Honor Flight, Court Policy, Hwy 183, CAMPO and More!

I'm a little late on this post, but I have  good reason!  I was invited and went on the 2016 Lakeway Honor Flight to Washington DC with 26 Veterans from WWII, Korea and Vietnam.  It was a wonderful and moving experience for all of the Vets that were on this flight.  Many thanks to the Austin Honor Flight Volunteers for all their work in making this an outstanding success.  This was the 31st flight put on by Austin Honor Flight and the next one is going our this Friday night.  If you know a Veteran, please take the time to thank them for their service!  Our country would not look the same today with out their sacrifices!

Judge Madison has implemented a new policy on folks with warrants who voluntarily turn themselves in - they don't automatically get arrested.  Here is a link to the full press release.

The Finance Department has hired a consultant to review AT&T and Time Warner Cable's franchise payments.  This is done to verify payment information and issues that can occur in recording annexations and information exchange.

Our Court Clerk reports that the had a large docket with 50 people contesting violations.  62 were scheduled for arraignment, ten to show cause and three for a pre-trial hearing.

City Manager Steve Jones and I attended the groundbreaking ceremony for Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority's Highway 183 South project.  When complete, drivers from Williamson County will be able to drive from Georgetown and Round Rock to ABIA without stopping for traffic signals.

We have also learned that CAMPO has put a hold on the transportation study for western Travis County and Southwestern Williamson County - this was committed to in exchange for Lakeway withdrawing its request for SH 45 West.  I will be pursuing getting this back on schedule in the next few weeks.  

We also received a letter from TxDOT confirming their intent to find funding to start on the engineering and environmental study for the 620 improvement plans - here is that letter!  Yea!


Steve Jones and I also went by and inspected the culvert replacement project on Top Of the Lake - they are progressing nicely!

From the Chief:
Routine traffic stops resulted in the following charges;  Possession of Drug Paraphernalia X 9, Possession of a Controlled Substance X 4,  Driving while Intoxicated X 1, Possession of Marijuana X 1, Minor in Possession of Tobacco X 1, and Possession of Alcohol by a Minor X 1. 

Officers responded to a Disturbance call at a Hurst Creek address. Upon arrival two persons involved in the disturbance were subsequently arrested for disorderly conduct. 

Officers responded to a Disturbance call at a Lohman’s Crossing business. Upon arrival it was learned that an Aggravated Assault had occurred between two subjects. One person was transported for medical treatment the other was arrested for Aggravated Assault with Strangulation. 

Officers responded to RR 620 S. on a call for a Welfare Check.  Upon arrival the subject of the call was found to be intoxicated and later arrested for Public Intoxication. 

Officers responded to a Fantail Loop address for a Domestic Disturbance call.  Both persons agreed to separate for the night; no charges were filed in this case. 

Officers responded to a Lakeway Marina in reference to a Disturbance. Upon arrival it was discovered that a fist fight had occurred, one person was arrested for Assault with Injury.  


Officers responded to an assisted living facility on Lohman’s Crossing reference a death investigation. It was discovered that a resident of the facility had passed away, this death was not suspicious.  
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Have a GREAT Week!  Send an email to lakeway@bain.us if you would like to be added to my mailing list.

Joe Bain
lakeway@bain.us

Hail, MUD, Distracted Driving, CAMPO and More!

We had a little excitement Friday morning, about 5 AM some thunderstorms came through and we had some more hail!   Luckily it was small - mostly pea size or smaller and it looks like very little damage.   Also have had about a half inch of rain between last night and today - not a bad start to April!

I've noticed the Lakeway MUD campaign is underway in full force.  I have sent an informational packet to the candidates with sign rules, basically keeping them off of public property and making sure they have landowners permission.  Hopefully we can clean up some of the issues and code enforcement time won't be necessary.  If you have signs in your yard, a good rule of thumb is the right of way on small interior roads is about 10 feet from the pavement and on large arteries at least 15 feet.  No signs should be in the right of way.

