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HomeMy WebLinkAbout10/09/1997 - Regular Minutes City CouncilMayor LYNN MCILHANEY Mayor Pro Tempore HUB KENNADY City Manager GEORGE K. NOE COLLEGE STATION Council Members STEVE ESMOND LARRY MARIOTT DAVID HICKSON DICK BIRDWELL SWlKI ANDERSON MINUTES COLLEGE STATION CITY COUNCIL Regular Meeting Thursday, October 9, '1997 at 7:00 p.m. Council Chambers, '1 '10'1 Texas Avenue COUNCILMEMBERS PRESENT:Mayor Mcllhaney, Mayor Protem Kennady, Councilmembers Hickson, Mariott, Birdwell, Anderson, Esmond STAFF PRESENT: City Manager Noe, City Secretary Hooks, City Attorney Cargill, City Planner Kee, Director of Development Services Callaway, Public Works Director Smith, City Engineer Laza, Assistant City Engineer Morgan Mayor Mcllhaney called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. A.qenda Item No. I -- Pled.qe of Alle.qiance Councilmembers and audience cited the pledge of allegiance. A.qenda Item No. 2 -- Invocation Jo Hudson, pastor of Friends Congregational Church delivered the invocation. Agenda Item No. 3 -- Consider request for absence from meeting All councilmembers were present. Agenda Item No. 4 -- Proclamation Ric Vessel of the College Station Police Department accepted the proclamation for Crime Prevention Month. Providing Customer Service Excellence Council Regular 1019197 Page 2 A.qenda Item No. 5 -- Consent A.qenda 5a. Approved council minutes for regular meeting of September 25, 1997 as corrected by Councilman Birdwell. 5b. Approved written agreements for all Community Development Block Grant funded service agencies for FY 1997-98 in the amount of $182,250 and Project Unity's delivery of professional services for $20,000. 5c. Approved contract for consulting services with Resource Management Incorporated not to exceed $55,800 to review and recommend solution for Year 2000 compliance problems on Utility Customer Information Service Computer System. 5d. Adopted resolution approving the Brazos County Emergency Communications District budget for FY 1997-98. The above items were approved by common consent. A.qenda Item No. 6 -- ReQular A_qenda 6a. Public hearing and possible action on proposed bud.qet amendment 1 to the City of College Station 1997-98 Budget for the purpose of i~rovidin.q a grant of $50~000 to Brazos Beautiful for use of landscapin~ alon¢l Texas 60 and FM 2818 to beautify the entryway into city in conjunction with the George Bush Presidential Library. Mayor Mcllhaney opened the public hearing. No one spoke. The public hearing was closed. Mayor Mcllhaney asked the staff to inform the Chairman of the Community Appearance Committee when items of this nature are placed before council consideration. Motion made by Councilman Mariott, seconded by Councilman Hickson to approve Ordinance No. 2268 amending the 1997-98 Budget to allocate $50,000 to Brazos Beautiful. An amended motion was made by Councilman Esmond that the money be granted with the stipulation that Brazos Beautiful bid the project competitively. Motion seconded by Councilman Birdwell which carried unanimously, 7-0. Council Regular 10/9/97 Page 3 The original motion as amended carried unanimously, 7-0. 6b. Public hearing and possible action on an ordinance amending Chapter 3~ Section 3 and Chapter 9~ Sections 3~ 8, and 12 of the Code of Ordinances for adoption of the revised street classification system and design standards which were included as part of the recent approval ot the Comprehensive Plan. Transportation Planner Edwin Hard stated that the ordinance includes the new street classes incorporated on the city's recently adopted Thoroughfare Plan. The proposed ordinances also replace the design standards for old street types with new criteria, as well as consolidate the rural with the urban street standards and add illustrations of street cross sections for all street types into the Subdivision Regulations. He noted that the new standards for major collector streets will be safe for bikes. Mayor Mcllhaney acknowledged a letter she received from students and staff at TAMU supporting the ordinance due to the safety measures created for bicyclists. Mayor Mcllhaney opened the public hearing. Steve Arden of 2601 Rustling Oaks in Bryan spoke in favor of the new ordinance. He asked council to retain the current oversize participation policy. He commented on two issues related to the city's requirements for major streets with regard to the expense of landscape requirements and cost allocated to escrow for future maintenance of irrigation systems which lie under pavement. He requested the city review the existing landscape point system. Willie Allen of Brazos Valley Cyclists, also spoke in favor of the new ordinance. Mayor Mcllhaney closed the public hearing. Motion made by Councilman Mariott to adopt Ordinance No. 2269 and Ordinance