Recap June 20, 2023 Special City Council Meeting, Submitted by Council Member Debra Hines and approved by Mayor Jeff Rasco
Received by City Staff on November 1, 2023
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City Council meeting recaps are unofficial summaries of Council meetings. They are not minutes of the meetings, which can be found on the city's website along with video recordings of the meetings. The recaps have been very popular with citizens – they contain more information than official minutes and are less time consuming than watching the videos. Councilmember Debra Hines has generously given her time to produce the recaps since taking office in 2021.
This Recap submitted by Councilmember Debra Hines and approved for distribution by Mayor Jeff Rasco
June 20th Special Council Meeting Recap
Items in this agenda were taken out of order and that is reflected below.
Consent Agenda:
The Consent Agenda consisted of meeting minutes from five previous meetings, and passed unanimously.
Councilmember Grummert moved that only motions and votes be included in minutes in order to save staff effort and time, as the minutes can be delayed in production and posting due to their complexity. Councilmember Hines seconded, but Mayor Rasco stated that this could stand as a suggestion to staff rather than a formal motion, and the motion was withdrawn.
Reports:
Par View Report - A presentation of the first annual beautification project completion of the pocket park at Par View. Budget was $5000, but donation items were solicited. Camp Young Judaea donated the picnic table, Hill Country Spirits donated the Little Free Library, Simple Leaf Tree donated tree work, a red bud tree was planted, and a parking space was installed in addition to large stones around the perimeter to prevent parking and driving on the space outside of the approved parking area. The parking sign is still pending, but the staff has the designs. Stonehouse circle and addressing Oak Wilt in that area will be the second annual project.
Item 14 from New Business moved here: Draft short-term rental permit item. A motion was made by Councilmember Hines to make the document provided by Legal Counsel public rather than discussing it in executive session. This passed unanimously. The presentation from Interim Attorney Roger Gordon outlined the history of legislation trends concerning short-term rentals in 2023. He described addressing this issue in Woodcreek as a moving target. A copy of this memo can be provided upon request. Tune in at minute 32:45 to listen to the legal review at this link: https://www.woodcreektx.gov/citycouncil/page/city-council-meeting-city-hall-1
Ultimately, Council voted to accept the recommendations by Mr. Gordon to draft an ordinance for public hearing. In addition, Council voted to send the Planning and Zoning ordinance proposed, the draft permit in the packet, and page 171 from the packet outlining an approach that seeks to create a permit process in code to regulate them to the City Attorney for consideration in this effort. No ordinance could be passed in this meeting without a public hearing. Councilmember Hambrick’s motion to pass the P&Z ordinance could not proceed without this due process.
Summary of key points from the legal memo:
- Increases in likelihood of litigation, increases in cost of administration, and increases in the cost of regulation are anticipated with any action on this topic and remain a central focus of concern. At the start of the year, the Council advised a conservative approach due to the circumstances in the Texas legislature at the time.
- Noise, parking, trash are all concerns with short-term rentals, but they exist with all residences and long-term rentals. There are other ordinances to regulate these issues and a duration of rental time is essential as part of code to outline the differences in these uses.
- Legal Counsel stressed that an outright prohibition will likely not be supported by the Supreme Court in the long run, and in the meantime, things could very much change at any moment.
- There are no internal processes set up in the City of Woodcreek for short-term regulations. We have no real record of how many there are or any process to address them.
- Allowing short-term rentals in some areas means there should be a permit program in place.
- Changes to code that retro-actively tell people they cannot do something are more likely to end in a lawsuit.
- Conditional Use Permitting program should be created in the case that we have existing, lawful short-term rentals.
- We have NO enforcement mechanisms in place at this time. We have no municipal court. This is an important item to address. The absence of enforcement undercuts most regulations.
- There is nothing in State law that creates this authority to regulate Short-term rental prohibitions nor is there anything speaking to preventing regulation for Type A General Law cities at this time.
