City of Houston Agenda 8-8-06 (updated!)
This week's report is incomplete for now, as the RCA and agenda backup were not available by the close of business on Friday now complete, since I have the RCA in hand... for what it's worth. As a reminder, these are not publicly posted online, but are available only from the city's intranet; I have to obtain them from a computer that is part of the city's network. I should be able to obtain the information on Monday and edit this post late Monday evening to add additional information.
As always, readers are cautioned that I delete what I judge to be extraneous text, and often paraphrase in order to make the legalese a lot more readable; also that comments added are a mix of my own opinions, best guesses, snarking, and judgments, and therefore may not be entirely accurate. Such deletions may accidentally result in a key omission; if you wish to read the original text, please follow this link to the posted agenda.
AGENDA - COUNCIL MEETING - TUESDAY - AUGUST 8, 2006 - 1:30 P. M.
COUNCIL CHAMBER - SECOND FLOOR - CITY HALL
901 BAGBY - HOUSTON, TEXAS
PRAYER AND PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE - Council Member Johnson1:30 P. M. - ROLL CALL
ADOPT MINUTES OF PREVIOUS MEETING
2:00 P. M. - PUBLIC SPEAKERS - Pursuant to City Council Rule 8, City Council will hear from members of the public; the names and subject matters of persons who had requested to speak at the time of posting of this Agenda are attached; the names and subject matters of persons who subsequently request to speak may be obtained in the City Secretary’s Office
UPDATE:The dignitaries are back: Senator Horton and President Johnson:
PRESIDENT JOSEPH CHARLES - Mayor White Embezzlement, $39.375M, HACH w/FEMA, released, to me.
SENATOR ROBERT HORTON – – All Embassy’s are guilty – I don’t appreciate officers threatening me.
You wonder why our elected officials seem to be contemptuous of the public? If these are the best we can send before them every week, I'm not surprised. Well we do have two that could prove to be more interesting:
MR. TERRANCE FINNER – – Wrongful termination from City Hall.
MS. CINDY LING – Complaint against City Inspectors.
5:00 P. M. - RECESS
RECONVENE--WEDNESDAY - AUGUST 9, 2006 - 9:00 A. M.
MAYOR’S REPORT
Considering last week's report is responsible for Item #15 on the agenda, I'm almost afraid to find out what's up for this week.
Items 1-3: MISCELLANEOUS
1. REQUEST from Mayor for confirmation of the appointment or reappointment of the following to the HOUSTON DOWNTOWN MANAGEMENT DISTRICT BOARD OF DIRECTORS:
Position One - MR. TRAVIS M. OVERALL, appointment, for a term to expire 6/1/2008
Position Two - MR. SHAN SIDDIQUI, reappointment, for a term to expire 6/1/2008
Position Three - MR. OSCAR CHARLES GREENLEAF, reappointment, for a term to expire 6/1/2008
Position Four - MR. JAMES J. SMITH, reappointment, for a term to expire 6/1/2008
Position Five - MS. LESLIE GARCIA ASHBY, reappointment, for a term to expire 6/1/2008
Position Six - MS. VALERIE MARSHALL WILLIAMS, reappointment, for a term to expire 6/1/2008
Position Seven - MR. STEWART O. ROBINSON, reappointment, for a term to expire 6/1/2008
Position Nine - MS. SHARON MICHAEL OWENS, reappointment, for a term to expire 6/1/2009
Position Ten - MR. GEORGE Y. GONZALEZ, appointment, for a term to expire 6/1/2009
Position Eleven - MR. GILBERT ANDREW GARCIA, reappointment, for a term to expire 6/1/2009
Position Twelve - MR. H. MILTON HOWE, appointment, for a term to expire 6/1/2009
Position Thirteen - MR. ERNIE M. FLOHR, reappointment, for a term to expire 6/1/2009
Position Fourteen - MR. PAUL H. LAYNE, reappointment, for a term to expire 6/1/2009
Position Fifteen - MR. GREGORY A. BROTHERS, reappointment, for a term to expire 6/1/2009
Position Twenty - MS. JACQUELINE CURLEY TRAYWICK, appointment, for a term to expire 6/1/2010
Position Twenty-Four - MR. ROBERT (BOB) L. BRADFORD, reappointment, for a term to expire 6/1/2007
Position Twenty-Five - MS. IRMA G. GALVAN, reappointment, for a term to expire 6/1/2007
Position Twenty-Six - MS. JERI A. BALLARD, reappointment, for a term to expire 6/1/2007
Position Twenty-Seven - MR. GARY L. MARKS, reappointment, for a term to expire 6/1/2007
