Good afternoon. This is a special called meeting of the on oversight committee for the city
of Denton. We have a quorum present this afternoon. It is 1204 PM on November 5th. And we'll begin
with consideration of item A, which is approval of consideration of approval of the minutes
from the July 23rd, 2020 meeting. Is there any comments or questions on the meeting minutes?
Hearing none, can I get a motion and a second to approve?
So moved. Tim Crouch is recognized as making a motion.
Second. Second from Randy Robinson. Any additional
discussion? All in favor of approving the minutes as presented, please signify by raising
your right hand. All opposed? Same sign. Motion carries. Moving on to item B, receive a report
and hold discussion and give staff direction regarding the general obligation funded capital
projects. I will turn that over to David or to Casey. I'm not sure who took the lead on
that. Cassie will take it from here. All right. Go ahead, Cassie.
We have a presentation. Parks will be presenting capital projects. We'll be presenting and
then facilities to give you an update of all of the GEO funded projects. So with that,
I'll turn it over to Gary. Okay. Can everybody see that? My name is Gary
Packen, director of parks and recreation. We also have Drew Huffman, assistant director
of park maintenance and park planning is on the phone as well. So he may jump in as we
move along. Update proposition for 2014 bond election program. The playground replacement
plan and program is just about completed. The last playground that was part of the original
plan is under construction as we speak over at McKenna. So you can see that activity going
on. We did have a balance in that account. And last meeting, we requested that to be
moved to Joe Skiles and update a playground at that location. That is going to be going
to city council here fairly soon. So that'll be under construction this winter and that'll
close out that project. Park improvements. These were completed already. This was at
Lake Forest and Milam park. We had a pavilion and basketball court completed over there.
That was done probably about a year, two years ago. South lakes tennis courts. We had designed
these in house and we need to do some additional design work. So we are going through the process
of hiring a firm to help complete that design work. We had a kickoff meeting about a week
and a half ago with that firm. We are planning to put in two additional tennis courts where
the star is with lights and then an alternate which was not part of the bond program. We
put lights on the existing two tennis courts. So all four courts would have lights and then
we'll resurface that court when the other courts are built as well. And completion on
that is probably September of '21. Property acquisition. We presented to council back
on August 25th a litany of properties that we're looking at. We've narrowed it down specifically
for this funding to three or four properties. Primarily between 377, I guess I'd say east
of 377 for a future library and a park. We're trying to cohabitate those two facilities.
So real estate is working right now to identify and negotiate land in those areas. There's
a lot of development going on there. So we're scrambling to make sure that we can find adequate
land for the library's relocation. That would be the south library. Southwest Park master
plan design. This started late summer. We do have a focus group of community members,
about 25 people that are helping us with that process. We have another public meeting scheduled
for next Thursday evening at 6 p.m. This is to gather feedback and input from all the
users in the community for what that master plan will outline. It will be more of a bubble
concept drawing. When it's completed it will not have construction drawings at this point
in time. Obviously this is just for the planning purposes. We do not have funding for any construction
as well. But this should be wrapped up probably late spring of next calendar year. Spray ground
was completed. Unfortunately we did not open it this summer due to COVID-19 but it is ready
to go for next spring. Trail system expansion. This is the trail basically starting at North
Lakes where the dog park is. It goes up near the animal shelter. It goes across 377 all
the way up to North Point Park and then over to Evers. This is completed. It's heavily
used especially the section around the dog park and that's the images you see here is
in that area in North Lakes Park. We've been working on our parks and recreation master
plan that outlines trails throughout the entire community and this would be a major tie-in
to that planning effort. Tennis construction phase one Pro Shop is done. This was actually
slated to be completed in January of 2021 and it was actually completed a few months
ahead of time. So thank you to our facilities group for managing that project. If you haven't
had a chance to see it take a drive by. If you're interested in going through the building
we can definitely get you in there. But here's some images of what it looks like now. We
have a general open area. We'll eventually have some furniture in there and a check-in
desk for staff, a few offices, a meeting room, and then some storage and then we've upgraded
all the restrooms and showers in that facility as well. So when the courts are done and we
open or we reopen we're ready to go. As for the courts we've been working on some permitting
and design challenges and opportunities so we're hoping that we can get out the bid before
the end of the year for the courts itself. We have been reaching out to potential contractors
letting them know that's coming so we have good bids. So that's in the works and staff's
working diligently to get that out on the street. We did get some USTA grants from the state
of Texas as well as national. It wasn't as much as we had hoped but I think COVID caused
some changes in regards to the grant funding that's available but we did get $40,000. Water
work parks addition this is completed and this was obviously used this summer before
last. This did not open again this summer as well because of COVID. Vela Athletic Complex
was completed. We had a grand opening on August of 2019. We've been utilizing the facility.
We did have some additional funding in the project account and we've been working with
the Public Art Committee on a sculpture for that facility. We talked briefly about this
I believe at our last meeting. We did put up an entry sign which you can see here G-Roll
and Vela Athletic Complex welcoming people into that facility and then as you're walking
through this archway you'll see the sculpture in the background just in front of the playground
structure. The total project is $101,000. We moved $65,000 from the project from Vela
over to that. We did take it to the Public Art Committee and they approved that and we're
working to take that to City Council hopefully in early December and get this under production.
Then working with the Vela family they wanted something that tied Dr. Vela's love for soccer
and his UNT experience with biology and the artist took basically the outline of a soccer
ball and put the molecules or the stainless steel spheres on the inside of it and I think
they did a really good job. There's a star in the middle for the Texas star. They designed
it so it couldn't be climbed and we're looking to maybe even put some decorative pots around
the base of it for landscaping as well to soften it up a little bit. So that should
be completed by July. This is what it looks like in theory with Photoshop where the existing
foundation is already there and then as you walk into the facility this will be the first
thing that greets you. And here's another angle. This was before we put the Archway
sign in there which was installed last week. Lake Forest Park, we spent a lot of time on
design and permitting. This is actually going out to bid I think next week and it should
be completed probably early 2022. This is the first dredging project that Drew and I
have worked on since being with Parks. So the neighbors next to the park are very interested
in seeing this happen. Drew's been working hard to keep them up to speed on that project.
