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, October 13, 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 Sarah Harris, Council, Position #4 Chris Hardison, Council, Position #5 Absent: Jarrod Beaty, Council, Position #3 A quorum was declared. Others present included Glenn Patton, City Manager, Karen B. Schrom, City Secretary, Kenny Williams, Public Works Director, Jason Cordoba, City Attorney, Danny Wiggs, Fire Chief, Lauren LaCount, Brad Caudle, Brittany Hardison, Kayla Viehland, Mary Groth, Peng Zhou, Weiran Yang, Rocky Gibson, Linda Lopez Ellis, Teresa Arrambide, Jason Hamilton, Gayle Pitts, Molly  Caudle, Josie Lucas, Teresa Nolen, Martha Floyd, Ken Chronister, Matt Chronister, James Hughes, James Perry, Jennifer Cloninger, Lynn Lester, Chris Cloninger, John Fleming, Tim Bueno, Raymond Burroughs, Taylor Caudle, Dylan Caudle, Ali Smith, Edgar Floyd. V. CONSENT AGENDA On motion by Councilman Hardison, seconded by Councilman Harris, 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 VI. DISCUSSION AND ACTION ITEMS A. Appointment to Parks and Recreation Board On motion by Councilman Harris, seconded by Councilman Hardison, with all members present voting aye, Megan Leonard was appointed to the Parks and Recreation Board. B. Appointment to Crime Control and Prevention District On motion by Councilman Hardison, seconded by Councilman Harris, with all members present voting aye, Scott Litton was appointed to the Crime Control and Prevention District Board. C. Chapter 380 Agreement with 210 Developers The Chapter 380 Agreement with 210 Developers was presented by Mr. Cordoba and 210 Developers wanted the following changes: • Although 210 DG is budgeting for a $32 million project, for purposes of the Agreement, we’d like to use $25 million as the guaranteed construction number and $20 million as the tax appraised value minimum number for the term of the Agreement, which gives some protection in case of an unlikely downturn in the economy • Construction completion date = January 31, 2016 (replacing Dec 31, 2015), which is consistent with our other agreements related to the Project • Number of units – we are still negotiating to get to 308; the floor is 248, so we’d like to use the range of 248-308 • Buy Local – I’ve specified that 210 DG will publish solicitations for goods and services in a paper in Brazoria County and will consider competitive responses  with a preference given to local providers; for materials, the publication threshold will be $50,000 and for subcontracting services, the publication threshold will be $100,000 • Police Officer Unit – at 50% of the published rental rate at the time the lease On motion by Councilman Hardison, seconded by Councilman Pitts, with all members present voting aye, the Chapter 380 Agreement with the amendments was approved. D. Authorize KSA Engineering to do a feasibility study on Lift Station #4 Mr. Patton stated he would like KSA Engineering to do a feasibility study on Lift Station #4. It is the last of the lift stations that needs repair and our main question is do we rehab the lift station or do we replace it. The northern part of the city which is served by this lift station is seeing continued growth and we need to determine if this lift station can continue to handle the growth. Mr. Williams reported that we are seeing rebar in the walls and he would like to see it expanded to at least twice it’s current size. On motion by Councilman Hardison, seconded by Councilman Harris, with all members present voting aye, it was authorized to have KSA Engineering do a feasibility study on Lift Station #4 E. Appointment of representative and alternate to H-GAC's General Assembly On motion by Councilman Pitts, seconded by Councilman Raymond, with all members present voting aye, it was duly adopted to appoint Councilman Harris as the City’s representative and Councilman Hardison as the alternate to H-GAC’s General Assembly. VII. REPORTS A. Finance Reports Par for the period ending September 30th is 100% expended. We are still receiving revenues and bills. It is hoped that we will be able to give an unaudited final report on October 27th. VIII. CITY MANAGER’S REPORT Mr. Patton reported that he has met with two people who wish to develop property in Richwood. One is interested in the undeveloped Pine property in the Glenwood Bayou subdivision and another who wishes to develop the 900 acres across the street. He represents a company that is interested in developing master community with mixed use of commercial and residential.  IX. FUTURE AGENDA ITEMS There was none. X. COMMITTEE REPORTS There were none. XI. COUNCIL MEMBER COMMENTS & REPORTS There were none. XII. MAYOR’S REPORT Mayor Kocurek reminded Council that the Trunk or Treat is Friday, October 24th and that Council has a booth. XIII. PUBLIC COMMENTS Lauren LaCount was the first to speak. She met with Mr. Patton earlier and wishes to be on a future agenda. She said she had been in contact with City Council since the public comment section was removed on the September 22nd Council meeting. Mr. Patton agreed that was a mistake. There were a lot of people who sent emails to City Council in support of Brad. She became concerned when a lot of people came to her after the meeting. Some of their concerns were her concerns and some became her concerns. As a result of the decision City Council made to fire Brad, some officers left and they were good officers. Brad Caudle then spoke and said he has accepted the Council’s choice to fire him. Two letters from Clint where he was told not to come to City Hall, he never got them. The letter dated July 24th was not created until July 31st. As for the memo for retaliation regarding the two F-5’s, the officers walked off the job. He didn’t care that it was not city policy, they put the city at risk in his opinion. Ms. Schrom said the disciplinary letters were back dated but he could prove when he wrote them. He contacted Officer Taylor only twice, not numerous times. He came to City Hall only because Jessica wanted him to be here to help change a tire. He told Council that they had to live with the decision they made. They allowed 4 people and one vindictive old man to take his career away. Mary Groth then spoke and stated she’d known Brad a long time. She was unsure why Mr. Patton was upset with him about the F-5s. She saw that letters were sent to TCOLE rescinding the F-5s on the two officers who resigned and the city reinstated them back to the date they resigned. She asked how they could do that when they resigned? Instead they were rewarded and got their full benefits back. Officer  Taylor has been known to harass business owners and she said he’d told people he got the Chief fired. She also referenced an email dated August 5th between Mayor Kocurek and Mr. Patton addressing changes in the Police Department. They do now run the Police Department, they are not the Police Chief. She also stated that Mr. Caudle never passed out pamphlets, she did. Rocky Gibson stated that Mr. Caudle had almost arrested him once and we need leaders who make the right decision. He felt Mr. Caudle was doing a good job and he never once said anything bad about City Council. XIV. ADJOURNMENT With no further business to discuss, the meeting was adjourned at 6:33 p.m. APPROVED BY A MAJORITY VOTE OF COUNCIL ON OCTOBER 27, 2014. ________________________ Clint Kocurek, Mayor ATTEST: ________________________ Karen B. Schrom, City Secretary