[{"_1":2,"_87":-5,"_88":-5},"loaderData",{"_3":4,"_26":27},"root",{"_5":6,"_17":10,"_18":19,"_20":21,"_22":10,"_23":-5,"_24":-5,"_25":10},"user",{"_7":8,"_9":10,"_11":10,"_12":-5,"_13":-5,"_14":15,"_16":-5},"roles",[],"isAuthenticated",false,"isPremium","planName","subscriptionStatus","featureFlags",{},"insightsBudget","isDevelopmentHost","userPreferences",{},"recaptchaSiteKey","6LcvOJcUAAAAAHsB-gPGfGktcRlKpH7OTIU_dMTD","isImpersonating","impersonation","affiliateStatus","isFreedomPortal","routes/v2/article/layout",{"_28":29,"_30":31},"notFound",true,"relatedArticles",[32,75],{"_33":34,"_35":36,"_37":38,"_39":40,"_41":42,"_43":44,"_45":46,"_47":48,"_49":50,"_51":52,"_53":54,"_55":56,"_57":58,"_59":60,"_61":62,"_63":64,"_65":66,"_67":68,"_69":70,"_71":68,"_72":73,"_74":73},"mediaId",6668144,"mediaKeyId","2241232-c293ede5acc4d3fa0c24eb1484e8e77e","parentId",2241232,"title","Houston Public Works recommends dropping conceptual drainage-plan requirement for MUD consent to reduce cost and delay","audioSeconds",1383,"startMs",1177000,"endMs",2560000,"viewUrl","/Search/View?dp=1&key=2241232-c293ede5acc4d3fa0c24eb1484e8e77e&start=1177&end=2560","thumbnailUrl","https://assets.pipeline.soar.com/2241232-c293ede5acc4d3fa0c24eb1484e8e77e/thumbnail_1177000.jpg","articleUrl","/articles/6668144/Houston/Harris-County/Texas/Houston-Public-Works-recommends-dropping-conceptual-drainage-plan-requirement-for-MUD-consent-to-reduce-cost-and-delay","mediaUrl","https://secure.pipeline.soar.com/6668144-f6f053cdbca893ac6a849b02e44eb079/orig.mp4?Expires=1775123132&Signature=nGfF3wMNbSS7t5BpiYM4DzI-uTr6b07ypGU6yBt0rMReL1zK7h2u1fwbzWrVletO9RbtAR5t0TZSyCJ6yxOBwVo-eNmZORQAYGA94LYr152-937R4yY1XTe6hrV657a01UB-mD6Tiw0NuVwdP4mR4NAvwyzIwL5SSYZroj6Zv9Ktdh6e4Hc8zjOns9dEhUf2MT0LmNduOUBzJxjmi43H6Gd9xldur-m3ri1VFwmamU8gp9oLLoS7ERCsGljBAGrN1hX3UcxwrTzin8qQsBpZNcJ6GKaLC-LrzI47INptL5c9xZ284u5v5KeAW782NrC8-ZDgdqig6uAe4xFgIfqOag__&Key-Pair-Id=KUT5TJCACFTXG","author","Houston","date","2025-02-05T00:00:00Z","article","Houston Public Works on Monday recommended that the city remove a requirement that applicants for municipal utility district consent submit conceptual drainage plans at the time they seek council approval to form a MUD or add territory.

\"Houston Public Works reviews approximately 50 district applications per year\" for council consent, Carly Stelzer, water contracts manager with Houston Public Works (Houston Water's Regulatory Compliance and Utility Development), told the committee. Stelzer said the conceptual-plan requirement was added after Hurricane Harvey and has added an estimated six to nine months and thousands of dollars to the consent process.

Stelzer and Kim Mickelson of the city legal department said the conceptual plans are preliminary, often change during later platting and permitting, and that Harris County Flood Control currently receives conceptual plans but does not review drainage calculations at this stage. \"These preliminary plans typically cost thousands of extra dollars to the applicant,\" Stelzer said.

Under the current practice, applicants submit conceptual drainage information to Harris County Flood Control before filing for city consent; Stelzer said this front-end step increased time and expense and often produces plans that are later revised or replaced when more detailed plats and infrastructure plans are prepared. Final drainage and detention plans must still be submitted to and approved by the appropriate regulatory agency before construction, she added.

Stelzer said the city has two sets of standardized consent conditions, for in-city MUDs and for MUDs in the extraterritorial jurisdiction (ETJ). Those conditions have not been readopted since 1984 (in-city) and 2006 (ETJ), she said. City staff proposed moving conceptual-plan language out of the ordinance and into consent guidance so the consent application would instead include a written statement explaining how drainage and detention will be achieved if the tract is within the 100- or 500-year floodplain.

Council members asked whether applicants denied consent could still pursue formation with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ). Kim Mickelson said in ETJ cases an applicant can still seek TCEQ approval or legislative relief; for in-city MUDs, the city must consent. Council members also asked about Harris County Flood Control's view of removing the conceptual-plan requirement; Stelzer said she had not yet discussed the specific change with the county but would follow up.

Vice Mayor Pro Tem Peck and Council Member Ramirez expressed general support while also urging staff to ensure the city retains opportunities to work with applicants on larger-scale drainage and flood-mitigation design issues. Stelzer said the city will continue to require and review final, engineered drainage and detention plans before construction, and staff recommended the change to reduce applicant costs and speed the consent process while preserving regulatory review later in the development sequence.