This includes some rehabilitation to the dam and then dredging of the pond. The pond will
be dredged or be drained and the fish will be relocated. Drew, do you have anything to
add to that? Maybe not. Okay, just moving along. 2019 bond election program, we had
five million dollars that was approved in November of 2019. Originally it was slated
to be scheduled for 21-22 and 23-24. With the amount of activity of development going
on at Denton, we have discussed with finance the opportunity if we could find the land
sooner that that could be moved up. So David Gaines has given us the go-ahead to move forward
with researching that. So we're actively looking to utilize that funding for land acquisition
before it's purchased privately and redeveloped so we can assure that we have park space for
the next generation of Dentonites. And with that, I'll open for any questions you have
on any of those projects. I don't have a question on those projects, but I'm just wondering
about the impact on the department of COVID and limitations that's placed on your ability
to deliver services. I'm sorry, Mr. Crouch, could you say that one more time? Just what's
the impact been on your department of COVID and the ability to provide services in parks
and recreation? That's a great question. It's been very challenging. We really have kind
of almost like a dual personality department at this point in time. Our park maintenance
staff and our parks have been busier, more busier than ever. We have not slowed down
from that perspective. Add in rain that we had in the spring when we obviously froze
budgets so we stopped hiring staff. So with the demand, service level demand from the
community and having those expectations with so many people in the parks, we had to work
diligently to keep up with that. So it was a challenge this summer for sure. Recreation
inside, all our buildings were closed, but they had to basically reinvent themselves
and provide virtual programming. And then we also shifted to other areas of need. We
helped support the local food bank in delivering food and packaging food for the community.
And we also supported the operations of the civic center pool for people to go in and
take showers. So we operated that as well as at the same time operating and developing
virtual programs. So it was a very challenging year. Staff is looking forward to reopening
their buildings as much as they can. We've slowly started reopening. MLK was opened up
just after Labor Day. We are starting to do more and more programming as it permits. We
are looking to potentially open up the senior center for extreme limited programming three
days a week from roughly eight to noon, eight to one. And that would be limited participation
and registration required as well. Because our seniors are asking for those social type
activities to get out and see some of their friends too. So we're slowly opening our programs.
And it's been a big challenge throughout the entire year for sure, as it has been for everybody.
Thank you. Gary, is the American Legion Center part of your parks program or is that a separate
program? It is part of the parks program. Facilities is helping manage the construction
of that. We've had some delays and working through the contractor to get them off center.
We're not happy with the current performance. I drove by there the other day and I could
tell that that project wasn't going well. Yep. All right. Any other questions or comments
for Gary? All right. Seeing none, there's no decisions being asked for. This is just
a straight update, correct? Right. Okay. All right. Moving on to item C, receive a report,
hold discussion, give staff direction regarding allocation of project funds. We have we have
two more presentations under item B. Oh, my apologies. All right. I'm sorry. Becky Devaney,
our city engineer is going to present on the status of the capital projects.
Good afternoon. Cassie and I are going to be presenting this presentation together.
So I'm going to get it kicked off and then I'll switch over to her on a couple of different
slides and then she'll switch back to me. So it'll be kind of a back and forth between
the two of us. So let's get started. All right. Can you all see the presentation?
No, we don't see it, Becky. Okay. Well, let's go back. You're going to have to help me because
it's not. All right. Thank you, Nick. It's my honor to be here today to talk to you about
the capital projects update. I'd like to start off with going over some different items we're
going to cover today. First of all, I'm going to walk you through some organizational changes
we've made some recent process improvements and communication enhancements in our department,
along with providing you the 2012 2014 and 2019 bond program updates and work through
some next steps. And then if you have any questions, we will be ready to answer those.
So first of all, for those of you who I haven't had the opportunity to meet, my name is Becky
Divini and I am the new director of capital projects and city engineer for the city. And
the engineering department and capital projects department has been reorganized into three
specific divisions. For those of you who may not be aware, over the course of the summer
months, we had a consultant plant Moran come in and do an evaluation of the department
and they made recommendations and some of those I will share with you briefly in a few
minutes, but basically one of the major recommendations they made is to develop our department into
three specific divisions. And you can see those here on the screen. And the first division
is the engineering division. Currently the deputy city engineer position is vacant. And
we have that posted on our website. The part of the engineering division and the deputy
city engineer's role will also be to be responsible for all of the traffic engineering folks.
That includes our traffic, city traffic engineer, along with several of his staff members, and
then also an overall engineering design team that includes our CAD technician, engineering
technician designers, along with our in-house engineers and also our stormwater engineers.
So that function really is the day-to-day operations from an engineering perspective,
whether it be traffic, stormwater, or water/wastewater engineering design, along with an emphasis
of helping when is necessary for any of the development-related projects and questions
that come up. The second division is the capital project
delivery division. That is being headed up by Rachel Wood, who is our deputy director
of capital projects. And she currently has six project managers on her team with two
positions that we'll be looking to fill in the near future based on need. And so she
is responsible for the capital project delivery. And then our third division is the public
works inspection division, which is currently being led by Rob Plato, who is our public
works inspection supervisor. And he has 11 public works inspectors. Those individuals
do right-of-way permits. They also perform inspections on capital projects and development-related
projects. So just so you can understand, those are really the three specific divisions of
our overall department. And I look forward to taking any questions from you on that at
the end of the presentation. Moving through the organizational changes,
from Plant Moran's report, along with some of the evaluation that our team has done,
there are specific process improvements that we are working for. And I'm happy to announce
that some of these are already in the works. The first process improvement was to develop
a consistent project methodology and management methodology, including all stages of a project,
including schedules and terminology. Our goal is to provide different terminology, whether
it's a projects and initiation phase, design phase, construction phase, bid and award phase,
or even in closeout phase, so that we have consistent terminology and methodology that's
used. And with doing this, we are working on the development and implementation of the
new project manager manual. And we have a consultant that is on board that is working
through that phase to update a manual that was put together back in 2017 and bring it
up to the current standard of the different processes and procedures of our department.
And the second item is the selection and implementation of the project management software. And we
have selected a software of which we feel like is going to be beneficial to the department.
It's going to allow us to house all of our information and have all the information from
our financial resources all the way through anything that would be a part of a construction
related project request for information, really kind of that one stop shop where all the information
can be housed from any type of phase of a project. The next item that we have gone through
the process of is implementing the 5% contingency on construction contracts for change orders.
