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June 09, 2015 MinutesCITY OF DENTON CITY COUNCIL MINUTES June 9, 2015 After determining that a quorum was present, the City Council convened in a Work Session on Tuesday, June 9, 2015 at 3:00 p.m. in the Council Work Session Room at City Hall. PRESENT: Mayor Pro Tern Gregory, Council Member Johnson, Council Member Briggs, Council Member Hawkins, Council Member Wazny, Council Member Roden and Mayor Watts. ABSENT: None. Work Session Reports A. ID 15 -434 Receive a report, hold a discussion, and provide staff direction regarding organizational programs which increase the efficiency, effectiveness, and productivity of City of Denton operations. Bryan Langley, Assistant City Manager, stated that the City had created three separate process and workforce improvement programs. Those programs included Lean Government; Innovation Program; and Leadership Excellence and Enhancement Program. These programs attempted to encourage creative thinking, improve efficiency, improve productivity, engage employees in continuous quality improvement and improve customer service. Lean Government - Lean Government originated in a manufacturing environment but had been adapted to governmental settings. It was a series of techniques used to identify and eliminate waste in processing. Examples of these techniques included (1) 5S (sort, set in order, shine, standardize, and sustain), (2) the 5 Whys with a goal to get past the surface level to the root cause of issues, and (3) Swim Lanes that document processes to identify issues. He reviewed the external stakeholders and internal stakeholders speech regarding what was Lean. Going forward - initially a consultant was engaged to facilitate the process and train the trainer. Lean trainers were developed and will be used to examine additional operations and processes. Trainers were from different departments. Additional projects would be tracked and reported to Council on at least an annual basis. Council Member Johnson asked if the process started with the identification of a program or went into a department to find opportunities. Langley stated that it went to a department after projects had been identified to consider. Council Member Wazny asked if there was a way for employees to submit submissions anonymously and if not try to implement that procedure. She also asked if there was a way for the public to make suggestions in a confidential manner. Langley stated that currently there was no method to submit anonymously but that staff could take a look at it to get those ideas. Mayor Pro Tern Gregory asked how the coaches were selected. Langley stated that employees were asked if they would be interested. Participation was on a voluntary basis if interested. Most of the participants were mid -level managers and above. City of Denton City Council Minutes June 9, 2015 Page 2 Council Member Briggs asked if there were rewards for the employee input. Langley stated not for the Lean portion. Innovation Program - in 2014 staff initiated an online employee innovation program to engage and recognize employees, solicit creative ideas, and implement suggestions to improve service. Approximately 170 employees participated in the program. Over 46 ideas were submitted and discussed in online forums. Eighteen ideas advanced to the second round of the process and nine ideas were submitted to Directors for consideration. After review and evaluation, the management team had recommended the implementation of five of the ideas - employee childcare solution, employee online forum, notification of hold time for utility customer service, one -login for city employees and management of underutilized fleet vehicles. The LEEP Program was created in 2014 to provide a formal program to develop leadership and management competencies for employees. Project task groups were developed to examine specific issues facing the City. The first class began January 2014 and consisted of 12 employees. The class completed over 104 hours of classroom training from UNT covering several competencies. They completed the project work and will present the project recommendations to Council for consideration. Next steps were to (1) complete implementation of ideas generated in LEEP, Lean and Innovation programs which may require funding allocation in upcoming budget process, (2) begin a new round of Innovation Program in late summer, and (3) initiate a second LEEP class in the Fall of 2015. B. ID 15 -435 Receive a report, hold a discussion, and provide staff with direction concerning the Leadership Excellence and Enhancement Program (LEEP) project recommendations. Mary Dickinson of the Right -of -Way group, presented their project "Destination Denton ". The project was to look at the right -of -way in Denton in terms of trash and debris on the roadways and unmaintained vegetation. The project approach was to identify the project, evaluate the problem, set goals, and make recommendations. Jim Mays presented the evaluation portion of the project. The right -of -way maintenance was conducted through a municipal maintenance agreement with TxDOT at the current service level. The group secured a pilot project to help with the issue. The community impact associated with their project was economic development. They requested citizen impressions through a pre -pilot project survey. Calls were made to 2403 individuals with 150 survey respondents. Engage Denton was also used for a city -wide survey with 1372 participants and 36 survey respondents. A post -pilot project survey would be done in late summer 2015. He presented upcoming right - of -way maintenance for the next five years. Noreen Housewright presented the goals for the project. The first goal for right -of -way maintenance was to establish levels of regular right -of -way maintenance along city entryways, commercial corridors and major thoroughfares. Associated with this goal was the goal to City of Denton City Council Minutes June 9, 2015 Page 3 establish regular maintenance in the Railyard area. The second goal was beautification. That goal involved improving the attractiveness of city entryways, commercial corridors, and major thoroughfares. The City participated in TxDOT Green ribbon program. In that program, the areas chosen were the Dallas Drive medians, Fort Worth Drive medians, Teasley Lane and the University Drive, north slope. She reviewed the Green Ribbon schedule for the plantings. Lancine Bentley stated that the final goal was resources and partnership. The goal was to develop partnerships that would provide resources and assistance in implementing right -of -way and railyard maintenance and beautification. Organizations might be included were TxDOT, Union Pacific Railroad, Downtown TIF Board, East Hickory Street Developer and the General Fund. Funding goals — the program currently had approved funding at $125,000 with $219,838 being requested for additional roads. If City funding was provided for several locations, TxDOT would provide $25,730 annually. Contracts, start date roadways and additional areas for the pilot program were reviewed. Recommendations — there were three primary recommendations for annual funding, railyard improvement plan, and the Green Ribbon program. Two additional recommendations were for way - finding signage and entryway markers, and commercial corridors. Council discussed the projects, locations of the