Loading...
2020 06 22 CC Minutes, SpecialMINUTES OF THE SPECIAL MEETING OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF BAYTOWN June 221 2020 The City Council of the City of Baytown, Texas, met in a Special Meeting on Monday, June 22, 2020, at 5:03 P.M. in the Council Chamber of the Baytown City Hall, 2401 Market Street, Baytown, Texas with the following in attendance: Laura Alvarado Council Member Chris Presley Council Member David Himsel Council Member Heather Betancourth Council Member Robert Hoskins Council Member Brandon Capetillo Mayor Kevin Troller Assistant City Manager Karen Horner Interim City Attorney Leticia Brysch City Clerk Keith Dougherty Sergeant at Arms Mayor Capetillo convened the June 22, 2020, City Council Special Meeting with a quorum present at 5:03 P.M., all members were present with the exception of Council Member Johnson who was absent. Due to the COVID 19 Disaster and the CDC's recommendation regarding social distancing measures there was limited amount of space when maintaining the required 6-feet separation from others. However, the meeting allowed for two-way communications for members of the public who were not allowed to be physically present at this meeting. 1. MOTIONS a. Discuss and take appropriate action regarding the City of Baytown Fourth of July Celebration scheduled for Saturday, July 4, 2020. Assistant City Manager Kevin Troller presented the item and stated that he appreciated the opportunity to have this discussion. Mr. Troller stated that intent of the item was to discuss the planned events for the 3d and 4`h of July and frankly any other activities planned for this upcoming weekend. Mr. Troller stated that as the Council may be aware, the news points to increase numbers of COVID patients and deaths throughout the country, in Texas and Harris County. With that said, he wanted to start by introducing the City's Health Director, Mr. Tony Gray, as well as, Dr. James Bernick who serves as the City's Health Authority. Mr. Gray reported that as of this morning, there are twelve thousand five hundred and eighty cases report, which is a two thousand eight hundred and fifty increase from last Monday; City Council Special Meeting Minutes June 22, 2020 Page 2 of 10 specifically, for the City of Baytown, there are a hundred and four active cases, which is an increase of thirty-seven cases. He noted that this is no surprise and the Council can look at different cities and counties throughout the state with similar increases, as there has been an upward trend in the cases in the last two weeks, as well as an increased need for hospital beds and ICUs. Mr. Gray also noted that something to keep in mind, particularly when looking at the active cases, is infonnation that is not seen, and that is information tied into the people that have come in contact with someone that has tested positive through the contact -tracing program. Mr. Gray stated that every time one person is infected, there could be one person, ten, fifteen, or maybe more people that have been impacted through contact. So, he noted that in looking at the active cases, there is more infonnation behind that number that can potentially create more cases. Mr. Gray also noted that there is a time-lag in the information being disseminated. He further noted that the Governor's Task Force is looking at three data points: (1) the daily new cases, (2) the positivity rate, and (3) the hospitalization rate. He further noted that all three of those data points have doubled since May, and according to him, the Governor, the spreading is at an unacceptable rate right now and based on all this infonnation and the current trends, he noted that right now is probably not a very good time, or the best time, to have an uncontrolled mass gathering event such as the 0' of July, not only for the sake of our citizens, but also for the safety of the employees that have to work the event. Dr. James Bernick thanked the City Council and the Mayor for allowing him to speak on this item and stated that he maintained a family practice and a geriatric practice in the city on Baker Road, right next to Antonio's Restaurant. He noted that he served as the Health Authority, the physician advisor to the Health Department for the past sixteen years. He also noted that he holds an appointment as an Associate Clinical Professor at Baylor College of Medicine, and he supervises third -year medical students who spend a rotation in Baytown. Dr. Bernick further stated that, as far as the logistics at Bicentennial Park including the spending of at least twenty-five evenings with his family at fireworks shows, taking his children to as many 4th of July events, and he has entered many heat -wave runs for five miles around Bicentennial Park. His concern about the potential spread of the COVID virus during the City's annual 4th of July celebration is as Mr. Gray noted, during the past three weeks, since around Memorial Day, the number of new cases have increased significantly, up to four hundred cases a day in Harris County, which of course includes Baytown. Dr. Bernick further stated that as a physician, he is aware that there has been a doubling since Memorial Day of hospital admissions for COVID, and hospital ICU admissions for those who are