Position Twenty-Eight - MR. THOMAS (J.T.) CHENG, appointment, for a term to expire 6/1/2007
Position Twenty-Nine - MS. PATRICIA B. LODEN, appointment, for a term to expire 6/1/2007
Position Thirty - MR. FRANK G. STAATS, appointment, for a term to expire 6/1/2007
The HDMD tries to pretty it up, but what they really are is the biggest and most important Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone in the city. Remember, the Mayor's appointment is pro-forma; the board itself selects its candidates and presents them to the council which can only say yes or no. (In theory, an uncooperative mayor could withhold such items from the agenda, but since no mayor is going to be in office for more than a few years, why would any mayor pick such a fight?) Covering the area bounded by the major freeways downtown, it is governed by a 30-member board for which, in its own words, the "primary focus is to leverage public funds with private resources to improve facilities and services, as well as accelerate area improvements with widespread benefit above and beyond the level presently provided by local government or voluntary effort." Put more succinctly, every major project downtown, whether rail, park, or stadium, has had the hand of the HDMD behind it somewhere, if not officially, then unofficially.
UPDATE: This is just too many resumés to review and post on here. I may post an addendum over at Houblog, if I get time and there's interest.
2. REQUEST from Mayor for confirmation of the appointment of MR. ALFRED H. BENNETT, to Position 5 of the BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF THE HOUSTON REINVESTMENT ZONE NUMBER SEVEN also known as the OLD SPANISH TRAIL/ALMEDA CORRIDORS ZONE, for a term to expire May 6, 2007
Another TIRZ zone appointment.
UPDATE: See above note.
3. RECOMMENDATION from Director Department Public Works & Engineering to accept the July 2006 Semiannual Report and Recommendations of the Planning Commission, acting as the Capital Improvements Advisory Committee, relating to the implementation of the Water and Wastewater Impact Fees Program and to transfer revenues and interest generated by the Water and Wastewater Impact Fees in the amount of $9,188,163.69 to Revenue Bond Debt Service as recommended in the Report
Any time I see the words "Planning Commission" and "revenue" anywhere near each other, I get nervous, especially considering the track history the City of Houston has with development and housing.
UPDATE: There's not much to add on this; the entire report is here, containing information on how much has been charged in "impact fees" and how many times they were waived; how much money has been raised, and how much transferred to pay bonds. If I can get Archive.org to agree with me again, I'll make it available there. (It's not letting me set my uploads as public for some reason.)
Item 4: ACCEPT WORK
4. RECOMMENDATION from Director Houston Airport System for approval of final contract amount of $46,209,290.24 and acceptance of work on contract with W. W. WEBBER, LLC (previously known as CHAMPAGNE-WEBBER INC, TEXAS) for 8L-26R Connector Taxiways, Bridges and Off-Site Drainage at George Bush Intercontinental Airport/Houston. - 00.99% under the original contract amount
Public Works and Aviation have often been at odds over the latter's casual attitude toward paving over or even removing water meters without following procedures, but this project does not appear to have had many of those problems. Putting together unconnected pieces that I've been handed, I believe the FIS building project in last week's agenda was plagued by issues that are only slowly being resolved. Another issue is that Aviation apparently will not cooperate in any requests from Public Works to document what "live" accounts they are responsible for; this makes it difficult for the the latter to determine which bills they should send to Aviation, which should be sent to federal agencies, and which should be sent to private companies. Apparently, PW&E seeks verification because it is not unknown for smaller "rogue" companies to claim to be obscure state agencies to avoid late penalties.
