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2020 05 28 WS MinutesMINUTES OF THE REGULAR WORK SESSION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF BAYTOWN May 28, 2020 The City Council of the City of Baytown, Texas met in a Regular Work Session on Thursday, May 28, 2020, at 5:34 P.M., in the Council Chamber, 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 Chris Presley 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 May 28, 20207 City Council Regular Work Session with a quorum present at 5:34 P.M., all members were present with the exception of Council Member Johnson who arrived at 5:39 P.M. and Council Member Himsel who was absent. 1. DISCUSSIONS a. Discuss phased opening plans for both Pirates Bay and Calypso Cove. City Manager Rick Davis presented the item and stated that it seems that things are looking more and more normal out there and staff has come up with some solutions both short term and long term, with regard to when Pirates Bay opens to the public and the related fiscal implications. Mr. Davis noted that the not -so -great weather in the last couple of year, along with the fact that staff has strictly enforced the park's maximum occupancy and of course, and the earlier start to the school year has all impacted this season. Mr. Davis noted that these were some of these things were taken into consideration when putting options together. He noted that the governor has decided to allow water parks to open at twenty-five capacity, which has caused staff to pause and do some analysis with regard to what the Aquatics fund, which staff has been very upfront about the fact that there are concerns related to this fund in particular. Mr. Davis stated that there is a good reason to be worried about that especially since the entirety of the revenue for this fund comes from the City's ability to open that park which has been hindered to a great deal by the current circumstance. Staff members Jenna and others in the Finance Department have gotten together and are bringing you three possible scenarios with City Council Regular Work Session Minutes May 28, 2020 Page 2of10 regard to opening Pirate's Bay and Calypso Cove. He further noted that all three scenarios are costly and there is not an option that has any black lettering as they are all going to cost more to operate than the projected revenues. Nevertheless, Mr. Davis noted that there are many reasons why the Council will probably want to open Pirates Bay, one of those reasons probably will not be because it will make the City a lot of money, but it is more of a community thing. Superintendent of Aquatics Jenna Stevenson presented the Council with an overview of the water park features and changes, along with the some of the new procedures that will be going into place to deal with the COVID-19 disaster; such as social distancing and limitations on capacity. Ms. Stevenson noted that currently, the City has hired three hundred eighty-three staff members, which is unfortunately, is dropping regularly because they have found alternate work options because of the fact that the park is not open yet. She further noted that during a shift at Pirates Bay there is a hundred and eleven workers and during a shift at Calypso Cove, there are fifteen. The hundred and eleven at Pirates Bay will not change whether capacity is at four hundred people at twenty-five percent or whether it was at a hundred percent capacity at sixteen hundred people due to the layout of the park all of that staff is needed. However, ay Calypso Cove that number can drop by about four to five people if the park is opened at a lesser capacity than a hundred percent. Ms. Stevenson noted that staff is currently struggling with lifeguards and staff is currently working with eighty-seven lifeguards that are in the process of being hired or/being certified. She noted that the reason the lifeguards are not currently certified is because of the Red Cross' guidelines regarding social distancing, they could not complete the in water required training. However, she noted that the City currently has sixty-two lifeguards that are deep -water certified, twenty-two that are shallow and thirteen of that eighty-four are leadership positions that do not sit on the lifeguard stand. There are a hundred and seventy-one lifeguards total if everyone passes their tests, but normally, there would be about two hundred fifty; this just gives the Council an idea of how the parks have been impacted by COVID. Ms. Stevenson further noted that once at the park there will be some social distancing guidelines that will be in place are the concrete stickers on the ground just like the ones seen at the grocery store at any other store around town, there will be barricades off the entrance line and the smoking area to help keep those people socially distanced. She noted that there will also be extra signage as recommended by the CDC, social distancing messages playing on the park radio, team members will be wearing gloves and masks that are in direct contact with guests, all lounge chairs from the park have been removed and the tables in the park have been social distanced, so there are a limited number available for the public. Ms. Stevenson noted that there will be other items in place to protect the staff and public at the park and include the following: • Lifeguards will have a ten -foot box and all stands will have a sign that states "If you have any questions or concerns to please find a supervisor that is in a City Council Regular Work Session Minutes May 28, 2020 Page 3 of 10 blue polo", this is in hopes that those guests will not break that social distancing just to get a lifeguard's attention. • Sanitizing, extra hand sanitizer stations have been installed; the life jackets will now be a pickup station as opposed to just staying open rack like they used to be where anybody used to be able to grab them and then put them back at their leisure. Once returned, the life jackets will be disinfected before handing them out to someone else. Also all handrails will be sanitized roughly every twenty minutes as the lifeguards are rotating around the park. • Slide tubes and mat racers will also be sanitized after every guest and there are extra team members on the schedule just for sanitizing purposes; the restrooms, the tables, the tubes, the mat racers. • The park entrance procedure will change for this year. There will be online ticket sales only; no in person ticket sales and all team members that are in the lighthouse will be behind the glass. • All season pass holders will be entering the park through a separate own gate, scanning their own passes, and then receiving their wristbands for the park. • The entrances and the exits to the park were changed and people will now go up to the lighthouse, redeem their tickets, get their wristbands and then walk to the right of the park towards the back where they would then enter the park. • The exit to the park will be at the far left, this is a double gate that is normally used as a maintenance entrance, but will now serve as en exiting point. • Season pass holders are the only people that will be entering the park right in that lighthouse area and will have a special access gate and can enter the park ten minutes earlier than everyone else. • Concession stands and retail will have some changed and only the larger kitchen will be open, the front concession stand backs up straight to a picnic pavilion and there is not enough room to social distance your line, your people waiting for their food and the guests that are sitting in that pavilion either eating or relaxing. • The attractions, slides and things: i.e. slide tubes, FlowRider boards and Mat Racers will be sanitized after each guest and there will be no tubes in the river as they are difficult to control and sanitize. • Mat Racers slides will only use the outside lanes so that the people on those slides are socially distance, and slides will have staggered starts so the people do not end at the same time and exit the slides and become face to face with each other. Also, all lifeguards will have limited contact with their guests entering and exiting the slides. • All play structures will be closed, per the governor's order. Ms. Stevenson then presented the three park opening options which are: Option 1: Opening at a limited capacity of twenty-five percent, with the same hours of operation as those in the past. There is a flat rate ticket cost of twenty or twenty-five dollars, regardless of height and there is no re-entry. There would be a smoking section set up to the back of the park instead of people exiting the park City Council Regular Work Session Minutes May 28, 2020 Page 4 of 10 to smoke. There would be an updated bag or cooler policy that will not allow chairs or wagons to be brought in the park, a limit of one cooler per family. Option 2: Opening at limited capacity at twenty-five percent, with two time slots each day, each ticketed individually. The time slots would be from 10:00 A.M. to 2:00 P.M. and from 3:00 P.M. to 7:00 P.M., and between 2:00 PM, and 3:00 PM, the park would be cleared completely for cleaning and sanitation purposes. Ticket cost would be fifteen dollars, Monday through Thursday; twenty dollars, Friday through Sunday; and twenty-five dollars at a special Saturday night for forty-eight inch and over, that would run from 8:00 P.M. to midnight, every Saturday night. There is still no re-entry, and an updated bagging cooler policy allowing no chairs, wagons, one cooler per family, and your factory -sealed beverages, which is a rule that is already in place. Option 3: Is not to open the park at all for the 2020 season. Mr. Davis stated that there is a price tag associated with all three of the previously noted options and the staff s recommendation is option two. Staff believes that it is important to open the park as all three options are going to force staff to find funding to plug the aquatics fund hole this year, and then figure out what can be done for future years to help make this fund solvent. Mr. Davis noted that the budget has about four hundred thousand dollars in fund balance, and currently, the Aquatics fund will need general fund support for the remaining portion of the monies needed, and staff has not yet identified where those funds will be taken from, but staff is really looking for guidance on the options from Council. In response to a question from the Council, Ms. Stevenson noted that even if the park does not open, there will still be associated cost to keep the park running, as it relates to chemical use and pumps; however, if it is closed the related amounts will be