Work Session Notes - November 13, 2023
A lot of TIF talk in this week’s Work Session. It is some interesting reading if you have time to go through the agenda.
As always, for my notes, I’ll make my comments in bold italics for each of the items. Please email council7@garlandtx.gov with your input.
Public Comments on Work Session Items
Persons who desire to address the City Council on any item on the Work Session agenda are allowed three minutes to speak. Speakers are taken only at the beginning of the meeting, other than invited testimony.
Speakers are grouped by Work Session item and will be taken in the order of the Work Session agenda. Speakers must submit to the City Secretary a completed speaker's card before the beginning of the meeting. Speaker cards will not be accepted after the Mayor calls the meeting to order. Speaker cards are available in the lobby, at the visitor's side of the Work Session Room, and from members of staff.
Speakers are limited to addressing items on the Work Session agenda – any item relating to a Regular Session agenda item should be addressed at the Regular Session and any item not on an agenda may be addressed during the open microphone at the end of the Regular Session.
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.
Written Briefings:
Council may ask for discussion, further information, or give direction to staff on an item posted as a Written Briefing.
a. 2023 Capital Improvement Program Budget Amendment No. 2
Written staff presentation regarding amendments to the 2023 Capital Improvement Program Budget.
A few times a year the Capital Improvement Program (CIP) Budget is amended. This time it is for the purchase of one Replacement Roll-Off Truck, three Replacement Commercial Front-Load Trucks, one Replacement Knuckle Boom Truck, funding to repair the Parks Department's Greenhouses from storm damage in March of 2023, funding for the purchase of 519 W. State Street, and funding for current and future Economic Development projects.
I was against the purchase of 519 W. State Street; however, the Council voted to purchase this property. I will continue to push that this property be sold to a third-party developer as soon as possible to “develop it into an event venue and restaurant/catering facility” per the purchase contract. In my opinion, we have already overpaid for the land, and it is time for someone else to bear the significant risk — and more importantly the expense — to develop it.
b. City Health Plan Third-party Administrator Extension
Written staff presentation regarding extending the city's contractual commitment with BCBSTX , which is ending December 31, 2023.
After staff salaries, health care costs are another major expense that the City incurs. This item will extend the current contract the City has with Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas for a one-year extension as the City’s third-party administrator of health & prescription claims, provider networks and related programming for employees and pre-65 retirees. Per the staff report, a formal request for proposals is scheduled for 2024, but “periodic market checks have consistently indicated that we are receiving best in class pricing through our partnership with Blue cross Blue Shield.”
c. Investment Portfolio Summary
Staff is presenting Council with a Quarterly Investment Portfolio Report as required by state law.
d. Council is asked to consider Affirming the City Council Investment Strategy and Policy in accordance with State law.
There is a requirement in the Public Funds Investment Act, Government Code 2256.005 that the governing body review and affirm the investment strategy and policy annually. There are no proposed changes to the City Council Investment Policy or strategy.
A perfunctory item that our Finance Department must provide in accordance with State law. No changes are proposed to our existing City Council Investment Policy.
In the Agenda Packet, I am still irritated by the 3D pie charts which give a misleading representation of the size of the pie pieces that are closer in perspective than the smaller pie pieces.
(78.63% is bigger than 16.58% but not THAT much bigger as shown!)
4. Verbal Briefings:
Council may ask for discussion, further information, or give direction to staff on an item posted as a Verbal Briefing.
Two updates on the Tax Increment Financing (TIF) districts are scheduled for this Work Session. We will be asked to extend both the life and the boundaries of both TIF districts. TIF District #1 includes the areas around both of the DART rail stations in Garland while TIF District #3 currently includes the Riverset residential development and the Shiloh Road and Walnut Road intersections.
4a. Downtown | Forest Jupiter TIF (TIF#1)
Chairperson Joseph Schroeder of the Tax Increment Finance #1 Board, with the assistance of staff, will present Council a recommendation to revise the TIF #1 Project and Financing Plan to include updated revenue projections, project expenditures, and extension of the geographic boundaries and termination date.
TIF District #1 was Garland’s first TIF district formed in 2003 which includes Downtown Garland, including the downtown DART station, and the area around the Forest/Jupiter DART train station. In 2020, the City Council added Montgomery Park to the District’s boundaries. Now we are being asked to add in additional areas downtown to include the Draper residential tower and the “triangle” areas between Avenues B and D east of downtown.
(Original TIF District #1 boundaries)
(Proposed TIF District #1 Boundaries)
Notice how the TIF is named “Downtown” TIF District in both of the images provided in the agenda packet. It is almost as if the Forest-Jupiter end of the District does not exist as it has received funding for only one project — the redevelopment of Montgomery Park — since it’s inception.
