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Home My WebLink About062821 CC MinThe City of West University Place A Neighborhood City CITY COUNCIL STAFF Susan Sample, Mayor David J. Beach, City Manager John Montgomery, Mayor Pro Tem Scott Bounds, Olson and Olson, City Attorney John P. Barnes, Councilmember Thelma Gilliam, City Secretary Melanie Bell, Councilmember Shannon Carroll, Councilmember CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES The City Council of the City of West University Place, Texas, met in a workshop and regular meeting on Monday, June 28, 2021, at 6:00 p.m., in the Municipal Building at 3800 University Boulevard, for the purpose of considering the agenda of items listed. The meeting was held in person, but the public was also able attend via Zoom. Agenda of as follows: Workshop (6:00 p.m.) 1. Call Meeting to Order/Roll Call Mayor Sample called the workshop to order at 6:00 p.m. Mayor Pro Tem Montgomery, Councilmembers Barnes, Bell, and Carroll were present (note – Councilmember Carroll attended via Zoom). Staff present were City Manager Beach, City Secretary Gilliam, City Attorney Bounds, Assistant to the City Manager Thompson, Finance Director DuBose, Fire Chief Taylor, Public Works Director Barrera, and Police Chief Walker. John Peterson with HDR Engineering, Inc. was also present. 2. PER Drainage Improvements – East Side Matters related to results of Preliminary Engineering Report (PER) for East side. Recommended Action: Discuss and direct staff as desired. Mr. Gerardo Barrera, Public Works Director Before the presentation, City Manager Beach announced that there would be a 10-minute presentation then an allowance of 20 minutes for questions and answers per Council’s requested format. Public Works Director Barrera introduced John Peterson of HDR Engineering, lead engineer for the project. Mr. Peterson stated that the PER should be final by the end of August and proceeded with the presentation as outlined below: • Project Overview o HTJ completed a master drainage study in 2020  Identified new level of service to contain 50-year storm event within the ROW  Identified street sections where paving has reached its life expectancy  Must mitigate impacts until detention becomes available o Current Drainage Improvements  University Boulevard (Buffalo Speedway to Kirby Drive)  Duke St (Buffalo Speedway to Wakeforest Avenue) City Council Meeting Minutes, June 28, 2021 2 of 5  Wakeforest Avenue (Georgetown Street to Pemberton Drive) • Project Scope/Deliverables o Survey + geotechnical investigation o Size water control devices to mitigate impacts o Drainage area map o Preliminary storm sewer alignment o Roadway layout o Identify potential impacts to existing trees o Identify utility conflicts o Preliminary engineer’s cost estimates o Workshops with City Council • Data Collection o Topographic survey  Locate utilities  Survey trees  Field survey check o Geotechnical investigation  Boring logs  Roadway cores o Historical Data  Record drawings  Master planning documents  Maintenance records  Staff history • Preliminary Alignment Considerations o Proposed storm sewer underneath one lane of pavement to protect the trees and integrity of the neighborhood o System to be designed with restrictors until off-site detention can be secured o Location of existing City utilities and private utilities o Replace driveways to the face of the sidewalk o Replace ADA-compliant curb ramps o Utilize Urban Forester’s recommendations to limit the potential construction impacts to trees. o Water lines to be compliant with Water Efficiency Study (will be sized based upon future Council direction on level of service) Mr. Peterson then reviewed the preliminary layouts for the identified streets within the current project • Next Steps/Schedule o Size water control devices o Tree protection/mitigation and landscaping  Assess potential impacts of proposed layouts o Finalize storm sewer alignment o Draft PER o Coordinate with City’s traffic engineer on traffic calming recommendations to be incorporated in the design phase o Prepare cost estimates o Hold end-study workshop o Finalize PER based on City’s comments City Council Meeting Minutes, June 28, 2021 3 of 5 After the presentation, Mr. Peterson and staff responded to questions from Council regarding the project. At 6:34 p.m., Mayor Sample adjourned the workshop. The audio for this workshop and/or the presentation will be on the City’s website for a limited time. If no longer available on the website, please request a copy from the City Secretary’s office. Regular Meeting (6:30 p.m.) Mayor Sample called the regular meeting to order at 6:34 p.m. Mayor Pro Tem Montgomery, Councilmembers Barnes, Bell, and Carroll were present (note – Councilmember Carroll attended via Zoom). Staff present were City Manager Beach, City Secretary Gilliam, City Attorney Bounds, Assistant to the City Manager Thompson, Finance Director DuBose, Fire Chief Taylor, and Police Chief Walker. 