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2022 08 18 WS Minutes, Budget MINUTES OF THE BUDGET WORK SESSION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF BAYTOWN August 18, 2022 The City Council of the City of Baytown, Texas, met in a Budget Work Session on Thursday, August 18, 2022, at 2:00 P.M. in the Council Chamber of the Baytown City Hall, 2401 Market Street, Baytown, Texas with the following in attendance: Laura Alvarado Council Member Chris Presley Council Member Charles Johnson Mayor Pro Tem Heather Betancourth Council Member Jacob Powell Council Member Mike Lester Council Member Brandon Capetillo Mayor Rick Davis City Manager Scott Lemond City Attorney Angela Jackson City Clerk John Stringer Sergeant at Arms Mayor Capetillo convened the August 18,2022, City Council Budget Work Session with a quorum present at 2:03 P.M., and with all members present. 1. DISCUSSIONS a. Discuss the City of Baytown Fiscal Year 2022-23 Proposed Budget. City Manager Rick Davis opened the item announcing he would turn some time over to Finance Director Victor Brownlees who will pick up where staff left off on the options presented to Council in the previous Budget Work Session, discuss the Capital Improvement Plan (CIP), and finally work their way in to enterprises. Mayor Capetillo added Council would also hear from the Architectural and Engineering Committee Chair. Mr. Davis confirmed that would also be part of the discussion. Mr. Brownlees proceeded to address the three specific questions Council had in the previous Budget Work Session. 1) The use of their fund balances in the previous years, staff provided Council a sheet with the projected fund balances in the last five years with the actual balances. Mr. Brownlees noted the City always significantly outperformed the budget. 2) A list of all the funded new positions in the budget. 3)The use of contingencies in the previous years which had also been detailed for Council in a provided handout. The Architectural and Engineering Committee's Recommendation Council Member Presley relayed the Architectural and Engineering "A&E" Ad Hoc Committee consisted of himself, Council Member Lester, and Council Member Alvarado. Their Committee City Council Budget Work Session Minutes August 18,2022 Page 2 of 11 met three times over the last two weeks—one of which they met with various Department Directors. The Committee's approach was to scrutinize the CIP list and determine whether the projects were all needs versus wants. In the Committee's opinion, all of the line items were needed either in the present or in the future. Another consideration of the Committee was to optimize the City's amount of reserves, so some of the line items would be cash funded. Lastly, the Committee also matched the size, scope, and useful life of the improvements to the maturities of long-term debt. Council Member Presley conveyed they did strive to reduce that amount of debt and interest expenses. The A&E Committee's recommendations were to reduce the City's reserves from ninety-one days to eighty days by cash-funding the items listed in the table below. In addition, the Committee thought about prioritization and recommended a couple line items in the table below to be pushed back twelve months. Those items were: the Facility Maintenance design, the Jenkins Park Clubhouse design, and Russell Park's drainage. However, the Committee was informed on the Russell Park drainage that there was cash on-hand to begin that process. AMOUNT PROJECT ACTION $45,000,000 Beginning Amount $2,500,000 Public Safety Facility Cash-Funded $840,000 Municipal Courts Renovations Cash-Funded $500,000 BPD Simulation Training Center Moved to CCPD $560,000 Fire Stations 4-7 and South Command Renovations Cash-Funded $1,220,000 Health,Public Works and Engineering, and Library Cash-Funded $350,000 Art League Building Revised Scope of Work $600,000 Public Works and Engineering Equipment Canopy Deferred to FY2024 $200,000 100 Block of Town Square Cash-Funded $650,000 Bayland Marina Park Deferred Construction $270,000 Jenkins Park Clubhouse Moved to MDD $700,000 Russell Park Deferred to FY2024 $2,700,000 Wayne Gray Sports Complex Turf and Parking Deferred; HOT Funds for Turf $1,000,000 Market Street Revitalization Deferred Contingency $6,357,743 Garth Road Widening Deferred Construction Match $2,091,124 Contingency Reduced $25,000,000 Recommended Amount Council Member Presley reported there were only two items the Committee did not reach a unanimous recommendation on due to the information not being provided before the Work Session.The first item was the design of Fire Stations 4, 5,6, 7,and the South Command Building. On that item, the Committee had questioned if it would be wise to commence all of those at once or would the City prioritize? The second was the American Little League item for $1.56 million. Parks and Recreation Director Clifford Hatch had informed Council Member Presley that he spoke with the contractors and