Short Week, But Busy!

The first thing that happened was early Sunday morning! If you were up just after daylight and driving on Lohmans Crossing you might have seen a rustic old cabin going down the road. The Liebelt cabin was moved to City Hall where it will be set up and become a symbol of Lakeway's history.

Monday the City Council met in regular session. Here is that agenda. Five members of Council were present, Bruce Harris and David Taylor were unable to attend. The first item was the Financial Report given by Treasurer Al Tyson. Our finances are doing well and our expenses are under budget and revenues are over budget.

Jamie Smith from Pedernales Electric gave a report on future PEC events and current services.

Zoning for recently annexed areas was addressed next. Two residents from North Brooks Hollow, Kim Magee and Margaret Ryan were requested to leave during Council discussion because they were disruptive and made derogatory remarks about the Mayor and Council. They were escorted out by Chief Todd Radford but were not charged. Zoning passed on this item with a 4-0 vote - Council Member Alan Tye abstained.

All other area's zoning and the Consent Agenda passed unanimously.

From Steve Jones:

This morning’s View had a front-page article on a recent study of the Austin/Travis County Emergency Services. The study indicates significantly slower response times to EMS calls outside of the City of Austin. The objective of the study was to draw attention to that fact and try to improve response times to the outlying areas such as Lakeway. I believe it will achieve the intended result, although we are not yet sure what form that will take.

Hospital Administrator David Kreye took Mayor DeOme and I on a tour this week. The parking garage is complete, and they are happy with the progress of the new medical office building under construction. While it will not be completely finished, the office building should be partially functional when the hospital opens this Spring. They still plan to open the hospital in April. The lower floors are substantially finished and final cleaning is underway in some areas. Finish work is taking place on the upper floors with the installation of equipment and furnishings. From the look of it, I don’t believe they will have trouble opening on time.

Our police department has been notified of plans for a possible “Occupy” Bee Cave event this Friday. If there is any problem, we will be acting in a backup roll only.
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I would like to take this opportunity to wish all of you a VERY Happy Thanksgiving - for those traveling, please have a safe trip!

Thanks again for all of the support!

Joe Bain
lakeway@bain.us

Council, Weeks News

Council will meet in regular session Monday, November 21 at 6:30PM. Here is the agenda. Zoning will be voted on for the recently annexed areas.

The City Building Commission met Thursday - here is that agenda. All waivers and variances were approved as requested. Item 11 on the use of synthetic grass was tabled to allow more time for consideration.

Tomorrow is the Lakeway Blood Drive and there are still 30 slots open. There's still time, call Searcy at 261-9055 to make an appointment!

Parks and Recreation has been busy! Here is a link to Andra Dearing's report! It appears Breakfast with Santa is sold out and they have a waiting list! Don't forget the "Light's On" event on December 2nd. I'm told the Leibelt Cabin might be moved soon - I'll be watching.

From Steve Jones:

Mike Boston reported that the 19th century log cabin will be moved from the lot at 1504 RM 620 S and be transported to City Hall in Lakeway at 7:30 a.m. this coming Sunday morning. Local law enforcement and other emergency services have been notified to preclude any problems in responding to emergencies or tying up traffic. The route of travel will be south on 620 to Lohman's Crossing, then right on Lohman's Crossing to City Hall. Mike will prepare a small media kit with what information we have on German immigrant August Liebelt, the individual who constructed the cabin circa 1870.

Austin/Travis County EMS advised me that they plan to add a third ambulance to our area soon. EMS is gathering resources to equip and man a station to be located at the Travis County Sheriff’s Office on RR 620 at Hudson Bend Road. For now, the station will be manned 12 hours per day, seven days per week. They plan to make it 24/7 in the future as budgets allow. While this ambulance will not be located in Lakeway, it will relieve our existing two ambulances and increase their availability for local responses. The leading locations for EMS call are the Summit in Lakeway, Bee Cave, and Hudson Bend (Emerald Point Marian area).

TxDot is studying the removal of the school zone on RR 620 at the Lake Travis Middle School / High School. The City will be looking at safety issues and pros and cons of this action - more to come.

We did a recent count of vehicle collisions on RR 620 at our major intersections, and the numbers are amazingly low. Since May 2010, we averaged about one accident per month at 620 and Lakeway Boulevard, less than one per month at 620 and Aria Drive, and about two per month at 620 and Lohmans Crossing (our busiest intersection). I was surprised at those numbers considering the volume of traffic in this area of 620 (almost 50,000 vehicles per day).
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It appears to have been a quiet week - that is a good thing! More as I find out!

