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2005-10-31 CITY COUNCIL SPECIAL MEETING MINUTESMINUTES OF A SPECIAL MEETING OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PEARLAND, TEXAS, HELD ON OCTOBER 31, 2005, AT 6:00 P.M., IN THE COUNCIL CHAMBERS, CITY HALL, 3519 LIBERTY DRIVE, PEARLAND, TEXAS. The meeting was called to order at 6:00 p.m. with the following present: Mayor Mayor Pro -Tem Councilmember Councilmember Councilmember City Manager City Attorney City Secretary Tom Reid Kevin Cole Woody Owens Larry Marcott Pos. No. 3 Vacant Bill Eisen Darrin Coker Young Lorfing Others in attendance: Assistant City Manager Nick Finan; City Engineer Doug Kneupper; Assistant City Engineer Andrew Gallagher; Acting Public Works Director Danny Cameron; Project Director Joe Wertz; Project Manager Peggy Jo Betzer; Project Manager Jennifer Phan and Project Assistant Christina Abbott. _ PURPOSE OF THE MEETING: Council adjourned into Executive Session under Texas Government Code at 6:00 p.m. to discuss the following: EXECUTIVE SESSION UNDER TEXAS GOVERNMENT CODE SECTION 551.074 — PERSONNEL MATTERS — CONDUCT INTERVIEWS OF APPLICANTS FOR APPOINTMENT TO THE PLANNING AND ZONING COMMISSION. City Council. NEW BUSINESS: Council returned from Executive Session at 7:05 p.m. CONSIDERATION AND POSSIBLE ACTION — REGARDING THE INTERVIEWS OF APPLICANTS FOR APPOINTMENT TO THE PLANNING AND ZONING COMMISSION. City Council. No action taken by Council. Mayor Reid recessed the Special Meeting at 7:08 p.m. Page 1 of 8 - 10/31/2005 Mayor Reid called the Special Meeting back to order at 8:45 p.m. COUNCIL ACTION — RESOLUTION NO. R2005-168 — A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PEARLAND, TEXAS, APPROVING CHANGE ORDER NO. 1 ASSOCIATED WITH THE MAGNOLIA SEWER PROJECT. Mr. Bill Eisen, City Manager. Councilmember Tetens made the motion, seconded by Councilmember Owens, to approve Resolution No. R2005-168. City Manager Bill Eisen stated this is an item from last week's agenda that Council had concerns regarding quantity differences from what was originally bid. Project Director Joe Wertz stated after a discussion about this item last week, the Projects Staff have analyzed a few issues regarding this change order. There are two major items in question: one was the hours and the cost; the second issue is the wet sand construction. He stated according to the costs, about five different bid tabs were pulled showing costs as low as $19 an hour for the winning bid for O'Day Road. The second low bid was for $30 an hour and the third bid was for $33 an hour. Hickory Creek had a winning bid of $29.15 an hour, the second low bid was for $10 an hour, the third was for $29.38 an hour, and the fourth was for $18.73. McHard Road had a winning bid of $32.40 an hour. Finally Dixie Farm Road had bids from $25.40 an hour to $150 an hour. There have been bidders as low at $10 an hour and as high as $150 an hour. Councilmember Marcott stated his concern is that Council gives the Project Department a project to do and Council accepts what Projects gives them back. He doesn't see how on a busy road like Magnolia that a big quantity of work can be done in 300 hours. He stated the engineers are not doing their job and the City gets the blame. He doesn't feel that the engineers are doing their job. When you miss something as simple as a flag map on a busy road, it brings up concerns about how the rest of the job being done. Project Director Joe Wertz stated a $1.4 million job at Hickory that just finished had 2000 man-hours spent. A $1 million job on O'Day Road had 700 man-hours spent. The Magnolia Road Project is estimated to cost $1.2 million. The contractor for this job estimated that for every $100,000 140 man-hours would be put it. Councilmember Marcott stated his concern for the job is it is still not being completed the way a licensed consulting engineer should whether there are too few or too many hours being put in. John Saavedra with S & B Infrastructure addressed Council and stated six months ago they lost the engineer that worked with this project specifically. He stated he would do his best to describe the estimate that has been put together by that gentleman. He stated he Page 2 of 8 - 10/31/2005 they lost the engineer that worked with this project specifically. He stated he would do his best to describe the estimate that has been put together by that gentleman. He stated he believes the 300 man-hour estimate was according to the six crossings over Magnolia Road. He stated any time the estimate has been exceeded it is the construction's management team to either make a decision and get it approved through the City, or got to the design engineer requesting additional help. Usually when the contractor is not going to