it would be likely the City could upgrade to new restrooms, a new building, and new concessions for about $850,000. Council Member Presley believed that number could be cut in half as well. In conclusion of their recommendation,Council Member Presley noted that would bring the City's total debt down from $45 million to $25 million. City Council Budget Work Session Minutes August 18,2022 Page 3 of 11 In regards to the prioritization and in consideration of the City's bandwidth, Mayor Capetillo agreed with delaying the mentioned items to future budgets. He also recognized Council Member Betancourth and the Finance Committee for ensuring Council maintained that financial framework and balance with the recommendations. Council Member Betancourth had made suggestions at a Municipal Development District (MDD) Meeting for cash funding smaller projects for design which Mayor Capetillo hoped Council could consider. Council Member Alvarado shared that had come up in their Committee Meeting as well as the discussions in their previous Budget Work Session. As they moved projects in to cash funds, the Committee knew they would need to hear from the Planning and Finance Directors to see if the projects could be done. In addition, Council Member Alvarado addressed she was hesitant to reduce their reserves. While she wished Council would be cautious, the City did need to fund some projects with those reserves. With that, Mayor Capetillo requested construction timelines so Council could continue to manage those projects. Council Member Lester noted the A&E Committee had still not gotten responses on some of the prioritization issues, but he believed they had done a good job regardless. Council Member Betancourth wondered if the expectation was to go through the recommendations at that time. She requested time to digest and understand the information before commenting. As Council deliberated how they would proceed, Council Member Lester took an opportunity to voice their Committee's process on shortening the reserves for cash funding the projects mentioned. He shared he would like to further reduce their recommended eighty days of the reserves to seventy- five days due to the previous four years of their reserves being each over a hundred days. Mayor Capetillo explained the idea had been for the A&E Committee to look and prioritize the project list and work with staff to see what could be delivered. As the next step, Mayor Capetillo asked the Finance Committee to look at the A&E Committee's recommendations to make suggestion on what would be their target for the reserves and debt issuance. The Finance Committee agreed. Council Member Betancourth additionally inquired if the A&E Committee discussed staff proposing to move$12 million from the General Fund to the CIP. Council Member Lester replied they had not discussed General Fund issues. They only focused on the projects and the cash available in the reserves. With those$12 million,he believed there could be more projects that could be cash-funded. Council Member Betancourth asked if Council were to accept the recommendations as is, would the plan still be to move $12 million to the CIP? Mr. Brownlees confirmed that was still the plan. Moreover, Mr. Brownlees clarified the overall CIP was the $45 million of debt, plus the $12 million cash transfer, and plus the balances in the CIP fund. Instead of debt funding $45 million, staff would transfer a chunk of that to cash. The proposal was to increase the General Fund cash contributions to $18 million by adding $6 million and the $25 million of debt the Committee had previously outlined. Council Member Lester understood the $45 million was what Council was willing to issue debt on and the $12 million was what they would transfer to cover that. It was a $57 million program. The $12 million would not impact the $45 million as Council would work that later on. Except, Council Member Betancourth noted it was increased to $18 million. Mr. Brownlees replied because Council was reducing the debt, staff would increase the cash side too. Council Member Powell referenced a separate list of projects and inquired if the A&E Committee had reviewed those as well. The Committee replied they had not and only reviewed the CIP list. Mayor Capetillo explained the referenced list was what had not been considered for the originally City Council Budget Work Session Minutes August 18,2022 Page 4 of 11 proposed projects of the$45 million in debt issuance. It was separate,but he offered Council could also discuss those. Mayor Capetillo repeated his recommendations and noted the Finance Department wished to express a few things with regard to the framework. Additional Tax Rate Proposal In the previous Budget Work Session, Mr. Brownlees relayed staff discussed various options on the tax rates available. If Council were to reduce the debt issuance down to $25 million, then Council had the ability to reduce that tax rate even further. The additional proposal