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HomeMy WebLinkAbout062308R CC Min City of West University Place A Neighborhood City CITY COUNCIL Bob Kelly, Mayor Bob Fry, Mayor Pro Tern Phyllis Cohen, Councilmember Chuck Guffey, Council member Michael Talianchich, Councilmember STAFF Michael Ross, City Manager Alan Petrov, City Attorney Thelma Lenz, City Secretary CITY COUNCil MEETING MINUTES City Council of the City of West University Place, Texas, met in special and regular session Monday, June 23, 2008, in the Municipal Building, 3800 University Boulevard, West University Place, Texas, beginning at 5:30 p,m. to consider the following: MAYOR KELLY CALLED THE MEETING TO ORDER AT 5:30 P.M. IN THE COUNCIL CONFERENCE ROOM Those also present: Mayor Pro Tern Fry, Councilmembers Cohen, Guffey and Talianchich; City Manager Ross, City Attorney Petrov (arrived at 5:45 p.m.), City Secretary Lenz, Assistant City Manager/Public Works Director Peifer, Finance Director Thomas, Human Resources Director Standorf, and Parks and Recreation Director O'Connor 1. EMPLOYEE HEALTH INSURANCE Matters related to the Health Insurance for employees Bob Treacy with Waters Consulting Group presented this item. He said bids for employee health insurance were received from Aetna, Blue Cross, Cigna, United Health Care UniCare and the Texas Municipal League (TML). He said Aetna figures were close to United Healthcare's and Blue Cross was around a fifty percent increase and the others declined to bid. He recommended that we stay with United Healthcare and said the numbers will stay around the low 20 percent range as far as the overall rate goes. He also aid they are still looking at other options, such as different co-pays and a 4-tier structure, in order to get the premiums lowered. Mayor Kelly pointed out that in a meeting last year it was decided to go from a 90/10 plan to an 80/20 plan, with the employee paying 20 percent and the City paying 80 percent. He said he also recalls discussion regarding the 4-tier structure at that time. Mr. Treacy said he recalls that discussion, but also recalls that it was decided to wait until January after implementation of the $1,500 cost of living adjustment in September. Mr. Treacy said the only problem with moving to a 4-tier structure is the families tier would increase, while the other tiers would decrease. Mayor Kelly stated that the cost of living raise in September would neutralize the increase for the family tier and that the other tiers would be ahead, at least for the first year, assuming that it was only a 10 percent raise in premium. Mr. Treacy stated that we are looking at 15 percent increase instead of the 10 percent budgeted for total contribution. Councilmember Cohen confirmed that it is a 15 percent increase for the City after part of it has been shifted to the employee and that the overall City Council Meeting, June 23, 2008 increase is more in the 20 percent range. She also pointed out that the benefits are decreasing. She said the deductible is the same, but the out of pocket expenses are higher. Mr. Treacy said this is correct, because in order to get the costs down and get into the 15 percent zone, they had to reduce some of the benefits. Councilmember Cohen said she understands that there is a cost issue, but thinks we should be clear that this proposal really puts a lot of the increase percentage-wise in employee's pockets. When asked by Mayor Kelly where we stand now, City Manager Ross stated that right now we will be proceeding based on the approved budget. He said staff was hoping for only a 10 percent increase and the ability to keep the identical plan, but based on utilization and the claims, we are not able to do that. He said United Healthcare has several plans and that will continue to try and narrow it down to a plan that gives employees the most benefits, while getting the City as close to the budgeted number as possible. He said the final proposed plan will be brought before Council at the July 14, 2008, meeting. Councilmember Talianchich said what worries him is that the City is paying 15 percent and employees are paying 70 percent. Mayor Kelly reiterated that this is the purpose of the $1,500 cost of living adjustment. Mayor Kelley adjourned the special meeting at 6:19 p.m. 2. EXECUTIVE SESSION At 6:20 p.m., Council convened into closed executive session to discuss matters related to Section 551.074 of the Texas Government Code, Personnel Matters: Deliberations regarding duties of the City Secretary At 6:25 p.m., Council reconvened into open session and announced that, due to the interest of time, they would reconvene into executive session after the regular meeting. MAYOR KELLY CALLED THE REGULAR MEETING TO ORDER AT 6:30 P.M. IN THE COUNCIL CHAMBERS PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE PLEDGE TO THE TEXAS FLAG John Snyder, Troop 11, led the Pledges NOTICE. The notice of this meeting was duly posted in accordance with the Texas