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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes City Council - 05/04/2004 - RetreatI HEREBY CERTIFY that the foregoing is a true and correct copy of the minutes of the Corpus Christi City Council Retreat of May 4, 2004, which were approved by the City Council on May 18, 2004. WITNESSETH MY HAND AND SEAL, on this the 18th day of May 2004. Armando Chapa City Secretary SEAL MINUTES CITY OF CORPUS CHRISTI, TEXAS City Council Retreat May 4, 2004 - 8:30 a.m. PRESENT Mayor Samuel L. Neal Jr. Mayor Pro Tem Rex Kinnison Council Members: Brent Chesney (Arrived at 8:35 a.m.) Javier D. Colmenero (Arrived at 8:50 a.m.) Melody Cooper (Arrived at 9:10 a.m.) Henry Garrett Bill Kelly Jesse Noyola Mark Scott (Arrived at 9:05 a.m.) City Staff: City Manager George K. Noe City Attorney Mary Kay Fischer City Secretary Armando Chapa Mayor Neal called the retreat to order in the Water Garden Room of the Museum of Science and History. City Secretary Chapa called the roll and verified that the necessary quorum of the Council and the required charter officers were present to conduct the meeting. Mr. Scott Elliff, retreat facilitator, reviewed the day's agenda. Mr. Elliff stated that, unlike previous years, this retreat would not be focused on creating new Council priorities. Rather, this year's retreat would focus on the discussion of several key issues. He said the group norms for this meeting were to LEARN: Listen to each other comments, Engage in the discussion, Ask questions, Respect one another, and make the best use of our time Now. The first agenda item was an update and discussion of the Council's priorities. City Manager Noe reported that the Council had identified eight goals and issues continuing from last year, and 10 new priority issues. Mr. Noe discussed the eight continuing goals first, which he named as follows: charter revisions, master drainage plan, legislative agenda, Garwood water, increased CVB funding, new funding for inner city improvements, trashy neighborhoods, and improved permitting process. He noted that staff provided the Council a quarterly report on the progress towards meeting these goals. City Manager Noe then reviewed the ten new priority issues the Council identified last year as follows: long-term revenue picture; Bond 2004; revitalize downtown/bayfront initiatives; skate park; long-term storm water funding; ADA compliance; park master plan implementation; communication with other taxing entities; revisit sexually oriented business (SOB) ordinance; and call center for city services. Mr. Elliff asked if the Council had any questions or comments about last year's priority issues list. Mr. Noyola spoke in support of the Neighborhood Improvement Program. He asked which neighborhoods would be targeted next year. City Manager Noe replied that next year's areas would be determined in June or July 2004, and then the list would be submitted to the Council for their review. Mr. Noyola also spoke in favor of hiring a mortgage counselor to assist citizens with the mortgage application process. Finally, he asked that Code Enforcement remain vigilant in NIP areas after the clean-up effort was completed. Minutes - City Council Retreat May 4, 2004 - Page 2 Mr. Kelly also spoke regarding the Neighborhood Improvement Program (NIP). He commented that his suggestions to hire a mortgage counselor and create an In -fill Lot program had not been implemented, yet he felt they would help the sustainability effort. City Manager Noe stated if the Council wanted to be more aggressive on obtaining in -fill lots, staff could oblige, but it was difficult without a dedicated funding stream. He said 4A Board funds could be a funding source, but the Board had not approved funding at this time. Mr. Colmenero asked how the city can get the neighborhood to be more proactive in maintaining the NIP clean-up effort. He also remarked that he understood the down payment assistance allotment for the city's first-time homebuyers program was going to be increased. City Manager Noe replied negatively, saying the amount would remain$3,000. He said the amount could be increased, but this would result in fewer recipients. Mr. Kinnison spoke regarding communication with other taxing entities, stating that he would like to see a "summit" take place as soon as possible. Mr. Scott commented positively on the improvements in the One Stop Shop. Regarding the improved permitting process goal, however, he said there were still issues with bureaucracy and "logjams" in the process that were inhibiting the One Stop Shop's ability to succeed. Mayor Neal spoke regarding the in -fill lot program, saying the city needed a working agreement with other taxing entities on how to handle foreclosed properties. He said the discussion could be held at a future joint meeting. He also asked for an inventory list of available lots. The next agenda item was a discussion of the 2004-05 budget and financial forecast. Assistant City Manager Mark McDaniel reported on the major revenues and expenditures in the general fund. He also reviewed the trend line for the city's ad valorem taxes (net taxable values). Mr. McDaniel displayed charts illustrating the projected impact of Proposition 13 and the projected