2016 10 13 WS MinutesMINUTES OF THE REGULAR WORK SESSION OF THE
CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF BAYTOWN
OCTOBER 13, 2016
The City Council of the City of Baytown, Texas met in a Regular Work Session on Thursday,
October 13, 2016, at 5:42 P.M., in the Hullum Conference Room of the Baytown City Hall, 2401
Market Street, Baytown, Texas with the following in attendance:
Brandon Capetillo
Robert Hoskins
David McCartney
Chris Presley
Mercedes Renteria
Terry Sain
Council Member
Council Member
Council Member
Council Member
Council Member
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 October 13, 2016, City Council Regular Work Session with a
quorum present at 5:42 P.M., all members were present with the exception of Council Member
Capetillo that arrived at 6:06 P.M. and Council Member Renteria that arrived at 6:08 P.M.
1.
a. Discuss litter abatement initiatives.
City Manager Davis presented the agenda item and stated that litter abatement is an issue that has
become prominent in our community. He presented a general overview of his approach to
dealing with this issue, in which there was two primary objectives. He stated that the first
objective is draw public attention to the seriousness of the litter problem which is more than a
nuisance and has become a public health issue and the second objective is to engage the public to
assist in the mitigation process and be part of the litter abatement solution.
City Manager Davis stated that enforcement, education and advocacy, and citizen engagement
are the three (3) main dimensions to his strategy on litter abatement. He stated that Council
should consider the imposition of substantial penalties for litter and illegal dumping and noted
that goal of these fines is not to raise large amounts of revenue, but are instead intended catch the
public's attention. City Manager Davis stated that the City always prefers compliance to
revenues. He further stated that other considerations for Council includes public education that
ensures the understanding of the consequences associated with littering and dumping in our
City Council Work Session Regular Meeting Minutes
October 13, 2016
Page 2 of 6
community, as well as, the enforcement of our anti -litter codes through our police patrol officers,
which are then handled through the City's Municipal Court.
Assistant City Attorney and Prosecutor, Mike Garner stated that staff proposed to add a section
to Code regarding littering, as during the last legislative session, state law was changed to allow
municipalities to assess a fine of up to $4,000 upon conviction for illegal dumping. He stated that
this change gave police officers a better tool to control what happens within the City as it relates
to littering and dumping. Mr. Garner stated that the goal of the amendments was not to raise
revenue but to educate and bring people into compliance with the Code. Additionally, he noted
that some of the penalties could be taken care of through the community service process.
City Manager Davis noted that enforcement is a big component to changing people's behaviors
as it relates to littering and public education will not be enough. He stated that as a part of the
public education component he wanted to do significant outreach and education through the
City's Public Affairs Office, in order to teach about the negative impact and consequences of
littering in the community. Other ideas proposed to the Council included signage with the do not
litter egret (mascot), utilizing the D.A.R.E. officer and the B.E.A.T. Alley clowns to include anti -
littering education in their presentations to the schools, outreach to children through coloring
books and contests, advertising through anything that is available to us through all city media,
social media, municipal TV, billboards and events that co- mingle /co- communicate our anti -
littering campaign; such as the Trash -Off, the Kite - Festival; Day of Service and other
miscellaneous events.
The Council further discussed the following items: use of deer cameras in areas that are
repeatedly used for illegal dumping; such as, Evergreen Road and the illegal dumping in
commercial dumpsters. Council Member McCartney asked what could be done to stop people
from dumping trash into commercial dumpster. Mr. Garner stated that the proposed amendments
to the Code will allow for the officers to enforce the rules on those that are undertaking
the dumping by issuing citations.
Council Member Presley asked if we differentiate the fees or is it the same regardless of whether
the littering involves a cigarette butt or a large coach. City Attorney, Ignacio Ramirez stated that
the range of the fines is up to $4,000, and the judge will decide the severity of the case and the
resulting fine.