Government Code, Chapter 551, on the 19th of June 2008 at 2:50 p.m. CITIZNES WHO WISH TO BE HEARD AND/OR ADDRESS AGEND ITEMS Arthur Hirdler, 6416 Community, came forward and read a letter he wrote dated June 23, 2008, regarding streetlight placement at his preferred location, Community Drive at Byron Street. Mayor Kelly asked Mr. Hirdler why he thinks it will be better to put the street light at his preferred location rather than where the City is planning to put it. Mr. Hirdler said the City plans to put it right on the property line where that particular part of Bryon is used merely as a driveway to two residents and is access to the City's lift station. He said if moved several feet, it can be placed closer to the driveway than on the property line. He also mentioned that it will Page 2 of 6 City Council Meeting, June 23, 2008 avoid a hassle of keeping limbs trimmed as the trees there now grow. Mayor Kelly informed Mr. Hirdler that staff will look into it. Fran Oravetz, 4131 Oberlin, to speak about Colonial Park. He asked Council to do three things: (1) develop a creative and conservative $5,000,000 option to provide open and green space at the recreation center and to truly enhance and optimize Colonial Park, not only with respect to facilities, but with respect to scheduling activities and managing non-resident participation; (2) do a cost benefit analysis of this $5,000,000 option versus the $15,000,000 option; and (3) show the two options and cost benefit analysis to residents and get their feedback by conducting a limited scope, but statistically reliable survey. 3. FRIENDS OF WEST UNIVERSITY PLACE PARKS FUND, INC. Matters related to the Friends of West University Place Parks Fund including Resolution No. 2008-08 appointing a new Board Member. Councilmember Cohen moved to appoint Debora Connelly to the Friends Board. Councilmember Fry seconded the motion. MOTION PASSED. Ayes: Mayor Kelly, Councilmembers Cohen, Fry, Guffey and Talianchich Noes: None 4. DECLARING SURPLUS PROPERTY AT 3936 MARLOWE The City owned property at 3936 Marlowe must be declared "Surplus Property" by City Council in order to be sold in the future. The sale of the property would allow it to be placed back on the City's tax rolls and allow the City to use funds received from such sale for other municipal purposes. Councilmember Fry moved to adopt Resolution 2008-04 declaring surplus property at 3936 Marlowe. Councilmember Cohen seconded the motion. Councilmember Talianchich announced that if the City profits from the sell of the property, he would like the City to, in good faith, share the profits with the previous owners. City Attorney Petrov informed Councilmember Talianchich that there may be legal prohibitions with using public funds in this way. At this time a vote was made on the motion. MOTION PASSED. Ayes: Mayor Kelly, Councilmembers Cohen, Fry, Guffey and Talianchich Noes: None 5. RECREATIONAL FACILITIES Matters related to the West U Recreation Center, Colonial Park and Community/Senior Center. Councilmember Talianchich stated that there are only two credible samples that indicate what the citizens of West University want...the 2006 bond referendum and the questionnaire survey of December 2007. He said the numbers in these two samples point to citizens not wanting a building at the recreation center. He stated that there is a lot of hearsay, emails and reliance on focus groups and his opinion is that these sources are very small samples that offer a large probability of error. He asked why Council is not following the two written large samples of hard of evidence. Page 3 of 6 City Council Meeting, June 23, 2008 Mayor Kelly answered that the bond referendum in 2006 was approximately $26,000,000 and was done with probably not the best citizen input, but it was pretty close as it only failed by a few percentage points. He said we have hired consultants to come in, had town hall meetings, focus groups, public input, a survey and continue to include the item on the agenda to get as much citizen input as we continue the process. He said everyone interprets the survey differently. Mayor Kelly continued to say that the survey is just one part of the process and that everything must be weighed. He said Council is taking all the input with the help of the Task Force, Parks Board, Friends Group, and others, to come up with a recommendation as to whether or not the issue of a bond election should go before the voters. He said, if so, having this vote at the general election in November will give Council a very broad consensus of what the citizens in West University want. Mayor Kelly said in the end the big issue will come down to whether it is more cost effective to repair or replace the building. Councilmember Fry stated that a subcommittee of citizens was formed to study this, which they did in detail. He said from this point on, if the citizens are informed properly of what the conditions of the facilities are and why they