Loading...
2016 09 08 WS MinutesMINUTES OF THE REGULAR WORK SESSION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF BAYTOWN SEPTEMBER 8, 2016 The City Council of the City of Baytown, Texas met in a Regular Work Session on Thursday, September 08, 2016, at 5:32 P.M., in the Hullum Conference Room of the Baytown City Hall, 2401 Market Street, Baytown, Texas with the following in attendance: Brandon Capetillo Council Member David McCartney Council Member Chris Presley Council Member Mercedes Renteria Council Member Terry Sain Council Member Stephen DonCarlos Mayor Rick Davis City Manager Ignacio Ramirez City Attorney Leticia Brysch City Clerk Keith Dougherty Sergeant at Arms Mayor DonCarlos convened the September 08, 2016, City Council Regular Work Session with a quorum present at 5:32 P.M., all members were present with the exception of Council Member Sain that arrived at 5:45 P.M., Council Member Presley that arrived at 5:47 P.M. and Council Member Hoskins who was absent. 1. DISCUSSIONS a. Discuss the City's utility infrastructure. City Manager Davis stated that the purpose of this item was to give Council a brief overview of the City's utility infrastructure, what they City has done to help with some issues; such as sewer overflows, how much time and money has been invested in these endeavors and what is the plan moving forward. He further noted that Council is already aware of some large projects that were agreed upon to complete with Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ), one of which is a line replacement estimated at $10 million, along with some other projects that are aimed at reducing any sewer overflows. He noted that the City continues to have a good standing with TCEQ based on our voluntary plan to mediate the sewer overflow problem. Additionally, City Manager Davis advised council that I &I problems are not exclusive to the City of Baytown, but is actually a regional issue that is also a product of our climate and atmospheric incidents. Deputy City Manager Bottoms presented the item and stated that while it may not seem so, the City has conducted a large number of infrastructure projects from 2003 to the present. He noted that the City has spent an estimated $173 million in infrastructure projects and staff has done a good job in going through the city to upgrade and /or repair water and sewer infrastructure, along City Council Regular Work Session Minutes September 08, 2016 Page 2 of 4 with the upcoming planned projects that are a part of the City's voluntary plan (the "SSOI") with the TCEQ that takes us through 2023. Deputy City Manager Bottoms presented and discussed four (4) different maps that represented different geographic areas or districts of the City (West District, Center District, East District and North East District) and identified old lines that have already been replaced with plastic pipe, which were marked in green throughout the maps. He noted that the City has completed a tremendous amount of work replacing old lines, but also noted that the City still has lots of work to do in the areas that are seeing a lot of overflow, which is part of the SSOI. Mayor DonCarlos stated that by looking at the maps it is evident that the City has completed a lot of work on the infrastructure, but noted that there are still lots of problems with overflows and inquired if the City ran out of options to resolve the problems. Deputy City Manager Bottoms stated that while the City had done a good job at replacing old pipes throughout the entire city; there's lots of work to be done with regards to the private line replacement and further noted that the City needs to become more aggressive with its PSLIP program. Deputy City Manager Bottoms stated that unfortunately, the only thing that the City can control are the public lines and many of the overflow issues currently at this time are directly related to private lines. During further discussion, Deputy City Manager Bottoms stated that financially, the City is constrained on the number of new projects it can take as staff must be cognizant to the bond rating and keep those ratings competitive with surrounding cities. In response to Council Member Capetillo's question related to the amount of monies being spent on the areas that were identified as having overflow problems, Deputy City Manager Bottoms stated that the overflow problems are really throughout the City and some of the issues are with the City's lift stations, which are currently being upgraded to handle the additional volumes accordingly. He stated that the overflow area around Ferry Road has been handled, along with the planned projects to help mediate overflow in other areas of concern; such as the line replacement on Baker Road for $1 million and the line replacement on Kilgore Road for $1.8 million. Mayor DonCarlos asked if staff was able to identify any locations of infiltration that need work. City Engineer, Jose Pastrana stated that staff was able to identify different locations that need attention through pipebursting projects. Mr. Pastrana stated that while conducting the pipebursting projects, a small camera is sent through the pipes to see the status of the pipes and surrounding areas, which provides information on the City's infrastructure needs and further noted that this is only done on current pipebursting projects and not to lines that are not being worked on. Deputy City Manager Bottoms stated that there have been lots of wet years lately which has impacted overflows significantly and noted that TCEQ recently changed its reporting requirements, whereas it may seem that there are more instances of overflow in the City, but actually are not it's just that staff has to report more now than in the past. Mr. Pastrana stated that the fact that areas across the city are no longer overflowing is evidence that what staff is doing is working, but noted that even with all of the projects and upgrades to the City's infrastructure, there will always be some overflow in certain areas because as the City continues to grow the more impermeable spaces and more runoffs there will be; therefore, the City will have to get bigger infrastructure to accommodate future growth. City Council Regular Work Session Minutes September 08, 2016 Page 3 of 4 Council Member Capetillo asked if there was a way for the City to measure the utility improvements from 2003 to the present. Deputy City Manager Bottoms responded that there's no unit of measurement or methodology to identify a