September 04, 2014 Minutes
City of Denton City Council Minutes
September 4, 2014
After determining in Open Session that a quorum was present, the City Council convened in a
Closed Meeting at 10:00 a.m. on Thursday, September 4, 2014 in Salon E at the Dallas/Fort
Worth Marriott Solana, 5 Village Circle, Westlake, Texas to consider the specific item listed
below under the Closed Meeting section of this agenda.
PRESENT: Council Member Gregory, Council Member Hawkins, Council Member Johnson,
Council Member Roden, Council Member Ryan, and Mayor Watts.
ABSENT: Mayor Pro Tem Engelbrecht
1. Closed Session
A.ID 14-0479 -
Consultation with Attorneys - Under Texas Government Code, Section
551.071
1. Consult with and provide direction to City’s attorneys regarding legal issues and
strategies associated with Gas Well Ordinance regulation of gas well drilling and
production within the City Limits and the extraterritorial jurisdiction, including:
Constitutional limitations, statutory limitations upon municipal regulatory authority;
statutory preemption and vested rights; impacts of federal and state law and regulations;
impacts of gas well drilling upon protected uses and vice-versa; moratorium on drilling
and production; other concerns about municipal regulatory authority or matters relating to
enforcement of the Gas Well Ordinance; settlement matters concerning gas well drilling
in the City; surface development issues involving surface and mineral estates; and legal
matters associated with a citizen’s initiative regarding hydraulic fracturing where a public
discussion of these legal matters would conflict with the duty of the City’s attorneys
under the Texas Disciplinary Rules of Professional Conduct of the State Bar of Texas.
Planning Session of the City of Denton City Council at 1:30 p.m. on Thursday, September 4, 2014
and at 8:00 a.m. on Friday, September 5, 2014 in Salon E at the Dallas/Fort Worth Marriott Solana, 5
Village Circle, Westlake, Texas at which the following items will be considered
ITEMS FOR DISCUSSION:
A.ID 14-0464 Discuss and give direction concerning the long, mid, and short term
accomplishments, goals, objectives, plans, vision, mission, values, and strategic plan of the
City of Denton as it relates to city services and infrastructure, streets, parks, finances, budget,
planning, zoning and development, environmental issues, technology, public utilities, taxes,
engineering, economic development, codes enforcement, transportation, purchasing,
management, intergovernmental relations, boards, commissions and committees, meetings,
and, without limitation, any and all operations of the City of Denton city government.
City Manager Campbell thanked everyone for coming and spending time on making these types
of meeting successful. This process was an important part of the process for setting goals and
priorities for the City.
Karen Walz, consultant for Strategic Community Solutions, presented the retreat objectives
which included (1) discussion and direction to update the conclusions reached in January 2014,
and (2) discussion among council members and key staff of major issues both internal and
external such as economic development, finances, facilities and infrastructure, and positioning
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September 4-5, 2014
Page 2
Denton for development that implements the City’s vision. Council would agree on a set of top
priority outcomes for 2014-2015 related to these major issues.
The sessions for the next two days would include setting the stage, Council’s objectives for the
2014-15 council term, economic development, and a team exercise. Friday’s session would
discuss finances, facilities and infrastructure; positioning the City for development that
implemented the city’s vision, and finalize those priorities and provide direction.
Each of these topics was an important long term issue, all were interrelated decisions with one
affecting the others, resulted from feedback from Council survey, priorities expressed at last
retreat, retreat timing in relation to action on Comprehensive Plan, and discussion of economic
development strategy.
Mayor Pro Tem Engelbrecht arrived at the meeting.
Setting the Stage – The Mission Statement for the city of Denton was reviewed as well as the
results of the January session. Topics from the January session included Denton’s desired future,
communication within the city, innovation, communication with people in Denton and leadership
transition. Key outcomes with top priorities for action this year were reviewed. Another area
involved the strategic plan and key focus areas. Community Vision Statement and the 2030 plan
were also noted which included the preferred growth concept. Council’s on-line survey results
were reviewed.
Council Member Johnson said Council should think about each department surveying customers
on how the city was doing.
Mayor Watts stated that it will be interesting to see how the questions and findings compared
with previous retreats with this retreat. Council talked about certain items a lot but if there was
no way to measure the results, it was hard to determine if those discussions had been effective.
If they were not effective, why not.
Council Member Roden felt that there were various categories of goals that had a lot of
information included in the areas and a concern might be how Council was communicating those
collective goals to the public in smaller areas of information. There might be too much
information in the strategic goal and a need for an annual goal to communicate to the public.
Council Member Hawkins stated he would like to see how his voting on Tuesdays went with his
vision for the city.
Council Member Gregory said to make sure smaller items that were being measured still had to
do with the bigger goals.
Discussions would be held on goals, how they related to current values, how they were diverse
but similar goals and how those affected decisions/development in the City. Factors that affect
goals and how goals moved at different rates would be discussed as well as how to achieve the
vision for Denton that was desired. A determination would be made on who was the stakeholder
in each goal to see how/if it was achieved.
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September 4-5, 2014
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Council’s objectives for the 2014-15 council term would be examined and what were the key
priorities for this time period. Specific objectives would be noted to look back to see if they
were completed.
