City Council Special Meeting

March 9, 2013 The Bastrop City Council met in Special Workshop/Retreat Meeting on Saturday, March 9, 2013 at 9:00 a.m. at the Little Colony AB Room, Hyatt Regency Lost Pines Resort and Spa, 575 Hyatt Lost Pines Road, Lost Pines, Texas. Members present were Mayor Terry Orr and Council Members Joe Beal, Willie DeLaRosa, Ken Kesselus, Kay Garcia McAnally and Dock Jackson. 1. CALL TO ORDER At 9:00 a.m., Mayor Terry Orr called the meeting to order with all members present. 2. WORKSHOP SESSION – THE BASTROP CITY COUNCIL WILL CONVENE INTO A SPECIAL WORKSHOP/RETREAT SESSION, FACILITATED BY RAY ASSOCIATES, INC., TO DISCUSS THE FOLLOWING: A. WATER SUPPLY PLANNING B. FORM-BASED CODES C. HOTEL OCCUPANCY TAX REVENUE FUNDING D. GENERAL FUND, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO: LEVEL OF TAX RATE AND FUTURE BONDED INDEBTEDNESS FOR INFRASTRUCTURE. E. INITIATE “BENCHMARKING”, INCLUDING WAGE CONSIDERATION, CAREER LADDERS, LEVELS OF SERVICES, TYPES OF SERVICES, FINANCIAL METRICS, SUCCESSION PLANNING. F. OTHER ISSUES RELATED TO CITY’S FUNDING, INCLUDING HOTEL OCCUPANCY TAX REVENUE FUNDING OR GENERAL FUND. G. CLEARLY COMMUNICATED, REASONABLY ATTAINABLE LIST OF CITY COUNCIL PRIORITIES FOR THE CITY MANAGER. H. OTHER TOPICS (IF AND AS TIME PERMITS): 1) REVIEW OF CONVENTION CENTER OPERATIONS, TARGETS, ETC. 2) “WHAT MATTERS SHOULD BE BROUGHT TO THE COUNCIL?” VERSUS “WHAT MATTERS SHOULD BE HANDLED BY STAFF ALONE?” 3) DEVELOPMENT OF A CITYWIDE, COHESIVE “EQUIPMENT REPLACEMENT” PROGRAM. 4) IDENTIFYING A “UNIFIED VISION” FOR THE CITY OF BASTROP. 5) VARIOUS “FIRE DEPARTMENT” ISSUES: a) EQUIPMENT b) NEW FIRE HALL c) TWO PAID CITY FIRE EMPLOYEES. At 9:05 a.m., Mayor Orr convened the Bastrop City Council into a Special Workshop/Retreat Session, facilitated by Katherine Ray of Ray Associates, Inc. to discuss the items posted on the Agenda. Ms. Ray stated before the Council started addressing the items posted for discussion she would like each of the Council Members to state something that distinguishes them from the other Council Members. The following are answers from the Council, City Manager and Ms. Ray: Willie DeLaRosa – more hardheaded; Dock Jackson – less hair, besides the obvious; Joe Beal – love to garden and cook; Mayor Terry Orr – somewhat of a mercenary; Kay Garcia McAnally – tougher on outside than inside, only woman on Council and she wants some chickens; Mike Talbot – Father had been a Marine and for the first 18 years of his life basically grew up in a Boot Camp and his father owned his own business so he learned the importance of hard work and dedication; Ken Kesselus – his prospective on Bastrop’s history is deeper than everyone else; and Katherine Ray – she has six grandchildren. Ms. Ray then divided the Council into two groups and asked them to each select a slip of paper containing a quotation. Each group discussed what their quotation says about what the Council is doing today. After each group finished discussing the various quotations, each member read their quote and shared how it applied to what the Council was doing today at this Retreat. Ms. Ray then opened the discussion on the Agenda items. A. Water Supply Planning Council Member Joe Beal stated his main concern, as a professional water person, is that last summer he was scared to death because the City came very close to not meeting the water demands of the City. Mr. Beal stated the City’s water wells failed unexpectedly. Mr. Beal stated without a good water supply a town will not attract growth, but more importantly, for the current citizens, if we don’t have that fundamental need, we as a Council have failed. Mr. Beal stated it is absolutely essential that we create a long-term water supply. Mr. Beal stated we are lucky that we have a river and do have underground areas available. Mr. Beal stated we have known for the five years he has been on the City Council, that we needed to do something, and we have started that. Mr. Beal stated it feels like we are waiting for the perfect plan, instead of working a plan. Mr. Beal stated he feels like we should look at what the K. Friese water study report is going to tell us and then implement it. Mr. Beal stated he hoped that the Council would walk away today with an absolute schedule and hold to it. Mr. Beal stated he was absolutely frustrated that the Council is sitting here again, one year later, talking about water again. Mr. Beal proposed that by the first of June