, 2016, in the Municipal Building, 3800 University, West University Place, Texas beginning at 6:00 p.m. SPECIAL MEETINGIWORKSHOP Agenda Items were as follows: Call to Order. Mayor Sample called the meeting to order at 6:00 p.m. in the Bill Watson Conference Room: In attendance were: Mayor Pro Tern Kelly, Councilmembers Ballanfant, Reilly and Turner, City Manager Peifer, City Secretary Gilliam, City Attorney Petrov, Public Works Director Beach, City Planner Scarcella and Police Chief Walker. Gary Mitchell with Kendig Keast Collaborative was also present. 1. Comprehensive Plan Matters related to an informational update on the Comprehensive Plan project. Recommended Action: Discuss and take any desired action. Mr. Gary Mitchell, Kendig Keast Collaborative City Manager Peifer presented and introduced Gary Mitchell with Kendig Keast Collaborative. Mr. Kendig gave a presentation on the City's comprehensive plan and related timeline for the coming months. In his presentation, Mr. Mitchell made the following statements: • Though the State of Texas doesn't require the City to have a comprehensive plan, because it has zoning it needs to have to have something on paper that indicates what it's trying to accomplish with zoning regulations, subdivision regulations, signs regulations, etc. • At the end of the process, the focus will be on ways the City can make the comprehensive plan happen, which is through investments, capital projects, budgeting, programs, development regulations, grant opportunities and other types of plans. • Councils in other cities are concerned about adopting a comprehensive plan because they feel it locks them or future councils in, which he said it does not. He said it is a guidance document like the budget. • They plan to have the process completed early after the [Christmas] holidays. • They will be holding some informal public discussions and then a more typical town hall meeting in October [2016]. • Halfway through the process, he will come back before Council to provide an update and then again for consideration of a potential new plan before holding an open house and town hall meetings to ensure that everyone is on the same page for the focus of the new plan. City Council Meeting Minutes, September 26, 2016 Mr. Mitchell said part of their charge is to also evaluate the City's subdivision regulations and make recommendations. In response to Councilmember Turner's question as to how Mr. Mitchell plans to obtain a list of residents for the focus groups, Mr. Mitchell responded that they have been working with staff on plans to solicit typical participants like those that are very active in neighborhood issues, business people, concerned parents, etc. He said the plan is to have four focus groups with 10 -15 participants in each group. Mr. Mitchell said the focus groups session dates have will be held on October 18 and October 19, 2016. He said there will be sessions during the day and in the late afternoon /evening. In response to Councilmember Ballanfant's concern as to the process of putting this item on the agenda, City Manager Peifer said it has been 17 years since the last Comprehensive Plan update so it is good practice to ensure the direction and vision of the City because it may have changed since the last update. In response to Councilmember Ballanfant's question as to whether there are statutory requirements for a plan, Public Works Director Beach said, yes there are some requirements to legally update the plan to make sure it reflects the City's ordinances. He said the update of the plan has also been identified as a Council goal and priority and was budgeted as an expense in 2016. City Manager Peifer pointed out that the calendar for events relating to the comprehensive plan purposely avoids the holiday months. City Manager Peifer noted that Kendig Keast Collaborative also did the City's nonresidential review, so they have a good background on City ordinances and can provide a good consistency in how the ordinances are being presented so that the Code doesn't look like a patchwork quilt. Councilmember Turner asked for more clarification on the selection process for the small groups. City Planner Scarcella responded that letters will be sent to past and present board members and that information will be placed on the website and via social media. She said the selection process is on a first - come - first -serve basis and that the goal is to get a cross - section of residents. Councilmember Turner requested a list of the participants once they have been decided on. Planner Scarcella said she will forward them to Council. Planner Scarcella said every time the City adopts a zoning regulation, the preliminary and final reports addressed to Council include a statement that reads "these proposed ordinances or amendments have been reviewed in accordance with the comprehensive plan and are consistent with the comprehensive plan," which is the major reason why the plan has to be updated. She said staff doesn't want to propose an ordinance that would be inconsistent with the plan. Planner Scarcella said she will work on the small groups meeting times to accommodate as many people as possible. Councilmember Reilly asked Mr. Mitchell if his firm prepares a written summary of what is learned from the participants in the groups about their thoughts on issues facing the City. Mr. Mitchell said, yes, they will summarize the highlights of the sessions. He said they are especially looking to focus on topics that continue to come up in the group discussions (i.e. parks, drainage, etc.). 2 of 5 City Council Meeting Minutes, September 26, 2016 Mayor Pro Tem Kelly said when selecting the participants of the small groups, he suggests that stakeholders from different organizations such as the PTO, Tri- Sports, church groups, and different precincts of the City be solicited. In response to Councilmember Ballanfant's question regarding the budget for this project, Public Works Director Beach said $50,000 was budgeted for the 2016 Budget. Councilmember Ballanfant said he understands that the project was budgeted, but there isn't any documentation in the packet to explain how it came to be that Council is being asked to engage in this significant process. He said he doesn't remember a vote that said Council wants to redo the comprehensive plan. City Manager Peifer said in addition to the project being budgeted for 2016, the cost is below of what is required for Council approval, so staff proceeded with the process of engaging a consultant to accomplish Council's goals. Mr. Beach said tonight's agenda item was to brief Council on the introduction of the process and to identify the timeline. Councilmember Reilly said it might be helpful for Council to receive the seven pages in the Code that refer to the comprehensive plan, which Planner Scarcella said she would provide. Councilmember Ballanfant said he hopes the next presentation on this issue will be substantially improved and explained in detail as opposed to Council receiving a proposal for the project for which there is no description of exactly what is being asked for. 2. Adjourn Special Meeting At 6:30 p.m., Mayor Sample adjourned the workshop. REGULAR MEETING Agenda Items were as follows: Call to Order. Mayor Sample called the meeting to order at approximately 6:35 p.m. in the Council Chambers: In attendance were: Mayor Pro Tern Kelly, Councilmembers Ballanfant, Reilly and Turner, City Manager Peifer, City Secretary Gilliam, City Attorney Petrov, Public Works Director Beach, City Planner Scarcella and Police Chief Walker. Boy Scout William Urdahl, Troop 55, lead the Pledge. City Secretary Gilliam confirmed that the notice of this meeting was duly posted in accordance with the Texas Government Code, Chapter 551. 