Work Session Notes - December 10, 2024
Ooh, sha lala ooo ooh, Lawyers in love
A quick turnaround with only one week between council meetings as we bumped this one up due to the upcoming Christmas holiday. Its a short agenda this week as we meet two new employees in the City Attorney’s office, and get two committee reports – one from Administrative Services and the other from Development Services. As always, my commentary is in bold italics. I welcome your feedback at council7@garlandtx.gov.
PUBLIC COMMENTS ON WORK SESSION ITEMS
CONSIDER THE CONSENT AGENDA
WRITTEN BRIEFINGS
Council may ask for discussion, further information, or give direction to staff on an item posted as a written briefing.
Investment Portfolio Summary
Staff will provide a copy of the Portfolio Summary Report to Council for this quarter.
Standard reporting as required by law, but the 3D pie charts remain!
Here’s a good article as to why they are so bad: https://medium.com/@purohitpraveen/data-vizualization-why-3d-charts-are-a-terrible-idea-32657fbb928e
And another one: https://www.evalacademy.com/articles/common-pie-chart-misuses-and-how-to-fix-them
And a third: https://medium.com/learning-data/hall-of-shame-pie-charts-that-should-have-never-been-baked-d4030778c9ee
And a fourth! (https://chandoo.org/wp/why-3d-pie-charts-are-evil/) This one even includes the 3D pie chart pledge:
I promise to never make a 3d pie chart. If I ever see one, I promise to not rotate or explode it. I also promise to create alternative charts (usually column, bar, line or scatter plots) so that my audience can see the truth better.
And oh yeah, I promise to bake & eat pies whenever possible. Apart from cakes, pastries, ice creams, biscuits and other assorted fun foods that is.
signed…
Your Name
Here’s a real pie chart:
(Source: https://www.datavis.ca/gallery/evil-pies.php)
VERBAL BRIEFINGS
Council may ask for discussion, further information, or give direction to staff on an item posted as a verbal briefing.
Introduction of New Attorneys
City Attorney Brian England will introduce Kaitlyn Jensen and Michelle Koustoubardis as new Assistant City Attorneys.
The City Attorney’s office has made several hires over the past few years to augment their abilities to handle more tasks in house rather than using outside counsel, which is far more expensive. One example is First Assistant City Attorney Scott Levine who specializes in real estate law and has been crucial in our recent property transactions and right-of-way purchases. I trust that Ms. Jensen and Ms. Koustoubardis will further or in house capabilities saving the Garland taxpayers more money.
Administrative Services Committee Report
Deputy Mayor Pro Tem Lucht, Chair of the Administrative Services Committee, and staff will provide a committee report on the following items: Downtown Square Usage and Policies and Consultant Services for Council Appointee evaluations. The Downtown Square Usage and Policies was requested by Deputy Mayor Pro Tem Lucht and seconded by Councilmember Beard at the October 10, 2024 Work Session. The Consultant Services for Council Appointee evaluations was referred by staff at the November 4, 2024 Work Session.
At our December 5 Administrative Services Committee meeting, we recommended Clear Career Professionals as the consultant to use for our third party evaluation of Council appointees which include the City Manager, City Auditor, City Attorney and Municipal Judges. The use of a third-party consultant was recommended by City Manager Jud Rex to avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest in our existing evaluation system. As part of their contract, Clear Career Professionals will gather comparative compensation data, provide a report of recommendations, and facilitate the review of appointees during the January 6 Work Session meeting.
Development Services Committee Report
Councilmember Hedrick, Chair of the Development Services Committee, and staff will provide a committee report on the following items: The feasibility of including special standards for commercial drone delivery hubs, which was requested by Councilmember Hedrick and seconded by Councilmember Bass at the March 30, 2024 Work Session. The feasibility of requiring Specific Use Provision for all telecommunications towers and antennas, in lieu of a distance requirement, which was requested by Councilmember Hedrick and seconded by Deputy Mayor Pro Tem Lucht at the July 15, 2024 Work Session.
Using my soothsaying powers, I proposed creating regulations for a new zoning district for drone delivery hubs this past March. At the time, City Attorney Brian England believed that it would only ever be a secondary use rather than a main use and no zoning district was required.
(A picture of me using my powers of perception.)
Lo and behold, we soon received development requests for a drone hub as a primary use where retailers can ship their goods via drone without being associated with a specific retail establishment. This item will place some guidelines around the development of those drone bases including setbacks from residential areas.
If you have visited the North Garland Avenue Walmart recently, you may have noticed a drone staging area in the parking lot. Although this is a secondary use, this is indicative of the kind of developments we will soon see in Garland.
The other item we are reporting out is the use of requiring Special Use Permit (SUP) for telecommunication towers and antennas which will replace the distance requirement. The spacing requirement is a hindrance to development of new cellular technology that requires smaller, more closely spaced antennas rather than ones placed at the current 5,000 feet spacing requirement per the Garland Development Code.
ANNOUNCE FUTURE AGENDA ITEMS
EXECUTIVE SESSION
Deliberate or discuss:
The City Council will adjourn into executive session pursuant to sections 551.071, 551.074, 551.0785, 551.086 and 552.133 of the Texas Government Code to deliberate and discuss the following:
1. Competitive matters related to Garland Power & Light as it pertains to the year end briefing from the Risk Oversight Committee (551.086 and 552.133) and attorney/client communication related to same (551.071).
2. Competitive matters related to Garland Power & Light as it pertains to Project No. 55718 of the Public Utility Commission of Texas and the Order Approving the Reliability Plan for the Permian Basin Region (551.086 and 552.133) and attorney/client communication related to same (551.071).
3. The employment, leave, pay, and duties of a public employee (Clay Stotts) pursuant to Texas Local Government Code §143.073(b) (551.074), including the consideration of information in the medical records of such employee (551.0785) and attorney/client communication related to same (551.071).
ADJOURN
This week I’m playing a cut from Jackson Browne, who Rolling Stone named the 37th best in its 2015 “100 Greatest Songwriters of All Time” list . Enjoy “Lawyers in Love” – Ooh sha la la Ooh!
Why not one more for the antenna discussion? Here’s an instrumental dance song by Bonobo named “Antenna.”