Agenda

AGENDA

CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION
City of Garland
Work Session Room, City Hall
William E. Dollar Municipal Building
200 North Fifth Street
Garland, Texas
February 5, 2018
6:00 p.m.

DEFINITIONS:

Written Briefing: Items that generally do not require a presentation or discussion by the staff or Council. On these items the staff is seeking direction from the Council or providing information in a written format.

Verbal Briefing: These items do not require written background information or are an update on items previously discussed by the Council.

Regular Item: These items generally require discussion between the Council and staff, boards, commissions, or consultants. These items are often accompanied by a formal presentation followed by discussion.

[Public comment will not be accepted during Work Session
unless Council determines otherwise.]

NOTICE: The City Council may recess from the open session and convene in a closed executive session if the discussion of any of the listed agenda items concerns one or more of the following matters:

(1) Pending/contemplated litigation, settlement offer(s), and matters concerning privileged and unprivileged client information deemed confidential by Rule 1.05 of the Texas Disciplinary Rules of Professional Conduct. Sec. 551.071, Tex. Gov't Code.

(2) The purchase, exchange, lease or value of real property, if the deliberation in an open meeting would have a detrimental effect on the position of the City in negotiations with a third person. Sec. 551.072, Tex. Gov't Code.

(3) A contract for a prospective gift or donation to the City, if the deliberation in an open meeting would have a detrimental effect on the position of the City in negotiations with a third person. Sec. 551.073, Tex. Gov't Code.

(4) Personnel matters involving the appointment, employment, evaluation, reassignment, duties, discipline or dismissal of a public officer or employee or to hear a complaint against an officer or employee. Sec. 551.074, Tex. Gov't Code.

(5) The deployment, or specific occasions for implementation of security personnel or devices. Sec. 551.076, Tex. Gov't Code.

(6) Discussions or deliberations regarding commercial or financial information that the City has received from a business prospect that the City seeks to have locate, stay, or expand in or near the territory of the City and with which the City is conducting economic development negotiations; or to deliberate the offer of a financial or other incentive to a business prospect of the sort described in this provision. Sec. 551.087, Tex. Gov't Code.

(7) Discussions, deliberations, votes, or other final action on matters related to the City’s competitive activity, including information that would, if disclosed, give advantage to competitors or prospective competitors and is reasonably related to one or more of the following categories of information:

generation unit specific and portfolio fixed and variable costs, including forecasts of those costs, capital improvement plans for generation units, and generation unit operating characteristics and outage scheduling;
bidding and pricing information for purchased power, generation and fuel, and Electric Reliability Council of Texas bids, prices, offers, and related services and strategies;
effective fuel and purchased power agreements and fuel transportation arrangements and contracts;
risk management information, contracts, and strategies, including fuel hedging and storage;
plans, studies, proposals, and analyses for system improvements, additions, or sales, other than transmission and distribution system improvements inside the service area for which the public power utility is the sole certificated retail provider; and
customer billing, contract, and usage information, electric power pricing information, system load characteristics, and electric power marketing analyses and strategies. Sec. 551.086; Tex. Gov't Code; Sec. 552.133, Tex. Gov’t Code]


1.		Consider the Consent Agenda A member of the City Council may ask for discussion or further information on an item posted as a consent agenda item on the next Regular Meeting of the City Council. The Council Member may also ask that an item on the posted consent agenda be pulled from the consent agenda and considered for a vote separate from consent agenda items on the regular agenda. All discussions or deliberations on this portion of the work session agenda are limited to posted agenda items and may not include a new or unposted subject matter.

2.		Written Briefings:

	a.	Sale of Property - 802 E. Walnut Update Council is requested to consider expediting the sale of 802 E. Walnut by returning it to public auction with no-minimum bid requirements. Unless otherwise directed by Council, this item will be scheduled for formal consideration at the February 20, 2018 Regular Meeting.