Joe Bain
lakeway@bain.us

Weeks Events!

The week started off with a Special Council Meeting on November 7, 2011 to approve the appointment of Cobby Caputo to represent the city in the matter of Cokins vs. Lakeway. Here is the agenda. This was approved unanimously.

The big news of the week was the election results. The Lake Travis I.S.D's Bond was approved and shortly after Brad Lancaster of the Midway I.S.D. named sole finalist in it's search for a permanent superintendent.

Friday, November 11, Lakeway held it's annual salute to Veterans at the Spirit of Freedom monument. This year was the tenth anniversary of 9/11 and Major General Rod Kelly, USAF Retired spoke of that date and the experiences he was a part of while assigned to the Pentagon. It was well attended and was a moving Ceremony.

The Travis County Bonds also passed muster with the voters. That bond will supply funds for two major projects in Lakeway, Flintrock Road improvements and Highlands Blvd. to Hwy 71.

Parks and Recreation has been busy lately! Here is a report from Andra Dearing summarizing the recent accomplishments. Thanks Andra!

The City Building Commission will meet next week. Here is that agenda.

From Steve Jones:

Sales Tax receipts continue to be healthy! Our receipts through November are almost 15% above November of last year. Here is a chart. It appears we have a generally healthy local economy!

Building Services continues to have talks with developer Haythem Dawlett about proposed apartments in the Highlands.

Public Works is preparing to repaint intersection markings on Aria Dr. at 620, Lohman's Crossing at 620, Lohman's Spur at 620, and Clara Van at 620. There will also be some crack sealing work started in various parts of the City.
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It appears the Lake Travis Cavaliers are well on their way to 5 championships by beating McCallup 58-7 in the first of six rounds of playoffs in this years 4A State Championship - GO CAVS!

On a personal note, Monday marked my 31st Wedding Anniversary to my beautiful and patient wife Nancy. Thanks Honey! I'm looking forward to the next 31!

That's all for now. If you would like an email when I do posts, send your email address to lakeway@bain.us!

Joe Bain
lakeway@bain.us

More Drought, Council and More!

Bob Rose did an LCRA presentation about the drought and weather projected weather conditions for the next year - it really looks bleak. Here are the last couple of pages from that presentation - next year looks pretty dry!

The "Drug Take Back Day" results were fantastic! A lot of folks brought in unused prescriptions for disposal. Lakeway Police collected 127 pounds of prescriptions! Here is a chart that gives the results of other areas in central Texas.

ZAPCO met Wednesday morning - here is the agenda and the results of that meeting:
3. Permanent Signs were approved for Lakeway Highlands.
4. With some discussion, all of the Proposed Zoning for newly annexed areas was approved as proposed by Staff.
7-8 Pulled by developers. There is not much support for apartments being built in Lakeway.
9. The Amendment to address driving on lawns was postponed to allow Staff time to re-access ways of controlling a reported issue.

Lakeway MUD will meet Wednesday. Here is that agenda! Give it a minute, it takes a while to load.

City Council will meet in Special Session to approve appointment of counsel to represent the City in the matter of Cokins vs. Lakeway. Here is that agenda.

From Steve Jones:

Lakeway MUD notified the City that they can no longer supply the City reuse water for irrigation of road medians. The MUD has exhausted their supply of wastewater effluent and cannot supplement it with raw water because their raw water intake is no longer usable due to the low water level of the lake. Earl Foster thinks they may eventually be able to give us some water once a week. Commercial reuse customers are in much worse shape. There is no relief in site for them.

Deer have been trapped 4 times this year and so far 86 deer have been taken. This is typical for he first few weeks of trapping.

Chief Radford reports two new employees started this week - one dispatcher and one Officer - welcome!

LWPD assisted TCSO during the early hours of Wednesday morning with a burglary of a boat in progress at the Sail and Ski Marina. The primary suspect was apprehended and a second escaped but was identified. TCSO is following up!

Thursday afternoon LWPD assisted US Marshalls with the arrest of a fugitive who was in a vehicle on Lakeway Dr. The subject was apprehended without incident.
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The City hoped to move the Liebelt log cabin this week but encountered more rock under the cabin than expected. They are making progress and hopefully will be able to move it next week.

Andra Dearing reports that the Lakeway Blvd. trail is now complete! I have already seen many folks enjoying the new trail and the City has received many positive reports on it.

Lake Travis plays Cedar Park tonight! They are so far undefeated for the season and are the favorite for an unprecedented fifth consecutive state 4A championship! Good luck Cavs!

That's all for now!

Joe Bain
lakeway@bain.us