Clear objectives for Council Goals
(1) Clear direction from Council at end of work session discussions and more specific responses
and direction on items with consensus.
Mayor Watts stated that as chair of meeting he felt it was important after each item that staff was
provided with what Council had heard, what the direction was and empower staff to clarify what
objective/direction was given. Be clear on how staff was supposed to respond to individual
comments-empower them. Presentations could be revised in order to get direction from Council.
Differences of opinion should be shared.
Objective for the year - Changes to procedures and communication so staff and Council have a
clear understanding of what can/should be done next.
nd
(2) 2 Tuesday meetings - discussion for strategic planning sessions
Objectives for the year - carry out a regular schedule for strategic discussions; examine changes
to “push” decisions down to staff as appropriate; prepare for a citizen survey.
(3) Leverage technology
Objectives for the year - leverage technology to get the City’s work done better; neighborhood
and district identity; tracking all applications.
(4) Clearly articulated vision
Objectives for the year - have a vision that was clearly articulated and communicated to the
public.
(5) Process for compact growth
Objectives for the year - create process for compact growth.
(6) Other objectives
Objectives for the year - make decisions on green infrastructure; more specific direction on
housing/social topics; permitting and inspection improvements; transit oriented development.
Council prioritized the number one and number two objectives as creating a process for compact
growth and to have a vision that was clearly articulated.
Economic Development Discussion –
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September 4-5, 2014
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Economic development was changing – it was not just about attracting major employers as that
approach was costly and small businesses generate jobs. It was also not just about costs. It
included arts, culture, environment and character. It was not just about employers. Employees
were choosing communities. Partnerships and community engagement were vital. Education,
technology, communications were other assets that may be provided by others outside business
and government.
Council discussion- What were Denton’s most notable past successes in economic development?
Responses included Sally Beauty, Target warehouse, Denton Crossing; industrial area with
Peterbilt, etc., festivals; Downtown; focus on livability; the medical community; the two
universities; the train connection; Denton airport; and the economic development asset in the
university and public investment.
Council discussion - What have been some economic development challenges? Denton’s
location in Texas was doing well so there was less of a need to be aggressive, the balance
between quality and quantity; lack of deep pockets; varying identity for the City; old narratives;
complacent; don’t know assets; demographics; amount of government-owned property;
understanding the value in addition to the tax value; and reputation as hard to do business in
community.
Council discussion - What were the most important economic development steps for the next 5
years? More detailed plan for supporting small business startups; clearly articulated recruitment
package – why Denton?; better aligning economic development strategies with the universities;
continued collaboration with DISD to help promote DISD and City; refine look at value trying to
recruit to Denton; reframing economic development investment for quality of life; updating or
modernizing economic incentives; and energy as an economic development tool.
Council discussion - What economic development actions were the most critical to achieve the
Denton 2030 vision? Keep focus on a strong infrastructure; city controlling strategic parcels of
land; connectivity via technology; align economic development goals with the community
character; goal to have cleanest and most attractive city in north Texas – visually appealing; and
transit oriented development in the downtown area and along the trails;
Friday Discussions
Topics for discussion would include (1) finance, facilities and infrastructure, (2) positioning the
City for development that implements the city’s vision and (3) finalizing priorities and direction.
Council thoughts on economic development priorities included:
Technology focused development
Extending downtown across the railroad tracks and redeveloping industries
Public amenity space
Music amphitheater
Relocating problem industries
Identify location for technology focused development (Flash Drive) - ownership and
financing
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September 4-5, 2014
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Interview existing technology companies to understand why chose Denton and create
marketing campaign to assist recruiting similar companies
Ownership and financing
Address need for high speed internet in the location
Address downtown parking/municipal facility – plan of what need and location
Marketing entire project – Denton destination and include partners
Intentional connection to Hispanic/African American neighborhoods
Finances, Facilities and Infrastructure – factors in this area included:
Local government tightrope
New facilities and infrastructure to keep up with growth
Existing facilities and infrastructure needed regular maintenance as well as rehabilitation
as they age
Must have funds to use them – program, operations, etc.
Funding was limited
Even with recovery, it was important to be frugal, responsive to citizen priorities,
efficient in cost per unit of service provided and effective in getting the best return on
investment
Team discussion questions that the Council considered included what economic development
outcomes would do the most to add economic diversity while enhancing Denton’s unique
culture; what policy direction should the city follow in balancing annual facility and
infrastructure investments in operations and maintenance, new construction, rehabilitation and/or
replacement and what policy direction should the City follow when additional resources become
available.
Council discussed results from the discussion of the above questions and looked at a set of steps
to get to the policy direction for annual investments.
Council continued their discussion with an emphasis on positioning the City for development
that implemented the City vision. Some of those areas included the Denton 2030 Plan, the
Community Vision Statement and the Preferred Growth Concept. Housing trends for the vision
project was discussed.
A recap of the retreat discussions included (1) what results were wanted in the next year and (2)
what were the objectives to accomplish. A recap statement of the discussions was to create a
process for encouraging, incentivizing and expediting compact growth and to have a vision that
was clearly articulated.
With no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 1:00 p.m.
______________________________ ______________________________
CHRIS WATTS JENNIFER WALTERS
MAYOR CITY SECRETARY
CITY OF DENTON, TEXAS CITY OF DENTON, TEXAS