2017 07 13 WS MinutesMINUTES OF THE REGULAR WORK SESSION OF THE
CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF BAYTOWN
JULY 13 2017
The City Council of the City of Baytown, Texas met in a Regular Work Session on Thursday,
July 13, 2017 at 5.36 P M. in the Hullum Conference Room of the Baytown City Hall 2401
Market Street, Baytown Texas with the following in attendance
Laura Alvarado Council Member
Robert Hoskins Council Member
Charles Johnson 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 July 13 2017 City Council Regular Work Session with a
quorum present at 5 36 P M., all members were present with the exception of Council Member
Johnson who arrived at 5:44 P M., and Council Member McCartney who was absent
DISCUSSIONS
Discuss the City of Baytown FY 2017 18 budget
Finance Director Wade Nickerson presented the agenda item and stated that there were two
main points to discuss with the Council as it relates to the FY 2017 18 Municipal budget one
relates to the FEMA and the other to the leasing of certain police vehicles Mr Nickerson stated
that after Hurricane Ike, the City received funding from FEMA in the first instance the City was
over funded and in the second instance the City was overpaid which resulted in the City having
to pay FEMA back $3.6 million dollars Mr Nickerson stated that his predecessors knowing that
the City would have to refund some monies back to FEMA had already set aside about $2.8
million however, in the last FEMA audit an additional $849 000 was identified for
reimbursement which will be included in the FY 2017 18 budget Mr Nickerson further stated
that the refunds were due prmanly to debris removal, and the City is looking into potential
recourses to recover about $500,000 from the debris removal monitor, but because this can be
lengthy process, the City needs to pay what is owed in order to argue that it has overpaid
Assistant City Manager Troller noted that it is a credit to staff that the City has been able to
maintain pristine records for Hurricane Ike and while there's no statute of limitation on FEMA
auditing and recovering monies, this payment puts the City closer to final closing out Hurricane
Ike
City Council Regular Work Session Minutes
July 13 2017
Page 2 of 6
During further discussion Mr Nickerson stated that the second item discussion was regarding
the leasing of unmarked police vehicles primarily those of the detectives and the task force. He
stated that it soon became apparent that it was not a feasible way to get all of the police vehicles
as there was a capital component and debt capacity for recurring yearly leases that impacted the
budget He noted that some of the police vehicles that are used for the task force can be rented
similar to the program that Hams County currently uses Mr Nickerson stated that this program
is truly a rental. which allows the City to rent a vehicle use it for three (3) months or until it gets
burned (recognized as police vehicle) tum it back in and replace it quickly He stated that there
are ten (10) of these vehicles, of which four (4) being rentals this year three (3) being rentals
next year and three (3) being rentals in the following year; thus allowing the City to replace
these ten (10) vehicles with rentals in the next three (3) years Mr Nickerson noted that instead
of leasing the unmarked vehicles the City will be purchasing vehicles as it has done in the past,
four (4) per year Additionally, Mr Nickerson stated that the program being recommended was
logistically and fiscally better than the leasing option and recommended moving forward with
the presented plan
Council discussed the item briefly and was in support of the presented budget items
b Receive and discuss an update from the Health Department regarding code
enforcement efforts and related metrics
Health Department Director, Mike Lester presented the agenda item and stated that the City
Manager asked the health department to present a report about their code enforcement efforts
about once a quarter He stated the items presented were the third quarter statistics for the
neighborhood protection code enforcement and community service programs He noted that
he d provide Council with the comparisons between the second and third quarters.