was as follows: • Reduce Tax Rate to 760 (2.50 cut) - Increase Cash Funding of CIP by$6 million - Reduce Contingency to $1 million(from $3.25 million) - Reduce Fund Balance to 75 days Mayor Pro Tem Johnson noted the City had previously bought a fire truck with the contingency. It was not planned in the original budget, but there was a need later on. He wondered every time they reduced the tax rate by one cent, how much money was that off the budget? Mr. Brownlees replied that was about$1.3 million. Mayor Pro Tem Johnson then inquired how much the fire truck had cost which Mr. Brownlees answered about $1.5 million. Therefore, one cent equated to a fire truck the City had once needed. Mayor Pro Tem Johnson stressed on the health and safety of their community, and requested they look at what the Police and Fire Departments needed. He questioned whether reducing the tax rate would put their citizens at risk, so he recommended to see if there was an opportunity to improve those departments and then consider taking a cent off Mr. Brownlees shared that was exactly what staff had done. In the last year, the City had played catch-up with Fire.Now, staff had a different methodology. Mr. Brownlees was confident the City was in a position to be able to keep the pace with that and,at the same time,drive down the property tax rate. Upon further discussion, Council Member Lester questioned how reducing the tax rate to seventy-six cents would impact Industrial District Agreements (IDAs) of which he stated that Mr. Brownlees indicated they would cover that loss with the funds they had. Thus, Council Member Lester believed the City was in good shape and Council had an opportunity to give more back without hurting the City. Mayor Pro Tem Johnson clarified he wished to be sure the City would have enough to cover unforeseen incidents. If staff could assure him the City could, then he was all about giving back. Council Member Alvarado relayed she had been in line with Mayor Pro Tem Johnson,but she then considered the impact on IDAs. As that continued to be a target for the State, she noted Baytown's budget was a majority of IDAs. While Council wanted to support residents, she questioned what other areas could they reduce because she was wary about what the State continued to push and Baytown losing that IDA money. On the other hand, Council Member Presley more so agreed with Council Member Lester. The one cent reduction was minuscule. City employees received raises each year as they deserved. Citizens, likewise, deserved a raise in their own right and more than a minuscule amount. In regards to the options, he leaned more towards the two and half cent cut. City Council Budget Work Session Minutes August 18,2022 Page 5of11 Council Member Alvarado questioned what expenses fell under the contingency. Mr. Brownlees responded anything that could be legally spent by the City could be covered by the contingency. The contingency was for unforeseen circumstances related to the City's normal course of business. Council Member Lester shared he similarly had a narrow view of what the reserves could be used for. However,Mr. Brownlees had to him indicated Council could tap in to the reserves if the matter was legitimate and Council voted to restructure the budget. Therefore, if there was an unforeseen incident, Council could meet and reduce their reserve days. Council Member Alvarado had convinced Council Member Lester to not reduce it further than seventy-five days. Since Council knew the City would end up well ahead of that,he proposed they use some of that to fund projects, lower their debt ratios, and give a two and a half cents tax cut to their citizens. Council Member Lester further addressed the addition of personnel. If the City was able to do that while being able to give back to citizens, Council needed to take that chance and that year was the year to do it. Mayor Capetillo had similarly wanted to take a deeper cut, but also agreed that Council did need to be cautions. Nevertheless, the City was financially in a good position to take as much of a tax cut as whatever would be possible. If an unforeseen circumstance were to surface, the City was prepared. Mayor Capetillo would support whatever that tax cut may be, but first wanted the Finance Committee's final recommendation. Then, Council could move forward. Furthermore, he presumed the general consensus of Council at that time was the two and half cent tax cut option. Based on a previous note made, Council Member Powell asked if there was contingency built in to the different departments that Council was not capturing. In reference to an email he had sent to Council, Health Director Tony Gray responded that contingency was built in to their chemical budget. It was not deemed "contingency," per say, with a line item in the budget. It was just for additional chemicals. Council Member Betancourth also understood department budgets had built- in contingency. Even the CIP had a contingency