City Council Regular Meeting

Minutes of City Council Regular Meeting The City Council City of Richwood A Regular Meeting of the City Council of City of Richwood was held Monday, May 8, 2017, beginning at 6:00 PM in the Richwood City Hall, 1800 N. Brazosport Blvd. Richwood, Texas. CALL TO ORDER Mayor Guthrie called the meeting to order at 6:00 p.m. INVOCATION Michael Coon, City Manager, gave the invocation. PLEDGES OF ALLEGIANCE Pledge of Allegiance & Texas Pledge ROLL CALL OF COUNCIL MEMBERS Paul Raymond -absent Melissa Blanks Jarrod Beaty Mark Guthrie Lauren LaCount Chris Hardison Michael Coon – City Manager; Giani Cantu – City Secretary/Finance Director; Bryan Corb – Police Chief; Sarah Reed – newly elected; Frank Blanks – newly elected PUBLIC COMMENTS All public comments will be subject to the following rules: all speakers will be permitted to speak no longer than 3 minutes; all speakers will only be permitted to speak once; speakers cannot defer their 3 minutes to another speaker; the first five individuals who sign up for the public comment section will be permitted to speak Terry Coldwater, 703 Oyster Creek Dr, spoke on regulating of recreational vehicles (RVs). Michelle Story, 214 Halbert, reported she would like to see a committee appointed to review the animal ordinance and regulate chipping and spay/neutering. CEREMONIAL INTRODUCTION OF NEW COUNCIL MEMBERS Giani Cantu, City Secretary, introduced the newly elected council members Sarah Reed and Frank Blanks who officially take their seats at the June meeting. CONSENT AGENDA Approval of Minutes of Previous Meetings On motion by Lauren LaCount second by Jarrod Beaty with all present members voting aye the minutes were approved. DISCUSSION AND ACTION ITEMS Discuss and consider application for an animal/fowl permit for chickens at 109 Blue Jay Drive by Caitlin Sparks Travis Sparks, 109 Blue Jay Drive, stated he would like to have 3 chickens at his home. Lauren LaCount moved to approve the permit for 3 chickens. Motion died for lack of a second. Permit was denied. No other discussion was held. Review and discuss current animal ordinance Mr. Coon stated the ordinance is over twenty years old and stated staff felt it was time to review. Mr. Corb reported, to address Ms. Story’s statement on chipping, that scanning chips are currently in City policy even though the ordinance doesn’t reflect that. Council agreed review was needed and should include at least one council member. Lauren LaCount volunteered to be part of the committee. Discuss regulating use of electronic devices while driving Chief Corb presented the proposal. Council member LaCount stated she would like to see the numbers of enforcement on the existing texting ban as she is still receiving feedback from residents of many drivers texting while driving. She asked that more notification regarding the no texting while driving ordinance be put out. Chief Corb stated they are requesting monies to purchase the city limit entry signs notifying drivers of the ordinance in the budget. However, enforcement can be tricky due to the way the ordinance is written. Mayor Guthrie asked if we could just prohibit distracted driving all around and stated it would be easier to enforce. Further discussion was held on distracted driving. Chief Corb stated he would look into restricting full distracted driving and bring back the statistics. Discuss updating sections of the code of ordinances to allow and regulate recreational vehicles (RVs) Mr. Coon stated the current ordinance restricts connection to electricity and water. Staff recommends considering of allowing connection for maintenance and creating a temporary use for visitors with permit. Council member Hardison stated electricity and airflow is critical to the life of a recreational vehicle (RV). Also, he can see the benefit of a temporary permit for visitors but is unsure how that will be enforced. Council member Beaty shared concerns on keeping track should permits being issued. Council member LaCount suggested a dated permit. Kenny Williams, Building Official, suggested issuing a permit for three day period maybe only three times per year. Mr. Coon stated the permitting would come with a fee to the requestor to cover cost of enforcement. Council member Beaty stated set and clear standards would be necessary. Chief Corb stated permits could be entered into Police system for quick access to permitted dates. However, he would suggest a clause that addresses use during city declared emergency situations. Kyle Winegard, 481 Oyster Creek Ct, asked if the ordinance would address connection to water and sewer. Mr. Coon stated connection to water and sewer would only be allowed for the duration of the active permit. Mr. Coldwater shared concerns that he could be ticketed or