2017 09 14 WS Minutes MINUTES OF THE REGULAR WORK SESSION OF THE
CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF BAYTOWN
SEPTEMBER 14, 2017
The City Council of the City of Baytown, Texas met in a Regular Work Session on Thursday,
September 14, 2017, at 5:30 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
David McCartney Council Member
Chris Presley Council Member
Terry Sain Council Member
Stephen DonCarlos Mayor
Ron Bottoms Acting City Manager
Ignacio Ramirez City Attorney
Leticia Brysch City Clerk
Keith Dougherty Sergeant at Arms
Mayor DonCarlos convened the September 14, 2017, City Council Regular Work Session with a
quorum present at 5:30 P.M., all members were present with the exception of Council Member
Johnson who arrived at 5:36 P.M.
1. DISCUSSIONS
a. Discuss the Annual Residential Solid Waste Collection, Disposal, and Recycling
Services Contract with Waste Management of Texas.
Acting City Manager Bottoms introduced the agenda item and stated that the City received two
(2) solid waste proposals; one from Waste Management and the other from Republic Services,
with Waste Management being the less expensive. He stated that the City at that time, entered
into negotiations with Waste Management, to discuss the increase of 41% from the current
contract rate, which is $14.53 per residence, along with the level of service for said rate. He
stated that Council, as a part of this negotiation, requested staff to also look at options related to
internalizing the garbage service in house, in the hopes to find a more cost effective alternative
than the existing proposals.
Acting City Manager Bottoms noted that staff conducted another negotiation with Waste
Management, which resulted in an alternative proposal, which staff feels should be seriously
considered by the Council. He stated that as staff is prepared to go either way, there were items
on the agenda to either internalize garbage services or to move forward with awarding the Waste
Management contract with the new numbers. He stated that the new proposal would provide the
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September 14,2017
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same level of service as the City currently has, which is a take all contract, with a$3.13 increase
per household, with a total cost increase from$21.31 to $24.45; which equates to a 15% increase
the first year, and next year it would increase to $27.87, for a total increase of 31%, and
subsequent years would allow for CPI and fuel adjustments, which is standard in any contract
and what we have done in the past. He further stated that the cost presented excluded any City
rates for cost related to the recycling center, solid waste removal and etc., but if they were it
would even out the a 40% increase overall.
Acting City Manager Bottoms stated that the City's cost, if it internalizes the garbage services in
Public Works, was going to change the level of service to the customer by going to an automated
system with the carts, with the bulk being done separately, maybe once a month or on an on-call
basis, which would result in a $25.00 per month per household cost. He stated that as the service
level would be different, the $25.00 would remain fairly consistent for the customer, unlike that
of the contract which will fluctuate year by year.
Additionally, Acting City Manager Bottoms stated that although he recommended that Council
consider Waste Management's new proposal for garbage services, staff was prepared to move in
any direction the Council wanted.
Council Member McCartney stated that he was happy to see that Waste Management had come
back with a new proposal, but felt it was a shame that the City had to consider doing its own
solid waste in order for them to come back to the table and negotiate.
Council Member Sain noted that this situation was not Waste Management's entire fault, as all of
the increase was not just those of Waste Management, but also from the City. Acting City
Manager Bottoms clarified that Waste Management still had a 40% increase in their original
proposal independent of the City fees for the Green Center and C.L.E.A.N. Team and that
Council Member Sain may be thinking about the equipment replacement fund fee that was
presented early on as a part of the fee increases. Additionally, Acting City Manager Bottoms
noted that staff removed this fee and will continue to replace equipment as it always has by
budgeting it year by year.
Council Member Presley noted that he was a little disappointed with this situation as he expected
more cooperation from the contractor considering the long standing relationship.
Mayor DonCarlos stated that he felt comfortable knowing that the City has now done the
research needing to move towards internalizing this service if needed in the future.