separate from the general contingency. Mr. Brownlees confirmed that was correct, but departments did not have separate contingencies. The General Fund had contingency and the CIP had a separate contingency related to capital projects. Departmental Budget Concerns In going through the budget line items, Council Member Lester questioned the $300,000 for special services along with concerns over several other line items like education and training and staff development. Council Member Alvarado noted that it was unfair to staff to say that staff was finding ways to add money to the budget. Mr. Brownlees explained special services captured the cost of contracted services of specific specialist expertise.The City had to increase that due to their difficulties in filling in their own positions. Then, Assistant to the City Manager Brian Moran responded that covered $50,000 for Council District projects. Each Council Member would have $50,000. On another note, Council Member Lester observed various big jumps in the budget. For general administration, the current year had $63,000 while the proposed next year had $202,500. Mr. Brownlees replied that was for a broadband study. Mr. Davis added that was a Council initiative and there were opportunities to seek funding for that. Furthermore, Council Member Lester wished to address land maintenance. It had never been in the budget before and it was almost for$157,000. He wondered if the City acquired more land that they had to maintain. Mr. Brownlees answered, no, that was removed from other budget lines in to the purchasing unit. In short,it was consolidated to be managed more effectively.Mr.Brownlees City Council Budget Work Session Minutes August 18,2022 Page 6of11 relayed Council Member Lester was identifying supplemental requests. He directed Council to that page in their budget book to help focus their discussion. Staff had started with a base budget and added a supplemental list which was entirely up to Council to do any or none of those requests. Council Member Lester pointed to the Public Affairs Department's special services that had been bumped up to$247,000. Public Affairs Director Thomas Reeves responded that was for the market strategy and research study. A sum of that was moved around from other line items that were not accounted for properly. In terms of special services, the contract webmaster was moved there as well. Council Member Lester asked over Public Affairs' legislated services for $220,000. Mr. Reeves replied that had been requested to be increased to include a federal advocate. Baytown had success in their state advocacy and now the request had been to add a federal advocate. Mayor Capetillo commented how the City did need help with large scale initiatives in that respect. Council Member Powell asked about the advertising of the $108,000. Mr. Reeves answered a lot of that was for the Seize the Bay Campaign for Hulu and Amazon ads. Before the City spent any more money on advertisements, a study would bring a strategy and action plan for the best use of the City's advertising dollars going forward. Next, Council Member Lester wished to go over the Planning and Development's special services that went from $250,000 to $657,000. Planning and Development Director Martin Scribner addressed $200,000 of that was for the Unified Land Development Code (ULDC) update. In addition, the City was looking at a downtown plan update for $160,000, a code audit for about another$50,000, and a streetlight study for about$100,000. Mr. Scribner explained that was where the majority of those special services expenses came from. On the$250,000 for that year, $150,000 was for the ULDC update which had been started yet. Staff only had a month left in the current year's budget, so some of that would be reabsorbed in to the General Fund to be picked up in the next year with that$200,000. Mr. Scribner relayed staff would probably come back to Council the following year to ask for the remainder of that contract which he anticipated to be around$100,000. On Building Maintenance, Council Member Lester noted that went from$957,000 to $1,236,000. Public Works and Engineering Assistant Director Kevin Harvill replied that was their standard building maintenance. In the last year, Public Works combined all building maintenance funds in to one and found a lot of deferred maintenance from the departments they did not have the funds to take care of properly. Mr. Harvill relayed they had a zero-debt line now and asked for an increase of about 20% for the next year. Council Member Lester asked if they had zeroed out other budgets which Mr. Harvill answered they just about had. With the work still left with the departments, Public Works and Engineering Director Frank Simoneaux stated there was a small amount left. Council Member Lester then turned his attention to the Fire Department and their chemical budget that went from$21,000 to $115,000. Fire Chief Kenneth Dobson replied that was