So that's recently something that we brought forward to council. And basically what that
does is allows the contract to have an additional 5% contingency and put on that so that we
can authorize changes that need to be made that come up throughout the project. And finally,
the implementation of the change board. The change board idea came up from several of
the project managers and was executed through the deputy director Rachel Wood. And really
what happens with that is we meet once monthly with individuals from our finance team and
from our purchasing team and several other departments throughout our city. And we go
through any changes that are related to projects, whether it be a change for a design amendment
on a contract or a change specific to something that comes from a construction contract. It
gives us an opportunity to evaluate the three important items of any project, which are
the scope, schedule, and budget. And it gives the project managers an opportunity for once
a month or as needed. The meeting obviously can happen more often, but right now they're
currently scheduled once a month to go through and have them an opportunity to bring those
items forward. And from there, if needed, then those items are brought to council if
they're over the 5% contingency and the $50,000 allowable. The next process improvement is
working through this detailed work plan. And this is really based on categories of improvement.
The specific categories I'll mention just to kind of give you an idea. We're working
through work plans for sidewalks, street lighting, bike lanes. And those are just a few of the
ideas that will include our capital improvement plan, any bond-funded project, really kind
of that standard operating, and then also the maintenance projects. A lot of those are
roadways specific. And we're working with all the partners and stakeholders, including
our streets and drainage department, too, on those, along with our traffic engineering
department or division. So we're really excited about this because it gives us an idea how
to move forward. It gives us specific projects that we can work through and execute, similar
to how you see the spawn program being executed. And the other thing that we have done is implemented
an internal coordination meeting to discuss project health on all projects. And then we're
working on linking the project manager performance reviews to project delivery through the individual
development plans for each one of the project managers. And this helps them with evaluating
each project from a scope, schedule, or budget standpoint. When there's a change in any of
those three particular items, they obviously have an impact on each other. So we're working
through that with our human resources department. And I guess the third big bullet item that
we work through on our process improvements is refining the project budgets, what we call
estimates at completion. We have worked through with our finance friends an internal review,
and we're working through each phase of those projects. I mentioned terminology, and that's
kind of where we're working through that initiation phase, design phase, and then seeing all the
different phases of a project, along with the funding that's associated with each one
of those. And they've built this massive spreadsheet that's really a helpful tool that helps look
through all of the funding resources also, whether they be external or funding from one
of the stakeholders, i.e. water, wastewater, or even for that matter, the VOD program.
I also will mention to you that we currently have an RFQ on the street that is we're looking
forward to having an outside resource come in and associate the factoring and factoring
in the market costs in comparison to our EAC. So we're going to do a deep dive and review
those estimate and completions that have been put forward to date and review those in comparison
to really what the market is seeing, to see if we have any inconsistencies. They'll also
be providing kind of a standard form of how to put together those estimate and completions,
and also be working through training our staff. And with that, I'm going to turn it over to
Cassie so that she can walk through her portion of the presentation.
Thanks, Becky. So just like capital projects went through an organizational change, finance
has also done the same thing with the emphasis on capital project delivery. We've created
a separate team for our CIP and utilities within our budget office that's really going
to help focus our efforts with capital projects and utilities to get their projects completed
and make sure we're providing financial reporting and things like that for our capital projects
and utilities division. Next slide.
So some of the process improvements that we are, finance is currently undergoing. We're
working closely with capital projects from the beginning of the project all the way to
close out. We've had several roles change and we're defining those roles and who does
what between finance and capital projects. Like I mentioned, the dedicated team within
budget to focus on capital and utilities, as well as trying to improve the transparency
and accessibility of our financial data. We're also, Becky mentioned our spreadsheet,
we're trying to clarify our project funding and make sure that everyone understands where
the funding is coming from, the current funding as well as the future funding.
All righty. Thank you, Cassie. The next thing that I wanted to mention to all of you is
some of the communication enhancements that the department has gone through. We really
are working on a renewed focus for the responsiveness to the city council and the citizens. We have
staff that's specifically assigned to monitor and ensure timely responses to requests, and
we've also developed a dashboard where we can review those requests and those are monitored
through any request that comes in from city council, a citizen, or even an engaged in
request. The next item that we're working on currently
is an interactive map of all the capital projects. This will depict not only the projects that
are currently under construction, but the projects that are funded currently and that
are in design, and it will serve as a live update and really a companion to that construction
guide that's mailed out twice a year. The other item for communication enhancements
is the quarterly capital project updates. Those of you may be aware, we made an update
on October 27th to the city council, and then really these are regular updates that we'll
be doing quarterly and really walking through all of the different projects that capital
projects is delivering, and this will allow us to have regular meetings. We also will
have regular status updates on any key project at any time that those are necessary.
I'm going to turn it back over to Cassie to be able to go through the street improvement
bond program. So for the bond funding of the street improvement
specifically, we've divided the charts between the 2012 and '14 bond program and then the
2019 bond program that you see on the right. The pie charts at the bottom of the screen
show the funding completion percentages, only that's not the project completion, it's just
funding completion. So of the 101 million that was issued between
CEOs and GOs for the 2012 and 2014, we're currently at 58% of that funding that's been
expensed or yes, I'm sorry, that's been expensed. The 2019 bond program, obviously we've just
started that. There was 154 million for streets that was approved and we have issued 9.1 to
date, and we will be issuing the 8.9 million of CEOs that was previously approved this fiscal
year. And with that, I'll turn it back over to Becky.
Thank you, Cassie. I'm now going to walk through the street reconstruction. I wanted to provide
this to you in a little bit different graphic than maybe you've seen before. This really
is in coordination with those different terminology and phases of a project. You can see the design
initiation phase, the bid award phase, construction phase. And so just really wanting everybody
to start thinking in those terms. So for a brief overview for the 2012 street
bond program, there's currently 20 segments that are in the design and initiation phase.
There are 17 that are in the bid award phase, 21 that are in construction, 158 that have
been completed total, and a total of 216 streets. You will notice down here on the bottom that
you see two segments that have been moved to the 2019 bond program. That's similar for
also the 2014 bond program, as you can see the number three over here. Really the idea
with that was to take those segments and put them in the 2019 bond program to provide this
more holistic neighborhood approach. Our goal is really to work toward this neighborhood
approach where we would go into a neighborhood, make the improvements that are necessary from
a street perspective, also a water waste water perspective, and then are able to leave that
neighborhood and not have to go back for a time. And I will tell you on the 2014, similarly,
you can see where there's 31 segments that are in the design initiation phase, 29 that
are in the bid award phase, 22 currently in construction, and there's been 145 completed
to date, and then we have a total of 227 that you can see in this overall package. So now
I'm going to walk through each one of the different bond propositions and also the year
of the bond and kind of give you a brief overview. What I will show you is there's three really
important parts of any project. You probably heard me mention this a little bit earlier.
