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2017 04 13 WS MinutesMINUTES OF THE REGULAR WORK SESSION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF BAYTOWN APRIL 13 2017 The City Council of the City of Baytown, Texas met in a Regular Work Session on Thursday April 13, 2017 at 5 34 P M. in the Hullum Conference Room of the Baytown City Hall, 2401 Market Street, Baytown, Texas with the following in attendance Charles Johnson Council Member David McCartney Council Member Chris Presley Council Member Terry Sam 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 April 13 2017 City Council Regular Work Session with a quorum present at 5.34 P M., all members were present with the exception of Council Member McCartney who arrived at 5,41 p.m and Council Members Alvarado and Hoskins who were absent DISCUSSIONS The agenda was taken out of order beginning with Item Lb, I c, and then La. 1 b Discuss the City's participation in a Grad Cafe site inside Sterling Municipal Library City Librarian Jamie Eustace presented the item and stated that before speaking about the Grad Cafe, she wanted to mention a few facts about the City's Library She stated that the City's library is based on four (4) pillars, which are to be stewards of public resources surprise and delight customers be a source of civic pride, and have a distinct impact on the community She noted that the Library has a children's book named Arthur Goes to Camo that s circulated 304 times She further noted that this book was purchased for $13.00, therefore, circulating 304 times amounts to four (4) cents a circulation Ms Eustace stated that they are very committed to being good stewards and checking the math helps them achieve that goal She stated with regards to surprising and delighting customers that the Sterling Library has many programs that other libraries do not have to achieve this, such as, evening story time that is glow in the dark She stated that being a source of civic pride is important and an example of that can be seen in the Library's mural devoted to Baytown's history which was supported by the Friends of the Library City Council Regular Work Session Minutes April 13 2017 Page 2 of 8 last year As it relates to making a community impact. she stated that the Library does food for fines twice a year and has a summer reading program that is dedicated to philanthropy Ms Eustace noted that last year's reading program was dedicated to the Audubon Society and this year it will be dedicated to a children's hospital maybe Shriner's She noted that the Library is very hands on and is not just about reading She stated that the Library's think tank and media lab with 3D printers are used as a part of their resource sharing and good stewardship Ms Eustace noted that the Library is innovating by doing more with less and further noted that the hours of operation have been extended by a week as the Library now opens at 9:00 A.M., where it used to open at 10:00 A.M., four (4) out of the seven (7) days of operation She noted that they managed to extend services while they reduced staff by 100 hours per week in the past year She stated that in the past three budgets she has reduced staff by one full time employee and still managed to increase programming by 49% in the past 12 months and the E book circulation is also up by 8% per year Ms Eustace stated that the Library has learned to run the best program in order to allow for more time to be more creative She presented a comparison of the Library with those of surrounding cities, such as, Pasadena, Port Arthur, Deer Park Houston HCPL and a statewide average related to library visits per capita and total circulation per capita for FY2015 The statistics were as follows Library Visits Per Capita, FY2015 i 4.53 Baytown Pasadena PonAnhur DeerPark Houston-HUL Average Statewide City Council Regular Work Session Minutes April 13 2017 Page 3 of 8 Total Circulation Per Capita, FY2015 4.15 4.82 4.96 2.28 0.83 �'asadena PortAlft, Deer nark Houston-HUL Average Statewide Ms Eustace noted that Baytown is doing much better than the surrounding communities and its innovation has resulted in some creative changes in the Library such as moving the circulation desk from the front of the Library to the center with the reference area, in order to create one point of reference for the customers She noted that the old circulation area in the front was turned into a one of a kind story bar which is going to be launched in May She further noted that this is the first of its kind in the United States and she's already fielding calls from libraries across the country interested in emulating this program Dunng further discussion Ms .Eustace stated that the Mayor and City Manager attended a conference and met with people who were from Project Grad named College Cafe in Houston and another in San Antonio She stated that the questions were posed of how and where a program such as this could be put in Baytown with the library being a logical solution She stated that this was made possible because they had freed up space in the Library by consolidating the circulation and reference desk and streamlining its staff and operations, therefore, they freed up 1200 square feet to dedicate to this partnership with Lee College Project Grad out of Houston and the City Ms Eustace noted that the City's contribution is the physical space for the program while all of the money sits with Lee College, who received a quarter of a million dollar grant from the Temple Foundation for this program and Project Grad will operate the City's version of this program which will be called Grad Cafe She stated