primarily for the Fire Training Field with the propane for their new industrial prop. Council Member Lester further inquired over Fire's land maintenance that went from$17,000 to$52,000. Chief Dobson explained some of that was added for the Fire Training Field as well. He additionally informed Council that they had worked with Finance to add a program in the budget to just address that Training Field. In continuation, Council Member Lester observed streets had went from $120,000 in special services to $180,000. Mr. Simoneaux replied that concerned tree trimmings. On another note, City Council Budget Work Session Minutes August 18,2022 Page 7 of 11 Council Member Lester saw that traffic control street marking supplies went from $50,000 to $150,000 and wondered whether that was a short-term program. Mr. Harvill confirmed so and explained they expanded that program several years ago. Public Works had $350,000 slated for contract maintenance and slowly cut that budget down to increase their own budget to make up for that. With the $150,000, he hoped by the end of the next year they would not be so dependent on contractors. Council imparted favorable comments on the note of keeping things in-house. Mr. Simoneaux added one of their department's personnel requests was for a technician on the striping crew. On that same budget, Council Member Lester noted special services jumped from $15,000 to $165,000 on traffic. Mr. Harvill explained their traffic engineer resigned, so they had to pay for engineering firms to pick up the design. Council Member Lester wondered whether the City would hire for that position. Mr. Simoneaux explained that position had been posted for several months and they have had only one applicant who was not qualified. Lastly, Council Member Lester noted there was a motor vehicle line item for$225,000 which was noted to be for a new bucket truck. Next, Council Member Lester addressed the Health Department's chemical supplies of$101,000 for aerial spraying. He believed spraying the City in one night would not give any relief if they did not spray Chambers, Harris, Galveston, and Fort Bend Counties at the same time. Thus, he questioned if they needed that. Mr. Gray explained, in the past, Baytown had relied on the State or Federal Government to come in and take care of the issue. He confirmed it was a one-time spray event that would eliminate everything flying at that time. Council Member Lester noted it was never budgeted before. Mayor Capetillo agreed and recalled when the City had needed it, they could not act because it was expensive. He advised they budget for it because there was an approval process. If it did not occur, then they would not spend that money. Mayor Capetillo would rather have it than not be able to address the West Nile Virus, for example, or whatever the case may be. Council Member Alvarado wished to expand on the Mayor's point that any budget item—if it was not spent—could be used for something else. She wondered if a department did not use an item, could that be used outside of that department? Mr. Gray believed transfers typically happened within departments. Mr. Davis clarified their municipal budget was a collection of authorizations. The budget was a policy statements and not really a collection of money. Before the City expended outside of any line item,staff would continue to have discussion with Council. On that note,Mayor Capetillo explained that was also why the City ended up with 189 days of reserves. It was due to line items such as the staffing vacancies and the City coming out of the COVID pandemic. Council Member Lester proceeded to question the Health Department's furniture and fixtures— was that targeted for Animal Control?Mr. Gray answered it was not,but it was for their downstairs meeting room at their facility on Defee Street. The City already had the furniture and fixtures for the new animal shelter. Moreover, Council Member Lester noted their special services of$89,000 was bumped up to$151,000. Mr. Gray responded$9,000 of the$89,000 was for their Local Health Authority Dr. James Bernick for outside service. The rest was a transfer for animal services. The account was typically used for spaying and neutering all animal within their shelter as well as those in foster care. Council Member Lester presumed the City was paying for outside services which Mr. Gray confirmed so. On a separate note, Mayor Pro Tem Johnson inquired if their overtime included code enforcement outside of their eight to five hours. Mr. Gray replied staff could set that up. Council Member Alvarado added a lot of violations did happen in the evenings and on weekends. She questioned City Council Budget Work Session Minutes August 18,2022 Page 8of11 whether staff thought of having a split shift or anything similar. Mr. Gray answered they had not. In the past, they had an after-hours program, but it was more beneficial to do it in the daylight because staff had to take photographs. Nevertheless, Mr. Gray