Scope, schedule, and budget are critical to every project that the capital projects department
are going to execute. If the scope has any kind of change, that can obviously impact
the schedule, which also if the scope changes or the schedule changes, it can impact the
budget. So those three items are really independent or dependent on each other. And so I wanted
to make sure you all understood that this is really the way that we'd like to work to
approach these with you. First of all, anything that you see in green we're comfortable with
and it's really moving in the right direction. If there's something that's listed in yellow,
that's simply from the standpoint that we want you to be kind of aware of something
that's going on with that overall project. For the McKinney Quiet Zone, which is the
first one that I will cover, that project we have the schedule yellow and the budget
yellow. That project we're currently working on. We've been working with the UPRR and we're
currently moving through and getting that project executed. And so it also coordinates
with the downtown storm sewer project. So that took a little bit longer to execute than
was originally anticipated, but we're looking forward with moving through on that project.
The street bundle in-house design that you see, you see a yellow on the schedule for
that project. That project has a yellow shown simply from the standpoint that I wanted to
let you know that with that project being moved to in-house design, that does slow it
down a little bit and it will take a little bit longer to get executed. The Bonnie Bray
Phase 4B, I'm going to hold off because I have a couple of slides later that'll go through
the overall Bonnie Bray project. Similarly with the Hickory Creek Road Phase 2, I also
have a slide to walk through that. So I'll walk through all the phases of Hickory Creek.
On the Moore Street project, that project currently I have shown as schedule yellow
and budget yellow. And really just that was put on hold and while staff kind of identifies
the funding sources and the partners for the project. The funding was being utilized for
the West Hickory Street project and we're evaluating this project overall and trying
to make the best decision as to how to move forward. Currently it's not determined that
this is really something that needs to be moved forward with and we're looking through
if there's some minor maintenance that can be done to this roadway. So understand that
we're evaluating that overall scope, which then directly impacts that schedule and budget.
The Street Rehabilitation Project, I have shown as yellow for schedule and budget. That's
simply because that project is currently bidding. And due to that fact, we have an estimate
at completion and an anticipated construction cost. But until we receive bids on that project,
it's difficult to tell exactly how that project will come in on budget. And then we're also,
it has taken a few months longer than what was originally anticipated to move that project
to the phase that it's currently in, but we're happy to say that it is moving through the
bid phase at this time. The Roodale Extension at Mingo, you see that all three, the scope,
schedule and budget is yellow. The reason why that is, we are evaluating that project
along with Mingo itself, Bell Avenue, and a lot of other projects that are happening
kind of in that TWU area. So much like I mentioned the neighborhood approach for the bond program,
this is similar in the Roodale project that we're looking at it from an overall TWU perspective.
There's several projects that are happening in this area from a water/wastewater perspective,
also a drainage perspective. We've done a recent study of some temporary roundabouts
that could be installed on Bell Avenue. And so we're stepping back and looking at how
we can break this project into several phases and executing it from a more, more holistic
approach while also working with our partners at TWU. And you can see here at the bottom,
the recently completed project is the Bonnie Bray Phase 4A, which many of you may not know
the Phase 4A, but that is the roundabout. So on the 2014 Proposition 3, you'll see
that the downtown storm sewer trunk line Phase 1, and we show scope, schedule and budget
all green for that project. I simply just bring it up to let you know that that project
was recently bid and will be going under construction very soon. And on the downtown storm sewer,
that is a mouthful, Phase 2 project, I have the schedule and budget red. That's simply
from the standpoint that that project is short, about $2 million, and we're currently working
and evaluating different ways to fund that project with our finance department. And you
will see that the recently completed projects are the Magnolia Phase 2, Hinkle and Windsor,
and then the Eagle Drive Drainage Phase 2 project.
So now to the 2019 Bond Proposition 1 projects. So the street reconstruction program, you can
see that the schedule is yellow. I am happy to let you know that we have hired a consultant
to begin working on this project. And we are working on an accelerated schedule to get
some small packages designed, and then they're also working on the overall program for the
entire Bond, 2019 Bond program for the entire reconstruction program. So we're very excited
that we were able to get this kicked off and moving in the right direction. And so we'll
be coming back to you at our next meeting with more detailed information on some of
those schedules and then also how we're working on executing that actual program. On the 2019
sidewalk improvements, you see this schedule is yellow. We're currently working through
some temporary construction easements and right of entries for several of those sidewalks.
And then we're moving forward with getting that project executed.
Bonnie Bray, like I mentioned earlier, Phase 5 and 6, I'll walk through that along with
Hickory Creek Road Phase 3 on a separate slide. And then I just wanted to let you know on
the Ryan Road widening, we are currently looking at the schedule and the overall design on
that project. So the schedule could be determined based on kind of what we do with the final
design in that area. So that project was put on hold during COVID, but we have brought
it back to life and we're reevaluating that overall scope and moving forward with executing
that project. So now to kind of walk you through Bonnie Bray, I thought it would be a good
idea to bring forward a map that shows you the individual phases so you can kind of understand
the overall approach. So Phase 1 that you see right here, kind of in this yellowish
color, it is from north of Vintage to Roselon. It's a four-lane divided roadway that includes
storm drain, street lighting, and sidewalks along with two 1200-foot bridges. It's estimated
to be substantially completed and have traffic on the bridge sometime this month. So we've
got our fingers crossed hoping that we're moving forward with that. And that project
is fully funded. On the Phase 2 you can see here in the red, that's Vintage Boulevard
and the connection north to Phase 1. That project is taking that roadway from a two
to four-lane roadway. It includes storm drain, traffic signals at US 377 and Vintage and
also at Vintage and South Bonnie Bray, and also includes sidewalks and a mixed-use trail.
And the schedule for that project is hoping to have that completed in April of 2021. And
that project is also fully funded. The line that you see in green is the Phase 3 and that
project is from Roselon to I-35E. It is taking that project from a two to four-lane roadway.
