CITY OF BUNKER HILL VILLAGE

MINUTES OF THE REGULAR MEETING OF THE CITY COUNCIL

OF THE CITY OF BUNKER HILL VILLAGE, TEXAS

JANUARY 20, 2009 – 5:00 P.M.

I.                   CALL TO ORDER, ROLL CALL, PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE

Mayor Essary called the meeting to order at 5:04 p.m. in the Council Chambers of City Hall, 11977 Memorial Drive, Houston, Texas.

Present:                                                                                 Also in Attendance:

Mayor Derry D. Essary                                                          Ruthie Sager, City Administrator

Councilman Keith Brown                                                        Loren Smith, City Attorney

Councilman Dave Ellis                                                            Kelly Johnson, City Secretary 

Councilwoman Cooky Mays                                                    Steve Smith, Director of Public Works

Councilwoman Susan Schwartz                                         

Councilman Jay Smyre                                                                       

Jeremy Edelstein a ninth grader and Nathan Malone a sixth grader, both boy scouts, were asked to lead the Pledge of Allegiance

II.                GREET GUESTS, MAYOR’S REPORT

A.  MEETING WITH MEMBERS OF CITY COUNCIL, PLANNING & ZONING, AND BOARD OF ADJUSTMENT HELD ON JANUARY 13, 2009

      Mayor Essary stated he felt the workshop was very successful.

B.         UPDATE ON PROGESS AT GESSNER PARK

Councilman Ellis said the new sign looks terrific.  Mayor Essary said he was pleased with the sign and will be moving forward with the second phase of that project.

C.   TEXAS COMMISSION ON ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY (TCEQ) 2008 PUBLIC DRINKING WATER RECOGNITION

Steve Smith stated our water system is routinely inspected by various state agencies to insure that Bunker Hill Village is providing the highest quality of water service to its residents.  The State has a program that recognizes cities that have gone above the minimum standards and Bunker Hill Village was recognized as being one. 

D.        INVESTMENT STRATEGY

Mayor Essary stated he has instructed Ms. Johnson and Ms. Sager to begin looking at diversifying Bunker Hill’s cash balances possibly to some additional banks.

E.         MEETING WITH CITY ENGINEER REGARDING W151

Mayor Essary stated that he, Ms. Sager, and Mr. Ramsey with Klotz Engineering had a meeting last week.  Ms. Sager stated that several years ago Mr. Ramsey advised Bunker Hill not to settle on anything less than 50 acre feet of detention for W151.  Ms. Sager said that Mr. Ramsey told them that Bunker Hill Village should deepen W151 and forget about the 50 acre feet of detention.  Ms. Sager stated this was a total surprise since Mr. Ramsey had been telling them for years not to settle on anything less than 50 acre feet of detention.

The Mayor stated that a few years ago Metro National hired Klotz Engineering to do some engineering for a project on Gessner.  He stated that at that time he questioned Klotz Engineering about a conflict of interest and was assured by Klotz Engineering that is was not.  The Mayor stated at this point he believes there is a conflict of interest.

F.   DISCUSSION AND POSSIBLE ACTION REGARDING AUTHORIZATION TO HIRE A CONSULTANT TO REVIEW THE TEXAS MUNICIPAL RETIREMENT SYSTEM

      Mayor Essary stated he would like the authority from council to retain a pension consultant to review the Texas Municipal Retirement System (TMRS) possible unfunded liabilities for Bunker Hill Village, Memorial Village Police Department, and Memorial Village Fire Department.

      The Mayor stated that Hunter’s Creek Village has already committed to sharing the cost and he was going to meet with the Mayor of Piney Point tomorrow to discuss committing to sharing the cost.

Motion was made by Councilman Ellis and seconded by Councilwoman Mays to authorize the Mayor to proceed with the retention of a consultant to review TMRS at a cost to Bunker Hill Village not to exceed $7,500.  Motion carried 5-0.