Acting City Manager Bottoms stated that should the Council move to approve the Waste
Management contract staff would need to allow the City Manager to complete the negotiations of
such contract. He stated that staff was working to combine the trash collection and recycling
contracts it currently has with Waste Management into one (1) contract, but it had not been
completed. However, he noted that the rates discussed at tonight's meeting would not change
and become effective on October 01, 2017.
Council Member Presley requested that language be included in the contract to allow the City to
begin renegotiating the terms of the contract a year out, so that the City does not find itself in this
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September 14,2017
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position again. Acting City Manager Bottoms noted that staff started looking at this contract 8.5
months prior to its expiration, but were surprised by the 40% increase, which was not anticipated
at all.
Council Member Hoskins stated that Council should remember that a part of this was triggered
by a lack of service on Waste Management's part. He noted that in District No. 5, there has
definitely been poor service on behalf of the company and the worker's picking up the garbage.
He stated that it was requested that staff start looking at going out for bid over a year ago
because of the poor service. He further noted that as he was travelling in to attend today's
council meeting, the garbage had still not been picked up in his neighborhood and it was already
late in the evening. He concluded his comments by stating that it was his hope that the service
level from Waste Management would get much better in District No. 5.
Mayor DonCarlos asked why Council did not receive this information earlier, if staff had started
reviewing and renegotiating this contract 8.5 months out. Acting City Manager Bottoms noted
that staff started the process that far back, went out for bids in March/April, open bids in July,
and while expecting an increase for these services, staff didn't expect it to be 40%. Additionally,
he stated that staff spent some time gathering input from Council and the public.
b. Present an update regarding the City's recovery efforts for Hurricane Harvey.
Acting City Manager Bottoms presented the agenda item and stated that there are some areas of
town that look normal, while there are other areas, such as Pinehurst and Whispering Pines that
still has lots of recovery efforts taking place. He further noted that staff would present updates
from different department heads regarding Harvey recovery efforts.
Finance Director, Wade Nickerson stated that typically emergency funds tend to run from the
State to FEMA, but in this case, FEMA would handle the disbursement of monies themselves.
He noted that the City was notified yesterday of such change in procedures, and in response,
immediately filed all of the needed emergency assistance applications directly with FEMA, in
order for the City to be eligible for FEMA funding. He stated that FEMA would visit and
complete their review of the City's facilities and damages. He noted that the overall process is
(1) the City applies and (2) FEMA review and accept the application. He stated that once this
happens, staff would begin filling information into five (5) different categories that include:
debris removal, public safety, and repair. He stated that at the time of the meeting none of this
information had been setup, because staff was still waiting on FEMA. Mr. Nickerson noted
that Baytown is considered in the Harris County area and not many cities were as far along in
their recovery efforts as Baytown, which essentially stalled the process for the City Additionally,
he stated that Staff has been in constant contact with the State and FEMA, and per the City's
representative at the Federal level, things were moving very slow, as they work in getting the
other cities caught up.
Mayor DonCarlos asked if all of the department heads were going to jump in to help assess the
damages around the City in order to ensure that everything was captured accurately. He noted
that the City experienced significant damage that needed to be reported; such as the Roseland
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Park community center, the damage to the East District Plant and 34 lift stations that went under
water. Mr. Nickerson noted that staff has been compiling a list of all of that information from all
of the different department heads; in order to have a complete and comprehensive list to be
presented to FEMA for review, as soon as they're ready for the City. Mr. Nickerson further
noted that, prior to the change in the process; staff had already filed information with regards to
damages to the State, so there's already a preliminary list of the damages ready. He further noted
that once staff realized that FEMA would be handling this process directly, staff took that list
and cleaned it up, in order to get it ready for submission to FEMA. Again, Mr. Nickerson noted
that all staff is waiting on now, is for FEMA to approve the City's initial application.