UPDATE: There was one change order due to a request from the FAA to relocate their control lines into a protected duct, which they paid for.
Item 5: PROPERTY
5. RECOMMENDATION from Director Department of Public Works & Engineering, reviewed and approved by the Joint Referral Committee, on request from Danny and Betty Hengst, for encroachment agreement for a ±9-square-foot building encroachment into Watonga Boulevard, located at 4409 Libbey Lane.
What, it's not enough that we have trains in the street, now we're going to put buildings there? Oh, it's probably an overhang of a sidewalk or something like that.
UPDATE: Turns out to be the corner of a fence on an irregularly-shaped lot. They have to chop the corner a bit, but get to keep a few square feet on city property for 30 years or the life of the fence, whichever comes first.
Items 6-14: PURCHASING AND TABULATION OF BIDS
6. FLOYD THOMAS, LLC for BMC Software Licenses through the City’s Master Agreement with the Texas Department of Information Resources (DIR) for Texas CISV Master Catalog Purchases under Chapter 2157 of the Government Code for Houston Airport System - $169,923.75 - Enterprise Fund
UPDATE: This software is used to monitor the computer networks and look for faults, track bandwith usage, and perform other functions. In short, it's also a snoop program to see who's hanging out on the internet, though I don't doubt it performs other valuable functions. The thing that drew my attention was this line: "issue a purchase order to DIR's Go Direct Vendor, Floyd Thomas, LLC, a certified State of Texas Historically Underutilized Business." Is that what we're calling minority businesses now?
7. BAGLEY’S FLOOR SERVICES, LTD. for Ceramic Tile Installation Services from the State of Texas Building and Procurement Commission’s Contract through the State of Texas Cooperative Purchasing Program for Building Services Department - $40,911.55 and contingencies for a total amount not to exceed $42,957.13 - In-House Renovation Revolving Fund
UPDATE: For Fire Station #75.
8. ORDINANCE appropriating $18,000.00 out of Parks Consolidated Construction Fund for Asbestos Abatement and Mold Remediation at the Godwin Park Multi-Purpose Room for the Parks & Recreation Department.
9. NATIONAL ELECTRICAL SYSTEMS, INC for Trailer-mounted Generators for Building Services Department - $419,271.00 - Grant Fund
10. BECKMAN COULTER, INC - $536,700.00 and BIO-RAD LABORATORIES, INC - $745,272.40 for Medical, Diagnostic and Virological Test Kits for Health & Human Services Department - General Fund
11. WILLIS DEMOLISHING COMPANY for Asbestos Abatement, Demolition and Site Clean-up Services for the Police Department - $29,800.00 and contingencies for a total amount not to exceed $31,290.00 - Dangerous Building Fund
12. AMEND MOTION #2003-1044, 8/27/03, TO EXTEND expiration date from August 26, 2006 to November 25, 2007 for Chemical Sodium Hypochlorite Contract for Department of Public Works & Engineering, awarded to ALTIVIA CORPORATION
13. TOTER, INCORPORATED for Automated Refuse Carts from the State of Texas Building and Procurement Commission’s Contract through the State of Texas Cooperative Purchasing Program for Solid Waste Management Department - $109,900.12 Equipment Acquisition Consolidated Fund
14. FIRE PROTECTION SERVICE, INC (Bid No. 2) - $176,551.41 and H.M.T. SERVICES CORPORATION - $91,628.09 for Fire Extinguishers for Various Departments - $273,652.55 minus a commission fee for Internet-based reverse auction services for a net award not to exceed $268,179.50 - General, Fleet Management and Enterprise Funds
Some thoughts about what I'll be looking for when I see the RCA:
Item #8: Was this due to flooding? UPDATE: It appears so, and the sheetrock contains asbestos.
Item #9: Presumably to support city buildings during a disaster and loss of power? UPDATE: Spot on.
Item #11: I thought the Dangerous Building Fund was for destruction of abandoned structures? UPDATE: Commentors who noted that this function had been moved to HPD were correct. The addresses to be demolished are: 6634 Trigate, 2910 Palm, 7219 Carew.
