Jan 04, 2021 City Council on 2021-01-04 12:00 PM

good afternoon and welcome to this meeting of the Denton City Council I'll note that we have a quorum today is December 4th it is 1202 p.m. and we have this special called lunch session that scheduled today on - and a couple of things on today's agenda but with that are there any changes mr. city manager to note before we call the first item no sir our city secretary will be taking you through the agenda and nothing extraordinary today okay great so I'll call the first item under work session under work sessions it's item a ID 20 2147 receive report report and hold discussion and give staff direction regarding the 2020 boards and commissions and then I guess I should lead off in retrospect with a happy new year and good to see everyone but so I should have led with that so forgive me but I'll turn it over to staff thank you I'm gonna go ahead and share my screen good afternoon my name is Rosa Rios and I am your city secretary the first item on the agenda is to present the boards and commissions nominee screening and appointment process now this process is for the 20,000 20 20,000 22 board terms however there were a few little straggling positions left from last year that have been incorporated into the council reports that were provided under exhibit 3 in your notebook so to provide an overview of the Denton boards and commissions there are certain things that bear with me a moment that we need to consider one is that eligibility and qualifications their terms and limits term assignments removal of board members the application process which is totally online now the vetting process nominations the notebooks I'll detail those and then of course the established timeline to begin appointments nominations and appointments so the first thing that City Council needs to consider is the diversity so under the council rules of procedures nominating council members will consider interested persons on a citywide basis consider ethnicity gender socio-economic levels and other factors to ensure a diverse representation of Denton citizens the City Council itself will make an effort to be inclusive of all segments of the community take into consideration and individuals qualifications their willingness to serve and the application information when selecting nominations and continue the general practice of nominating new citizens to replace board members who have served three consecutive terms on the same board there is currently one member in the situation and we do have one couple of board members that are termed and they have applied for other board appointments and this provision does not apply to any citizen task forces or citizen ad hoc committees on eligibility and qualifications individuals must be read a resident and registered voter in the city have no financial obligations of the city and there are special qualifications for the boards here as you can see the animal shelter Advisory Committee the Board of Ethics committee on persons with disabilities Health and Builders Standards Commission a historic landmark Commission and for the Denton Police Department Chief of Police Advisory Board there was some special qualifications that the applicant has to agree that they either meet or do not are not affected by in order to be considered for appointment for the terms and limits again typically the terms are for two years and due to the the delay in the elections just for last year what we did was we held the board appointments until all city new council members had been seated now as far as the two-year terms the exception is the Public Utilities Board and they do have four year terms the terms expired August 30 2020 and of course members do hold our in holdover status for the 2020 2022 term appointment the date terms will begin on the date appointed and then August 31 2022 the exception is the Health and Building Standards Commission again which expired their term expired June 30th so any new term appointment would begin date of appointment and the end July 1 2022 and don't worry about those terms we will track those for you the exhibits that would presented at the time a formal appointment of any nominees will outline the terms that apply for each individual there are limit of three consecutive terms then there needs to be a one-year lapse following the term limit and of course they are eligible to serve for appointment to another board as noted there are two termed members and they have selected to ask to be appointed to another term and of course this appointment will apply it's a partial term only for newly appointed members in order to remove any member there must be for cause they can they either no longer a registered voter of the city which means that they're not a resident of the city they're missing more than three regular scheduled meetings in any one year or lack of attendance at 50% of regular meetings held in a year they've been convicted of a felony in some rare cases the public hearing a public hearing is required the pub is one of those such and it is written into their legislation and of course others as determined by the City Council in consultation with the attorney the vacancies are filled for the unexpired term of the previous member if applicable so the application for all nominees is required again we went to a totally new online application and we required that staff that any new member seeking reappointment submit a application because it's important that we ensure that we have all new all current information for any returning members and of course we also need to ensure that they meet the necessary vetting requirements and a criminal background check is conducted on only for the Denton Police Department Chief of Police Chief of Police Advisory Board so there was some additional information on the application that was required and because the application is itself on the components of it does apply to all board members other members that may not have required a criminal background check were required to submit the same information so for member and public notifications there was a direct email notification via