3. Pledge of Allegiance Mayor Pro Tem Montgomery led the Pledge of Allegiance. 4. COVID-19 Matters related to COVID-19. Recommended Action: Discuss and take any desired action. Mr. Aaron Taylor, Fire Chief and Emergency Management Coordinator • Downward trend of COVID cases continues. • Hospitalization and positivity rates are continuing to decline. • In Texas, 684 new cases were reported on June 25, with a daily average rate under 1,000. • Hospitalization rate for the City’s region is 2.59 percent as of June 27. • Positivity rate in Texas is 3.7 percent; Harris County is 3.8 percent; and the Texas Medical Center is 2.4 percent. • Vaccine data indicates that 4.7 percent of Texas have received at least the first dose of the vaccine and 40 percent have been fully vaccinated. • In the West U zip code, data shows that 60 percent of the people are fully vaccinated. • Harris County Public Health data indicates that West U has had 593 cases of COVID-19, 587 are in the recovery category, a range of 0 to 5 for active cases, and a range of 0 to 5 deaths. After his report, Chief Taylor noted that now that the COVID pandemic has stabilized, this report will be staff’s last update to Council unless the situation and/or current trends changes. Chief Taylor said the last remaining agenda item related to COVID-19 will be to terminate the Disaster Declaration that is still in place. He said staff would like to keep it in place through July because of the temporary variance issued to St. Mark’s School that allows the school to continue to use tent structures on the property to allow students to be able to social distance, etc. Regarding City operations, Chief Taylor reported that on July 1 the Recreation Center is going back to normal programming, eliminating the reservation process. City Manager Beach said the City will be expanding some of the hours of operation, which is still under review, so there may be recommendations to Council coming forth. City Council Meeting Minutes, June 28, 2021 4 of 5 5. Sustainability Task Force Matters related to discussion regarding a Sustainability Task Force. Recommended Action: Discuss and take any desired action. Mayor Susan Sample and City Manager Dave Beach City Manager Beach presented and said that during Council’s goals workshop, there was discussion regarding a Sustainability Task Force and he suggested that Council approve moving forward with creation of a task force at this time in order to recruit and appointment members at the same time members for the City’s boards and commissions are being recruited and appointed. Mayor Sample said there were so many good sustainability ideas discussed at the goals workshop and so Council felt it would be valuable to appoint a task force to review all the ideas and bring to Council a manageable sustainability plan. After a brief discussion, followed by a brief description of the task force’s scope and mission by City Manager Beach, Councilmember Bell moved to form a Sustainability Task Force. Councilmember Carroll seconded the motion. MOTION PASSED. Ayes: Sample, Montgomery, Barnes, Bell, Carroll Noes: None Absent: None 6. Public Comments This is an opportunity for citizens to speak to the Council relating to agenda and non-agenda items. Speakers are required to register in advance and must limit their presentations to three minutes each. There were no public comments. 7. 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 Meeting Minutes Approve Minutes of June 14, 2021 City Council Meeting and Workshop Minutes of June 16, 2021, June 17, 2021 and June 18, 2021. Recommended Action: Approve City Council Minutes of June 14, 2021 and Workshop Minutes of June 16, 2021, June 17, 2021 and June 18, 2021. Ms. Thelma Gilliam, City Secretary B. Texas Local Government Investment Pool Authorizations Matters related to a resolution amending authorized representatives to the Texas Local Government Investment Pool (TexPool) to conduct transactions for the investment of City funds. Recommended Action: Approve resolution amending the Authorized Representatives to the Texas Local Government Investment Pool. Ms. Katherine DuBose, Finance Director Councilmember Barnes moved to approve the Consent Agenda as presented. Mayor Pro Tem Montgomery seconded the motion. MOTION PASSED. Ayes: Sample, Montgomery, Barnes, Bell, Carroll Noes: None Absent: None City Council Meeting Minutes, June 28, 2021 5 of 5 8. Adjourn Meeting With no other business before the Council, Councilmember Barnes moved to adjourn the meeting at approximately 6:50 p.m. Mayor Pro Tem Montgomery seconded the motion. MOTION PASSED. Ayes: Sample, Montgomery, Barnes, Bell, Carroll Noes: None Absent: None Prepared by: Thelma A. Gilliam, TRMC, City Secretary Council Approved: July 12, 2021