impact of the Governor's tax cap. In addition, he reviewed sales tax collections, industrial district payments in lieu of taxes, and building permit activity. Regarding building permit activity, Mayor Neal asked if commercial permits for not-for-profit organizations such as hospitals were included in the figure. Mr. McDaniel answered affirmatively. Mayor Neal remarked that since the city did not receive taxes for these types of permits, he asked staff to pull out permits for not -for -profits and government projects. Mr. McDaniel also reviewed charts depicting the city's general bonded debt and the general fund unreserved fund balance. Mr. McDaniel reviewed the five-year financial forecast. He said at this point, the city would need $3,324,467 to balance the budget in FY 2005-06, which presented quite a challenge. He said staff would present their ideas to balance the budget in the upcoming weeks. Finally, Mr. McDaniel reviewed the budget calendar for the remainder of the year. Mr. Kinnison commented he would like to work with other entities to consolidate operations for savings. Mr. Noyola suggested making cuts in "little things", such as supplies, to cut expenditures. Mr. Garrett commented that the re-engineering effort has saved significant amounts of money in the Wastewater and Water departments. He asked if it could be applied in other areas. City Manager Noe answered that re-engineering saved costs over the long run, but it was not as useful in achieving short-term savings. Minutes - City Council Retreat May 4, 2004 - Page 3 The next item on the agenda was a discussion of Bond 2004 proposals. Mr. McDaniel reviewed the five proposed bond packages in detail: Package A - $70 million with utilities; Package B - $70 million without utilities; Package C - $100 million with utilities; Package D - $100 million without utilities; and Package E - $130 million with utilities. City Engineer Angel Escobar discussed the proposed neighborhood street improvement candidates. He placed the streets in the following three categories: Category 1 (Index 0-29) - estimated $14,139,583; Category2 (Index 30-39) - estimated $27,426,389; Category 3 (Index 40-55) - estimated $105,152,911. He noted that a lower pavement condition index represented a poorer road condition. He outlined a proposed plan that distributed street projects in each of the districts for a total of $12.5 million, but noted that the cost did not include sidewalk, driveway, and curb and gutter improvements. He pointed out that Bond Package A ($70 million with no tax increase) would not be able to fund the $12.5 million plan. Mr. Noyola took exception to this proposal because it would not provide his district with a "no tax increase" option for street projects. He felt staff's proposals were slighting his district, and he asked for more consideration of his district's needs. City Manager Noe stated that the proposals were meant to create a starting point for discussion, and were not final recommendations by any means. Mr. McDaniel returned to discuss the affordability of the bond issue under each package. He addressed the following topics: the projected impact on utility rates; the impact to the average customer/taxpayer; and the projected impact of local taxing entities' bond programs. Finally, Mr. McDaniel spoke regarding another consideration in the Bond 2004 process, the citizen involvement process. He said public hearings, town hall meetings, and other methods would be used to inform the public. He also reviewed the following tentative timeline: May -July, 2004 - Council finalizes bond election projects; August -October, 2004 - public information effort; and November 2004 - bond election. Mr. Elliff asked if the Council had any questions or comments regarding the Bond 2004 process. Mayor Neal suggested that Package D ($100 million without utilities) could be pared down to $90 million, and then broken down into two parts, $70 million for street projects and $20 million for other projects. He said this approach would give citizens the opportunity to vote separately for street projects and/or other improvements in public safety, park and recreation, and public facilities. In addition, he said his proposal would provide citizens with a "no tax increase" option ($70 million for streets), but he noted that it would mean an increase in utility rates to pay for street utility work. The voters could then decide whether or not to approve the additional $20 million for other projects, knowing that it would necessitate a tax increase. Mr. Kelly spoke in support of the Mayor's idea to provide a "no tax increase" option. He cautioned, however, that priorities may differ from district to district (e.g. streets vs. libraries). Ms. Cooper stated that the project categories should be separated as much as possible. The next presentation was a discussion of possible charter revision amendments, led by Charter Revision Commission Co -Chairs Irma Caballero and John Bell. Ms. Caballero stated that the possible amendments had been tentatively approved by a majority vote of the commissioners, except for Proposition 10. She said the commission included Proposition 10 nonetheless so they could obtain public input during a public hearing to be held during their next meeting