The Lakeway Visitor Commission met last Monday at City Hall. This was the 4th meeting this year since it was formed. The first two meetings were directed toward learning about the Open Meetings and Open Records Act as well as the requirements for administering the Hotel Occupancy funds and administration. The meeting Monday they finalized the commission's Mission and Objectives - here are those results:
Mission - To promote the City of Lakeway as a Convention and Visitor's Destination.
Objectives:
1. To define and promote a Lakeway brand;
2. To develop measures of success;
3. To act as a catalyst for activities among key players;
4. To promote development of a convention center;
5. To establish a budget.
A representative will be at Council Monday presenting and explaining a proposed budget:
50% Convention Center Facilities
35% Advertising, and conducting solicitations and promotional programs
5% Discretionary
3% Promotion of the Arts
3% Historical Restoration and Preservation projects or activities
3% Sporting event expense
1% HOT Tax Administration Fees for Hotel, Motel and Leasing agents
Lake Travis Fire and Rescue Commissioners appointed Assistant Chief Robert Abbott as the acting Chief to fill the position left with Chief Linardos resignation. Here is a letter from Board President Barker Keith II.
Several of your City leaders went to the LCRA Board meeting last week also to encourage LCRA leadership to ask the state for Emergency Drought Relief again for 2013. Last year, with the highland lakes at very low levels, water was not sold downstream to the coastal rice farmers. If the combined storage of both Lake Travis and Buchanan is between 775k and 920k acre feet on Jan. 1 or March 1 they will send 121,500 acre feet downstream - remember, this water is sold to rice farmers at a loss to the LCRA and is subsidised by our water rates. If it's above 920K acre feet, 180-185K acre feet will go downstream.
This pretty much guarantees the rice farmers will once again enjoy this cheap water for their crops. Remember - we subsidise it with the water that they also have available from wells (that costs them more to pump) , and the Federal Government subsidises their crops also. It means there is a real possibility our Lakes will be at their lowest levels in history - a real shame!
There was a single family dwelling fire on Sledge Ln last week. There were no injuries and appears to have started in the laundry room in or around the dryer.
Council will meet in regular session at 6:30 on Monday. Here is that agenda. Here is a link to backup data the Council receives.
From Steve Jones:
Chessie was out this week for surgery on her foot. I was told that the procedure went well, and she is on the mend. She plans to attend the council meeting on Monday.
According to a report from Sales Tax Assurance, there is mixed news in sales tax receipts this month. Our city and library district both received less revenue than we did this month last year, as did most of the smaller cities in our area. However, Bee Cave and ESD #6 both had significant increases. Year-to-date, we are all doing well. We experienced a six percent increase year-to-date, and the library district is up more than 20 percent year-to-date. Sales tax receipts for the Austin metro area (20 cities) is still healthy at a 4.6 percent increase for the month, and 8.3 percent increase year-to-date.
Andra Dearing reports, “It’s only two weeks to Lights On and three weeks to two sold out seatings of Breakfast with Santa. Once we get past our remaining events, we will spend the remainder of December getting settled in and organized for another fast-paced year. At the Swim Center, we are beginning our normal winterization routine. We have received our automatic lap cover remover. This is a tremendous help for removing the tarps quickly and easily, with little assistance from additional staff members. Also, the LTHS Swim Team has now finished their fall training at the Swim Center, and has gone to Nitro for the remaining colder months. They will rejoin us again in early spring, as temperatures begin to warm. Despite cooler temperatures, we still have several very dedicated lap swimmers and the Lost Creek Aquatics Swim Team that continue to utilize the lap lanes. The Trail of Lights is beginning to take shape, and we will have new displays this year as others are retired because they are beyond repair. The Boy Scouts will join the Lights On celebration this time around to sell biscuits with honey, coffee, and hot chocolate, while the Parks & Rec Dept. will be roasting marshmallows and giving away s’mores packets.”
Ruth Sandoval reports, “The success of our traffic safety initiative programs has placed us in a winning category again for the years 2009 to 2012 for low volume courts. Corresponding to this, Judge Madison has just completed this year’s application for the 2013 Traffic Safety Initiative with the Texas Municipal Courts Education Center and the Texas Department of Transportation. Our contribution in promoting traffic safety in our community has been recognized for three years. This includes our Traffic Safety Night and Judge Madison’s presentations at driving schools. Also, we established contact with Texas Department of Criminal Justice Inmate Trust Fund and, this week, we sent our first order to withdraw funds for court costs, fees, and fines from an inmate’s trust account. Although this specific order is under a $1,000 we anticipate recovering additional funds in the future.”
Julie Oakley reports that, “The finance department has filled the lead accountant position. Darren Henson will begin work on November 26.” Darren is well qualified for the position, and we believe he will be a great addition to the department.
Chief Radford reports, “The police department responded to a fire at a residence, made entry, put out the immediate fire, and escorted the family and animals safely away from the home. The fire department arrived and put out the fire that had reignited. With our assistance, the Red Cross was contacted and the family was able to make arrangements to stay at the Lakeway Inn.”
Troy Anderson reported, “Yesterday the City Building Commission recommended approval of a code amendment that will allow the commission to determine height allowances on properties zoned GUI within or adjacent to the Visual Protection Conditional Overlay (VPCO) district. The amendment would delegate variance consideration to height regulations (in GUI and C-1 districts) to the commission as opposed to the Board of Adjustment. It will now be taken to the Zoning & Planning Commission for discussion and recommendation to City Council. We are continuing to work with Abercorn International on their proposed three-story addition. We met with their architect this week and discussed various building codes that might affect their preliminary schematics. We are also working closely with Lakeway Church as they begin planning for the addition of a sports field. We met with their engineer to discuss potential phasing of the development including tree removal, grading, and irrigation.”
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That's all for now - come see your elected officials work at Council Monday at 6:30!
Joe Bain
lakeway@bain.us
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