less, as the park will operated as it does during the offseason. She further noted that 1.5 million of the 2.1 in Option 3 has already been spent for this year, and includes the park renovations, the offseason staffing cost, and other similar costs that have already been incurred. She noted that additional monies needed are estimates of what would be needed to spend on chemicals, electricity, and those types of things; along with full-time staffing cost. Ms. Stevenson further noted that the staff would continue to treat the water, but as if it were in the offseason, which has lower chemicals use, as staff only uses the necessary amount to keep the pools clear, and runs the pumps as is required to maintain the type of plaster that is on the pools. She noted that this particular type of plaster requires that there be water in the pools 24/7 and if the pools are drained they would result in additional costs to redo those pools later. In response to a question from Council, Ms. Stevenson noted that the parks use chemical at levels that are more than the CDC recommendations, so there is no need to change anything as a result of COVID. City Council Regular Work Session Minutes May 28, 2020 Page 5of10 Mr. Davis stated in response to a question from Council regarding whether the capacity numbers will change and/or increase as the summer progresses, stated that the staff hopes that as the summer progresses with an increase in capacity from the governor; however, staff is looking at these scenarios with the worst case in mind with the hope that it will go better than anticipated. However, Mr. Davis further noted that even if capacity returns to 100%, the fund will have a deficit no matter what. In fact, last year was not a good year for us. The finance committee will remember we went over that. The Council briefly discussed the item and had a consensus to move forward with the staff s recommendation of Option 2. b. Discuss strategies, techniques, and funding for the maintenance of existing streets and construction of new or expanded roadways. City Manager Rick Davis presented the item and stated that this the next item regarding strategy techniques, and funding for the maintenance of existing streets, and construction of new, or expanded roadways resulted from many good conversations with Council Member Presley. Mr. Davis noted that said conversations were very productive and he felt that a more comprehensive discussion with the Council regarding what the staff is doing in terms of pavement rehabilitation and street rehabilitation was in order. Assistant City Manager Nick Woolery stated that to set the stage in general, he wanted to show where the city has come from in the past five years on street maintenance is really significant and this is in large part due to a really talented team. In the Public Works and Engineering Department, there is Kevin Harvill, who is the Assistant Director of Public Works that oversees the City's street operations. The merging of Public Works and Engineering into one department has really helped the staff significantly as it allows for different and new innovative ways to get the best bang for the buck out of the City's street dollars. Staff has done that for a while, staff has really started to add some new techniques the past five years that have helped out a lot. In 2015, the City had a PCI study, which should be completed every five years; to keep in line with that, the City is currently in the process of having another PCI study completed this year. This combined with a new program that is being used called MicroPAVER has really helped the staff determine how to get that best bang for the buck. Mr. Woolery noted that when staff looks at the roadway maintenance the biggest question is when is the right time to do certain maintenance techniques on the streets in order to preserve the street as long as possible before having to fully reconstruct. Some of the big challenges staff has with streets in Baytown right now is the percentage of streets that are paved in concrete because there are limited techniques for maintenance. The City has deteriorating conditions on its arterial roadways with the big four being Garth, North Main, Baker, or Rollingbrook. These roads are deteriorating because they are aging, so obviously every year they will get a little bit worse, and trying to figure out how to handle this while considering the immense costs of reconstruction, is very challenging. The third thing that has come online the past couple of years since the last PCI study is the impact of Hurricane Harvey because of the water gets into the base of the street. Baytown had a City Council Regular Work Session Minutes May 28, 2020 Page b of 10 number of streets that with water sitting on them for days on end, and staff believes that this had a pretty big impact on the quality of the streets; particularly as there are certain streets that deteriorated moreover those five years than they would have without Harvey. Mr. Woolery stated that it is important to keep the timing of the pavement rehabilitation chart in mind because where a street is on the scale of the current condition of the pavement determines what maintenance technique makes the most sense. He noted that as he mentioned earlier, the whole idea is to make that maintenance line go out as far as