With regards to the building and inspections, Chief Building Official, Russell Davidson stated
that immediately following the storm,the Planning Department had boots on the ground, in order
to conduct windshield assessments to help identify the hardest hit areas, in order for the
department to know where to strategically place its resources. He noted that Staff quartered out
the City and identified the hardest hit areas as follows: those that followed along Cedar Bayou
and Cary Creek; such as Pinehurst, Whispering Pines, and Lynwood. He stated that by Thursday,
Staff had compiled all that information and sent out teams into the field to conduct individual
assessments. He further stated that Staff got through, with the help of other departments such as
Public Works and Engineering, an estimated 5,300 individual assessments and out of those 4,500
homes were affected, in which affected meaning small to large damage. Additionally, he noted
that out of those 4,500 homes, 1,500 of those were in the flood plain.
Mr. Davidson stated that once staff completed the individual assessment and gathered all of the
required information, staff with the help of ITS took over the 911 Communications Center and
were in the process of inputting said data into the FEMA database in order to check on the level
of damage for these homes. He noted that at any given time there were 6-9 people handling the
input of this data into the system. He further noted that staff averaged the input of about 500
homes in a day and wanted to make sure the hard hit areas were the first to go into the system, in
order to ensure that they could get their building permits and begin their recovery as soon as
possible. Mr. Davidson stated that staff already had temporary structure and building permits in
place to be used immediately in these situations instead of having to create these forms and cause
delays. Additionally, he noted that this preparation allows staff to help customers as quickly as
possible, so they can get their reconstruction process started.
Acting City Manager Bottoms stated that staff wanted to prevent people from coming in
requesting building permits that would be denied, because they have not been input into the
FEMA system yet. He noted that the goal was to stay ahead of these permit requests, which is
why staff has been pushing these items so hard, so that staff don't have to turn anyone away. Mr.
Davidson stated that so far staff had not sent anyone away because of this scenario and staff was
actively working with citizens to get them what they needed during this reconstruction process.
Acting City Manager Bottoms reminded Council that there were no fees associated with the
permits, so it was in the best interest of our citizens to follow the permitting process.
Council Member Presley asked if it was a requirement to pull a permit to do small repairs, such
as flooring and sheet rock. Mr. Davidson stated that staff is requesting that people get a permit
even for the small damages in order to track where and how much damage there is around the
City. Council Member McCartney asked how many homes were above that 50% of damage
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September 14,2017
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threshold. In response to Council Member McCartney's inquiry, Mr. Davidson stated that
currently he estimated 2,500 homes that were at about 30%, about 1,000 homes that were
between 10-30%, and while they have not identified the homes over 50% yet, staff was working
hard to identify those homes with the most damage, as quickly as possible, to get them the help
that they need.
Mr. Davidson noted the staff was trying to combat misinformation about FEMA and contractors
with real and honest information. He stated that Staff handed out FEMA information and
continued to walk the streets of the really hard hit areas, in order to pass out information, hand
out applications, and explain the process as much as possible.
Council Member McCartney inquired of the homes damaged as to how many were insured vs.
uninsured. Mr. Davidson stated that staff might never know that information, but the FEMA
representative made the comment that more than 80% of the people in Pinehurst had flood
insurance.
Council Member Presley stated that he heard that 80% of people in Whispering Pines did not
have flood insurance. Mr. Davidson noted that Whispering Pines was not in the flood zone and
they had flood insurance.
Mayor DonCarlos stated that he was getting reports from citizens that received letters from
FEMA that they have been denied and further requested that staff direct these citizens to the
Disaster Relief Center (DRC), so that the citizens could sit down and speak to an actual FEMA
representatives, as many times these denials are related to missing information on their
application, which can be remedied. Mayor DonCarlos stated that he wanted homeowners to
come out and speak to FEMA representatives and not to lose hope, get frustrated, and walk away
from their homes. Public Affairs Coordinator, Patti Jett stated that staff was going to send a call
out to citizens about this very topic and would be working with the Baytown Sun to continue
putting this very critical information out to the public.