severely ill. Dr. Bernick stated that, per the Governor, in this area, the state is at an uncontrollable spread of the virus and his opinion; it will be very difficult to control a crowd of several thousand at Bicentennial Park within a confined area. Particularly when trying to maintain a social distance between individuals and families of six feet. He stated that they know that on the 4th of July, many families show up for the 4th of July celebration, and he is also concerned that these families will be exposed, members of the families will be exposed to the virus, and they will take this exposure back home to their families. City Council Special Meeting Minutes June 22, 2020 Page 3 of 10 Dr. Bernick also stated that many individuals who now test positive are asymptomatic; they have a positive test, but they have no sytnptoins - they are not running a fever, they are not having any respiratory symptoms, they are not having fatigue, and many of the individuals do not know when or where they actually picked up the virus. Dr. Bernick also noted that the Texas Medical Association has recommended that, when planning an outdoor event, those three questions be considered and answered. One, in a crowd, are people able to maintain a social distance of six feet? Two, how long is this event? Is this just a casual event, where they may or may not run into somebody? Or are they going to be in a crowd for two or three hours? The Association is also concerned about the longevity of that event. Is it just for a short period of time, or is it going to be there for two or three hours, and are attendees highly likely to run into a number of other individuals? Dr. Bernick stated that in most instances, the virus has spread through respiratory droplets. If somebody who is infected coughs or sneezes in a person's direction, the medical professionals have heard over and over again that social distancing should be greater than six feet; six feet is, as far as somebody coughs or sneezes, not enough space for the virus to go before it falls down. Dr. Bernick noted that he thinks measures to control the virus will just not work at Bicentennial Park and a large group, even with distancing and cleaning to include all attendees wearing a mask, or cleaning their lawn chairs, cleaning their coolers several times during the event. He noted that some viruses are spread very easily, others are not. Some viruses take a long period of contact with an individual who is infected, and also, a high viral load; the Coronavirus, or COVID, is not like that, it is easily spread, as it can stay on a lawn chair, stay on a cooler for hours or for days. He further noted that the CDC, the Center for Disease Control, has also come out with guidelines for organizers of large public events, that says that the highest risk of spreading the virus is when there is a large, in -person gathering, and difficulty maintaining the six-foot social distance. Additionally, they say that the more people are around an event, the longer time period, the more likely the spread the virus. The CDC recommends that organizers look at current conditions before making a decision on whether to proceed or to postpone the event. Dr. Bernick further noted that the CDC knows that in an event like the 4"' of July, there will be attendees from out of town who will come in, and there is no way to know, where they are coming from, and what the incidence of Coronavirus is in their location. Dr. Bernick stated that he was in favor of expanding the Baytown economy; he thought that the City should continue to open restaurants and retail services. He stated that he believed that personal care visits to health providers, to barbers, to beauticians should remain available, and that outdoor activities, such as opening the water parks, resuming the Little League and softball seasons should continue because those things are all important. However, in these activities, he thought it is more difficult to control the individuals, control their behavior and he did not think City Council Special Meeting Minutes June 22, 2020 Page 4 of 10 that it was possible in a large gathering, such as July 4th, at Bicentennial Park. Dr. Bernick closed his statements by recommending that the Council consider postponing the July 4"' event until 2021. Mayor Capetillo thanked Dr. Bernick for his comments and noted that he did not doubt that he is certainly well-credentialed, and his medical opinion is valued as he always represent Baytown well. He noted that he also appreciated that in a time when the city was not getting the right data from Harris County, he helped craft a letter, along with his own that allowed the city to receive the much -needed date in order to better govern from an administration standpoint these kind of activities for the City of Baytown. Mayor Capetillo noted that he does certainly appreciate Dr. Bernick's insight regarding this issue and it is also his understanding, and that of some council members, that a discussion is needed in order for the council to figure out, what to do? He noted that he did not think that anybody wanted to cancel the country's Independence Day celebration, haphazardly, but he also did not think that the Council should be irresponsible with some of these