at 5:00 p.m. on Tuesday, June 1, 2004. She said the commission would determine their final recommendations Minutes - City Council Retreat May 4, 2004 - Page 4 after the public hearing, and would then forward them to the Council for their consideration in June or July. Mr. Bell briefly went over the 10 possible propositions as follows: Proposition 1 - updating the provisions concerning initiative and referendum in order to comply with new laws and election procedures; Proposition 2 - updating the provisions concerning city council elections, council meetings, and the mayor's veto power and recall elections; Proposition 3 - increasing the compensation of city council members to $12,000 per year and of the mayor to $18,000 per year, to be effective after the next city council elections; Proposition 4 - updating the provisions concerning the approval of budgets and the expenditure of city funds in order to comply with new laws, court decisions and accounting practices; Proposition 5 - allowing city employees, other than managerial employees and employee's in the city secretary's office, to participate in political activities; Proposition 6 - simplifying the existing restrictions concerning city officials and employees running for other public office to make the current provisions easier to follow; Proposition 7 - changing the property tax cap to conform with the tax cap set by the Texas constitution; Proposition 8 - allowing certain leases for the construction of boat slips and docking facilities to be for terms not more than 15 years without the necessity of an election, simplifying the procedures concerning short-term leases less than 5 years, transfers of leases, regulation of leases and approval of oil and gas leases, and updating other provisions to current state law and court decisions; Proposition 9 - updating the provisions concerning general powers of the city to conform to new state laws and procedures; and Proposition 10 - changing the date of the regular city council election from the first Saturday in April to the November uniform election date to conduct city council elections at the same time as elections for federal and state elected officials. Mr. Bell and Ms. Caballero then responded to questions from the Council. The next item on the agenda was a discussion on the BRAC (Base Realignment and Closure) process by Mayor Neal. He reported that the Congress was heavily debating the issue now. He stated that each base was being judged primarily on its military value and its capacity for joint - service training, and the emphasis was more on base realignment than closure. He said another major concern was the realignment of the reserves forces. Mayor Neal reported that the BRAC process will culminate in the latter part of the summer, but the national election will probably prevent the process from being finalized until after November. He said it has been suggested that Naval Air Station Ingleside may be vulnerable to closure, and staff is working to enhance their military value. He also reported that the South Texas Military Task Force advocacy group is facing financial difficulties, and is seeking additional private and public funds to continue functioning through the summer. Mayor Neal then responded to questions from the Council. Mayor Neal then reported on the state legislative session. He stated that he and other mayors and county judges around the state had met with the governor regarding the impact of the governor's tax cap proposal on municipalities. He said the current proposal was a 5 percent cap on appraisal values on all primary residential property except for homesteads. He said there is a proposed amendment being debated on the floor requesting that voter -approved TIFs be exempted from the cap. He said the municipalities argued for an 8 percent cap on homesteads only. The governor asked for a compromise, but the cities and counties in North Texas were strongly opposed to his proposal. He stated that the speaker of the house was scheduled to send a bill to the senate this week. He then responded to several questions from the Council. Minutes - City Council Retreat May 4, 2004 - Page 5 The final item on the agenda was a discussion of the City Council calendar, led by City Secretary Chapa. Mr. Chapa said staff was recommending canceling the following meetings: August 10, November 30, December 28, and March 15. A consensus of the Council agreed to these dates, and also amended the list to include November 23. He also reviewed possible dates regarding the Proposition 13 petition and election deadline dates. Mayor Neal asked Mr. Chapa if there were any policy changes that needed to be discussed. Mr. Chapa replied that he and City Attorney Fischer were gathering information to present to the Council on the new financial disclosure reports being required by the state legislature, beginning in January 2005. Mayor Neal thanked the staff and the Council for providing the necessary information for today's discussion items. He congratulated the Council and staff for meeting many of last year's priority items. Finally, he thanked Mr. Elliff for facilitating the retreat. 2004. There being no further business, Mayor Neal adjourned the retreat at 1:45 p.m. on May 4, * * * * * * * * * * * * *