City Council

City of San Marcos 630 East Hopkins San Marcos, TX 78666 Work Session Meeting Minutes City Council Tuesday, February 15, 2022 3:00 PM City Council Chambers 630 E. Hopkins - Work Session I. Call To Order With a quorum present, the work session of the San Marcos City Council was called to order by Mayor Hughson on Tuesday, February 15, 2022 at 3:02 p.m. This meeting was held in-person and online. II. Roll Call Deputy Mayor Pro Tem Garza arrived after roll call at 3:40 p.m. Present: 6- Mayor Jane Hughson, Council Member Maxfield Baker, Mayor Pro Tem Shane Scott, Deputy Mayor Pro Tem Alyssa Garza, Council Member Jude Prather and Council Member Mark Gleason Absent: 1- Council Member Saul Gonzales III. 30 Minute Citizen Comment Period Lisa Marie Coppoletta, expressed concern with the roads and the issues due to construction projects. She stated concerns with the roads not being repaired after construction projects are completed. She spoke in opposition to two agenda items for consideration this evening. One is the discussion regarding the Planning and Zoning commission recommendation on denials and the second is the possible amendments to the bylaws for Boards and Commissions. PRESENTATIONS 1. Receive presentation from Keen Independent on the Arts Master Plan. Stephanie provided introduction and Trey Hatt introduced Alex Keen and Jennifer Tuchband from Keen Independent Research. Mr. Keen stated the Purpose of this meeting is to present the Arts Master Plan final draft to Council before it is placed on the agenda for consideration. The City engaged Keen Independent Research LLC in the spring of 2021 to update the 2012 Arts Master Plan. The work consisted of robust virtual and in-person City of San Marcos Page 1 City Council Meeting Minutes February 15, 2022 stakeholder and community engagement along with touring, reviewing and documenting San Marcos arts and culture infrastructure and public art. They also conducted a literature review of existing master plans for the City of San Marcos, compared benchmark data from similar cities, such as policies, funding tools and implementation costs and they analyzed demographic and population trends. The Arts Master Plan goals is to present a 5-year strategic plan to set goals and priorities, document the changes in San Marcos since the 2012 Arts Master Plan, guide the City, organizations and individuals with strategic planning and decision-making, consider how the Plan integrates with broader goals and other master plans, inform and empower the local community to inspire coordinated efforts and identify potential resources for implementation. The San Marcos arts and culture goals are to make San Marcos a leading destination for arts and culture, foster an inclusive culture that celebrates all races/ethnicities in San Marcos, foster continued growth of arts and culture organizations to where their impact can be felt throughout the City, and to create a culture of collaboration. The community engagement that was held throughout this process included in-depth interviews with 36 stakeholders (including city leaders), virtual workshop with 140 participants, public meeting with 50 participants, and site visits and tours. An Arts master plan webpage, email address, and telephone hotline were also set up for public comments. The stakeholder and community perspectives that came out of this community engagement include the following: San Marcos is perceived to have a variety of arts and culture offerings, perception that arts and culture offerings do not sufficiently serve diverse populations, perceived geographic and cultural disconnect between the university and city residents, challenges with communication and awareness of offerings and support services, and visual arts in San Marcos is more developed than performing arts possibly due to a lack of facilities Ms. Tuchband provided the key recommendations, which include: 1. Centralize City Resources including, promotion of city-wide event calendar that serves the community in addition to tourists, create and promote a central location for inquiries about arts and culture and build and maintain two-way communication with organizations. City of San Marcos Page 2 City Council Meeting Minutes February 15, 2022 2. Support the under served including, speaking with diverse community members about how to best serve them and their communities, develop initiatives and programming specifically for minority groups, develop and encourage arts and culture offerings in diverse neighborhoods, cultivate diversity among members of the San Marcos Arts Commission, encourage/develop partnerships with schools and organizations focused on serving the youth, and develop and support family-friendly programming. 3. Enhance current resources including, fostering communication and collaboration between local arts and culture groups, encourage and support partnerships with the City and Texas State University, develop training/mentoring programs, establish arts, cultural, historic districts, enhance existing arts and culture facilities, activate underused spaces, and foster growth of existing artists, organizations and city programming. 