Mr Lester stated that the Neighborhood Protection Division deals with nuisance abatement such
as, high grass and weeds rubbish illegal dumpsites, open storage, junked vehicles, front yard
parking and other maintenance issues related to alleyways the mowing of abandoned rail lines
based on citizen and/or staff complaints and tax foreclosed properties He noted that they mow
abandoned railroad lines, because it helps staff and citizens, being that the railroad commission is
not responsive to mowing request He further noted that they do not mow pipeline easements
because there tends to be more of a response and mow of the areas once notified of an issue by
staff
Mr Lester stated that the City is separated out into five (5) neighborhood protection sub -zones
He stated that each Monday inspectors go out to identify and document issues within their
respective zones Tuesday is court administrative day so no inspections are conducted on this
day; and on Wednesday Thursday and Friday staff conducts inspections throughout different
areas of the City He noted that the neighborhood protection officers cover the entire City every
five (5) days Mr Lester stated that complaints received from the City Manager's Office unless
it's an emergency are placed within the inspectors weekly routines in order to keep these within
the inspector's weekly follow-up schedules He stated that complaints that are highly visible or
an emergency he or a division supervisor handles directly to get them taken care of as soon as
possible
City Council Regular Work Session Minutes
July 13 2017
Page 3 of 6
Mr Lester provided the Council a map of the improved and unimproved alleyways throughout
the City He stated that the Improved alleyways are those with a concrete drive that the City has
to weed -eat along the edges and the unimproved areas are dedicated alleyways with no
Improvements that are mowed by contractors Mr Lester noted that currently the alleyways are
being well maintained In order to get the mosquito control truck through them as they're being
used more by the public to park and navigate In response to a question from Council Member
Presley regarding what the cost efficiencies of mowing unimproved alleyways versus paving
them would be Mr Lester stated that he didn t have those figures at the time, but would look
Into it and report back Mr Lester noted that staff maintains the alleyways every 6 8 weeks, to
prevent grass from overgrowing
Mr Lester stated that the inactive railways are the ones that receive the most complaints, and in
response they mow those areas within the Health Department's designated monies. He stated that
this work has provided significant relief to the citizens especially in the 5 6 and 7 categories
that tend to get a lot of wildlife in their areas Mr Lester presented an overview of the total
neighborhood protection numbers from the current quarter to the second quarter as listed below
2017
Apra May
June
TOTALS
January February I Much
TOTALS
Total Cases Created
419
628
1018
2,065
From Bu
350
84%
546
87%
924 91%
1,820
External Co Imre
87
18%
82
13%
94 9%
243
Unfounded Co airda
23
36
36
95
0
1
225 174
170
569
Yard Pa,kig Yroatbns
67
100
159
328
Yard Pkig Abated
69
74
142
288
F. Vbatlone
36
1
5
42
Vblalions Abated C
70
36
214
320
Vblalbru Abated Owner
233
326
638
1187
Court Co Ws Fled
39
129
156
326
03
Apra May
June
TOTALS
589 575
746
1,910
494 84% 501
87%
638
86%
i,fi33
95 16% 74
16%
108
14%
277
35 27
36
96
39 76
98
213
26 63
86
176
1
1 0
0
1
225 174
170
569
304 345
359
1,008
63 59
100
222
Mr Lester stated that some of the decreases shown on the chart were results of seasonal issues
that have to be dealt with i.e mosquito control and mowing high grass, and/or the Inspectors
have dealt with the main offenders on the mainthigh visibility areas He stated that In the fall
time frame, there would probably be an uptake in fence issues and other nuisances as the grass
won't be growing as fast and the mosquito season would have decreased He further noted that a
very positive trend identified was violation abatements by property owners
Mr Lester stated that they completed a Community Cleanup in May 2017, and considering that
it was put together In a short period it came together well He stated that the City had three (3)
locations Bergeron Park, Lakewood and N Main with the latter two being new sites this year
He noted that 156 people participating in the event and they received lots of heavy debris as well
as tires He further noted that the numbers were a little lower than in the past. which could be a
City Council Regular Work Session Minutes
July 13 2017
Page 4 of 6
result of the two new sites and the extreme heat Additionally, he noted that they received 122
vehicles, filled five (5) roll -offs and that event was successful
During further discussion, Mr Lester stated that the Community Service Division consisted of
court appointed volunteers with two (2) full time employees overseeing the program, but noted
that they both spend time out in the field Shawn the Division Coordinator and Chad, the Field
Supervisor He stated that two (2) community service crews cover the City seven (7) days a week
and each crew handles 3 10 people, which could results in 20 people working on any given day
if both crews were out at full capacity Mr Lester noted that during the summer months it's
common that the number of volunteers decreases He reminded the Council that this division
handles routine hot spots checks litter sweeps survey work call response to litter dropped on
the street, as well as, assist other departments for special projects and facility maintenance such
as keeping certain areas cleaned and mowed Mr Lester further stated that the community
service groups are great for physical labor, such as, moving boxes, furniture, litter cleanups, etc
and are kept very busy Additionally he stated that the groups also mows the City's 66
