Weather, So What's Going On, Is it Just Me? and More!

*****Weather*****

Welcome to Winter!  Hope you enjoyed the 3 days of Fall this year - it was great wasn't it?  42.8° to start the day with wind gusts of 23 mph.  The good news was we received 2.0 inches of rain total last night and this morning.  It looks like a warm up this weekend though, so maybe a typical Texas Winter!  Here's the link to the weather station for the current conditions.

So, what's going on in the city?

Today is the first of a 3 day Lifeguard Course by the American Red Cross for Shallow Water  rescue.  The course continues through Sunday - new lifeguards for the city pool I expect - that's good!

The Mayor cancelled the State of Lakeway Town Hall.  That has been on the calendar for some time.  You can see a video. 

There will be a Veteran's Day Celebration on November 11th from 6 p.m. until 7:30 p.m. at the LTISD Performing Arts Center.  LTC Johnnie E. Webb, Jr. (Ret.) will be the guest speaker.  Attend and celebrate all of the Veterans we are honored to have as our neighbors!  A great many of them are the ones that really started out fabulous little city. 

The Transportation Open House is October 29th from 6:30 p.m. until 8:30 p.m.  This is your chance to talk to committee members and the "consulting team" about city transportation needs.  Maybe they will talk about costs too.

The Wildlife Advisory Committee is now going to have two Open Houses on the deer (and other wildlife) issues - November 14th from 6:30 p.m. until 8:00 p.m. and November 15th from 9:00 a.m. until 10:30 a.m.  They worked hard for a year and Council over ruled their suggestion and they have not renewed the contract for the Wildlife Consultant.  There has been public input for over a year - we'll see what happens.  I suspect nothing.  Meanwhile the herd is growing by about 35% a year.  Someone in the future is going to have a real problem.

Is It Just Me?

There seem to be some issues in the City.  It's been going on for a while.  Lately:

 City Manager Steve Jones resigned?, not likely.  

The council voted to retain last years tax rate, about a 5% increase in your city taxes.  After all, they had to fix the issues, especially the extra money for moving into the police station - the truth is, there was a significant carryover from the year I left, more than enough to cover the police expenses (at least that was the plan).  That money (a large portion of it)  was used when the council raised the Fund Balance Ratio from the recommended 25% to a new ratio of 30%.  Although I think it was a good idea, it should have been done over a longer period.  

There have been $558.783.89 spent on legal fees since May of 2018.  That seems like a lot of legal expense.

The last council meeting started at 6:30 p.m.  After the Pledge it went into Executive Session that lasted until 10:00 p.m.  Leaving the citizens with other business in the lurch.  No mention of executive session issues or any motions that involved the Executive Session were made (other than possibly the vote to send the land use question back to ZAPCO).  Poor planning in my opinion - citizens should always come first.  Solution? Special meeting with only the Executive Session on the agenda - however that can become an issue if they vote on some item - it can be carried to the next meeting.

At the Board of Adjustment meeting, the Council Liaison tried to become a part of one of the appeals.  This Council Member was on an election slate with the appellant.  This was dismissed because of "Lack of Standing".  They tried to use the Council Member's status as a part of the "Standing" argument.  First, (my opinion), Liaisons are there to bring back the committee / commission findings and input to the council, they are not a member of the committee / commission and should not try to sway or intimidate that group.  Also, Council Members (including the Mayor) have little or no power as an individual.  Their power comes from their vote as a council - I saw no vote to direct anyone to appeal the decision (unanimous) of the Board of Adjustment.

I'm certainly not perfect.  I've proven that.  But I'm all in for Lakeway and have been for 20+ years.  I think our course has taken a turn and it deeply concerns me.  What do you think?  I'm always open for conversations.  And I'm for open government.  Legal issues and land conversations have reasons to be done out of sight but in moderation.  Food for thought!

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As far as construction projects, there is a lot going on in the Medical Center area.  Just East of the hotel the Ladies of Charity are beginning to construct their new facility.  West of the hotel are several office condos.  It is a three tiered construction site and they all seem to be one story of various sizes.  Probably a good fit.

Just South of Flintrock they are still moving dirt.  I'm told they are about 3/4 of the way to where they need to be.  There will be office buildings there too - probably mostly Medical in nature.

That's all for now.  More as I find out.  I appreciate all the input and the support for the blog.  Please forward the email to your friends and neighbors that might be interested.  

Thanks again!
Joe Bain
lakeway@bain.us