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2021 08 26 WS MinutesMINUTES OF THE REGULAR WORK SESSION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF BAYTOWN August 26, 2021 The City Council of the City of Baytown, Texas met in a Regular Work Session on Thursday, August 26, 2021, at 5:30 P.M., in the Council Chamber of the Baytown City Hall, 2401 Market Street, Baytown, Texas with the following in attendance: Laura Alvarado Mayor Pro Tem Chris Presley Council Member Charles Johnson Council Member Jacob Powell Council Member Mike Lester Council Member Brandon Capetillo Mayor Rick Davis City Manager Karen Horner City Attorney Angela Jackson Acting City Clerk Mayor Capetillo convened the August 26, 2021, City Council Regular Work Session with a quorum present at 5:33 P.M., all members were present with the exception of Council Member Heather Betancourth, who was absent. 1. DISCUSSIONS a. Discuss the 2021 Grito Fest activities to be held on October 1 and 2. Director of Parks and Recreation Scott Johnson presented the item and noted that this year they are planning a pre-fest event on Friday, October I", at Town Square, starting at 5:30 P.M. The entertainment lineup includes Mariachi Calmecac, CTS Band, which is a Selena cover band, followed by Ram Herrera and The Outlaw Band. The 14"' Annual Grito Fest will be on Saturday, October 2"d, at Bicentennial Park, starting at 4:30 P.M. The entertainment lineup for that day will begin with the Mariachi Los Gallitos, followed by the Mejikinzie Ballet Folklorico, then a local band, Estilo Afinado, and the Grito Committee is very excited that they will finally have Ramon Ayala y Sus Bravos del Norte as the main headliner entertainer. Mr. Johnson further noted that as with part of the Grito Fest tradition, they will hold the Grito Contest, and the salsa, accordion, and jalapeno-eating contests will be held on Saturday evening as well. Assistant Director of Parks and Recreation Clifford Hatch then presented an overview of the site plan for the pre -party or pre-fest on October 1'` as well as summarized all of the activities and entertainment. First of all, he informed Council it will include alcohol, and noted that in preparation for such an event, it will require fencing off the area around Town Square to ensure people cannot bring in or take alcohol out of the event, and it would also entail some road closures, similar to the Juneteenth event. City Council Work Session Minutes August 26, 2021 Page 2 of 3 Mayor Capetillo then opened the floor to the Council for comments and or questions. Council Member Presley commented that lie requested for this item to be put on the agenda since typically, Council is afforded the opportunity to discuss, deliberate and provide direction on new initiatives or new events, etc. A good example of that would be the Juneteenth celebration as they discussed the event about 3 to 4 times and they had several opportunities to at least share their opinions. However, he noted that the Grito Fest has always been a one -day event, but it appears that it has been decided to add a second day for the first time in the history of the event, which causes some concerns. One being that. they are closing parts of Texas Avenue for an entire business day, which has never been done before, as he recalls, in the past 16 years, and he represents all of the business owners in his District so it will affect some of them financially, such as the Opticians, Attorneys, Insurance Offices, and Office Workers. Secondly, Council Member Presley noted that they have never had an alcohol component at the Grito Fest, which is another new initiative that he felt was worthy of discussion by Council. Third, it is taxpayer dollars after all, and they have not talked about the financial aspect of this event, as of yet. Lastly, Council Member Presley further noted that it had came to his attention that the Grito Fest will have some overlap with one of the events that the ACE District is going to sponsor within a matter of thirty (30) days of this event, so perhaps they should have engaged them in the planning of the Grito Fest event. He believes that staff has done a great job in planning the event, and he is supportive of the Grito Fest event as will all cultural events everywhere in the City, especially those held in Town Square; however, he felt that there is room for improvement on the processes when it comes to new events and new initiatives and for Council to have the opportunity to share their input and to have all of their inputs valued. Council Member Alvarado expressed that she really applauded Council Member Johnson and his whole committee with the Juneteenth event and how they were able to incorporate the different education components in the multiple day festivities, and she felt that was something to think about doing for the Grito Fest. She was able to attend some of the initial meetings for the planning of the Grito Fest event, and apologized to her colleague, Council Member Presley, for inadvertently not considering of including him, as it was being held particulary in his District, and shared his concern. She noted that the ACE District is having a Latin Festival to be held about two and a half weeks after the Grito Fest, so maybe there could have been an opportunity of partnering with them. Overall, she commended the staff for doing such a great job in putting it together on such a short notice, but wanted to make sure the Grito Fest Committee had an opportunity to weigh in on what was happening and be a part of the planning process. Mayor Capetillo commented that he was present at one of the meeting in which, it was his understanding, that the Grito Fest Committee wanted to make sure that the pre-fest was a compliment, and was not going to compete with the second or main day festivities of the Grito Fest, and staff did a great job in incorporating their vision. He felt the origin of the pre-fest for the Grito Fest was after seeing the success of Juneteenth and how in the two-day event, one complimented each other. However, he noted that he does agree with the other Council Members in that they need to have an opportunity to be able to discuss the planning* or aspects of new events, and there was no disrespect intended, obviously, with this event. In regards to the road closures, he believes that an arrangement can be made to allow some kind of access to the office City Council Work Session Minutes August 26, 2021 Page 3 of 3 businesses out there until they close. Again, he commended the Parks and Recreation staff for all of their creative thinking in setting up the event. Assistant City Manager Kevin Troller noted that as he continues to work with Parks, he will be more cognizant of events that are in each of the Council's districts and engage them in that conversation, as they have requested, in order to get a consensus. b. Discuss the City of Baytown Fiscal Year 2021-22 Proposed Budget. Assistant City Manager Nick Woolery presented the item and noted that at their place at the dais staff had provided Council with a printed copy of the email that was sent to them earlier in the day, which consisted of a list of proposed technical adjustments for the City of Baytown Fiscal Year 2021-22 Budget, as well as information on the Community Engagement positions. Mr. Woolery noted that the only real substantial technical adjustment is the removal of the position from the City Manager's Office that removes a $103,560 from the General Fund, and the rest of the technical adjustments are more movement within line items related to building maintenance; however, there is no net change on the bottom line with those. Therefore, he asked Council that if they take action on the budget tonight, staff would propose that they pass it with the list of technical adjustments. C. Discuss any or all of the agenda items on the City Council Regular Meeting Agenda for August 26, 2021. There was no discussion for this item. 2. ADJOURN With there being no further business to discuss, Mayor Brandon Capetillo adjourned the August 26, 2021, City Council Regular Work Session at 6:04 P.M. Angela JUckson, City of Baytown