email sent to the existing board members whose terms were who served in holdover or possibly other individuals that had indicated that they would be interested in serving on a board you can see here November 7th was the initial notification and we did send reminders December 17 and 23rd and we did provide a November 9th press release through the Public Affairs Office now there was a deadline designated as December 18 however the application process does remain open and as we continue to receive new applications those will be forwarded to you on a weekly basis you can see here other public notification options that were available to us and the dates that we distributed information to the public for the vetting process we do need to verify again that they are registered voter that they have no financial obligations of the city in the court library liens taxes and utilities arena and that they meet the special qualifications of applicable and again we've listed the special qualification boards and we'll cover those in a little bit later here in the presentation so for the for in order for the council members to submit a nomination an email is sufficient and it is really important that you help us identify the Board and Commission or the committee that you're nominating the individual to in any special qualification if applicable the key to is that if you are nominating a member to an at-large seat that you identify which place number or which at-large seat that would be and again we'll work with you on that so you need not worry about trying to keep track of all that information and then before scheduling for City Council consideration of appointment a nomination and application must be received and nominations are not permitted to be submitted on the floor as it is important that individuals first be vetted to ensure that all the necessary qualifications are met and council has been very supportive of that process and you can see here that by previous direction of the City Council no City Council members shall nominate more than one at-large at-large alternate member to the same Board or Commission and we do track that for you so exhibit three of your agenda item which was just which was hand-delivered to you provides the special qualifications list which again I'll cover here in a little bit more detail a little bit later the all members rosters with contact information so you did get not only the rosters but also applications for all of the existing members and then any new applicants and then of course the seats which expired June 30 and August 30 by council member we also provided the attendance report so you can gauge the attendance of individual board members seeking a reappointment and what we will do is we will continue to provide a weekly packet update as applicable that on any new applications received the there's a report that we provided by council member and will note any on any nominations that was received and or any appointments that have been made and that will assist you to track and know what board Commission seats you still have pending appointments for so here you see the special qualifications this report kind of shows the needs specific to the 2020-22 term for the Animal Shelter Commission you'll notice that members must meet one of the following and we've indicated here you know those that we're still needing applicants for some of the existing members of course do meet those qualifications so you may want to consider reappointing them or and or new individuals that meet the special qualifications as you can see here we do need three people who are not involved by occupation or membership in any office any of the above categories and there are two seats left in that qualification for the Board of Ethics it is a preference not a requirement that they meet those special quality those special that special criteria however we are required to have three members that are either attorneys or retired jurists and for this appointment cycle we do require one one attorney or retired jurist for the committee on persons with disabilities members must reside in the notice noted district and we will look at the district for the nominee to make sure that the appointments are being you know handled appropriately as you can see that members appointed by or for districts one two three and four they have to reside in that district whereas for the mayoral place seven place five and six they can reside anywhere in the city as those are at large seats for the held in the Health and Building Standards Commission it's the code states that to the extent the persons are available within the city that members shall consist of the following so here we do try to fill in all of those special qualifications however again it's to the extent necessary so you know there is a lot more flexibility in appointing members to to the to those seats for the Historic Landmark Commission members shall include at least one representative from the following so we really pay very very careful attention to this particular board to make sure that you know we have a member that that will be appointed to meet at least one of those special qualifications you can see here that we need a member to the Dent County Historical Commission a member of the Denton County Bar Association there are still two seats left in the owner of real property qualification we have three seats left in the architect qualification of course right now we don't need a CPA and then the it is very important that no one business or professional interests can constitute a majority membership of the Commission and there's three seats left in that qualification so there are other boards there is the EDPB and downtown TURS those do have separate processes as they both have City Council appointments and other members the EDPB board requires appointment of nominating committee which will present nominees to City Council the downtown TURS requires specific qualifications of members and City Council appointment of the chair and that is a separate application process altogether for these boards so those are not included as appointment options for