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2025 04 10 CC WS MinutesMINUTES OF THE WORK SESSION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF BAYTOWN April 10, 2025 The City Council of the City of Baytown, Texas, met in a Work Session on Thursday, April 10, 2025, at 5:00 P.M. in the Council Chamber of Baytown City Hall, 2401 Market Street, Baytown, Texas, with the following in attendance: Jacob Powell Mayor Pro Tern Laura Alvarado Council Member Sarah Graham Council Member Kenrick Griffith Council Member James Franco Council Member Mike Lester Council Member Charles Johnson Mayor Jason Reynolds City Manager Scott Lemond City Attorney Gabriella Gonzales Acting City Clerk John Stringer Sergeant at Arms Mayor Charles Johnson convened the April 10, 2025 City Council Work Session with a quorum present at 5:02 P.M. All members were present with the exception of Council Member Kenrick Griffith. 1. CITIZEN COMMENTS Mayor Charles Johnson announced no citizens signed up to speak. 2. DISCUSSIONS Mayor Charles Johnson announced the agenda items will be taken out of order. a. Discuss and receive a presentation on the Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone (TIRZ) and the Baytown Redevelopment Authority (BRA), including their roles, financial structure, ongoing projects, and potential impacts on economic development within the city. Economic Development Manager Brian Moran provided a presentation detailing the Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone (TIRZ) and the Baytown Redevelopment Authority (BRA). (Exhibit A) Council Member Laura Alvarado referenced exhibit A and wanted clarification on the role of City Council with Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone (TIRZ) 2. City Council Work Session Minutes April 10, 2025 Page 2 of 8 Brian Moran clarified Council is serving as the Board of Directors for both TIRZ 1 and 2. Mayor Pro Tern Jacob Powell wanted clarification on why Council was initially appointed as the board for TIRZ 2. City Manager Jason Reynolds referenced exhibit A and stated, "Council was set up as the board for TIRZ 2 until we were able to determine a full path to take with TIRZ 2, because we knew, there was not going to be a growth in TIRZ 2 for many years. There are opportunities for growth in TIRZ 2, but it is not right now. Council was appointed the board members for TIRZ 2 due to Council and staff not wanting any board members time being wasted as a result of there not being many items for TIRZ 2 since it is just starting out." Mayor Pro Tern Jacob Powell referenced exhibit A and stated, "I would be in favor of combining them and turning over that board from us to them. I value having that extra input. Looking at the chart you gave us, ultimately it will still come to us as a recommendation, so I think having that additional input as a recommendation would be useful." Council Member Sarah Graham wanted clarification if another choice is to have a board that will only serve TIRZ 2, and if Council were to combine the two boards in the future, is it possible to separate them in the future. Brian Moran deferred the question to the City Attorney Scott Lemond. City Attorney Scott Lemond, responded, the separation could be done in the future. Mayor Charles Johnson thanked staff for getting this on the agenda and stated, "I was also leaning towards council not being the board for TIRZ 2. I think it's a better look, it's citizen involvement. Like all other boards, things come to us for the final decision after they give the recommendation." Council Member Laura Alvarado Commented, if council were to go back to the existing board, there should be a refresh since TIRZ 1 has not been active for a while. The refresh will include what has changed, especially if the board will also be overseeing TIRZ 2. Council Member Kenrick Griffith entered the City Council Work Session meeting at 5:25 P.M. b. Review and discuss policies, procedures, and processes associated with the creation of an Ethics Commission and ethics complaint process. Assistant City Manager Carol Flynt provided a presentation detailing the creation of an Ethics Commission and the ethics complaint process. (Exhibit B) Mayor Charles Johnson requested clarification on what would be an equivalent position to an Assistant Director. City Council Work Session Minutes April 10, 2025 Page 3 of S Assistant City Manager Carol Flynt responded with Assistant Chief, however, Section 143 exempts police and fire. Currently the city does not have an equivalent position to an Assistant Director. City Manager Jason Reynolds commented, "I would strongly advocate that employees be completely removed from this period." Council Member Laura Alvarado and Mayor Pro Tem. Jacob Powell agreed with City Manager Jason Reynolds. Mayor Charles Johnson requested clarification on how they are going to define an employee, since Council and City Manager are employees of the City of Baytown. Council Member Kenrick Griffith stated, "I think it should apply to city managers and department heads." Council Member Mike Lester stated, "I think it should apply to council, the city manager, the judges, and then the boards and commissions, because we appoint those individuals. I agree with taking department heads, assistant department heads and regular staff level employees out because they report to the city manager." Mayor Charles Johnson and Council Member Sarah Graham liked the suggestion of including the committee members. Council Member Sarah Graham commented, "I think that is a good idea because even for us, since we appoint committee members. I like the idea that if there was an individual or group that felt like there was a violation, there was still a system to go through." Council Member James Franco commented, "There is some information that the committee members get that is confidential information, so you have to hold them to that same standard that we do." With the "Who' portion of the Ethics complaint completed, Assistant City Manager Carol Flynt summarized the "What' portion to the Mayor and City Council. Council Member Sarah Graham referenced exhibit B and stated, "Before you had started distinguishing the aspirational versus the actual ethical issues, I thought they were very subjective. If I was a citizen and I had an issue and I saw this listed on our ethics tab, and I hadn't just been through a training work session with you. I would feel like these were tied to being able to make the complaint. I understand why they're here, but I just feel in general, this creates confusion." Assistant City Manager Carol Flynt provided clarification to City Council, the information from exhibit B was taken from other ordinances. Council Member Sarah Graham stated, "If an individual is wanting to file a complaint, there is a very clear and concise list of things that can be considered to be investigated/hearing whatever we City Council Work Session Minutes April 10, 2025 Page 4of8 decide. Putting aspirations and all of these things, I think it just creates a large word salad that can still be interpreted." City Manager Jason Reynolds summarized, the basis of a complaint that were discussed in February of 2024. City Manager Jason Reynolds redirected the conversation to the standards which will be discussed on the next slide along with penal codes for the Ethics Commission. Council Member Sarah Graham commented, "Anything that we do here should be solution - oriented. There should be an ending to whatever we're doing, and just putting word salads up there just to appease, that goes back to the ad hoc thing and everything that they're saying. Let's just tie it to the penal code." Mayor Charles Johnson stated, "If we start making a list of things, we will have a never-ending list. It will always be something that, `Oh, you know what? We didn't think about that, but that is a violation.' What you're saying about the law, if you're breaking the law, it's cut and drop." City Manager Jason Reynolds summarized what could happen with a violation of a penal code. City Attorney Scott Lemond, added clarification that the City Council is the final decision maker for council behavior, even if there was no outcome from a penal code being violated with the district attorney. Mayor Charles Johnson commented, "We ask the citizens to respect us. We should hold the same level of respect for the citizens and hold ourselves accountable for our own actions." Council Member Kenrick Griffith stated, "The language that's in the application, I believe gives jurisdiction, particularly to the Ethics Committee. It should be part of the whole ethics ordinance. If we put that language in, it takes away the subjectivity to limit ethics complaints to the standards of conduct or to the penal codes. The basic principles should be there to enhance the code violations, but not something that the Ethics Committee would investigate." Council Member Mike Lester referenced exhibit B and stated, "I agree with my colleague. I think we ought to keep the aspirational tenets in there, if you will, with the caveat either right above it or right below it. The verbiage is just simply a guidance of principles only, and it will not be solely used for an ethics complaint. However, it shows the principles that we try to adhere to as best as we can. With the principles in place, you know what you can actually file against. I like the version where the proposed violations are actually spelled out. If we have it listed out, here's the basic principles we try to adhere to on a regular daily basis in all of our lives, that's great. This is what you can complain on, and this is the verbiage that's in that section, so that we're good to go. I also agree with the City Manager, that if it's a violation of penal code, it's a crime." Council Member Mike Lester referenced exhibit B and stated, "I agree with having the principle stated this is for guidance only. This is the rules we try to live by, but it's not a basis for filing a complaint. Here's the issues that you can file the complaint on, and then spell it out. Don't just say, refer to something, because that gets difficult on the person." City Council Work Session Minutes April 10, 2025 Page 5 of 8 City Attorney Scott Lemond wanted clarification from Council in regards to what the Ordinance will contain. Council Member Sarah Graham commented, "We just need to eliminate anything that would cause more confusion to citizens and too many words can be a problem." Council Member James Franco commented, "The principles are guidance only and are not qualified as an ethics complaint, that would be reviewed by this committee." Mayor Pro Tern Jacob Powell referenced exhibit B and stated, "1 would like to see the principles stay in there. The second statement is more concise and not confusing to the citizens. I would agree that I would like to see the individual violations listed out. Because of the form, they'll ultimately have to reference one of those violations." Mayor Pro Tern Jacob Powell wanted clarification on City Attorney Scott Lemond's question about what the ordinance will contain, and stated, "If the ordinance just states penal code in general and there's ever adjustments to it, we don't have to update the ordinance to match every time. We can just update the complaint form." City Attorney Scott Lemond responded, "There are really three reasons, Councilmember. First is the one you suggested. Second, I do think it would be more confusing if we tried to spell out what was in the statutes. Third, it would make the ordinance much, much longer. It's a lot of information for a person to digest. My concern is that it might be a little bit of information overload. If we had an informational sheet along with the complaint form, it might be a little bit easier. But it's a tough call one way or the other. I'd just like a little guidance from you all." Council Member Laura Alvarado commented, "I like the idea of just putting in the article or the code. If it's online, we can hyperlink it and they go directly to it. If they're coming