Looks like the State and other jurisdictions will be doing a distracted driving campaign, I hope our residents will look within and be safe.  Distracted driving including cell phone use and texting is making our streets dangerous.  Please comply with the law and just put the phone down while driving - "It Can Wait"!  I am seeing multiple violations when I'm out driving and the police are looking too.  I'm told by the court that they are seeing an increase on cases coming before them and I intend to ask the Chief to instruct officers to make distracted driving a priority.  Don't expect sympathy from me if you get stopped!

CAMPO Update:  Deputy City Manager Chessie Zimmerman attended the March CAMPO Technical Advisory Committee meeting.  Discussion at the meeting focused on a proposed update to the current Transportation Improvement Program (TIP) that will be voted on at the Monday Board Meeting.

Last month the CAMPO meeting was on Council night and I was unable to attend.  One of the issues discussed was finances of the "Lone Star Rail" from Georgetown to San Antonio.  With Union Pacific's withdrawal from the project CAMPO is considering termination of the financial arrangement.  A long discussion ensued and the vote was eventually 10 to 9 against termination.  Another item on the agenda was how voting proxy's are handled - this was tabled until the meeting Monday, April 4th that I will attend.  The agenda also includes items on project funding for projects in the 2017-2019 time frame.  Here is a link to the agenda.  I will be working to insure the 620 environmental and engineering is progressing and we hopefully will be able to find some dollars for that project in the near future.

DAR Flag collection / disposal - Collection boxes will be at the Lakeway Activity Center and the Heritage  Center during the month of April.  Please bring in your old and damaged flags so they can be properly disposed of - Thanks DAR!

ZAPCO meets next week on April 6th.  Here is the agenda.  Couple of interesting items and our 1st Short Term Rental application.  See you there!

BDS met with representatives of LTISD to discuss plans for the future Lakeway Highlands elementary school.  They also met with the city attorney to finalize the agreement for the large lot (13 Acre each) Thomas development off Flintrock Road.  It will be before Council at this month's meeting.

The bids were opened Friday for the traffic signal at Lohmans Crossing at Lohmans Spur.  The low bid was from Austin Traffic Signal and came in at $236K, $14K under our estimate.

The Justice Center Advisory Committee visited justice centers in Pflugerville, Georgetown and Cedar Park Thursday.  They plan to visit Borne in the near future plus they will be looking at possible locations along with learning about financing options in next sessions.

Municipal Court reports that Judge Madison issued four evidentiary blood search warrants over the month for the Lakeway Police Department.  Marshal Johnson arrested eight people this week with the help of our license plate recognition system.  And, the totals for the 2016 State Warrant Round up were 273 warrants cleared (up 33% from last year) and $76,952 collected (up 25% from last year). 


Sing Along is presenting their 16th Annual Spring show "My Generation" April 28-30 at the Lakeway Activity Center.  Here is a link to more info.

Interested in "Historic Lakeway"?  Would you believe we have Mid Century Modern Architectural Heritage?  We do!  Check it out at eh Lake Travis Library Speaker Series Tuesday, April 12.  Here's a link to more info.

We appreciate our veterans!  Let's show it by welcoming them back from the Honor Flight next Saturday - here's a link to more info.  I've been honored to be selected to help with the group so come see us come home!

Here's the April Class update from Dallas Gorman at the Activity Center - check out all the fun things to do!

From the Chief:
Routine traffic stops resulted in the following charges, Out of Jurisdiction Warrants X 2, Possession of Drug Paraphernalia X 7, Possession of a Controlled Substance X 2,  Driving while Intoxicated X 3, and Possession of Marijuana X 1.  

Officers responded to a call of Criminal Mischief on Hurst Creek Drive.  Upon arrival graffiti was discovered on an iron gate, no suspects in this case. 

Officers responded to an address on Malabar for a report of Harassment.  The subject reports being harassed by an ex.  This case will be investigated. 

Officers took a report of Graffiti in the World of Tennis Condo complex, no suspects are known at this time.  