possible until there is no other choice by to reconstruct. Mr. Woolery noted that from a big picture standpoint, there is roughly 330 miles of roadway in Baytown. Five years ago, this number was closer to fifty-fifty on concrete and asphalt and every new road built is going to be concrete, so those numbers have changed pretty significantly in the past few years. Mr. Woolery further noted that form 2015 to the present, the number of maintenance techniques being used the city has increased, which is really, really important because when all this information is plugged into the MicroPAVER, it will give options that will help get a better bang for the buck; the more techniques that are available to plug in, the better the options. Mr. Woolery noted that the concrete pavement restoration, which is the technical tern for the project that is taking place on North Main. He noted that the PCI scores on North Main five years ago were pretty much all in the very poor to the poor category, so was at the edge of almost being too far gone, so if another five years were added, it would get to the point where things get really, really, really costly. Mr. Woolery noted that at the end of the day, what it is all about is finding a way with concrete streets to preserve that life as long as possible. The TxDOT equivalent in California, named Cal - Trans, did a study of their work using the CPR technique and on average; it extended the life of their concrete roadways by seventeen years. Mr. Woolery noted that in looking at data like that and considering what other options are available on roads like North Main, it made staff stop to consider that this is a technique that really, really makes sense. He noted that staff has been looking at other alternatives for concrete streets for many years and actually studied this particular technique for probably two or three years, at least. Staff has talked to experts at the national level, as well as, other communities who have done similar projects; this technique is used heavily at the Department of Transportation level. He further noted that as with asphalt the technique of Mill & Overlay helps preserve the life of the road, this new techniques will do the same for concrete streets. Mr. Woolery noted that with North Main, the staff was looking at prevention and delay in order to keep water from getting down to the base of the street long-term. He noted that restoration and improvement is the actual improvement of the concrete itself. The five techniques included in concrete pavement restoration are: The first part is the full -depth repair made to the pavement; this is the work that is going on North Main right now, and is the most time -intensive portion of the project. It is the part where, City Council Regular Work Session Minutes May 28, 2020 Page 7 of 10 it looks weird if done by itself and by itself would not necessarily make sense. This is where full -depth repairs to any pavement that is really too far gone. The next step and really the next two steps are done at once, which is the (1) Dowel Bar Retrofit and Cross Stitching and (2) hen Diamond Grinding, this will make the street look much different once the diamond grinding is completed; it won't look like a bunch of patchwork. Examples of this type of technique are found in near San Jacinto Boulevard and in the Houston area near Katy. The fourth thing that will happen is as a result of North Main having a large number of manholes. Currently, there is asphalt near all those manholes, but it is not how it will stay long term and because staff does not know what the right level will be after the grinding is done, the contractor will complete the grinding and then will come back and make sure that the manholes are leveled with the new street section. The last thing that will be done will be to re -seal all the joints just to make sure that long -teen, water is being kept from getting down to the base of the roads. Mr. Woolery noted that all of those components will happen on North Main; full -depth repairs will take until September; at that time, staff will bid out the Dowel Bar Retrofit and Cross Stitching, and Diamond Grinding, which will most likely take through the rest of the calendar year. Mr. Woolery noted that this technique snakes sense for this road as there are extensive failures on the roadways and it is really the only technique can save concrete streets. Staff is looked at both Garth and North Main as the potential pilot project for this new technique, and went with North Main first because (1) the City is about to invest sixty-six million dollars in a public safety facility and (2) staff is working with H-GAC on for the project and funding of Garth. Mr. Woolery noted that the reason staff is piloting this type of technique for concrete streets is because this is the only way to extend the life of concrete streets and is a lot less expensive that a total reconstruction of a road, which can be very, very expensive. Currently, the City is not in a financial position to reconstruct Garth, Main, and Baker, so staff looked at other options to make our current funds do the most good for existing streets. He also noted that in the last budget session, staff discussed the use of the Diamond Grinding technique with the Council, and this was the first opportunity to use it. Mr. Woolery