III.             CONSENT AGENDA

“ALL MATTERS LISTED UNDER CONSENT AGENDA ARE CONSIDERED TO BE ROUTINE BY THE CITY COUNCIL AND WILL BE ENACTED BY ONE MOTION, THERE WILL NOT BE SEPARATE DISCUSSION OF THESE ITEMS.  IF DISCUSSION IS DESIRED, THAT ITEM WILL BE REMOVED FROM THE CONSENT AGENDA AND WILL BE CONSIDERED SEPARATELY.”

A.  MINUTES OF THE FOLLOWING MEETINGS:

      NOVEMBER 18, 2008

B.   JANUARY 13, 2009 WORKSHOP MEETING

C.   NOVEMBER 2008 FINANCIALS

D.  DECEMBER 2008 FINANCIALS

E.   AAA ASPHALT PAVING, INC., FINAL RETAINAGE FOR MEMORIAL DRIVE IMPROVEMENTS IN THE AMOUNT OF $43,650.98

F.   LANGFORD ENGINEERING, INC., INVOICE NO. 14105, DATED DECEMBER 2, 2008 IN THE AMOUNT OF $238.45 FOR PROFESSIONAL SERVICES RENDERED IN CONNECTION WITH REWORK OF WATER WELL NO. 2

G.     LANGFORD ENGINEERING INC., INVOICE NO. 14106, DATED DECEMBER 2, 2008 IN THE AMOUNT OF $2,387.11 FOR PROFESSIONAL SERVICES RENDERED IN CONNECTION WITH THE PROPOSED SURFACE WATER SUPPLY LINE TO WATER PLANT AT CITY HALL

H.     LANGFORD ENGINEERING INC., INVOICE NO. 14164, DATED JANUARY 1, 2009 IN THE AMOUNT OF $546.09 FOR PROFESSIONAL SERVICES RENDERED IN CONNECTION WITH THE SURFACE WATER SUPPLY LINE TO WATER PLANT AT CITY HALL

I.        KLOTZ ASSOCIATES INVOICE NO. 1108387 IN THE AMOUNT OF $472.73 FOR PROFESSIONAL SERVICES RENDERED FROM OCTOBER 16, 2008 TO NOVEMBER 15, 2008 IN CONNECTION WITH ON-CALL CONTRACT

Motion was made by Councilman Brown and seconded by Councilwoman Mays to approve the Consent Agenda.  Motion carried 5-0.

IV.              CITIZENS’ COMMENTS

None

V.                 DISCUSSION AND POSSIBLE ACTION REGARDING PROCLAMATION FOR NATIONAL YOUTH ART DURING THE MONTH OF MARCH 2009

Motion was made by Councilwoman Schwartz and seconded by Councilman Smyre to approve the proclamation.  Motion carried 5-0.

VI.              DISCUSSION AND POSSIBLE ACTION REGARDING AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY OF BUNKER HILL VILLAGE, TEXAS, PROVIDING FOR THE HOLDING OF A GENERAL ELECTION TO BE HELD ON MAY 9, 2009, FOR THE PURPOSE OF ELECTING a mayor and two COUNCILMEMBERS (position nos. 4, and 5); PROVIDING DETAILS RELATING TO THE HOLDING OF SUCH ELECTION; and containing other provisions relating to the subject

Motion was made by Councilman Ellis and seconded by Councilwoman Mays to approve the ordinance.              Motion carried 5-0.

VII.           DISCUSSION AND POSSIBLE ACTION REGARDING RECOMMENDATION TO REPLACE THE LOOP DETECTION SYSTEM AT MEMORIAL DRIVE AT PLANTATION WITH A COMPLETE TXDOT APPROVED VIDEO DETECTION SYSTEM

Mayor Essary asked Mr. Smith to give the pros and cons of loop detectors vs. video detectors.  Mr. Smith answered the intersection where the equipment was being proposed is at Plantation and Memorial Drive.  Mr. Smith answered the problem with loop detectors is if the pavement moves it shears the loop.  Mr. Smith said when the pavement moves it basically cuts the wire.  He went on to say that on Plantation the pavement is fairly old and moves a lot.  Another problem with loop detectors is that it may not detect smaller vehicles such as motorcycles or bicycles.