meet the deadline he/she will go to the construction inspector and bring up the issue and put a request for help in writing. At that point the inspector will respond promptly to the request if possible. In the event that the inspector could not respond to the request he would go to the design consultant to assist with the projects. In this case, there was never and request made by the engineer for help. Councilmember Marcott stated he is concerned that if the City is going to be doing business with a consultant, they need to be giving the City the right information so the City can make an accurate decision. He also stated he is concerned that consultants are taking shortcuts and not looking at the complete technical report. The City spends a tremendous amount of money on these projects and somehow the City has to pay for the mistakes being made. The City wants to do as much as possible with its money. Councilmember Marcott stated that in the future when a change order is presented, it should be clear what the change order is for so Council does not have to ask several questions and not be sure what the change order is exactly for. Lengthy discussion ensued between Council, Hugh Bradwell of Carter and Burgess and Project Director Joe Wertz. Voting "Aye" Councilmembers Tetens, Owens, Cole, and Marcott. Voting "No" None. Motion Passed 4 to 0. COUNCIL ACTION — RESOLUTION NO. R2005-166 — A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PEARLAND, TEXAS, AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER OR HIS DESIGNEE TO ENTER INTO A CONTRACT WITH BERG OLIVER ASSOCIATES, INC., FOR ENVIRONMENTAL MONITORING SERVICES ASSOCIATED WITH THE PEARLAND PARKWAY WETLANDS MITIGATION PROJECT. Mr. Bill Eisen, City Manager. Councilmember Owens made the motion, seconded by Councilmember Tetens, to approve Resolution No. R2005-166. Page 3 of 8 - 10/31/2005 City Manager Bill Eisen stated this item involves wetlands mitigation that was required as a result of the wetlands that were destroyed during the construction of the Pearland Parkway Project. This contract is a five-year contract with Berg Oliver for any maintenance and monitoring of this site. Project Director Joe Wertz stated that the proposed amount for the monitoring seemed extremely expensive but was actually a very good price. Berg Oliver stated that as the wetlands become well established they would petition to either reduce or eliminate the monitoring responsibilities. Councilmember Marcott asked if Project Director Joe Wertz and his department would be monitoring the overall project. Project Director Joe Wertz stated yes. Voting "Aye" Councilmembers Marcott, Cole, Owens, and Tetens. Voting "No" None. Motion Passed 4 to 0. COUNCIL ACTION — APPROVING THE PROPOSED FY 2006 CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT PROJECTS BUDGET. Mr. Joe Wertz, Project Director. Mayor Pro -Tem Cole made the motion, seconded by Councilmember Marcott, to approve the Proposed Fiscal Year 2006 Capital Improvement Projects Budget. City Manager Bill Eisen stated this item is to formally accept this project. Voting "Aye" Councilmembers Tetens, Owens, Cole, and Marcott. Voting "No" None. Motion Passed 4 to 0. COUNCIL ACTION — RESOLUTION NO. R2005-138 — A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PEARLAND, TEXAS, APPROVING CHANGE ORDER NO. 1 ASSOCIATED WITH THE WEST MARY'S CREEK DETENTION PROJECT. Mr. Bill Eisen, City Manager. Page 4 of 8 - 10/31/2005 Councilmember Marcott made the motion, seconded by Councilmember Tetens, to approve Resolution No. R2005-138. City Manager Bill Eisen stated this is the result of the delays that Council is well aware of with the contractor actually being able to begin construction on the West Mary's Creek Detention Facility. This amount was negotiated after considerable efforts by staff. Project Director Joe Wertz stated we are here tonight to get the official approval of this change order. Voting "Aye" Councilmembers Tetens, Owens, Cole and Marcott. Voting "No" None. Motion Passed 4 to 0. COUNCIL ACTION — RESOLUTION NO. R2005-167 — A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PEARLAND, TEXAS, APPROVING WORK AUTHORIZATION #4 SUPPLEMENT #18 FOR ENGINEERING DESIGN SERVICES ASSOCIATED WITH THE PEARLAND MOBILITY AND DRAINAGE BOND PROGRAM (CORRIGAN DRAINAGE PROJECT). Mr. Bill Eisen, City Manager. Councilmember Tetens made the motion, seconded by Councilmember Owens, to approve Resolution No. R2005-167 as amended. City Manager Bill Eisen stated this item refers to the actual compensations for the redesign of certain segments of Phase 3. He asked that at this time the engineer please explain this item in more detail. City Engineer Doug Kneupper stated they started off talking about a protection level of 49 feet