Council Member Hoskins inquired as to what steps were being taken by the City to mitigate the
retail stores in town that have trash all against their fence line as many times the trash bags have
the name and logo of the local shop on the shopping center. Assistant Director of Health, Tony
Gray stated that staff typically try and work with the retail store in order for them to put up a
fence or barrier of some sort to prevent the trash from moving from property to property. Mr.
Gray noted that at this time, they do not have a way to force the retail stores to put up these types
of fences/barriers; therefore, they have to try and work to persuade them to do so, which is not
always successful. Additionally, Mr. Gray noted that he was not sure if the current amendments
would assist them in this process.
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October 13, 2016
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Mayor DonCarlos stated that all the city has ever asked is for business owners to clean up the
trash on their property and noted that some cities have taken a step to ban all plastic bags from
their cities hoping it would help with littering problems, in which he hopes it does not get to the
point where the council would have to consider something similar. The Council stated that they
would like to consider banning plastic bags in order to reduce the amount of litter in the
community.
Council Member McCartney inquired if the City could use its citizen patrols to cite people for
littering. Mr. Ramirez stated that it would be difficult to have the citizen patrol cite a person
because with a parking violation, the car owner is cited; however, a littering citation is for
the person that committed the offense and not the vehicle. Mr. Ramirez further noted that one of
the reasons he had wanted extended hours at the recycling center was to give people an
opportunity to dispose of trash legally and help reduce some of the illegal dumping that is
happening all over the city.
Council Member Hoskins inquired about the illegal dumping in areas that are right next to our
city limits, but not in our jurisdiction. City Manager Davis stated that while the city of Baytown
does not have authority in the ETJ, staff can continue to work with adjacent jurisdictions to deal
with these types of issues.
City Manager Davis stated that the City has a number of alternatives to illegal dumping and
littering. He noted that the trash collection, recycling, solid waste pickup, the clean team,
extended hours at the recycling center were all legal alternatives for people to dispose of their
trash. He stated that the City would work to get more education and outreach to inform citizens
of the many city trash services. He further noted that it is going to take a community effort to
curb the littering problem and change the culture of the city to let people know that it is not ok to
litter in our community.
b. Discuss open storage and fencing.
Mr. Gray presented the agenda item and stated that staff proposed amendments to update the
open storage code, in order to clarify some areas related to the open storage of items in the front
open storage areas of the home, to include the porches, car ports, open patio areas, as well as,
what type of items can actually be stored in them by including a definition that states if it was not
designed to be outside then it is not allowed. He stated that examples of items not allowed for
open storage in the front lawn are: card board, paper goods, clothing, indoor furniture, indoor
appliances, and other similar items. Mr. Gray noted that outdoor furniture, barbeque pits and
outdoor coolers with the lid on them, are all allowed under the new code.
During further discussion, Mr. Gray stated that the Health Department worked closely with the
Planning Department in order to amend the code as it relates to fencing and to add some specific
standards regarding the maintenance of said fences within the city. He stated that the new
standards will deal with missing slats, rotten or broken slats, and fences that are leaning and/or
not in vertical alignment with the posts. Additionally, Mr. Gray stated that all repairs to the fence
must be in compliance with existing design standards.
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October 13, 2016
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City Manager Davis stated that the amendments discussed were in response to Council's
direction to begin dealing with the esthetics and the character of the city. He stated that the code
did not have a mechanism by which to deal with some of the issues that the city faces and the
proposed changes are a good start to begin with. Additionally, he stated that there will be many
more code amendments to follow in the future.
The Council discussed various areas and properties that have issues with fencing and/or open
storage in the front lawn that need to be addressed through the new codes.
The agenda was taken out of order and item Le was discussed.
e. Discuss the updates to the City of Baytown Personnel Policy Manual.
Director of Human Resources, Carol Flynt presented the agenda item and stated that the
personnel policy manual (the "manual ") is brought forth to the council as they are required to
adopt the policy. She stated that council has adopted some updates and changes to the manual as
needed, such as changes to FMLA and ADA requirements throughout the last few years;
however, for the first time in the thirty years the council will consider the adoption of the entire
manual at one time. Mrs. Flynt stated that the complete review and overhaul of the manual was
an extensive process which initially was drafted by the Human Resources Department then
reviewed and discussed thoroughly with the department directors for a little over a year. She
stated that once the directors were comfortable with the resulting draft, it was presented to the
City Manager's Office, which was also reviewed page by page to ensure that they had a comfort
level with the document. She noted that some items were hashed out with the city managers and
the department heads, in order to present the completed manual before the council for adoption
consideration today.
