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;
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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.
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June 22, 2020
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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
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June 22, 2020
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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.
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June 22, 2020
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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
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June 22, 2020
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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
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June 22, 2020
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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
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June 22, 2020
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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
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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.
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June 22, 2020
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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