Mr. Smith explained that a Video Detection Systems uses a camera which is pointed at an intersection and has an image stored in the processor and it constantly comparing it to the intersection.  If the intersection changes, like a car pulling up, the image changes and the detector sends a message to the processor that there is a vehicle there and it starts whatever the programming is set up to do.  The drawback of the camera system is that you have to keep the camera lens clean.

Mr. Smith stated that we can only do the loop system if we replace the pavement on Plantation because the pavement is broken there.  This would bring the cost up substantially more than $20,000 to do the loop detection system.

It was Mr. Smith’s recommendation to go with the Video Detection System.

Motion was made by Councilwoman Mays and seconded by Councilwoman Schwartz to approve installing the camera’s at the intersection of Plantation and Memorial Drive.           Motion carried 5-0.

VIII.        JOHN DAVIS, P.E. LANGFORD ENGINEERING, UPDATE ON SECOND SURFACE WATER CONNECTION

Mr. Smith stated nothing has really changed since the last council meeting.  The plans are at the City of Houston and Harris County Flood Control in the review stage.  He stated we still do not know what our actual cost will be, that will be determined when the design is complete.

IX.              DISCUSSION AND POSSIBLE ACTION REGARDING A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF bunker hill village, TEXAS, ADOPTING A SCHEDULE OF FEES, rates, deposits, and other charges for public services, INCLUDING those relating to development, building and construction, electrical, plumbing, licensing and registrations, regulatory inspections, permitting, applications, hearings and other matters.

Mr. Smith stated that Bunker Hill Village did not increase fees across the board.  He stated they took a look at which permitting and inspection fees that were below the cost that Bunker Hill Village was incurring for performing those services and adjusted only those fees in the rate schedule.

Motion was made by Councilman Brown and seconded by Councilman Smyre to approve the resolution to adopt the schedule of fees, rates, deposits, and other charges for public services in the City of Bunker Hill Village as outlined in Resolution 01-20-09.     Motion carried 5-0.

X.                 CITY ADMINISTRATOR’S REPORT

A.        DISASTER RELIEF FUNDS ASSOCIATED WITH HURRICANE IKE

Ms. Sager stated we have received reimbursement from FEMA in the amount of $50,502.71and that we may be receiving a few more thousand dollars but we don’t have confirmation yet.

Ms. Sager stated that by going with Harris County’s contract for debris pickup we were not out of pocket any funds for debris removal.  She also went on to say that we owe Harris County a big thank you for allowing us to contract with them.

XI.              FIRE COMMISSIONER’S REPORT

A.        FIRE DEPARTMENT ACTIVITIES

Councilman Brown said the first compensation sub-committee will meet the third Monday in February.  Councilman Brown also stated the Chief Calagna prepared a spreadsheet on the attrition history of the past several years.  He also said that Chief Calagna went over a salary survey that West University and Bellaire had done.  Councilman Brown said once he gets a copy he would forward it to the mayor.

XII.           POLICE COMMISSIONER’S REPORT

A.  POLICE DEPARTMENT ACTIVITIES

      Chief Brye stated the police commission met last night and they discussed year end crime statistics.  The crime rate went down in all three villages comparing 2007 to 2008.  The commission was briefed by Councilman Ellis about budgetary issues in the future and how Memorial Village Police Department does business.  The commission approved the purchase of two new vehicles. 

      Chief Brye stated the commission also approved the donation from the police association who went out and obtained private donations from citizens in the amount of $20,000 and they were buying a van and donating it to Memorial Villages Police Department to be used by the special response team.

XIII.        ADJOURN

Motion was made by Loren Smith and seconded by Councilman Brown to adjourn the meeting at 6:10 p.m.

Approved and accepted on February 17, 2009.

_______________________________________

DERRY D. ESSARY, Mayor

ATTEST:

_______________________________________

Kelly Johnson, City Secretary