decisions, so the Council needs to consider all options, and welcomed comments from the council members. Council Member Himsel stated that one of his biggest concerns in this celebration was what is being done to Parks, to Police, and to Fire. He noted that he does not know the number of staff that are stationed out for these types of events, but he believes that it is a lot. So, is there any way, to liinit the exposure of the employees who will then come back to their offices, squad car and fire stations. Dr. Bernick responded that in his opinion, the more people are in a crowd, the more they have with people, and his presumption is that the police will be enforcing some restrictions at the park, which does put them at risk; whether they are the police, or parks and recreation employees, a large crowd and exposure is inevitable. Council Member Betancourth stated that based on Dr. Bernick's comments regarding how uncontrollable this situation would be, does the staff have any measures to control it that maybe have not been taken and then, the second thing mentioned several times was that Bicentennial Park would be maybe a bad location for this event; however, there was support to opening Pirate's Bay, and things like that, so is there another location that would maybe be a better option? Dr. Bernick stated that off the top of his head, he could not thing of another option, and as it related to Bicentennial Park, he just could not see several thousand people squeezing in there, and trying to control them. Council Member Betancourth asked Parks and Recreation Director Scott Johnson if it was possible to have white circles drawn on the ground six feet apart, and require that the same members of a household stay in that circle, similar to what was done at the concert event at the Nature Center. Council Member Betancourth wanted to know if this system worked well, as far as, limiting social cross -contamination, and social distancing. City Council Special Meeting Minutes June 22, 2020 Page 5 of 10 Mr. Johnson noted that it worked for most people, but there were a few that grouped up pretty quickly. He further noted that one of their plans was to do the crop circles, in front of the stage because this is the area where people crowd the stage and try to break everybody else off. He noted that they had planned to move some of vendors, food carts, and arts and crafts out of the park area and around the comer, along the adjacent streets. However, there are a lot of people that come to this event, and they get underneath the trees, and no telling where else, but there is always a lot of people coming to the park for the 01 of July events. Council Member Betancourth stated that she was looking at what other comparable cities were doing with their events and The Woodlands is doing something neat with drive-in fireworks; has staff considered something similar or other alternatives that keep social distancing in mind, but still allow for the celebration of this event. Mr. Johnson stated that fireworks that they are firing, are taking place in kind of a warehouse area that has big parking lots, so they are going to fire the fireworks and allow people go out and tailgate, watch from their cars at a distance. Mr. Johnson stated that the staff planned the event as well as they could, and the crop circle idea was really working, for the most part, however, right next to the staff, were three or four groups that ignored everything and did their own thing. Council Member Betancourth stated that she hated to throw the baby out with the bathwater and while she agreed that the cumbers are concerning, she is also concerned about the current social environment. She further stated that with how negative and divided and dark everything is; she believed that celebrating the Nation's independence is one of the few things that can help bring people together under a commonality of just being American, and not have it be a race or political issue. Council Member Betancourth further noted that on top of the fact that for three months now people have not been able to go to church, she felt hesitant to just keep getting rid of the things that bring people together. She noted that she was hoping that there would be a happy medium that can be smart, and safe, but still not lose everything that snakes life worth living. Assistant City Manager Kevin Troller stated that he did not disagree with Council Member Betancourth and that he appreciated her comments. He noted that he was happy that she had brought up the event from last Friday because the Park staff did an incredible job; however, these are events are two very different things because that park was closed and staff restricted how many people could come into the park, which resulted in only a hundred people that were there, in the circles, which is manageable. Mr. Troller noted that with Bicentennial Park, the staff cannot restrict the number of people in attendance, it does become easier with the fireworks because they can be contained to a certain area. He noted that staff could advertise that people not come to Bicentennial because there are a lot of places where people can watch the fireworks from elsewhere, but again, people are going to congregate. Mr. Troller stated that they