It also includes street lighting, traffic signals. It has about 5000-foot of waterline
construction and about 7000-foot of sanitary sewer line construction. The design is at
about 95% and we're working through agreements currently with Inlink Gas and also the Kansas
City Southern Railroad. And construction is anticipated to start in Q3 of 2021. And that
project is fully funded. 4B, which you can see right here in the blue, that is from I-35E
to Scripture. That is a four-lane divided roadway that has street lighting, traffic
signals, about 2500 feet of sanitary sewer, 1000 feet of waterline. It also includes drainage
and sidewalks. It's about 90% designed and we are currently looking and working with
our friends at COG on funding for right-of-way acquisition and construction funding that's
needed. Basically, there's about an anticipated amount of about 1.5 million needed for right-of-way
and about 7 million needed for construction. So we are working with COG on that. 4A, that
you can see this white circle, that's the roundabout. I know if you drive into that
area and I've been asked before, you say the project's completed. It doesn't necessarily
look like it's completed. I just wanted to clarify that the roundabout itself is completed.
There's work that's going on in that area due to some improvements that were made on
Scripture and also the major waterline that's being installed currently right there in that
location, which is the north-south Phase 3 project. So just for clarification, the roundabout
itself is completed. On Phase 5, that project is from Scripture to 380. It's four lanes
divided roadway with drainage, 4500 feet of waterline, about 2200 feet of sanitary sewer.
It also includes street lighting and sidewalks. This project is currently on hold for design
as we make decisions as to whether we bring this project internal or use an external consultant
to do the design. It was put on hold during COVID and we're currently working through
and evaluating what's the best way to execute that project. It also is in need of funding
for right-of-way and construction, but we're working with COG on those funding sources
also. Then you'll see kind of in the purple color is 6A. So we took Phase 6 and broke
it into two phases and hopefully that is an easier way kind of to understand. 6A is from
US 380 to Windsor and then 6B you can see is from Windsor to US 77. This is a four-lane
divided roadway with drainage, street lighting, traffic signals, about 6300 feet of waterline
and sidewalks. It's about 90% designed and we currently have right-of-way acquisition
underway. We're working with trying our best to have 6B completed in coordination with
the high school, but basically working through right-of-way acquisition that always is a
challenge and can at times slow down our schedule. So we're currently working through that, but
the project does need some funding for right-of-way and construction funding and really that's
just from a reimbursement standpoint. So just wanted to let you know that we worked on separating
this project into two phases, really focusing on that 6B in coordination with the Denton
High School opening. So that's Bonnie Bray. I'll now move on to Hickory Creek Road. So
Hickory Creek Road and really I'm going to talk through kind of the three phases. The
first phase is the scope of that project. It consists of an extension of eastbound lanes
from 2499 to Nautical Lane and an acceleration lane along southbound FM 2499. The road was
currently two lanes undivided, one in each direction and the project involved constructing
two new lanes which will both be eastbound. That project is scheduled to be completed
in 2021 and is fully funded and that's the project you see kind of in that bluish purple
color. Phase two is the green, that is a widening from west of Teasley to River Pass and that
consists of about 1.3 miles of a four-lane roadway with a median and turn lanes. It also
has like the previous project, storm drain, sidewalk, water line, sewer line. It was currently
estimated to be completed in July of 2021 and that project is fully funded. The last
phase you see kind of in that turquoise color is the phase three. That's also a four-lane
section from River Pass to 1830 and it also includes a bridge. It's in design and we're
hoping to take that to construction in May of 2021 so that would be Q2 of 2021. It currently
is short about 9 million dollars and we are working with COG to secure that funding for
the overall project. The estimate at completion currently is about 46 million for that project.
So that's Hickory Creek Road and with that I'll just kind of walk through some of the
next steps. So I know we talked through the work plans. I know that our department in
particular is excited about working on developing these into specific work plans, whether it
be for street lights, sidewalks, bike lanes, and really working on that based on a category
of improvement. The estimates at completion, like I mentioned, we currently have an RFQ
out for that and we're excited to have the SOQs for that come back in so we can review
those and hopefully select a firm to do that overall deep dive and review of the estimates
and completion, set up that methodology and training to help us move forward, and then
also just provide to you a budget update on that quarterly basis of the 2012, 2014, and
2019 bond programs along with those major roadways that I just mentioned. And with that
I will take any questions I'm going to take down the screen and I'm happy to answer any
questions that you might have. Thank you for listening. I know that was a very long presentation.
Becky, thank you for that and I've got several questions, particularly surrounding 2012 and
2014 projects and maybe 2012 more than anything else. We're now moving pretty far outside
of the window that that was supposed to be completed in and we're getting close to the
window because we saw these as six-year packages and you've got some projects that are being
put on hold. I think that when the next bond package comes around and we don't have projects
that were promised completed, we've got a problem. And so I'd like to have a little
bit of clarity about when particularly the '12 projects and the '14 projects are targeted
to be finished because I think we've got an issue here.
Sure. Thank you for the question. What we have done is evaluated the overall projects
that are currently left that you saw in those different phases, whether they're in design
or whether they're in construction. The packages that are currently moving forward, we have
one that is major roadways, which is currently under construction. We have that package that
I was mentioning, the decision was made to bring that in-house to do design. The original
intention was to take that entire project and execute it as one project. And after I
had an opportunity to evaluate that, talk with our project management staff and also
our designing staff, we've decided to take that project and break it into three different
sectors in order to try to execute that in a more expeditious manner. And then really
just kind of overall looking at the projects and the overall schedule and trying to make
sure that we're meeting the expectations that have been set. Several of the projects that
are on hold is allowing us an opportunity to look at that overall scope and make sure
that we're approaching these from a more holistic manner. I know that may not answer necessarily
all of your questions, but I will tell you that it's my responsibility and really my
goal to evaluate each one of the projects and give you very clear expectations. I understand
that some of the decisions that were made or different conversations that were made
or dates that were given, I'm really taking a deep dive with our entire department along
with our finance team to review those projects and make sure that we're setting clear expectations
for you.
Well, and I guess the expectation that I would want to set as a member of this committee
and in the original bond committee sort of representing the voters is that these projects
are going to get done and, and shifting, continually shifting how we're going to do them and pushing
them further out, I think is a disservice to the voters in 2012 who voted on those things.
