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Home My WebLink About01/27/2014 - Special Minutes City Council MINUTES OF THE CITY COUNCIL RETREAT CITY OF COLLEGE STATION JANUARY 27, 2014 STATE OF TEXAS § COUNTY OF BRAZOS § Present: Nancy Berry Council: Blanche Brick Steve Aldrich Karl Mooney John Nichols Julie Schultz James Benham City Staff: Kelly Templin, City Manager Chuck Gilman, Deputy City Manager Carla Robinson, City Attorney Sherry Mashburn, City Secretary 1. Breakfast 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 8:49 a.m. on Monday, January 27, 2014 in the College Station Utilities Training Facility, 1603 Graham Road, College Station, Texas 77842. 3. Presentation and overview of the Retreat Agenda. 4. Goals of Retreat. Items 3 and 4 were taken together. Mayor Nancy Berry presented a brief overview of what she hoped to accomplish today. 5. Review of Strategic Plan & Seven Strategic Initiatives. c RTRT012714 Minutes Page 1 Council reviewed the strategic plan. There were no changes to the vision or the mission statement. Councilmember Aldrich noted there were some discrepancies between the information before them and what is currently on the website. Council then discussed the seven initiatives. • Good Governance: Councilmember Brick noted it was not clear which citizens would participate in surveys. Councilmember Nichols asked that survey results be updated. It was suggested that we add another bullet point for citizen participation in boards and commissions. • Financially Sustainable City: It was suggested to wordsmith the goal by changing "resulting" to "to result ". The third bullet point will be changed by adding "comparable economic trends ". • Core Services and Infrastructure: The paragraph for "What do we seek to accomplish" needs to be re- ordered in sentence form to read more clearly. Change "attracting and retaining" to "attract and retain" in the second bullet point. Seventh bullet point needs to read "Maintain a ... " Action words should be in the active tense throughout. • Neighborhood Integrity: The neighborhood plans need to be updated to include South Knoll and Wellborn. Councilmember Benham stated he would like to see a reduced level of federal funding. Councilmember Mooney requested that everything be in present tense. • Diverse Growing Economy: "Non- University" is to be changed to "private sector ". It was also recommended to remove the word "basic employers" and ® replace with "economic development opportunities ". Add "and comparable economic trends" to the seventh bullet point ". Remove "non- consumer- oriented economy" from bullet point four. • Improve Mobility: The goal will be changed by striking "and be:" and replacing with "that is ". Council agreed to re -state "Increasing number of safe and complete ways . . ." to "Increase number of safe ways . . ." Remove "major" from the second bullet point. Add "increase enforcement of traffic offenses ". • Sustainable City: Councilmember Aldrich expressed his concerns related to the acquisition of flood -prone areas and the protection of the City's potable water supply. Performance measures were reviewed and discussed. Councilmember Mooney asked that the representative measures be stated consistently. 6. Council Goals for 2014. Council had been asked to provide the City Manager with their requests, and he has received those. 7. Possible action and discussion on a possible FY15 bond. 8. Possible action and discussion on potential capital projects and infrastructure improvements for the FY15 Capital Improvement Program and /or FY15 bond. RTRT012714 Minutes Page 2 Items 7 and 8 were taken together. Suggestions for inclusion in a possible FY15 bond included: a new administrative building; gg p Police Department expansion; a conference center; Capstone; and a campus concept for community organizations, such as the CVB, Chamber of Commerce, and the Arts Council. Councilmember Mooney said he would like to look at partnering with the school on a natatorium. Councilmember Nichols said he would like to see parks. Councilmember Aldrich expressed his thoughts related to infrastructure and said we may want to consider moving to a four or five -year bond cycle. Councilmember Benham said he prefers a five -year window so that Council's institutional knowledge is not lost. David Schmitz, Director of Parks and Recreation, reported on some possible upgrades and repairs to parks system -wide. Councilmember Mooney noted, in relation to wants and needs, we will not have a choice on some things, such as TCEQ requirements for wastewater. Jeff Kersten, Assistant City Manager, provided some history on the 2008 bond election,. Chuck Gilman, Deputy City Manager, briefly discussed transportation and a traffic management system as it related to mobility and a transportation packet for bond consideration. 