thanked the Council for their attention and welcomed any questions. Council Member Presley stated that he wanted to put it out there and noted that where he has been coming from since January because he thinks it is important for folks to understand that sometimes when you are on City council, you may have two or three phone calls, which is actually quite a few phone calls, and he has had well over a dozen phone call about North Main since the work started through yesterday or the day before. He noted that this is just one councilman's opinion, but, if the failure is so extensive and it was almost too far gone five years ago, his personal opinion is, if we would have been given an opportunity, he would have been in favor of reconstruction even if it was in phases over time. He noted that he realized funding is City Council Regular Work Session Minutes May 28, 2020 Page 8 of 10 always is an issue, but, the city did not have the sixty-six million dollars for the police station, fire department headquarters either and found a way to get it. He further stated that who is to say we could not have tried to wrap a new road construction into that economic development agreement, there are other options out there, and staff just can't say funding is not there. We did not have sixty-six million sitting around for the new police station. He looks at that sixty-six- million -dollar headquarters and in his opinion only, North Main deserved better; it deserved to align with that new public facility in a better fashion. Council Member Presley further stated that in the big picture and in his opinion, it was somewhat of a missed opportunity. That is the way he views it, but like lie said before that is just his opinion, one opinion and further noted that public works is his favorite city department and always has been. Council Member Presley noted that he thought the guys in public works will tell you that and he talks to them all the time. Council Member Presley further stated that the bottom line is, Nick keeps saying "we". We made the decision. What we looked at. Council Member Presley stated that there are seven elected officials that represent the citizens of Baytown, so when he hears the word "we", he equates that to the citizens and their duly elected representatives, and not just administration deciding how we are going to fix the next street when it approaches millions of dollars. He further noted that that is how he looks at it. Council Member Presley wondered if perhaps there is potentially room for improvement in this process. He asked if one councilman, would not have dug in and asked about it, would there have been a process in place to know that they were already half a million dollars over budget? He stated that that was another one of his concerns. He noted that he had not consulted with any national experts, but that he had poured a lot of concrete in his lifetime. Council Member Presley also stated that that he had finished out a lot of concrete in his lifetime and supervised a lot of concrete jobs in his lifetime, and noted that there are some other things that if you think about it and you get into the technical aspects and take a closer look at it, if we would have bid it out? He stated that it seems like potentially, there could have been less risk there and it would have limited the chance of having a half a million dollar overage, if it would have been bid it out and could have known what we are getting. Council Member Presley stated that he had one phone call and that reminded him that the street maintenance tax is actually voted on by the citizens. He noted that the optics could be a little better and perhaps council should have gathered a lot of feedback from the folks that use the road. Perhaps they should have had the opportunity to speak for them. He noted that he appreciates having a discussion now, but he just wishes they could have talked about these months ago. He further noted that if this is a pilot project and it seemed to him that this is a new technique, never been done before in Baytown, it seems to me that it may have been a better strategy to employ the new technique over two or three blocks instead of several miles of millions of dollars. City Council Regular Work Session Minutes May 28, 2020 Page 9of10 Council Member Presley then noted that perhaps he would have a heck of a lot better comfort level if he would have seen the demonstration project and he could have felt good getting behind it; this is another item that he felt could be perhaps improved upon. Council Member Presley also stated that he had some other calls just regarding the quality of the work, but honestly, from what he could see, he thinks Teamwork does good work, and did not see a problem there. Council Member Presley stated that his main point is that if the project would have been brought to the Council, it could have been six to one or maybe four to three, but it seemed to him that "we" is not just Administration and Public Works and the that the "we" are the citizens of Baytown who have paid taxes and that speak through their duly elected representatives. He noted that he did not want to belabor the point, that this was kind of where he was at, that this is really the gist of it and kind of where he is - big picture; there are a lot of other fine details on