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HomeMy WebLinkAbout07/26/2012 - Regular Minutes City Council MINUTES OF THE REGULAR CITY COUNCIL MEETING (low CITY OF COLLEGE STATION JULY 26, 2012 STATE OF TEXAS § COUNTY OF BRAZOS § Present: Nancy Berry Council: Blanche Brick Jess Fields, absent Karl Mooney Katy -Marie Lyles Julie Schultz Dave Ruesink City Staff: L P' David Neeley, City Manager Kathy Merrill, Deputy City Manager Frank Simpson, Deputy City Manager Carla Robinson, City Attorney Sherry Mashburn, City Secretary Tanya McNutt, Deputy City Secretary Call to Order and Announce a Quorum is Present With a quorum present, the Regular Meeting of the College Station City Council was called to order by Mayor Nancy Berry at 7:19 p.m. on Thursday, July 26, 2012 in the Council Chambers of the City of College Station City Hall, 1101 Texas Avenue, College Station, Texas 77842. 1. Pledge of Allegiance, Invocation, consider absence request. MOTION: Upon a motion made by Mayor Berry and a second by Councilmember Lyles, the City Council voted six (6) for and none (0) opposed, to approve the absence request from Jess Fields. The motion carried unanimously. Special Presentation by the Museum of the American GI. The Arts Council of the Brazos Valley presented a brief film, entitled, Museum of the American GI. Brent Mullins, president of the Museum of the American GI, stated they are the best RM072612 Minutes Page 1 unknown museum in the Brazos Valley, with the most unique collection of military vehicles and equipment in the southern United States. They are in the process of building their permanent building south of College Station, close to the Texas World Speedway. They want this to be one of the area's ultimate destinations, alongside the George Bush Library, the African American Museum, and the Museum of Natural History. He stated they need help building the museum. College Station is their home and where they will build the museum. They have been working on this for ten years, and this will happen. He requested funding from the HOT funds. The museum will be a landmark in southern College Station; where they are located on Highway 6, over 80,000 cars pass by. Their business is to make money, attract visitors, and put people into area hotels. They have raised over $300,000 towards this building. This is only enough for the basic frame and structure. He asked the Council to consider a matching grant for what they have already raised. If the Council would double that, they could be open by next fall. Citizen Comments Michael Gerst, 3923 Hawk Owl Cove, presented a brief PowerPoint, showing the flooding, mud, debris and fallen trees alongside Lick Creek. He stated that the Lick Creek bottomland is a FEMA flood zone, and any path in this bottomland will be strewn with mud and debris that will impede foot and bicycle traffic and require prompt and costly maintenance. There are other serious impediments to pedestrian and bicycle traffic than just mud, trash and debris. Fallen trees are a common occurrence, and trees fall to block the footpath. He noted the HOA is not required to keep and clear a foot path. They do so because their volunteers want to. If the City accepts the dedication and builds a path in that bottomland, the requirement to keep the path passable will become an expensive and recurring responsibility. The alternative is to put the path at street level where flooding, debris buildup and falling trees will not be an issue. Jerome Rektorik, 437 Chimney Hill Drive, asked the Council to consider designating the entire cul de sac area on the south southwest end of Chimney Hill as a No Parking zone for fire safety. The fire hydrant is located there behind the old Albertsons. The adjacent area is heavily wooded, and there have been several occasions when cars have been parked all around the cul de sac. If a fire happened at that time, the fire department would not be able to get to the fire hydrant. There is a large cement pad close by that is suitable for parking. CONSENT AGENDA 2a. Presentation. possible action, and discussion of minutes for: • July 12,2012 Workshop • July 12. 2012 Regular Council Meeting 2b. Presentation, possible action. and discussion regarding Resolution 07- 26- 12 -2b approving an annual blanket purchase order with Boundtree Medical L.L.C. for $65,000.00 for EMS supplies. 2c. Presentation, possible action, and discussion regarding Resolution 07- 26- 12 -2c, approving the award of bid 12 -073 Brazos Paving, Inc. to provide an annual contract for the excavation of the depleted asphalt, and installation of emulsified asphalt and Type D RM072612 Minutes Page 2 hot mix asphalt for the maintenance of streets in an amount not to exceed $923,200.00, and authorizing the City Manager to execute the renewal agreement on behalf of the City Council. 2d. Presentation, possible action, and discussion regarding approval of a contract between the City of College Station and Bryan Texas Utilities in the amount of $60,000 for the purposes of BTU temporarily operating College Station's electric transmission system and authorizing the City Manager to execute the contract on behalf of the City Council. 