And we, and I think we've got to, we've got to think very seriously about what we're doing
because we also increase the cost on a project when we push it eight, 10 years or more out
because we've delayed it so much that suddenly, suddenly we haven't, we haven't been able
to fund a project because we were too slow to get it done. And that's a, that's more
of a speech than anything else.
Yeah. We'll go back to him and look at the 2012 projects. I mean, we have the same conversations
internally and remember I've gone back and asked the council for about $40 million the
last two or three years because these projects in 2017, 18 hadn't even been started. So we're
cleaning them out. COVID's cost us some time and I think we may just have to wait on this,
you know, getting in and out of the neighborhoods holistically until we get to the 2019 projects,
but we will have an answer for you the next time we're back here.
Thank you, Todd. I, and I have just one other, this is, this is just a question of curiosity.
The roundabout, cause I go through the roundabout on a very regular basis, if not daily, is
there, are there plans for public art sculpture in that grassy area at some point? This is
just a personal desire. So that's why I didn't know what, I didn't know what that space might
be used for.
I don't know. Is Gary on? We'll get, we'll get you an answer on that.
The shorter answer is yes. We're going to be doing some landscaping enhancements. We
do have planned for a future sculpture. We haven't worked on that specific concept yet.
We're trying to get a couple other sculptures under construction first, but that's in the
plans.
Great. Great. Thank you.
Alrighty. Does anyone else have any other questions for me?
Yeah. Uh, I've got a few, I'll try to make them quick. Uh, the, so knock the quick one
out first, just out of curiosity. If, if you know, uh, you showed the org chart that had
developed and the changes there. Do you know where the, uh, transportation planner, uh,
rec is going to fit into that? Is that within this organization or how does, how is that
going to work?
Yes, sir. I absolutely do know that answer. That individual will be a part of our engineering
division and that position posted on our website this week.
Okay. So that'll be under the left column in there. Yes, sir. Okay. Thank you. Uh, and
then the other two, one is, uh, thank you for the, the kind of trying to break up the
large product projects like Bonnie Bray and Hickory Creek. I think that helps a lot. Uh,
I was trying to go through and figure out from the, uh, I guess you would say that the
narrative explanations of funding for some combination of pieces of that project, uh,
and status, uh, and cost estimates of different pieces. And it was very difficult to understand
what the current status of the cost estimate and where it was going to be funded from on
a per segment basis. So it's more of a suggestion for the future. As you develop that, I think
that would help people understand which ones are, are at risk more just because we don't
have all the funding identified. Uh, it's kind of hard to tease that out from a high
level so far. Um, and, and on that one, um, the Windsor and Bonnie Bray intersection,
is that going to be included in 6A or 6B? One second. I have to look at the map so I
can clearly answer your question. Yeah, it's, it's that, that area where 6A and 6B meet.
Right now it's a four way stop. Sure. And you know what? I don't know that we've made
a determination as to which phase of the project it's in, but I absolutely can look into that
and get back with you. It was just recent that we've decided to break that project into
the 6A versus the 6B. We had typically been presenting it as a phase six from my understanding.
And so, um, breaking that in was really were to try to work on focusing to get 6B completed
in coordination with that high school. That's our goal and our hope, but I absolutely can
get that answer to that question and, and look at that. I'm not sure that we've made
that final determination yet. It may make more sense to go ahead and try to do that
with 6B specifically because of the high school, but you bring up a very valid point. So we'll
definitely look into that. Yeah, that's exactly why I mentioned that. Just, I've seen even
some, some comments from the public and questions recently about that intersection because when
that high school happens to open, it's going to see some peak demand there. Sure. And then
last but not least on the sidewalk projects, I believe, somebody correct me if I'm wrong,
but I believe I read that our latest package of SRTS grants was not granted, that we didn't
meet the COGS. They didn't give us any SRTS grants in the last package. Is that correct?
That is correct. And that's a part of the AIS. Dallas County received all of the grant
money for this SRTS and, but we'll continue to work to go after that funding as those
opportunities become available. Yeah. I mean, obviously we don't control any of that. But
I just wonder what your impression is from sort of a statewide perspective. My, my impression
is that more cities are passing more bond measures like Austin's Prop B just passed
that are dumping a lot of bond money into these types of projects that they'll be eligible
to apply for SRTS grants for. And so it seems like there's more dollars competing for the
same number of grant monies. And I wonder whether that changes or should change our strategy
going forward to figure out how to most effectively spend those dollars, right? What I don't want
to see is we have X number of millions of dollars in a bond package, like the 2019 bond
that we keep submitting projects for and keep getting denied. And the money just sits there
and we don't see any movement on that. Right. But if, if construction of those projects
can't get an SRTS grant, right, then it may make sense to look at some reprioritization
of that money where it can have a bigger impact if we're having to fund more of the full cost
of those. So, and I think that's absolutely why we've wanted to approach this kind of
from a work plan perspective and then evaluate all the different sidewalk projects that we
have, the ones that are in the 2018, 2019, what is a part of a safe routes to school,
what has CMAC funding and evaluate those so we can kind of find out the best way to move
forward with those and execute them and really keep them on that list and, and, and know
when the schedule is going to happen and then which projects actually need the funding.
So that's really the goal of the overall work plan with that category of improvement.
Sounds great. Thank you.
No problem.
Could you, could you share some more of the rationale for breaking up 6A and 6B for Bonnie
Bray because when we were working through that, the logic was is most of the traffic
would be coming from university and then turning north on Bonnie Bray. And now it sounds like
we're going to focus right in front of the high school, which, but not that segment between
Windsor and university is, can you?
It's purely a function of how the Council of Governments, we're going after funding
for them and our main contact there, Michael Morris, is, is gotten involved at the request
of DISD to try to have that roadway as complete as possible for the school open. So we, we
are working with them to design it in order to access the purse strings path. So that's
sort of what's happening. We're about, we're trying to close about a 10 or 12 million dollar
gap on Bonnie Bray and he's working us through it, but he is also driving the prioritization
of a vent from the high school up north to 77.
Okay.
And that last phase that was shown on the map that I didn't go over, which is phase
seven, is the project that TxDOT has actually taken over, which is from 77 to the loop.
So.
Right.