No. 2270 as presented in the council packet. The motion was seconded by Councilman Kennady which carried unanimously, 7-0. Council directed the City Manager to work with the developers on their concerns related to landscape criteria along streets. Council Regular 10/9/97 Page 4 6c. Discuss and possible action on proposals for professional services for Bee Creek channelization proiect. Public Works Director Mark Smith explained that the Council directed staff to solicit a request for qualifications for professional services for the Bee Creek channelization project at their July 24th meeting. The submittals were evaluated and ranked by city staff as follows: KIotz & Associates/Kling Engineers Brown & Gay Engineers/Dodson & Associates Municipal Development Group/Turner, Collie & Braden/Joe Orr, Inc. Mr. Smith described the council options. Councilman Birdwell expressed concern about the staff's recommendation because it is contrary to instructions given to staff at the July meeting. He referred to the request for qualifications on this project and a particular requirement that "FEMA approval is critical to the success of the project," in which he disagreed with staff that this factor was emphasized and played a major part in the evaluation of the engineering firms. Following his comments, he made the motion to reject the staff recommendation and instruct the staff to send out a new request for proposal stating that the basic hydrology has already been done and the main evaluation criteria will be the capability of the firm to make plans and cross-sections. Seconded by Councilman Esmond. City Manager Noe noted that the staff had difficulty tracking the council's direction because of staff's inability to preclude others from submitting proposals. He accepted responsibility for not informing council about staff's problem with not specifically following council's direction. Mark Smith addressed the FEMA issue by stating that the hydrology work is yet to be completed on this project based on the specific design. He stated that there will need to be a submittal to FEMA to get a conditional letter of map revision prior to the beginning of construction, and once the construction is done, a letter of map revision will reflect the actual as built condition. The map revision process can become very cumbersome and staff felt it was important to hire a firm that was well versed in the process in obtaining approval from the federal government in a timely manner. Councilman Kennady indicated that the requirement for FEMA was emphasized in the RFQ because the engineering staff has determined it is a necessary product for the project. Council Regular 10/9/97 Page 5 Councilman Birdwell also emphasized that there are several firms locally that are qualified to perform this project. Councilman Esmond also agreed with Mr. Birdwell's comments. He stated that the city should become acquainted with the local engineering firms to establish continuity of projects. He presented council with a copy of the transcription from the item discussed on July 24th meeting. Councilman Hickson inquired about establishing a guarantee that these projects are performed within a specific time frame. Mr. Smith replied that there are aspects of the project in which the city could expedite the process by requiring certain items be satisfied under certain terms. Councilman Anderson commented about FEMA's control of time and response on engineering documents and that this concern is not a critical issue. Mayor Mcllhaney asked the City Attorney for legal advice on the statute of local preference selection. Mr. Cargill affirmatively stated that the selection should be the most qualified firm to perform the job. Mayor Mcllhaney emphasized the importance of continuing to make decisions based on who is the best qualified professional to do the job. She also clarified that the council needs to operate under the guidance that the city is not going back to the "good old boy system", yet look for and retain qualified candidates to do all of our jobs, and that the decisions are based on the qualifications. City Manager Noe restated Councilman Birdwell's motion for clarification. He stated that the motion was to direct staff to start the process over again with the criteria in the RFQ to state the ability to produce plans and specifications and to not speak to the issue of the FEMA permit, He assumed that anyone who wishes to receive a copy of the new RFQ would be entitled to receive it and submit a proposal. Councilman Birdwell replied affirmatively. He added that the motion is to resubmit a new request for proposal and anyone in the United States can submit a proposal. And, furthermore, he de-emphasized the FEMA criteria because the FEMA criteria is not the most important item in the project. He noted that the