2e. Presentation, possible action, and discussion regarding the Inter -Local Agreement (ILA) with the College Station Independent School District (CSISD) regarding School Resource Officers (SRO). No items were pulled for a separate vote. MOTION: Upon a motion made by Councilmember Mooney and a second by Councilmember Schultz, the City Council voted six (6) for and none (0) opposed, to approve the Consent Agenda. The motion carried unanimously. The Regular Meeting was recessed at 7:36 p.m. in order to complete am item from the Workshop. The Council reconvened the Regular Meeting at 7:54 p.m. REGULAR AGENDA 1. Public Hearing, presentation and discussion to receive comments regarding the proposed amendments to the City Charter. A quorum of the Citizen's Charter Review Advisory Commission may be present. A quorum of the Citizens' Charter Review Advisory Commission was present: Lynn Mcllhaney, Terry Childers, Chuck Ellison, Buck Prewitt, Tony Jones, and Brian Bochner. At approximately 7:54 p.m., Mayor Berry opened the Public Hearing. Gary Ives, 3943 Blue Jay Court, expressed his support for the proposed recall guidelines. He has been concerned about the impact of recall on government here and across the country. He agrees there needs to be a reasonable means to remove the incompetent and corrupt, but he believes it is anti - democratic for a vocal and disruptive minority to play the system in an effort to overturn the will of the majority. Benito Flores- Meath, 901 Verde, expressed his dismay that the proposed recall guidelines will make the process even more difficult. It is already very difficult. This is putting the citizens at risk by not letting the citizens control the Council. The citizens need to have the chance to do something when the Council does something that could hurt the community, but that is not L RM072612 Minutes Page 3 possible under these criteria. Limiting the number of people that can sign the petition is dangerous for neighborhood issues and makes it impossible for them to get enough signatures. Marianne Oprisko, 11282 Hickory #6, said she had run an unsuccessful petition for the recall of Mayor Mcllhaney. These guidelines will make it even more difficult. Recently the Council approved an apartment complex in a City already overbuilt with apartments. The rents there are $700 -$800. She lives down the street, and the landlord is talking about a 25% increase because someone is getting that amount down the street. She has noticed that every time the Council has problem with money, they look for that million dollar property to annex. Lynn McIlhaney, Chair of the Citizens' Charter Review Advisory Commission, provided some history of the process. Chuck Ellison, Citizens' Charter Review Advisory Commission, provided insight related to "incompetence" and "conflict of interest ". Regarding grounds for recall, the intent was not to make recall harder, but to make it for a good reason. Buck Prewitt, Citizens' Charter Review Advisory Commission, briefly outlined an example of "indirect" conflict of interest. Terry Childers, Vice Chair of the Citizens' Charter Review Advisory Commission, remarked on his concerns related to the issue of "conflict of interest" and expressed his desire to maintain a higher standard. Les Fiechtner, 1213 Baywood Court, expressed his concern with the proposed recall guidelines. There are times the Council disregards what the citizens really want to happen. Requiring people to have actually voted in the election the Councilmember was elected, not only makes it more difficult, but it also disenfranchises certain voters. He would like to see elections based on districts. There is no one from his area of the City that sits on the council. Sherry Ellison, 2705 Brookway Drive, stated her concern is that the general populace has not been part of the process. She would like to see this go forward, but for there to be a format where the Commission members can present the information in a non - biased way. Tony Jones, Citizens' Charter Review Advisory Commission, addressed the reasons for a recall. There need to be some criteria otherwise it will be hard to get people to run. The Commission looked at our peer cities to see how they were doing this. He also briefly discussed elections by district and conflict of interest. Judith Beckmann, 9301 Amberwood Court, there has been a lot of talk about people understanding what they are signing. Putting restrictions on what members can be recalled for is insulting to the people. As for taking away the right from those who did not vote, she noted that if she didn't vote for a bond issue, she is still expected to pay for it. (or RM072612 Minutes Page 4 Brian Bochner, Citizens' Charter Review Advisory Commission, noted that in addition to recall, there are two other methods the citizens can use: either Initiative to get something new, or Referendum to repeal something that has passed. There being no further comments, the Public Hearing was closed at 9:11 p.m. Council consensus was to direct staff to go forward with the following: • Gender Neutral language (as recommended) • Franchise Agreements (from three to two readings) • Recall (add grounds as recommended; leave the formula for the number of signatures required as it currently is within the Charter) • Conflict of Interest (MOTION: Upon a motion made by Councilmember Lyles and a second by Mayor Berry, the City Council voted four (4) for and two (2) opposed, to replace the current language with state law. The motion carried.) 2. Adjournment. MOTION: There being no further business, Mayor Berry adjourned the Regular Meeting of the City Council at 9:54 p.m. on Thursday, July 26, 2012. �ct.v� Gay Nancy Berry, Mayor Lor ATTEST: Sherry Ma- Aurn, City Secretary RM072612 Minutes Page 5 v ; * . ( ,, ( -