2019-04-02 Committee on Citizen Engagement Minutes• i.�ll � �
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After determining that � quorum was present, the �ommittee on Citizen Engagemeni convened
in a meeting on Apri12, 2019 at 10:34 a.m. in the City I�all Conference Room at City Hall, 215
E. IVIcl�inney Street, I�enton, Texas.
PFZESENT: Council Member Deb Armintor and Council Member Keely �riggs.
�TAFF PRESENT: �arah Kuechler, Jessica l�ogers, IVlelissa Kraft, �illy IVlatthews, Amy
Cunningham, 5arah Fullwood, 3ustin Harmon, Stuart Birdseye
A, Cotaside�° apg�r°ov�Il of ��e �rn�anutes �f Dec��h�er 4, 2���.
Council Member Armintor moiioned, and Council 1l�Iember �riggs seconded to approve the
minutes. The motion carried unanimously.
�. �eceive a t-e�o��, ho�d a dIlsc�nssio�n, aa�d ��ve s�afff �nrec��o�n a°��a�°dfl�� devefl�p�ne�t of
a smart �fl� �lefIl�fltioffi and g�np9e�nenta�gota ��an fo� ��nto�.
During the Oc�. 9, 2018 City Council meeting, l�enton resident Dorothy I�uhn requested the City
develop a smart ci�y vision and strategy based on community needs. Foilowing her remarks, the
City Council directed sta�f to provide information and recommendations on I�entoll's smart city
plan. An informal staff report was provided to the Council through the Jan. 18, 2019 Friday Staff
Report.
Staff research has included review of over 30 smart ci�y organizations that could poteniially
assist in generating a smart ci�y plan, attendance of two smart city conferences, and a
benchmarking survey of 15 local cities. Like I)enion, many neighbor cities are just beginning to
realize the need for a formal smart city plan while already having several individual smart
projects underway. In the last few years alone, I3enton has launched:
� Open I7a�a Portal: http://data.cityofdenton.com/
• Free I'ublic Wi-Fi L�owntown
• Engage I7enton application: https://denton�.citysourced.com/
� Interactive Capiial Improvement Plan Project IVIap:
https://portal.cityofdenton.com/projects/
• Automated Traffic Management System
A�ter researching the multitude of snlart city programs and organizations, staff recomrraends
hiring a consulting firm to assist with this project. The main bene�t of hiring a consulting firm is
that it would provide staff with impartial guidance during the development of a srriart city
strateg� free from bias. Further, this option would enable staff to require the gathering of citizen
input be ihe foundation of the project.
The following outputs are expecied to be written intio the scope of worlc:
1. Ide-nti�cation of community values �i needs
2. Smart city de�niiion for I7enton
3. �mart city strategy
a. IZoadmap
i. Prioritized list of projects
ii. Synced with existing �trategic Plan
iii. 1Vleasures for effectiveness
b. Framework for future staff decisions
I�irector of Technology �ervices IVlelissa Kraft commented that smari cities are not just about
technology, they are about the people and the coflnrr�unity.
Council Member Armintor commenied tha� she would like to keep a broad definition of a smart
city and would like to hear more about specifc smart city tools that could be useful io the
community. Armintor also inquired why a consultant might be helpful rather than relying on an
in�ernal staff and eXpertise. Kraft replied that a consultant would be more neutral rather than
local groups/organizations thai may have vendor affiliations. In addition, a consulYant would also
look at smart cities from a community standpoint, whereas IT staff might be more inclined to
focus on the technology itself.
Council IVlember �riggs stated she is in favor of seeking bids from consultants and is olc with the
scope of worlc for the project.
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In Aug. 2018, City staff presenied information about recording and televising public meetings to
the Committee on Citizen Engagement. During the previous discussion, the Commiitee was
interested in options to iake an incremental step to record additional public meetings. Staff
developed options and presented a recommendation for a budget supplemental of � 10,000 to
record 50 public meetings per year using the City's current vendor, Swagii Produciions. �taff
reviewed the recorrgmended option with the COCE and requested feedback prior to presenting
the upcoming budget supplemental for full Council consideration.
Sarah Kuechler said �hai I�TV is currently at capacity. �illy Matthews said over three years, �he
number of ineetings has increased by 7�%, the produced hours has increased by 96%, and the
length oi City Council rrieetings has increased by �3%. As a result of this, Ivlaithews said, I�TV
has had to turn down some department requests for videos and P�As due to the lack of available
staff time.
As a solution, Matthews recomrnends outsourcing 50 meeiings per year, which would cosi
$10,000 annually, with a one-time ��5,000 fee to purchase and set up equipment. This would be
cheaper than it would be to hire a full time or part time staff inember. 1Vlatthews added thai there
would be an option io add additional meetings after the first year, if needed.
