HomeMy WebLinkAbout2018-09-06 Special Meeting of the La Porte City Council (Amended) LOUIS RIGBY OF A BILL BENTLEY
Mayor �O Councilmember District 3
JOHN ZEMANEK I. 9 KRISTIN MARTIN
Councilmember At Large A v
DOTTIE KAMINSKIoN. m Councilmember District 4
Councilmember At Large B JAY MARTIN
g L Councilmember District 5
DANNY EARP / NANCY OJEDA
Councilmember District 1 *e x► Councilmember District 6
CHUCK ENGELKEN Mayor Pro-Tern
Councilmember District 2
MINUTES OF THE SPECIAL MEETING OF THE
CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF LA PORTE
SEPTEMBER 6, 2018
The City Council of the City of La Porte met in a special meeting on Monday September 6, 2018, at the
City Hall Council Chambers, 604 West Fairmont Parkway, La Porte, Texas, at 6:00 p.m. to consider the
following items of business:
1. CALL TO ORDER — Mayor Rigby called the meeting to order at 6:00 p.m. Members of Council
present: Councilmembers Ojeda, Zemanek, J. Martin, Bentley, Kaminski, Engelken, and Earp.
Absent: Councilmember K. Martin. Also present were City Secretary Patrice Fogarty and City
Manager Corby Alexander
2. INVOCATION —The invocation was given by Councilmember Jay Martin.
3. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE —The Pledge of Allegiance was led by Councilmember Danny Earp.
4. PUBLIC COMMENTS (Limited to five minutes per person.)
No members of the public presented for public comments.
5. DISCUSSION AND POSSIBLE ACTION
(a) Discussion and possible action to provide direction to the City Manager regarding the City of
La Porte Fiscal Year 2018-2019 tax rate and Fiscal Year 2018-2019 budget - C. Alexander
City Manager Corby Alexander stated that at the last budget discussion, there were a number of
items he wanted to follow-up on with Council for direction. He proposed going through each item to
get direction from Council.
Mr. Alexander stated the first item is regarding raising the tax rate by $.05. There was a concern by
staff regarding whether going up five cents would put us above rollback. After doing the
calculations, he reported that five cents does not put the City above rollback; so, it is an option that
Council could consider without having a rollback election. He stated if that's an option Council
would like to pursue, there are public hearings that must happen; so, staff needs direction on this
tonight so that publication of the hearings can be made according to law. Councilmember Bentley
asked about the proposed schedule. Mr. Alexander stated the proposed schedule would be
publication of the public hearings in the 13th edition of the Bay Area Observer, stating there will be a
special meeting on the 20th for the first public hearing and the second public hearing at the regular
meeting on 24tt'. The tax rate adoption cannot be sooner than a week after the second public
hearing; so, the tax rate could be adopted at a meeting October 1 thru October 8. October 8 is the
first regular Council meeting in October.
Councilmember Zemanek spoke and informed Council that it is his idea to increase the tax rate in
order to earmark projects for a new fitness center; revamping the Fitness Center for the seniors
once there is a new building; a stipend for city employees paid in November 2018; turfing the Pecan
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Park baseball fields; drainage improvements; and increase funding for summer youth programs. He
stated regarding priority of the items, he wants the stipend for employees this year, do the fitness
center, the programs for the youth during the summer, the revamping of the current center for the
seniors, and the turfing of the baseball fields will have to come after the other projects are
completed and paid for. The increase of the tax rate would be earmarking these specific projects.
Councilmember Zemanek passed out photos of the Fitness Center showing damages which, in his
opinion, prove the need for renovation to it and building of a new Recreation and Fitness Center.
He stated the current building is past its usefulness.
Mayor Rigby asked how old is the building? Councilmember Zemanek said over 50 years old.
Mayor Rigby disagreed and stated it isn't that old. There were comments from the audience that
the building was built around 1987-1988.