offered they could take a look at that. Aside from Police and Fire, Council Member Alvarado believed the Health Department warranted evening or split shifts. Council Member Presley agreed with regard to issues in his district. Mr. Gray inquired if they would like that to be for general code enforcement. Council agreed with general. Council Member Lester expanded on Mr. Gray's point regarding working in daylight hours. He noted dusk or evening hours could become precarious for staff to take pictures. Also,taking pictures of peoples' cars in the dark, for example, could accelerate confrontations. On the other hand, the City always targeted programs based on Council's directive on hotspot areas. Mr. Gray continued to address their special services account which also included a trash-off event. Council further discussed that event. Another item included in the account was for a drone. Council Member Lester then wanted to touch on staff development. Human Resources Director Carol Flynt noted staff development was in every one of the departments' budget. Since October, Department Directors had been meeting and having conversations about recruitment retention.Ms. Flynt shared a few ideas so they could create connection within departments that was important to the retention of their employees. She shared they did try to be modest in figuring out the amount for each of their departments. Council Member Lester asked if she would have oversight on that. Ms. Flynt replied the Directors would continue to have ongoing conversations about what that would look like. Council further discussed matters concerning employees and their retention. On to the Parks and Recreation Department, Council Member Lester observed chemicals for $87,000 had been bumped to $160,000. Parks and Recreation Director Clifford Hatch shared that was just the cost going up. One chemical, in particular, had skyrocketed. Parks Superintendent Cornell Gordon relayed two things had happened: 1) one chemical was no longer available and so staff came up with an alternate solution,and 2)as mentioned,there was that skyrocketing chemical cost. On building improvements for$280,000,Mr. Hatch explained that was for Town Square turf For equipment, there would also be a storage facility at Town Square to clean that turf effectively. The Nature Center Mayor Pro Tem Johnson recalled their discussions about getting rid of admissions to the Nature Center and requested a comment on the pros and cons of doing that. Parks and Recreation Superintendent of Natural Resources Tracey Prothro shared staff would love to see more people at the Nature Center. Although, the City used to offer free Sundays and Ms. Prothro expressed the park was basically loved to death. Parks had to hire extra people to come out the next day to clean up the trash. In addition, Ms. Prothro detailed their current struggles with parking and overcrowding. With that, she did not believe the Nature Center was ready to be opened up for free. However, she offered they could implement some sort of ranger program to make that work. Moreover, Mayor Pro Tern Johnson wish to discuss how free admissions would affect the wildlife. Also, what would the ranger program cost and was that in the budget? Ms. Prothro responded that was not in the budget. Parks had requested to move over their existing staff in to the General Fund, so Parks would have to create a ranger program to see what those staff members would cost. As far as the wildlife impact,Ms. Prothro shared there would be more people in areas where they were not supposed to have vehicles, for example,which still happened. She did wish to see more people • City Council Budget Work Session Minutes August 18,2022 Page 9of11 out there,but Parks wanted to be able to control where the people are. Staff had also been receiving . calls about people shooting seagulls, so Ms. Prothro once again advocated for a ranger program. Council continued to discuss matter concerning the Nature Center. It was noted eliminating fees would also limit their ability to have bird feeding stations which would impact their bird numbers. With those issues raised regarding the Nature Center, Council continued to discuss whether to waive that admissions fee and also their current fee structure. Mayor Pro Tern Johnson believed Council should leave it as is, have some days where the City could staff for free days, and then move on from there. With the City not having the staff to help with the influx of people, Mayor Pro Tern Johnson believed that was something to consider. Mr. Davis conjectured eliminating the fee would cause people to rush in. However, with the Nature Center being universally open with no fee, he did not see the correlation on that having a tremendous impact on the environment. Mayor Pro Tern Johnson countered that with the poaching issue being increased and also their staffing issue. Council Member Lester considered the Chandler family's wishes who donated the Arboretum