2020 06 11 WS MinutesMINUTES OF THE REGULAR WORK SESSION OF THE
CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF BAYTOWN
June l 1, 2020
The City Council of the City of Baytown, Texas met in a Regular Work Session on Thursday,
June 11, 20209 at 5:38 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
Robert Hoskins
Council Member
Charles Johnson
Council Member
Heather Betancourth
Council Member
Brandon Capetillo Mayor
Rick Davis City Manager
Karen Horner Interim City Attorney
Leticia Brysch City Clerk
Keith Dougherty Sergeant at Arms
Mayor Capetillo convened the June 11, 2020, City Council Regular Work Session with a quorum
present at 5:38 P.M., all members were present with the exception of Council Member Johnson
that arrived at 5:40 P.M. and Council Members Himsel and Presley who were absent.
1. DISCUSSIONS
a. Discuss the possibility of authorizing the use of golf carts on city streets.
City Manager Rick Davis presented the item and stated that this item relates to the possible
authorization of gold carts on city streets, this item is a result of his conversations with Council
Member Hoskins from a few weeks back. Mr. Davis noted that Interim City Attorney Karen
Horner, in preparation for this meeting, conducted some research on this item and the bottom
line is that most cities in Texas have regulation by which if a person has a golf course within a 2-
mile radius of a golf course, he/she can ride a golf cart around. He noted that Baytown does not
have a golf course, and therefore unless the council expressly permits the use of golf carts on
public streets, this use is prohibited. Mr. Davis further noted that in no case, even in those
communities where they have a golf course, is a driver allowed to exceed 35 miles per hour, and
because of this, golf carts are confined to residential roads. Mr. Davis stated that if the council
chooses to permit the use of golf carts on the city streets, there would be some associated DMV
requirements, signage and other miscellaneous items.
Mr. Davis clarified that the license plate requirements are required under state law and a person
can be cited for failure to have the required plates and/or for exceeding the speed limit.
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June 11, 2020
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Council Member Hoskins noted that he has received several requests for this ability, and he feels
that the use of golf carts in residential communities allow for more community engagement and
relationship building. He noted that he did not see the difference between a golf cart and the
four -wheelers that kids ride around the neighborhood and is a good alternative to driving regular
vehicles in the neighborhood. Council Member Hoskins noted that he has seen it in other
communities that on Friday and Saturday nights, the citizens get in these golf carts and they go
from driveway to driveway and visit, so this really is a community thing.
Mayor Capetillo asked if it was necessary to regulate golf carts if people were already using
them and the City is not ticketing them. Assistant City Attorney Trevor Fanning confirmed that
the City has not issued any tickets related to the use of golf carts. The Council discussed the
merits of creating regulation that would then have to be enforced versus keeping the status quo.
Council Member Hoskins noted that by creating the gold cart regulation, it left it up to the owner
of whether or not to comply with the requirements for license plates, licenses, registration,
stickers, etc. Mayor Capetillo noted that it is unnecessary to create regulation, if the citizens
were already using their golf carts, without all of the additional licensing and registration
requirements; he noted that this is kind of a non -issue.
The Council discussed where the golf carts can ride as there are some very busy roads that have a
35 mile per hour speed limit; such as Hunt Road, and those are not the kind of roads that golf
carts should be navigating. The Council discussed limiting the golf carts to residential streets
only and/or roads that have a 30 mile per hour speed limit or less.
Mayor Capetillo asked that staff put a draft ordinance together regarding the use of golf carts of
city streets and make it in line with state law and Council Member Hoskins' requests.
b. Discuss any or all of the agenda items on the City Council Regular Meeting Agenda
for June 11, 2020, which is attached below.
Public Works and Engineering Director Frank Simoneaux presented an overview of Item 8.n. on
the City Council consent agenda, and noted that this item allows the city to accept a competitive
sealed proposal for the proposed animal control facility that will be sent out for construction
soon.
