Recap of August 9th City Council Budget Workshop and Council Meeting submitted by Councilmember Debra Hines and approved by Mayor Jeff Rasco
Received by City Staff on November 1, 2023.
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Budget Workshop:
Mayor Pro Tem Pulley was absent for the budget workshop.
City Manager Rule presented the proposed budget to City Council. To view the proposed budget and proposed tax rate click the meeting agenda link here: https://mccmeetings.blob.core.usgovcloudapi.net/woodcreek-pubu/MEET-Packet-16e38c1df3c34ca18bc08076fe7325ad.pdf
Key Points of the discussion:
The debt service portion of the proposed tax rate will have a .29 cent increase to cover the issuance of the Bond for city-wide road improvements. The Maintenance & Operation part of the tax rate was reduced to compensate for this increase. Thus, the overall increase on the proposed tax rate will be less than the 2 cents discussed in the Bond issuance plan.
A new liabilities account will be set up to accept reimbursements from various city services such as inspections and engineering. This is a change in the accounting process initiated by City Manager Rule.
Franchise Fees came in higher than what was set in the previous budget
There is no contract in place governing a franchise fee from the Golf Course. This was just provided by the previous owners. It was $500 for the year.
Insurance was discussed for employees. A stipend is being considered to cover a portion of the possible cost for an individual insurance plan.
An official position is being created with a job description for a current Woodcreek employee who has been working under contract labor previously.
City Manager Rule has proposed moving the City Secretary position to salaried from hourly.
There are one-time fees associated with moving to FundView and Civic Plus. The totals for these programs will be reduced after the 2023-2024 fiscal year. These programs will update the City website (Civic Plus) and the permitting and accounting processes (FundView) among other improvements.
Funds for the Municipal Court will need to be increased in the next draft of the budget.
Any remaining Bond funds are set to be rolled into further road improvements such as traffic calming and an ongoing street maintenance program.
To view the full discussion, click the link to watch the meeting: https://www.woodcreektx.gov/citycouncil/page/city-council-workshop-cyj
THIS WAS ONLY A WOKRSHOP. NO FINAL DECISIONS ON THE BUDGET OR THE TAX RATE WERE MADE. COUNCIL DISCUSSED ADJUSTMENTS TO INDIVIDUAL ITEMS TO ADDRESS ANTICIPATED CITY NEEDS AND POSSIBLE PROJECTS.
Regular Council Meeting:
Congratulatory remarks on the Bond and Roads Projects were made to start the meeting recognizing the input of the many parties involved in making this massive capital improvements project possible for the City of Woodcreek.
Reports:
Planning and Zoning: They are recommending that the citizen survey to address allowing above ground pools should be postponed until the City of Woodcreek is in Stage 1 for drought restrictions or less. The biannual review of the Comprehensive Plan has been proposed for February of 2024.
Ordinance Review: No report to be given. They did not meet in August. Two agenda items below touch upon current business for the Ordinance Review Committee.
Parks and Recreation: Park improvements are in progress. The fence around Creekside is in place. The gazebo foundation is in progress. Camp Young Judaea volunteers coordinated with Parks Board members to work on clean up and walking paths at Augusta Park.
Platinum Roads: A recommendation for a contract for the city-wide road construction is in the agenda below for consideration. The bid opening went well. There were several great options to consider. A rating system was utilized for consideration of proposals.
Tree Board: Budget requests were submitted. November 4th the City of Woodcreek will celebrate Arbor Day. Karl Flocke the local representative from Texas A&M Forestry will attend and do a “walking workshop” on Oak Wilt. Planning for this event is in progress.
City Manager:
- July 8th and 9th the City-wide garage sale occurred. Some changes are being planned for 2024 to address improvements for this event.
- July 15th bulk pick-up of garbage occurred with 10 tons of trash being removed from the City.
- There were some issues with the July 24th brush pick up because of truck problems for Waste Connections but it did occur even if delayed.
- Sept 4th City Hall will be closed for a national holiday
- Next Council meeting is at 3pm at CYJ on the 23rd (errors were made in the actual statement during the meeting. This recap reflects a correction in the time of the meeting)
- Sept 10th the City is planning Woodcreek Day at CYJ: FUN IN THE SUN 12-5PM the pool will be open to Woodcreek citizens, food will be served
- Councilmember Hines requested an update on the following items: traffic calming study (estimated cost at $25,000) radar signs installed at entrances (have not been ordered), and Aqua emergency supply water (if there is an emergency and water is needed, Aqua will purchase and bring bottles to the City, if the emergency is ongoing then they will pay for water to be trucked in to the City)
City Secretary: No report given.
Consent Agenda:
Items 1 and 3 were moved to the regular agenda
Items 2 and 4 were unanimously approved.
Special Reports:
Ad Hoc Workgroup, Chapters 154-157: review recent legislative changes and updating proposed changes to adapt to the new state policies as needed.
Item 14 from “new business” was moved up in the meeting.
- Discussion was held around the merits of focusing on the time limits for meetings and limiting Councilmember’s agenda submissions. A case was made by Councilmember Grummert that these specific points should not be written into policy and that each of these things could be addressed in other ways as needed or already have specifications in Roberts Rules (which Council has adopted to governing meetings). The motion to make such changes failed with Mayor Pro Tem Pulley, Councilmember Bailey, and Councilmember Hambrick voting “nay.”
