Richardson City Council Work Session September 18th, 2023
OPENING
All councilmembers are present as well as City Manager Don Magner and City Secretary Aimee Nemer.
No public speakers are present.
The first item is a proclamation recognizing National Preparedness Month. Emergency Management Director Alisha Gimbel presents. Council expresses their appreciation for Emergency Management staff.
LIBRARY/CITY HALL UPDATE
Next up is an important update on the Library & City Hall Campus Plans. Staff is now moving into the new temporary facilities. Doug Moss from the Steinberg Hart architecture firm presents. For the library, the main questions are where to place the main entrance and if an additional elevator is needed. Doug proposes increasing visibility facing the plaza by removing concrete sections and replacing existing glass with energy-efficient glass. The third floor and the proposed new staircase on the south side of the building will have fritted glass. The main entrance is proposed to be at the southeast corner of the building towards the plaza. Doug also presents an option for a glass-enclosed elevator next to the new glass-enclosed staircase. He states that the additional elevator, however, would go beyond the original budget by roughly $1M. Council supports the plan without the additional elevator.
Anne Stimmel from the Architexas architecture firm continues the presentation. She presents a municipal campus option with a 67-space reduction for parking. This reduces parking at the southeast and northeast corners of the campus. She also presents an option with additional traffic calming measures for the proposed main entrance from Arapaho, and an option removing the vehicle entrance from Arapaho entirely. Councilman Barrios asks what the reason was for including an entrance from Arapaho. City Manager Don Magner responds that it was mostly a response to community feedback. Don suggests that they could basically build it the same way with a road dissecting the plaza but not use it as a road until there was a future reason to do so. Councilman Barrios responds by asking if we can declare the area a park. City Manager Don Magner replies that we don’t need it to be a park. Mayor Pro Tem Shamsul states that designating the area as a park would make it more difficult to get approval for any sort of underground utilities. Councilman Dorian expresses support for the additional green space and for not building a road through the plaza. Councilman Corcoran prefers the option without the road through the plaza but is also open to Don’s future needs suggestion. Councilwoman Justice states that she is still against any type of construction for a road in the plaza. Councilman Barrios agrees. Councilman Corcoran also agrees. Don asks if there is consensus on choosing the option with no road through the plaza. Council affirms that this is what they want. But Mayor Pro Tem Shamsul speaks up to advocate for the possibility of constructing for a future road. He wants access prioritized over existing trees. After hearing Council’s thoughts on adding an additional entrance elsewhere in the plaza, City Manager Don Magner states that he will move forward with the option that includes no preparations for any road through the plaza but will look at options for an additional entrance elsewhere. The Construction Manager At Risk will be Balfour Beatty.
PUBLIC ART PROJECTS
The next presentation is on 2021 Bond Program Public Art. Meridith McKinley from the Via Partnership public art consulting firm presents. Four locations are discussed: Fire Station 5, the Animal Shelter, the Library, and City Hall. The Fire Station art budget is $75K. The recommendation is to integrate artwork into the fence surrounding the outdoor space facing the public, as well as artwork in the landscaping area if there’s room in the budget. The Animal Shelter art budget is $49K. The recommendation here is to create a sculpture near the entry. The Library art budget is $560K. The recommendations here are to install hanging artwork inside the library and install a sculpture outside next to the new staircase. The City Hall art budget is $1.3M. Recommendations for City Hall art haven’t been made yet. Councilman Hutchenrider asks about options for the artist selection process. The options are to conduct the recommended RFQ process where artists submit their qualifications and past works. Then the selected artist works on a concept plan for the new art. The other option is to select a group of finalists who will be given a concept and submit their interpretation/proposal for one to be chosen. Council agrees to use the second process and have a group of finalists submit proposals.
ADMINISTRATIVE CODE REVISIONS & CLOSING
The last item is a presentation of revisions to the Administrative Code. Management Analyst Haley Alsabrook presents. The proposed revisions change the listed responsibilities for department directors. Specifically, they remove the responsibilities to develop and implement goals, objectives, policies, and strategies. They also remove the responsibility of preparing budgets, collecting fees, selecting and training personnel, and preparation of records. Two new departments are added, Economic Development and Facilities & Fleet Services. The Convention & Visitors Bureau is also being made its own department. These revisions will be on the Sep. 25th agenda and the next review will happen in Oct. 2025.
Council discusses Light Up Lockwood, the Richardson Real Heroes event, a fundraiser for Network of Comm. Ministries, a recent Library Board meeting, and the meeting convenes into executive session to discuss economic development negotiations for a commercial development in the area of Main St. & U.S. 75.