2019 03 14 WS MinutesMINUTES OF THE REGULAR WORK SESSION OF THE
CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF BAYTOWN
March 14, 2019
The City Council of the City of Baytown, Texas met in a Regular Work Session on Thursday,
March 14, 2019, at 5:31 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
Charles Johnson
Council Member
Robert C. Hoskins
Council Member
Chris Presley
Council Member
David Himsel
Council Member
Heather Betanmurth
Mayor Pro Tern
Brandon Capetillo Mayor
Rick Davis
City Manager
Ignacio Ramirez
City Attorney
Leticia Brysch
City Clerk
Mayor Capetillo convened the March 14, 2019, City Council Regular Work Session with a
quorum present at 5:31 P.M., all members were present with the exception Council Member
Johnson who arrived at 5:35 P.M.
DISCUSSIONS
a. Receive and discuss a presentation regarding the City of Baytown Public
Affairs Plan.
Director of Public Affairs Mark Miller presented the item and stated that he was presenting the
Council a draft of the City's Public Affairs Plan for 2019-2020, which is focused on the City's
purpose statement of "together we enrich lives and build community."
Mr. Miller presented the Council with the phrase of "Cure Personalis," which is Latin for "in the
care of the person," however, in context more often used, it means for the good of others, and
this is the theme that will come through in this plan. He noted that they would review the format
and template for the plan, identify the key partners, the key audiences, the objectives of the plan,
strategies, and tactics. Mr. Miller noted that he was not going to get too in depth as this is only a
briefing of the plan, which has been given to each council member in full form.
To begin, Mr. Miller noted that the format is in line with the template and model that is accepted
by PRSA, the Public Relations Society of America and is taught in the public relations master's
program at Georgetown University. He further noted that integrated throughout the plan me the
three pillars of public affairs. The being the media, in any form that is not controlled by the City;
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March 14, 2019
Page 2 of 4
i.e. television, radio, newspapers, bloggers; etc. and everything that the City owns and controls to
include the City's website, social media platforms, the back of the utility bill, Channel 16, etc.
The second pillar is Community Relations, or the City's interfacing directly with the community;
something that the police and fire departments do on a daily basis and other departments like
Parks that put out a lot of events that interface directly with the community, which are always
opportunities to communicate the City's key messages to target audiences. The City's target
audiences include but are not limited to: industry partners (Exxon Mobil, Chevron Phillips,
Enterprise, Covestro); key partners (Lee College and Goose Creek CISD); and the public
(students, citizens, local businesses).
Mr. Miller noted that the Plan's objectives identified through the lens of the acronym SMART:
Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Time -based. The first year of the plan, some of
the objectives are pretty simple and to the point, they are time -based during year one of this plan
and achievable; after the first year, staff can look to see if the objectives were achieved and/or
can they be achieved in the future. Some objectives listed on page 10 of the Plan include:
establishing relationships with realtors to promote Baytown and change the City's negative
perception of itself, reaching 75% of the residence in Baytown with messaging directly related to
community engagement, volunteerism, and doing whatever possible to make the community
better, communicating with the previously mentioned four industry partners, and achieving at
least two regional or national earned media features per week on average.
Mr. Miller noted that the Media Division that includes Natasha Barrett, Strategic
Communications Manager, works to promote the City and help establish its credibility,
relevance, and awareness of Baytown as an innovative community leading the way and
establishes that it is a subject matter expert among our municipal peers. This is done through the
promotions of positive stories in the media, eliminating doormat social media accounts, and
streamlining the City's social media presence by integrating the City's separate social media
platforms and web platforms, to send one clear coordinated message.
Mr. Miller stated that other target audiences include potential visitors, students that could study,
work and live in Baytown and potential employees. The Public Affairs Department is actively
working with the HR Department to market the City as an employer of choice.
Lastly, local students are the future of Baytown in terms of making a difference in the
community; volunteering, getting involved in non-profit organizations and making the
community a better place to live, and for those three reasons, it is critical that students be
targeted with the City's message.
Mr. Miller noted that the strategies and tactics of the Plan are outlined in details on page 22 and
include step-by-step information on how to achieve any of the objectives; however, this portion
of the Plan also include data that will help staff asses the effectiveness of the measures, what
worked, what didn't work, what needs to be continued or eliminate. Mr. Miller noted that those
measures of effectiveness can be found on page 28.
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March 14, 2019
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Mr. Miller concluded his presentation by thanking the Council for their time and attention and
opened up the floor for any questions.
Council Member Betancourth stated that she has read the entire documents and thought it to be
very thoughtful and professional and exactly the kind of that Council requested in order to
upgrade the City's public relations program.
Council Member Alvarado stated that she really liked the student component and agreed that it
was important to get their feedback and viewpoints in order to help develop a relationship by
where they want to stay, live and work in Baytown and not move away to share their talents with
other communities.
Mayor Capetillo noted that he too had read the document and the plan is a piece of the puzzle
that had been missing, and noted that he believed that City had the right plan and the right people
in place to make great things happen.
The Council agreed that this plan will assist them in articulating the message and plan for the
City as they go out in to the community to meet with partners, HOAs and other community
groups.
Mr. Miller, in response to a question regarding the role of the Tourism Division in Public
Affairs, noted that historically tourism should be promoting hotels, restaurants and the like
within an area; however, after Harvey, they diverted their attention to beautifying Baytown and
making it a more aesthetically pleasing place to visit; hence the public art program, the murals,
and the mini -murals. But at the end of the day, the Tourism program needs to go back to
marketing events or amenities in the city that bring people in for overnight stays in hotels, which
again, is the key purpose of tourism as a team.
Mr. Miller, in response to a question regarding the Meltwater software program, noted that this
program is a web -based public relations tool that allows the City to (1) monitor all media
coverage and (2) search very quickly of media and social media.
b. Receive and discuss the proposed City Hall Walkway and Entrance Project.
Public Works Director Frank Simoneaux presented the item and noted that he wanted to discuss
the entryway to City Hall. He noted that staff had noticed that the walkway in the city hall is
seeing some deterioration and is not presenting the best first impression.
Mr. Simoneaux presented a plan that would redo and move the entryway to coincide with the
stop sign and crosswalk, making it more accessible for handicapped visitors, and safer for
employees and visitors.
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March 14, 2019
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The Council discussed this item at length with various options and alternatives to the presented
plan. The Council requested that staff look at options to redo the entire entryway and parking lot
for city hall and agreed to allow staff to at least repave the entryway to city hall to make the
concrete look nicer and cleaner.
Mr. Simoneaux thanked Council for their comments and noted that he would come back with
options for this project at a later date.
C. Discuss any or all of the agenda items on the City Council Regular Meeting Agenda
for March 14, 2019, which is attached below.
This item was not taken.
2. ADJOURN
With there being no further business to discuss, Mayor Capetillo adjourned the March 14, 2019,
City Council Regular Work Session at 6:22 P.M.
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