that the whole idea of thus program is to have a one stop shop for kids that are interested in college or for adults that want to continue their education and will provide support related to the application process admissions and scholarships She clarified that no food will be served at this cafe but it will provide other types of support Additionally Ms Eustace stated that construction on this program will start in the next month and be done in the next few months followed by a ribbon cutting. c Discuss the status, process, and timeline to obtain contractual towing services for non -consent tows and abandoned vehicles City Manager Davis presented the agenda item and stated that Ms Deanie King, Assistant City Attomey/Civil Service Advisor would present the Council an overview of this item City Council Regular Work Session Minutes April 13 2017 Page 4 of S Ms King stated that this presentation must happen at a high altitude as staff has not completed all the matters related to the Request for Proposals ( RFPs ) for towing services and want to ensure that the City is not sued as lawsuits tend to occur when discussions take place regarding an RFP that has not been completed Ms King stated that the reason the City needs towing services is to remove vehicles that have been involved in accidents from city nght-of-way as soon as possible. She stated that in order to remove these vehicles quickly the City enlist companies to provide such service She stated that if the citizen involved in the accident does not have a preference for a towing company, then the City needs to have a system in place by which it can call out a towing company to remove the vehicle quickly and efficiently She stated that aside from vehicles involved in accidents the towing companies are also called out to deal with code issues, such as abandoned vehicles Ms King provided clarity on the distinction between consent tows and non -consent tows She stated that consent tows are those where the owner/operator chooses the towing company and gives them permission to tow the vehicles, which the City do not regulate She stated that a non consent tow happens when the owner/operator of the vehicle does not give consent for the vehicle, but the police or someone says it has to be moved She noted that non consent tows including those related to illegal parking, such as an apartment whereas the vehicle is being moved without the owner's permission, but it is on private property are types of tows that are not regulated by the City She further noted that the City only regulates those non -consent tows that are initiated by a Police Officer or City official Ms King stated that the City has met its towing services/vehicle storage facility needs through regulation i.e. set ordinances and restrictions. She stated that the State came in years ago and decided that towing and vehicle storage facilities were going to be regulated by the State, and since then has been regulated by the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation ("TDLR ), in which they set most of the requirements and the maximum fees for regular tows of $250 and other such items She stated that there are certain provisions that allow a local municipality to come in and make some changes and/or additions to State regulation, however, it preempts regulation that is not specifically allowed by the State or is public safety in nature During further discussion, Ms King stated that when she first arrived in Baytown there was a very long list of towing companies on the City's non -consent tow list, which led to an unmanageable process of permitting and regulating the companies, drivers and tow trucks She stated that through Council's guidance some of the ordinances were changed, which resulted in a more reasonable list of 18 towing companies Ms King stated that about a year ago staff came back to Council after getting input from the Tow Truck Committee and the towing companies to request permission to move towards an RFP process, which essentially means to change from being a regulatory area to a contract one She stated that flus change means that the City as any other market participant will contract with a provider for City needs as it relates to towing services to handle its non -consent tows Ms King noted that because the City is preempted by the State on what it can regulate, the City was at a point of wanting to do some things beneficial to the citizens and allow for better use of staff time and resources but we were not allowed to make those types of regulations She stated that by contracting for City needs the City would be able to incorporate those items that are not allowed under regulation She stated that the reasons City Council Regular Work Session Minutes April 13, 2017 Page 5 of 8 for going with a RFP versus a bidding process ("Bids") is that the RFP allows the City to enter into negotiations with the towing companies in order to have the same contract with as many companies as the City needs to meet the City towing service needs She stated that the number of companies that are contracted with depends on the proposals that are submitted and the City's needs therefore is uncertain at this time She noted that the City anticipates needing more than one (1) company Ms King stated that some larger cities such as San Antonio contract out their towing services to include its dispatch, but noted that she's not aware of any local company that has that type of capability Ms King, in response to a question from Council Member McCartney stated that the man reason that the City and Council decided to move towards a RFP process to contract for