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HomeMy WebLinkAbout071408R CC Min The City of West University Place A Neighborhood City CITY COUNCIL Bob Kelly, Mayor Bob Fry, Mayor Pro Tern Phyllis Cohen, Councilmember Chuck Guffey, Councilmember Michael Talianchich, Council member 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, July 14, 2008, in the Municipal Building, 3800 University Boulevard, West University Place, Texas, beginning at 5:00 p.m. to consider the following: MAYOR KELLY CALLED THE MEETING TO ORDER AT 5:00 P.M. IN THE COUNCIL CONFERENCE ROOM Those also present: Mayor Pro Tem Fry, Councilmembers Cohen, Guffey and Talianchich; City Manager Ross, City Attorney Petrov, City Secretary Lenz, Assistant City Manager/Public Works Director Peifer, Finance Director Thomas, Parks and Recreation Director O'Connor, Parks Planning Subcommittee Chair Russ Schulze, City Planner Scarcella, Zoning and Planning Commission Chair Steve Brown, Zoning and Planning Attorney Jim Dougherty, Parks Board Vice- President Janine Schueppert, and Administrative Assistant Schultz. 1. RECREATIONAL FACILITIES Review of and discussion on the West U Recreation Center, Colonial Park and Community/Senior Center. Mr. Russ Schulze presented the item. He stated that the Committee held several meetings since the June workshop and has been refining the proposal presented to Council in May. Mr. Schulze pointed out one correction to the recommendation. He said the subcommittee reviewed some area where space utilization could be improved. He said the changes were recommended by unanimous vote by the subcommittee and were reviewed with the Parks and Recreation Board on July 9, 2008 and approved by the Board by a vote of seven (7) for it, one (1) against it, and one (1) unavailable. The correction to be made is to the unavailable vote. That person had since em ailed his "for" vote, which makes the vote eight (8) for it and one (1) against. Mr. Schulze announced the action recommended to City Council, which is that the bond referendum for $13.8 million be placed before the voters on the November 2008 ballot to fund the rebuilding of Colonial Park Pool Center and West University Recreation Center. He said the subcommittee believes that the proposed redeveloped facilities that the funding recommendation funds will address the long-term recreational needs and improve the quality of life in the community. Mr. Schulze said that the subcommittee made three (3) changes to reduce the amount from $14.9 million presented in May to 13.8 million. He said the largest of the three changes, which City Council Meeting, June 23. 2008 was discussed at the June meeting, is that the prior plan had a covered diving well at the recreation center which has now been eliminated in response to community feedback. He said so by eliminating the covered diving well, keeping the diving boards at Colonial Park, providing for the excess depth needed for diving at Colonial Park, as well as making the Recreation Center pool deeper at the end, the City is saving $600,000 which represents a little over half of the 1.1 million dollar savings. Mr. Schultz stated that the second component was asking staff what their needs are for the Recreation Center and they recommended reducing the total square footage by 1,500 square feet, which saves approximately $200,000. Mr. Schulze said that they also revisited how some of the numbers presented by PGAL were constructed. He said the numbers given by PGAL included acquiring such things as furniture, equipment, fixtures, which is budgeted at 10 percent, and another 10 percent for contingency fees. Mr. Schultz said when they looked at the recreation number, the number for the recreation center and the fields were slightly over $900,000. He said line items for the fields included reconstructing the fields, lighting, and fencing and the committee felt it wasn't appropriate to include all those when calculating what the furniture and fixture requirements would be just for the recreation center, so they reduced the number by $300,000. Mr. Schulze said they decided to leave the contingency at 10 percent, because, though normal contingency is 5-7 percent, PGAL felt we should be conservative due to the increase in the cost for construction materials around the world. Mr. Schultz that though they are slightly under on their furniture and equipment number for the' recreation center, they have three options: (1) funds can be taken from contingency; (2) possibly use existing furniture and equipment; and (3) can raise funds. Mayor Kelly asked if any of the $13.8 was designated for furniture and equipment. Mr. Schultz responded that $600,000 is designated only for the recreation center building furnishings Councilmember Cohen expressed her gratitude for the care that the subcommittee took in revisiting the numbers and responding to everybody's comments and feels that they did a great job. Mr. Schultz began discussions on the square footage projections for Colonial Park and the Recreation Center. Councilmember Guffey asked Mr. Schultz to explain why it states $1 million for Colonial Park and then gives a $3.9 million total. Mr. Schultz explained that the $1 million is for the building itself and does not include the swimming pool and tennis courts. Parks and Recreation Director O'Connor further explained that the primary cost is the mechanical system and the pool. Mr. Schultz added that to rebuild the existing pool is $840,000, the deck is $110,000, shade structure is $50,000, site work is $180,000, fencing is $70,000, rebuilding the tennis court is $160,000, which all comes to about $2.6 million and then general contractor fees are added, as well as soft costs, contingencies and a 10 percent escalation cost. Councilmember Guffey said that he has received several comments about cardio rooms at both locations and they think, and he tends to agree, that there should be only one. He said he believes if there is going to be a cardio room it should be big and accessible at one location. Mr. Schultz said there are things like this that they can refine as they go to the next phase of the process. Councilmember Cohen said the subcommittee has already demonstrated that it continues to evaluate and incorporate feedback and she feels they will continue with that process. Page 2 of 8 City Council Meeting. June 23, 2008 Mr. Schultz said they have tried not to have a "build it and they will come" type approach. He said they looked at the needs based on current programming. Councilmember Guffey stated that he also believes that the subcommittee did a great job by compromising and reducing costs. Mr. Shultz stated that another issue derived from the June 4 Workshop was the operating budget and how it's projected. Parks and Recreation Director O'Connor explained that they identified operating costs currently budgeted in facility and parks maintenance line, specifically the janitorial and service grounds maintenance all the way down to pool maintenance and then included them in the current, as well as proposed budget. He said the total proposed operating budget for the facilities is $1,550,000 compared to a current operating budget of $1,373,000. Mr. O'Connor pointed out a correction in the figures provided to Council. He said it shows an 8.6 percent increase, whereas it should actually show a 16.2 percent increase, which is mainly due to the future requisition of 4 new full-time positions that will be assigned to both Colonial Park and the West U Recreation Center. The positions include an assistant recreation manager, two recreation specialists, and a building caretaker. Mr. O'Connor said they anticipate that new fee schedules in concert with increased programming and activity participation, will increase revenues by 32 percent. He added that this is their best guess, because they are still unsure as to what they will charge for admissions to' Colonial Park. He also said he feels the Park Planning Subcommittee feels very strongly that the revenue will definitely increase if the pool is designed and operated as planned. He also said that a 50-year capital maintenance plan is included to ensure that the new facilities are properly maintained. Mr. O'Connor stated that it is his and staff's perception from this Council and previous Councils to make sure there is due diligence in maintaining the facilities and feels that staff has effectively identified all of the areas that are going to have some associated costs. Mr. Schultz pointed out that we are now paying for past sins because instead of initially constructing a facility at a level that would give you the life you would hope it would, the City went with a lower grade of construction. Mr. O'Connor then discussed the information in the packets that showed comparisons Council requested at the June 4 Workshop, which was compare what is budgeted in Parks and Recreation to the entities that were benchmarked against the Carter-Burgess study and to compare apples to apples and find out what we are spending, what do we recover and what is the percentage of that. He began pointing out that $1,643,580 line item includes facilities maintenance in the operating budget and they compared that to the City of Bellaire's $1,600,000. He said indoor revenues in West U were $674,490 versus Bellaire's $604,699, which puts West U at a 41 percent return for total operations versus 38 percent in Bellaire. Mr. O'Connor said the $1,049,190 line item backs out the facilities and building maintenance elements, whereas Bellaire did not include theirs, which is why it is increased to $1,900,000. He said when you do the comparisons, West U is at 64 percent return on budget and Bellaire is at a 32 percent return on budget. He said the Municipal Parks and Recreation Department national percent average for cost recovery is 34 percent. Mr. O'Connor then turned to discussions regarding comments received from the citizen that indicated that the City is out of touch with the fees we charge and our methods of operation. Page 3 of 8 City Council Meeting, June 23, 2008 Mr. O'Connor said we did a comparison with Bellaire and it shows that we are little higher in some areas, and a little lower in others and he feels that we are where we should be. Mayor Kelly asked City Manager Ross to provide the timetable from this point. City Manager stated that the anticipated schedule is to get a general consensus from Council tonight and then staff will bring forward an ordinance calling the bond election on first reading at the July 28, 2008 meeting and the second at the first meeting August. City Manager confirmed that City Attorney Petrov will also be serving as our bond counsel. City Attorney Petrov asked for direction as to how to draft the ordinance. He if Council wants to split the facilities or combine them into one proposition covering all the facilities. In response to the question as to whether Council could vote on giving direction to City Attorney Petrov as to how to prepare the ordinance, City Manager Ross reiterated that this meeting is to provide staff