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2021 07 01 MDD MinutesMINUTES OF THE REGULAR MEETING OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF THE BAYTOWN MUNICIPAL DEVELOPMENT DISTRICT July 1, 2021 The Board of Directors of the Baytown Municipal Development District ("MDD") met in a Regular Meeting on Thursday, July 1, 2021, at 4:30 P.M., in the Council Chamber of the Baytown City Hall, 2401 Market Street, Baytown, Texas with the following in attendance: Brandon Capetillo President Chris Presley Vice -President Laura Alvarado Secretary Charles Johnson Director Heather Betancourth Director Jacob Powell Director Mike Lester Director David P. Jirrels Director Gary Englert Director Rick Davis General Manager Karen Horner General Counsel Angela Jackson Acting Assistant Secretary President Brandon Capetillo convened the July 1, 2021, MDD Board Regular Meeting with a quorum present at 4:31 P.M., all members were present with the exception of Director Mary Hernandez and Director Suhey Rios -Alvarez who were absent. 1. MINUTES a. Consider approving the minutes of the Municipal Development District Regular Meeting held on June 3, 2021. A motion was made by Secretary Laura Alvarado and seconded by Director Heather Betancourth to approve the meeting minutes of the Municipal Development District Regular Meeting held on June 3, 2021, as submitted. The vote was as follows: Ayes: President Brandon Capetillo, Vice -President Chris Presley, Secretary Laura Alvarado, Director Charles Johnson, Director Heather Betancourth, Director Jacob Powell, Director Mike Lester, Director David P. Jirrels and Director Gary Englert Nays: None Other: Director Mary Hernandez (Absent) and Director Suhey Rios -Alvarez (Absent) Approved MDD Board Regular Meeting Minutes July 1, 2021 Page 2 of 6 2. BAYTOWN MUNICIPAL DEVELOPMENT DISTRICT FY 2021-22 PROPOSED BUDGET a. Conduct a public hearing concerning the Baytown Municipal Development District's Fiscal Year 2021-22 Proposed Budget. At 4:33 P.M., President Capetillo opened the public hearing regarding the Baytown Municipal Development District's (the "District") Fiscal Year 2021-22 Proposed Budget. Director of Finance Victor Brownlees presented the item and stated that at their last meeting, General Manager Davis had presented the draft MDD Budget. Since then, he noted that staff made a technical adjustment within the Economic Development portion of the budget as $200,000 had been moved from Economic Development Staffing into the Hotel and Convention Center, which does not affect the bottom line amount as that remains the same. At 4:35 P.M., with no one desiring to speak on this item, President Capetillo closed the public hearing regarding the District's Fiscal Year 2021-22 Proposed Budget. b. Consider a resolution adopting the Baytown Municipal Development District Fiscal Year 2021-22 Budget. President Capetillo opened the floor for discussion in regards to the proposed budget. Director Presley noted that he had a few comments as it related to the MDD proposed budget. In regards to the additional position for Economic Development staffing, he agreed with the previous comments made by Director Lester and Secretary Alvarado about trying to leverage the Chamber of Commerce to provide a more productive role and assist the City with some of the challenges they face throughout the City, particularly in the older areas of town. It would be a cost savings for the City as they have supported the Chamber of Commerce in many ways, particularly through memberships, for the past decades. Also, Director Presley noted that General Manager Davis had alluded to they have had some previous conversations in regards to bringing Economic Development in-house and not utilizing an outside entity. However, six years later, the City still has the outside contractor engaged and they are still paying the same amount of money, a couple of hundred thousand dollars, even though they have talked about reducing the amount of work the outside contractor does by having them handle Industrial Development solely and the City hired an Economic Development Manager in-house. They are now looking into hiring an additional Economic Development staff member, however, his support for the first one was based on the ombudsman role that the position would play, which now the City is promoting that the new additional position would be an ombudsman. Nonetheless, as far as the ombudsman role goes, he can affirm that several Council Members as well as himself are contacted on a routine basis by different proprietors or entrepreneurs that run into issues when attempting to open a business. Director Presley further emphasized that there was some room for improvement with the Economic Development position currently, and believed they can better interface between Administration or Economic MDD Board Regular Meeting Minutes July 1, 2021 Page 3 of 6 Development and Permitting in order to be more efficient and proactive by reaching out and sending grant applications to property owners. Basically, Director Presley asked if they could look at maybe an alternative that would save taxpayer dollars, would not add another layer of bureaucracy and would not add additional administrative cost to the MDD budget. However, General