in person and they're filling out an actual form, maybe what we could have is like a QR code or something where they can go directly to it from that piece of paper." City Attorney Scott Lemond stated he will look into the City's Code provider, to see if it possible. City Manager Jason Reynolds clarified with City Council the standards violation of Penal Code is the primary focus. Council Member Kenrick Griffith requested clarification on exhibit B. City Manager Jason Reynolds clarified, the ethics complaint regardless of who it is being turned into will be an official document. Council Member Kenrick Griffith requested clarification on whether submitting an ethics complaint to the City Attorney, would that establish attorney -client privileges. City Council Work Session Minutes April 10, 2025 Page 6 of 8 City Attorney Scott Lemond responded, "The answer is no, because the City Attorneys office represents the City. Even if it were an employee, even if it were one of you, we would not be representing the individual who filed that complaint. We would not be able to keep it confidential." Council Member James Franco referenced exhibit B and wanted clarification on who will handle the preliminary investigation and hearing. Council Member James Franco commented, he would like to see the preliminary review done by a third -party. City Manager Jason Reynolds commented the investigation portion of the ethics complaint was removed from this presentation due to the investigation portion being complex. Council Member Mike Lester, stated, "I agree with the colleagues. The complaint comes into City Clerk's Office. City Clerk's Office reviews it for completeness. City Clerk's office then turns it over to the ethics commission for initial review. If the complaint is simple enough the board can just hold a hearing, or it's far more complicated, then the board would have the option of bringing on- board a third -party investigator to do the greater detail. It comes to us with their recommendations. I think that's a pretty fair process. If we are going to have a committee, then they need to do the preliminary review and they decide to move forward or not." Mayor Pro Tern Jacob Powell agreed with Council Member Mike Lester and commented, "1 would like to see the ethics commission do that initial review, just to make sure it's moving forward. Then they have the option to use outside counsel if needed." Council Member Kenrick Griffith stated, "1 would advocate for district -specific appointments of private citizens. We keep the code very objective. I would recommend anybody serving on the ethics commission would have no ties to the city, and they are not currently serving on any other committee at the time." Mayor Charles Johnson requested Council Member Kenrick Griffith to clarify no ties to the city. Council Member Kenrick Griffith responded, "Conflicts of interest, like family members working within the city." Council Member Sarah Graham wanted clarification on if the Council was discussing the actual makeup of the Ethics Committee. Mayor Charles Johnson, stated, "We're looking at who, if we want it to be internal or external. If external, if we want to do university or professionals." Council Member Mike Lester commented, "We need to stick with who's going to do this. It's going to be the ethics review committee. Then later, we'll decide the committee makeup." Council Member Sarah Graham expressed, "I've appreciated your simplicity tonight and your clarification more than you will ever know, Mr. Lester. Thank you." City Council Work Session Minutes April 10, 2025 Page 7 of 8 Council Member .lames Franco referenced exhibit B and stated, "The board itself could elect a president, vice president, and a secretary or chair. Those three officers of that board could do the initial panel review." Council Member Sarah Graham commented, "If you start giving more power to one, two, or three, then you're just taking away from the point of the board to begin with because the subject of this is ethics." City Manager Jason Reynolds stated, "Two things that I will leave you with that you need to think about is, if you want this process published or non -published. If you wanted a published piece, you get back to putting whomever's name is on that complaint immediately on the very first ethics review board. The other is council giving the board the full authority to dismiss as non -actionable without the complaint having to come back to council. If they have to come back to council, you still have to list it again to take action." Mayor Charles Johnson wanted clarification on whether an unpublished ethics complaint would be open to public information requests. City Manager Jason Reynolds confirmed that regardless of the complaint being published, the ethics complaint is an official document and would fall under the Public Information Act. Council Member Kenrick Griffith commented, "I will go with no publishing until there are findings on the complaint." Council Member Sarah Graham stated, "What happens if we get everything published, but we make sure that the publication states, the complaint is being considered for action or no action. I think it's better to publish it as long as it's published with the correct language of what's going on." Mayor Pro Tern Jacob Powell commented, "I don't think they need to be published until past that initial review." The Council Members discussed ideas in regard to when and if the ethics complaint will be published, and on what grounds the complaint will become frivolous. City Attorney Scott Lemond recommended to Council, the discussion can happen in an executive session. Council Members expressed their appreciation to staff for providing them with different options for an ethics process. City Council Work Session Minutes April 10, 2025 Page 8of8 I ADJOURN With there being no further business to discuss, Mayor Charles Johnson adjourned the April 10, 2025, City Council Work Session at 6:32 P.M. 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