with a consensus of how Council wants to proceed and then staff will bring the ordinance to Council for consideration on first reading at the next meeting. Councilmember Talianchich objected and said he prefers to vote now, but was informed by City Attorney Petrov that without an anticipated action expressed on the agenda, no action should be taken. .. Regarding the ordinance language, Mayor Kelly said that the facilities are all interrelated and he feels it should be on the ballot as one proposition and advised staff to proceed in that direction and, if necessary, change it before second reading. Councilmember Guffey, Fry, and Cohen agreed with Mayor Kelly. Councilmember Talianchich said he personally feels that the items should be split because no one knows what the outcome will be and it would be a shame if nothing came out this by putting it all in one basket. Councilmember Talianchich also commented on how much this would cost, because we have to borrow $2,000,000 for the street lights and pay $200,000 annually in tariffs for the next 50 years. He said we keep running up these expense bills and he thought this would be a conservative Council, but said we seem to be spending very freely. He said we are looking at something that is a nice package, but are we looking at operating costs. Mayor Kelly responded to Councilmember Talianchich and said he doesn't think the City will have to borrow much, if any money for the street lights. He said regarding operating costs, he feels that it shouldn't be looked at as a "build it and they would come" facility. He said the usage will go up tremendously, and while the goal is to generate more operating income to cover those operating expenses, which he thinks we should do, he doesn't think we are going to have to raise that much to cover those operating expenses because of the increased utilization. Mayor Kelly said right now the Community is overwhelmed and more space will give us the chance to offer more programs. 2. PLANNING AND ZONING ORDINANCES Review of and discussion on proposed changes to Planning and Zoning Ordinances. A. ZPC Preliminary Report and possible Zoning Amendment regarding Variances. B. ZPC Preliminary Report and possible Zoning Amendment regarding Special Exceptions. C. ZPC Final Report and possible Zoning Amendment regulating Driveways and Parking. Page 4 of 8 City Council Meeting, June 23, 2008 D. PC Final Report and possible Zoning Amendment regulating Garages and Maneuvering Areas. Steve Brown, Zoning and Planning Chair, began discussions on items A & B. He talked about a Texas Supreme Court decision having to do with a zoning case in Dallas, which was brought to their attention by ZPC attorney Jim Dougherty several months ago. He said Mr. Dougherty suggested at that time that the City consider making changes to the zoning ordinance to bring it in line with the Supreme Court decision. Mr. Dougherty explained discretionary approvals and the two primary kinds, which are special exceptions and variances. He said special exceptions are created in the ordinance itself with set criteria; whereas, a variance is something that would violate the ordinance, because there is nothing in the ordinance pertaining to it. He said when you get into variances there are state laws which provide tough and subjective criteria. The two criteria focused on the most are: (1) can't be contrary to public interest; and, (2) due to special conditions, literal enforcement would create unnecessary hardship. The other two are spirit of the ordinance has to be observed and substantial justice has to be done. He said all four are parts of the test as to whether the Zoning Board of Adjustment can grant a variance. He also noted that both special exceptions and variances take a 75% vote to get approved. Mr. Dougherty presented the Dallas case that prompted the Texas Supreme Court decision. He explained that due that Supreme Court decision for that case, what is being brought to Council is the idea to adopt the rational of the Supreme Court on variances, but add a new category of special exceptions to give some flexibility. Staff would like to add one sentence to the existing ordinance, which is a special condition or hardship that is self-created, personal or based only on financial reasons is insufficient. Councilmember Talianchich asked if the City could ever issue a variance and how, if hardship is not based on finances. Mr. Dougherty said usually one is granted with a mix consideration. Usually an applicant brings into the picture the site conditions, the trees, how they want to use the property, the shape of the property, surrounding conditions, etc. By then, the applicant is out of the financial reasons alone category. Mr. Dougherty said that the approach on variances is to codify the interpretation put upon the law by the Supreme Court. He said the other thing on variances is to make it clear that the burden of proof is on the applicant. Mr. Brown said what they are trying to do tonight is to get Council to agree to a request to call for joint public hearings on the next meeting agenda for both variances and special exceptions. Councilmember Talianchich asked Jim how would variances and special exceptions help the citizens. Mr. Dougherty said the first one maintains what everyone thought was the lay of the land on variances before this case came down. He said the second one actually adds provision for flexibility that wasn't there before. Items C& D were then discussed. Mr. Brown reminded Council that on February 25, 