050418 Friday Staff Report[Icon]

City Manager’s Office 215 E. McKinney St., Denton, TX 76201 (940) 349-8307 MEMORANDUM DATE: May 4, 2018 TO: The Honorable Mayor Watts and Council Members FROM: Todd Hileman, City Manager SUBJECT: Friday Staff Report I. Council Schedule A. Meetings 1. Public Utilities Board Meeting on Monday, May 7, 2018 at 8:30 a.m. in the City Council Chambers. 2. Joint City Council/DISD Meeting on Monday, May 7, 2018 at 11:00 a.m. in the City Council Work Session Room. 3. Traffic Safety Commission Meeting on Monday, May 7, 2018 at 5:30 p.m. in the City Council Work Session Room. 4. Work Session of the City Council on Tuesday, May 8, 2018 at 12:00 p.m. in the City Council Work Session Room. 5. Economic Development Partnership Board on Wednesday, May 9, 2018 at 11:00 a.m. in the City Council Work Session Room. 6. No Agenda Committee Meeting on Wednesday, May 9, 2018. 7. Work Session of the Planning and Zoning Commission on Wednesday, May 9, 2018 at 5:00 p.m. in the City Council Work Session Room, followed by a Regular Meeting at 6:30 p.m. in the City Council Chambers. 8. Committee on the Environment meeting on Friday, May 11, 2018 at 9:00 a.m. in the City Council Work Session Room. B. Upcoming Events 1. Reception honoring City Council on Tuesday, May 15, 2018 at 5:30 p.m. in the Work Session Room, followed by a Regular Meeting at 6:30 p.m. in the City Council Chambers. OUR CORE VALUES Integrity Fiscal Responsibility Transparency Outstanding Customer Service 2. Police Awards & Appreciation Banquet Thursday, May 17, 2018 at 6:30 p.m. at The Clubhouse at Robson Ranch. II. General Information & Status Update A. Carl Gene Young Sr. Park Sprayground Opening – The City of Denton Parks and Recreation Department and volunteers are excited to announce the sprayground is ready for play and invites residents to join in a family-friendly celebration on Saturday, May 12 from noon to 1 p.m. at Carl Gene Young Sr. Park. Attached is a press release with more details. Staff contact: Maria Dension B. Disaster Drill – The 2018 full-scale mock disaster drill took place on Friday, May 4. First responders were tasked with responded to a simulated hazmat and mass casualty incident near the Downtown Denton Transit Center. This drill was designed to test the response capabilities of first responders, hospitals, and other agencies. The City would like to thank our partners who helped make this drill possible: DCTA, First Transit, Union Pacific Railroad, Transportation Community Awareness and Emergency Response (TRANSCAER®), Denton Fire department, Denton Police department, Atrium Medical Center, Texas Health Presbyterian Denton, Medical City Denton, the Heart Hospital Baylor Denton, North Central Texas Council of Governments (NCTCOG), UNT, TWU, and mutual aid partners. Staff contact: Michael Penaluna C. Main Page of Website – The Communications team has launched a new section of the City’s homepage: Quick Links. This component allows the City to feature additional information on the homepage, or link to relevant or frequently visited pages. The City can feature up to eight items through this function. In addition, the social media widget of the City’s homepage is not currently active. Some social media platforms, such as Facebook, have recently changed their terms of service which requires some changes be made on the development side of the City’s website. Our website developer is currently working through these issues with social media platforms and the widget will be added back to the homepage as soon as possible. Staff contact: Jessica Rogers D. Election Day – Saturday, May 5 is Election Day. Unlike early voting, eligible voters casting a ballot on Election Day must vote at their pre-determined precinct voting location. A list of the polling locations by precinct is attached. For more information about the election (including polling locations), residents can either go to the County’s elections page (www.votedenton.com) or go to the City’s “Vote” page by going to the City’s homepage (www.cityofdenton.com) and searching “vote” in the upper right hand corner. This week, staff also added a Quick Link to elections information on the homepage. Staff contact: Jennifer Walters. E. Traffic Safety Fund/General Fund Overtime Charges – In Summer 2016, Denton PD began using an automated timekeeping system. This system is an electronic system that automates many of the timekeeping functions, including assigning time worked as either “overtime” or “straight time.” Based on the City’s policy, only hours recorded in excess of an employee’s assigned hours (e.g. in excess of 40 hours per week) are recorded as overtime. Additionally, Denton PD were operating with the direction to charge hours worked reviewing red light camera citations as overtime, so not to interfere with the officers’ primary patrol duties/responsibilities, regardless of when