Councilmember J. Martin commented he is not opposed to a new fitness center, but it is hard for
him to vote to raise taxes. He asked about other financing options besides raising taxes. City
Manager Alexander stated staff has not explored in depth other financing options. He stated it is
probably permissible to use Hotel Motel funds to turf the ballfields because that is a permitted use.
Councilmember J. Martin stated if we already authorized a 10,000-square-foot expansion of the
Fitness Center in this year's budget, there is no reason to spend this money if we plan to build a
new fitness center. He would like to explore the idea of having a bond election and let the citizens
vote it up or down.
Councilmember Zemanek stated that it took 11 years from the bond election to opening day of the
baseball complex. He stated he doesn't want to wait 11 years; and stated the Fitness Center
cannot stand waiting another 11 years.
Mayor Rigby asked why is the maintenance of this building not being kept up? Mr. Alexander said
he and staff will be discussing this.
Councilmember Ojeda commented she is not opposed to a new fitness center but agrees with
Councilmember J. Martin that citizens should have an input on a tax rate increase.
Councilmember Earp commented he is opposed to raising taxes. He stated that going through the
budget, he believes we will find others ways to fund a new fitness center.
Mayor Rigby stated that if it is the decision of the council to build one and figure out how to pay for it
later, we still need to maintain all facilities.
Councilmember Engelken commented he does not want to see taxes increased and more can be
done if we get out of status quo and try to change status quo. He said maintenance for City
facilities is pathetic and he holds City administration accountable for all City facilities and that staff
should do a better job on maintenance.
City Manager Corby Alexander continued with potential budget decreases.
Council agreed to cut Automated Server Monitoring by $35,000 and Consulting Fees by $5,000.
Mr. Alexander recommended not to eliminate the Director of Planning position budgeted at
$137,000. Councilmember Zemanek asked if the Director of Planning will have an engineering
background. Mr. Alexander responded there are quite a few attractive resumes coming in but none
have an engineering background. Council agreed to keep the position and an engineering
background is not required.
Council agreed to cut the Liability Insurance Fund by $30,000.
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Council agreed to cut the Legal/Prosecutor proposed budget of $285,000 by $101,000, leaving
$184,000 in funds to pay for the City Attorney and also to hire a prosecutor as a full-time employee,
but not to also hire a paralegal.
Council agreed they do want to hire a full time prosecutor. How it will be structured will be
discussed in the future, stating City staff may want to consult with the Olson & Olson Law Firm
about the City's Charter provisions.
City Manager Corby Alexander passed out a revision of what was in the packet regarding fees for
the golf course. He stated he felt tasked with reducing the deficit in terms of the difference between
what the golf course brings in in revenue vs. what it costs to operate the golf course. And to
attempt to do that he recommended two things: one, to adjust the fees; and two, the City will
aggressively market the golf course. He went on to say the City will do that no matter what.
As it relates to fees on the handout Mr. Alexander passed out at the meeting. if Council makes all
the changes shown, revenue would increase $86,000 if our number of rounds holds the same. He
asked for direction from Council as to whether they wish to make the fee adjustments all at once or
phase them in.
Mayor Rigby asked if there is anyone who wants to reduce the current golf course subsidy from the
general fund.
Councilmember Engelken stated he agrees to reduce the deficit.
Councilmember J. Martin commented he does not support this reduction in subsidy and, indeed,
believes City spending needs to increase. He stated the golf course generates twice as much
revenue as the rest of the Parks Department, including the fitness center and the Wave Pool. He
stated they are talking about spending millions for parks amenities and cutting back on spending for
the golf course. He stated if the City is going to talk about spending on amenities, the City needs to
step up for the golf course and applaud the hard work that goes on out there and raise it to the next
level. "If we were going to raise taxes, I would add that golf course improvements need to be
added."
Councilmember Zemanek provided comments about the number of rounds and fees. Alex Osmond
stated he and staff discussed it, and they would like to increase cart fees immediately and next year
increase the charge for membership green fees since those were just increased last year.