Manager Davis noted that the additional position is not a part of this budget proposal, as they removed it based on what they heard at the last meeting and he agreed they needed to have further discussions. Staff is going to do some further envisioning and try to craft something for discussion with the Board later about the future of Economic Development. Director of Finance Brownlees clarified that originally there was $100,000 budgeted for the additional position and $100,000 for associated works at the Brunson, but the revised budget indicates that the $200,000 had been moved to the Hotel and Convention Ceriter budget line, which increased it from $1.4 million to $1.6 million. Director Betancourth requested clarification regarding the budget line item for the Development of New and Expansion of Existing Businesses and Industry and Assistant City Manager Nick Woolery noted that it was utilized for basically recruitment efforts for new business, which includes travel to various conferences such as ICSC. Director Betancourth further noted that as far as property acquisition goes, she asked that they look at the property around Pirates Bay since now that the water park is back in full swing, the parking is just inadequate and will only get worse. Assistant City Manager Woolery noted that they are looking into it and did plan to add some additional parking within the existing limits as a part of the Hotel Occupancy Tax Project. In regards to the Perfect Trail Implementation for Goose Creek Trail and Baytown Nature Center, Director Betancourth stated that she loved the Perfect Trail Program but thought they were going to try to pilot it at Jenkins Park first, before they implemented it in other areas and suggested that maybe next budget, they could look at putting it in other places. Assistant City Manager Woolery asked Director Betancourth if it would be her preference or suggestion to see the completion and culmination of the Jenkins Park trail project to then make a decision on going forward and Director Betancourth answered that is what a pilot meant to her. She suggested perhaps utilizing the amount budgeted for investment in some city -owned buildings on or around Texas Avenue, specifically, the Baytown Art League and maybe even the Historical Museum, which Vice - President Presley agreed and Mr. Woolery noted that staff would reach out to the businesses and look into possible repairs. After a brief discussion regarding how the City can be more proactive in helping prospective business owners, particularly in the older parts of town, Assistant City Manager Woolery noted that there were two venues for that, the first one being that they speak with the Economic Development Manager Bret Gardella and on the Planning side, they also have the opportunity to meet with the Development Review Committee, which does give people a chance to come in and understand what is needed before they actually submit anything officially to the City. Director Johnson inquired on the acquisition of land for additional public parks north of I-10 as well as the possibility of dog parks within the city limits and enhancing park security due to reoccurring issues. Assistant Director of Parks and Recreation Clifford Hatch noted that they are not opposed to finding a camera surveillance system that would work for all departments MDD Board Regular Meeting Minutes July 1, 2021 Page 4 of 6 involved but they have also been working with the Harris County HOT Team and the Homeless Outreach Team within the past year to try to get them help. They have also been working with a group that is trying to do a Homeless Resource Center here in Baytown that would give the Police the ability to take the homeless people from the park and provide options rather than just ticketing them. Director Johnson reiterated the issue with prospective small business owners reaching out to Council Members seeking information and assistance and requested that staff improve advertisement of where individuals can obtain that information and would like to receive contact information as to whom to refer these individuals. Director Powell inquired on the status of the Parks and Recreation Master Plan before approving the budget just to see how the projects tied in with their main goals that the Plan identifies, and Director of Parks and Recreation Scott Johnson indicated that the Parks and Recreation Advisory Board had approved the plan the previous day with a couple of modifications and will be adding a couple of items to the strategy list. He noted that it is close to completion and will be bringing it before them for a final review before they pass the resolution to approve it. Director Jirrels inquired on whether the $55,000 budget line item to replace some kayaks was for Bayland or at the property the City acquired on Highway 146 and Tompkins Road; Mr. Johnson noted that it was for the Baytown Nature Center since Hurricane Harvey ad taken it away. Director Jirrels commented that the property off Tompkins Road would also be a nice kayak park possibility on the Bayou. Director Lester requested clarification on the budgeted amount for the park development in Russell Park and Mr. Johnson noted that that the $300,000 was a rollover amount from the previous