Detectives with the Criminal Investigations Unit responded to the 400 block of New Lido in reference to a deceased person.  The subject was found inside of her residence by family friends.  The death appears to be from natural causes, but an autopsy is pending. The case remains under investigation.

According to officials with the Travis County Sheriff’s Office, a threat was made towards the students/staff at the Lake Travis High School by a current student. Officers and Detectives responded with TCSO to the student’s residence where CIT units conducted a mental health evaluation and a consensual search of the residence. LPD personnel were released from the scene and the investigation was turned over to the Travis County Sheriff’s Office. 

The Animal Protection Officer responded to the 100 block of Golden Bear to investigate a report of a dog bite.  According to the complainant who was walking her own dog, a loose dog came from a nearby residence and attacked her dog causing minor injuries.  At the request of the complainant, the owner of the aggressive dog was given a warning for Dog at Large. 
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I hope everyone enjoys the wonderful weather this weekend.  Look for my column in the Lake Travis View next Thursday!  If you want to be added to my email list send a note to lakeway@bain.us.  Thanks again for all the support!

Joe Bain
lakeway@bain.us

Two Council Meetings, Area Happenings!

Another beautiful weekend is upon us!  A little rain Thursday, a little wind and now cool and pretty.  Looks like a wonderful Easter weekend.

Looks like there's water flowing downstream from Lake Travis.  Still full, but lower - from 681.2 to 681.1.  It's really good to see the lake full, hopefully it will stay that way for a while!  Here is an update from the Central Texas Water Coalition.

Monday was a big day - we had two Council meetings!  First was a work session to hear from the consultant we hired to do a feasibility study on a Performing Arts Center.  The report was very positive although it is not really complete yet.  Several hurdles yet to cross - we are looking at possible locations, a preliminary plan and the big one is to determine if area donations are enough to support it.  Once we answer those questions we will try to determine if it would be a desirable addition to the city before moving forward.

That evening we had our regular monthly meeting - here was the agenda.  The City financials are in good shape as reported by Treasurer Dave DeOme.  We also had the annual audit presented by Singleton, Clark & Company, P.C. - it was another GREAT report with absolutely no issues found.  Having a clean audit is testimony to the great efforts of Finance Director Julie Oakley and her staff - a big thank you is in order!

We passed an ordinance to help police enforce after hours use of the Airpark - nothing new, the zoning has prohibited departures and arrivals after sunset and before sunrise for over 30 years - we simply made it a ticket-able offense so officers could enforce it easier.

We banned thru truck traffic on Flint Rock road during the reconstruction of the road for safety purposes.

We looked at a project proposed by Tom DeCicco where he wants to put in a climate controlled storage facility on Lohmans behind his existing "Lakeway Town Center".  To mitigate the zoning differences he is willing to remove the existing storage facility across Lohmans that is grandfathered and is a non conforming use.  He is also offering to remove the asphalt at the Eastern corner of Lohmans Spur and Lohmans, plant native grass and install a country fence around it.  Council felt it was a good trade and indicated he should continue with the project.

The City Secretary reported on the petition submitted to the City by Rita Cross - it was not actionable per City Charter and the affidavit that was included and required was not acceptable.

And finally, Council canceled the election and declared the unopposed candidates for council member as elected.
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The  "Players" have a new production "Ghost of a Chance" coming up from March 31 to April 2 at the Activity Center.  Here's a link to more information!

Lakeway Arts Committee will present Chorus Austin in concert at 7:30 PM April 15 at the Activity Center.  Here's a link to more info.

There's a couple of things happening at the Lakeway Regional Medical Center!  There is a seminar on "Complex Brain and Spine Conditions" on March 31st.  Here's a link to more.   They are also starting a trial on a new spine system.  Here is a link to that info.

I have been honored to be invited on the Lakeway Community Honor Flight for our area veterans.  This is a spectacular opportunity for our veterans to visit the memorials in Washington DC and I am looking forward to going with them!

That's all for today - I hope everyone has a wonderful Holiday Weekend.  If you want to be included on my email list send a note to lakeway@bain.us.