Over the TIF’s current lifespan, it has generated revenue of approximately $10.7 million with only $72,315 has been spent on Forest-Jupiter thus far with only $387,685 scheduled for future improvements. That’s just 4.2% of the expenditures going towards the Forest-Jupiter area, which is roughly a third of the total TIF area. The remaining has been spent or is programed solely for Downtown.
(Proposed additions to TIF District #1. Notice nothing around the Forest-Jupiter area.)
It is time to let our current Downtown investments, including the 2019 Bond Projects, bear fruit and redirect our TIF investments more equitably across the District towards the Forest-Jupiter area. There are many crumbling apartments, vacant lots and aging commercial centers at the Forest-Jupiter end of the District that could desperately use the TIF’s dollars.
4b. Tax Increment Finance Zone #3
Chairperson Patrick Abell of the Tax Increment Financing #3 Board, with the assistance of staff, will present Council a recommendation to revise the TIF #3 Project and Financing Plan to include updated revenue projections, project expenditures, and extension of the geographic boundaries and termination date.
TIF District #3 was originally created in 2018 to capture the value from the Riverset residential development and revitalize the area along Shiloh Road between Buckingham Road and Walnut Street. The area was expanded in 2020 to include the area around the VA Hospital (see the light blue area below).
(Current TIF District #3 boundaries.)
Now we are being asked to expanding the boundaries of the District quite significantly. The purpose of the expansion is to transfer the significant value produced by the proposed data centers along the President George Bush Turnpike corridor south towards the Medical District (think hospital!) and the IH-635 area near S. Shiloh Road once construction is complete in 2025 (think Hypermart redevelopment).
(Proposed TIF District #3 boundaries)
The current revenue estimate for the existing area is $46.2 million, but with the expansion to the north and south, that number jumps to $157.1 million through the year 2049 - the extended proposed TIF District termination date.
(Proposed Medical District development plan)
I am all for this expansion and extension as it transfers money from areas of excess to areas of need. The North Garland-South Garland investment and spending myth should be put to rest once and for all if this plan indeed comes to fruition.
4c. Special Events Update
Staff will provide an update on the 2023 events, along with the 2024 calendar.
Our Special Events staff have been busy over the past year putting on events and in planning ahead to 2024. I hope to see you as some or all of the events planned:
January - March 2024:
Music Made Here (x3)
MLK Parade
BoardR National Skate Tournament
April - June 2024
Music Made Here (x3)
Big Art Day
National Paintball Tournament
Cinco de Mayo
Service Appreciation Week
Asian American Heritage Festival
Juneteenth Celebration
DFW Asian American Soccer Tournament
July - September 2024
Music Made Here (x3)
4th of July Celebration
1st Responders Soccer Tournament
Labor Day Parade
Fall Fest
Garland Landmark Museum’s 50th Anniversary
October - December
Music Made Here (x3)
Wheels of Hope Car Show
Día de los Muertos
Boards of Commissions Dinner
Christmas on the Square
Sensory Christmas
4d. Street Department Updates
Staff will present Council with various updates on the Street Department's programs, projects and initiatives.
Staff will provide and update on money spent towards replacing and repairing streets, alleys, and sidewalks throughout the city. The funding committed by the City Council since 2014 has really helped improve our citywide Pavement Condition Index or PCI.
(City of Garland Historical street repair and maintenance funding)
As part of the FY 2024 budget, Council approved $350,000 to conduct a pavement assessment of the entire city. The data generated will be used to determine where to direct our future funding dollars most effectively. I love a data driven solution to help us be better stewards of your tax payer dollars.
4e. Administrative Services Committee Report
Committee Chairperson Morris and City Staff will provide an Administrative Services Committee recommendation on amending Rules of Order and Procedure and City Council Policies, Division 5, Section 1, Facility naming and dedication plaques.
5. Discuss Appointments to Boards and Commissions
Council Member B.J. Williams
Arleen Macias - Tax Increment Finance #3 Board
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 adjourn into executive session pursuant to Sections 551.072, 551.086, 551.087, and 551.071 of the Texas Government Code to deliberate or discuss the following:
1. Competitive matters of a public power utility (551.086) and attorney/client matters concerning privileged and unprivileged client information related to the same (551.071).
2. Economic development matters related to commercial or financial information that the City has received from one or more business prospects that the City seeks to have locate, stay, or expand in the vicinity of South Garland Avenue and I-635 and with which the City is conducting economic development negotiations (551.087), including possible purchases of real property (551.072), and attorney/client matters concerning privileged and unprivileged client information related to the same (551.071).
8. Adjourn
With the TIF talk, I couldn’t pass the chance to play Tiffany’s biggest hit from the 80’s “I Think We’re Alone Now.” The video has some good mall food court singing!
A very professional set of notes. I do have a question about the new library being built at West Garland.
What will happen to the old Walnut Creek Branch library building? Is it going to be converted into something similar to the Central Library Express? I've grown quite fond and attached to the old building.