measurement on how the City is doing on its infrastructure repairs and maintenance. Mayor DonCarlos stated with regards to the PSLIP Program, that the past a letter was sent to property owners informing them that they need to repair their private utilities, and if they did not, a surcharge would be added to his/her monthly water bill. He further stated that he didn't believe that this program was effective in persuading people to repair their utility infrastructure being that there are current overflow problems and inquired of staff as to what options were available to the City, in order to make people repair their water lines which are negatively impacting our infrastructure taking into consideration that they are located on private property. The staff and Council discussed the City's PSLIP program, a program that allows private citizens to replace their old pipes with plastic ones, and options to entice private land owners to make the necessary improvements to their infrastructure; some options included (1) contracting with one plumbing company to bring down the costs significantly for the homeowners, (2) making it cost prohibitive by increasing the fee associated with the PSLIP program, (3) promoting the CDBG program that assist lower income residents, and creating a program that would include private insurance supported by the City. Director of Strategic Initiatives, Mr. Nick Woolery stated that he was currently working with various stake holders in order to participate in the SEP program with TCE'Q as this is an environmental issue, along with reviewing ways to revamp the City's current PSLIP program and offer residents a program that is more cost effective for them. Additionally, Mr. Woolery stated that he would come back to Council with more information once those meetings had taken place. City Manager Davis stated that the staff would work to provide accurate date and information regarding the PSLIP program and will bring that back to the Council at a later date. He further noted that future discussion should be done with consideration on the approach and funding of capital projects. He stated that the City simply does not have the cash flow or monies needed to complete these large projects and will need to rethink its strategy that will probably involve the issuance of debt. He noted that there are opportunities with some of the sewer debt coming offline to re- appropriate some monies, as well as, bundle up some projects and in a few years look at increasing the sewer rate. Additionally, City Manager Davis stated that a conversation would be brought back at a future meeting and he'd looked to re- evaluate how water and sewer are handled with possible consideration of separating the two from each other so that they are separate programs and more manageable. b. Discuss any or all of the agenda items on the City Council Regular Meeting Agenda for September 08, 2016, which is attached below. City Manager Davis briefly discussed the proposed municipal budget that Council will consider for adoption during the regular meeting. He noted that staff made the adjustments to the budget in order to accommodate the fire lieutenants for the Fire Tower Seven and made no other modifications to the budget. He stated if Council decided not to approve the item that there's one (1) more regular meeting for them to approve the budget before having to call a special meeting. City Council Regular Work Session Minutes September 08, 2016 Page 4 of 4 Additionally, he stated that staff would be reporting to Council periodically on the progress as it relates to financials included to budget and implementation plan. In response to a question from Council Member Capetillo related to the compensation budget for staff, City Manager Davis stated that there was a 5% raise for civil service employees and an opportunity for up to 5% increase for non -civil service that consist of a 2% cost of living increase and a possibility of up to 3% for merit. Additionally, Assistant City Manager Troller, the head of the Compensation Committee for Non -Civil Service Employees, stated that all non- civil service employees are at or above market. Council Member Capetillo asked if staff was reviewing all employees to make sure that the issue of compression and lower classified employees are not making more than their supervisors are being dealt with accordingly. Assistant City Manager Troller stated that this is being constantly reviewed by HR and Finance, and is an issue that's dealt with every single employee. Assistant City Manager Troller further stated that staff is very comfortable with where they are with this regards, but noted that there may be an issue with regards to civil service employees, especially higher in the ranks, that will have to be dealt with comprehensively. City Manager Davis stated that this is something that is being looked at as staff is very close to finding a solution with the Police Association on how to distribute raises this year. He stated that there a review is needed of some of the department head positions as some of them are a bit behind market and need to be addressed in the coming year. He further stated that Baytown provided one of the most competitive salaries to its employees; thus, there was not a lot of turmoil and turnover. Additionally, he stated that the staff here is eminently better than a lot of other staff he has worked for in his career, and that is a byproduct of being competitive. Assistant City Manager Troller reminded Council that staff had a two year compensation plan that it completed last year; the first year brought people up to market and the second year they were put within the range of the market where they belonged according to their years of service doing the job. City Manager Davis noted that Baytown is using a market of cities with a population of 80,000 to 300,000 and also noted that in the next year the City will conduct a more empirical analysis of market to be able to use a true comparable when deciding our market. As it relates to our turnovers for professional positions, City Manager Davis stated that in his tenure he has seen the retirement of one (1) department head only and he expects there to be some turnover with department heads in the next five (5) years due to retirement. 2. ADJOURN With there being no further business to discuss, Mayor DonCarlos adjourned the September 08, 2016, City Council Regular Work Session at 6:11 P.M. Y •'~ Leticia Brysch, City rk I City of Baytown 2