Item 15 from New Business moved here: 2023 Citizen Survey Part 2 item. A pedestrian mobility survey was postponed until the Platinum Panel could weigh in on the topic. Councilmember Bailey wanted the Platinum Panel to handle discussing the need for a survey, feasibility, and other factors of a plan for addressing pedestrian safety as part of a Master Transportation Plan. An amendment was suggested to send the survey questions generated by Council via the City Manager and consider hiring a professional survey firm by Councilmember Hines. Councilmember Grummert attempted to add questions to the survey as the discussion was that this survey may be about more than on a single topic and could have included the above ground pool item as well. At this time, more than one advisory board and Council would be considering a survey and it would make sense to combine the efforts. This amendment failed with a 3-2 vote because it was a special meeting and needed 4 to 1 to pass, Councilmembers Hambrick and Bailey voted “nay.” The main motion to postpone the item for the Platinum Panel to take up and provide a report passed 4 to 1 with Councilmember Grummert being the nay vote.
Unfinished Business:
Item 7: Approval of April 2023 Financial Statements passed unanimously. Councilmember Hines asked that the account numbers be present on this form for ease of discussion and referencing specific line items.
Item 8: Resolution to update Fund Balance Policy postponed per City Manager Rule’s request so that Councilmember Hines and City Manager Rule could review together.
Item 9: Resolution to update Procurement Policy postponed per City Manager Rule’s request so that Councilmember Hines and the City Manager could review together.
Item 10: The purchase of FundView software passed unanimously and will help to consolidate City services. There will be an initial subscription fee but it will eventually be less than the City spends on a third-party accounting firm to manage only some of these features. This company specializes in smaller cities, Wimberley uses them as well. It is a web-based program that includes permits, code enforcement, accounts receivable, all payments, and payroll. This will streamline city processes and bring more functions online.
New Business:
Item 11: Drought Contingency Plan was discussed. No action was taken, but it was clear a plan was desirable as there is a need for education and communication improvements on this topic for the City of Woodcreek. It was recommended by Interim City Attorney Gordon that input be sought from other local officials and experts in the field. Regulations for construction could be pursued and can be addressed in the franchise agreement with Aqua Texas as well. The discussion centered on what the City can and cannot do as the City has no regulatory authority on water conservation.
Item 12: A Platinum Roads Panel nomination occurred for a full member of the panel. Councilmember Hines selected the sole applicant, Mr. Craig Biggs, as their nomination. The council unanimously approved.
Item 13: Meeting options discussion. No action taken. The goal was to get Council input on addressing removing workshops and considering two meetings and spreading them out in the month. The action may be taken later and it would be to alter the resolution setting the policy for Council meetings.
Item 16: Part-time code administrator was approved to go out for RFP by a unanimous vote. The goal of this position is to serve as an informational tool to help residents remain in alignment with the City’s code of ordinances as needed. The Ordinance Review Committee and Council submitted items for consideration for the position in December 2022, but action was pending until the new City Manager was hired during that time. Some money was allotted under the salary line item ($8,000) in the 2022-2023 budget. Discussion occurred around what training will be needed and will occur for this individual.
Item 17: Hiring a City Attorney was unanimously approved to go out for RFP. Interim City Attorney Roger Gordon was never hired as the permanent legal Counsel and was serving in the interim role after former City Attorney Kent “Bud” Wymore resigned at the end of 2022. The City needs to proceed with this formal process per the procurement policy.
Item 18: Social Media / Communication Policy was postponed for consideration at the next meeting with both the existing and newly proposed policy to be included in the next meeting. It was highlighted that a communication plan is desirable for the City for management of communications between advisory boards and Council.
Item 19: Discussion for the budget for 2023 – 2024 occurred. Council was to submit items for consideration and inclusion in the budget during the planning and preparation process. Councilmembers were requested to email items to the City Manager. No action to be taken during the meeting, this was for discussion purposes only.
