Weekly Update

Here's the week at a glance!

The City Building Commission met on Thursday, Sept 24th.  They approved a variance into the front 25' setback on Capri.  With the topography, the fence will not be very visible and it didn't make sense to split the yard. A structure at 107 Javelin was determined to be a screening structure and was permitted with the addition of plantings covering a percentage of the structure.  A waiver was expanded at 414 Sunfish to allow siding on a remodel.  They inspected several homes for a final Certificate of Occupancy.

The budget was further massaged and revisions have been made for the Budget Meeting / Work Session that will convene on Monday at 2PM. 

Former Warrant Officer Deena Dorrheim-Maxwell has returned to work for the City as a part-time Warrant Officer on a temporary basis.  Judge Madison and Chief Bowers believe the position can generate enough revenue to pay for the cost of this position.  There will be a revenue-expense analysis done 90 days out and if it is positive, City Manager Jones will consider recommending unfreezing the permanent position.

Judge Madison (Municipal Court Judge) is considering running for Justice of the Peace, Hays County Precinct 4.  He has indicated that he intends to continue working with us as municipal Court Judge.

As indicated earlier, there is a Budget Meeting / Work Session scheduled for Monday, September 28th at 2PM Agenda.  There will be another meeting on October 5th to adopt the final budget and City tax rate.

Thanks for LOOKING!  Tell your friends and check back soon. 

Joe Bain
lakeway@bain.us

 

Council Update

Here's an update on the results of tonight's Council meeting:

Mayor DeOme reported that Saturday's blood drive was very successful with 79 units of blood collected.  Thanks to the residents for supporting this important volunteer effort!

During Citizens Participation, Karl Ansbach made a presentation asking the City Council to pass a smoking ordinance for the City of Lakeway.  He mentioned that previous Councils had not been able to get an ordinance through and he felt it was important not only for the residents but for employees of area businesses.

Mayor DeOme made a Proclamation designating October 6, 2009  as "National Night Out" in the City of Lakeway.

There was discussion of the General Fund Budget and a hearing on the Proposed Property Tax rate.  There was no public comment on these issues.

The Council approved an interlocal agreement with the City of Bee Caves for police dispatching and communication services.  Motion was passed unanimously.

There was a lengthy discussion of adopting an ordinance relating to the operation of golf carts.  Council charged the staff to come up with suggestions.  There are many safety concerns and discussion also centered on restrictions, especially requiring a drivers license.

There was a discussion of amending the Solid Waste Collection Ordinance.  This was tabled and sent back with several suggestions for staff to investigate.

All consent agenda items were passed unanimously.

For a pdf of the complete agenda click here.  Agenda

Thanks for LOOKING!  I appreciate the support!

Joe Bain
lakeway@bain.us

Weekly Update ++

Highlands Blvd. is still under construction - mostly retaining walls and landscaping.  The City is waiting for a call from the developer for a final inspection and walk through before it can be opened.  The rain had delayed the construction and completion could still be a few weeks off.

It appears Carrie Burns (forester) has discovered a strong correlation between the citywide brush programs and the spread of oak wilt.  The city may look into rethinking the brush pickup program.

The Charter Review Committee had their first meeting this week.  Steve Swan was elected chairman and the committee is soliciting comments and recommendations for possible amendments to the charter.  Steve Swan can be reached at Steve Swan .

The Developers of Crosswater Yacht Club have been invited to the October Council Meeting to give a presentation on their project and tell us what they are willing to do to mitigate the city's concerns.  This will start a dialogue for further communication with the developers.

City Council will hold their regular meeting on September 21st at 6:30PM.  Major items to be discussed are the Proclamation of October 6th as "National Night Out", Proposed General Fund Budget, proposed Property Tax Rate, approve an interlocal agreement with Bee Cave for dispatching services, hear a presentation from Carl Ansbach on golf cart usage on city streets, and finally an amendment to the Solid Waste Collection ordinance.
Click on the link for the full agenda compliments of the Official City Website. Agenda

Come see your City government at work!  As always, thanks for LOOKING!  Please continue to tell your friends about the blog and have them email me at lakeway@bain.us to be added to the notification list. 

Thanks again!


Joe Bain
lakeway@bain.us

Blood Drive / LTYA Benefit Houst

Mark your calendars!  The Blood Drive is Saturday the 19th!  If you haven't made an appointment or need more information call Searcy Willis at 261-9055.  Let's keep him busy!

Lake Travis Youth Association (LTYA) was defrauded to the tune of nearly $200,000 last year.  Zbranek Custom Homes is building a "Benefit Home" in the Bluffs at Rough Hollow with a goal of donating $150,000 back to the LTYA.  What a SPECIAL endeavor!  I wish them all the luck.  I am attaching the press release if you would like to read more about it here. Zbranek

Thanks again for all the support.  I will have the Council agenda posted soon.

