2019 02 14 WS MinutesMINUTES OF THE REGULAR WORK SESSION OF THE
CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF BAYTOWN
FEBRUARY 14, 2019
The City Council of the City of Baytown, Texas met in a Regular Work Session on February 14,
2019, at 5:31 P.M., in the Hallam Conference Room of the Baytown City Hall, 2401 Market
Street, Baytown, Texas with the following in attendance:
Laura Alvarado Council Member
Charles Johnson Council Member
Robert C. Hoskins Council Member
Heather Betancourth Mayor Pro Tem
Brandon Capetillo Mayor
Rick Davis City Manager
Ignacio Ramirez City Attorney
Leticia Brysch City Clerk
Mayor Capetillo convened the February 14, 2019, City Council Regular Work Session with a
quorum present at 5:31 P.M., all members were present with the exception of Council Member
Himsel and Presley, who were absent.
1. DISCUSSIONS
a. Receive and discuss a presentation regarding the City of Baytown Development
Process.
Director of Strategic Initiatives Nick Woolery presented the item and stated that staff would
present the Council with information of the development process, what it looks like, what
improvements have been made so far and what staff is doing to continue to make this process
better.
Mr. Woolery noted that back in 2016, a pretty extensive review was conducted of the entire
development process, which included extensive interviews with city staff and with key
stakeholders in the development community, a full mapping of the City's entire process, review
of best practices throughout the country, in order to identify some key findings and some
improvements that can be made. Mr. Woolery noted that one of the findings was that developers
are really looking for two things: (1) they want speed and (2) consistency; i.e. making sure that
they have clear expectations of what is going to happen once they we in our process. The other
key findings from 2016 include: (1) the City was going through rapid, rapid growth and (2) the
area of the City that deals with said growth had not been increased as it related to staff and
resources, so the City had all this extra workload on top of already existing projects without the
appropriate human resources.
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February 14, 2019
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Mr. Woolery further noted that the 2016 study also found that the major development projects
were being constructed and the City received pretty good reviews by those types of
developments, even with the new zoning code that had different and higher standards than
before. However, smaller developments did not have the same experience as they struggled
more through the process than their larger counterparts.
Lastly, Mr. Woolery noted that the 2016 study focused on the staff process to ensure that staff
was doing everything they could to make their processes streamlined and collectively better. He
noted that after doing all the reviews, staff identified five strategies to make the development
process much better, and they are:
1. To create more clarity on the front end of the development permitting processes;
2. To improve the speed of getting through a process;
3. To have better staff accountability and customer service;
4. To hire personnel to focus on long-range planning; and
5. To understand that there were a number of other things that would have to be looked at
down the road in order to continue to improve the level of service.
Mr. Woolery introduced Planning and Development Services Director Tiffany Foster to give the
Council an overview of the incredible improvements that have been completed in the Planning
Department from 2016 to the present.
Mrs. Foster noted that after the 2016 evaluation, we went through all of the key components of
the evaluation and tried to decide what could be done in planning that was within its realm of
responsibility in order to provide some improvement to the process, and they are:
1. Clarity at the front-end - developers need certain information to begin the design and
development of a project, as well as to understand the costs associated with their project,
and how they are going to develop their project. In order to assist them with these items,
the Planning Department created several or numerous GIS layers that have lots of
information from utilities to land use, future land use information, which was made
accessible to the public through the City's website; thus, allowing developers to begin the
review of crucial information from the comfort of their offices.
2. Development checklists - In 2013, the City enacted the ULDC, that was very different
from what the City had in the past, and included items such as design criteria, lot
coverage, masonry requirements and other such things that was not needed in the past;
thus, staff created checklists to help developers know exactly what was expected of them
when submitting their plans for review and approval.
3. Utilizing more elements of CommunityPlus — staff began working within the existing
software program to enhance and/or help make building permit processes a little more
effective and easier for all those involved; such as batch plan review that allows multiple
departments to review the same information found in digital plan copies, which is also a
new requirement.
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February 14, 2019
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4. Hired two (2) additional full-time plan reviewers — the City did not have any dedicated
plan reviewers, which is not common in a city the size of Baytown.
5. Adjusted the permit counter's hours — staff found that closing the counter at five o'clock
resulted in staff having to work over -time, in order to close out the day, process payments
and return phone calls, so in order to accommodate those needs, the counter is closed at
four o'clock, allowing for staff to complete their daily work processes in a timely and cost
effective manner.
6. Improved a-gov portals — while it is not the best portal, it now allows for people from
their home, their business, or wherever to look at the status of their permit, the actual
reviews and comments that have been made on their permit in real time, which staff feels
can be very useful to the customer.
7. Customer service issues — staff has continued to review what customer service really
means and needs, in order for staff to better push the cart, which is an acronym for being
Consistent, Accurate, Reasonable, on Time.
Mrs. Foster noted that as it relates to future strategies as a whole, staff will be working closely
with the new software initiative that will improve the level of service by allowing staff more time
to handle overall management training and strategic planning in the department.
