*****Weather*****
OK, it's time for a change. Either rain or clear up, I'm getting soggy. Over the last week we've had a high of 80.2°, a low of 45.5° and about .15 inch of rain. The good news is the forecast is for clearing sky's this afternoon and a little sun until Monday. It's going to cool off for a couple of nights and the clouds move back in Tuesday and a chance of rain through the middle of the week. Not too bad for January!
*****Council*****
Get ready, here we go again. Here is a link to the agenda / packet - give it a minute, it's a big one. In all, there are 32 items (if you don't count the adjournment, including six (6) executive session items.
Lets start with the Consent agenda. Item 6 is appointing members to the Charter Review Committee. Here are the nominee's:
Dave DeOme (Chair), Nominated by Mayor Cox
Todd Buikema Nominated by Laurie Higginbotham
Jim Powell Nominated by Doug Howell
Terry Rishel Nominated by Sanjeev Kumar
Tim Collins Nominated by Louis Mastrangelo
Joe Bain Nominated by Steve Smith
Tom Kilgore Nominated by Gretchen Vance
I think it's interesting that a person that is suing the city over the charter (Tom Kilgore) is nominated to the Charter Review Committee. I guess it's legal but seems a little strange. The council can choose to accept or deny appointments, it should be interesting.
14) Proclamation recognizing the Young Men's Service League for their work on the Hamilton Greenbelt Clean-up Project.
15) This is a resolution suspending the effective date of Texas gas service company's requested rate increase. This only affects the Serene Hills folks that actually have natural gas service in our city. Looks like they want more time for negotiation. Generally the large cities handle the negotiation.
16) This will be a discussion of the coouncil meeting schedule for 2020. As indicated by this agenda, they expect the meetings to continue to last into the wee hours of the night. They are scheduling a "Special" meeting each month, why a Special? Sounds like a regular meeting to handle the load....
17) In case you haven't noticed yet, they've changed the website. It's different and so far looks pretty good. The Communications Director will make a presentation.
18) This is an ordinance calling the General Election for 3 council members. Looks like so far 3 incumbents are running for re-election, we need some folks to step up and work for the city instead of against it!
19) Trying again to accept parkland for Serene Hills, LTD. They probably have all the kinks worked out this time.
20) Update on the Lakeway Estates parkland dedication - there were lots of questions the last time this came forward.
21) Zoning change for 704 Serene Estate Dr. making .45 acres a private park. This was tabled by ZAPCO until their February 5th meeting and I suspect no action will be taken.
22) SUP to allow a pet grooming and grooming training facility in Ste. 192 of the strip center where Chair King is. Because they back up to residential property (new homes on Lohmans Spur) they have to get a Special Use Permit.
23) Council will review "potential" transportation projects and funding sources. This will be interesting, "funding" probably means "bond" and they will be talking about the projects the Mayor has been pushing along.
The 620 project was moved ahead because of a promise that Lakeway would contribute $5M toward the project. The city is also on the hook for some part of the purchase of Right of Way, haven't seen any public info on this, seems it is going on in the executive sessions.... Hopefully this won't be significant, but with the 10 feet of mixed use (walking and bicycle) on each side of RR620, this could be an issue. Can you picture walkers and family bicycle riders on the side of 620? Me either.
24) Of course, once you talk about funding, we now hear from the bond attorney and financial advisor on how much we can spend an what it will cost.
25) Amendment to Chapter 10, to add vaping to our smoking ordinance.
26) Citizens Participation - what time will it be? Any guesses?
27) Executive Session - Lakeway MUD Property Request and 620 Widening Project - maybe ROW purchase costs?
28) Executive Session - Looks like they are talking about the Cherry Knoll case. I guess an update - I have done my deposition - about the most thrilling 5 hours I've spent lately. It may actually go to trial, it was dismissed twice and appealed. For a project where the city had an agreement that neither party would sue, this has become expensive.
29) Executive Session - Update on Project Granite? Economic Development Negotiations? This has been going on for months, when is something going to be said about what it is?
30) Executive Session - More discussion on Real Estate issues relating to the Oaks PUD / Stratus Properties.
31) Executive Session - Looks like they are looking at the Development agreement done in the Lakeway Highlands and Rough Hollow.
32) Executive Session - Apparently they are not finished with the City Manager Position. That's taken longer than expected since they didn't do a search as was planned nor even opened that position for applicants as far as I can tell.
That's it - what time will it end? Your guess is as good as mine. Remember, this is after the Special Session last Monday that went from 2 p.m. until 6 p.m.
**********
The City has a lot of SS (Secret Stuff) going on, more than I can ever remember. I'm sure it will all come out in the end. As always, I'll answer any questions I can and love to hear your opinions!
That's all for right now, I'll let you know if anything else pops up. I'll be taking pictures this afternoon if the weather will permit. Hope everyone has a GREAT weekend!
If you would like to be added to my email list, send a note to lakeway@bain.us and I'll get you added.
Joe Bain
No comments:
Post a Comment