Joe Bain
lakeway@bain.us

Burn Ban Lifted - Mayor's Blog

The Fire Marshall has lifted the burn ban and the Mayor has also lifted the ban in Lakeway.  This is a result of the recent rains and may be temporary.

Mayor DeOme has started a blog on the City Website!  Check it out - go to cityoflakeway.com and click on "Mayor's Blog".

Thanks for LOOKING!

Joe Bain

Armed robbery / Speedy Stop / Lake Cleanup Results

Today was much slower than yesterday - give our police a big hand for catching the 3 individuals that attempted to rob Cristiani's Jewelry!  Turns out they were armed and we found the gun.  One of the folks in the store was injured but was treated on scene and is doing fine.  A lot of work and effort but it culminated in success!  Thanks again!

I have been told that a vote on the Speedy Stop will be delayed until the October Council meeting.  Any major changes will have to go before ZAPCO before going to Council.

The Lake Travis cleanup was a huge success!  They removed 10 TONS of debris from the lake.  I am attaching a link to the press release for your enjoyment!  Lake Cleanup Press Release

Thanks for LOOKING!

Joe Bain

Armed Robbery, Police Chief Bowers Complaint, McCabe Schedule

It's been a busy day!  There was an attempted armed robbery at Cristiani's Jewelry today before noon.  There were three armed men, one was captured and two are still at large.  There was a massive manhunt and Travis County worked with Lakeway PD with the help of off duty police and the EMS helicopter for several hours.  The car they used was impounded and was taken in a carjacking yesterday.  These men are armed and dangerous so keep your eyes open!  The golf course was also closed because of the search.

As of 5:10 PM all suspects have been captured!

Neighbors were notified by the "reverse 911" system.  It allows city officials to mark off a geographic area and a phone message is delivered  to all residents in that area - great system.  As far as I know this is the first time it has been used other than for testing.

Most of you know that Police Chief Bowers filed a complaint that resulted in an investigation of the Mayor and Mayor Pro Tem alleging Official Oppression.  I am furnishing links to the original letter and the summary of the investigation as part of this blog since Council voted to make it public. This link is to the results of the investigation Investigation Summary and if you wish to see the original letter from Chief Bowers go to this link  Letter .

 Council has advised the Council not to comment on the letter or Investigation so you will have to read the reports and form your own opinion.

Msgr. McCabe's Viewing will begin at 5:00 PM with the Vigil Service at 6:30 PM on Wednesday, Sept. 16.  The Mass of Christian Burial will be at 10:30 AM on Thursday, Sept. 17.  Msgr. McCabe was 79 years old when he passed away.  The services will be at Emmaus Church on Lohmans Crossing.

Thanks for all of the support!  Send me an email if you want to be added to the notification email list.

Joe Bain

lakeway@bain.us

Msgr. Richard McCabe

I have learned that Msgr. Richard McCabe passed away yesterday morning, September 13, 2009.  I will post funeral information as soon as it is relayed to me.  


Joe Bain

Weekly Update

Hi everyone! 

Of course the big news this week is the rain!  Isn't it wonderful!  As of today, we have had 8.5 inches of rain at the Airpark - that's correct, 8.5 inches and it looks like we have more to come.  It's great!

There was a Council meeting and public work session on 09/10 to discuss the City budget.  Currently we are looking at about a $.01 increase over last years tax rate.  This would bring us up to a 0.1929 rate.

There are several reasons for the increase, a couple are Building and Development fees are down to about $330K from a high of $1.3 million and our sales tax revenue is down because of the economy.  The Staff has done a great job of limiting expenses in various departments and we are looking into trimming expenses even further.

The bottom line is we want to be sure that our safety and quality of life are what we all expect!  There will be a Council meeting on 9/21, a public hearing on the budget on 9/28 at 2PM, and another meeting on 10/5 to adopt the budget and tax rate.  Come see your City Officials at work!

There is another Council Special Session on September 14th at 2PM to hear the report from the Special Investigator hired because of a letter from Police Chief Bowers.  Agenda 9/14/2009

That's all for now.  Thanks for LOOKING!  I will post rain amounts again as it increases!  Email me if you want to be on the notification list.

Thanks again for all the support!

Joe Bain

Worker Drowns in Pool

A painter drowned Tuesday evening in a pool in the 400 block of Malabar.  Two workers were finishing up their day of work when one of them got into the pool.  He was having trouble and the other worker didn't know how to swim and couldn't go in after him.  He went to get help but by the time rescuers returned, the man had drowned.

JoeBain
lakeway@bain.us

Send me an email if you would like to be included on my notification list!

Items of Interest for September!