need to be redone, it will be overwhelmingly supported. He said there are definite and valid reasons why that infrastructure needs to be replaced and if the Council does a good job of explaining that, there is no doubt in his mind that it will pass. Councilmember Cohen added that she thinks Council is charged with making a decision that's right for now and for the future. She said these facilities and this decision will last far longer than any of their tenures in West University, which makes her very mindful of the long term and new family's coming into the City. She also reiterated that the survey is just one piece of information and she is honestly trying to balance what is right for the City. Councilmember Guffey said he thinks that there is a feeling that perhaps the recreation center is not needed. He said he thinks the new (proposed) building is rather large and suggested that there be a workshop for this specific issue so that Parks and Recreation Director O'Connor and the consultants can show and justify every room in that building...from how many square feet it is, how much the extra rooms are actually adding to the incremental costs (i.e. racquetball court, meeting room, etc) , and what revenue/benefit is expected to be generated. Councilmember Cohen pointed out that the services the City offers its citizens are not intended to make a profit. She said we want to recover funds and charge for services that are appropriate, but at the same time not lose track of the fact that we are in a service-oriented business. Councilmember Guffey said he understands and agrees with Councilmember Cohen, but thinks that going through the exercise of finding out the usage and costs per square foot would be valuable information. Councilmember Cohen said she just wants to be sure we don't eliminate necessary programs because it doesn't seem they will be efficient today and thinks we need to look at all the purposes and not just one. Councilmember Talianchich stated that Council has to do its best effort to make a reasonable judgment of what the people want. Page 4 of 6 City Council Meeting, June 23, 2008 Mayor Kelly stated that he doesn't have a problem with people expressing their personal opinions, but takes a personal front when people accuse members of council of ignoring what the majority of the people of West University Place want. He said this has been a constant tweaking process and is a completely different situation from the bond referendum in 2006. He said since the beginning of the project, the costs have decreased from $26,000,000 to $15,000,000 and is still being tweaked so it can be well less than $15,000,000 by the time the recommendation is made to the citizens for the referendum vote. Councilmember Talianchich moved that Council, as a government, limit spending on the Parks and Recreation project to $5,000,000 and with that sum take care of Colonial Park and whatever is left over can be used at the Recreation Center. MOTION FAILED FOR LACK OF A SECOND. 6. CITY COUNCIL MINUTES Matters related to the minutes of the Regular and Special Session conducted May 12, 2008, and May 21, 2008, and the workshop meeting held on June 4, 2008. Recommended Action: Approval of minutes. (Gayle Schultz, Acting City Secretary) Councilmember Cohen moved to approve the minutes of May 12, 2008 meeting. Councilmember Fry seconded the motion. MOTION PASSED. Ayes: Mayor Kelly, Councilmembers Cohen, Fry, Guffey and Talianchich Noes: None Councilmember Cohen moved to approve to the minutes of the May 21, 2008 meeting. Councilmember Fry seconded the motion. MOTION PASSED. Ayes: Mayor Kelly, Councilmembers Cohen, Fry, Guffey and Talianchich Noes: None Councilmember Fry moved to approve the minutes of June 4, 2008 meeting, as corrected by Councilmember Talianchich. Councilmember Guffey seconded the motion. MOTION PASSED. Ayes: Mayor Kelly, Councilmembers Cohen, Fry, Guffey and Talianchich Noes: None COUNCIL MEMBER REPORTS Councilmember Guffey reported on a request from the Senior Services Board concerning hiring a Gerontological Nurse Practitioner. A proposal was received from Maureen Beck, a member of the Senior Services Board, and Councilmember Guffey recommended that it be added as item on a future agenda. No other reports from Council. CITY MANAGER REPORT No report. Page 5 of 6 City Council Meeting, June 23, 2008 ADJOURNMENT A motion to adjourn the regular session at 7:25 p.m. was made by Councilmember Cohen and seconded by Councilmember Talianchich. MOTION PASSED. RECONVENE INTO EXECUTION SESSION At 6:29 p.m. Council reconvened into Executive Session to continue to discuss matters related to Section 551.074 of the Texas Government Code, Personnel Matters: Deliberations regarding duties of the City Secretary RECONVENE INTO OPEN SESSION Council closed the execution session and reconvened into open session at 7:50, and with no action taken, the meeting adjourned at 7:50 p.m. Prepared by: Date Approved: Page 6 of 6