because that was the 100 -year flood plain elevation in that vicinity, Now we are using a level of 48 feet because once we complete the West Mary's Pond and then do a little optimization to the existing weir at South West Environmental Center, that will be the 100 - year flood plain elevation in the vicinity of Corrigan. Project Director Joe Wertz stated that does not take into consideration the Veterns Detention Pond. The County has committed to design that project. He also stated that currently they are meeting the City's 2005 criteria that states thou shall not have water over 9 inches of the curb, which is the minimum standard in all subdivisions. Page 5 of 8 - 10/31/2005 Discussion ensued between Council and Project Director Joe Wertz. Project Director Joe Wertz stated that within the next three to four weeks he expects to have the final plans. The construction time has been reduced from about 300 hours to 240 hours. Councilmember Marcott stated this project should have been close to being finished by now. The project needs to keep going at all times and definitely needs to be completed. Voting "Aye" Councilmembers Marcott, Cole, Owens, and Tetens. Voting "No" None. Motion Passed 4 to 0. COUNCIL ACTION — VARIANCE REQUEST BY TRANSWESTERN COMMERCIAL SERVICES FOR 110 -ACRE TRACT AT FM 518 & SH 288 (MEMORIAL HERMANN TRACT). Mr. Nick Finan, Assistant City Manager. Councilmember Owens made the motion, seconded by Mayor Pro -Tem Cole, to discuss a variance request by Transwestern Commercial Services for 110 -acre tract at FM 518 & SH 288 (Memorial Hermann Tract) as amended to allow for more time for discussion between the developers and staff. City Manager Bill Eisen stated this is a request from Memorial Hermann to seek a variance of the City's procedures to allow them to receive their building permit and final plat after the final approval. Additional information was given by Assistant City Manager Nick Finan. Mark Miller with Transwestern stated he would like to address the concerns that were raised earlier. Right now the intentions are to plat Memorial Hermann Drive as a cul-de- sac that does not connect to TxDOT. He stated, eventually, they will discuss this with TxDOT and hopefully at some point, it will connect. The road itself as of now, will not connect to the feeder road or SH 288. Councilmember Tetens asked what point is the road serving if it is not connected to anything. Mark Miller stated that there is a preliminary plat layout that shows Business Center Drive Page 6 of 8 - 10/31/2005 running north and south and Memorial Hermann Drive running east and west. Memorial Hermann Drive will connect to Business Center Drive and it will just serve as an interior Street. Business Center Drive will connect to FM 518. He stated Transwestern has been working with CBL who is the Developer to the South of the project and the City. Jack Carter with Dannenbaum Engineering stated that two years ago he originally had a preliminary plat. The Planning Commission approved the plat in December of 2003. Drainage studies were also submitted and approved through Brazoria Drainage District Number Four. During that time period, Memorial Hermann was looking at their prototype facilities that they wanted to build in a variety of locations. In May of 2005, Memorial Hermann was ready to start along with Transwestem and they submitted an updated preliminary plat. Currently they are still working with Business Center Drive to try to accommodate the City's needs. The only way to keep Memorial Hermann on their schedule is to allow the Hospital to get started and hopefully the traffic issue can soon be solved. Lengthy discussion ensued between Council and Jack Carter with Dannenbaum Engineering. City Manager Bill Eisen stated that a lot of the things being said tonight are being heard for the first time. He asked that Council might agree to take the next few days for the developers, engineers and everyone else to get their dates and solutions together before agreeing to anything tonight. Additional information was given by Assistant City Manager Nick Finan. Councilmember Owens made the motion, seconded by Mayor Pro -Tem Cole to amend the original motion to allow more time for discussion between the developers and staff regarding the project. Voting "Aye" Councilmembers Marcott, Cole, Owens, and Tetens. Voting "No" None. Motion Passed 4 to 0. Mayor Reid called for a vote on the original motion as amended. Voting "Aye" Councilmembers Marcott, Cole, Owens, and Tetens. Voting "No" None Page 7 of 8 - 10/31/2005 Motion Passed 4 to 0. ADJOURNMENT Meeting was adjourned at 10:35. Minutes approved as submitted and/or corrected this the 28th day of November_, 2005. ATTEST- / • �L�Jnd'TFQV Tom Reid Mayor Page 8 of 8 - 10/31/2005