Item #12: Sounds like salt for freezing roads.UPDATE: As commentors noted, it's for purifying sewage.
Item #13: Automated refuse carts? I'm intrigued. UPDATE: What a disappointment. The carts are in no way automated! It's just the typical garbage cans equipped to be remotely picked up by COH Solid Waste trucks. And here I was looking for RoboTrashMan or something...
Items 15-27: ORDINANCES
15. ORDINANCE ordering a Regular Election to be held on November 7, 2006, for the purpose of submitting to the qualified electors of the City of Houston, Texas, a proposition amending the City Charter retaining certain limitations on property taxes and water and sewer rates, and making certain changes applicable to city revenues
Well, here it is, the mayor's read the handwriting on the wall and knows he can't overthrow Prop. 2 with Prop. 1, nor in the courts, so now he wants to gut Proposition 2.
16. ORDINANCE consenting to the addition of 7.9574 acres of land to HARRIS COUNTY WATER CONTROL & IMPROVEMENT DISTRICT NO. 84, for inclusion in its district
17. ORDINANCE authorizing the Mayor to accept an additional Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Airport Improvement Program (AIP) Grant offer up to $5,000,000.00 for Project 614, Taxiway "H" Pavement Rehabilitation at Ellington Field.
The next three items are summarized heavily to remove legalese. UPDATE: And the backup to all three is missing. What a coincidence.
18. Amendment to Ordinance No. 2002-0328, restructuring the City’s Second Lien Section 108 Loan on the MAGNOLIA HOTEL and to spend up to $7,384,849 of EDI Grant Funds to protect the City’s position on its Section 108 Notes. Also authorize the Mayor to negotiate with HUD additional EDI Grant Funds up to such amount and to execute an amendment to the contract between the City and HUD relating to the project.
Translation: "Dear HUD: we loaned these guys a bunch of money to build a hotel. Now they won't pay us back, and since we're second lienholder, we can't do anything about it. However, if you give us ANOTHER $7.3 million and let us amend our agreement, we don't think we'll be shafted any worse." See item #3.
19. Amendment to Ordinance No. 1999-1186, restructuring of the City’s Second Lien Section 108 Loan on the CROWNE PLAZA HOTEL (formerly the Whitehall Hotel) and to spend up to $3,984,818 of additional EDI Grant Funds to protect the City’s position on its Section 108 Notes. Also to authorize the Mayor to negotiate with HUD for additional EDI Grant Funds up to such amount and execute an amendment to the contract between the City and HUD relating to the project.
Translation: "Oops, we did it again."
20. ORDINANCE approving and authorizing contract between the City of Houston and COALITION FOR THE HOMELESS OF HOUSTON/HARRIS COUNTY to provide a grant in an amount not to exceed $193,415.00 in Community Development Block Grant Funds for the Operation of a Homeless Services Data Base and other Homeless related Information Services, which amount includes a limitation on additional funding in the amount of $181,000.00 - 1 Year
Wait, didn't we have one of these proposals last week? How many Homeless Services Data Bases (two words) do we need? Why do we need databases on people to whom the mayor says we aren't supposed to be handing money? If you want to stop wasting money on them, here's around $374k to start with!
21. ORDINANCE approving and authorizing contract between the City of Houston and AKIN GUMP STRAUSS HAUER & FELD, LLP, for Professional Legal Services; providing a maximum contract amount - $200,000.00 - Property and Casualty Fund
Okay, who sued the city to stop them from doing something stupid this time?
UPDATE: It's worse than I thought. Tom Bazan found the answer in the agenda to the Housing and Community Develpment Committe, chaired by Ada Edwards. It's to hire a high powerd Washington D.C. legal firm to "work with" (read: lobby) HUD to drop the claims relevant to their audit from a few years ago, as well as other claims dealing with misuse of HOWPA funds. Get a load of this line from the RCA:
"The City's Department of Housing and Community Development ("HCD") has made progress in resolving outstanding issues with HUD and has reduced the City's potential exposure. However, claims for reimbursement remain unresolved, an example of which is a claim for reimbursement of approximately $2 .1 million for CDBG and HOPWA funds expended with respect to a particular service provider." I'm pretty much aghast. Two million dollars in misspent funding is a scandal in and of itself. But this is only an example???