9. Presentation and discussion on city manager's approach to budgeting. Kelly Templin, City Manager, said he did not anticipate a departure from what has been done in the past. He plans to work with the Budget Sub - Committee, look at everything we have to spend money on, and work with bond counsel in preparation of the FY15 bond election. He plans on working with the departments on their goals, what they plan to accomplish, and what they were unable to accomplish. Staff will bring forward their recommendations, and Council will have to reach a consensus on the items they wish to spend money. Staff will make sound assumptions, and he wants to simplify the process. There will always be stiff competition for limited resources. Jeff Kersten, Assistant City Manager, answered questions related to the effective tax rate and enterprise funds. 10. Presentation, possible action and discussion on the future of neighborhood integrity, including rental registration, unrelated occupants, and enforcement procedures. Kelly Templin, City Manager, began the discussion on neighborhood integrity and unrelated occupants. He stated this is a difficult issue to rectify. He would like to beef up the code enforcement activities. Councilmember Benham agreed and noted it is not the number of occupants, but rather the symptoms, that are the issue, e.g. jamming up the streets, loud parties, etc. Lance Simms, Interim Director of Planning and Development, provided Council with an Executive Summary of the rental registration survey. Councilmember Brick reminded Council of the City's vision, ". . . which promotes the highest quality of life by ensuring safe, tranquil, clean, and healthy neighborhoods with enduring character . . ." I L. RTRT012714 Minutes Page 3 Councilmember Mooney left the meeting at 2:30 p.m. kir Mayor Berry recommended including lan guage into the rental agreement that levies a fine (against the landowner and the occupant) for more than four unrelated persons; e.g. $50 /day, which would add economic pressure. Mr. Simms provided the Council with a list of staff recommendations for amending the ordinance. Council stated their acceptance of option 1 and option 2 (adding for the initial registration and transfer of ownership). Education and outreach will also be part of the process. Another option that would not require an amendment to the ordinance was also discussed. It was noted that it would need to align with the civil penalties in option 1. A recommendation was made to require a copy of the lease when signing up for utilities. 11. Possible action and discussion on the efficacy of various committees. Mayor Berry noted that each committee has a staff person associated with it, which requires a lot of time commitment. She proposed rolling three committees under the Parks Board as sub- committees: Cemetery, Historic Preservation Committee, and Landmark Committee. City Attorney Carla Robinson noted that the Cemetery Committee was sunset last year, and the Landmark Committee is in the UDO, and that ordinance would have to be amended. Council directed staff to prepare a draft ordinance to bring back before the Council for consideration. 12. Presentation, possible action, and discussion on the long -term use of HOT tax funds. Jeff Kersten, Assistant City Manager, provided the Council with a draft Hotel Occupancy Tax Use Policy. Councilmember Benham recommended that we only maintain a reserve balance of two months, just as we do in other funds. He also wants a quarterly review of surplus funds. Councilmember Mooney returned to the meeting at 4:30 p.m. Councilmember Schultz stated that businesses that go through the formal process with the CVB, and are denied, can come before the Council. Councilmember Benham recommended a more formulaic method of providing grant funds to the CVB. At Councilmember Nichols' request, Mr. Kersten will include the tenth permitted use in the draft policy. Councilmember Nichols requested that language be included to identify the ACBV, as well as the CVB, as they are a partner and may bring forward some new initiatives that could be funded by HOT funds. He also requested to add that special events could also apply to the CVB for funding. Mayor Berry requested a multi - purpose facility for sporting events, concerts, etc. RTRT012714 Minutes Page 4 13. Adiourn. MOTION: There being no further business, Mayor Berry adjourned the Retreat of the College Station City Council at 5:20 p.m. on Monday, January 27, 2014. 1; Nancy Berr ; Mayor ATTEST: Sherry M um, City Secretary c RTRT012714 Minutes Page 5