And one of the other things I want to mention with Eric's questions, you know, one of the
things that we've been working on behind the scenes, Eric, is in just all the committee
is with DCTA, the mayor and I have been pressuring them very, very hard the last year or so along
with our colleagues in Lewisville, you know, to justify the use of our half cent sales
tax we send down there when they are clearly not spending it, they just got bailed out
with another $23 million in CARES Act funding, that sort of thing. So we have been successful
in establishing what's called a TRIP program. It's small transportation improvement projects
and we're taking a look. I've asked the staff to go back. We think that our initial take
out of that for the next at least two or three years is going to be $2 to $3 million a year,
which we can immediately use to leverage our sidewalk money. So that's kind of how we're
trying to fill in the gaps until we are more successful to save route to school. And DCTA
has budgeted that pot of money. I think there's an initial $5.5 million in there this next
year and Lewisville and Denton will receive roughly half of that money each.
Thank you, Todd. Any other questions? Alrighty. Well, I appreciate all of your time. I'm going
to turn it over now to Mr. Gray. Good afternoon, Scott Gray, Director of
Facilities. Give me just a moment to pull up the presentation.
Okay. I have a couple of projects to update you from the July meeting regarding the fire
station three, which was part of the 2014 bond funding efforts. A couple of things,
and I won't go into the discussion on the scope schedule budget because Becky did such
a great job with that. I'll just talk about the colors here of what's changed since July.
With fire station three, the only thing that really changed here was the red budget was
yellow last time. And actually, we're fairly on target. I think we're going to be slightly
over. We're looking at additional funding opportunities to take care of the overage.
It's a small amount and facilities has already contributed some of our unallocated to cover
a few of the unexpected costs. Really, this project has been going on fairly
well. But the summer, we did have 45 days of weather delays, which has pushed this project
to a completion for the station itself, the new station, to December. And then we will
be doing the demolition and landscaping around for the other location, which should be completely
completed in February of 2021. We are we did run into a little bit of a challenge
here recently. The millwork subcontractor, which is all the cabinetry and so forth in
station three, unfortunately was let go by the by the contractor because they were significantly
behind. It was going to push the project probably another four to six weeks in delay. So they
found another subcontractor, which happens to be the one working on station eight. And
those folks have actually already started delivering product and expected remain on
schedule, even though they got a late start. So that was that was great news. So this project
is is scheduled to be complete for the new station, which I know Chief Hedges decided
about in the December timeframe. So moving on to the 2019 project, it's actually multiple
buildings for the public safety facilities, which is the police headquarters renovation,
the new police substation and fire and range out on vintage. You can see they're all green,
which they were the last time I presented to you really the only thing that's changed
here. We had a little bit of a delay in in kicking off this project. We were actually
going to kick off a month or two early. But there were some bidding issues. So the project
was rebid, which actually turned out to be an excellent situation. We have a significant
amount of subcontractor bids on these projects, which has brought the cost down. So we believe
we will be actually going into this under budget. So far to date, we've we've issued
about seven point three of the sixty one point nine million dollars of bond funds to basically
get through all the design efforts and the bidding efforts. We just received the subcontractors
bids just last week. So they're finalizing those tallies. I know our sub our vendors
going through a number of reviews of those to select the different subcontractors so
we can come back to the council with the guaranteed maximum price where we're currently scheduled
to do that in the first meeting of December. I'm hoping that we can stay on track with
that. So it was a very short presentation. I'd be happy to answer any questions that
you may have. OK, hearing none, thank you for the opportunity. OK. That was all of our
presentations for item B. OK, moving on to item C, receive a report, hold a discussion
and get staff direction regarding the reallocation of project funds and the estimated completion
costs for associated projects. We do have a reallocation request that you saw on your
backup for parks. And so Gary is going to do a brief presentation on that. OK, Gary
Pack and Director of Parks and Recreation have a very short presentation in regards
to requests for reallocation of two specific park projects. We do have some funding left
over from the bond program that's in the Vela account. We're asking for a transfer of $65,000
of that to the North Lakes Tennis Center project. In fact, both of these are being asked to
go to the North Lakes Tennis Center project for court construction. One component that
we did not anticipate when we're going through the design process was needing to pave a portion
of the airfield driveway that goes into the airfield parking lot and now the dog park
parking lot that currently is gravel. It does get potholes, especially in the spring after
the winter. We are we've planned on our parking lot to put traffic onto that road from the
tennis center. So going through the the planning review process, they've asked us to pave that.
So we do have it as in our bid specs for the bidding of that court, those courts, and we're
also seeking some internal costs to see if we couldn't do that ourselves. So waiting
on final costs from the internal staff time to build that road, as well as what it would
cost from from the bidding process. So we're not 100% sure if we're going to need it. But
we wanted to request that to be moved over. So we had it ready to go. And then we're working
to try to close the Vela project itself, the project account out. So we'd like to get that
money reallocated. In addition to that, Carl Young Park, we did have some money that was
left over from the spray ground that we were going to use for the restroom project. We
actually came under budget, our Parks and Recreation maintenance staff built that restroom
on our own, we did that in house, and we're currently building the one in Quaker town
as well. So we came under budget, so we did not need that reallocation that. So we're
asking that to be moved to North Lakes as well so we could close the Carl Young project.
And that is approximately $13,628. So in total, we're asking for a total of $78,000 to be
reallocated from the Vela athletic complex, as well as well as a Carl Young Park spray
ground project that we did ask for reallocation to the to the restroom project. So we're asking
for permission from the Bond Oversight Committee to reallocate just just shy of $80,000 over
the North Lakes Park Tennis Center. That concludes the presentation.
Good, Eric. Yeah, Gary, just a question. The slide said
see map, I wanted to make sure I was referring to the correct location. Is that that that
first picture in the the next following slide here that shows where the tennis courts are?
So is it it's kind of a connection on the southwest edge of the tennis court property?
Is that accurate? Yep. Hang on. Okay, so here's here's the map
of the facility. This is the master plan. Our main tennis courts. Here's the existing
building in the future parking lot. We're going to pave just shy of where the recycling
kind of turnaround is. So just where this apron is that goes into the parking lot will
be paved approximately in there all the way out to Windsor. And then we had to widen the
apron on Windsor because it was not to current road standards. So we had to work through
that. There's an electric pole there in a manhole that we were trying to work around
so we didn't have to move that pole. But that that section will be paved. Okay. I guess
just just one comment. I'm sure you'll have engineering and streets review it. I know
there's several places in town where you have a three way intersection where across the
intersection from the dead end roadway there's a parking lot and a stop sign control at that
intersection and sometimes it's confusing to drivers who has a stop sign and who doesn't
when they're not thinking of looking at upcoming cars from a parking lot. So I think this will
be less tricky than many places by that because it'll look like a street to for all intents
and purposes. But but yeah, looks good. Thank you. Any other questions or comments? So we
have a request for basically a reallocation of $78,000 and to get a motion. Motion from
Brandon. Second from Tim Crouch. All right. Any other comments or discussion? All in favor
approving the reallocation of $78,000. Probably signify by raising your right hand. Okay.