towing services began when every time staff wrote a regulation to eliminate a bad behavior the companies would find a way to get around that regulation, which defeated the purpose of the regulation She noted that the City continue to have issues with multiple LLCs, vehicle storage facilities, and other issues, which makes it very difficult for the officers on the scene to know who s supposed to be towing and who's following all the rules She further noted that it will be easier for the staff to manage these companies, the drivers, trucks, etc at the scene of an accident if it is contracted with a few companies versus the 18 that it has now City Clerk Brysch stated that aside from the administrative issues being tedious and unmanageable the biggest reason that staff requested to move towards to RFP was because of the multiple abuses by these companies under the umbrella of the City towards its citizens She stated that the number of complaints against these companies were increasing with many of the complaints being egregious She stated that it was very difficult to hold those companies accountable under the permitting process, because it put the responsibility of proving wrong doing on the City through a very long and drawn out process She stated that there were other issues associated with the permits such as drivers with expired licenses, trucks out of compliance, bad background checks no insurance certificates but noted that the biggest issues that created that tipping point where Council decided to move forward with the RFP process were the number of abuses towards the citizens using the City's non -consent tow permit Lastly Mrs Brysch noted that the Tow Truck Committee was fully in favor of moving from the permitting (regulatory) process to a contractual one (RFP) because they realized that the issues with the towing companies were getting worse instead of better Ms King stated that the process and timelmes associated with the RFP process has been quite extensive She stated that this is not an overnight decision, but is something that staff has taken its time with and done research on She stated that the City have an estimated 3,500 tows a year, staff compiled information on how many tows the city gets in a day what is the number of tows on the worse day, how many were in the last rain event etc She stated that all of that data and experiences of other cities with their regulatory and contracts have been taken and synthesized to help with the RFP She noted that staff setup meetings with the towing companies to get their input and also received input from the Tow Truck Committee on the process before finally meeting with the Council for direction Mr King stated that the RFP is being drafted and is almost completed, which will be submitted to Mr Ignacio Ramirez Sr City Attorney and Mrs Karen Horner Fist Assistant City Attorney for final review and approval She stated that another change taking place will be the transfer of the duties related to the towing services contract from City Council Regular Work Session Minutes April 13, 2017 Page 6 of B the City Clerk's Office to the Police Department who is the end user of these services She stated that the Tow Truck Committee is going to be asked to stay on for a year to make sure that they're no longer needed as an appeal authority Additionally, Ms King stated that in going through the entire proposal process it will probably be till the end of June before the Council sees anything on this item for action Council Member Presley inquired if the contract would have many of the regulatory requirements that currently exist in the permit and if there would be a clause that would allow the City to terminate services with the company should they not follow the requirements in the contract Ms King stated that he was correct in his assessment Mrs Brysch stated that the Tow Truck Committee was very much in favor of giving the City a way by which they could terminate a towing company without having to undergo the long extensive public hearing process Mrs Brysch further stated that there are numerous hearing and notice requirements when there is a violation of the tow truck ordinance and everyone can appeal the decision through the Municipal Court, which can take anywhere from 2 3 months to complete a process Additionally, Mrs Brysch stated that this was particularly hard when there was an egregious complaint and staff could not give a complainant closure on their situation quickly so it made them feel that the City was not being responsive to their needs, further noting again that the ordinance puts the responsibility on the City and not the companies to prove any wrong doing. Ms King stated that the City has to have a mechanism by which can deal with violations quickly and noted that with the current process we can have a really bad situation but not be able to pull that driver until such time as we complete the hearing and appeal process Ms King stated that through the contractual process the City is not lust imposing regulations, but instead have a contractual agreement between the City and the company where they agree to provide services under certain circumstances holding them to those standards Council Member McCartney voiced concern about the contractual process negatively impacting the small towing companies Ms King stated that the City is not prohibiting outside business, but is simply contracting for its services, lust like it would do for anything else such as mowing or landscaping City Manager Davis stated that he did have a concern from a towing company about having too many tows Ms King stated that if a company