the Council make a decision about what they think is our best alternatives for water supply and then 30-45 days later have a detailed schedule on how to achieve it. Discussion was held among Council and Mr. Talbot. City Manager, Mike Talbot stated the report from K. Friese is supposed to be delivered to the City on April 5, 2013. It was the consensus of Council to put discussion of a schedule and timeline for short-term and long-term water supply on the Council Utility Workshop Agenda for March 19, 2013. B. Form-based Codes Kay Garcia McAnally stated she wanted to discuss the creation of a committee to look at form- based codes. Ms. McAnally stated the City could start with Form-based Codes in a small area – Main Street and make sure it works because it is costly. Ms. McAnally stated she understood that the City also needed to update the Zoning Ordinance as well and probably could not do both because it is costly, so that is why she is suggesting starting with a small area for Form-based Codes. Mayor Orr stated the Council had received Resolutions from the Historic Landmark Commission, Bastrop Main Street Program, Board of Adjustment and the Planning and Zoning Commission urging the City Council to set as a priority the process needed for consideration of a planning initiative that focuses all the goals of these Boards and Commission into a single vision, and a Form-based Zoning in lieu of Usage Based Zoning Codes. Discussion was held among Council and Mr. Talbot. Mayor Orr asked if it was feasible, under the auspices of the City Manager, that a one to two page Planning Initiative Outline for Form-based Codes be developed. Mayor Orr stated as part of that the Council would ask each of the four boards/organizations to select two people to work on this along with two members from the City Council and give them 90 days to give a presentation to Council. Mayor Orr stated the steps would be as follows: 1) A go ahead plan – do that in 30 days; 2) Then goal of 90 days to bring all people together; and 3) Then identify others that may want to be a part of this. Mr. Talbot stated he would have the Planning Initiative to the Council in 30 days and then the Council can decide where to go from there. Council Member Willie DeLaRosa stated before the Council selects two people from the four boards/commissions that submitted the Resolutions, he could not be supportive of this unless people from all the community were selected to serve on this committee/board. Mr. DeLaRosa stated this belongs to the whole City. Council took a brief recess from 11:07 a.m. until 11:17 a.m. C. Hotel Occupancy Tax Revenue Funding Ken Kesselus stated he was the person who had asked that this item be discussed. Mr. Kesselus asked what percentage of convention center income the City is spending. Mr. Kesselus asked how the current five-year projection stack up in terms of projecting “fixed” annual needs for: 1) Making payments on the Convention Center debt; 2) How much use of the fund to support the Main Street Program; 3) Projected expenses that we use to off-set expenses for set-up and policing for HOT funded events; and 4) Funding small grants to organizations – what has traditionally been funded at about $283,000. City Manager, Mike Talbot called the Council’s attention to Page 1 under Item C of the materials the Council received prior to the Retreat. Mr. Talbot stated the Convention Center revenues are approximately $1.2 million and the Debt Service is a little under one-half of that. Mr. Talbot called the Council’s attention to Page 4 under Item C which showed the four-year history of actual expenditures and projected expenditures for 2013. Discussion was held among Council and Mr. Talbot regarding Hotel Occupancy Tax Revenue. Mr. Kesselus proposed the following to Council: Consider setting up a new category of annual funding – that he will call for starters – other internal and intergovernmental needs for three items. The first item being the State Park. Mr. Kesselus stated he thinks we are going to hear from the Start Park that they would like to have some help in keeping the golf course open. Mr. Kesselus stated he would like the City to manage a program promoting the sale of hotel rooms to play golf at the State Park. The second item is Arts in Public Places Task Force. Mr. Kesselus stated this is the Council’s own creation and he would like to keep the funding from coming out of the HOT revenue funds, since it is different from