Motion carries. Congratulations, Gary. Thank you. So items D receive a report, hold a discussion,
provide information on 2020 adopted tax rate and certified values. Casey Ogden, Director
of Finance. I'm playing musical chairs. I had to switch seats. Let me share my screen
real quick and I will start the presentation. So last time the committee met, we were asked
to bring back kind of just an update of where we landed with the budget and the tax rate
for this year. So these are the things that will go over the assessed values, the tax
rate, the debt service, and then the bond issuance schedule. Assess values. The line
represents the actual dollar amount of this, the certified values. The bars represent the
percent change from year to year. So you can see we landed at about 4.5% increase from
the previous year at 13.1. We were projecting 7% pre-COVID. Obviously we were happy that
we saw an increase. But as you remember, it was, we didn't receive our certified values
until very late in September. So we were very unsure of how the budget was going to land.
So just a little update on the tax rates. We did adopt the same tax rate as 2019. And
you can see there the final certified values as well as the tax rate. You may remember
the no new revenue rate was previously the effective rate. And then the voter approval
rate was the rollback rate. And we landed much less than both of those rates.
So for the tax rate projections and some of our assumptions from the 2019 bond, kind of
when we were putting the bond package together, we came in more favorably with our interest
rate on our bonds. You can see 1.41 is what we actually landed at on our bond sale this
year. But obviously we did less on the AV growth. And then we changed our assumptions
going forward for FY 22 AV growth. And then on the left side of the screen, you can see
the projected debt service rates for the out years. And we did have a half a cent. We shifted
from the O and M rate over to the debt rate this year, but kept the overall the same overall
tax rate. And so with the debt service tax rate, you may remember we had from the 2014
bond election, we anticipated a four cent tax rate increase that we never actually saw.
And then from the 2019 bond election, we are anticipating a three and a half cent increase
over the 2019 debt service rate. And so you can see we're projecting in 2024 and 2025
to hit right at that maximum amount that we were projecting on the debt service tax rate.
As far as debt service, our current debt service payment is right at $27.21 million. And then
you can see the existing debt service in blue with the planned future debt service in orange.
So that that total is increasing over the next couple of years for the bond program.
And just a reminder, the 2019 bond program issuance schedule, we have some significant
bond issuances coming up this year and next year, before we start tapering down. And with
that, I will bring the slide down if you have any questions.
Any questions for the group? I guess I have a question. Do we feel like we're being conservative
enough given all the unknowns? Or are we? We there's a obviously a huge debate as we're
going through the 2019 bond program about the assessed percentage we use. A lot of discussion
back and forth. I'm feeling like we were a lot wiser to go lower than higher as some
people wanted. But are we too high based on those assumptions today?
You know, I'll jump in. You know, I think the biggest guess right now is as we look
to next fiscal year, and you saw that we were shown a 3% AV growth next year. And I think
we talked about this in detail as we went through the process. But especially when you
hit a recession, it's always a lag time on assessed value. So we're anticipating that
to hit us next year. So as we get closer, we may drop that 3% lower if we think it's
going to be more of a flat AV growth. 3% felt like a comfortable assumption at this time.
But that'll be one that we're just continuing to monitor. As we look in the out years, I
think I think the 5% is still fine. And we're talking two, three years down the road, assuming
that the economy gets gets back on track, but it is definitely going to be a moving
target, especially just given the turbulent environment we're in.
I think I think we're gonna have a hard time answering that question, Pat. I mean, we were
up to like the last day or two before we had to adopt the budget before we even got our
tax rules. And we honestly have no idea how they came up with that number at the end of
the we were just it changed our assumptions. But we haven't been able to get an explanation
of how they arrived at that four and a half percent. And, you know, what I can tell you
is on the the building permit side of the house, we're not slowing down at all. I know
that. So that's that's great news. So that's the other factor in all this. We're not seeing
property values decline, and we're in development services is just as busy as they have been
the last couple of years. So it's just an odd thing right now. And we're hoping that
the appraisal district can provide us a little bit better information and obviously a much
more much better lead time this next year. But we are we came out of this last budget
with really no answers as to how they work through this process.
Okay, you know, another thing we've done on our projections is lower our collection percentage
typically it's right at 100 percent each year we've lowered that to 95 96 percent just going
out and be out here just anticipating that given where we are right now, payments might
not be up to that hundred percent level. So we're we're tweaking where we can to be more
conservative on those projections. That's a great call. We we do that for our pledges.
We discount them just to factor in bad pledge payments or unpaid taxes. And, you know, I
think that's a huge question, Mark, as you guys already said. So gentlemen, ladies, any
other questions for? Yeah, I guess I'll just say on the tax rates and everything, the thing
that scares me is that, you know, the no new tax rate actually went up compared to
last year, which suggests an overall decline in the value of existing properties, you know,
requiring new growth. And when I pulled data from from the county, it it looks like in
general the residential housing properties had continued to go up. But there have been
a lot of commercial properties that have been reappraised significantly lower. So I'll be
interested to see if that trend continues next year. And the concern is just that that
even though the rate may not change, the valuations of of the ratio of residential to commercial
may start to put more pressure on homeowners as we go forward. So, you know, Eric, I think
that's a good point. I would just even more when we calculate the no new revenue rate,
which actually is calculated by the county, we were good. They have to do that early in
the process. And we're going by inconsistent information we got from the appraisal district.
So really, it is, as Todd said, it's just tough to look back and try to see a clear
picture of what happened. So we're really hoping as we go in the next year, it'll be
a little more straightforward. Yeah. All right. So any other further discussion or questions?
Can I get a motion to adjourn? Thank you, Tim. Thank you very much. And Cassie, Casey,
when do you think we'll probably do this again? Ballpark? I'm looking at February right now.
We'd like to start meeting quarterly. So with our next meeting in February, if that works
for everyone's calendars. Works good. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Take care. Thank you.