projects, funding with TxDOT and other entities, coordination with road improvements, whether the standards would be the same depending on the location, and a review of funding for entrymarkers for the City. Kevin Ann Mullen presented the second project "Project NOW & Next ". It involved employee evaluation and succession planning. Megan Schuth reviewed the project definition which was a cultural change initiative that utilized a comprehensive approach to evaluating and improving the organization's performance succession management. Ethan Cox presented the gap analysis between the current state and best practice. Those areas included lack of compliance, unclear expectations & ratings, access to development and administrative work to lessen the load. Recommendations - have an executive champion for the project, form a cross functional advisory committee, relentless communication on how the process works, and hold managers accountable. To simplify, comply and collaborate, the recommendations included maintain the performance cycle, reduce administrative work, and emphasize ongoing discussions. Rodney Patterson reviewed support and resources recommendations. Those recommendations included performance management coaches, a mentor network, on- demand training and resources, ongoing direction and instruction. Invest in Systems recommendations included performance management which simplified processes, reduced administrative work, and promoted collaboration. Learning management provided online training and tracked development plans. City of Denton City Council Minutes June 9, 2015 Page 4 Vernell Dooley reviewed the system benefits which included performance and learning management software. That software would help with performance, compensation, succession and development. It would provide aggregate performance & development data, automated and streamlined workflows, provided easy access for managers and employees and tracked performance and development throughout the year. Recommended timelines - in 2014 -15 appoint executive champion, form an advisory committee and maintain current performance model. In 2015 -16 implement performance management system, refine PM processes, eliminate excess admire work, direction and support for managers and implement the Learning Management System. Council Member Roden suggested incorporating the Innovation Program into the evaluation program. Council discussed the provisions of the proposal and how they related to employees and training supervisors on how to effectively perform performance reviews. C. Under Section 551.042 of the Texas Open Meetings Act, respond to inquiries from the City Council or the public with specific factual information or recitation of policy, or accept a proposal to place the matter on the agenda for an upcoming meeting AND Under Section 551.0415 of the Texas Open Meetings Act, provide reports about items of community interest regarding which no action will be taken, to include: expressions of thanks, congratulations, or condolence; information regarding holiday schedules; an honorary or salutary recognition of a public official, public employee, or other citizen; a reminder about an upcoming event organized or sponsored by the governing body; information regarding a social, ceremonial, or community event organized or sponsored by an entity other than the governing body that was attended or is scheduled to be attended by a member of the governing body or an official or employee of the municipality; or an announcement involving an imminent threat to the public health and safety of people in the municipality that has arisen after the posting of the agenda. Mayor Watts requested a work session on the Hackathon and its parameters. Mayor Watts requested a work session on the ordinances associated with the historic registry. Council Member Briggs requested a report on the possibility of no turn on red around the Square in consideration for pedestrian safety. Following the completion of the 2nd Tuesday Session, the City Council convened in a Closed Meeting to consider the specific items listed below under the Closed Meeting section of this agenda. Closed Meeting: A. ID 15 -466 Consultation with Attorney -Under Texas Government Code, Section 551.071. Consultation with the City's attorneys concerning pending litigation entitled City of Denton City of Denton City Council Minutes June 9, 2015 Page 5 v. NRG Power Marketing, LLC, Cause No. 15- 01404 -16, in the 16th Judicial District Court in and for Denton County, Texas 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. B. ID 15 -473 Consultation with Attorney -Under Texas Government Code, Section 551.071. Discuss, deliberate, and receive information from the City's attorneys pertaining to the negotiation and legal consequences of meet and confer agreements with the Police and Fire Associations, and provide the City's attorneys with direction, where a public discussion of these legal matters would conflict with the duty of the City's attorneys to the City of Denton and the Denton City Council under the Texas Disciplinary Rules of Professional Conduct of the State Bar of Texas, or would jeopardize the City's legal position in any administrative proceedings or potential litigation. C. ID 15 -488 Consultation with Attorney -Under Texas Government Code, Section 551.071. Consult with and provide direction to City's attorneys regarding legal issues and strategies associated with the current Gas Well Ordinance, and proposed Gas Well Ordinance amendment, 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; current and proposed extension to moratorium on drilling and production; other concerns about municipal regulatory authority or matters relating to enforcement of the Gas Well Ordinance, both current and proposed; 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 ordinance and pending litigation styled Jerry Patterson, Commissioner, Texas General Land Office v. City of Denton Texas, Cause No. D- 1- GN -14- 004628 currently pending in the 53rd District Court of Travis County and Texas Oil and Gas Association v. City of Denton, Cause No. 14- 09833 -431 currently pending in the 431st District Court of Denton County 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. D. ID 15 -493 Consultation with Attorney - Under Texas Government Code, Section 551.071, Deliberations regarding Economic Development Negotiations - Under Texas Government Code, Section 551.087. Receive a report and hold a discussion regarding legal and economic development issues regarding a proposed economic development incentive agreement for Project Ranger One (Denton - Tarrant PRW, LLC). This discussion shall include commercial and financial information the City Council has received from Project Ranger One which the City Council seeks to have locate, stay, or expand in or near the territory of the city, and with which the City Council is conducting economic development negotiations; including the offer of financial or other incentive where the duty of the attorney to the governmental body under City of Denton City Council Minutes June 9, 2015 Page 6 the Texas Disciplinary Rules of Professional Conduct of the State Bar of Texas clearly conflicts with the provisions of the Texas Open Meetings Act, Chapter 551 of the Texas Government Code. The Council returned to Open Session and with no further business, the meeting was adjourned. CHRIS WATTS MAYOR CITY OF DENTON, TEXAS