the other HOT funding grants, and the Council find a way to fund it. Mr. Kesselus stated the third item is that he would like to see the City come up with a Contract with CARTS to provide service for big events. Mr. Kesselus stated this would keep CARTS from having to come to the City and request help from our social services budget. Mr. Kesselus stated he would like to see some type of service on a regular basis that would pick up at the Convention Center and other areas. Discussion was held among Council, Mr. Talbot and City Attorney, J.C. Brown. Kay Garcia McAnally stated the City needed to take a hard look at who it is giving money to and who is actually putting “heads in beds”. Ms. McAnally stated the hotel/motel owners would like to work with the City on finding ways to bring more people to town. Dock Jackson stated that he has previously stressed the importance of a HOT Board who would make recommendations to the Council who would have the final decision on how funds are distributed. It was the consensus of the Council to schedule a meeting with hotel/motel owners at 5:30 p.m. on March 26, 2013 at City Hall. Mayor Orr stated it has always been the intention of the City to have a Convention Center Advisory Board. Mayor Orr asked that the City Manager provide to the Council an outline of what a Convention Center Advisory Board consists of and what it would do. The Council took a brief break from 12:20 p.m. until 12:30 p.m. to allow lunch to be served. D. General Fund, including but not limited to: level of tax rate and future bonded indebtedness for infrastructure. Willie DeLaRosa stated he had asked that this item be placed on the Agenda for discussion. Mr. DeLaRosa stated he had asked the City Manager to put together some numbers if the City were to issue $925,000 Combination Tax and Revenue Certificates of Obligation in October of this year. Mr. DeLaRosa stated he had asked Mr. Talbot to put numbers together for a larger amount as well for capital improvement projects within the City. City Manager, Mike Talbot called the Council’s attention to Pages 1-6 under Item D. Mr. Talbot stated $925,000 Combination Tax and Revenue Certificates of Obligation would be a $63,000 Annual Debt Service; $2,830,000 would be a $189,000 Annual Debt Service and $5,350,000 would be a $355,000 Annual Debt Service. Discussion was held among Council and Mr. Talbot regarding possible capital improvement projects for: roads, sidewalks, drainage, fire station, recreation center and old bridge. Mr. Talbot stated if the Council wanted to go to the voters in November of this year with a bond election, decisions would need to be made before budget discussions. It was the consensus of the Council that Mr. Talbot and staff prepare a Capital Improvements Plan, one with 5.3 million dollars and a proposed financing method, and one that is prioritized with things the City Manager thinks the Council should do and the cost. Mr. Talbot stated he would have this list to Council on Tuesday night. E. Initiate “benchmarking”, including wage consideration, career ladders, levels of services, types of services, financial metrics, succession planning. Kay Garcia McAnally stated the City currently has top-rate employees and she wants to make sure we keep them. Ms. McAnally stated she would like to be sure the City employees know how much they are valued. Ms. McAnally stated she does think the Council has to look at the retirement values, but she wants the Council to look into everybody getting a good raise and the City adding a grant writer position. Joe Beal stated “benchmarking” was high on his list of topics to be discussed by Council. Mr. Beal stated the Council said they were going to do this one year ago. Mr. Beal stated “benchmarking” is a way to measure the level of service the City provides to citizens compared to other cities. Mr. Beal stated it involves how we are staffed, our tax rate and our indebtedness and how we stack up compared to other cities. Discussion was held among Council. It was the consensus of Council that Mr. Talbot develop a list of cities to compare Bastrop to for benchmarking. Mr. Talbot is to have this list to the Council by May 14, 2013. F. Other issues related to City’s funding, including Hotel Occupancy Tax Revenue Funding or General Fund. This was discussed under Agenda Item C. G. Clearly communicated, reasonably attainable list of City Council priorities for the City Manager. Mayor Orr stated this item came