year and Public Works is working on the grading and drainage plan before they can start the vertical development. President Capetillo stated that as it relates to making any significant progress on the Russell Park development, they will be meeting with Commissioner Garcia in a couple of weeks to discuss a possible partnership with Harris County. Director Lester also noted that he agreed with several of the comments already made by the other Directors as it related to the park trail program, security issues, and that they needed to stay on target in regards to the Parks and Recreation Master Plan. Director Presley commented that he would like for them to consider allocating $5,000 to $10,000 to start the process with a third -party consultant as far as code flexibility for incoming businesses. He further noted that he would like for them to allocate money for placing artificial turf in Town Square, particularly around the stage area. A motion was made by Director Chris Presley and seconded by Secretary Laura Alvarado to suspend the item to consider a resolution adopting the Baytown MDD Fiscal Year 2021-2022 for up to sixty (60) days. The vote was as follows: Ayes: President Brandon Capetillo, Vice -President Chris Presley, Secretary Laura Alvarado, Director Charles Johnson, Director Heather Betancourth, Director MDD Board Regular Meeting Minutes July 1, 2021 Page 5 of 6 Jacob Powell, Director Mike Lester, Director David P. Jirrels and Director Gary Englert Nays: None Other: Director Mary Hernandez (Absent) and Director Suhey Rios -Alvarez (Absent) Approved 3. REPORTS a. Receive and discuss the Economic Development Foundation's Third Quarter Report. President., CEO B.J. Simon with the Baytown West Chambers County Economic Development Foundation presented the item and noted that he would provide an overview of the 2"d quarter and follow with the 3`d quarter report of the Economic Development Foundation. However, prior to that, he wanted to mention that the Foundation has had a long-standing relationship with the City and they hope to continue that partnership, which is embodied within and by a contract, but emphasized that hopefully MDD sees them as a partner as compared to a contractor. b. Receive and discuss an update concerning economic development activities. Economic Development Manager Bret Gardella presented the item and stated that this was the first time he has had an opportunity to present to the Board what he had been doing for the city for the past almost two years. Basically, there are a lot of things that are not known as to what he does, so hopefully, he can cover some of those issues for them. Mr. Gardella proceeded to thank Mr. B.J. Simon, as he believes they have worked very well collaboratively. Mr. Simon has turned over some of the internal issues that may take up a little bit more of their time than what they are trying to do to answer the RFPs on the industrial stuff, so Mr. Simon has done a very good job of turning over some of the retail contacts to him. Mr. Gardella noted that it had been a challenge for people to find and reach out to him since they currently do not have a webpage on the City's website specifically for Economic Development. However, they are working with Administration on creating the webpage with the help of a third - party consultant that specializes in creating Economic Development webpages. Especially now that the City has the Business Improvement Grant and the Revolving Loan Fund, they need to have that information available to be disseminated out to the public in a simple manner. He noted that a good part of the ombudsman role that he plays in Economic Development is working with the Engineering and Planning Departments to find out what the City can do to create those win - win solutions. Mr. Gardella proceeded to provide an overview of his role in the City, his outreach efforts to attract business for the City and to obtain various partnerships, and provided a list and the status of his current projects. MDD Board Regular Meeting Minutes July 1, 2021 Page 6 of 6 4. MANAGER'S REPORT a. The next Baytown Municipal Development District meeting is scheduled for Thursday, August 5, 2021, at 4:30 P.M., in the Council Chamber located at City Hall, 2401 Market Street, Baytown, Texas, 77520. General Manager Rick Davis provided a status update on the Hotel Services Agreement and stated that they may schedule a special meeting later in July to consider the Hotel Services Agreement and other elements to push the project forward. They are proposing to have a groundbreaking ceremony for the historic event possibly Friday, September 17"'. Mr. Davis further noted that Fidelis will be orchestrating several types of events in terms of taking control of the property at the mall around the first week in August, so they anticipate that Fidelis will be presenting their new plan schematics in August in order for the MDD to consider a new agreement with Fidelis. Mr. Davis reminded the Board that their next MDD regular meeting date was scheduled for Thursday, August 5, 2021. 5. ADJOURN With there being no further business to discuss, President Capetillo adjourned the July 1, 2021, MDD Board Regular Meeting at 6:07 P.M. Angela Jac n, Acting Assistant Sec r y City of Baytown