other techniques that could have saved a lot of money on Diamond Grinding. Council Member Presley then noted that he had someone send him the specs from the general contractor industry that says that "If we felt like it was not done right and it does not need the vertical deviation of the surface, why are we paying six hundred thousand dollars for the Diamond Grinding?" He further noted that he has had a lot of phone calls, perhaps because he has been in the construction business for a number of years, and folks reach out to him and lie has had more calls on North Main than he has ever had on any other issue in at least the last five or six years. But as he noted before, maybe staff can be more inclusive next time and he noted that he would have voted for reconstruction even if it was in phased in over time. Because he realizes funding is an issue, but funding is always an issue and sometimes it can be found in other ways. Council Member Presley noted that it was six -thirty, and stated that he had a lot more to say but was not going to, but he appreciated the opportunity to talk about it, and that means a lot to him. He noted that if he did not vote for the Diamond Grinding, folks are going to point the finger at him for the bumpy road, so now, he is somewhat forced to vote for something that he would not have voted for in the very beginning. He stated that there just seems like the process can be smoothed out, and he will always appreciate every single time staff tries to save taxpayer money. He stated that he knows the intentions were there, that is not in debate; it is just trying to improve the process, bringing things to council, and hopefully, maybe the citizens would feel like they are heard a little more. It is as easy as that. Mayor Capetillo stated that he appreciate Councilman Presley's obviously concern on North Main and he thought, like anybody who drives on North Main can agree that phase one of what looks like five steps of a process, but is at least three major phases, everyone would all agree that the finished product is not there yet. He further noted that obviously, what is being used right now is the expected outcome, and he will reserve judgment. He noted that he certainly hoped that this technique, the Diamond Grinder, that we know works because we have seen it, as many of us have ridden on 290 or I 10 West and the Katy Freeway. Mayor Capetillo noted that the Council asked the staff to be innovative and to be good stewards with street maintenance tax dollars and felt that they have done exactly that. He noted that he believes that staff tries to go and address as many roads as possible and it is going to take a fifteen -year, almost twenty-year, to fix or rehab all roads to concrete. City Council Regular Work Session Minutes May 28, 2020 Page 10 of 10 Mayor Capetillo noted that he has asked staff about having a comprehensive matrix that includes street, sidewalks, parks, etc. and notes what we have and what are we going to do with, so Council can know what is happening in their district, and the methods that they are going to use to address it. He noted that he is aware that staff is working on his request, and noted that his point being is, it is not something that council would vote on; it is not something Council would have a public hearing on and say, "How are we going to fix the street?" He noted that the idea is to collect the street sales tax sales tax, and then use those funds to "pay as you go" to address as many streets as possible with the professional engineers in the Public Works and Engineering Department, the best way possible and get the best bang for our buck. Council Member Presley stated that he agreed and when this process is finished, he hoped he could fully endorse it and hopefully, he can. However, his point is, and voted may have been a strong word, that he believes that since it is an entirely new technique and it is not exactly cheap, millions of dollar in fact, it should have been at least discussed. Council Member Presley again noted that voted was probably not the best choice of words, but in lieu of the word voted, discussed and possibly debated and deliberated. He asked if the city just spent $2.1 million already, and the southbound lanes still have to be completed; does the staff anticipate spending another $2.1 million on that for a total spending of over $4 million for this project? Mr. Woolery responded to Council Member Presley's question by noting that the estimated costs for the project is $2.1 million for both northbound and southbound lanes Mr. Davis noted that the staff is working on getting a full comprehensive CIP plan together to help with Council be able to see what the capital plans for city infrastructure is looking out into the future 5, 10, 15 years. He thanked the Council for their feedback and noted that the staff will work to provide the citizens with a clear overview of what is being done on North Main, the timelines, etc. C. Discuss any or all of the agenda items on the City Council Regular Meeting Agenda for May 28, 2020, which is attached below. There were no comments or discussion on this item. 2. ADJOURN With there being no further business to discuss, Mayor Capetillo adjourned the May 28, 2020, City Council Regular Work Session at 6:33 P.M. Leticia Brysch, City Clerk City of Baytown