properties with the concept that it would be free. He recommended they structure their fees for a more family environment as opposed to fisherman, for example,who took resources out. Mayor Capetillo believed the intention of the suggestion was to provide a free amenity for people, but there would be consequences. He suggested the City offer, once a month, a Sunday of free access. Thus, the City could prepare for the cleanup and security. He offered they could even limit to people having a Baytown water bill or a Baytown address. Council Member Alvarado further questioned future Nature Center matters with regards to the Wetlands and potential cleanup solutions. She also looked up the average salary for a park ranger, which was around $20 an hour in Texas, and suggested that be something Council could entertain. Council Member Alvarado was initially in favor of free access, but had been unaware of the issues. Therefore, she leaned more towards the Mayor's suggestion with respect to staff and having that adequate support. Mr. Hatch agreed the first step would be to get those positions funded by the General Fund so the Nature Center could have the flexibility to offer open days. Mayor Pro Tern Johnson inquired for the amount needed. Mr. Hatch replied it was $206,000 for that year under their operating budget. General Budget Concerns Council Member Betancourth observed the Wayne Gray parking expansion and improvements was recommended to be deferred to 2024 to allow the design to be completed. Included in the expansion,however,was the possibility to purchase land. She inquired if that was part of the design or was that also deferred. Public Works and Engineering Assistant Director Andrea Brinkley responded that was in the current year's budget as well as the preliminary engineering and design. Council Member Betancourth also noticed Russell Park drainage had a zero next to it and inquired if that was because it was recommended to be moved to the MDD. Mr. Brinkley replied the City had about $200,000 in preliminary design for that in the current year's budget, so staff felt they had the funds to do something with that year's money before moving forward in to full design. Furthermore, Council Member Betancourth addressed there had been comments made about the American Little League park improvements, so she recommended Council discuss their opinions. Council Member Presley recapped $1.56 million was for the park's suggested improvements and he had questioned if there were any options to reduce the scope of that. The Mayor also suggested a possible relocation. Mr. Hatch informed Council Member Presley one option would be to do new City Council Budget Work Session Minutes August 18,2022 Page 10 of 11 restrooms and concessions for about$800,000 to $900,000 and then develop a long-term plan with the school district because the City did not own that property. The A&E Committee did not have a recommendation on that and were looking for feedback from Council. Mayor Capetillo shared his reservation was not with the amount,but with understanding the bigger picture. He knew the City needed those three existing fields at the American Little League park, but because of tournaments they would need about eight fields. The City needed to make the improvements,but he was not sure about the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) compliance for the press box. Mayor Capetillo suggested Council proceed with the recommended amount because it would take a few years before the City had any kind of select field. He only requested a bigger picture and understanding, not just from Parks, but from the baseball community itself. Council Member Betancourth inquired what the$1.5 million would be used for if they only needed $800,000 to $900,000. Ms. Brinkley replied it was their estimate that included a playground. Staff wanted to be sure they would not have to come back for Change Orders and the City would need utilities for the restrooms as well. However,the City did have another fiscal year. By the time they completed the design, staff would be able to make sure the City could fully fund that. Ms. Brinkley informed Council, while it was down for the current year, there may be more for the next year. Council Member Betancourth assumed because the City did not own the land, there may be opinions to not invest in the American Little League park—similar to Bicentennial Park. Council Member Lester agreed. Mayor Capetillo countered the scale was different, and he did not want to hold back on the improvements that were needed. Council deliberated on that note. Council Member Alvarado agreed with the investments, yet was unsure of the $1.5 million, to make the park functional. Mr. Davis shared with Council his conversations with Dr. Randal O'Brien. Goose Creek Consolidated Independent School District (GCCISD) was considering transferring that property to the City, so he did not anticipate the property would remain with GCCISD for