Council Member Armintor stated that she liked the idea of outsourcing the filming of some
meetings. Council Member Briggs asked if outsourced videos would be live-streamed and posted
by Swaggi�. Matthews confirmed that they would; no staff time would be needed to post the
videos and they would be streamed live. �riggs asked if it would be possible to just record audio
for some meetings, rather than doing videos. Matthews said there's not a fail-safe way io do that
without staff present to run the audio. Though it could technically be done, it would make more
sense to go ahead and do video considering the amount of time and work it would take to do
audio recordings. There is also an issue with ihe posting of audio-only files on the website- the
current plaiform used to post videos doesn't have an option for audio �les, so the audio files
would have to be housed separately from the videos on the website, which would likely be
confusing to residents.
Briggs asked if the project could start sooner or be accelerated. Sarah Kuechler stated that there
is currently not enough money in the budget for this project, so we would have to seek budget
approval�through the normal process be%re we could start the project.
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CouncillVlember �riggs inquired if the City could use display cases at Golden Triangle Mall to
display information and materials on City programs and services. Staff reached out to the mall
and received a quote to rent one display case at $500 per month through a lease agreement with
the mall for a minimum of 23 months. Staff does not currently have a budget for this program at
a cost of $ll,500 for �he 23-month period. If the Commi�tee desired, the option could be
included as a Council budget supplemental for consideration for FY19/20.
While visitors and residents could benefit from information available at the mall, staif believes
marketing dollars may be better used for targeted or community-wide digital mariceting or
mailers (depending upon the campaign) or for printing of materials on program and services to
provide to various City staff that atiend community e�ents and fairs. Additionally, to lceep
information relevant and attract attention, the materials and displays would have io be changed
out regularly. A siaff inember would have to spend a few hours each month to develop materials
and displays and travel io the mall to se�-up.
Council Member �riggs stated that in her observation, the Golden Triangle Mall population is
made up of older people, members of the Hispanic community, and children. �he believes these
residents may noi be getting information through the marketing channels currently being utilized
by ihe City and that advertising in the mall could reach a totally different market that we may not
be reaching currently. Jessica Rogers stated thai the City's total markeiing budge� is �65,000. We
try to leverage low cost options as much as possible to be �ood stewards of taxpayer dollars. If
we seek funding for this project, it would be a 20% increase in the marketing budget and may not
be the best use of funds compared to social media campaigns and oiher options.
Council Member Armintor asked if �IOT funds could be used for ihe project. �he suggested this
kind of advertising might provide overnight tourism. �4rmintor suggested purchasing wire racks
and asking the Golden Triangle 1VIa11 to let us put ihem up in the mall for free. Sarah Fullwood
suggested encouraging departments to do outreach at the mall as a low-to�no-cost way to reach
residents who visit the mall. The Golden Triangle IVlall has been helpful and receptive to this
kind of activity in ihe past.
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�taff regularly provides the Committee with a brief update on some of the recent citizen
engagement, communication, and transparency initiatives. 5taff provided general updaies in the
Agenda Information �heet and to the Committee on Speak at a Council Meeting, Waze app,
Improving I�enton, �Iebsite I'ages, VJebsite IVlanagement, Election Education Information,
Recycling Education, Gas Well Noiifications, 3rd Annual Citizen's Academy, and 1Vlayor's
Summer Youth Jobs Program.
Council Member �riggs stated that she was a� ihe Convention Center (Embassy �uiYes) and a
visiior who had been in town for a week had no idea I�enion had a downtown. �he said we
should do some marke�ing there to make sure people know what the downtown has to offer and
to encourage them to leave the hoiel. �arah Kuechler said the City will work with the CVB on
this and expressed appreciation for the suggestion.
Council Member Armintor asked if the online calendar has moved on the City's website. Justin
Harmon said it hasn'i been moved, but isn't featured prominently because it isn't ail-inclusive;
some departments, such as Parks and the I,ibrary, use third-party tools to post events. Armintor
asked if the City could move the calendar io the top part of the home page and sync all the
calendars. Sarah I�uechler said the City can put a link on the calendar page that will go to the
other calendars with events that aren't included on the main calendar.
Briggs asked if the City could feature Cipen Government on social media. She also asked that
departments be encouraged to put their big programs on the calendar. Jessica l�ogers said we
could do bo�h of �hose things.
�riggs aslced about the siatus of the opiion to include information about gas wells in local realtor
information packets. �arah Kuechler stated that there may be some laws restricting what we can
do about ihat. �riggs said she would seek more informaiion on the topic. �riggs asked if gas well
fires �re included wiih COI�E IZEI� notifications. Kuechler confirmed that they are.
�riggs asked if the City notifies high schools about ihe Nlayor's Summer Youth program. Stuart
�irdseye said all high school students were emailed about the program. Briggs asked if we could
send out another reminder.
�nnintor said she's received some emails about the zoning change notifica�ions that were mailed
out. She said people don't know what it's about and asked if there anything on ihe website
explaining it. Jessica I�ogers confirmed that there is information on the Ci'Ly website about the
zoning changes. She said we are also trying to make space in the Resident Update io share a link
to the webpage where people can �nd more information about the zoning no�ices. Justin Harmon
said the information can be accessed using the URL I�entoncode2030.corr�.
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�Uith no further business, the meeting was adjourned ai 11:41 a.m.
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SA I� FUL,L OOI7
RECOIZI�ING �ECRETARI'
CITY OF I�ENTON, TEXA