Councilmember Earp stated his original thought was a reduction of $200,000 of subsidy for the golf
course from the general fund, but he came away with recommending a $70,000 reduction in
subsidy so that it keeps everyone whole and moving forward.
Councilmember Ojeda made a motion to approve new rates for golf carts and green fees for residents and
non-residents and leave memberships at the status quo. Councilmember J. Martin seconded. MOTION
FAILED.
Ayes: Mayor Rigby, Councilmembers J. Martin and Ojeda
Nays: Councilmembers Kaminski, Zemanek, Bentley, Engelken and
Earp
Absent: Councilmember K. Martin
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Councilmember Zemanek made a motion to approve the rate fee structure as presented tonight by the City
Manager which is the $2.00 cart fee; $2.00 non-resident; $1.00 resident; and the membership increases.
Councilmember Earp seconded. MOTION PASSED.
Ayes: Councilmembers Earp, Engelken, Bentley, Zemanek and
Kaminski
Nays: Mayor Rigby, Councilmembers J. Martin and Ojeda
Absent: Councilmember K. Martin
City Manager Corby Alexander stated that is $86,000.
Regarding merit pay for non-civil service employees, City Manager Corby Alexander recommended
not reducing the $486,000 proposed funding by $186,000. Mr. Alexander pointed out that while
budget is always in Council's purview, he has outlined some reasons he would like Council to
consider not reducing this item. One is because reduced merit increases would be given to
non-civil service employees, and civil service employees would not be given reduced increases,
which could impact morale. He also stated that in the past, the City's merit increases have been
good recruitment and retention tools, and any change in that would have a negative impact on
those two fronts.
Mr. Alexander stated that if Council does choose to move forward with a stipend, every non-civil
service employee could be given $1,000; and that would cost $300,000. If non-civil service
employees received $1,500, that would cost $450,000.
Councilmembers Zemanek and Earp stated they are in favor of a $1,000 stipend for non-civil
service city employees. Councilmember Earp said if Council was willing to do the $186,000
reduction, we could still give employees a $1,000 stipend, which would be for this budget year only.
Council discussed merit increases and the past market study. Councilmember J. Martin provided
comments regarding the recent market study. He stated, "If we don't give increases, we will be
getting back in the same boat we just tried to get out of." He also commented he would like to
continue with merit increases.
Councilmember Zemanek made a motion to give all non-civil service employees a $1,000 stipend payable
in their November paycheck in lieu of merit increases. Councilmember Earp seconded. MOTION FAILED.
Ayes: Councilmembers Earp, Zemanek and Kaminski
Nays: Mayor Rigby, Councilmembers Ojeda, J. Martin, Engelken and
Bentley
Absent: Councilmember K. Martin
Councilmember Engelken made a point to reiterate what merit stands for, which is performance, not
under-performance; and what he saw in those maintenance pictures of the fitness center was of
under-performance, and he expects management to hold their department heads accountable for
that.
Councilmember Bentley commented his nay vote was not that he does not want to compensate
employees but because a one-time stipend does not go as far as a merit increase on a paycheck;
he would like the City to do better than mid-range on the pay scale.
Councilmember Earp made a motion to reduce the merit fund by $186,000 and stick to the merit-based
system, but allocate $300,000 for merit raises instead of $486,000. Councilmember Ojeda seconded.
MOTION PASSED.
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Councilmember J. Martin asked are merit raises separate from cost of living raises. Mayor Rigby
said yes. City Manager Alexander reiterated there is no cost of living adjustment included in the
proposed budget.
Mayor Rigby restated the motion, which is to keep merit increases for a total of $300,000.
Councilmember Bentley stated he looked at the figures, and $486,000 is pretty reasonable and gets
us in the right direction to get wages up where they can be more competitive.
Councilmember J. Martin asked for the motion, again. Mayor Rigby restated the motion is to keep
the merit increases in the budget for a total of$300,000.