No formal council vote was recorded on the proposal during the meeting; staff presented the recommendation and answered questions.","mediaType","Video","parentTitle","Houston - Government Operations Committee - Feb 05, 2025","oneSentenceSummary","Houston Public Works proposed removing the pre-consent conceptual drainage-plan requirement for municipal utility district (MUD) formation and territory additions, saying the current step adds months and thousands of dollars to applicants and that final drainage and detention plans will still be required before construction.","taxTitle","Houston, Harris County, Texas","taxId",2797,"location","headline","","shortSummary",{"_33":76,"_35":36,"_37":38,"_39":77,"_41":78,"_43":79,"_45":80,"_47":81,"_49":82,"_51":83,"_53":84,"_55":56,"_57":58,"_59":85,"_61":62,"_63":64,"_65":86,"_67":68,"_69":70,"_71":68,"_72":73,"_74":73},6668147,"HITS seeks $5.95 million increase to extend UKG (Kronos) contract, add HPD Telestaff",460,75000,535000,"/Search/View?dp=1&key=2241232-c293ede5acc4d3fa0c24eb1484e8e77e&start=75&end=535","https://assets.pipeline.soar.com/2241232-c293ede5acc4d3fa0c24eb1484e8e77e/thumbnail_75000.jpg","/articles/6668147/Houston/Harris-County/Texas/HITS-seeks-595-million-increase-to-extend-UKG-Kronos-contract-add-HPD-Telestaff","https://secure.pipeline.soar.com/6668147-167ae47c1325485b9fbc52ae5ba67bef/orig.mp4?Expires=1775123132&Signature=dij8rY5K9eA2ZvhZQ9doVGtxW7hxwdOAYPPmiHYnZReIxdWPwE9qUlTdi0BCHb31d-892oa3-sXDejKWgFvhpc9ynXZXuqFvGJXCjFV06JHTS7Nf19fAX~dk3eLbHiMk6QsV3PLmG0HOvoQqQXT8ANydQ8LSquZL6s8vyssibKOWtUG8LHjWOwS7-LIyi9u4BY5QU4u47iafUh7Or0tznm5zB65IIQmymIbMvZ39Fwa1aDXncTGJ8u2~BNONyxvXfVOySDlpb3PqJKZEIgvSNwrEgv5U~Tkrpdssx0Gdbx6bFwhw6XrkRMNSK3c73-DcHLzupr-t8gEoNmQx3hU5Fg__&Key-Pair-Id=KUT5TJCACFTXG","Houston Information Technology Services on Monday asked the council to approve an additional $5,950,000 in spending authority to extend the city's contract with Ultimate Kronos Group (UKG) and support a planned migration to UKG's commercial cloud and rolling out the Telestaff scheduling product to the Houston Police Department.

\"It's a contract extension with UKG,\" said Lisa Kent, chief information officer and department director for Houston Information Technology Services. Kent told the committee the current contract has $6,200,000 in remaining spending authority and that the requested increase would bring total spending authority for fiscal years 2025 through 2030 to $12,100,000.

The contract covers software licenses for UKG workforce management, hardware and maintenance for time clocks, support and maintenance, and professional services to assist deployments. \"Kronos is the citywide electronic timekeeping solution that feeds into our payroll system,\" Kent said, describing UKG as the system city departments use to record and transmit employee time to SAP for payroll.

\"The benefits of UKG Telestaff software would be streamlined scheduling, which reduces the manual work and minimizes the errors,\" said Ms. Pillai, assistant director for the enterprise resource planning group. City staff said the Houston Police Department currently performs much scheduling and timekeeping on paper, producing an estimated 5,300 historical pay edits per pay period. Staff said Telestaff will be used by HPD for complex scheduling for roughly full-time officers and that several thousand additional, temporary users would access the system for special events or temporary assignments.

Council members asked about the contract's history and whether the city periodically reviews whether to continue with long-running enterprise platforms. Kent said the city implements key strategic platforms for extended periods when change would be a large cost and operational lift, and that the UKG-to-SAP integration is already in place. \"The integration is already set up between Kronos UKG system and SAP today,\" Ms. Pillai said, adding that the planned workforce management product will be delivered as a standard, noncustomized software-as-a-service implementation.

Council members also asked about training and support during the migration. Kent said HITS and city payroll partners have identified staff to assist departments and managers during implementation. She said the Administration and Regulatory Affairs (ARA) office has already identified at least one payroll staffer to assist the rollout.

Staff said the Telestaff licenses for HPD will be paid from department funds: \"HAS and HPD will pay separately for their use of Telestaff and so that comes directly out of HAS's enterprise fund and HPD's fund,\" Kent said. No formal vote on the spending increase was recorded in the committee transcript; staff presented the request for council approval and answered questions.

The committee did not take a formal vote during the presentation. Staff said they will return with the contract extension for council action and that departments will proceed with training and implementation planning in advance of the software migration.","Houston Information Technology Services asked council for authority to increase spending on the city's UKG (Kronos) timekeeping contract by $5,950,000 to cover a five-year extension and to support HPD's planned Telestaff rollout; staff said the system will remain integrated with SAP and that departments will fund their own Telestaff licenses.","actionData","errors"]

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Houston Public Works recommends dropping conceptual drainage-plan requirement for MUD consent to reduce cost and delay

HITS seeks $5.95 million increase to extend UKG (Kronos) contract, add HPD Telestaff