Council Update

City Council met in regular session last night at 6PM. Here is that agenda.

The financial report was presented by Treasurer Al Tyson. The City is under budget on expenses and over budget on revenues. The City departments have been doing an excellent job of curtailing expenses - they continue to find ways to make the most of limited funds. The revenues are up due to higher sales tax receipts and Building and Development increases due to higher than expected activity in permits. All this is good news for the city!

Item 5 was a Proclamation by Mayor DeOme of October 4, 2011 to support National Night Out Against Crime. Here is the proclamation.

Item 6 dealt with updating the Subdivision and Site Development Ordinance - since various areas of the City including areas scheduled for annexation are now in the updated Flood Plain, the City adopted language from Travis Counties current Code so as to not further restrict any of these properties and allow those residents access to Federal Flood Insurance. Passed unanimously.

Item 7 was a Zoning Code Amendment structured to attempt to accommodate residents of areas scheduled for annexation. Residents in North Brooks Hollow were adamant the ordinance amendment did not address a significant number of concerns, many of which centered around the "Grandfathering" of many of their current conditions. Although Council delayed annexation of the area for 90 days to allow discussion and negotiations, the residents of the area felt like the proposed Amendment was not done in good faith. Council voted to approve the Amendment with a vote of 4-3. Council Members Wallace, Harris and Tye voted against the measure.

Item 8 addressed the annexation of North Brooks Hollow and was a hotly contested item. One of the resident's attorney submitted a document questioning the right of the City to unilaterally annex the area under Local Government Code 43.052(h)(1) at 6:25PM, 5 minutes before the meeting was scheduled to start. Here is that document. The public hearing with heated comments including disruptions which eventually led to some attendees being asked to leave. After discussion by Council, the annexation was passed by a vote of 5-2, Mr. Harris and Mr. Tye dissenting.

Item 9 was a scheduled public hearing for the possible annexation of several other areas detailed in the agenda. This was also a hotly contested item and required police intervention to control the meeting. No action was required on this item.

The budget for Fiscal Year 2012 was adopted unanimously.

The tax rate of $.1996 (same as last year) was adopted unanimously. This is an example of how good fiscal management keeps services at a high quality level and costs down. Thanks!

The FY2011 budget was amended to include some recent expenses and unexpected revenue unanimously.

13. A special Use permit was granted to B&B Body and Paint to operate a vehicle repair shop. The property is zoned C-2 which is appropriate but requires a SUP. The design looks good an Council approved the Permit unanimously.

14. Council approved another Special Use Permit to allow the Lakeway Commons to operate a weekly Farmers Market at the shopping center. This will be a good use of the area and hopefully will bring some good fresh produce for citizens to enjoy!

15. Council approved a Zoning Code Amendment for the hospital area on 620. It allows use of a flat roof on any building over 40 feet tall in that MMC zoning. All equipment on the roof will be concealed by the flat roof.

Finally, item 16 was a discussion and instructed the Staff to develop changes to the City's noise ordinance to allow more control on commercial use of amplified sound. More on that at the next meeting.

The Consent agenda was approved with the exception of the appointment of Don Stevenson as Emergency Management Coordinator. That item was pulled to allow more time to Mr. Stevenson decide on acceptance of the appointment.

Council will meet in Special Session on Monday, September 26, 2011. This will be another Public Hearing on areas included in the annexation plan.