Joe Bain
lakeway@bain.us

Winter?, Lake's Full, Council, Justice Center and More!

Good Morning!  All of a sudden it's Winter again!  A little rain, lots of lightning and thunder and Lake Travis is FULL for the first time since 2010!  The threat of hail went around us as far as I can tell and I show a little over a quarter inch of rain - perfect!

Council will meet twice on Monday, a Special Session at 2PM and their regular session at 6:30PM.  Here is the agenda for the Special Session.  It will be a "Work Session" so Council can learn and ask questions about the feasibility of a Performing Arts Facility.  No public comment will be permitted - we are still early on in this and really need more education.  I'm looking forward to hearing from our consultant, the Long Center and also the Paramount.  It is scheduled for 2 hours.  

Here is the agenda for the regular meeting.  Following are highlights of the meeting.

4.  Council will listen to a "Presentation of Audit Report" from Singleton, Clark & Company, P.C.  It appears we have once again received a "Clean Audit"!  Many thanks to Julie Oakley and her staff for continuing to make sure the City maintains our exemplary financial record!

5.  We will consider an ordinance that will make it easier for our police to enforce our prohibition of aircraft operations after sunset and before sunrise.

6.  Ordinance to ban thru truck traffic on Flint Rock Road during construction.

7.  Council will discuss a proposed storage facility on Lohmans Crossing.
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Our Justice Center committee met again last Thursday.  They have heard from Police Chief Radford, Judge Madison, an architectural firm and last Thursday heard a presentation of a needs assessment.  They have already toured our facilities and will tour several area police stations and court facilities.  Hopefully we can come up with a good plan that will see us through the expected build out of our City, about 25,000 residents.  We know we need to do something, we want to be sure we do the right thing!

Last week I visited Lakeway Elementary school and talked to the first graders.  We had a great time and I continue to be impressed at the knowledge level of our school children!  Many thanks to Jody Strauss for getting this together!

CBC will meet in regular session Thursday March 24th at 9:00 AM.  Here is that agenda.

The Citywide Indoor Garage Sale is coming up on April 23rd from 8am until noon at the Activity Center.  Here's more info.

Lakeway Lexus' Chasco Construction company was recognized for the "Specialty Construction" of that facility.  If you haven't visited the dealership you should go by for a tour.  It is really nice!

I hope everyone enjoys the Winter? weather - looks like it will be cool and nice.  Haven't received the police blotter yet - I'll send it out when I get it.  If you would like to be added to my email list, send a note to lakeway@bain.us!

Joe Bain
lakeway@bain.us

What's Happening, Police Report and More!

It appears we are going to have a beautiful Saturday!  I show a total of 3.26 inches of rain last week - no severe weather I'm aware of except substantial lightning and thunder.  Lake Travis is up to 679.31 this morning, up from 677.95 last week - full pool is 681 - we might make it this year!

Don't forget the Austin Bella Corda Concert Sunday March 13th at the Activity Center starting at 4:00 PM.  They area great performers and their music is always amazing - plus it's FREE.

The Justice Center Committee has been busy studying the need for a new police station and courthouse.  So far they have seen presentations from Chief Radford and Judge Madison and they have toured the current facilities.  They have also seen a presentation from an architectural firm that has done several justice centers in Texas.  Next week they will study the "needs assessment" that was done earlier this year.  In future sessions they will tour examples in surrounding cities and will look at financial considerations.  I certainly appreciate their hard work for the Citizens!

The Board of Adjustment will meet next Wednesday afternoon.  This will be a session to look at and adopt amendments to its rules and procedures.  Here is the agenda.  

Chessie has been sending notification letters to STR operators and BDS staff has identified several that have been sold , voiding their licenses - they have also found several that have been operating without licenses and are working to curtail those.  There is the possibility we may have new applicants in the future.  

Staff held a pre-construction meeting with Austin Underground about the Rolling Green / Top of the Lake / Coldwater culvert project.  A portion of Coldwater will be closed during the project - here is a link to the closure location.

Andra Dearing reports work on the lap pool has begun.  It will remain closed until March 21st while it is re-plastered.