Mr. Simoneaux noted that this item was presented to the A&E Committee back in November
about different alternative delivery methods and he wanted to give the Council an overview
because each time that staff want to pursue an alternate delivery method, it will need to come
back to the council for approval.
Mr. Simoneaux noted that he would start with the type of delivery methods that could be
considered, there are more than those being presented, but these are just the ones that Baytown is
considering. There is the traditional delivery method, which is design -bid -build, and that is the
one that the Council is most familiar with; here, the city hires the engineer or architect; they then
design the project; staff puts it out for bid; accepts it and awards it to the most responsible
bidder, so the evaluation is just on price as long as the bidder meets the minimum qualifications.
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June 11, 2020
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Mr. Simoneaux noted that the next alternate delivery method is the competitive sealed proposal
process, which is what the Council is considering tonight, as well as, the construction manager at
risk and the design built. He noted that the traditional method is designed, they build it and it is
the one used on projects because it is the simplest and it lends itself to projects that are simpler in
nature, not as complex. He noted that as long as the contractor meets minimum qualifications,
the city awards the project based on points, and then, it is constructed and so this is the typical
kind of contract relationship; the city contracts with the design engineer and then a separate
contract with the general contractor.
The first alternate delivery method, the competitive sealed proposal is one where the city would
prepare a request for proposal that includes the criteria being used to make the selection and the
way staff got this, so it is a similar contractual arrangement; there is a contract with a design
engineer or architect with a separate contract with the contractor. However, the selection is made
based on the criteria rather than simply on lowest points.
Mr. Simoneaux noted that staff will have to put up the criteria that is going to be used to evaluate
those proposals; the one put forward on the animal control facility will be 60% based on price
and 40% based on the qualifications of the contract. This allows staff to look at things like the
personnel they are going to have involved in the project, their qualifications, and look at the
price, of course, the schedule that they are proposing, and their prior history in delivering
projects especially ones of a similar nature, and specialized experience with the facility being
built. Mr. Simoneaux noted that this is why staff is proposing this type of delivery so the city
can get the best value and not just the contract with the lowest price. He noted that staff felt that
in the long-term when considering the change orders and work done, maybe if it is not done
right, it will give the best value for service. To close, he noted that the key difference with this
process is that the city has the ability to negotiate on the competitive sealed proposal or CSP as it
is called. This will allow the city to take the qualifications, the price proposal, the schedule
proposal, and negotiate with the selected firm based on the point's criteria. He noted that if the
negotiations do not go well with the selected firm, the city can then go down to the qualified
proposal.
Mr. Simoneaux noted that the next form of alternate delivery method is the construction manager
at risk, which is a similar contractual arrangement. The city will hire a design engineer or an
architect, but then instead of getting out the finances after they are done, we hire a construction
manager during the design process, so that that person can evaluate and get input into the design
process. And so, the contractor is basically somebody who knows the construction really well
and they will evaluate the design as it is taking place, and give advice on how constructible the
design is, so instead of ringing a bell after it is designed, or to try to figure that out issues during
the bidding process or the construction process, staff will have a construction manager who is
giving input in the design saying, "to make this more cost effective, let us do it this way."
Mr. Simoneaux noted that the city has not used these alternative methods in the past with the
exception of the hotel/convention center project which is a design -build. He noted that the
design -build process is a bit of a different contractual relationship, as the owner contracts with
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June 11, 2020
Page 4 of 5
company that serves to oversee the design and build; i.e. that firm will both design the project
and contract the project.
Mr. Simoneaux noted that as the vertical builds started to happen, the staff would be bringing
back alternative delivery methods for the Council's consideration.
