City Council Regular Meeting

Minutes of Regular Meeting The City Council City of Richwood A Regular Meeting of the City Council of City of Richwood was held Monday, June 23, 2014, beginning at 6:00 PM in the Richwood City Hall, 1800 N. Brazosport Blvd. Richwood, Texas. I. CALL TO ORDER The meeting was called to order at 6:00 p.m. by Clint Kocurek, Mayor and presiding officer. II. INVOCATION The invocation was given by Glenn Patton, City Manager. III. PLEDGES OF ALLEGIANCE The Pledge of Allegiance and the Texas Pledge of Allegiance was recited by those in attendance. IV. ROLL CALL OF COUNCIL MEMBERS Roll call showed the following members present: Clint Kocurek, Mayor and presiding officer Paul Raymond, Council, Position #1 John Pitts, Council, Position #2 Jarrod Beaty, Council, Position #3 Chris Hardison, Council, Position #4 Sarah Harris, Council, Position #5 A quorum was declared. Others present include Glenn Patton, City Manager, Karen B. Schrom, City Secretary, Kenny Williams, Public Works Director, Danny Wiggs, Fire Chief, Jennifer Beaty, Admin Asst., Jason, Cordoba, City Attorney, Donald and Judy Parker and Shannon and Jimmy Greene. V. ANYONE WISHING TO ADDRESS COUNCIL There was no one present who wished to address Council on matters not on the agenda. VI. CONSENT AGENDA On motion by Councilman Beaty, seconded by Councilman Pitts, with all members present voting aye, the items on the consent agenda were approved as presented. A. Approval of Minutes of Previous Meetings B. Payment of bills C. Award bid for the sale of used water meters D. Ordinance No. 390 - Adopting the 2009 Edition of the International Property Maintenance Code, including provisions relating to the registration and amendments of Multi-Family dwelling E. Ordinance No. 391 - setting 20 mph as the speed limit on a portion of Oyster Creek Drive and all of Oyster Creek Court VII. DISCUSSION AND ACTION ITEMS A. Public Hearing - Violation of Ordinance No. 4-196 by James Allen Green - 1710 N. Brazosport Blvd. The public hearing was opened at 6:04 p.m. Jason Cordoba briefed Council on the update. After Mr. Williams, Public Works Director, determined the house was a dangerous and unfit building, Mr. Cordoba hand delivered a letter to Mr. Greene informing him of the decision. Mr. Greene was kind enough to visit with him and they were able to work out the problem and come to an agreement. According to the agreement, the Greene’s agreed the building is a danger and will demolish the building within 90 days. If the building is not demolished by September 23, 2014, then the City may do so. Mr. Cordoba asked the Council to approve the agreement allowing Mr. Patton to sign it. Mr. Greene stated they will get bids for the demolition within the next few days. With no further comment, the public hearing was cloed at 6:08 p.m. B. Action on the findings in regard to property at 1710 Brazosport Blvd. On motion by Councilman Pitts, seconded by Councilman Beaty, with all members present voting aye, the agreement with the Greene’s regarding the property at 1710 Brazosport Blvd. was approved as presented. C. Hometown Heroes Streetlight Banner Program Donald and Judy Parker presented the Hometown Heroes Streetlight Banner Program to City Council. This is a tribute to all veterans from Brazoria County. Each banner will be unique and honor specific Brazoria County Veterans including their picture, branch of service, era of service and their sponsor printed on both sides. The banners will be mounted on street light poles and will be displayed from Memorial Day through Veteran’s Day. The initial sponsorship is $200 and replacement banners are $100 The American Legion make $52 off each banner and they use the money to help veterans. If the City adopts the program, they will contact the Lion’s Club since Richwood does not have an American Legion post. On motion by Councilman Harris, seconded by Councilman Pitts, with all members present voting aye, it was duly adopted to approve the Hometown Heroes Streetlight Banner Program. D. Selection of Mayor Pro Tem The City Charter requires the Mayor Pro Tem be appointed each year after the May election. Mayor Kocurek suggested the City develop a program where Council rotates among members each year. On motion by Councilman Pitts, seconded by Councilman Harris, with all members present voting aye, it was duly adopted to start with Position #1. Councilman Raymond is the Mayor Pro Tem for this yea. E. Possible annexation of 928.34 acre tract in the Cochran & McClure Subdivision along SH 288B Mr Patton explained that as a Home Rule City, we no longer need to wait to be asked to start annexation proceedings. A lot of interest has been shown recently in that property and he feels the City needs to act now to have some control over future development. The developers that are currently in talks with the owner would like to have city services in the future. On motion by Councilman Pitts, seconded by Councilman Harris, with all members voting aye, it was duly adopted to authorize Mr. Patton to start the annexation proceedings on the 928.34 acre tract in the Cochran & McClure Subdivision.  