from City Manager, Mike Talbot. Mayor Orr stated Mr. Talbot wanted to know what the Council thinks the priorities are and then Mr. Talbot give the Council a list of what he thinks the priorities are. City Manager, Mike Talbot stated he needs a clearly community, reasonably attainable list of priorities from the Council, and when new priorities emerge during the year, we need to agree on which of the previous priorities will be put on hold so we can accomplish the new priorities. Mr. Talbot stated Ms. Ray will be preparing a written report from this Council Retreat and when the Council receives the report they can set their priorities. Ms. Ray stated she would have the report ready in two weeks. H. Other Topics (if and as time permits): 1) Review of Convention Center operations, targets, etc. Mayor Orr stated the City Manager had covered this in discussion of the HOT funding in Item C. 2) “What matters should be brought to the Council?” versus “What matters should be handled by staff alone?” Joe Beal stated he had asked for this item to be placed on the Agenda for discussion and it was ironic that the quote he had picked at the beginning of the meeting dealt with the best executive choosing good people. Mr. Beal stated the City has really good staff, competent team and he for one is comfortable with Mr. Talbot making decisions and not hamstringing the City. Mr. Beal stated what brought this to mind is the hours that the Council spent on the 1930 aerial photo. Mr. Beal stated he had thought to himself that we all have better things to do with our time and Mr. Talbot and his team know more about this then we need to know. Dock Jackson stated the Council is to make policy decisions and the City Manager and staff make day-to-day decisions regarding operations. Discussion was held among Council. Mayor Orr proposed that by mid-April, Council Members are to give to the City Secretary their lists of things they think could be handled by staff and not brought to Council. Mayor Orr stated by mid-April, the City Manager and staff will also have a list of things they think could reasonably be handled by staff and not have to be brought to Council. 3) Development of a Citywide, cohesive “equipment replacement” program. Mayor Orr asked if the City has an equipment replacement program. Mayor Orr stated the City will not have our employees operating unsafe equipment. City Manager, Mike Talbot stated he was the generator of this Agenda Item. Mr. Talbot stated requested equipment purchases during the budget preparation are the easy items to push aside. Mr. Talbot stated he is preparing a list of equipment that needs to be replaced. Mr. Talbot stated unless a piece of equipment is a really big ticketed item, the equipment should be funding out of City funds and not debt funding for three years. Discussion was held among Council and Mr. Talbot. 5) Various “Fire Department” issues: a) equipment b) new fire hall c) two paid City fire employees. Mr. DeLaRosa stated this was an item he had asked to be placed on the Agenda for discussion. Mr. DeLaRosa stated he does not want to address this item now, but wait until Mr. Talbot brings the report to Council on bond debt. 4) Identifying a “unified vision” for the City of Bastrop. Kay Garcia McAnally stated the City is growing, XS Ranch is coming and there are a whole lot of groups promoting Bastrop in different ways. Ms. McAnally stated she proposes the creation of a development committee under the auspices of the City Council which will be tasked with creating a development vision, presenting it to the community , and after a process of consultation with all the relevant stakeholders, getting it signed off by the City so that it can move from vision to action. Discussion was held among Council. It was the consensus of Council that Ms. McAnally prepare a proposal regarding this and place on a Council Agenda for discussion. 3. THE BASTROP CITY COUNCIL WILL RECONVENE INTO OPEN SESSION TO DISCUSS, CONSIDER AND/OR TAKE ANY ACTIONS NECESSARY RELATED TO THE WORKSHOP ITEMS. At 2:01 p.m., Mayor Orr reconvened the Bastrop City Council into open session to discuss, consider and/or take any actions necessary related to the workshop items. No action was taken. 4. ADJOURN. At 2:02 p.m., Dock Jackson moved to adjourn. Motion was seconded by Ken Kesselus and carried unanimously. APPROVED: ATTEST: _________________________ ___________________________ Terry Orr, Mayor Teresa Valdez, City Secretary