2022 04 01 CC Minutes, Retreat MINUTES OF THE RETREAT MEETING OF THE CITY
COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF BAYTOWN
April 1, 2022
The City Council of the City of Baytown, Texas, met in a Retreat on Friday, April 1, 2022, at 8:30
A.M. in The Fire Training Facility, Meeting Room B, located at 7022 Bayway Drive, Baytown,
Texas 77520 with the following in attendance:
Laura Alvarado Council Member
Chris Presley Mayor Pro Tem
Heather Betancourth Council Member
Jacob Powell Council Member
Mike Lester Council Member
Brandon Capetillo Mayor
Rick Davis City Manager
Kevin Troller Assistant City Manager
Brian Moran Assistant to the City Manager
Mayor Capetillo convened the April 1, 2022, City Council Retreat Meeting with a quorum present
at 8:30 A.M., all members were present with the exception of the absence of Council Member
Charles Johnson. Additionally, Matt Hollis from the Baytown Sun was in attendance.
1. DISCUSSIONS
a. Discuss the Prioritization of Council Initiatives for the Annual Implementation Plan.
Due to technical difficulties, a majority of the Retreat Meeting went unrecorded. The following
information was based off the notes provided by Brian Moran.
City Manager Rick Davis opened the meeting and facilitated a discussion about the prioritizing of
the initiatives Council identified at the December 2021 Council Retreat. The prioritization
discussion revolved around the following directives: Outdoor Recreation & Amenities; Critical
Infrastructure & Traffic Flow; Beautification & Environmental Stewardship; Build a Better
Baytown; and Economic Prosperity. During the prioritization exercise, Mayor Capetillo and
Council Members were asked to rank each of the initiatives identified within those directives. The
top five identified initiatives per directive were as follows.
OUTDOOR RECREATION & AMENITIES
1) Zip lines at Bayland Island & the Nature Center
2) Develop a Kayak Launch at the Lanie Property and other locations
3) Pedestrian crossing from Blue Heron to Jenkins
4) Increase Pickleball Courts
5) More use of Brunson—unfinished area
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CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTURE & TRAFFIC FLOW
1) Enhance broadband
2) Support movement of heavy traffic from Highway 146 to 99
3) Continue to plan and fund a third Cedar Bayou Crossing
4) Commission the level of a transportation and land use plan
5) Continue to partner with other jurisdictions to fund/address storm system needs
BEAUTIFICATION & ENVIRONMENTAL STEWARDSHIP
1) Recommit to Vacant Building Ordinance
2) Trash-Off event
3) Strengthen Sign Ordinance Enforcement
4) More haz-mat and electronic recycling
5) Examine feasibly of a second Green Center
BUILD A BETTER BAYTOWN
1) Goose Lake dredging/paddle boats
2) Continue National Night Out at Town Square, but add neighborhood visits (hybrid model)
3) Jenkins Park Pavilion
4) Improvements to Art League Building
5) Create a small performing and gathering venue
BREAK: (10:15 A.M. — 10:30 A.M.)
At 10:15 A.M., Mayor Capetillo recessed in to a fifteen-minute break.
At 10:30 A.M., Mayor Capetillo reconvened the Retreat Meeting and Council proceeded to
deliberate on the final directive, Economic Prosperity.
ECONOMIC PROSPERITY
1) Capitalize on Baytown's waterfront visits and access
2) Code Overhaul
3) Decrease inventory of city-owned properties and including underutilized parks
4) Bring online circulator service to connect Bayland island with other points of interest
5) Create amenities plan for Bayland Island
On Economic Propensity, a good portion of Council's discussion was recorded.
Economic Development
An initiative that did not make it in to the top five, yet was heavily discussed by Council, was the
city's internal expansion of Economic Development. It had ranked 12th place in priority. Mr. Davis
relayed his vision of having someone dedicated to retention and infill in addition to another person
dedicated to recruitment. Mr. Davis stated he would like to bring in a couple people on board to
assist the city with their Economic Development Program. Mayor Capetillo inquired what would
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be the direct benefit from such program. Mr. Davis answered with the city's vacant buildings issue,
marketing programs to starting businesses, and broad recruitment. He further discussed how broad
recruitment was what Economic Development Manager Bret Gardella's bandwidth had been taken
up with—that and also residential development. So much so, that the city did not have anybody to
go out and work on the retention of existing businesses,market existing programs,nor to fill vacant
buildings.
Council Member Betancourth questioned if they were to fund that type of Economic Development
Program, would they decrease funding to the Chamber of Commerce. The question prompted
Council to further discuss matters concerning the and the Economic Development Program.
Council Member Betancourth additionally inquired instead of hiring staff for the program, could
the city contract that out. Mr. Davis had thought, due to their lack of space, on outsourcing and
remote work. Mr. Davis preferred to put a roof over the rest of the Brunson and locate Economic
Development as a program inside the theatre.
