City Council Meeting of Mar. 9, 2022 - Recap by Councilmember Hines
Received by City Staff on March 18, 2022.
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March 9th Regular Council Meeting Recap
Submitted by Councilmember Debra Hines, approved by Mayor Jeff Rasco
Acknowledgement and appreciation for the service to our community by former P&Z member Jack Boze was recognized before the meeting. Mayor Rasco presented Mr. Boze with a plaque and Mr. Boze received a standing ovation from Council, City staff, and community members in the audience.
Councilmember Judy Brizendine was not in attendance due to illness.
Item #4 from the Consent Agenda, Financial Reports for January 2022, was removed from the consent agenda on the request of Councilmember Hines and placed on the Regular Agenda for discussion. The rest of the Consent Agenda passed unanimously by all those present.
Regular Agenda:
Item #4 Financial Reports for January 2022: interest in discussing this item stemmed from the # signs listed for some items. Councilmember Hines wanted clarification as to why those # signs were present, and Councilmember Pulley asked for a report on the actual numbers. Mr. Lewis assured Council that future reports would not include the # signs as they were just where the column needed to be expanded. Mayor Rasco inquired into a few of the revenue and expenditures numbers looking for clarification on what resulted in these totals. The financial report was approved unanimously by those present.
Item #5 Special Event Permit for an Estate Sale: This permit was approved unanimously after a brief discussion acknowledging the longtime resident who had passed way and for which it was being held. Mayor Pro Tem LeBrun knew Doris King personally and spoke on her behalf stating she was a friendly woman and “to know her was to like her.” It was noted this event is occurring in an area with limited parking and only one way in or out; caution should be taken for those driving to attend.
Item #6 Appointment of a New P&Z Member: Mayor Rasco recommended the promotion of alternate Chris Sonnier to the vacant seat left by Jack Boze’s resignation. Council unanimously approved this recommendation and Mr. Sonnier will serve the remainder of Mr. Boze’s term. The remaining alternate position will be filled later.
Item #7 Executive Session Concerning the City Inspector was postponed until the end of the meeting to allow community members to hear other items on the agenda first.
Item #8 Ordinance to Amend Chapter 70 Parking: Passed unanimously after the acceptance of two amendments presented by Councilmember Hines. Both amendments passed unanimously as well. One amendment added a long-term parking permit process, and the other altered section B to remove language about being “out-of-sight." This approval resulted in a complete replacement of this section of the City code with the objective to define junk vehicles according to Texas code, reduce administrative waste surrounding permit processes, and allow residents better use of their property rights concerning the parking of vehicles, trailers, and such in approved parking spaces. The new code will go into effect once notice has been posted. Residents are encouraged to read and familiarize themselves with these changes.
Item #9 Adoption of Edits to Chapter 30: Passed unanimously after a handful of amendments to clarify some language, strike redundancy, and correct typos. The goal of this item was to bring City code into alignment with State code and further explain the duties of public officials and the zoning process. City Attorney Bud Wymore praised the work of Councilmember Grummert on this item and stated it was appropriately aligned with State code.
Item #10 Discussion of the Public Hearing for the Brookmeadow Overlay: Council unanimously agreed to hold same-day, back-to-back public hearings with P&Z on the matter of the Brookmeadow Overlay and to move this date up to April 1st. Some concern was expressed over the location of these meetings and staff will be working with the Mayor to coordinate those details. More information to follow as it becomes available. There will be a Town Hall on the matter March 22nd at 5:30 PM at the VFW.
Item #11 Discussion of a “Culture of Safe Driving” Program: This item was well received by Council. No vote was taken as this was submitted for discussion purposes only. Councilmember Hines has been tasked to continue developing a plan for the program. The community should look out for requests for submissions for volunteers to send in sticker designs in the future.
Item #12 Platinum Panel: An Ordinance for the formal creation of the Platinum Panel was unanimously approved by Council. This ordinance was the culmination of previous Council votes to create and define the panel and was intended to formally complete the process. Applications to join the Platinum Panel and work on a Master Transportation Plan for the City can be found here: https://www.woodcreektx.gov/sites/default/files/fileattachments/administ...