City Manager Alexander asked for clarification, and Councilmember Zemanek said, "You've only
got a $300,000 fund for merit." City Manager Alexander restated he'd was just looking to clarify that
Council is not mandating any changes in zero to five, but.... Councilmember Zemanek stated
you've got to split $300. Councilmember Ojeda stated instead of $486.
Mayor Rigby asked for the vote. MOTION PASSED.
Ayes: Councilmembers Ojeda, Kaminski, Zemanek, Engelken, and
Earp
Nays: Mayor Rigby, Bentley and J. Martin
Absent: Councilmember K. Martin
Councilmember Zemanek made a comment in response to Councilmember Engelken's earlier
comment, stating he does not think it is fair to blame department heads for conditions of their
buildings if we only give them X number of dollars for building maintenance; that they can't blame
"someone" but blame the process. He said he doesn't know what the building maintenance budget
is for the Rec Center but they're probably spending every dime they've got and it is still not enough.
Councilmember Engelken stated that every employee in the City has an obligation to bring up to
their supervisor, and their supervisor should bring it up to their manager when they see problems.
The Rec Center is not the only building he has seen that is in disarray. The culture needs to
change to become more proactive to the betterment of the City as a whole.
Regarding pharmacy changes, City Manager Corby Alexander recommended going with a
formulary change and cutting $250,000; and Council agreed to the cut.
Regarding stop loss coverage, Council agreed to leave the $480,000 in the budget, wait for the bids
for coverage of premiums, and also check to be sure it is legal to discontinue Stop Loss coverage.
Council recessed for a break at 7:36 p.m. and returned at 7:47 p.m. Councilmember Kaminski returned to
the table at 7:48 p.m.
City Manager Corby Alexander recommended to remove the Drainage Interconnect project for
$250,000 due to the developer taking on the expense of the project. Council agreed to remove the
project.
City Manager Corby Alexander recommended removing a portion of the funding of the Spencer
Masonry Fence project for the south side in an amount of $380,400.
Councilmember Ojeda informed she is not in favor of removing the project because the south side
looks the worst.
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Councilmember Earp made a motion to remove $380,400 from the project budget and proceed with the
north side fence and sidewalk, and reserve the south side for a later date. Councilmember Engelken
seconded. MOTION PASSED.
Ayes: Mayor Rigby, Councilmembers Earp, Kaminski, Zemanek, J.
J. Martin, Earp and Engelken
Nays: Councilmember Ojeda
Absent: Councilmember K. Martin
City Manager Corby Alexander recommended not reducing Motor Pool Lease Fees of $236,000,
and Council agreed.
City Manager Alexander recommended no Public Works Reduction of Force of $974,000.
Councilmember Earp withdrew his request, and Council agreed to no Public Works Reduction of
Force.
City Manager Alexander recommended to not reduce Fleet Maintenance by $159,000.
Councilmember Earp withdrew his request, and Council agreed to leave it in there.
City Manager Alexander recommended to reduce contingency by $100,000 to $250,000 instead of
$350,000. Council agreed.
City Manager Alexander advised a new position request of $102,000 was miscoded on the large
spreadsheet of the budget, and there is not a request for a new position. He clarified this is not a
savings because the money is still in the budget, but this item was simply miscoded on the large
spreadsheet provided to Council.
Regarding the next item, City Manager Corby Alexander brought up the position of tax
assessor/collector. There is $100,000 in the budget to fund this position. He stated it is his
understanding that Council still wants this position, and staff will continue efforts to bring this
position back in-house.
Councilmember Zemanek asked if staff is pleased with the work performed by Goose Creek
Consolidated School District. Mr. Alexander responded yes. Councilmember Ojeda stated it would
reduce La Porte citizens' confusion if the bill did not say Goose Creek because our citizens think
they're paying Goose Creek taxes. City Manager Alexander stated they will work on that. Mayor
Rigby asked Council whether there is an objection to removing this position from the budget. There
was no Council objection to removing the position from the budget.