long. Council Member Presley and Council Member Lester agreed that would make a difference. If the City and GCCISD worked on an agreement or if they transferred that American Little League property, Council Member Lester would be all in. However, at that time, he was opposed. Mayor Capetillo suggested Council budget for the improvements as the City would receive an indication on that shortly. Council Member Betancourth added Council could consider not spending the money budgeted until that agreement was solidified. At the final budget approval, if the City did not have an agreement, Council Member Lester would vote against that line item. To Council Member Betancourth's point, Council Member Alvarado would still hold that line item. Until Council either had assurance the City had a right to the property or there would be a transfer, Mayor Capetillo recommended to leave in the line item. Council agreed that was fair. Council Member Presley relayed the American Little League and the Fire facilities were the only items the A&E Committee did not reach a unanimous consensus on. For the Fire facilities, Chief Dobson affirmed they could be prioritized in the order they were listed. Mr. Simoneaux shared his intent was to issue out all facility renovations to one architect as a package. They could prioritize their workload,but Mr. Simoneaux believed it would be more efficient to have one architect do all their designs as he mentioned. In that way, the City's project management would be easier and everything would be ready to move in to construction. Of course, the City did not have to do all constructions on all facilities at once. It could be staged or staggered. City Council Budget Work Session Minutes August 18,2022 Page 11 of 11 Mayor Capetillo questioned the renovations to Fire Stations 6 and 7 considering they were newer. Mr. Simoneaux stated all the recommended facilities came out of facility assessments. Thus, the newer facilities did have issues. Mr. Simoneaux did have the items looked at to pick out the things that were facility maintenance that could be done in-house. Those items had been separated, so the remaining items were more than just maintenance. Council Member Alvarado shared in their A&E Committee Meeting with the Department Directors, the Committee liked that the City was doing preventative maintenance. Mayor Capetillo did not disagree, but he had wondered what the new Fire Stations remodel would entail. Mayor Pro Tern Johnson reminded Council the Fire Stations were lived in twenty-four hours, seven days a week. He listed a few items that,if they had not been on a maintenance program, he could see why they needed to spend there. Mr. Simoneaux noted staff was trying to increase their facility maintenance program budget. Council Member Betancourth repeated Council Member Presley's question. If they designed all the facilities that year and if Council did not budget the construction for two or three years, would they have to redesign? Mr. Simoneaux replied it was planned to construct all facilities in the next year. If there was a different plan, staff would delay some of the designs. Council Member Presley was concerned of there being another hefty number to do all the constructions simultaneously. Council inquired for that estimate and Council Member Lester shared his doubts on the remodels being critical to operations. Chief Dobson addressed heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC)were the big issues with those stations as well as there being no exhaust systems in certain stations. Staff proceeded to convey the plan was fiscally responsible and could be accomplished. Mayor Capetillo imparted Council wanted to be sure of what was financially available and what was able to be delivered. He did not want the City to take on too much that could not be delivered. Council wished to take care of business, meet citizens' needs, and reduce the tax rate as proposed. On one last item, Council Member Lester queried over the Sterling Library's $115,000 for computer software. Lead Librarian II Lesley Kohles replied that had been moved out of special services to enhance their catalog software. The software was what people used to search for books which the Library had used for over a decade. Ms. Kohles relayed they would pay about $16,000 in a one-time implementation fee so they could offer a new and improved catalog software. In conclusion, Mayor Capetillo suggested there be a shared document for the A&E Committee from a project standpoint and for the Finance Committee regarding funding. With no further questions or comments, Council agreed to meet again for another Budget Work Session on Tuesday, August 24, 2022, at 5:00 P.M. there in the Council Chambers. 2. ADJOURN With there being no further business to discuss, Mayor Capetillo adjourned the August 18, 2022, City Council Budget W• -ssion at 4:10 P.M. 4 ; ITOWj,h1 II MOO tt..M Angela J:ckson, CityFle k~ City of Baytown fir 11, 23, s f T`'1, Af.