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, January 11, 2016, 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 were 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 #2 Melissa Blanks, Council, Position #3 Sarah Harris, Council, Position #4 Chris Hardison, Council, Position #5 Absent: Jarrod Beaty, Council, Position #3 and Mayor Pro Tem A quorum was declared. Others present included Glenn Patton, City Manager, Karen B. Schrom, City Secretary, Kenny Williams, Public Works Director, Bryan Corb, Police Jason Cordoba, City Attorney, Chief, Mark Guthrie, Fire Chief, Brad Caudle, Michele and Kevin Story, Lauren LaCount, James Perry, Matthew Bayes and Brian Allen V. CONSENT AGENDA On motion by Councilman Harris, seconded by Councilman Hardison, 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. Appoint Parks & Recreation Board Members D. Appoint Keep Richwood Beautiful Members VI. DISCUSSION AND ACTION ITEMS A. Ordinance No. 403 - Permit the Use of Golf Carts in the City on Certain Public Streets Councilman Hardison stated he’d like to make a few changes. One is to Section 9 regarding age restrictions. He’d like to see this changed where children under the age of 5 must be accompanied by their legal guardian. He’d also like to have the state code inserted into Section 10 on operation regulations. Councilman Harris asked why this is necessary. You can only go 2 mile radius from home and can’t cross the highway. Councilman Raymond asked if we’d had folks who were interested in such an ordinance. Councilman Harris asked if this was something required by state code or is it optional. Mr. Cordoba explained the traffic code does allow such vehicles in certain areas but the City could expand this if they wished to include more than just master planned communities. Councilman Hardison made the motion to adopt Ordinance No. 403, permitting the use of Golf Carts in the City on Certain Public Streets. There was no second. The motion died for a lack of a second. B. Granting variances from certain 2015 International Building Code requirements to two commercial properties already under development. At the time the City adopted the 2015 International Building Codes on November 9, 2015, there were two commercial businesses already in development for storage buildings. The engineering and development designs were based on the 2009 International Code requirements. These are the two storage facilities.  The request for the variances comes from City Staff. A lot of work goes into a well planned commercial development before the ground is even broken on the project. This includes development, engineering and architectural design work, any of which is quite expensive. In our opinion, this would be unfair to these two developers. Secondly, we have since discovered that the City would also incur an unbudgeted expense of about $25,000 to $30,000 to be able to provide the water needed for a sprinkler system to one of the properties. The property in question had been undeveloped for a long time. Our policy in the past had been to run water lines in that area on an as needed basis. Councilman Hardison stated he did not think our failure warrants us to grant the variances. On motion by Councilman Hardison, seconded by Councilman Blanks, with all members present voting aye, the request for the variances were denied. C. Personnel Policy Revisions - Whistleblower Act and Firearms Prohibition On motion by Councilman Harris, seconded by Councilman Hardison, with all members present voting aye, this item was tabled. D. First Amendment for Debris Removal Contract On motion by Councilman Hardison, seconded by Councilman Harris, with all members present voting aye, the First Amendment for Debris Removal Contract was approved as presented. E. Proposed Annexation of property located at 4907 Brazosport Blvd. On motion by Councilman Hardison, seconded by Councilman Harris, with all members present voting aye, it was duly adopted to begin annexation proceedings of the property at 4907 Brazosport Blvd. F. Approve items removed from Consent Agenda There were none. G. Discuss and consider acceptance of resignation from Mayor Clint Kocurek Mayor Kocurek stated he’d been here for 5 years and has seen the city grow. We are now a home rule city with a charter and we were the last city to allow alcohol which was the first thing he did as Mayor. We have a new City Hall, have repaired streets, added sidewalks and added more volunteer opportunities for the City.  In November of last year, he took a job outside of the city and has recently received a promotion. He is traveling a lot and is unable to devote the time he feels this City needs. As a result, he feels it is in the City’s best interest if he resigns. On motion by Councilman Harris, seconded by Councilman Hardison, with all members present voting aye, Mayor Kocurek’s resignation was accepted. H. Pursuant to Section 551.071 and 551.074 of the Texas Government Code for Consultation with Attorney regarding the legal process of replacing position of Mayor and discussion regarding the appointment of a new Mayor Council entered the executive session at 6:32 p.m. Council exited the executive session at 7:21 p.m. I. Discuss and consider appointment of new Mayor No action was taken. VII. REPORTS A. Finance Reports Par for the period ending December 31, 2015 is 75%. VIII. CITY MANAGER’S REPORT Mr. Patton reported he and Mr. Raymond met with Retail Coach. They have offered to extend the contact for 6 months for free if they do not bring anyone in by the end of the existing contact. They will be emailing a list of the vendors they’ve contacted. Unfortunately we are in stiff competition with Lake Jackson. He feels if the businesses did a site visit, they’d quickly see how much Richwood has to offer. IX. FUTURE AGENDA ITEMS Executive session to discuss the appointment of Mayor Action as a result of executive session Swearing in and oath of new Mayor X. COMMITTEE REPORTS Christmas in the Park was a huge success.  XI. COUNCIL MEMBER COMMENTS & REPORTS Councilman Harris thanked Mayor Kocurek for his hard work and stated she’d enjoyed working with him for the past 2 months. The City will be hosting BCCA this month on January 20th at the DOW Academic Center. XII. MAYOR’S REPORT There was no report. XIII. PUBLIC COMMENTS Brad Caudle stated he wished to address Council regarding his personnel file. When he left, he put up a battle but since then has moved on and done very well for himself and his family. It was never his intent to stay out of law enforcement and said he was recently told by a local city manager that Mr. Patton is not doing him any favors. He insisted there were things put in his personnel file by Mr. Patton that cannot be substantiated. He wants them removed. Lauren LaCount thanked Clint Kocurek for a great job done as Mayor. She stated he was the only one who came out to talk with them when Brad was fired and has done a great job. She is sad to see Clint go and hope that Council choses someone who is as open as Clint was. XIV. ADJOURNMENT With no further business to discuss, the meeting was adjourned at 7:32 pm. APPROVED BY A MAJORITY VOTE OF COUNCIL ON FEBRUARY 8, 2015. _________________________________ Jarrod Beaty, Mayor Pro-Tem ATTEST: ________________________________ Karen B. Schrom, City Secretary