Item #13 Road Funding Survey: Discussion on this item was split into two items. Council first took up reviewing the survey itself. It was approved unanimously with small edits. Next, Council discussed how to distribute the survey. It was determined the survey will be sent via mail and an online option will be available. All residents and property owners will be allowed to take the survey so long as they are 18 years or older. Approval of the distribution methods will be subject to the submission of final cost estimates. Councilmember Hines will work with City Staff and Mayor Rasco to develop that information to present to Council for approval.
A City Managers Report occurred. The document showing the items reported on is attached within the agenda packet. Councilmember Hines asked if there was a timeline or accountability for the work coming from K.Friese. City Manager Lewis said no, that he will just have to keep following up with K.Friese, and the rewrite of 154 & 155 to bring it into alignment State code has been pending for nearly two years.
Discussion of Item #7 City Inspector: This occurred in open meeting per request of Joe Tijerina who is currently employed as the City Inspector. Mayor Rasco started this discussion by saying there have been significant complaints on how code enforcement and inspection has been handled in the City. Mayor Pro Tem LeBrun expressed concern over whether or not these complaints had been validated and inquired as to the process of addressing complaints with the City Inspector. It was noted that there is no formal complaint process in place, and that one should be established. Councilmember Hines inquired as to what training Mr. Tijerina has had in the areas of de-escalation and customer service, what is the process for removing invalid citations from record, how often code enforcement and inspection is occurring in proportion to other duties performed by Mr. Tijerina on behalf of the City, and how the format for the letters being sent to residents was formed. Councilmember Pulley expressed significant concern over the “coachability” of Mr. Tijerina and stated that he (Pulley) has received regular complaints from citizens on his daily walks about the demeanor of Mr. Tijerina while performing his duties and that in some case the violations cited either don’t exist or that they stem from an overreach in the interpretation of the code. At one point Mr. Tijerina walked out of the meeting while Major Rasco was attempting to establish an understanding of what proactive and reactive code enforcement looked like according to City Staff. Most all Councilmembers and the Mayor expressed a desire for and acknowledgement of the need for code enforcement in the City. It was discussed that the City could do better and improve communication, especially for new residents, on some basics of the code that are common issues. Several Councilmembers expressed concern over the amount of money spent on Code Enforcement in relation to other areas of the City budget that may need more attention. It was established the amount of $31,000+ is expected to be spent on this service during the current fiscal year. Currently Mr. Tijerina is averaging $21/per hour and works around 29 hours per week.
The final decision on this topic was to retain the official position of City Inspector and to allow Mr. Tijerina to continue in his official capacity as this role for the City in addition to serving in other roles as needed while the City still lacks an official City Secretary. This continuation of employment for Mr. Tijerina and the on-going existence of a paid position of City Inspector on City Staff is subject to the following list of items created by Council discussion and approved unanimously by all those present.
- Post the hiring of a City Secretary, the hours for the position of Code Enforcer / City Inspector shall be reduced to 15hrs per week. Rate of pay, and incremental increases based on performance, will remain the same.
- A verification process for citations and letters sent will be implemented, and citations deemed incorrect will be systematically removed from the record.
- Monthly reports on citations and warning letters will be submitted to Council. These shall be detailed and informative.
- Code Enforcement training and test must be completed within the 1-year anniversary of employment
- Annual de-escalation and customer service training must occur. City Manager Lewis will research options for this training.
- All letters and violations sent to residents will be of form and substance following an approved draft format by City Council. They will include a picture, citation of code violated, and a description of what residents should do in response to the letter.
- Creation of a formal complaint process for residents to submit issues with any City Staff and all City Officials.
- The City Inspector shall not attend Council meetings or that of other boards, committees, workgroups, etc unless requested to do or it is determined necessary by the Mayor.
- Post hiring of the City Secretary, Mr. Tijerina will return to the written job description for which he was hired and his scope of work for the City will remain constrained to that set of duties.