cannot send Police or Park staff to the park to enforce keeping people apart, particularly if the number of people is large; if the number is small and contained, it can be done, like it was done at last Friday's event. Council Member Presley asked if instead of an extensive firework show, anyone has considered City Council Special Meeting Minutes June 22, 2020 Page 6of10 splitting it up into two or three different locations in order to minimize the crowd size and spread the fireworks out, where folks could tailgate, and it would not be at just one location. Instead, he noted there would be maybe three or four mini firework shows, in various parks or venues; maybe this could be an option. Mr. Johnson noted that at this point it would be very difficult to split up the fireworks because the company, is firing shows all over the state, and there are limited shooters, so logistically, it would be hard to break things up now. Council Member Alvarado stated that she really agreed with all of the comments made by Council Member Betancourth, as she had the same feeling, but at the same time, people are all social by nature, so they are going to congregate together, and staff cannot control those who choose not to wear a mask. She noted that the best people can do is control themselves, and noted that Council certainly did not want to put other additional people at risk, or staff. Council Member Alvarado noted that she had received several calls with concerns about the city holding this event and preferred that it be cancelled; however, she wanted to hear everybody's comments and concerns. She noted that she, as well as many other people out there, I live with someone who is ill or had cancer. She noted that this is the reason why she has chosen not to go to some of these events and if there are other people in the same situation, people should think twice about where they go, and how they interact with others. Council Member Hoskins stated that he will be the first one to step out there and say that the 4th of July, is an event that is really cherished, but this virus cannot be controlled, and the Council has a doctor here that has advised us that we should keep from gathering and even though the Council cannot control the virus, we can control the risk of the people that do not care about other people by not protecting themselves or others. Therefore, in his opinion, the event, should be cancelled, but he would like to keep the fireworks if possible. However, this issue goes beyond just the park down there, there is probably a one -mile circle around the park where people gather to watch the fireworks that go up, three hundred feet, a thousand feet up in the air; there are people over on Decker Drive and Foodtown, and all these parking lots around here, that are watching this event, so the city just has to do its best to control the risk and exposure to people. Council Member Hoskins reiterated his desire of keeping the fireworks and wanted staff to just snake sure that the information to spread out a little bit is publicized. He also noted that staff would still need to be stationed at Bicentennial Park to control the area as the fireworks were setoff. Council Member Hoskins stated that there are going to be a lot of people that are not going to show up anyway, simply because of the risk, but there will also be a whole lot of people that are going to come here because other cities are canceling their events, so this really ought to be reviewed and considered. Council Member Himsel stated that he agreed with many of Council Member Hoskin's statements and was concerned that this event could spirals out of control, particularly when considering that other cities are not having their events and this significantly increases our numbers. What if, even with the fireworks event, the staff expected five thousand, and it gets twelve thousand instead. Council Member Himsel noted that by having this event, the Council is going to expose the police, fire and some parks staff, and even if the event is limited to the City Council Special Meeting Minutes June 22, 2020 Page 7 of 10 fireworks only, staff will need to be there to keep track of everything and will still be exposed to this virus. He further noted that he did not believe that they should just turn people loose in Bicentennial Park, and pray that there are no issues because there are going to be people walking, and doing, along with everything else that is going to have to go on, and that is scary. Mr. Johnson stated that staff discussed this a little and noted that if the city only had fireworks, there will still be people at the event because they are going to come, they are going to park at Lee College, they are going to sit in their lawn chairs like they always do, and there are a lot of people that come from all over the area for the fireworks alone. Mr. Johnson noted that there are tons of people all around that will just pull up and find a place to park and watch it, and the City will have to have staff to handle a perimeter around the fireworks, five hundred feet, or whatever it is that we cannot let anybody in; there will be traffic issues, which means there will have to be police officers and of course, fire will be there because there is a