By Sarah Tucker
West University City Council held two public hearings on the proposed 2015 tax rate and 2016 city budget.
No residents spoke at either hearing, but council had plenty to say.
During the public hearing on the tax rate, Councilmember Brennan Reilly proposed city staff prepare an alternate budget at the effective tax rate in order to justify the revenue increase for residents.
The proposed tax rate for 2015 is $0.33179. While lower than the 2014 tax rate, the 2015 rate will bring in 3.97 percent more revenue than the previous year because of the increase in property values across West U. This revenue increase requires council to hold two public hearings.
Reilly’s motion failed for lack of a second, with Councilmembers Burt Ballanfant saying it was a little late in the process to ask for an alternative budget and Mardi Turner saying West U was triple-A rated not because it’s a “nice little town” but because it’s properly managed.
At the public hearing for the 2016 budget, Finance Director Rhonda Daugherty presented the proposed budget and addressed increases and adjustments from the previous year. Daugherty and City Manager Chris Peifer also discussed the timeline staff follows and the different components that go into the budget and why the budget can’t be presented to council earlier in the year.
Of interest for upcoming council meetings will be Reilly’s proposal to discuss the memoranda of understanding with Tri-Sports, West U Aquatics and the West University Baptist Church. Reilly wants to review the property tax exemption for commercial property and review institutional zoning.
Mayor Susan Sample took issue with Reilly’s agenda item saying that it was his attempt to curb churches in West University Place.
The item was placed on the Oct. 26 agenda after Mayor Pro Tem Bob Kelly said there was no reason to prohibit discussion.
Reilly said he found it inappropriate for institutional buildings to be in a residential zone. City Attorney Alan Petrov said churches can be built in residential areas and requested to meet with Reilly prior to the Oct. 26 council meeting to discuss the particular rules of zoning and houses of worship.
Council also changed the November and December council meetings to Nov. 9 and 16 and Dec. 7 and 14.
October 13, 2015 at 12:30 pm
This is my final post. I wrote this on my word processor and have cut and pasted because it is way too long for a single post. If you are interested in the way Reilly and Kelly are subverting our city government, start this at the bottom. If you are not interested, please accept my apology for cluttering up this site.
The mayor mentioned that she was adding an item related to base elevation for new residential construction to the next agenda for ZPC consideration, since West U is behind Houston and Bellaire who require some height buffer for new construction to prevent flooding (both require at least 18” above base flood, while West U does not require any elevation). Reilly got mad and asked why this was not on the “future agenda items” list. Mayor Sample reminded him that it does not have to be and that she don’t need a second to add things to the agenda.
Reilly has really gotten out of hand, and Bob Kelly has enabled this by seconding every agenda item Brennan proposes. I know he does this on purpose to cause chaos with the meetings, but it really prevents things from getting done, other than arguing, which he likes to do.
October 13, 2015 at 12:25 pm
Please read from the bottom post up. I am cutting and pasting from my notes.
Herte is the part where Kelly gets tangled up in his lies.
Bob Kelly rudely interrupted and said to the mayor “were you at the same meetings I was, because he never said anything like that.” Bob and the mayor had words where they went back and forth about what was said and then Kelly started to go into a long diatribe about Town Center Zoning. Kelly used to be adamantly against the Town Center, but I digress. The mayor interrupted him at that point and said that we were talking about Institutional Zoning, not Town Center.
Bob then dug his heels in further and said “Institutional Zoning was never discussed at the boards and commissions interviews” as if the mayor was totally crazy. Reilly apparently was not paying attention because he stuck his foot right in his mouth and said “I sure did bring it up, I brought it up to everyone. I think we need to limit church expansion.” Reilly then went off onto a long discussion about how we needed to do that, that churches, as it stands now, can build in residential areas.
The mayor pointed out that churches can do that anyway under the overlaying state and federal law. the city attorney spoke to it as well. reilly would not back down and stated that it is ad hoc zoning now for churches in residential areas and that somehow residential zoning will fix that (I’m not sure how, but I really think he truly believes that institutional zoning will prevent churches from expanding from their current footprints). The city attorney did say to him in open meeting “Brennan, I need to talk to you one on one about this because there are some things I think you may not understand”.
Kelly was still confused because he swore he had never heard a discussion about institutional zoning before tonight. He seconded Brennan’s motion to add it as an agenda item though because he said there wasn’t any harm in discussing it.
These guys have to go!!
October 13, 2015 at 12:06 pm
Please read from the bottom post.
Next came agenda item 5 – “Future Agenda Items”. Reilly started by attacking the mayor for not giving the ZPC enough to do, so he was going to fill their plate by reopening “Town Center Zoning” and asking them to study “Institutional Zoning”.
The mayor explained that in and of itself, Institutional Zoning isn’t a bad idea. She gave an example of colleges, which might not fit into a standard commercial parking ordinance (requiring x number of spots per building) when there are buildings that serve the same people at the same time (class buildings and dorms for instance). I mentioned churches may have that same problem, BUT NOT IN WEST U.
The mayor pointed out the obvious that if there isn’t a visible problem, we shouldn’t dive into that exercise – which would probably cause us nothing but heartache. Then the mayor said that what she didn’t want was a hidden agenda – one in which we were trying just another way to limit church expansion – which Reilly was trying to do.
