City Council Business and Community Affairs Committee Meeting

CITY COUNCIL BUSINESS AND COMMUNITY AFFAIRS COMMITTEE MINUTES August 15, 2019 The City Council Business and Community Affairs Committee of the City of Norman, Cleveland County, State of Oklahoma, met for a regular meeting at 3:02 p.m. in the Executive Conference Room located at 201 West Gray on the 15th day of August, 2019. Notice and agenda of the meeting were posted in the Municipal Building at 201 West Gray and at www.Normanok.gov twenty four hours prior to the beginning of the meeting. MEMBERS PRESENT: Councilmember Sereta Wilson Councilmember Kate Bierman Councilmember Allison Petrone Councilmember Bill Scanlon (arrived at 3:47 pm) ABSENT: Councilmember Joe Carter STAFF PRESENT: Mr. Darrel Pyle, City Manager Ms. Brenda Wolf, Permit Services Supervisor Mr. Ken Komiske, Director of Utilities Mr. Shawn O’Leary, Director of Public Works Ms. Jane Hudson, Principal Planner/Interim Director Mr. Terry Floyd, Development Coordinator Ms. Beth Muckala, Assistant City Attorney Mr. Tim Powers, Director of Information Technology Mr. Kelvin Winter, Code Compliance Supervisor Ms. Joyce Green, GIS Services Manager Mr. Ken Danner, Subdivision Development Coordinator Ms. Kari Madden, I.T. Operations Manager Mr. Scott Sturtz, City Engineer Ms. Sara Kaplan, Retail Marketing Coordinator Dr. Carrie Evenson, Stormwater Program Manager Mr. Todd McLellan, Development Engineer Ms. Syndi Runyon, Administrative Technician IV Ms. Jamie Meyer, Administrative Technician III Item 1, being: UPDATE OF THE ANALYSIS OF THE DEVELOPMENT REVIEW PROCESS Mr. Terry Floyd, Development Coordinator for the City of Norman, gave an update of the analysis of the Development Review Processes obtained by Management Partners. He discussed the Eight (8) Analysis Activities workshop that over 20 staff members from various departments participated in over the course of a three (3) day period from August 4-7, 2019. This workshop was to help develop specific steps needed to adapt the existing organization and/or business process to new performance expectations, mainly related to two (2) goals: • Estimate the time required to complete the development review process for commercial applications (including all reviews by every City department) and identify ways to reduce the total time. • Identify actions and tools to improve the user’s knowledge of fees associated with various types of commercial and residential development applications. Business and Community Affairs Committee Minutes August 15, 2019 Page 2 Item 1, continued: Councilmember Bierman asked how the stakeholder users were selected for interviews and if they had gone through the City’s development process as well as the extent of their development experience. Mr. Floyd said the development stakeholder users were picked from a very broad range of architects, large and small contractors, engineers, and entrepreneurs. He said the City tried to keep the user information fairly confidential, but he received a lot of feedback from first time users during the interviews. The purpose of the interview process was to capture as much data from a large cross section of users. He said the large cross section would help analyze the City’s current operations with users who have been involved in the development processes in a variety of areas. Mr. Floyd also emphasized that the interviews with City Staff and development stakeholders were held at the Norman Chamber of Commerce, without a City supervisor or department head present, to give everyone the opportunity to be very open and candid about the process, as well as confidential. Councilmember Petrone asked if there was a way to get a breakdown of the user feedback that was given without their names and what their project was, not specifically, so the Committee could see what type of information was taken, as well as their ages. Mr. Floyd said he will provide the Committee what information he has. Mr. Floyd explained the Staff workshops held at the Norman East Library. Three (3) day Staff workshop results: • Fifteen (15) specific staff recommendations in the areas of development review tools, operations and public relations. • Recommendations related to applicant permit fee notification, electronic application and plan submittal, inspection and plan review efficiencies, and outreach/educational efforts for the public and elected officials. Staff Recommendations; Development Review Tools: • Update the Development Handbook and communicate to the public; • Develop a one page checklist of applicable fees; • Create online sample projects with sample fees; • Post fee attributes on GIS; • Create online fee estimate calculator; • Update Norman construction standards; and • Implement Electronic application and plan submittal. Mr. Floyd also explained that the City is in a very unique time right now with multiple projects that will work effectively together once all are completed. With respect to the Management Partners analysis on the development processes, the City is also currently in the process of replacing the Enterprise Resource System (ERP), and working on a new website, as well as reworking the physical space in the Municipal Complex. Chairman