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City Manager’s Office 215 E. McKinney St., Denton, TX 76201 (940) 349-8307 MEMORANDUM DATE: August 7, 2020 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, August 10, 2020 at 9:00 a.m. via video/teleconference – City Council Work Session Room. 2. Cancelled - Historic Landmark Commission on Monday, August 10, 2020 at 3:00 p.m. in the City Council Work Session Room. 3. Cancelled - Mobility Committee Meeting on Tuesday, August 11, 2020 at 9:00 a.m. in the City Council Work Session Room. 4. Special Called - Work Session of the City Council on Tuesday, August 11, 2020 at 1:00 p.m. via video/teleconference – City Council Work Session Room (Public Comment Available). 5. Economic Development Partnership Board on Wednesday, August 12, 2020 at 11:00 a.m. via video/teleconference – City Council Work Session Room. 6. Cancelled - Agenda Committee Meeting Wednesday, August 12, 2020 at 2:30 p.m. in the City Manager’s Conference Room. 7. Cancelled - Downtown Economic Development Committee on Thursday, August 13, 2020 at 8:30 a.m. in the City Council Work Session Room. 8. Use-of-Force Ad Hoc Committee Meeting on Thursday, August 13, 2020 at 6:00 p.m. via video/teleconference – City Council Work Session Room. II. General Information & Status Update A. Pending Council Requests Work Session Topics – Pursuant to Ordinance No. 19-2026, the following items will be discussed during the August 11 City Council work session. Each week, the topics that will be presented during the next week’s agenda will be OUR CORE VALUES Integrity Fiscal Responsibility Transparency Outstanding Customer Service included in the Friday Report the prior week. Staff contact: Stuart Birdseye, City Manager’s Office • Allowing 3-minute comments from individual members of the public at all City Council work session items • Requestor: Council Member Armintor • Council Member Request: I want to make a 1-minute pitch to allow 3-minute comments from individual members of the public at all City Council work session items, in the spirit of the recent House Bill 2840 regarding the Texas Open Meetings Act. Current Denton City Council open meetings policy allow public comment on all regular session individual items & public hearing items (in addition to “open mic” & scheduled reports), but at work sessions we only allow public comment on consent agenda items, with exceptions on individual work session items, only allowed by permission of the mayor. When that permission was granted at certain Council work sessions about Green Tree Estates, for instance, I believe that that public input positively influence the content and quality of our discussions and direction, and helped us get “outside the bubble" of the physical or virtual work session room, while allowing stakeholders to speak not only to Council at the deliberation table but to the public, both in real present time and archived for future posterity. Although we’ve heard the argument that HB2840 doesn’t *require* public comment on all individual work session items, Legal Services of the Texas Association of School Boards interprets HB2840 to apply not only to open work session items up for a vote later that day, but to all items, even when the body doesn’t vote or take action on those items: https://www.tasb.org/services/legal-services/tasb-school-law- esource/governance/documents/hb2840-public-comment-and-testimony-at- board-meetings.pdf Although other interpretations are possible, I think we best serve the public by embracing the spirit of this law as democratically and inclusively as possible - -not just to make the public "feel" included, but to actually include their voices in live public work session deliberations. The public is at the very top of our city government hierarchy --over Council, the City Manager, City Attorneys, and all city staff. Live real-time public input helps us do our jobs better, and the spirit of HB 2840 wants us to bring the public we serve to the table more at open meetings. I applaud the spirit and intent of that law and hope we can update our public participation policy accordingly. • Staff Information: Public comment options during City Council meetings are outlined in the Rules of Procedure in Sec. 2-29 (4) of the Code of Ordinances (Exhibit 3). Specifically, section 2-29(4)(b) establishes rules for work session or workshop items, and says, "[a]s it concerns the workshop agenda, citizens or other interested persons may not participate in the session unless invited to do so by the mayor." And further, "[c]itizens should be advised of the nature of the work session, but that their input on these items is premature until such item is placed upon a city council agenda for final action. The purpose of this procedure is to allow the citizens attending the regular meeting the 2 opportunity of hearing the views of their fellow citizens in a more formal