F. Five year plans - Fire Department Danny Wiggs, Fire Chief presented the Fire Department’s Five Year Plan: Replace or recertify one of the trucks. Replacement is about $400,000 to $600,000 and recertification is approximately $30.000 to $40,000. Complete rotation of bunker gear - $7,000 per set with 18 members. New radio system Relocation of the Fire Department. It’s currently in a residential area. They are looking into grants to help fund some of the requests. Councilman Raymond offered to help with the grant writing. G. Increase Fire Department Donation On motion by Councilman Pitts, seconded by Councilman Harris, with all members voting aye, it was duly adopted to increase the Fire Department donation from $1.00 per month to $1.50 per month. H. Proposed amendments to Noise Ordinance We recently received a complaint about the music from a local church being too loud. We have not received a complaint prior to this. In our current ordinance, there is no criteria set for what constitutes a noise violation. The decibel rating from the church is 75 and it lasts 35-40 minutes. We reviewed other cities ordinances. Lake Jackson limits amplified noise to 80 decibels and Angleton limits it to 85 decibels. All the ordinances reviewed do exempt religious organizations. On motion by Councilman Pitts, seconded by Councilman Hardison, with all members present voting aye, it was duly adopted to table this item pending further research. I. Approve items pulled from Consent Agenda There were no items pulled from the consent agenda. VIII. REPORTS Reports that require no action.  A. 2014 Citizen Survey Results The City received 45 responses to the 2014 Citizen Survey. It was hoped we’d have more. The responders did agree that Richwood is a great place to live and raise a family but did note deficiencies in some areas. They include: Recreational activities Sense of community Public relations Garbage and heavy trash Lack of restaurants and grocery stores IX. CITY MANAGER’S REPORT Mr. Patton reported that he has visited with developers who are interested in developing an apartment complex near the Fed Ex building. There is a very strong possibility we will be coming back to Council with a Chapter 380 agreement. The budget process is in full swing. We will be meeting with department heads in the next week and will begin work on balancing the budget. We are building a new pavilion at the Richwood Municipal park. It will be about 500 square feet. The slab is poured and the posts are up. Hope to have it completed in 30 days. The City needs to start moving in the direction of increasing recreational activities. One suggestion has been to develop a park complex around our existing park, with a new swimming pool and community center. The splash pad has been a huge hit. One suggestion is to send letters asking the businesses to contribute for park improvements. Bobby Ford Park was renamed after Mr. Ford agreed to donate $5,000 per year for improvements to the park. X. FUTURE AGENDA ITEMS Noise Ordinance XI. COMMITTEE REPORTS There was a huge turn out for Movie in the Park. Kudos to the Parks and Recreation Department for making this a success. We learned a lot from it and will use what we learned to improve. Concert in the Park will be July 12th and Faith Alone will be performing.  XII. COUNCIL MEMBER COMMENTS & REPORTS Councilman Beaty challenged Council to attend the Parks events. This is a great way to get input and a feel into the heartbeat of the community. XIII. MAYOR’S REPORT Mayor Kocurek reported that he, Mr. Patton and Ms. Schrom will be meeting with the Department Heads on Tuesday and Wednesday to begin work on balancing the budget. We will be taking pictures of Council at the July 12th meeting for the website and mentioned we need short bios of councilmembers as well. XIV. ADJOURNMENT With no further business to discuss, the meeting was adjourned at 7:14 p.m. APPROVED BY A MAJORITY VOTE OF COUNCIL ON JULY 14, 2014. ___________________________________ Clint Kocurek, Mayor ATTEST: __________________________________ Karen B. Schrom, City Secretary