you at this time staff the economic development department will come to you at a later date with any applicable formal actions so the timeline we have here it was again January 4th this is presentation nominations to the city by January 18 not to say that you know you can go ahead and start nominating as soon as possible you do have the list of the those members seeking reappointment and their applications as well as well as any new interested individuals and then we will begin the reappointments on January 26 however it is not to say that if we were to receive applications you know this week and they have been already fully vetted then we would go ahead and schedule them even sooner like January 12 for example as long as they were received timely oh excuse me and I'll take any questions you may have okay thank you for the presentation and if you can thank you great questions for staff any questions for staff on this presentation great okay thank you Rosa then I will see in no action I will move us that'll carry us to the next item which is item B ID 20 21 48 receive report hold discussion give staff direction regarding the role of slide down council committees membership and subcommittees thank you get the screen up thank you so again my name is Rosa Rios and I am your city secretary and I will be presenting the City Council committee appointment process so the objective of the presentation is to review the City Council committee responsibilities and the general purview discuss the relationship and individual committees to the full City Council review the list of current City Council committees and discuss the City Council committee appointment process for 2020 and 2021 and we kept the 2020 through 2021 identifier in order to properly track the appointment cycle for these committees so they call appointment process is the committee appointments are reviewed annually the committee members serve at the pleasure of the City Council until successors are appointed by the mayor and approved by the City Council individual City Council members are asked to identify which were asked to identify which specific committees they wish to join and that request was made through an ISR on the December 11 2020 Friday report for the oversight and responsibilities under under the City Council rules of procedure it does note that the council may by resolution and as the need arises authorize the appointment of council committees and that any committee so created shall cease to exist when abolished by resolution of the council and council committees are required to comply with the Texas Open Meetings Act council committees typically consists of three City Council members committee membership is determined by the mayor and approved by the City Council and again we're talking about internal committees historically the mayor has allowed each council member to request those committees that they wish to serve on those are evaluated and then information provided to the City Council on what the presiding officer has has it's looking to do appointments on and of course the presiding officer chair of the committee is chosen annually by the committee so in the relationship and individual committees to the full City Council council committees vet projects and potential policy recommendations prior to information being brought before the full City Council the council policy remains that any policy item or initiative that would require over two hours of staff time must proceed through the City Council request process and staff does track those very carefully and schedule those accordingly committees do not speak on behalf of the entire City Council or the community and endorsement of an issue or policy matter from an individual committee does not result in an automatic endorsement from the full City Council which then brings us back to the first bullet which said which notes that council committees vet projects and potential policy recommendations prior to information being brought before the City Council so current City Council committees standing committees internal committees are the agenda committee audit finance committee committee on community engagement which was previously known as committee on citizen engagement the committee on the environment council airport committee council appointee performance review committee this committee has been inactive since 2019 historically we have still made appointments but again it is inactive the community partnership committee which was previously known as a hotel occupancy tax and sponsorship committee if a member desires or member is appointed to the committee of partnership committee they must also serve on the convention and visitors bureau advisory board and of course and there's also the mobility committee for external committees there's several here I'm not going to go ahead and state all of them but we can certainly we will certainly be covering them in a little bit more detail the key here is just again to note that on the convention and visitors bureau advisory board that the members are also required to be two members are also required to serve on the community partnership committee so the ad hoc committee there is a development code review committee consisting of three members for community for the community boards there again there are separate appointment processes presented to City Council for formal appointment through the economic development partnership and the economic development department did provide information on a recent Friday report outlining what that those processes were for the economic development partnership board again two members you also have to serve on the tax increment reinvestment zone number two board so if there was any interest indicated on that board automatically would have indicated interest on the TERS 2 and of course there's only one seat right now for an expired term that is available there's a downtown TIFF number one board for two members and then for the tax increment reinvestment zone number two board again those members have to be members of the economic development partnership board and there is only one seat for