Work is going on to prepare for our Memorial Day Celebration.  It will again be held at the Emmaus Catholic Church at 11AM on Friday May 27, 2016.  the guest speaker this year will be USAF Lt. Gen. Brett Dula.  It looks to be a great program.

From the Chief:
Routine traffic stops resulted in the following charges;  Possession of Drug Paraphernalia X 1, Possession of a Controlled Substance X 4,  Driving while Intoxicated X 1, and Failure to Identify X 1. 

Officers responded to a Disturbance call in the 900 blk. of RR 620 South, one person was arrested for Aggravated Assault. 

Officers responded to a Champion Drive residence reference a disturbance, one person was issued a criminal trespass warning. 

Officers took a report from a Betula Drive resident in reference to an identity theft; a false tax return was filed under their name. 

Officers responded to two local residential addresses in reference to juvenile runaways.  In both cases, subjects were located and are safe. 

Officers and Detectives assisted the Marshall and Court with the Warrant Roundup.  By all accounts, it was as good of an event as we have had in many years.  Marshal Johnson and LPD officers are to be commended for their efforts.

Detective Proctor is working twelve vehicle burglary cases that occurred in Lakeway over the past weekend, no charges have been filed at this time.  In all cases, the vehicles were not locked.  

Detective Proctor addressed the Daughters of the American Revolution in reference to personal safety and identity theft scams. 

Officer Gavit addressed city employees at the activity center in reference to the Open Carry laws. 

LPD officers attended state mandated training for K9 Encounters.  LPD hosted this training for area law enforcement agencies.

Chief Radford spoke to the Leadership Lake Travis group on Thursday about police conduct and the use of force.   

Expect traffic issues/delays in the city of Austin, and surrounding areas for SXSW.  The arrival of the President on Friday will also add to congestion issues in the downtown area. 


With LTISD spring break being next week it is helpful for us to exercise some basic crime prevention strategies such as locking our vehicles and homes.  It is important to remove all easy targets as possible from those with idle time and ill intent. 
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Enjoy the wonderful weather!  If you would like to be on my mailing list please send a note to lakeway@bain.us and I'll get you added!

Joe Bain
lakeway@bain.us

Robo Calls?,Warrant round Up and SXSW in Bee Cave!

Had a few things come up and thought I would do a mid week update - here goes!

Tired of the continued political calls, sales calls etc.?  If you are using Time Warner or uVerse phone or other Internet phones you might want to try nomorobo.com .  It's free and routes most unwanted calls away from your phone - one ring and gone.  I've been using it for months now and it works great.  Set up instructions on the web site.  Try it, it's FREE.

The Warrant round Up is in full swing - so far in 2016 we have cleared 154 warrants with collections of $31,346.20.  Our Marshal, 6 Lakeway Police Officers, Court Administrator, and Warrant Clerks have been busy and we thank them for their efforts!

Want to hear some of the SXSW music but are really not interested in going downtown?  I have the solution!  The Bee Cave Sonesta will host live music from 7-10 AM in Meridian 98.  That's the club area on the top of the Sonesta Bee Cave.  Here's the schedule - try it out!

	Tuesday 3/15	Wednesday 3/16	Thursday 3/17	Friday 3/18
7AM	Tessy Lou & The Shotgun Stars	MIchael Fracasso	The Roosevelts	7AM Charlie Faye & the Fayettes 745 John Fullbirght 830 Parker Millsap 915 Bob Schneider
8AM	Carson McHone and Ben Ballinger	Suzanna Choffel	Warren Hood & Kym Warner
9AM	Band Of Heathens	Hayes Carll	Rayland Baxter

The Lakeway MUD will have its regular meeting at their office on Wednesday at 9:30 AM.  Here is the agenda.

Just a short post today.  If you want to be added to my email list please send a note to lakeway@bain.us and I'll get you added.  If you have requested to be added and are not getting the email please check your spam or junk folder.

Thanks again for your support!

lakeway@bain.us

Community News, Court Award, HHW and More!