Oh. My. God. It's worse than I thought. But at least the RCA ends with this howler: "Favorable resolution of the HUD findings will result in the City having more funds available for housing,
community development and community support services."
22. ORDINANCE approving and authorizing contingency fee contract for Legal Services with GILMAN AND PASTOR, L.L.P. with regard to a claim against Beazer East, Inc., for the Roof of the Everett Collier Library
The only prior reference to this library's roof I've been able to locate for now is a 2002 ordinance (#370) authorizing Chamberlin Waterproofing and Roofing to do about $24,000-worth of work. I don't know if it's related or not.
UPDATE: The exact nature of the fault isn't discussed, but the roof is a phenolic foam type, and the law firm gets 33% of any settlement, 40% if the city wins at trial.
23. ORDINANCE approving and authorizing a lease agreement between BNC SOUTH LOOP ASSOCIATES, L.P., A Delaware Limited Partnership, as Landlord (“Landlord”), and the City of Houston, Texas, as tenant (the “City”), for approximately 6,204 net rentable square feet of office space at 2636 South Loop West, Houston, Harris County, Texas 77054, for forty-eight (48) months at a monthly rental of $8,013.50, with a single payment of up to $20,552.00 for tenant improvement costs, for use by the Sign Administration Group of Code Enforcement, Public Works and Engineering Department
The last I knew, Sign administration was located on the fourth floor of a truly crappy building located at Kirby and the SW Freeway. This is roughly $1.30 per sq.ft, but I have no idea if that's a good price in the area or not. I do wonder why such a "citywide" office is being moved that far out of downtown.
UPDATE: Turns out they've been at 3300 Main, which is overcrowded due to staffing increases. Sign Administration has the least to do with any of the other sections, so they're the logical ones to bump. (Still, you think they'd try to keep them somewhere nearby.) The city is also paying for about $70k in unspecified improvements.
24. ORDINANCE appropriating $303,201.91 out of Water & Sewer Consolidated Construction Fund and $210,000.00 out of Affordable Housing Uptown Series 2004D Fund and approving and authorizing Developer Participation Contract between the City of Houston and HOUSTON HABITAT FOR HUMANITY, INC for Construction of Water, Sanitary Sewer and Storm Sewer Lines for Section One of the Umland Park Subdivision.
UPDATE: The backup for this item is missing.25. ORDINANCE appropriating $189,194.47 out of Water & Sewer Consolidated Construction Fund and $106,740.96 out of TIRZ Affordable Housing Fund and approving and authorizing Developer Participation Contract between the City of Houston and HOUSTON HABITAT FOR HUMANITY, INC for Construction of Water, Sanitary Sewer and Storm Sewer Lines for Section Two of the Umland Park Subdivision.
Sounds like brownfield development of "affordable housing" which probably won't be.
UPDATE: The backup for this item is missing.
26. ORDINANCE approving and authorizing amendment to an Untreated Water Supply Contract between the City of Houston and VALERO REFINING COMPANY - TEXAS, LP - Revenue
Contract for untreated surface water from either the San Jacinto or Trinity rivers. There are a series of major canals that can deliver about 18mgd (million gallons daily) if memory serves me, to the ship channel area and more to the Baytown area.
UPDATE: Surface water contracts have a penalty structure built in; if they exceed their contracted draw, they get a surcharge. The only way out of that is to contract for a higher amount. They are increasing to 5.6mgd from 4.6mgd. (The 18mgd figure may have been for Bayport alone, now that I think about it.)
27. ORDINANCE appropriating $125,000.00 out of Public Library Consolidated Construction Fund for Professional Architectural Services Contract for Facility Assessment at six branch libraries with NATALYE APPEL + ASSOCIATES ARCHITECTS, LLC.
Sounds as if it's time to rebuild a few libraries.