Mrs. Flynt stated that if the council adopts the proposed manual, the staff has a set an effective
date of January 01, 2017, which allows staff to move to the next phase of this process. She noted
that while a lot of the changes being submitted are compliance issues they ensure compliance
with all federal and state regulations and staff wants to make sure that the employees understand
the manual, the changes and how it impacts them in order to ensure that they are aware of
anything that impacts their working relationship with the city. She stated that the changes being
submitted were not substantial, but wanted to bring the following changes to the council's
attention, which primarily deal with the benefits section:
• the vacation policy was changed to allow for the accrual of three weeks vacation at 5
years instead of 7 years, which is in line with industry standards;
• sick leave is allowed only for employees; however, the emergency leave to deal with sick
family members has increased from three days to five days;
• the sick leave for future employees only (beginning January I st) will have an accrual cap
at 90, right now it is at 120 days and will remain so for existing employees;
• long term disability was added as a benefit to all employees and is being covered by the
city in its entirety; and
• a sick leave pool has also been added to those employees that choose to participate.
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October 13, 2016
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Mrs. Flynt clarified that the long term disability would continue to pay our benefits as long as the
employee continued to work for the city. She stated that as it related to the Family Medical
Leave (FMLA) policy, the policy changed to allow an employee to use their sick time first and
vacation second when dealing with an FMLA qualifying event that related to the illness of a
spouse or child. She stated that the last change to benefits relates to the funeral leave, which was
increased from three days off to five days off when dealing with the death of a spouse and/or
child and the funeral leave remained at three days for all other family members that fit within the
nepotism guidelines. Additionally, Mrs. Flynt noted that these were the major changes to the
manual that are of great benefit to the employee.
This item was taken out of order and item l .d was discussed.
d. Discuss changing the QA/QI position in the Fire Department from a
Firefighter classification to a Lieutenant classification.
Assistant Fire Chief Dana Dalbey presented the item and stated that the Baytown Fire Control,
Prevention, and Emergency Medical Services District (the "District ") had funded QA/QI position
in the Fire Department with a classification of a Firefighter. He stated that after further review of
the new position, it was determined that this position should be at a supervisory level due to the
duties assigned. Additionally, he stated that it is believed that a Lieutenant classification
($129,417 including benefits) is better served than a Firefighter classification ($85,459 including
benefits) which is a variance of $45,471.
City Manager Davis stated that the council must approve the change in classification for the
position, which can be brought back for the council's consideration at the October 27th meeting
and that the District will also be considering a budget amendment to allow for the salary increase
for the classification change at their next meeting on October 18th.
The agenda resumed in order.
C. Discuss the City of Baytown Fire Department Fire/EMS Software programs.
City Manager Davis presented the agenda item and stated that the City has to move from its
current Fire/EMS software program, Tritech, as they ( Tritech) recently notified the City that they
would no longer support some of the City's platforms nor comply with some new regulatory
changes that are a requirement for the City, effective January 1 st. He stated that the City has no
choice but to look for another vendor that can meet the reporting requirements. He stated that
there is an item for council's consideration on the consent agenda that deals with the purchase of
a new software program with ESO Solutions, Inc., for an integrated software with both EMS and
Fire reporting capabilities that and will replace the current software systems.
E Discuss any or all of the agenda items on the City Council Regular Meeting Agenda
for October 13, 2016, which is attached below.
This item was not discussed.
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October 13, 2016
Page 6 of 6
2. ADJOURN
With there being no further business to discuss, Mayor DonCarlos adjourned the October 13,
2016, City Council Regular Work Session at 6:31 P.M.
Leticia Brysch, City Cle
City of Baytown
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