Wilson asked at what point does the applicant get the checklist for applicable fees. Mr. Floyd said the checklist is given to the applicant when they first submit their application. Ms. Brenda Wolf, Permit Services Supervisor, also confirmed that the checklist is also available online. Mr. Floyd said that Staff will be creating a sample online project that will include sample fees. This will at least give applicants a ballpark figure of what fees can be expected. Business and Community Affairs Committee Minutes August 15, 2019 Page 3 Item 1, continued: Chairman Wilson asked how the Staff plans to handle weird businesses in the future. Mr. Floyd said Staff will be available to help those businesses that do not fit into the typical bin of businesses. Mr. Floyd he or Ms. Sara Kaplan, Retail Marketing Coordinator, would be available to sit down for one on one meetings with those applicants to help them through the process. Additionally, Mr. Darrel Pyle, City Manager, emphasized that there will be a list of questions that Staff will be asking to help applicants determine what categories they will or will not fit into. Chairman Wilson asked about connection fees, and whether that was looked at during this analysis with Management Partners. Mr. Floyd said approximately three years ago the City hired Raftelis Consultants to do a study of connection fees and that report is posted online. Chairman Wilson asked if those fees were revisited every year. Mr. Floyd said Staff does look at them and Council will have more discussion of those as the water rate vote comes forward. Mr. Floyd said the Norman Construction Standards and Specifications have not been updated since 2006, but funds are budgeted in this year and next year’s budget to complete the study. Staff Recommendations; Operations: • Improve the efficiency of the building inspection process; • Generate a water meter work order when a building permit is issued; • Coordinate the scheduling of final inspections; • Ensure consistent application completeness; • Create a staff position in the development center to serve as a first point of contact; and • Obtain authority from Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality for plan review primacy. Mr. Floyd said there were immediate actionable items Staff was able to implement right away after attending the workshop. There was a lot of discussion about how to allow the Inspectors to be more efficient in their roles and allowing them start inspections earlier in the day. Mr. Pyle said by allowing our workforce to mirror the workforce requesting our services would provide better outcomes. Councilmember Bierman said she has received comments regarding the inspection process and applicants with getting mixed information from different Staff members. Mr. Pyle said sometimes it is impossible for every inspector to see everything in the same way, or is it always possible to assign the same inspector to a single project until it is fully completed. However, with that said, this is an operational issue, and the inspectors will be graded on their evaluations how often such issues arise. Mr. Pyle said becoming DEQ certified Staff could potentially save 1600 hours of inspector time for plan review primacy doing the work in house. Chairman Wilson asked for an example and Mr. Komiske, Director of Utilities said if the City was DEQ certified Staff could permit water lines 12 inches and under, and that most of Norman’s subdivisions are 12 inches or smaller. Staff Recommendations; Public Relations, Outreach and Education • Inform elected officials and members of Boards, Committees and Commissions about development processes, and • Conduct public outreach to the development community. Business and Community Affairs Committee Minutes August 15, 2019 Page 4 Item 1, continued: Councilmember Bierman said she would like to make sure that all developers have access to this information either through a phone call to the City, a visit to the Planning Department, or by logging in on the website. Mr. Pyle said a lot of small businesses fail due to being undercapitalized when they begin and most do not know what it takes to open the door of a business. Part of the City’s outreach is to have packages of information that can be included in the curriculum for leadership programs, such as before you lease, before you buy, please ask and answer these questions. He said this will help them know who they can contact before they start writing big checks. Management Partners Next Steps: • The input and recommendations from the Staff workshop will be utilized in conjunction with final recommendations from Management Partners; • The results of this workshop will also be to inform future staff actions concerning the focus areas outlined in the final staff presentation; and • The final report from Management Partners in anticipated to be complete in September 2019 with full report to City Council. ***** Item 2, being: MISCELLANEOUS COMMENTS. Chairman Wilson said she would like the topic on how notice is given to neighboring property owners during the zoning process be put on a future meeting for more discussion. ***** Item 3, being: ADJOURNMENT The meeting adjourned at 3:49 p.m.