UPDATE: Disability violation assessment and plans/cost for fixing them for J.S. Bracewell, Amanda E. Dixon, J Frank Jungman, Lucille Yvonne Melcher, Oak Forest, and Elizibeth L. Ring libraries. The contract includes $15,000 in "reimbursable expenses." Anyone got some insight on that?
Items 28 and 29: PROPERTY
28. RECOMMENDATION from Director Department of Public Works & Engineering, reviewed and approved by the Joint Referral Committee, on request from Reid C. Wilson of Wilson, Cribbs & Goren, P.C. on behalf of Jim R. Smith, for abandonment and sale of Look Road from Old Katy Road to Bunker Hill Road.
29. RECOMMENDATION from Director Department of Public Works & Engineering that City Council declare surplus and authorize the sealed bid sale of the following properties:
Parcel SY6-104 - 3600 Block Beulah - DISTRICT D - EDWARDS
Parcel SY6-107 - Oak Meadows at Howard - DISTRICT E - WISEMAN
Parcel SY6-111 - 12949 Westella - DISTRICT G - HOLM
Parcel SY6-105 - 522 Crosstimbers - DISTRICT H - GARCIA
and authorize the City Secretary to advertise the properties for sealed bid sale to the highest bidder at the minimum appraised bid amount -
The properties, sure, but an entire road? Okay, I'll be looking at the diagrams tomorrow.
UPDATE: The road is being abandoned to commercial development in return for a 10 foot utility easement. The new owners must cut and plug an 8" city water main, two sewer lines, and storm drains, relocating all to Bunker Hill Road at their expense. Look Road parallels Bunker Hill for a few blocks north of I-10.
Items 30-32: MATTERS HELD
30. ORDINANCE AMENDING THE CITY OF HOUSTON FIRE CODE and CHAPTER 20 OF THE CODE OF ORDINANCES, HOUSTON, TEXAS, relating to use of propane in, on, or in conjunction with Mobile Food Units; declaring certain conduct to be unlawful and providing a penalty therefor.
TAGGED BY COUNCIL MEMBERS WISEMAN, SEKULA-GIBBS and CLUTTERBUCK
This was Item 17 on Agenda of August 2, 2006
Mainly, a lot of changes for fire safety, but one notable provision is that mobile operators have to prove to inspectors on demand that they have permisson to use the land they are on. Apparently, there have been problems with squatters.
31. ORDINANCE ordering a Regular Election to be held jointly on November 7, 2006, for the purpose of submitting to the qualified electors of the City of Houston, Texas, certain propositions for the issuance of Public Improvement Bonds for various purposes; designating the location of each polling place and the hours that the polls shall be open
TAGGED BY COUNCIL MEMBERS ALVARADO and WISEMAN
This was Item 18 on Agenda of August 2, 2006.
Okay, I have some questions on Item #31 now. What does the fact that the mayor is asking to schedule this item and #15 during a relatively high-turnout general election mean? Is he afraid that opponents would flock to the polls in larger numbers than supporters, and would want to offset them with the more, ah, "easily-swayed" voters who will be coming out to support their general election candidates? What well-to-do heavyweight business leader will he tap to head up the "citizen's committee" that will spend millions in support of his financial/political agenda? Will he once again trot out city employee pensions as a rationale to stampede the ill-informed? Inquiring minds, and all that...
32. ORDINANCE amending Ordinance No. 2005-405, which approved contract with SAP PUBLIC SERVICES, INC for an Enterprise Resource Planning System to increase the maximum contract amount - $1,600,000.00 - Central Service Revolving Fund
TAGGED BY COUNCIL MEMBERS SEKULA-GIBBS, KHAN and HOLM
This was Item 39 on Agenda of August 2, 2006MATTERS TO BE PRESENTED BY COUNCIL MEMBERS - Council Member Alvarado first
I have to ask: do you think she's going to open the floor to a debate on the city's "not-a-sanctuary, don't-ask-don't-tell" policy?
Nah, me neither.
See you tomorrow night, with the RCA update!
Done!
Posted by Ubu Roi @ 08/06/06 08:04 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Sphere | Comments (6)
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