an expired term that is available for that special appointment considerations for combined service again because kind of reiterating the dual service on these two boards for the development code review committee and the community partnership committee here at least two members have to serve on the other and for the EDPB and the TERS those members need to be serving on dual role so the next steps is to discuss the mayor's proposed assignments and then approve City Council committee appointments on January 5th of course you know it can be rescheduled for either additional discussion or formal action at other meetings have determined and then here you can see here what we have the internal committees and then you have the ad hoc and then committees of interest and then here are the external boards so kind of to outline here on for the internal boards you'll see that under the agenda committee we did indicate where the legislation is and what it what it stipulates as far as how the membership needs to comprise of most require here we lined it up to show that you know those internal committees where council members must be elected official or the members must be elected officials and for example and then also we're showing the current members of course there's a lot of vacancies due to the recent election and then what the member selections were the only exception is the agenda committee under the City Council rules of procedure the agenda committee is comprised of the mayor mayor pro tem and city managers so those were automatically moved over to the right and then you'll also see the mayor proposed appointments and then those you know the discussion that will likely ensue on those recommended appointments again there's the ad hoc committee here where you have you know the council members that they must be elected officials and for the community of interest you have again the ADP be all of those are required to be elected officials and there are there is city legislation that mandates that you'll notice again you know the current vacancies that currently exists and then what the members of those council members that selected service on each specific community board and then of course the mayor proposed appointments for discussion and you'll also know that these are separate appointment processes so while you're you may when formal action is taken be indicating what the recommendations are you'll actually take formal action at a future meeting for the external boards and there are several again we lined them up on those that must be either elected officials or the mayor and then the legislation that's required that requires that membership and then again you know the member selections and then the proposed appointments we did indicate if there is a separate appointment process and then when terms and for existing members and then there is also the community justice council and that has been inactive and you can see here what the mayor's recommendation or proposed action on that committee is and I will move up and that is the that is my presentation and I'll take any questions thank you Rosa and if we can pull down this share screen thank you okay questions for staff councilmember Meltzer and then councilmember Armitage yeah just briefly the one I don't remember and it's an active so maybe that's why is the community justice committee and I'm just curious if you could remind us what that's supposed to be and what it's enacted well I will say that it has been inactive since 2019 and we have attempted to try to get information even since last year and we just have not been able to get any information you know as to the purpose of that board again because it is an active so all righty hey Councilmember Armitage yes so I noticed that that none of the the seven of us had requested to be on the Denton County homelessness leadership team so thanks mayor Hutzpeth for stepping up for that I noticed for the second spot it says staff members city manager's office I myself would like to join you on that if that's acceptable as the second member okay thank you any other questions for staff councilmember Ryan it just just for record-keeping purposes on the community partnership committee formerly the hot funds committee I was not on that that was where we had two members it was councilmember Davis and councilmember Armator were on both and then mayor Watts was on the the hot funds and I was on the CVB just so that we had the record straight on that thank you for that clarification any other questions for staff okay then Rosa if you could make that one adjustment councilmember Ryan mentioned or we can all just kind of note it on our end and then follow up I'll follow up with the proposals based on the discussion today so if there's any other things the council would like me consider I'd love to hear those statements otherwise we that'll that'll do it for today if I'm not mistaken is that right Rosa yes sir the item is scheduled for formal action tomorrow and it is on the consent agenda but of course you know it's pulled we can certainly do an individual consideration okay councilmember Meltzer yeah you know I serve on most committees because I'm available and I'm sufficiently interested but if if there are new members especially who are interested in something that they don't think there's a vacancy for you know I don't mean to have all the spots I'm really just happy to fill in to make sure that we have you know our committee spill but environment is important to me I put mobility second but that's not sort of sacred either and if somebody else wants to be an airport or a community engagement or audit finance you know somebody's got a real interest in those I be not intending at all to stand in anybody's way to participate I appreciate that okay any other questions for staff okay great then see in no action I will conclude that item which is item B and that will conclude our our work session unless there's you have any other notes for me mr. city manager today sir okay great then I will see everybody tomorrow at 3 p.m. and I'll adjourn this meeting on the 4th of January 2021 at 12 31 p.m. thank you