300 West Walker

City of League City, TX

League City TX 77573

Meeting Minutes

City Council

Tuesday, July 9, 2024

5:00 PM

Council Chambers

200 West Walker Street

The City Council of the City of League City, Texas, met in a work session in Council

Chambers at 200 West Walker Street on the above date at 5:00 p.m.

Mayor:

Nick Long

City Council Members:

Andy Mann

Tommy Cones

Tom Crews

Courtney Chadwell

Justin Hicks

Chad Tressler

Sean Saunders

City Manager:

John Baumgartner

Rick Davis

Assistant City Manager:

Assistant City Manger-CFO:

Interim City Attorney:

Angie Steelman

Michelle Villarreal

Diana M. Stapp

Cliff Woitena

Ron Bavarian

Christopher Sims

Kimberly Corell

James Brumm

Chien Wei

City Secretary:

Chief of Police:

Executive Director of Capital Projects

Executive Director of Development Services:

Director of Finance:

Director of Human Resources/Civil Service:

Director of Parks & Cultural Services:

Director of Public Works:

Jody Hooks

CALL TO ORDER AND ROLL CALL OF MEMBERS

Mayor Long called the meeting to order at 5:01 p.m. and called the roll. All members of

Council were present except Tom Crews.

1 -

Mr. Tom Crews

Absent

7 -

Mayor Nick Long, Mr. Andy Mann, Mr. Tommy Cones, Mr. Courtney Chadwell, Mr.

Justin Hicks, Mr. Chad Tressler and Mr. Sean Saunders

Present

PUBLIC COMMENTS

PRESENTATION AND DISCUSSION REGARDING THE DEVELOPMENT

SERVICES STRATEGIC PLAN

Rick Davis, Assistant City Manager, introduced Development Services Strategic Planing

Committee Chair Russ Bynam, who gave a presentation:

Committee Members – The Committee is made up of 10 members, representing the

Development Community as well as our Development Services professionals. Russ

Bynam, Chair – Hillwood Communities, Kris Carpenter, Vice Chair – Director of Planning,

Tommy Cones, City Council Member, Kevin Holland, Cervelle Homes, Christopher Sims,

Executive Director of Development Services, Ralph Blanco, Chief Building Official, Jeff

Allen, Assistant Fire Chief/Fire Marshal, Steve Sheldon, DEC Engineering, Candace

Brown, City Auditor, Frank Dominquez, Planning and Zoning Commissioner.

Plan Process – Customer-Based Approach, Strategic Planning Advisory Committee – 01)

Set the Stage, 02) Listen, 03) Identify Priorities, 04) Compose the Plan, 05) Return and

Report

Timeline – 01) Set the Stage (Jan-Feb) Mission, ID Stakeholders, Define/schedule Data

Gathering Events, 02) Listen (Feb-Apr) Execute Data Gathering Events, 03) Identify

Priorities (Apr) Strategic Directives, Strategic Initiatives, Critical Outcomes, Prime

Directive, 04) Compose the Plan (Apr-May), 05) Present the Plan (June)

Participation – League City citizens, League City business owners and operators, Policy

makers (City Council and Planning/Zoning Commission, City staff, Commercial real estate

professionals, Developers, Builders, Engineers, and Contractors, Trades professionals,

Patrons of Development Services.

Participation Statistics – City Matters article, mailed to all city residents; 3 separate

workshops – approximately 60 participants with hundreds of comments received; Focus

Group Meetings – nearly 40 participants – Planning and Zoning Commission, BACREN,

Greater Houston Builders Association, Business Leaders, Franchise Utilities, City staff;

Dedicated and Follow-up Surveys – more than 120 responses received; League City

Listens – ongoing engagement.

Plan Anatomy – Primary Directive – explains WHY we do what we do. Why our city

exists.; Strategic Directives – answers what we are going to do. Describes the WHAT that

aligns with our WHY. Our collective ambitions.; Strategic Initiatives – explains how we

are going to address our what.

Describes HOW we intend to realize our collective ambitions. Directions to our

destination.; Expected Outcomes – represents the when and how it worked. Describes

WHEN we’ve arrived at our destination. What our future looks like when we’re successful.

Primary Directive – “League City’s development services elevate the quality of life of our

citizens by helping to ensure the safest and highest quality building and development

possible; and they inspire the trust of customers by being the most professional,

responsive, solution-driven, and efficient public development team in the State of Texas!”

Strategic Directive: Culture of Caring – This directive speaks to the need to show our

customers in all that we do that we value and appreciate their investment in our

community. Such is demonstrated by encouraging and nurturing an internal culture

committed to providing world-class customer service, showing empathy, demonstrating a

sensitivity and commitment to timeliness and costs, and proactively seeking solutions.

Key Strategic Initiatives: Ensure that staff members continue to bring helpful,

solutions-oriented approaches to meetings and other interactions with customers.

Acknowledge and recognize staff on a regular basis for providing superior customer

service. Establish informal opportunities for stakeholders and customers to visit and

collaborate with staff. Make physical modifications to the Development Services Facility

with the intent of providing a more welcoming and functional environment. Develop and

implement a quality control and assurance methodology for customer service. Make

generally available a “concept” meeting to allow prospective applicants or simply the

curious an opportunity to probe possibilities with staff. Demonstrably and visible celebrate

projects and investments in our community. Recognize and celebrate annually Community

Builder of the Year. Administer a survey to every customer at the end of a process or

upon the receipt of a permit. Conduct a staff debrief at the conclusion of significant

projects for the purpose of flagging or identifying process and other potential service

improvements.