Let's get to it!  It's Friday again (glad I'm here to enjoy it), the weather is GREAT and it looks like we may even get some rain next week!  We got a little bump on inflows to Lake Travis last week but get ready, we will be shipping water to irrigate down stream soon.  Here is a Fact Sheet from LCRA.

Lakeway's next Big Band Bash will be March 14th at the Activity Center. Doors open at 7:30 p.m. at Lakeway Activity Center, 105 Cross Creek, with the dance going from 8-10 p.m. 

The Hamilton Greenbelt parking lot will be close while construction is going on there.  Here is a link to more info.

The Lakeway Court and our own Judge Madison won their 7th traffic safety award.  Here is a link to the full write up.  They are to be congratulated on their hard work and efforts to help our community!

CBC will meet in regular session next Thursday.  Here is that agenda.

Get ready, the City of Lakeway Marshal's Service and Lakeway Police Department will join forces and participate in this year's State Warrant Round-up.  Starts early Saturday morning - I hope we clear lots of warrants!  Thanks to the men and women in our Courts and Police Dept. who do a GREAT job of keeping us safe in Lakeway!

March 2nd we had another Household Hazardous Waste (HHW) event at the community collection center.  There were a total of 320 drop offs at the event and now the work of sorting and bulking is taking place.  We are making a difference!  This was triple the number of collections done at any other event and traffic did back up a little.  Thanks to the teams that make this a success!

We are beefing up our Code department as planned in last years budget session.  By the end of the month we should have 5 code enforcement officers.  I'm happy to see us moving in the right direction on keeping our quality of life a high priority.

The Flint Rock Road project is moving along on schedule and on budget so far.  Please be patient with the construction and realize it will be much better when it's finished.

The Parks Department completed the installation of the Porpoise Park Playground that incorporates play structures for both 2-5 year old's and 5-12 year old's.  They have also been working on the alternate access to Hamilton Greenbelt.  

Lakeway Regional Medical Center has added a new Board Certified Internist, Dr. Greg Morper.  Here's a link to the release.

From the Chief:
A subject was arrested for DWI after being involved in a disturbance and fleeing the scene in a vehicle.  

Routine traffic stops led to the following charges being filed - Possession of drug paraphernalia X 2.

One of our mental health officers responded to a suicidal subject call.  The subject voluntarily was admitted to a private mental health facility.

Officers responded to an aggravated assault in progress as a result of a road rage incident on Thursday morning in the intersection of Lakeway Blvd. and RR620. A subject was arrested and after investigation and interview confessed to two other criminal acts in the city, clearing those cases. He was booked into the Travis County jail for the assault. 

Detectives responded to the Rough Hollow hike & bike trail area after a subject was found unresponsive. EMS personnel responded and attempted to revive the subject, but were unsuccessful. Detectives investigated the scene and spoke with witnesses. Detectives suspect the death was caused by nature means, but are awaiting autopsy results. 

The Criminal Investigation Unit was assigned to investigate a theft that occurred at The Harbor at Lakeway. The victim, who was a resident at the location, discovered a missing check that had been cashed without their permission. During the course of the investigation, Detectives discovered three other victims who had checks/credit cards stolen from them. After a thorough investigation, Detectives were able to obtain four felony arrest warrants for the suspect, who was an employee of the business at the time of the thefts. With the assistance of APD, the suspect was located and arrested without incident. She is currently being held in the Travis County Jail under a $40,000.00 bond. 

Detectives were assigned to investigate a report of an assault that occurred at Lakeway Regional Medical Center. The investigation revealed that a staff member in the Emergency Department was assaulted by an intoxicated patient. Detectives collected witness statements and ultimately issued the suspect a summons to appear in the Lakeway Municipal Court for charges of Assault by Contact (a Class C Misdemeanor).


Detectives have received numerous calls from members of the community reporting being contacted by scammers from the “IRS”. However, there have been no reports of financial loss due to the scam.
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I hope you enjoy this beautiful weekend - be safe out there!

Joe Bain
lakeway@bain.us