3. Public Comments This was an opportunity for citizens to speak to Council relating to agenda and non - agenda items. Harvey Michaels, 4107 Emory, spoke regarding safety. He said the incident that happened earlier in the morning was frightening and said he is concerned about how long it took to receive word about the incident from the City. He said at 6:29 a.m. there was a discharge of firearms call made to the City of Houston, at 7:00 a.m. he received an email from his secretary regarding the incident, but it wasn't until 8:00 a.m. and 8:53 a.m. that he received a phone call and a message, respectively, from the City of West U to shelter in place. He said he loves the City's police and fire departments, but said the notification system is screwed up. Mr. Michaels said residents should 3of5 City Council Meeting Minutes, September 26, 2016 have gotten a message almost immediately to shelter in place. He said there needs to be a system that responds much better and that the City needs to think about how it's going to protect the perimeters of West U. Mayor Sample asked Mr. Peifer to respond to Mr. Michael's comments with factual statements only, as recommended by the City Attorney. Mr. Peifer explained that at approximately 6:31 a.m. the City received notification in dispatch and responders were on site at approximately 6:33 a.m. He said the City tried to initially launch a CodeRed (the City's emergency notification system) at 7:04 a.m. and again 4 or 5 times after that before it was successful. He said the vendor and IT staff is in the process of performing a forensic investigation to find out the issue and to ensure that a delay doesn't happen again. Eddie Matthews, 5906 Fordham Street, spoke regarding the comprehensive plan and said he understands that any comprehensive plan or master plan needs to be reviewed and updated from time to time, but he questions why the process is being started now. He said it almost three - quarters of the way through this budget cycle and the City is now thinking about spending the money to begin the project. Mr. Matthews said looking at the proposed timeline, it doesn't look like the work will be completed until February of next year so what may have been a goal for this Council may not be the goal for the next Council if a new Council is elected in May 2017. Mr. Matthews also said the plan is for each of the four focus groups to have 10 -15 members, which is not a huge number with a City of 15,000 residents and that meetings during the holidays will not be avoided as the city manager said if, according to the timeline, there will be an open house between November and January. Alicia Drewes, 6112 Fordham Street, spoke to say that she agrees with the comments made by both the previous speakers. She said she also agrees with Councilmember Ballanfant about his statement in the workshop about the need for more details in the agenda paperwork. She said she has been looking at the budget and she'd like to know why professional dues funds, travel and training costs, and funds for community relations are so high. She said there are so many things that are totally vague and said she is not seeing the transparency. 4. Facilities Master Plan Update Matters related to the Facilities Master Plan Task Force providing an update and timeline relating to the process. Recommendation Action: Discuss and take any desired action. Ayes: Sample, Kelly, Ballanfant, Reilly, Turner Noes: None Absent: None Public Works Director Beach and Owen Rutz, Chair of the Facilities Master Plan Task Force, presented this item. Mr. Beach said the Task Force was diligent in meeting at least once a week. He said at the last meeting the Task Force had with Council, the consultant (PGAL) was given direction to take the changes recommended by the Task Force and update the current Facilities Master Plan, which staff should be receiving back from PGAL in draft form this week. He said the Task Force will then meet again to review the redlined version of the changes to be sure they accurately reflect what was recommended. Mr. Beach said after the Task Force's review the plan is for the final version will be brought to council for adoption in November 2016. 4 of 5 City Council Meeting Minutes, September 26, 2016 Mr. Rutz said there aren't a lot of changes at this point. Councilmember Reilly said he doesn't think the Task Force should feel shy about making revisions it feels are necessary. He said what he would like the Task Force to come back with is a document that gets the majority vote of the Task Force. He said he would also like to see the opinions of the minority votes noted as well so that Council can get an idea of the full feedback of the Task Force. He said it doesn't have to be just a few changes, but rather a document that the City is prepared to live with for some time and one that reflects all the work the Task Force has done. Councilmember Ballanfant said he thinks the Council needs to be given a lot of explanation on what's being proposed. Councilmember Reilly seconded that. 5. Future Agenda Items Matters related to future agenda items. Recommended Action: Discuss and take any desired action. Mayor Pro Tern Kelly requested that the City Manager provide an update on CodeRed at the next meeting. Councilmember Reilly seconded the request. 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 City Council Minutes of the September 12, 2016 Council meeting. Recommended Action: Approve Minutes. Mayor Pro Tern Kelly moved to approve the Consent Agenda as presented. Councilmember Turner seconded the motion. MOTION PASSED. Ayes: Sample, Kelly, Ballanfant, Reilly, Turner Noes: None Absent: None 7. Adjourn Councilmember Reilly moved to adjourn the regular meeting at approximately 7:30 p.m. Councilmember Turner seconded the motion. MOTION PASSED. �Esy 4 Mi es: Sample, Kelly, Ballanfant, Reilly, Turner s: None t: No e a � v • �� / are � Approved by Council on: � / t \TEXAS 5of5