210513 -- City Council -- Agenda Questions
Council questions and Staff responses for items on the May 13, 2021 City Council Meeting
Item 5.1-Presentation, discussion, and possible action regarding a presentation of the Northgate
District Study and Operations Plan.
Sponsor: Debbie Eller
Question: Could you please send us an electronic copy of the Northgate study? I would like to review it
before the meeting and don’t want to go to City Hall to read it.
Response: Link to Northgate Study: Attachments - OneDrive (sharepoint.com)
Item 5.2 -Presentation, discussion, and possible action regarding the FY 21 proposed debt issuance.
Sponsor: Mary Ellen Leonard
Question: Will Ms. Leonard present a chart showing the trend in general government debt or total debt
per capita over time? And add the estimate if the City issues the proposed debt this year? It is a useful
chart and helps us and the public understand where we are.
Response: The chart that was presented in Budget and Finance will be presented and updated for the
proposed issuance. Please see the chart below.
Item 5.4 (b)- Presentation, discussion, and possible action regarding an ordinance amending Chapter
6- Animals, Section 1 and 12, regarding the sales of dogs and cats.
Sponsor: Chris Perkins
Question: Just wondering if that includes as a violation when people sell puppies at Walmart by the edge
of the road or sometimes pet stores put cages with puppies on the sidewalk outside their store.
Response: This section was from the original language of Section 6-12 and has been in the ordinance for
several years. It would prohibit the sale of animals outside as mentioned - like posting up in the Wal
Mart parking lot as we saw in years past. These individuals would not be regulated if the sales were to
occur at their private residence. This would not prohibit pet adoptions in parking lots since those are
not for profit. If the event is a true adoption event and not a sale for profit, it would be allowed.
Item 8.2- Presentation, discussion, and possible action on contract renewal 2 for the annual price
agreement of equipment rental for all city departments. The total recommended award is for One
Hundred Fifty Thousand and zero cents ($150,000) for the Annual Price Agreement for the rental of
equipment from Mustang Rental Services.
Sponsor: Mary Ellen Leonard
Question: I noticed the charge for fuel is $6.50 a gallon. How often last year did we purchase fuel from
them? I assume this is by returning equipment with less fuel than when we borrowed?
Response: Since last June, the City paid $624 for the fuel surcharge which amounted to .815% of the
total paid to Mustang. City policy is to fill these rentals with the fuel purchased by fleet at the cheaper
cost. The surcharge was paid 3 times for water emergencies.
Item 8.4 - Presentation, discussion, and possible action regarding a resolution directing the Tax Office
to calculate the voter-approved rate in the manner provided for a special taxing unit affected by a
disaster declaration.
Sponsor: Mary Ellen Leonard
Question: When the resolution says "in an area declared a disaster area, is that referring to the
Mayor’s declaration (see item 9.5), is that what qualifies the city to seek this special taxing?
Response: The “in an area declared a disaster area” under SB2 refers to a Governor’s declaration.
Item 8.7- Presentation, discussion, and possible action on agreements with Kudeleski Security, Inc. for
the annual IT penetration testing services for an amount not to exceed $90,210; on a three- year
agreement with Kudelaski Security, Inc. for Security Operations Center services not to exceed
$264,690, with both agreements totaling $354,900; on a zero-dollar mutual non-disclosure agreement
with Kudelski Security, Inc.
Sponsor: Sindhu Menon
Question: Just wondering, why the subscription is only for 8 months? Is that 8 months per each year of
the contract, or more like 8 free months and then if we want to continue the subscription will there be
an additional charge?
Response: Secure blueprint is a maturity tracking software that will help the City track maturity level of
our Cyber Security Program and, also help build the roadmap for City’s Cyber Security. The subscription
for this year is 8 free months with an additional charge if we continue the subscription.
Item 9.2- Presentation, discussion, and possible action regarding an appointment to the Brazos Valley
Economic Development Corporation.
Sponsors: Tanya Smith and Natalie Ruiz
Question: Do we have any applications to review? Are there people who have expressed an interest?
Also, it said 3 members and listed Johnny and Dennis, who is the third member?
Response from City Secretary Tanya Smith:
There are no applications because the Mayor will be bringing forward a recommendation and we have
had no one express interest in this Committee. The members are Karl Mooney, Dennis Maloney,
(who was reappoint this past January) and Johnny Burns, whose appointment is up. He can be
reappointed but that will be discussed at the meeting by the Mayor.
Response from Economic Development Director Natalie Ruiz:
The Council has traditionally hand-picked a local business leader to represent the City of College Station
on this regional board. The BVEDC has representation from the City of Bryan, TAMU, Brazos County and
local investors through the Invest Brazos Valley. The Mayor serves on the both the Board and the
Executive Committee.
Item 9.4- Presentation, discussion, and possible action regarding adoption of the 2021 Council
Strategic Plan.
Sponsor: Bryan Woods/Brian Piscacek
Question 1: What is “co-production” in service delivery?
Response: Co-production refers to utilizing the private sector, non-profits, volunteers, etc. in
conjunction with City forces to deliver services.
Question 2: I have a few questions regarding the recommended elimination of the Action last action item
“The City will share information and communicate with citizens....”. This appeared in a couple of
different places. Are we no longer going to do this? Or is it redundant with other action items or covered
elsewhere?
Question 3: Also, in the Diverse and growing economy section. Why are we eliminating the action item
that says, “The City will protect properties from crime and property damage.” Don’t we do this? It has
been some time since we discussed the language at the retreat, so I am probably missing some
context. We can discuss this during the meeting but just want to raise the questions now.
Responses to Questions 2 and 3: With each iteration of the Council Strategic Plan, staff strive to
summarize the discussion from the Retreat and distill the sentiment expressed into key strategic
priorities, goals, objectives, and actions. As a result, there are minor changes included in the proposed
2021 update to align to that end. I would not characterize the items struck as non-priority, just a
reflection of refining the expansive list of action items. For example, the communication piece you
reference is proposed to be removed under “Financial Sustainability” and “Core Services and
Infrastructure” because “Good Governance” already addresses communication strategies (2nd bullet
from bottom). Based on the stated goals of each strategic area, we feel that communication is best
addressed under that heading.
On your second point, we certainly do endeavor to protect properties from crime and property damage.
This is another example of analyzing the strategic goal, along with the discussion from Council Retreat,
and providing an updated list of action items that directly relate to the stated purpose. We also added
two additional action items to this section.
I hope this gives some insight into our thought process. Ultimately, though, this document and the
content therein is to Council’s discretion.