Council Member Betancourth wanted to discuss the item on the City Council agenda related to
the Citizen Engagement Advisory Committee and noted that she had two things: (1) the first is
that she is good with making the committee an official city committee, but what she saw lacking
in the agenda item and in the attachments was who is on it, the charter, what are term limits, and
how many appointees does each district give. She noted that she saw that there are twenty-five
seats and only seventeen filled, so where do those other eight come from; what are the
requirements for staying active, so someone is on it today, but years from now no one has ever
heard from that person again, what is the process for removing a member. She noted that she is
lacking some of those details and noted that she felt it was important that receive that
information before moving forward further with that committee.
Interim City Attorney Karen Horner noted that the way the Council can tenninate terns is
specified in the resolution. She noted that city committees did not have by-laws but because this
was a Mayor's committee they created their own by-laws. Mrs. Horner noted that the Council
can decide the rules and duties for this committee, those just need to be included as a part of the
resolution creating said committee. As it relates to the membership for the CEAC, Mrs. Horner
also noted that the Mayor's committee by-laws showed that there were actually twenty-five
members; however, of those 25, they only have seventeen that have agreed to move forward for
appointment to the City's CEAC. Mrs. Horner also noted that the terns and how these
appointments are made are also at the discretion of the Council; however, because the current
members have already been working on this committee for the last year, the resolution keeps the
same members, but Council can change this if so desired.
Mrs. Horner clarified to the Council that there are no by-laws for the CEAC, the resolution being
presented for approval has its duties and membership; however, the resolution can be tweaked
based on direction from the Council.
The Council discussed the by-laws and charters of the CEAC. Mrs. Horner clarified that current
Mayor's CEAC has by-laws, but those are not a part of the formal CEAC for the City, those will
go away as soon the resolution is adopted.
Council Member Betancourth stated that she wanted to give a more specific example. She stated
that she knew that at the CEAC meeting held with them this week, it was suggested that in order
to be a part of the committee, as well as, to be a part of the constructive process that is this
committee's purposes, that members participate in something with the Police Department
whether that be a ride -along, the simulation training or something like that and I was told that it
did not go over well with the committee. Mayor Capetillo noted that some of the push back from
the members came because they believed he wanted them to participate in all three options, but if
that is what they heard, then it was his error.
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June 11, 2020
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Council Member Betancourth noted that this type of participation was important; particularly as
they are going to propose changes to the Police Department, they should have very thorough
knowledge of the Police Department. She noted that she did not want them to just have free for
all and is looking for structure and she is not seeing it.
Council Member Hoskins stated that he agreed with Council Member Betancourth's
recommendation because there should be a higher standard knowing that this committee will be
doing something that has never been done before in this city. He noted that if the members are
going to be bringing about change, they need to be knowledgeable of the organization that they
are focusing on. He noted that there are multiple forms of training; FAST training, the Citizen's
Police Academy, a tour of the Police Department, anything that will give the members an
understanding of what they will be reviewing.
The Council discussed the addition of training requirements for membership; Mrs. Horner stated
that whatever changes they wanted for the resolution, she would make those changes for their
approval at the regular meeting.
Council discussed attendance requirements, Mrs. Horner noted that there is already an attendance
requirement in the Code for all boards and commissions so it was not necessary to add any
additional provisions in this resolution.
In response to a questions from Council Member Betancourth regarding the list of proposed
appointments to the CEAC, City Clerk Brysch noted that there is a list of the sixteen current
members who have requested to move forward with appointment to the City's CEAC and noted
that, like Mrs. Horner stated earlier, the resolution allows you up to twenty-five member, which
can be appointed by the Council; however, she noted that the larger the committee, the more
difficult it will be to manage as it relates to quorum.
The Council discussed the composition of the committee to include number, terms,
demographics, residency, the district being represented and the terms.
The Council directed the staff to continue to compile the information on the proposed CEAC
appointments to include demographics, residency and council district.
2. ADJOURN
With there being no further business to discuss, Mayor Capetillo adjourned the June 11, 2020,
City Council Regular Work Session at 6:25 P.M.
Leticia Brysch, City Cle 0*4101o'a
City of Baytown