City Manager Corby Alexander informed Council that there has been an increase of $600,000 over
the past three years for Electric Franchise Fees. No further franchise fee increases are anticipated.
City Manager Corby Alexander recommended eliminating funding of $430,000.00 for Phase 1 of a
Private Fiber Network. Staff will come back to Council next April regarding this issue. Council
agreed with the $430,000 reduction
(b) Discussion and possible action to propose a Fiscal Year 2018-2019 tax rate for the City of
La Porte and establish public hearing dates (if applicable) as required by State law - J.
Weeks
Assistant City Manager Jason Weeks presented a summary. He stated that this item is being
discussed because if Council decides to consider a rate other than the $.71 which the proposed
budget was based on, if it goes higher than the effective tax rate, then the Mayor will need to
announce the public hearings and the date to adopt, which is in the agenda item background.
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Mayor Rigby stated the tax rate as proposed by staff at $.71 per hundred. City Manager Alexander
replied yes, sir. Mayor Rigby stated that he knows at least two councilmembers have differing
opinions, and asked for discussion.
Councilmember Earp commented after reviewing the proposed budget with staff, he is not asking
for a reduction in the tax rate.
Councilmember J. Martin made a motion to keep the tax rate at $0.71 per $100 of property valuation, and
incorporate the budget changes discussed tonight. Councilmember Bentley seconded.
Mayor Rigby reminded Council that the budget is not being approved tonight; that will be on
September 10th agenda with a public hearing. There must be a public hearing before Council can
pass the budget.
Councilmember Zemanek commented he has some rough numbers from what Council did tonight;
we saved $1.95 million out of the budget and asked is this Council willing to earmark some of this
savings to moving forward with the project of the new fitness center?
Councilmember Earp commented he is in favor of it and was originally going to propose to allocate
about $2 million to start the funding, but to keep the budget fairly flat and not impact it from where
we're at as far as the total dollars we were at, we would have to reduce it to start with to about $1.5
million, which would get us to where we are kind of budget neutral from what we cut vs. to be able
to start our fund towards our rec center, if that's something everybody wants to entertain.
Councilmember Ojeda commented, "Personally I am hesitant to earmark money for something that
we have no idea what it's going to cost."
Mayor Rigby stated the first thing Council needs to do is determine if it is something this Council
wants to do — repair, upgrade, add on to the current one, or build a new one at another location.
Councilmember J. Martin asked what kind of account would we set up if we were to earmark funds?
City Manager Alexander stated we would have to set up a project, which is how we carry money
over year to year, like we would for any other CIP project; and we would allocate the dollars as you
see fit to do that project, knowing full well you couldn't pull the trigger on construction until your
funding allocation met your construction cost.
Councilmember J. Martin ask if Council did that, would the $1 million allocated out of the EDC be
taken out and put it into this fund? If we are not going to do an expansion, and we are going to look
at moving forward with new construction, would the EDC money be available for this fund? City
Manager Alexander stated that while he's not looked at that question from a legal standpoint, he
believes the answer would be yes, because he does not think there is a legal difference between
expanding a fitness center and building a new one.
Councilmember Earp asked if Council approves the budget without earmarking money for certain
things, is Council free to come back two months from now if staff does due diligence and the
Council has time to look at something and figure it out, are we free to come back at that time and
move that money, because right now it would be just going into excess funds now, right? City
Manager Alexander stated that what would necessarily need to happen...so, you're saying get the
benefits of these cuts and allocate them for something else? Is that what I'm hearing?
Councilmember Earp stated get the benefits of the cuts and possibly earmark those for the projects
that were put forth.
