Financials remain a bright spot for our City and we are over budget on income and under budget on expenditures - always a good place to be!
We adopted a Procurement Policy for the City that outlines purchasing and procedures to follow. Hard work by the staff to produce a really good document - Thanks!
A Ordinance was approved calling a General Election for the City on May 9th to elect a Mayor and three Council Members.
A significant amount of time was spent discussing an agreement with Peters Group Public Relations - several Council Members had and issue with timing and after much discussion, a compromise was reached to process the contract in sections, the planning to initially start March 1 and a report to Council in two months - good solution. This was passed unanimously - all funds come from the Hotel Tax Fund.
There was a discussion about prohibiting the use of portable electronic devices while operating a motor vehicle or bicycle. Staff was instructed to move forward with an ordinance using much of the same language that the City of Austin uses in their ordinance - I expect it will come to Council next month.
Meeting ended about 9:30 - it was long but very productive!
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Wednesday the Mayor, Steve Jones, Chessie Zimmerman and I had a meeting with Commissioner Will Conley, Phillip Tindall of CAMPO and Bob Moore from Travis County Commissioners Court. We are trying to form some alliances to help with the traffic congestion in the area. Great meeting and very helpful conversation!
Thursday brought the CAMPO presentation at Council Chambers by CAMPO Director Ashby Johnson. It was very well attended by citizens interested in the continuing traffic issues. Bruce Byron from TXDOT also spoke about local plans for a 620 study that has already started. Lots of discussion and good ideas! The key is we are starting to get some attention after about 20 years of inattention. Thanks for all the folks that attended! Here is a link to the streaming video of the meeting - the audio is somewhat lacking in places and we will be working on improving the system soon.
Some upcoming events - Celebrate Spring at Lakeway's Big Band Bash March 9 from 8 till 10 PM at the Activity Center , 105 Cross Creek. Here is a link to more information.
Here is the January Parks and Rec report from Andra Dearing - lots of information about what the City and Parks Staff are doing to further improve the quality of life in Lakeway!
CBC will meet in regulars session Thursday February 26 at 9 AM in the Council Chambers. Here is a link to that agenda.
From Steve Jones:
Chessie and Devin conducted the second Arts District focus group this week. The group consisted of about 35 local artists, residents, and other stakeholders. Two more focus groups will be held in the next few weeks, and staff will present draft zoning regulations to city council in March. Information about the concept and the process can be found on the city’s website at www.lakeway-tx.gov/artsdistrict. There is an online survey!
We met with Will Conley, Chairman of the CAMPO Transportation Policy Board, this week to discuss the 2040 Plan adoption process and proposed changes to the structure of the technical advisory committee.
Chessie met with developers to discuss a proposed office project behind Town Center on Lohmans Crossing, and a proposed assisted living project on the commercial tract in the Bella Montagna subdivision.
I believe our meeting with CAMPO went very well last night. CAMPO Director Ashby Johnson received a good deal of valuable input from our residents. TxDOT representative, Bruce Byron, also received useful input. Mr. Byron is impressed with what he perceives as strong local support for congestion relief projects. In his experience, that is not always the case. Most interesting to me is that our part of the county now clearly has the attention of CAMPO, TxDOT, and others who are important in planning for and providing transportation projects.
Chief Radford and I met today with our new TxDOT Area Engineer, Victor Vargas. Mr. Vargas confirmed that TxDOT is moving forward with plans to add a new southbound travel lane on RM 620 from Lohmans Crossing to Spellman Ranch Loop. They also plan to make intersection improvements at 620 and Falcon Head and at 620 at Ladera Drive. He hopes to be under construction in the fourth quarter of this year. We also discussed various intersection improvements, especially at Lohmans Crossing, that could be made if funding becomes available.
Public Works reports that Highlands Blvd, from Rough Hollow to Lakeway Blvd, including crosswalks and stop bars, is in the process of being re-striped. The project should be complete by the end of the day today. All of Highlands Blvd, from Bee Creek to Lakeway Blvd, will have fresh paint once our section of Highlands is complete.
From Chief Radford:
• Routine traffic stops resulted in the following charges
o Possession of Drug Paraphernalia X 3
o Possession of a Controlled Substance X 1
o Possession of Alcohol by a Minor X 1
o Warrant Arrest X 1
1. Officers responded to a theft call at a medical office on RR 620 S. An employee of the medical office reports that unknown persons stole cash from the file cabinet in the office.
2. Officers responded to Disturbance at the Lakeway Regional Medical Center. It was reported that a female subject had hit a security officer at the hospital.
3. Officers were called to a Palos Verde address to assist EMS, A female resident was found deceased in a bedroom. The female had been released from a hospital earlier in the day and was on a heart transplant list. The cause of death was ruled nature causes.
4. A resident reported that his debit/credit card was being used by unknown person(s), officers took a fraud report and are investigating.
5. A juvenile was placed into custody and transported to Gardner Betts Juvenile Facility, after officers were called to a disturbance at a Fenway Court residence. The juvenile had assaulted other family members.
6. A female resident came to the police department to report a theft. She had paid for marijuana via a wire transfer, and her marijuana had not been delivered to her home as promised, her loss was for $110.
7. A food vendor was arrested at a local construction site after officers were called to assist code enforcement. The subject had an active warrant for failure to appear in Lakeway Municipal Court. The subject had been previously cited for violating the food service and food products ordinance.
8. A theft from the Goodwill Store was reported to Officers by store employees. Officers located the suspects later that day and found that they were still in possession of the stolen property. Two suspects were arrested and transported to Travis County Jail for theft charges.
Operations / Support
• The animal protection officer completed a follow up investigation on an animal abuse case. The dog in question had been seized and was returned to the owner.
• Detectives assisted Westlake Hills PD with a jewelry store robbery. Our detectives were able to identify a suspect for Westlake Hills.
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That's all for now! PLEASE!!1 Lock your cars and doors - let's make it harder for thieves! Thanks for all the support!
Joe Bain
lakeway@bain.us
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