3.		Verbal Briefings:

	a.	Street Department Construction Program Update The Street Department will provide a status update on the infrastructure construction program.

	b.	Discussion regarding Wineries, Breweries, and Distilleries Staff is seeking input from the City Council to formally define Wineries, Breweries, and Distilleries, and to establish appropriate areas for such uses. The Garland Development Code (GDC) does not currently define or recognize wineries, breweries and distilleries in the applicable list of land uses.

	c.	Public Safety Committee Report Council Member Scott LeMay, Chairman of the Public Safety Committee (PSC), and Chief Mitch Bates, Staff Liason to the PSC, will provide a committee report on the following items: Review of Potential Safety Issues in Public Parks Panhandling

	d.	Community Services Committee Report Council Member Anita Goebel, Chairman of the Community Services Committee, and Jason Chessher, Director of Health, will provide a report on proposed changes to the smoking ordinance.

	e.	Development Services Committee Report Mayor Pro Tem David Gibbons, Chairman of the Development Services Committee, and Rick Vasquez, Assistant City Manager, will provide a presentation of draft Commercial Facade Grant Program.

	f.	Direct Planning Director to initiate amendment to Section 4.78 (P) Programmable Signs to allow electronic signs on church property facing residential streets At the request of Council Member Anita Goebel and Council Member Robert Vera, Council is asked to direct the Planning Director to amend the Garland Development Code to allow church's located on residential classified streets to install digital - programmable signs.

4.		Regular Items:

	a.	Review and Deliberation of 2018 Capital Improvement Program Council will continue its review and discuss the 2018 Capital Improvement Program.

5.		Discuss Appointments to Boards and Commissions

		Council Member Jerry Nickerson Aaron Albert Floarea - Senior Citizens Advisory Committee

6.		Announce Future Agenda Items A member of the City Council, with a second by another member, or the Mayor alone, may ask that an item be placed on a future agenda of the City Council or a committee of the City Council. No substantive discussion of that item will take place at this time.

7.		Council will move into Executive Session

		EXECUTIVE SESSION AGENDA NOTICE: The City Council may recess from the open session and convene in a closed executive session if the discussion of any of the listed agenda items concerns one or more of the following matters:



		The City Council will convene in executive session pursuant to Sec. 551.071 of the Texas Government Code to discuss pending/contemplated litigation, settlement offer(s), and matters concerning privileged and unprivileged client information deemed confidential by Rule 1.05 of the Texas Disciplinary Rules of Professional Conduct. Consider the legal risks, benefits, and procedures involved in the formation of a public facilities corporation to perform certain functions for and on behalf of the City within the authority granted by Chapter 303 of the Texas Local Government Code.

8.		Adjourn

GARLAND POLICY REPORT

City Council Work Session Agenda		Work Session Item 2.a.
Meeting Date:	02/05/2018
Item Title:	Sale of Property - 802 E. Walnut Update
Submitted By:	Corey Worsham, Tax Administrator
Council Goal:	Sustainable Quality Development and Redevelopment Financially Stable Government with Tax Base that Supports Community Needs

ISSUE
The property located at 802 E Walnut was struck-off to the City of Garland at the October 2017 Sheriff’s Sale. The City holds this property in trust on behalf of the Garland Independent School District, Dallas County and Tax Ease Lending, L.P. The property consists of 2 acres of land, 2 warehouses (17,700 sq. ft. & 5,200 sq. ft.) and an automotive service building (13,070 sq. ft.). The structures are rated in poor condition per DCAD records with an average physical depreciation of 64%. The property is also laden with large amounts of broken furniture, boats, vehicle parts, clothes and rubbish. Additionally, 98% of the property’s value is encumbered by delinquent tax debt.
OPTIONS
The City Council May: 1. Expedite the sale of 802 E. Walnut by returning it to public auction with no-minimum bid requirements, or 2. Remediate and hold the property until a private offer is accepted.
RECOMMENDATION
Staff recommends the expedited sale of 802 E. Walnut. Unless otherwise directed by the Council, this item will be scheduled for formal consideration at the February 20, 2018 Regular Meeting.
BACKGROUND
Recent on-site inspections of the property revealed issues rarely encountered by the numerous City Departments represented. Site clean up and the steps necessary to secure the property are beyond typical City resources and would likely involve an outside third party. Returning the property to public auction without a minimum bid may attract a new owner by providing the financial equity necessary to clean up and restore the site to a more marketable condition.
CONSIDERATION
The estimated cost to remediate the property would likely exceed $50,000.00 with little guarantee the City would be able to recover these expenses.

Attachments
802 E. Walnut - Presentation