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HomeMy WebLinkAbout01/28/2014 - Special Minutes City Council MINUTES OF THE CITY COUNCIL RETREAT 411) CITY OF COLLEGE STATION JANUARY 28, 2014 STATE OF TEXAS § COUNTY OF BRAZOS § Present: Nancy Berry Council: Blanche Brick Steve Aldrich Karl Mooney John Nichols Julie Schultz, arrived after roll call James Benham City Staff: Kelly Templin, City Manager Chuck Gilman, Deputy City Manager Carla Robinson, City Attorney Sherry Mashburn, City Secretary 1. Breakfast 1 2. Call to Order and Announce a Quorum is Present With a quorum present, the Retreat of the College Station City Council was called to order by Mayor Nancy Berry at 10:15 a.m. on Tuesday, January 28, 2014 in the College Station Utilities Training Facility, 1603 Graham Road, College Station, Texas 77842. The meeting was delayed due to weather conditions. 3. Review of discussion from January 27. Councilmember Brick expressed her concerns with the rental registration survey. She felt a larger, broader community response was needed. She noted that many respondents expressed frustration that they could not register online. Another area of frustration was that whenever there was a problem, the property owner was contacted instead of the required local contact. She suggested that the renewal could be simpler; e.g. no fee, and if no changes, just a click to renew. There seems to be a lot of disenchantment. If another survey is done, a broader spectrum of ` questions needs to be asked. If the survey can be tweaked, we might not offend as many C RTRT012814 Minutes Page 1 property owners and get more response. Councilmember Benham reminded Council that he recommended a fine -based system: no fee for renewal, but non - renewals would be fined. City Manager Templin, in response to Councilmember Aldrich's suggestions, replied that the City could reach out to certain individuals for honest input and who understand what we are trying to accomplish. Councilmember Mooney said there are three groups: 1) property owners in single - family homes; 2) those who have purchased single - family homes for the purpose of converting to rental properties; and 3) those who purchased single - family homes, which were razed and replaced with mini - dorms. He stated of these three groups, the third group is the one least interested in meeting to resolve this issue. Staff was directed to review the ordinance and bring back to the Council. 4. Possible action and discussion of items not addressed on January 27, 2014, including: a. Possible FY15 bond. b. Potential capital projects and infrastructure improvements for the FY15 Capital Improvement Program and /or FY15 bond. c. City Manager's approach to budgeting. d. The future of neighborhood integrity, including rental registration, unrelated occupants, and enforcement procedures. e. The efficacy of various committees. f. The long -term use of HOT tax funds. Councilmember Nichols stated he would like a workshop item to discuss in depth capital projects and infrastructure improvements for the FY15 Capital Improvement Program. He also asked about street maintenance in relation to the City Manger's approach to O &M in the budget. He would like it to be more aggressive. Councilmember Brick asked to follow up on the FY15 bond. She asked if a town meeting was appropriate to discuss what would be included in the bond, and to garner interest in serving on a bond committee. City Manager Templin said he was interested in having "best informed" individuals (such as Parks Board committee members to discuss parks) as the core members when forming that committee. Councilmember Aldrich recommended having geographically diverse persons with diverse needs and perspectives. 5. Possible action and discussion on the city's business recruitment and retention efforts. Kelly Templin, City Manager, noted we don't have an economic development corporation and rely heavily on the RVP. As a City, we have the unique advantage of just opening our doors and letting people walk in. We need to reach out to those commercial interests we want to have here. He and Randall Heye have considered creating a website with the necessary demographic information for passive recruitment. That is the first place a national chain will research. RTRT012814 Minutes Page 2 Councilmember Benham also noted the need to recruit light industrial, such as technology companies. 6. Possible action and discussion on fiber connectivity. Councilmember Benham reported that they have raised $125,000 from five entities. They have also hired legal counsel that is very knowledgeable in bandwidth law. The released a Request for Interest, and they are currently in the confidential review /evaluations of the responses. They will bring recommendations to Council soon. At the moment, they are in the process of gathering clarifying information from the respondents. 7. Possible action and discussion on status updates at the biocorridor. Kelly Templin, City Manager, updated the Council on development within the biocorridor. 8. Possible action and discussion on the College Station Business Park. Kelly Templin, City Manager, reported there are two properties left in the business center, and they are actively marketing the business park. They are close to build out or selling all the properties. There are some promising leads for the business park. Councilmember Benham disagreed and said this business park should have been developed as a business center years ago. Councilmember Brick said the better term should be "strategically marketing ". Mr. Templin said we should have done a better job, and they are trying to rectify that. 9. Possible action and discussion on the prioritization of issues for 2014 and beyond. Councilmember Mooney said he would like to study what Bryan is doing in order to be consistent with their efforts related to payday loan businesses. Councilmember Nichols noted the United Way and some area churches have also been looking at this issue in their workshops. Councilmember Schultz arrived at 12:30 p.m. Mayor Berry said she would like to get moving on the MMDs and MUDs. Boards need to be appointed for the TIRZ and the MMDs. There can be some overlap. Councilmember Schultz said she had spoken with Todd McDaniel about lobbying efforts for area entities. Councilmember Benham left at 12:45 p.m. Councilmember Mooney said he wants to see items related to mass transportation (airport, Aggie Highway, high speed rail, etc.). Another area of concern is senior affordable housing. ( Councilmember Aldrich wants to learn more about the City's mineral rights and drilling. RTRT012814 Minutes Page 3 1 Councilmember Schultz asked what was to be done in order to move forward with a new administrative building. She also asked for a list of land that the City needs to dispose of, which could provide options for a new facility. Councilmember Brick left the meeting at 1:03 p.m. Councilmember Mooney requested information regarding a new ladder truck. 10. Adjourn. MOTION: There being no further business, Mayor Berry adjourned the Retreat of the College Station City Council at 1:08 p.m. on Tuesday, January 28, 2014. 1 • Nancy Berr Mayor / ATTEST: S erry &urn, City Secretary \r RTRT012814 Minutes Page 4