Strategic Directive: Communication & Inclusion - This directive speaks to the importance

of not only being responsive to our customers' needs, but also being frequent in sharing

information with them. We are committed to inclusion where such pertains to crafting

rules, practices, and policies that impact customers. It means instilling in our customers a

sense of ownership in the quality of services provided. Key Strategic Initiatives:

Regularly update website, inclusive of providing self-help narratives and videos. Work

with Communications to produce educational and informational materials for patrons and

prospective customers. Continue stakeholder brainstorming exercises on an annual basis

for the purpose of understanding needs, expressing appreciation, and celebrating

development success. Produce and provide patrons with quarterly e-newsletter providing

updates, celebrating development, and educating patrons regarding policies and processes.

Send quarterly strategic plan progress reports to patrons and stakeholders. Utilize SPAC

or a professional group as a sounding board for proposed policies. Ensure that new and

modified policies and procedures are proactively communicated to all patrons and that

reasonable implementation (lead) time is provided. Hold biannual key community partner

coordination meetings to identify opportunities for synergy and collaboration. Consolidate

and better coordinate comments to applicants.

Strategic Directive: Process, Policies, & Practices - This directive speaks to our

commitment to continually scrutinize, streamline, and in all other ways improve how we

conduct business. In a deeper sense, our pursuit of elevated services represents a more

significant commitment to a perpetual process. We are never satisfied with the status quo,

and we are ever pushing upon the frontiers of our abilities. Key Strategic Initiatives:

Provide proactive and timely problem resolutions. Employ “approved as noted” method to

move applications forward. Perform regular process mapping exercises as the basis for

developing process improvements. Better utilize technology to improve workflow, i.e. –

EnerGov, Bluebeam, Portal, Website, etc. Establish and or update SOPs to reduce

inconsistencies in development services. Take measures to ensure that comments are

clear, coordinated, and well-crafted; enabling the applicant to clearly understand project

requirements and anticipate fiscal impacts. Revisit zoning categories and SUP

requirements with policy makers to ensure that these represent the direction of the elected

body. Regularly review ordinances to flag opportunities for policy improvement.

Streamline staff participation in predevelopment and development review committee

meetings. Make every effort to minimize comments by avoiding multiple “bites at the

apple.”

Strategic Directive: Empower to Excellence – This directive speaks to the critical role our

staff play in providing the level of service expected by our customers. Our ability to meet

their needs is inextricably connected to successfully empowering our staff to provide

world-class customer service. Fulfilling this commitment will require continually evaluating

and calibrating how we make decisions, how we deploy technology, how and by whom

decisions are made, how we staff our departments, and how and to what degree we provide

critical training and celebrate staff successes. Key Strategic Initiatives: Internally teach

and reinforce process improvement methodologies, e.g., – Elevate Academy, and empower

staff to engage in those methodologies. Investigate the feasibility of empowering the

administrative approval of plats. Maintain staff levels congruent with workload. Recruit

and maintain a trained workforce. Search for and identify ways to empower more staff to

make time-critical decisions. Crosstrain and address staffing deployment to ensure

redundancies in service capabilities. Continue to invest in the technology that allows staff

to be of maximum service. Hold quarterly combined development services staff meetings

to both celebrate and elevate customer service internally and externally.

Strategic Directive: Encourage Investment – This directive speaks to the need to

communicate in all that we say and do our enthusiasm for investment, growth, and

development. Policies, plans, conversations, and attitudes should continually convey our

enthusiasm for partnerships and projects that lift the quality of our community and bring

great housing and beneficial products and services to our League City citizens. Key

Strategic Initiatives: Collaborate with Communications Department to bring awareness to

stakeholders, patrons, and citizens regarding initiatives of the Strategic Plan. Ensure

Economic Development is integrated and involved in Predevelopment Meetings. Clarify

expectations and directives of the City Council regarding solicitating, encouraging, and

participating in the promotion of economic investment. Provide rational methodology for

expedited or after-hours review/inspections. Ensue that data necessary for potential

investor decision-making is available on Website. Explore the application of incentives

associated with local buying and contracting. Develop a plan to facilitate broadband on the

west side of the city.

Return and Report – Implementation – The plan facilitators will work with department

directors and managers to develop an Implementation Plan. Each initiative will be

assigned a “steward” and their responsibility to shepherd assigned initiatives to

implementation.

Return and Report – Evaluating and Reporting – The Committee will be involved in

evaluating and reporting on the plan. Written and visual presentation will be prepared,

that will be shared with the City Council annually. The expected lifespan of this plan is

three to five years. Public Facing Dashboard.

Council provided suggested changes, which will be incorporated into the finalized Strategic

Plan:

On page 11, under Culture of Caring, please change the key strategic initiative stating

"Recognize and celebrate annually Community Builder of the Year" to "Recognize and

celebrate annually individuals who contribute to building the quality of the community."

On page 13, under Processes, Policies & Practices, please change the expected outcome

stating "There is an increase in the number and percentage of properly completed

applications" to "There is an increase in the percentage of properly completed

applications."

On page 15, under Encourage Investment, please change the key strategic initiative

stating "Explore the application of incentives associated with local buying and contracting"

to "Encourage investment in local buying and contracting."

Also on page 15, please change the key strategic initiative stating "Develop a plan to

facilitate broadband on the west side of the City" to "Develop a plan to facilitate

broadband in the City."