setting." The section ends with the option for a citizen wishing to provide input on an item to be "Any citizen may supply the city council a written statement or report regarding the citizen's opinion on a matter being discussed in a work session." Allowing a public commenting period for work session items would require amendment of this section of the Rules of Procedure. To amend the rules of procedure, it is required to have two readings of the changes during a Council meeting before the matter is voted on. If directed by Council, staff can schedule an upcoming work session item to discuss the changes and receive input from council, or staff can draft the new language and schedule the readings and action items to amend the Rules of Procedure. Council Member Armintor cites a Texas Association of School Boards (TASB) document to support the assertion that HB 2840 requires public comment on work session items. Neither the Texas Municipal League (TML) nor the City Attorney’s Office agree with the interpretation by TASB, as explained in both TML Legislative Update (page 2 of Exhibit 4) and the TML HB 2840 Q&A (page 4, question 6 of Exhibit 5). • Date Requested: August 6, 2020 • Requested Format for Response: Policy B. Anti-Discrimination Ordinance Update – On November 5, 2019, Council Member Davis gave a one-minute pending work session request to hold a work session about a comprehensive anti-discrimination ordinance. During that meeting, a consensus of City Council supported moving forward with a work session about a potential ordinance, but directed staff to wait on the work session until the US Supreme Court made a ruling regarding whether Transgender and Gay rights were supported under the Civil Rights Act of 1964. In June, the Supreme Court ruled civil rights for these classifications were protected under this act. Now that a ruling has been made, staff is completing the information and presentation, and has tentatively scheduled a Work Session on September 15 for a full discussion and to receive Council direction. Additionally, the City Attorney’s Office will provide a brief for City Council outlining the Supreme Court ruling and the implications for the City of Denton in a future Legal Status Report. Staff contact: Sarah Kuechler, City Manager’s Office C. MKOC Opening Update – As a quick update to City Council, MKOC is opening the shelter at reduced occupancy next week on Monday, August 10, Tuesday, August 11, and Wednesday, August 12 nights. More information will be provided in the next Friday Report. Staff contact: Dani Shaw, Community Services D. Update on Customer Service Call Volumes - At the August 4 City Council meeting, staff briefed the Council regarding the unprecedented call volumes experienced by Customer Service due to a large number of disconnections. As mentioned at the meeting, the City has roughly 2,500 customer accounts eligible for disconnection in August. This is three times the normal amount for this time of year. With disconnections occurring, up to twice the normal amount of phone calls can occur on any given day through the month of August as customers are actively responding to 3 their interrupted service or to the notifications (by phone and letter) that they received over the past 1-2 months regarding outstanding balances. At peak times, the volume may exceed the City’s phone infrastructure capacity. During these periods, customers will report excessive wait times, being dropped from queue, and callback requests being lost. To manage this volume and to avoid reaching the maximum capacity of our phone infrastructure, Customer Service will, with the assistance of staff from other departments, begin to triage calls as they enter the system with the goal with the goal of proving immediate assistance to priority needs and arranging callbacks for other callers unless agents are available at that time. Additionally, staff will be providing information in the hold messaging to allow customers the opportunity to proactively exit the call queue and provide information regarding their call via email. Staff will then respond to these diverted calls during periods of lower activity and after the call center has closed for the day. While this plan will not reduce calls, it will reduce the significant wait times and greatly improve the customer experience. This approach will be implemented beginning August 10. Staff will continue to monitor our call activity and adapt our operations to ensure customers’ needs are met. Staff contact: Ryan Adams, Customer Service and Public Affairs E. Local Assistance Letter to President Trump – Mayor Watts joined 290 other mayors across the United States in calling for President Trump to request $250 billion in direct, flexible financial assistance for cities in the COVID-19 stimulus bill that is currently being negotiated in Congress.
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