foreclosed properties every 6 8 weeks help with the animal control facility cleanups and move
boxes as needed
Mr Lester went over the Community Service statistics chart, as noted
M17
G2
G3
Jan
FW I
aYr
ilnorrJaslit
VAY
June
TOTALS
3bvAn
6
6
'/
13
2]
12
32
T1
of Later
1032
839
866
2719
M
567
461
I'M
TM
93
160
43
238
26
63
45
134
Total clean U
Zai
211
190
827
190
156
176
524
Total aSNn CNNrM
196
156
123
14]5
11]
104
100
321
Commercial corri0an
Garth' N Nuc Garth' N A . Garth N Akac Gersh N ANa. Garth' N Alex Garth' N A
R 4 5 4 4 1 2 30 4 4 3 4 5 3 23
of Liar ]4 71 66 65 16 43 156 73 162 59 86 206 53 1 336
Galli of axBelu requre a ca r Me work hay an wi;l y b creee
Council Member Hoskins inquired if staff ever presented businesses with the amount of trash
they collected from their property and asked them for help in litter abatement Mr Lester noted
that they're gearing back up to deal with the business owners with regards to the cleanliness of
their properties, as well as, the litter blowing off of their parking lots City Manager Davis noted
that the City has been experimenting with some temporary trash fencing on Garth and Cedar
Bayou Lynchburg to capture the litter that comes from a business
Council Member Hoskins further inquired about the possibility of a plastic bag ban City
Attorney Ignacio Ramirez, noted that there're still pending lawsuits against cities in Texas that
have an ordinance banning plastic bags, in addition to some bills that were filed in the last
legislative session that prohibited cities from enacting bag bans Mr Lester noted that the City of
Brownsville was able to successfully defend their plastic bag ban, but because they had specific
environmental issues they were dealing with which the court ruled they could do, but only
because of the very specific issue they were trying to mitigate
City Council Regular Work Session Minutes
July 13 2017
Page 5 of
Mr Lester noted that the City is 36 square miles of which the hot spots or main roadways are
checked on a weekly basis, which include Evergreen Road Tn City Beach, Hartman Bridge
U tum and Gateway, SH 146 at Missouri Street thru N Main Spur 330 and SH 146 Interchange,
Spur 330 frontage W Baker at Spur 330 (Bayway), Spur 330 at Slap Out Gully 1 10 Corridor
overpasses the storm ditch at SH 146 and McKinney and Beaumont Road from Ward to
Knowlton Street He provided to Council a map that identified the areas being swept on a regular
basis and noted that the litter sweeps are done once a week specifically to Garth Road and
Alexander Drive He stated that Garth Road is cleaned on Thursday and when sweeping the main
road, all of the intersections are also cleaned, as well as, the road areas surrounding the
intersections one (1) block down He noted that aside from the regularly scheduled road sweeps
they also do call outs for special items such as litter and debris in ditches
Mr Lester identified the litter fence that has been placed next to the Home Depot property that
has done a great job in collecting Inver and kept it out of the ditch He stated that this is being
done as a demonstration to the business to show them that the problem of litter blowing across
their parking lot is still an issue that needs to be remedied He noted that these fences will be
used in conjunction with increased enforcement and that a litter fence has been added the
property line between the Raceway and the Burlington properties for the same reason Mr Lester
stated that in the month of June twelve (12) bags of trash were collected from the Home Depot
litter fence, eight (8) bags were collected by the IHOP Aaron's rental litter fence and nineteen
(19) bags were collected at the Raceway/Burlington litter fence He further stated that this is an
estimated 2600 linear feet of screen that has been put up, which has already made a huge impact
on litter
Council Member Sam requested that staff look into placing a litter fence over on the Joe V's
parking lot with Taco Bell
Mayor DonCarlos asked who was responsible for cleaning up SH 146 Mr [ester stated that the
Park's Department has a contract in place to mow these areas and noted that because it is a state
highway and there are some safety issues, they were not able to use the community service
volunteers to clean the litter on the highways Mr Lester further noted that the community
service volunteers can be used on the frontage areas, but not on the highway themselves
Mr Lester stated that in the budget there's an addition of another community service team that
will be of great assistance to the current two (2) crews which will greatly enhance their
productivity
City Manager Davis noted the Health Department is doing a lot of work and has increased its
statistics exponentially from the last few years in which the numbers can be brought forward to
Council in the future, if interested
Mr Lester stated that this year the City has two (2) very good mowing contractors in place
which has helped to mitigate a lot of the high grass nuisances throughout the city He further
noted that the Junked Vehicle Ordinance needs to be updated to deal with wrecked vehicles that
do not tmhmcally meet the code's description of a junked vehicle He stated that they don't want
City Council Regular Work Session Minutes
July 13 2017
Page 6 of 6
to take it, but do want to encourage them with the potential of citations to move the vehicle off of
the driveway to an area that is out of site
c Receive and discuss an update regarding the animal control ordinance and
procedures
City Manager Davis stated that this item would be presented at the August 10, 2017, Work
Session
d Discuss any or all of the agenda items on the City Council Regular Meeting Agenda
for July 13, 2017, which is attached below
This item was not discussed.
ADJOURN
With there being no further business to discuss, Mayor DonCarlos adjourned the July 13 2017
City Council Regular Work Session at 6:24 P M ,