chance of fire. Council Member Himsel stated that the balance of exposing city employees, versus the upside of saying that we have done this, I just do not see the net gain. Council Member Presley stated that he would agree with that statement and thought that the downside certainly outweighs the upside, and it is a little late to go back to the fireworks company and maybe look at some other options. He noted that he didn't want to bring up North Main, but he talked about a process that could have been improved in discussing things before the horse was out of the barn. Similarly, he gives kudos that the Council and staff had the discussion on the water park, but it seems that considering what was known about large gatherings, this conversation should have happened a month or two ago. In response, Mr. Johnson noted that the staff booked the entertainment in January or February, so everything has been on the books for a long time before all of this came up and at this point not much is refundable because staff would have had to give notice of cancellation 30 days prior to the event. If that notice had been given timely, the City would have only lost the deposit. Council Member Presley stated that this was his point, it would have been nice to have this discussion prior to the non-refundable deadline and in his opinion, somebody needed to say that. Mayor Capetillo stated that he would like to comment on that stated and noted that there is no doubt, In hindsight, to make these types of decisions and as far as things unfolding, he is assuming that Council Member Presley is asking Administration, or whoever else, in the Parks Department to go and try to have so much foresight than where we are today. He noted that a month ago, we were reopening the Texas economy; it was a let's go mentality and so to go now, a month or however much later, to say "hey, why did we not have this discussion before" is not entirely fair. Mayor Capetillo stated that in hindsight, yes, it is easy to say that, but when Texas was reopening, we did not have this information and situation, thirty days out, so he did not want to go and talk about should have, would have, could have. Mayor Capetillo stated that what is needed at this point is to talk about where we are at today with the data, and what does the Council want to do; it is not usually Council's decision whether or not to hold the 4th of July or not, because we have never had this kind of issue, so these are unprecedented times. He noted that he has a few suggestions on what can be done and he City Council Special Meeting Minutes June 22, 2020 Page 8of10 certainly has been pretty open about his desire to not cancel the 4th of July because it is always such a big part of Baytown, and it has always been a regional event for Baytown and the surrounding areas. Mayor Capetillo noted that the Council is at a point where they have to decide and they have heard the medical opinion that any concentrations of large gatherings are certainly not recommended, strongly not recommended, so we have that. He suggested they continue with the fireworks display and they are already paid for and he did not think that having fireworks would bring an unmanageable concentration of people. Mayor Capetillo stated that they cannot help what people do; this is still a free country, and if we say there are going to be fireworks, then they are going to get in their cars, and they are going to go try to see them. He further noted that this is an opportunity to do something a little different, and as Council Member Betancourth mentioned, maybe it is an opportunity for this one year to do fireworks off of Bayland Island, or somewhere else for that matter; it could be at Bicentennial, it could be on Bayland Island. He noted that he would certainly support whatever the right location is, and as there is only have one vendor for pyrotechnics, they can go through a whole series of a very good fireworks show. The show could still do the simulcast of music, along with the fireworks and people can tune into, 1600 AM radio or whatever the case may be, but again, maybe it is just a casualty of where we are at, and where this virus has put us, in this particular case, this 4th of July. Mayor Capetillo noted that they could ask people to stay in their cars, but they cannot forbid people from not staying in their cars, which can't be done at any time, but he would prefer to have the fireworks, but at this point, he will go with what is the pleasure of council. Council Member Himsel stated that for him this is not about money anymore, and he didn't want to know how much it is and he did not care because he felt that the Council did not have the right to ask police, fire, and parks to go out into that unpredictable and dangerous environment. He further noted that the Bag of Donuts event from the other night was managed great and it was awesome, but the two events can be compared as there is no comparison from a hundred people to five thousand. Earlier today, he thought maybe they could pull this fireworks thing off, but now he didn't think it could be done because people are not going to do anything you want them to do out there, and if we put enough staff out there to get people to act like we want them to act, we