Mrs. Foster also noted that as it relates to process improvements, there have been a number of
them implemented just in the Planning Department alone, while dealing with the massive growth
and development in Baytown. She noted that one of the good metrics she loves to show is that
back in 2015, it took staff at least, an average 44 days to turn -out a new building permit;
currently, the time -frame is six (six) days; again, all of this being done while staff is handling
unprecedented growth.
As it relates to development activity, Mrs. Foster presented the Council with a chart showing
statistics from 2010 to 2018, noting that in many instances, numbers had doubled and even
tripled; some numbers noted include: 4,600 permits, zoning violations went from five in 2010 to
70 in 2018; 40 zoning cases have been heard before the Council this past year alone; 209 public
information requests; 52,000 phone calls, which is about 200 a week, among other things.
Mrs. Foster noted that in the next five years, the City is looking at almost 3,000 acres, not
including vacant spots along Garth Road, which already have projects or the large areas that are
coming soon, so this type of development is why process improvement was important in 2016,
and why it remains important and crucial today and in the near future.
Mr. Woolery noted that staff was going to focus on the commercial side of development, as the
residential development has shown significant improvement as mentioned before by Mrs. Foster.
Mr. Woolery noted that he is a part of a team of employees that includes Carol Flynt, Rachel
Philo, Ed Tomjack, Tiffany Foster, and AJ Shakyaver, that are working on a process
improvement specifically for way to make the commercial development process easier and more
efficient from different angles in order to understand the scope on this type or process, which
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February 14, 2019
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touches multiple department; such as: Planning, Building, Engineering, Fire, Public Works,
Health, and ITS.
Mr. Woolery stated that the team's project action plan includes the following items:
• Look at the high level process map;
• Review sub -processes use, what is called the make methodology which is define,
measure, analyze, improve and control the problem; if the methodology is understood,
then the improvements can come after;
• Identify issues that cross departments or cross sub processes to identify opportunities for
sustainable improvements; and
• Focus on the customers (primary, secondary and tertiary) and their pain point,
Mr. Woolery stated that staff wanted to share some of the opportunities their team identified for
improvements to the entire process, and they are as follows:
• Technology — replace the existing CommunityPlus software with the Tyler Technologies
Energov Software which will significantly improve the City's electronic processing
capabilities and will do more to positively transform the development process than any
other item. He noted that if the Council approved said software at their regular meeting,
the staff would begin a two year software conversion process immediately. ITS Director
Ed Tomjack stated that the new software program is dynamic enough to meet the City's
needs now and in the future.
• Customer Experience - look at the actual process for improvements; process timing,
communication, and clear expectations for customers, use of checklists, website, etc.
Mr. Woolery stated that the next steps in the process will include roundtable discussion with
some of key end -user stakeholders to include a small business owner forum to discuss
small business, contractors, engineers, and processes and a customer service survey in order to
gauge a baseline performance m the City moves forward with improvements.
The Council thanked the staff for the report and noted their excitement at moving forward with
the presented options and plans.
It. Discuss possible amendments to the City of Baytown Rules of Procedure.
City Clerk Brysch presented the item and noted that the rules were handed out to the Council at
their last Work Session held on January 24, 2019. At that time, because the meeting was running
out of time, the rules were handed out for everyone to review prior to today's meetings. Staff is
open to hear any questions or concerns that they Council has on any of its Hiles.
Mayor Capetillo noted that he hoped that everyone had read the Rules of Procedure and thought
it was a good practice to look over these rules as a new council. Council Member Hoskins
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February 14, 2019
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commented that everyone needed to become familiar with the procedures and follow them. He
also noted that his handout has a sheet with rules on the motions, which are derived from
Robert's Rules of Order. Mayor Capetillo requested that he be given a copy of the motion rules
and the City Clerk noted that she would have those available for the Council at the next meeting.
Mayor Capetillo noted under General Rule 2.7 — Right of Floor, and asked that council members
to look at him and wait to be recognized before making their comments.
The Council discussed the time frame allowed for public comment for both citizen
communications and for those that sign up to speak on items listed on the agenda, and while
there was some discussion about limiting or changing the time frames allowed, no formal
decision or direction was given at this time.
Mayor Capetillo requests that the City Clerk add verbiage to the citizen communication
form advising speakers of the time clock, so if they are cut off at the end of their discussion, it
will not be a surprise.
The Council briefly discussed citizen interruptions from the audience; however, no changes were
recommended to the rules.
Council consensus was to move forward with the existing Rules of Procedure and revisit in the
future as needed.
C. Discuss any or all of the agenda items on the City Council Regular Meeting Agenda
for February 14, 2019, which is attached below.
This item was not discussed.
2. ADJOURN
With there being no further business to discuss, Mayor Capetillo adjourned the February 14,
2019, City Council Regular Work Session at 6:29 P.M.
Leticia BCity Clerk
City of Baytown
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