4. Plan for the Future including, planning for future arts investments, study the feasibility of a new performance facility, investigate revenue generating tax incentives targeted for supporting arts and culture, examine implementation of a spending ordinance for arts and culture, consider developing a Local Arts Agency, and evaluate the designation of a cultural “river district". 5. Update the Art in Public Places Policy including, the formation of subcommittees that include a resident representative from the neighborhood or area in which the art would be placed, consider a community review processes, streamline public art approval process, require only one application process for each piece, and add details about how the City is funding public art. Mr. Keen stated there are measurable goals and today is more high level and today they would like Council to review and offer city staff any feedback. He stated a resolution will come forward for formal adoption of the Arts Master Plan at the March 1st Council meeting. Mayor Hughson asked how staff would like direction to be provided. Trey Hatt, Arts Coordinator, stated staff is prepared to come back with a resolution for formal adoption and they see this as a final document unless there is anything Council would like to propose. Mayor requested other organizations be listed on Section 1, Page 3 of the plan so we are as inclusive as possible. Mayor asked some process questions and wanted to know if there is a list of tasks that can be checked off from last time? She noted these are on pages 134-136. She stated the new cultural arts center is big but some are smaller, like creating a calendar? City of San Marcos Page 3 City Council Meeting Minutes February 15, 2022 Of the tasks that are listed, is there a list made and progress made regularly to the Arts Commission and Council and do things from this master plan such as feed into the Capital Improvements Plan (CIP)? Mr. Hatt stated the new Arts Master Plan, if approved, will help guide this process and will be useful to the community. Mayor would like a full list of progress (similar to strategic initiatives) be made available to the commission and presented regularly. Charlotte Wattingny, creative & marketing manager, stated in 2012, this plan did go into the Parks Master Plan. She also stated this plan will be incorporated into use for any project and progress updates will go before the commission. Council Member Baker asked if artists will be paid for their art? Ms. Wattingny stated artists are paid, typically through the grant process. There is a mechanism for grant funding. Mr. Baker asked if the feedback received indicates that funding was sufficient? Ms. Wattingny stated not from individual artists but rather art organizations and there is not a lot of funding available. Mr. Keen said there is a lack of understanding of certain funding tools. It is important to clearly state how artists are funded so the perception isn't that one person or organization isn't receiving more funding. Council Member Baker asked about the health alliance for artists. Mr. Keen stated this was not addressed but could be discussed in the future. Ms. Wattingny stated local musicians go through the Austin health alliance, but she is unaware if the visual and performing artists have a similar option. Council Member Baker addressed the cultural arts center and would like to see this placed on the East Side if approved. Mayor commented provided comments regarding the CIP regarding the cultural center and lot still needs to be considered. Ms. Wattingny, stated this will be worked into the Comprehensive Master Plan and this does encompass all Master Plans. Mayor Hughson expressed her appreciation to the consulting firm and for staff on their work on this plan. This will move forward for Council approval at the March 1, 2022 meeting. IV. Question and Answer Session with Press and Public. Lisa Marie Coppoletta, complimented the sculptures outside of the Public Library and the activity center. What were the concerns of the stakeholders that were not included in the document? Mr. Keen stated that opinions were of all that participated and there were none that were excluded. Ms. Coppoletta asked what was the total cost of the consultant services? Ms. Wattigny stated it was about $16,000 for the study. Ms. Coppoletta thanked Mr. Keen for his work and that of Ms. Wattingny. City of San Marcos Page 4 City Council Meeting Minutes February 15, 2022 V. Adjournment. A motion was made by Mayor Gleason, seconded by Council Member Prather, to adjourn the work session of the City Council on Tuesday, February 15, 2022 at 3:45 p.m. The motion carried by the following vote: For: 5 - Mayor Hughson, Council Member Baker, Deputy Mayor Pro Tem Garza, Council Member Prather and Council Member Gleason Against: 0 Absent: 2- Council Member Gonzales and Mayor Pro Tem Scott Tammy K. Cook, City Clerk Jane Hughson, Mayor City of San Marcos Page 5