have definitely done the wrong thing with parks, fire, and police. Mr. Troller stated that he wanted to answer the question related to the cost of the event; the entertainment is a hundred and fifty thousand of which a hundred and six would be lost because the forty-four thousand for Dennis D. Young, would be reimbursed as they cancelled on us; the fireworks are thirty thousand for a day's total at a hundred and eighty thousand, of which we would lose a hundred and thirty-six. Mr. Johnson stated that moving the fireworks to other locations may be a little more difficult. Bayland Island would be a really great spot to shoot fireworks, but there is a big bridge that goes over the area with a lot of freeways, which could create a traffic nightmare. In addition to having people stopping on the bridge, the road is torn all up and other safety concerns with people being City Council Special Meeting Minutes June 22, 2020 Page 9 of 10 distracted when driving to watch the fireworks. Mr. Johnson further noted that as it relates to the smaller bands, he thought he could work something out to have reschedule them to play at other smaller events, but they can't get anything back from the big headliner. However, as it relates to the pyro shows, there are a lot of things with the State and Fire Marshal's Office that have to take place before we can move the fireworks show, and he did not know if it is something that could be accomplished on such a short time frame. Mayor Capetillo stated that maybe the fireworks show could stay at Bicentennial Park and tell the attendees that they need to stay in their cards. The Council discussed this item and noted that it would be difficult to enforce the requirement that people stay in their vehicles to watch the fireworks show. The Council discussed moving the fireworks to Bayland Island and/or the Baytown Nature Center, and options to allow the public to view the show from a distance and or in their vehicles. The Council noted that there would be traffics issues with vehicles parked along the roads and ROW, as well as a limitation of attendees and ability to see the fireworks from vehicles and distances. Mr. Johnson noted that if it was the desire of the Council to move forward with the fireworks show at Bicentennial Park, the staff would make it work and put on a good show; however, he recommended the cancellation of food trucks and vendors, along with the concert. Council Member Himsel stated that lie wanted to know how many members of staff would be exposed holding the fireworks show. Mr. Johnson noted that he did not know of a way to keep people out of the park or how to limit the staff s exposure, but he noted that there are about thirty staff members working the event throughout the day. The Council discussed the possibility of fencing the park or areas of the park to limit access. Mr. Johnson noted that it would be a considerable amount of fencing and money needed to cover the entire park; even for the fencing of smaller areas, staff would still have to be placed in those areas to ensure that people don't climb over the fence. He noted that to secure the perimeter he would need less staff but he would still need trash cans and porta-potties to accommodate the needs of the staff. Mr. Johnson was directed to provide the Council with a plan for the City's 41h of July fireworks show at the next Council meeting. As the item was not on the Council's agenda, the City Clerk was directed to repost the City Council June 25'1' agenda to include an item related to the 41h of July fireworks show. Mayor Capetillo called for a vote in this item with a show of hands to approve the motion on the floor to cancel all the events of the 41h of July with the exception of the fireworks show, which will be discussed in more detail at the Council's Thursday meeting. The Mayor thanked all those present and moved to the next item. City Council Special Meeting Minutes June 22, 2020 Page 10 of 10 Council Member Presley made a motion to cancel all other events related to the 4`h of July with the exception of the fireworks show in City of Baytown. Council Member Hoskins seconded that motion. The vote was as follows: Ayes: Mayor Brandon Capetillo, Mayor Pro Tem Laura Alvarado, Council Member Chris Presley, Council Member David Himsel, Council Member Heather Betancourth, Council Member Robert C. Hoskins Nays: None Other: Council Member Charles Johnson (Absent) Approved b. Discuss and take appropriate action regarding the Mall to Marina Freedom Bike Ride scheduled for Saturday, July 4, 2020. When asked for the reason of the placement of this item on the agenda, Assistant City Manager Kevin Troller stated that it was just to allow the Council an opportunity to discuss all events taking place over the 4th of July weekend. Mayor Capetillo stated that this was his personal event and not that of the City, verified with legal counsel that the item did not require a vote and closed the item. C. Discuss and take appropriate actions concerning Pop -Up Park Series and other upcoming City events. This item was not taken. 2. ADJOURN With there being no further business to discuss, Mayor Capetillo adjourned the June 11, 2020, City Council Special Meeting at 6:18 P.M. Leticia Brysch, City Clerk City of Baytown