*****Weather*****
As far as the weather, the forecasters really missed it this week. All the rain that was promised (threatened?) pretty much missed us all around. Although we had a couple of sprinkles, no measurable rain for the last 7 days.
Looks like it's going to dry out - no real rain for at least the next 4-5 days, but there is a tropical depression in the gulf (hurricane season started this week). It's forecast to maybe go ashore in LA, but maybe not. Too far out to tell.
No matter what, you can check on the current conditions at my weather station at the 15th Tee of Live Oak Golf Course. Here's the link.
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| Left to right - Nancy Bain, Sheila Niles, Sara Scarberry, Diann Blevins, Kay Threadgill, Kim Nearburg |
*****Council Update*****
Council met in Special Session Monday - here's a link to the agenda / packet and here is a link to the video.
Just a note - you STAND UP when you do the Pledge of Allegiance no matter where you are!
Consent Agenda - Item 4 pulled for discussion (only item listed), discussion on fees and policies for pool and Activity Center. Somehow council decided that a center built and paid for with tax dollars needed to return 50% of the expense. This is not a business, it is a City Amenity and was never expected to return money to city coffers. They voted to maintain the current membership fee for two years instead of returning a portion of the membership. They also lowered the recoup rate to 25% instead of 50%. Thanks for the correction SS.
6) Voted to change the meeting schedule and budget calendar.
5) The results from the Charter Review Committee was presented by Mayor DeOme. Council immediately started arguing about the virtues and issues surrounding 3 year v.s. 2 year terms. The Committee worked months on this issue and was unanimous in their conclusion that 3 year terms had been voted in by a large margin and there were significant reasons to retain the terms and repair the Charter language to come into compliance with State law. Council in their infinite wisdom decided to go against the Committee's recommendation and are looking to put 2 year terms again on the ballot.
*** I think there is at least an appearance of a conflict of interest on the above item. If they continue 2 year terms several council members can run for another term - if 3 year terms they can't. I believe this is swaying at least 2-3 votes. This is a really gray area and if it was me I would be uncomfortable with it. Since it is a close vote, this could be a real issue. Are they looking out for the citizens or themselves?***
The other item of contention was the election date. The Committee voted to retain May elections to be in sync with other local elections. It is a Lakeway tradition. Some council members talked of voter apathy - really? It is an honor and a privilege for me to vote, and I want to be sure we have the information needed to make good decisions in our local elections. There was discussion on the greater number of voters in Travis County in November on even years (this is because of other elections happening in these years). Although this was discussed at length in the Committee and the vote was not unanimous - after the numbers were explained there was more consensus, once again the council in their infinite wisdom once again went against committee recommendations and are leaning toward November elections.
Only "straw votes" were taken and council once again decided to override the committee recommendation. I guess my question is, why have a committee in the first place if you don't listen to them!
This lasted over two hours.
7) Much more discussion about an ordinance to require permits for any event in Lakeway - a special conversation on how to exempt the City and "friendly" groups. The pontification went on and eventually they passed the ordinance with corrections unanimously. So if you have an event in mind, pony up some extra time and money.
8) No new news except the Chamber wants to do a marketing campaign. They are intent on spending this money - the problem is it will have to bring in more traffic that nobody wants. I wonder what the results of the Lake Travis Film Festival were and if we received value for the money the city spent?
9) They decided to hire an Emergency Coordinator $62K-$94K and a Grants Program Coordinator $51K-$77K. Two more employees, expenses will be shared with The Village of the Hills and Bee Cave. Do we really need this? You decide.
10) 620 Widening Project Deferment - Lots more discussion, generally they sent a letter requesting them not to take the 620 dollars. I would think they would want to attend the CAMPO meetings and speak to the members, but that's just me. No discussion on whether or not the median construction will continue this Summer.
9:30 p.m.
11-18) Executive Sessions - more of them than regular items on the agenda.
11) Oaks PUD/Stratus Properties Meeting on this for months and months - no more info (shhh - secret)
12) Lakeway MUD property request - MUD needs some property to enlarge a sub station - wanted to trade, city didn't want to work with them (shhh - secret)
13) Project Granite (shhh - secret)
14) Rough Hollow Development - fussing over the development agreement from 1997 - (shhh - secret)
15) Storm water issue at 601 Dragon - no idea (shhh - secret)
16) Legal issues about 318 acres Northwest of Bee Creek Rd. (April 2014) and Senior Living Facility at 4528 Bee Creek considered April 20, 2020 - shouldn't this be two items??? (shhh - secret)
17) COVID-19 Management Data? I don't know, but (shhh - secret)
18) Distribution of Coronavirus Relief Fund Allocation for Lakeway (shhh- secret) but here's a picture of the allocation amounts. Click to see larger view but don't tell anyone....
I guess I don't trust the County to spend this money, but I don't trust this council either.....
Meeting reconvened at 11:30 p.m. - and guess what? No action taken and no explanation given on any of these items.
There will be another Special Meeting on Thursday, here's that agenda. Agreement with the county on spending the Federal Money - can't wait (shhh, secret right now) no packet information.
***It's time to go back to in person meetings. Council can separate on the dais and they can limit the number of attendees if needed.
What's with all the Executive Sessions? They've had more Executive Sessions than previous councils have had in the last 10 years.. What are they hiding? No Open Records Requests either. Concerning to me at the very least!***
*****A Little Rant*****
I'm not going into the national issues. But a little about Lakeway.
I moved here 32 years ago - many reasons - here are some of them:
- The City was pristine.
- There were rules and ordinances that kept it that way. There have been no cases before the court for a year on code violations.
- The City was run effectively and nearly all of the folks that ran it were volunteers.
- The Tax rate was kept low (although they didn't raise the rate - your taxes went up because your property values went up. Previous councils lowered the rate to adjust for this.
- Laws were enforced - Lakeway had a reputation and folks didn't speed or they got tickets.
- There was NO discrimination and from what I can tell there still isn't.
- They had an airport.
So what happened? We have elected officials that really have little connection to what made Lakeway the great place it is. They have neutered most of the committees and council seems to want to micromanage the city. Running the city is the City Managers job, not the council.
The micromanagement is easily seen if you watch the meetings. That is why they last until the middle of the night.
Previous administrations were concerned if the legal fees got near $150K for the year. I suspect we are nearing $1 million just to revamp all the ordinances that served us well for over 50 years. Some had to be changed because of state laws, but why change everything when the city is 95% built out and no expansion is going to happen.
There was never a need for multiple Executive Sessions for months on issues that in most cases are not lawsuits. They / we discussed these things and got input from the community and worked with the entities and developers in the area. They seem to want to fight.
Maybe I'm wrong, but firing key employees is not a good strategy. You have to hire new ones and train them - it's better to try to correct behavior that is an issue.
And finally, there is no Code Compliance (Code Enforcement) any more. I talked to the City Manager about this and she wanted me to point out what I see - that is not my job, we pay folks to do that. I did mention a couple of cases, political signs in the Right of Way at the Activity Center that stayed up for a week until I reported it. Another issue on Lakeway Dr. that has been an issue for a year - still not addressed. There are many more. Our property values are at stake - we will become a mediocre city with higher taxes if this continues.
*****End of Rant*****
And as I finish up this blog, it's raining! We've had .09 inch so far and still coming down. Weather Station Link.
Hope everyone is safe and your families are doing well. If you need pictures, I'm available, go to Sky Pictures or email me at joe@skypict.com
If you would like to be added (or removed) to my email list, please send a note to lakeway@bain.us and I'll get it done.
Have a GREAT day!
Joe Bain
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