has too much business then they don't really need the City's contract and need not apply She noted that all of the options were brought up at the meetings with the towing companies Ms King stated that how companies submit or what they have in their proposals are completely up to the companies and the City is not going to dictate such terns She further stated that she cannot stand there and tell them what the City wants in its RFP because by doing so it gives a competitive advantage to those present which is illegal and the City can get sued She noted that ultimately the RFP is going to allow the City to negotiate a contract that is going to provide better services to its citizens, potentially get lesser fees and clearly be more responsive by moving it to the PD as the end user In response to a question by Council Member McCartney Ms King stated that she has a draft of the RFP, but she could not show it to him or anyone else until such time as it is released through the formal RFP process because to do so would be illegal She further stated that this RFP is no City Council Regular Work Session Minutes April 13, 2017 Page 7 of 8 different than any other and Council will see the final product for action once everything has been negotiated Council Member Presley asked if the City anticipates that companies currently on the City's non consent tow Inst will submit a proposal Ms King stated that it is expected, but the RFP is open to any company that can meet the City's parameters Ms King in response to a question from Council Member Presley stated that the maximum allowed for an in -city tow is $150 She further stated that per Council's request, staff conducted an informal survey of tow truck fees and that the City's fees were some of the highest around therefore, no increase was currently recommended Ms King stated that the changes to the ordinances necessary to move the City to a contractual system will be brought forth to the Council for action at the same time as those items related to the RFP process She stated that there will be some items that remain in the ordinance, such as maximum allowed fees for towing services, referral fees for non consent tows vehicle storage and salvage which are paid back to the City City Attorney, Ignacio Ramirez noted that the City sets the maximums but through this RFP process, there could be companies that come in significantly lower in their pricing in order to get more business thus giving the City a better deal Council Member McCartney asked if Council could have an executive session once the RFP is completed Mr Ramirez stated that Legal would look at the statute and see if it was possible, and noted that if they could, they would 1 a Discuss litter abatement activities of the City and Keep Baytown Beautiful (KBB) City Manager Davis presented the agenda item and stated that some months ago he received an email from two (2) representatives of Keep Baytown Beautiful (KBB) Mr Robert Tungstall and Mr Scott Sheley, seeking an alternated arrangement with the City instead of the existing contract as they're no longer interested in continuing with the current contract He stated that the representatives were invited to the last two (2) work sessions to present their ideas and desires to the Council, but did not attend City Manager Davis stated that at tlus time the recommendation is to honor their request and terminate the existing contract with KBB He stated that KBB would like a grant arrangement with the City in which the City gives KBB a monetary grant of about $5,000 to $6,000 and in return KBB would undertake an unspecified amount of services and give the City a donor designation at their yearly gala The Council discussed the interpretation of what the unspecified services meant City Manager Davis stated that KBB had alluded to smaller neighborhood or school events related to litter abatement and represent Baytown at the State Keep Texas Beautiful Conference The Council discussed the viability of the organization the desire to not fund an organization without set deliverables or a plan on how they intend to move forward with their projects and increase membership City Council Regular Work Session Minutes April 13 2017 Page 8 of 8 Council's consensus was to (1) move forward with the terimanon of the existing KBB contract (2) brig projects that required City funding on a case by case basis, (3) allow KBB to come to Council when they're prepared and not make it incumbent on the City to get them to do so, and (4) agreed to not fund KBB's travel and expenses to the State Keep Texas Beautiful Conference Mr Mike Lester Health Director stated that the more tenured groups such as Katy's version of KB13 are standalone 501(c)(3)'s that work closely with the City on their projects, which is where Baytown was trying to go with KBB He stated that the process started off slowly, then gained some good traction and more recently became completely detailed City Manager Davis stated that he attended KBB's annual meeting that had a lady from Katy who oversaw their KBB program who was employed by the City of Katy, so these programs tend to vary He further noted that it is possible that through the budgeting process staff request the necessary funding to internalize flus kind of function along with other neighborhood volunteerism l.d Discuss any or all of the agenda items on the City Council Regular Meeting Agenda for April 13 2017, which is attached below This item was not discussed ADJOURN With there being no further business to discuss, Mayor DonCarlos adjourned the April 13 2017 City Council Regular Work Session at 6:22P M City of Baytown Ns x7