those hours fell in a pay period. Last week, staff became aware that the timekeeping system’s automation had created instances where overtime that should have been charged to the Traffic Safety Fund was charged as straight time. Conversely, time that should have been recorded as straight time in the General Fund was recorded as overtime. Officers were coding hours worked to the correct fund and the proper amounts were paid to officers, but the payroll system was not recognizing Traffic Safety Fund overtime hours as “overtime” unless the employee had already exceeded their 40 hours. Instead, it would record hours worked later in the pay period (regular General Fund hours) as overtime. The Denton Police Department and Finance staff are in the process of reviewing payroll and overtime records to ensure that the straight time and overtime rates are applied to the proper fund and will make an adjusting entry to correct any instances where the system charged the wrong fund. Staff anticipates this being complete by mid-May and will provide that information when it is available. Staff contact: Antonio Puente/Lee Howell F. DCTA Denton Update – Please see attached a monthly update report from DCTA with information on the special event service for the Arts & Jazz festival, information on the vanpool program, passenger amenities, and announcement that the non-profit pass discount will be increased from 25% to 50% as of June 1, 2018. Staff contact: Mark Nelson G. ADA Transition Plan – To comply with federal law, cities are required to develop an American with Disabilities Act (ADA) Transition Plan. An ADA Transition Plan provides a schedule and plan for the removal of communication, physical barriers, and architectural barriers. Developing an ADA Transition Plan is a very involved process. In developing the plan, citizen input is necessary to understand the barriers that people with disabilities encounter in their everyday lives in their interaction with the city. Second, completing an assessment on the condition of city infrastructure (i.e. sidewalks and ramps) and areas where these components of infrastructure are missing and needed to allow those with disabilities to traverse. The City of Denton has recently begun the early stages of implementing the ADA Transition Plan process by assigning the project to the Bike/Pedestrian Office, which is located in the Capital Projects Department. The Bike/Ped Office has engaged the services of the engineering firm Kimley Horn to develop ADA related documents and draft an ADA Transition Plan template. This template includes primary components of the ADA Transition such as “Notice to Citizens” document, a grievance procedure, a grievance form, and a sidewalk evaluation checklist. The work on the template forms has been completed and will be posting these documents on the City’s website within the next two weeks. Once these items are posted, staff will inform City Council as to their location on the City’s website. The second phase of the ADA Transition Plan is to develop a Request for Proposals (RFP) to conduct an inventory of city sidewalks and ramps. The Bike/Ped Office is currently working with Purchasing to advertise the RFP at the end of May 2018 for the data collection study which will be conducted by an outside vendor. Once a vendor is selected this summer, the data collection effort will begin and should be completed by the end of summer. After the sidewalk data is collected, City staff will be able to more pro-actively create a work plan for bringing non-compliant sidewalks into compliance instead of the current repair method which is managed on a reactive (complaint) basis. Staff contact: Pritam Deshmukh H. Sherman Drive – A recent issue was raised regarding a person who witnessed an individual in a wheelchair riding in a lane of traffic along Sherman Drive between Locust and Bell. Recently, city staff drove this segment of Sherman Drive looking for missing sidewalks. Based on staff’s observation there is a continuous sidewalk along the north side of Sherman Drive within this segment. There are no gaps in sidewalk on the north side but there are locations where the sidewalk crosses residential driveways which may not be ADA compliant. There is no sidewalk that exists on the south side along Sherman Drive between Locust and Bell. Based on the original concern it is not clear if the individual in the wheelchair was on the north or south side of Sherman Drive when they decided to use the travel lanes. Given the concern and a review of existing conditions, staff is seeking additional clarification from the resident that forwarded the concern. Once this information is received, staff recommends meeting with the wheelchair bound resident to better understand the circumstances for using the street rather than using the existing sidewalk.

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