local engineers did not reply because this was highlighted as a critical aspect in the previous proposal. Mr. Birdwell added that the emphasis of the project should be on the engineering facets of the project. Mr. Smith responded to Councilman Kennady's concern about the staff's viewpoint on the motion. He stated that the staff is comfortable with council direction and remarked that the bold language was placed in the RFQ because time was of the essence on this project and without the emphasis on FEMA, the project will be delayed. Smith briefly explained the ranking procedure. Council Regular 10/9/97 Page 6 Councilman Esmond referred to a letter from the City Manager which addressed the fact that "it should be noted that all the teams that submitted proposals are technically qualified to do this project." Councilman Hickson remarked that the local firms had an opportunity to call the city and ask questions. He reacted to the council discussion by stating that there does not appear to be a problem for any engineer to perform this project based on the current RFQ, local or not. Following further comments, the motion by Councilman Birdwell failed by a vote of 3-4. FOR: Anderson, Birdwell, Esmond AGAINST: Kennady, Mariott, Hickson, Mcllhaney Councilman Esmond made a motion to direct staff to negotiate with Urban Design Group to perform the hydrology model and obtain the CLOMR and LOMR, and negotiate with Municipal Design Group, the other local firm on the short list to do the detail design. Motion seconded by Councilman Anderson. Councilman Esmond stated that he has not been pleased with the performance of Klotz & Associates on the Southwest Parkway project. He referred to a letter from the City Manager regarding this matter. Mr. Esmond continued by highlighting performance concerns about Klotz. Councilman Anderson indicated his disappointment in the ranking of the proposers because it is subjective. He noted that the newly formed Council Engineering Committee will have the opportunity to evaluate projects on an objective basis. Mayor Mcllhaney stated opposition to the motion and suggested that the engineering firms be allowed to make a presentation to this council. Councilman Kennady read a transcript of the motion made by Councilman Birdwell at the July 24th meeting. The motion made by Councilman Esmond failed by a 3-4 vote. FOR: Anderson, Birdwell, Esmond AGAINST: Kennady, Mariott, Hickson, Mcllhaney Councilman Birdwell made a motion to ask the top three engineering proposers to make a presentation to Council on October 23rd limited to 15 minutes, include Urban Design Group and council will have the opportunity to re-rank if they choose. The motion was seconded by Councilman Esmond. Motion carried, 4-3. Council Regular 10/9/97 Page 7 FOR: Anderson, Birdwell, Esmond, Mcllhaney AGAINST: Kennady, Mariott, Hickson 6d. Consider renewal of College Station Economic Development Policies and Incentives, and adoption of a resolution expressinR desire to participate in tax abatement. Councilman Mariott made a motion to approve the policies and incentives and adoption of resolution. The motion was seconded by Councilman Hickson which carried by a vote of 6-1. FOR: Birdwell, Kennady, Mcllhaney, Hickson, Esmond, Mariott AGAINST: Anderson Agenda Item No. 7 -- Hear Visitors. Shannon Schunicht of 309 First St. addressed the prior decision of the council to allocate $50,000 to Brazos Beautiful. He stated that the area dedicated for the trees is zoned industrial and this concerned him. He asked council to take his comments to the Zoning Board. Bill Bingham of 404 Fairview, inquired about the status of the council's evaluation for the Conference Center. Mayor Mcllhaney replied that the council received the feasibility study from the consultants, Coopers and Lybrand which showed that there is a need for a conference center in College Station with a minimum of 37,000 sq. ft. and maximum 45,000 sq. ft of usable meeting space. She indicated that the citizens will be receiving a brochure with their utility statements and she is speaking to various clubs and organizations to convey the message. Agenda Item No. 8 -- Action on executive session. The council completed the executive session at 6:45 p,m. No action was taken. Agenda Item No. 9 -- Adjourn. Councilman Mariott made the motion to adjourn the workshop, executive, and regular meetings at 8:20 p.m, seconded by Councilman Hickson. PASSED AND APPROVED this the 23rd day of October, 1997. 'TEST: r<~. I /~ Secretary Connie Hooks APPROVED: Mayor~ynn Mcllhaney GUEST REGISTER WORKSHOP MEETING OF THE CITY COUNCIL THURSDAY, OCTOBER 9, 1997 3:00 P.M. 3. 13. 18. 19. 10. 20. GUEST REGISTER CiTY COUNCIL REGULAR MEETING THURSDAY, OCTOBER 9, 1997 7:00 P.M. GUEST REGISTER CITY COUNCIL REGULAR MEETING THURSDAY, OCTOBER 9, 1997 7:00 P.M. 18. 19. 20.