Council Member Lester asked, in talking about Economic Development issues, where was Mr.
Gardella? He noted Council was asking Mr. Gardella to do an essential part of their effort, and he
was not there to hear Council talk. There was further deliberation on whether Mr. Gardella, and
other directors in general, should be present in meetings to hear Council's discussions.
Mayor Pro Tern Presley added, in regards to expanding Economic Development, that the vacant
Assistant City Manager position should be filled by an individual with an Economic Development
background. Mr. Davis stated that had indeed been one of the criteria the city had been looking at.
Decrease City Properties
On the 3`d ranked initiative of Economic Prosperity, Mr. Davis opened the discussion on the need
to decrease the inventory of city properties. Specifically,the city's large inventory of underutilized
parks. Mr. Davis noted investing in amenities may not be appropriate for every park—such parks
could be sold and redeveloped. Baytown had 53 parks at that point in time. In the coming year,
Mr. Davis would like to go through the process of identifying candidates—such as the Tejas
Park—to redevelop. Council Member Alvarado expressed caution in the ridding of pocket parks.
Mr. Davis assured there would be a public engagement component to the process. The city would
not take away the peoples' most important parks.
Council Member Lester inquired if it was a difficult process to sell a park. Mr. Davis answered
that it could be. Not all parks would lend themselves to development. Mayor Capetillo added they
would go to the voter, and questioned why that was. He was responded with going to the voters to
sell a park was statue. Council pondered over if that was a state statue. Regardless, Mr. Davis
believed it would not be flexible. Council Member Betancourth commented that was something to
consider next time Council created a park.
Mr. Davis then relayed there would be an interlocal agreement coming to Council soon with Goose
Creek Consolidated Independent School District (GCCISD) to join together and market their
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properties. The city had identified 80+parcels that could be developed in to homes, and GCCISD
had a number of others. Mr. Davis had also discussed with GCCISD about property exchanges.
Vacant Buildings
The following topic of discussion was the initiative ranked 14th, filling vacant buildings with
thriving businesses. Mr. Davis made note that when the city launched a grant or opportunity, they
did not receive many phone calls nor applications. Council proceeded to discuss the difficulty it
was to get businesses to apply.
GCCISD and Lee College
Supporting the efforts to promote talent from GCCISD and Lee College was ranked 1 0th place in
Council's priority. Mr. Davis relayed GCCISD would possibly build another academy in Baytown
and were interested in property exchanges with the city. The land the city would acquire were the
five and a half acres off Market to build the Fire Station 2, Bicentennial Park, and the American
Little League Ball Fields. Unofficially, Randal O'Brien from GCCISD expressed interest in the
nine acres where the San Jacinto Hospital once sat. A probable use for the land would be to
establish a Maritime Academy. Mr. Davis had asked Mr. O'Brien if they could combine that
Maritime concept with a Public Safety Academy.
In regards to the property exchange, Mayor Capetillo wished to include retaining waterfront
access. Council Member Alvarado wondered if GCCISD would take that land of the former
hospital, where would their recreation center go? Mr. Davis's immediate default answer was
Russell Park.
Code Overhaul
The 2nd ranked initiative was met by questions from Council on what exactly the overhaul was.
Mr. Davis replied that there were redundancies in the code. In regards to the aspects of the code,
Council Member Betancourth questioned was it not common sense? Mayor Capetillo further
questioned if such aspects of the code added any value. Mr. Davis stated his first reaction would
be to hire a consultant on the matter.
Council Member Lester took a moment to discuss permits due to a conversation he had with a
disabled senior citizen that needed a permit regarding his gas line. Council Member Lester wished
to look at why senior citizens and the disabled were being charged with that $50 fee. It was noted
that any changes made would have to be done uniformly. Mr. Davis mused over the thought of if
the city did not charge residential permits. Council Member Lester countered that would have an
impact on building inspections. Mr. Davis did note Planning & Development Director Martin
Scribner was figuring out a way to be more efficient in the assessment of commercial permits in a
matter that would more than compensate for the fees the city collected on the residential side.
With the discussion coming to its conclusion, Council discussed once more their 12th initiative on
the expansion of Economic Development. Mayor Capetillo requested a plan.What would that look
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like in a year or two? Council Member Alvarado suggested a plan for that would be to either
decrease or step away from the Chamber. Council favored that notion. Mr. Davis stated the person
Council needed to talk to was President & CEO of the Baytown Chamber of Commerce Tracey
Wheeler. Council repeatedly deliberated on matters concerning the Chamber.
After the deliberation and discussions on the initiatives,Mr. Davis notified Council that they would
be given a report on the priorities and what would be executed.
2. ADJOURN
With there being no further business to discuss, Mayor Capetillo adjourned the April 1, 2022, City
Council Retreat Meeting at 11:34 A.M.
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