Here are some calendar items for you:

1. The Council meeting date for the 2010 Proposed Budget is now Friday, September 11, 2009 at 2PM. Council will have a 1st look at the budget for the upcoming year and will be a work session. This was moved from Wednesday, September 9th because of a posting error.  Here's the agenda Council Agenda
   
2. The second work session is scheduled for Monday, September 28, 2009 at 2PM.
3. The Lakeway Municipal Utility District monthly Board Meeting will be held Wednesday, September 9 at 9:30AM. Here is the agenda Lakeway MUD Agenda 
4. Searcy Willis has notified me that there will be a Community Blood Drive on September 19th.   For more information or to sign up call Searcy at 512-261-9055. 

Did you know there is a Men's Breakfast Club?  It meet every Wednesday morning with a continental breakfast starting about 7AM  and the speaker starts at 8AM in the Activity Center.  Membership is open to men in the Lakeway Area and for a dollar you get coffee, donuts and juice plus there is a speaker each week.  The meeting generally lasts till about 9AM.
Current Schedule:
9th - Dicky Grigg of Spivey and Grigg - Guantanamo:  It's not about them, It's about Us.
16 - Evan Smith - Texas Monthly Editor
23 - Robert Auerbach - Professor of Public Affairs, Lyndon B Johnson School of Public Affairs, UT Austin - Deception and Abuse at the Federal Reserve
30 - Dr. Rocky Kirk - Superintendent LTISD - Challenges, Opportunities & Progress; 2009-2010 LTISD State of the District.

Come join the fun!

Joe Bain
lakeway@bain.us

Rain Update

For those of you that received rain last evening, count your lucky stars! On the West side over where I live we got nada, nothing, zip, no rain at all. It thundered, wind blew, etc. but not a drop. I hear the East side got some good moisture.

Well, maybe today!

Hope your having a GREAT holiday weekend!

Joe Bain

Weekly Update

Let me bring you up to date on the weeks events.

The Crosswater Yacht Club and Marina received a stop work order from the City last week.  This triggered an issue with the LCRA because their permits are contingent on permits from the City.  On the good side of this issue, the area has been cleaned up by the new owners.  They appear to be willing to work with the City on several issues including no boat ramp, no restaurant, and no music venues.  More to come I'm sure on this in the near future.

ZAPCO voted 6 to 0 to recommend against the Special Use Permit requested by Speedy Stop for the old Exxon location.  There were several reasons for this decision including safety concerns because of increased traffic, operation hours, size of the facility, and other considerations.  We are not sure if they will bring the issue before the next council meeting - I will let you know!

Emmaus Catholic Church was given a variance to allow construction of a new building.  There were two variances and both infractions are minor.  The variances were for cut and fill issues and building on a slope in excess of 25%.

You might have seen the City irrigation system running at improper times on Lohmans Crossing and Lakeway Blvd.  The City has recently installed new controllers with solar powered units and they seem to have a mind of their own.  They should have them fixed soon.

For the Hills folks - I understand one of your Aldermen is turning 80 this month - what a milestone.  I won't mention his name but he uses the initials J.R.  If you see him say "Happy Birthday".

As always, I send out a notification email to let folks know when there is a new post.  If you want to be on the notification list, email me at lakeway@bain.us.  Thanks for LOOKING!

Joe Bain

ZAPCO Meeting Update

Today ZAPCO (Zoning and Planning Commission) met on several sign requests including a variance to the sign ordinance allowing the Grill at Rough Hollow to post a temporary sign near Lakeway Blvd. advertising their new business. All sign requests were agreed to and the variance was allowed.

Speedy Stop requested a Special Use Permit to locate a convenience store where the old Exxon station was located. The Commission decided to recommend against this Permit to the Council for numerous reasons including traffic concerns, hours of operation, size of building, and general fit in the neighborhood. See the link below for the vote!






Thanks for LOOKING and all the support. Eventually I would like to reach a high percentage of the Lakeway area - the only way that will happen is if you tell your friends!

Thanks again!

Speedy Stop / Lake Travis Transitional Hospital

Don't forget, if your interested in what replaces the Exxon at Lakeway Drive and Lohmans Crossing, Zoning and Planning Commission (ZAPCO) has an agenda item for a Special Use Permit for Speedy Stop at that location.  They will send a recommendation to the City Council.  This is a public meeting, starts at 9:10AM, 9-2-09 at the Council Chambers.  Admission is free!  Go see your City government at work!

A previous post reported in error that the Lake Travis Transitional Hospital had lost their funding.  Workers are still there and it looks like construction is proceeding.

Be on the watch for our police motorcycles!  I will have pictures soon of our mounted officers.  Be safe out there and observe the posted speed limits.  We have a GREAT safe community, lets keep it that way!

Thanks for LOOKING.  As always, if you would like to be added to an email list notifying you of new postings, email me at lakeway@bain.us.