2008, there was a joint public hearing on seven zoning ordinance proposals and, subsequently, five were fairly straight forward and were passed by Council. He said the two being Page 5 of 8 City Council Meeting, June 23, 2008 discussed tonight were not as straight forward, so they were further reviewed and are now being brought back to Council with final reports. Councilmember Talianchich requested that Mr. Brown bring back four (4) or five (5) examples of houses and show what he is talking about. Councilmember Cohen agreed. Mr. Brown said he was hoping that they could show that tonight, but due to lack of time, it was agreed to bring items C & D back to workshop at the July 28, 2008 meeting and bring forth proposed ordinances to call the joint public hearings for items A & B. Councilmember Fry moved to adjourn the special meeting at 6:30 p.m. Councilmember Guffey seconded the motion. MOTION PASSED. Ayes: Mayor Kelly, Councilmembers Cohen, Fry, Guffey and Talianchich Noes: None MAYOR KELLY CALLED THE REGULAR MEETING TO ORDER AT 6:32 P.M. IN THE COUNCIL CHAMBERS PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE PLEDGE TO THE TEXAS FLAG NOTICE. The notice of this meeting was duly posted in accordance with the Texas Government Code, Chapter 551, on the 11th of July 2008 at 11 :00 p.m. 3. PUBLIC COMMENTS Citizens who wish to address items that are not on the agenda None citizens came forward Citizens who wish to be heard and/or address agenda items Ramsey Elder, 2812 Tangley, came forward regarding Parks recommendation item. 4. RESOLUTION CREATING EMPLOYEE BENEFITS TRUST Consideration and action on a resolution of the City Council of the City of West University Place, Texas, authorizing the creation of an Employee Benefits Trust, designating all members of the City Council to be trustees, and authorizing the trust to purchase various forms of insurance for the benefit of city officers, employees, qualified retirees and their dependents. Councilmember Cohen moved to approve the resolution creating the Employee Benefits Trust. Councilmember Guffey seconded the motion. MOTION PASSED. Ayes: Mayor Kelly, Councilmembers Cohen, Fry, Guffey and Talianchich Noes: None At this time, Councilmember Fry moved to adjourn the regular meeting at 6:44 p.m. to convene a meeting to the Employee Benefits Trust. Councilmember Fry seconded the motion. MOTION PASSED. Ayes: Mayor Kelly, Councilmembers Cohen, Fry, Guffey and Talianchich Noes: None Page 6 of 8 City Council Meeting, June 23, 2008 At 6:56 p.m., the City Council reconvened. 5. EMPLOYEE HEALTH INSURANCE Consideration and action on authorizing the transfer of funds from the City of West University Place to the City of West University Place Employee Benefits Trust to pay for employee-related ben efits. Councilmember Fry moved to approve authorizing the transfer of funds from the City to Employee Benefits Trust. Councilmember Cohen seconded the motion. MOTION PASSED. Ayes: Mayor Kelly, Councilmembers Cohen, Fry, Guffey and Talianchich Noes: None 6. WESLAYAN PAVEMENT REPAIR Consideration and action on ratifying the expenditure for the Weslayan pavement repair project. Assistant City Manager/Public Works Director Peifer presented. Councilmember Cohen moved to ratify the expenditure. Councilmember Fry seconded the motion. MOTION PASSED. Ayes: Mayor Kelly, Councilmembers Cohen, Fry, Guffey and Talianchich Noes: None 7. RECREATIONAL FACILITIES Matters related to the West U Recreation Center, Colonial Park and Community/Senior Center. Councilmember Talianchich stated he just wanted to point out that government projects never seem to be close to estimations, so the estimated costs for the park facilities of $13.8 million may be closer to $16-$20 million. Mayor Kelly acknowledged a comment made by Councilmember Talianchich in the Workshop regarding Council not being conservative. Mayor Kelly stated that he feels that this Council he and all the members of Council have been very conservative and are constantly trying to do what they think is right and in the best interest of West U and its citizens. 8. RECORDS MANAGEMENT AND ELECTRONIC DOCUMENTS Review proposal and consider awarding contract to MCCi to install additional software, as well as provide training and support, on the City's existing Laserfiche system. City Secretary Lenz presented. Councilmember Fry moved to approve awarding contract to MCCi. Councilmember Cohen seconded the motion. MOTION PASSED. Ayes: Mayor Kelly, Councilmembers Cohen, Fry, Guffey and Talianchich Noes: None Page 7 of 8 City Council Meeting, June 23, 2008 9. CITY COUNCIL MINUTES Matters related to the minutes of the Regular Meeting and Special Session conducted June 23, 2008. Councilmember Guffey moved to approve the minutes of June 23, 2008 meeting. Councilmember Cohen seconded the motion. MOTION PASSED. Ayes: Mayor Kelly, Councilmembers Cohen, Fry, Guffey and Talianchich Noes: None COUNCIL MEMBER REPORTS There were no reports from Council. CITY MANAGER REPORT City Manager Ross reported that staff is continuing to work with Union Pacific Railroad on regarding the ditch between Bissonnet and West park to remove standing water behind residences and allow for landscaping improvement project at Bissonnet to proceed. ADJOURNMENT A motion to adjourn the regular session at 7:23 p.m. was made by Councilmember Cohen and seconded by Councilmember Fry. MOTION PASSED. Ayes: Mayor Kelly, Councilmembers Cohen, Fry, Guffey and Talianchich Noes: None Prepared by: Meeting adjourned. Date Approved: Julv 28, 2008 Page 8 of 8