At first Reilly evaded the answer, so then the mayor doubled down and said – “Brennan, you brought up in posted meetings – boards and commissions interviews – to anyone interviewing for a ZPC position, the topic of Institutional Zoning. First you asked what the interviewee thought of it, then you gave your philosophy that you thought it was a really good way to limit church expansion.”
This guy Reilly has no shame. He thinks we aren’t watching.
We are!!
October 13, 2015 at 11:58 am
Note: I composed this piece on my word processor and am cutting and pasting to chop my long verbiage into readable chunks.I see now that all of this should be read from the bottom up. Sorry for that.
He then said that he felt we needed to dig deep into the shared parking agreement with WUBC because he personally thinks the City is getting the short end of the stick and that we won’t need it anymore after they build their Youth Center.
He has no ground to stand on with this as far as the city is concerned, but I think he is trying to find a way to attack the church for not meeting parking requirements (including ones he will try to establish with an Institutional Zoning ordinance). This is a big heads up to anyone who understands our parking arrangement with the Church.
Because of how our land ownership is speckled with the church’s, and how we utilize facilities at opposite times, it is essential we work together on parking. I don’t think he understands how trying to pinch the church out of compliance will actually have a more detrimental effect on the City. Again, he doesn’t care. He’s all about throwing out the baby with the bathwater when it comes to settling scores with his enemies.
I attend Christ the King Lutheran at the corner of Rice and Greenbriar. We are neighbors with Hungry’s Restaurant and Rice University. Fortunately we behave as good neighbors in a crowded area. The way Reilly is treating our good neighbors is despicable. What good can possibly come of this obnoxious behavior?
October 13, 2015 at 11:50 am
First Reilly stated that he wanted staff to provide an analysis of how leasing properties to other entities potentially jeopardizes our tax exempt status. He first stated that he thought we were jeopardizing our exempt status on the Dincans property by leasing a piece of it to Goode Company and he wanted an analysis because he thought it was no longer tax exempt. He then said he “needed” a study of our leases to WUBC (for parking? I don’t know) and Tri-Sports for playing fields, because he thought that was no longer governmental use and that we could lose our tax exemption on that as well.
Basically, Reilly threw West U and its taxpayers under the bus for political gain by publicly questioning our tax exempt status. In addition, I’m not sure how West U recreation property situated in West U“leased” for $1 (or nothing, from what I understand) for use by West U residents jeopardizes that land’s tax exemption. I believe this is just a move to limit Tri-Sports’s operations in West University. I believe his attack on the Goode Company lease is to take away that revenue stream, and set up a case for selling the land. Anything to do with WUBC is to even up some personal score with them.
How did this guy get elected and why is Kelly putting up with him? Kelly is no one’s fool but he is fooling me now.
October 13, 2015 at 11:45 am
The action last night started at Agenda Item 4 – Change of Meeting Dates due to Holidays.
Chris proposed the routine change in November and December schedules (Having November 9 and 16th meetings to avoid meetings around Thanksgiving and Having the December meetings on the 7th and the week after, avoiding Christmas holidays). This immediately caused a ruckus.
I will not go into the fights over the dates due to potential conflicts Judge Elizondo’s retirement and the boards and commissions orientation dinner on the 9th, because they were bordering on ridiculous and don’t have any real impact. What came out of this argument was this:
Scheduled for the November 9 meeting are the MOUs with Tri-Sports and WUBC for shared parking. Reilly said that the meeting on the 9th would run long because of these MOUs. Turner challenged him saying these items were routine, and had been in place for years. Reilly took issue with that and said that because something has been in place for years does not mean it is good. He used that as a starting point to take on all these organizations as well as expose West U itself to tax problem.
More to come….
October 13, 2015 at 11:41 am
The personal agenda items of Reilly moved fast and furiously at the meeting last night. Reilly outdid himself on aggressive behavior, inappropriate statements jeopardizing city positions and vendetta-based proposed agenda items. He really did not leave any group out of his scorched earth approach. He attacked the churches, the WUBC in specific, then he went after Tri-Sports and Goode Company. The awful thing is that Bob Kelly seconds him on every proposed agenda item, so it gets thrown onto future meeting agendas. This may sound sensational, but it actually happened.
This has to stop.
October 13, 2015 at 10:57 am
West U has 5 great churches.
West U Baptist
West U Methodist
West U Church of Christ
St George Orthodox
St Andrew’s Presbyterian
All enhance our community and all provide community services. The slate attacked our baptist Church because they wanted to build a youth center.
What are Reilly and Kelly thinking?
The recall can’t happen soon enough.
October 13, 2015 at 1:49 pm
and St Marks Episcopal
October 13, 2015 at 6:13 pm
I had that on my list but mis-remembered that it was on the West U side if Weslayan
October 13, 2015 at 10:09 am
Let’s hope that Reilly will listen to City Attorney Alan Petrov and discontinue his unwarranted attacks on churches. And is he really going after our City’s participation with Tri-Sports and West U Aquatics? Is Bob Kelly seconding every motion made my Reilly?
Interested citizens need to take note and be heard. 85% Apathy is NOT the answer for this Council.
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