reprimanded for not getting a permit should he offer someone a place to sleep late at night outside of city office hours. Council member LaCount stated then the individual ticketed could address the court and judge with their circumstances. Mr. Coon stated the city would work with residents prior to just citing them. Staff will bring back in ordinance format. Discuss and consider an ordinance amending Chapter 20 Traffic and Vehicles to decrease the speed limit within certain residential areas and redirect the one-way traffic flow on Audubon Woods Drive Chief Corb presented the proposal. Council member Hardison made a motion to approve. Council member Beaty seconded. Mayor Guthrie stated he disapproved and would like to see a commitment from BISD for crossing guards and believes a density schedule should be included to address the need to maybe reduce speeds as Oakwood Shores continues to grow. Chief Corb stated that can always be addressed as it grows. Council member LaCount shared concerns of excluding Oakwood Shores from the rest of the rules for the city and asked what costs would be associated with this change. Chief Corb stated the crossing guard would cost about $8,000 per year and changing speed limit signs would be around $5,000 one-time cost. With three present members voting aye and Council member LaCount voting nay, the ordinance amending Chapter 20 Traffic and Vehicles to decrease the speed limit within certain residential areas and redirect the one-way traffic flow on Audubon Woods Drive passed and is adopted. Discuss and consider approving Social Media public use guidelines Mr. Coon reported that the Texas Municipal League (TML) recommends all cities have a policy in place that states any city social media site is a limited public forum and sets guidelines for discussions allowed. On motion by Council member LaCount second by Council member Beaty with all present members voting aye the social media public use guidelines were approved. Discuss and consider a sales tax audit agreement with Muniservices Ted Campbell with Muniservices arrived at 7:02 p.m. Mr. Campbell gave an overview of the services Muniservices offers: helping cities find monies without raising taxes by auditing the sales tax reporting. Services are on a contingency basis in that they only bill for and collect a portion of monies found. There are no fees if no monies are found and they do not guarantee monies will be found. Council member Blanks asked of other cities currently utilizing their services. Mr. Campbell stated Houston, Galveston, Conroe, Huntsville and Bryan-College Station are a few. On motion by Lauren LaCount second by Melissa Blanks with all present members voting aye a one year sales tax audit agreement with Muniservices was approved for one year. Any extensions or renewals must be approved by City Council annually. Mayor Guthrie called a recess at 7:25 pm Mayor Guthrie recalled the meeting at 7:30 pm. Present and discuss 2016-2017 fiscal year end projections Mr. Coon presented projections and reported the projections are conservative. Discuss appointing a bond task force Mr. Coon stated a bond task force would be a group of residents to prioritize city infrastructure needs and make recommendation to City Council. Council would then consider presenting said recommendations to voters in a bond election. Council member Hardison stated he was for creating a bond task force but would like to see the committee consist of residents from every area of our city. Council member Blanks asked for transparency through the process. Mr. Coon stated the goal is to be as transparent as possible and the committee could also do surveys to get other residents involved in the process. Appointments will be considered in August. Approve items removed from Consent Agenda No items were removed from Consent Agenda. REPORTS Reports that require no action. Finance Reports Ms. Cantu presented financial reports. CITY MANAGER’S REPORT Mr. Coon presented his report. FUTURE AGENDA ITEMS Council member LaCount requested appointing an animal subcommittee be on the next agenda. Council member Blanks requested appointing council liaisons to boards and commission be on the next agenda. COMMITTEE REPORTS Update on Open House Council member LaCount gave an update on the open house. COUNCIL MEMBER COMMENTS & REPORTS Farewell speech - Council member Melissa Blanks Council member Blanks and Council member Beaty gave farewell speeches and thanked fellow members, staff and residents. MAYOR’S REPORT Mayor Guthrie thanked Council member Blanks and Council member Beaty for their service. ADJOURNMENT There being no further business the meeting adjourned at 8:15 p.m. These minutes were read and approved on this day of , 20 . Mark Guthrie, Mayor Attest: Giani Cantu, City Secretary