City Council Special Meeting

April 10, 2012 The Bastrop City Council met in Special Workshop Meeting on Tuesday, April 10, 2012 at 5:00 p.m. at the Bastrop City Hall Council Chambers, 1311 Chestnut Street, Bastrop, Texas. Members present were Mayor Terry Orr and Council Members Julie Hart, Dock Jackson, Joe Beal, Ken Kesselus and Kay Garcia McAnally. 1. CALL TO ORDER At 5:00 p.m., Mayor Terry Orr called the meeting to order with all members present. 2. WORKSHOP SESSION – THE BASTROP CITY COUNCIL WILL ADJOURN SPECIAL SESSION AND CONVENE INTO A WORKSHOP SESSION TO DISCUSS: 1. DISCUSSION, EVALUATION AND RECONSIDERATION OF THE K FRIESE & ASSOCIATES, INC. SCOPE OF SERVICES FOR CITY OF BASTROP WATER SUPPLY STUDY. At 5:02 p.m., Mayor Orr convened the Bastrop City Council into a Workshop session to discuss: 1. Discussion, evaluation and reconsideration of the K Friese & Associates, Inc. Scope of Services for City of Bastrop Water Supply Study. Mayor Orr stated he wanted to start with an overview of why the Council was having this Special Workshop Meeting. Mayor Orr stated like Mr. Beal had stated this Workshop should have been held before the item had been placed on the Council Agenda for action. Mayor Orr stated the K. Friese & Associates, Inc. Scope of Services for City of Bastrop Water Supply Study was on the last City Council Meeting Agenda and was approved. Mayor Orr stated subsequently he has had conservations with two Council Members as to what the City is doing and why are we doing this. Mayor Orr stated he personally had a lot of questions and has put a lot of time into this. Mayor Orr stated he has had two meetings with the City Manager and Council Member Beal. Mayor Orr stated he has come away with a better understanding and Mr. Talbot and Mr. Beal has a real grasp of what this is and he is going to ask them to give an overview of this proposed study. Julie Hart asked if the Council would be willing to take up Agenda Addendum Item C.1 first. Mayor Orr stated the Council will discuss Item C.1 first. C.1 CONSIDERATION, DISCUSSION AND POSSIBLE ACTION TO AUTHORIZE THE CITY MANAGER TO UNDERTAKE AN EMERGENCY DRILLING PROCEDURE FOR REPLACEMENT OF WELL “C”. City Manager, Mike Talbot stated the City has been experiencing low production of Well “C”. Mr. Talbot stated the City has been in contact with Layne Christensen Company to see what they think may be causing the low production. Mr. Talbot stated last Thursday Well “C” went dry. Mr. Talbot that well has been in production since 1930. James Bene addressed the Council. Mr. Bene stated he had suggested to Mr. Talbot that before the City spends money to drill a new test well the City try a smaller pan in Well “C”. Mr. Bene stated prices for drilling test wells are coming in higher than he had previously quoted. The price for drilling a test well could be between $25,000 and $40,000 and the City would be looking at $200,000 to $225,000 for a complete well. Joe Beal stated that before the City spends a large amount of money it should take some money to figure out a solution. Discussion was held among Council, James Miller and Mr. Bene. Julie Hart stated that if Layne Christensen Company will be doing the testing and the City owns those tests, the City can get two or three opinions on the test results. Ms. Hart stated she would like to get more than one opinion on this. It was the consensus of the Council to spend $7,500 and do the testing of Well “C”. Mr. Talbot stated the results of the testing will be brought back to Council. The Council then returned to Item 1 of the Workshop Session. City Manager, Mike Talbot stated in 1985 the City sold the wells at Camp Swift. Mr. Talbot stated in that contract there was a provision that Aqua Water would not raise water rates for five (5) years. Mr. Talbot stated at the end of those five (5) years the water rates tripled. Mr. Talbot stated a decision was made to issue bonds to take the 1930 well fields and bring them back into production. Mr. Talbot stated the City has been taking a stair-step approach in addressing water issues. Mr. Talbot stated the Council approved a Regional Water Study and then from that proposal a Long-Term Water Study was placed on the last City Council Agenda for consideration. Mr. Talbot stated the City cannot sit here and say they do not want to do long- range planning because the City is playing catch up now. Joe Beal stated a regional analysis has been done, and now the City is windowing down what needs to be done now for the City. Mr. Beal stated the Regional Study was received in August and presented to the Water Committee and the City Council. Mr. Beal stated in October the Water Committee met more than once and asked for and received what the next phase of the Water Study would look like. Mr. Beal stated the Water Committee met again and looked at the scope of costs and then it was presented to Council. Mr. Beal stated the scope that is presented is a very classical way of doing water analysis for cities. Mr. Beal then reviewed the Scope of Services. Discussion was held among Council. Julie Hart stated she was concerned by the preclusion of staff (City Manager, Water Department & Council) and that this flowed through the Water Committee only and staff did not have a seat at the table and not included in the scope. Ms. Hart stated she also had concerns about the City spending $100,000 when the City just spent $113,000 in the Regional Study. Ms. Hart stated the City should put out Request For Proposals for the Scope of Services, especially since this was an unbudgeted expense. Dock Jackson stated the Council needed to look at this very carefully and he would rather get as many minds working on this as possible. Discussion was held among Council. Mayor Orr stated that any Council Member that has concerns regarding this item that the Council has already approved at a previous meeting and would like to express a different path to follow, to put that in writing to the City Manager. Mayor Orr stated with that in hand he and the City Manager will make a decision as to whether to put this back on an Agenda and have it relooked at. Mayor Orr asked that when Council is submitting their written comments they should be very specific of what you want to see. Julie Hart asked if everyone was in agreement then that nothing will move forward with the K Friese Scope of Services until the Council concerns are addressed. Mayor Orr stated that was correct. C. THE BASTROP CITY COUNCIL WILL ADJOURN WORKSHOP SESSION AND RECONVENE INTO SPECIAL SESSION TO TAKE ANY NECESSARY ACITON(S). At 6:10 p.m., Mayor Orr reconvened the Bastrop City Council into Special Session to take any necessary action(s). D. ADJOURN At 6:11 p.m., Kay Garcia McAnally moved to adjourn. Seconded by Julie Hart and carried unanimously. APPROVED: ATTEST: _________________________ ___________________________ Terry Orr, Mayor Teresa Valdez, City Secretary