2020 01 10 CC Minutes, SpecialMINUTES OF THE SPECIAL MEETING OF THE CITY
COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF BAYTOWN
January 10, 2020
The City Council of the City of Baytown, Texas met in a Special Meeting on Friday, January 10,
2020, at 6:30 P.M., in the Lalique Conference Room, South Shore Harbor, 2500 South Shore
Boulevard, League City, Texas, 77573, with the following in attendance:
Laura Alvarado
Mayor Pro Tern
Chris Presley
Council Member
Charles Johnson
Council Member
Heather Betancourth
Council Member
Robert Hoskins
Council Member
David Himsel
Council Member
Brandon Capetillo Mayor
Rick Davis City Manager
Nick Woolery Assistant City Manager
Kevin G. Troller Assistant City Manager
Mayor Capetillo convened the January 10, 2020, City Council Special Meeting with a quonan
present at 6:30 P.M., all members were present.
1. TEAMBUILDING
a. Conduct a teambuilding exercise with the City Council.
City Manager Nick Woolery facilitated the members of the City Council in a StrengthFinder
teambuilding exercise, in order to identify the strengths and talents of each member, as well as
the Council's collective strengths, in order to identify opportunities for improved communication
and teamwork. The assessment identified the tope five strengths for each council member and
found that the top collective strength for the Council is "achiever" and the other strengths that
had at least three council members included "competition", "analytical" and "strategic;" however,
the once strength that was not in the collective top five was "relationship building". Mr.
Woolery noted that while there is nothing wrong with the results, it is important to bring some
type of awareness to the team about where the team lacks in strengths.
Mayor Capetillo noted that there are times during the StrengthFinder assessment when he tried to
avoid the neutral response as much as possible; however, there were times where he felt like he
could be both spectrums of the question, but noted that he has been told by City Manager Davis
that a mayor need to be a "futuristic woo" because that is what a mayor does.
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January 10, 2020
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City Manager Rick Davis noted that the qualities that people look for in a mayor are those in
which the person can look and have a vision into the future, see the future, and use this futuristic
lens in order to reach out to others and win them over.
Mayor Capetillo noted that he really liked the assessment because he felt that when he first was
elected to the council as mayor, the council was divided; 4 to 3, which created a win/lose
scenario. He noted that he was very excited to work with the council members because he knew
the that the council members all had something positive to bring to the table; such as knowledge
of real estate, communication and experience with part-time employees, to name a few. Mayor
Capetillo further stated that he speaks to a lot of local area mayors and he is always very proud to
speak of and represent his very diverse and well -functioning council. He further noted that he is
very proud of his council because they can work through their differences and build a consensus
in order to make Baytown better, not just in their individual council districts, but for the city as a
whole.
Mayor Capetillo noted that in relation to the staff, the city manager, city administration and all
other employees, and noted that he knows many of the staff members and their families by name,
which is something that he values and is not common; being able to talk and work with staff for
the betterment of the community to get things done is so important for Baytown.
Council Member Hoskins stated that he has been able to attend and observe many other councils
in the area and Baytown is doing something right, and whatever small issues come up, they are
minor and this council is getting great things done because of their commitment to the
community and to doing things right.
Council Member Himsel noted that the council was in a really good place when making decision
for the city. He noted that the council is at a point where they could work through their
differences, speak up about what they think and/or believe and then vote accordingly.
Mayor Capetillo stated that while the public may not understand everything that goes into
making a decision, the creation of agendas, etc., it is important that the public sees the Council
have open discussions and have different points of views, because that is what good government
requires, and having different strengths helps the council get to those good outcomes.
Mr. Davis noted that this team is not satisfied with being tomorrow what they are today, and that
is the "achiever" strength. He also noted that the team's second strongest strength
of"strategic" make sense because it focuses everyone and this group of people is very very
strategic thinking and that also makes things easier for everyone because they can focus on the
now and the tomorrow. Mr. Davis also noted that the third highest collective strength for the
council was "analytical", which makes sense since they are such a data driven city. Mr. Davis
noted that it is very helpful to a team when they can look at each other in terms of their strengths
versus their weaknesses.
Mayor Capetillo noted that he is very happy with the city's path towards having a cohesive plan
and vision for the organization and the city, both short and long-term for a better Baytown, and
he noted that while it is sometimes hard, it is important to bring the citizens and community into
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January 10, 2020
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the decision -making process, so they feel invested in the process and the city's culture can
change for the better.
Mr. Davis noted that in terms of the strategic plans, the city has moved the needle in the right
direction in each category, but understand that the citizen component is critical to a successful
future. He noted that staff will continue to work at engaging the community and citizens in its
next strategic plan in the near future, and he noted that he believes that a lot of the success of the
current strategic plan is because it all started with the citizen.
The Council inquired whether or not the city would undertake another citizen survey but
requested that there be time between when the surveys are taken, in order to give enough time to
core the problems and/or measure the data. Council Member Betancourth stated that was in
support of the survey in order to gage the citizen's perceptions as it relates to traffic and other
recent improvements.
Assistant City Manager Nick Woolery noted that staff had no further discussion related to the
teambuilding exercise.
2. ADJOURN
With there being no further business to discuss, Mayor Capetillo adjourned the January 10, 2020,
City Council Special Meeting at 7:04 P.M.