Purchasing Manager, Drew Potts stated that Hurricane Irma in Florida impacted many of the
debris contractors, which resulted in many of them leaving this area and heading back to Florida
to take care of their homes and families. He noted that this all started Wednesday afternoon when
there were eight (8) contractor trucks out in the field and by Friday there were none. He stated
that in response to such, the Public Works Department stepped up over the weekend and began
picking up the trash and debris in the most impacted areas. Additionally, Mr. Potts noted that the
contractors have started coming back to continue their work and that in nine (9) days, 90 cubic
yards of debris has been collected,which is a significant amount.
Council Member Sain stated that during Hurricane Ike, there were staging areas throughout the
City to hold the debris until it could be moved to the landfill, and he felt that this helped expedite
the collection of debris from the neighborhoods. Mr. Potts stated that the debris removal crews
were on their second round of pickup in many of the hardest hit areas of the City and were taking
the debris all the way to the landfill. He noted that this system was more efficient than the one
used in the past, because the contractors did not touch the same debris twice, once to the staging
area and then from the staging area to the landfill. He reminded Council that during Hurricane
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Ike, the City had 30 trucks running at all times and it took 180 days to complete the debris
removal. Additionally, he noted that to date being on day nine (9) of the process, the contractor
had 18 wheel in-dumps, in which a significant portion of those resources were in Baytown
Council Member Sain stated that there have not been a lot of trucks in his district and he would
like to see them in other areas and not just those in the most affected areas. Mayor DonCarlos
noted that it would be a good time to start spreading the trucks around the City.
Council Member Hoskins stated that in many of the areas that were hard hit the contractors were
starting at the front of the subdivisions and he suggested that they get to the debris in the back of
the subdivision first as there's a lot of debris piled back there, which is causing a safety hazard.
He also noted that the contractor needs to work on the large main roads in order to allow the
residents to get in and out of their neighborhoods. Lastly, he requested that the contractors need
to be more careful about making the turns in the residential neighborhoods, as they are hitting a
lot street signs and causing a lot of damage to the City's infrastructure.
Mr. Potts stated that it was important to let people know the following:
1. FEMA does not need to see the debris in order to complete a claim, residents can take
pictures of the debris for their records, and allow the contractors to pick up the debris; and
2. the contractor trucks are not allowed to pick up debris from commercial properties and
schools, these will not be reimbursed by FEMA
Public Works Director, Frank Simoneaux presented an update regarding the City's infrastructure
and noted that the East District Waste Water Treatment Plant (EWWTP) was up and running
with some issues left to correct; however, it is treating the wastewater. He stated that some of the
adaptive traffic signals were not working along Garth Road and SH 146 causing some traffic
congestion and problems, but their replacements was on agenda for tonight for Council's
consideration and approval. He noted that many traffic signs have been knocked down and were
being replaced by Public Works with the new blue signs, which will result in a mix of signage
styles,but staff would go back and replace the old style with the new for uniformity purpose. Mr.
Simoneaux stated that there would be a lot of issues on the streets because of the big trucks
running throughout the City. He noted that staff is working on repairing potholes and would put
such repairs in the report to FEMA. He stated that staff completed the cleaning of the culverts
and ditches in the unaffected areas and were waiting until the affected areas were clean of the
large debris, in order to go in through and cleanup all of those culverts and drainage. He further
noted that there were a lot of silt deposits that were left by the high water and those ditches need
to be cleaned and then recut, in which, would be a long process and staff is scheduled to begin
with the ditches over at Roseland Park next week.
Acting City Manager Bottoms stated that it's City Manager Davis' request to have these updates
to the Council at their meetings expressed appreciation to Planning Department for working over
the weekend on completing the assessments, as well as, the Public Works Department for
stepping in over the weekend to help with the debris removal issue when the contractors left for
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Florida. He stated that staff understood peoples frustration and noted that staff was working very
diligently to make sure that everyone was taken care of in a professional and expedited manner.
c. Discuss any or all of the agenda items on the City Council Regular Meeting Agenda
for September 14,2017,which is attached below.
There was no item to discuss.
2. ADJOURN
With there being no further business to discuss, Mayor DonCarlos adjourned the September 14,
2017,A ity Council Regular Work Semt 6:19 P.M.
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