- The Resolution governing Council meetings from Item 14 was amended and updated by a motion made by Mayor Pro Tem Pulley. This included minor editorial changes to say that either the Mayor or City Manager could contact a Councilmember about possible changes to their items and that this was a required action to change Councilmember submissions and/or postpone them if needed. A change also made to state that ending the meeting at or around three hours would be subject to the Mayor recognizing that finding an appropriate stopping time was more relevant than hitting an exact time limit. These amendments passed unanimously.
Item 1 and 3 from the consent agenda:
Item 1: Councilmember Grummert made a motion to post an itemized report of the ice storm expenditures in the following meeting packet. This motion failed with Mayor Pro Tem Pulley abstaining, Councilmember Bailey and Hambrick voting “nay,” and Mayor Rasco breaking a tied Council vote with a “nay.” Direction was given by Mayor Rasco for City Manager Rule to generate this report and provide it to all Councilmembers.
The June 2023 financials were approved unanimously.
Item 3: The Special Council Meeting minutes were updated and approved unanimously. On the minutes Item 14 (page 42 in the packet) the motion technically passed and so the “failed” statement needed to be removed. When a Councilmember abstains they become a “non-vote” on the issue rather than a “no.” There were two abstentions on this vote. So the majority vote needed with only 3 voting members was 2. So, Council did accept Interim City Attorney Gordon’s recommendations on STR and will need to draft an ordinance should a future public hearing on the matter occur.
Special Orders:
Item 5: A special event permit was approved for an estate sale.
Item 6: The order for the 2023 Election was approved. The positions of Mayor and two Councilmembers will be up for election. The election date is November 7th
Item 7: The Hays County Joint Election Agreement for the 2023 Election was approved. An updated form was provided in the meeting as it was not available when the agenda was originally posted. This updated form was the one approved by Council.
Item 8: A budget and elections calendar was approved.
New Business:
Item 9: Council unanimously approved awarding the contract to Alpha Paving for the city-wide road improvements with the bond issuance funds. The selection of Alpha was based on their previous work in the City and the ratings scales used to rate the bids received by the City. Councilmember Bailey, liaison to the Platinum Panel, introduced this item and gave an overview of the top bids for consideration and why Alpha was recommended by the Platinum Panel to Council (minute: 1:22:41 in meeting video). The amount of the contract will not exceed $2,645,250. The next steps will include City Manager Rule negotiating terms of the contract with Alpha Paving. The contract is expected to be in place in September. A pre-construction meeting will occur, city communications will be scheduled to alert citizens to possible road closures and construction, and work should start mid-September. Council discussed using door hangers and city emails plus the website to clearly communicate when and where work will be occurring. Councilmember Bailey noted this was a good time for road work as the temperatures and lack of rain would work in our favor.
Item 10: Applications were received for the part-time code administrator. One applicant remained after interviews. Mr. Burton will be starting with the City in this position. A request was made by Councilmember Hines to include applications in the packet in the future.
Item 11: Council unanimously approved appointing Cheryl Mills as an alternate to the Tree Board. Mrs. Mills has been instrumental in getting a Community Garden established for the City and has extensive background in marketing and event management.
Item 12: Council unanimously approved a $5000 donation to the Wimberley Library. Councilmember Hambrick inquired as to why another donation was needed and why now when the expansion was set to be complete soon. Mayor Rasco explained that the library was still seeking donations for the renovation of the older building. Mayor Pro Tem Pulley advocated for this donation as Woodcreek citizens regularly use this library and it benefits our City.
Item 13: An update to the Master Rate and Fee schedule was made to add a $2,500 annual fee for an STR permit. Councilmembers Hambric and Bailey voted no on this item, but it passed with three “aye’s.” For more information on this item, please tune into the meeting at 1:40:47 (https://www.woodcreektx.gov/citycouncil/page/city-council-meeting-cyj-12)
It has been established in code that SF-4 allows STRs but the City of Woodcreek has previously lacked a permit process or fee. A permit was reviewed by Council. Staff has the authority to implement such permit as it is needed based on current code. No fee was established previously for anyone seeking an STR permit in Woodcreek. This has been amended by Council. Additionally, Interim City Attorney Gordon went over the possibility of owners of homes outside SF-4 potentially seeking a conditional use or special use permit in order to operate an STR in other residential districts since the Woodcreek code of ordinances does not expressly prohibit them at this time.
Item 14: moved up in the meeting
Item 15: (discussed after 16 was moved up) The motion to update the Ordinance Review Committee’s governing chapter failed with Mayor Pro Tem Pulley, Councilmember Hambrick, and Councilmember Bailey voting “nay.” The purpose of the update was to codify direction given by Council for the Committee to consistently work to review and update ordinances without explicit Council direction needed. This would have given the group more functional autonomy and eliminated their need to approach Council for approval to review portions of the code. Councilmember Hines and Mayor Rasco advocated heavily for this amendment to the existing code.
Item 16: (discussed before 15) Council approved directing the Ordinance Review Committee to review “Parking” throughout the code of ordinances striking “zoning” from the areas for which they should review. Approval was given unanimously. Zoning was removed as the Interim City Attorney gave the opinion that only Planning and Zoning has the authority, beyond Council, to review zoning code.