Mayor Rigby stated what I heard you say is put the money that we reduce the budget by tonight into
a reserve fund and then two months, three months, whatever, from now, we come back and say we
want to allocate X amount to this project. City Manager Alexander said he just wants to make sure
we include whatever, if it's $1 million or $1.5 million, that allocation needs to be included in the
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September 6, 2018 Council Meeting Minutes
budget that's adopted, and what we would have to do, what I would suggest we do, is go ahead
and decrease the budget those line items as we've discussed tonight, total that up and have a
separate line item that's special projects non-departmental, that Council... Mayor Rigby asked,
"Adopt on Monday?" City Manager Alexander stated, "You could."
Assistant City Manager Jason Weeks informed Council they can come back later and consider an
item to take from an unassigned fund balance so that you just move it into reserved. So the cash is
already going into an unassigned fund balance so all you'd be doing is reserving it, just moving it
from the one line item to another; and once it goes in there, the only way it can be moved out is if
you release it. City Manager Alexander stated either scenario gets you to where you want to be.
Councilmember Zemanek stated he still wants to ask his question, does this Council have a
problem with earmarking funds for a new rec center. Several Councilmembers stated they didn't
have a problem with it.
Mayor Rigby said, "So, the motion we have by Mr. Martin seconded by Mr. Bentley is to establish,
not adopt, establish a 71-cent-per-$100 valuation." He went on to say, "But that says nothing about
earmarking funds or..." Councilmember J. Martin asked, "Shall I amend my motion?" Mayor Rigby
stated, "You can."
Councilmember J. Martin stated, "I move that we adopt a $.71 per $100 valuation tax rate and earmark any
savings that we may have..." Mayor Rigby interjected, "Establish, not adopt." Councilmember J. Martin
continued, "...establish...tonight be earmarked towards a fund to look at building a new fitness center and
other amenities." Mayor Rigby asked Councilmember Bentley if he was still okay with the second on that,
and he agreed. Mayor Rigby asked if everyone understands the motion; hearing no response, he then
asked for the vote. MOTION PASSED.
Ayes: Mayor Rigby, Councilmembers Earp, Ojeda, Kaminski,
Zemanek, J. Martin, Bentley and Engelken
Nays: None
Absent: Councilmember K. Martin
6. ADMINISTRATIVE REPORTS
There were no additional comments.
7. COUNCIL COMMENTS regarding matters appearing on the agenda; recognition of community
members, city employees, and upcoming events; inquiry of staff regarding specific factual
information or existing policies. Councilmembers Earp, Ojeda, J. Martin, K. Martin, Kaminski,
Zemanek, Bentley, Engelken, and Mayor Rigby
Councilmember Earp thanked Staff for their work during the budget process and answering his
questions and commented he is not pleased with a campaign by the Economic Development
Coordinator to Bring Beer to the Bay because it sends a negative message from the City and
informed he is not against any craft brewery but just believes it sends the wrong message;
Councilmember Ojeda concurred with Councilmember Earp's comments regarding the beer
campaign; she thanked department directors for working with Council during the budget process;
Councilmember J. Martin commented the budget discussions were good and thanked
Councilmember Earp for bringing the issues to City Council for consideration and commented it is a
good idea to get started on the north side fence and then later work on the south side;
Councilmember Kaminski thanked Staff for their hard work during the budget process;
Councilmember Zemanek recognized Councilmember Kristin Martin on the birth of her son; and
wished Chad Kaminski, Councilmember Dottie Kaminski's son, a speedy recovery; and thanked
everyone for attending the meeting; Councilmember Bentley thanked Staff for their work during the
budget process and commented the City needs to get employee salaries to market compensation;
Councilmember Engelken thanked Staff for their work during the budget process; and Mayor Rigby
commented he appreciates all of the departments along with City Manager Corby Alexander.
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September 6, 2018 Council Meeting Minutes
8. ADJOURN —There being no further business, Councilmember Engelken made a motion to adjourn
the meeting at 8:31 p.m. Councilmember Zemanek seconded the motion. MOTION PASSED
UNANIMOUSLY 8/0.
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September 6, 2018 Council Meeting Minutes