the lunar eclipse from Woodway

It was a hazy night, and these photos were taken with a standard digital camera without any telescopic equipment. At full eclispe, the moon's image was too faint for my camera to pick up well, since it does not have good shutter speed control.

early eclipse
almost fully eclipsed

A great gift idea...

I am trying to spread the word about the most wonderful stories, done in full radio drama style and available very inexpensively. I'm referring to The Chronicles of Narnia audiodrama on CD. This is no boring listen-to-someone-read-a-story, instead you have a full cast of actors, sound effects, music and narration. You have to listen here to appreciate what I'm talking about, which is also where you order. The quality is stunning, but the price is almost as amazing. The set is comprised of 19 CDs (22 hours) for only $19.99. Unlike the recent Narnia movies, this audiodrama version is very faithful to the original books. It is the perfect gift, especially for someone who does a lot of driving. You might find a set locally at Mardel. I also try to keep some around, feel free to contact me (chuckimgarner@gmail.com).

Speeding fines in Woodway

You might be interested to know that speeding fines in Woodway start at $148 ($173 in a school zone). The list of fines can be found here; scroll down to the tables. I'm glad to say that I don't know these numbers from personal experience... but being pulled over on I-35 near New Braunfels last weekend ($116 + defensive driving class) got me thinking about the local fines.

the December 13th meeting

Mayor Bil Weber opened the meeting at 5:31 pm, and I gave the invocation. Councilman Scott Giddings (who is a great asset to the Council) was absent due to family issues.

The first agenda item was a time for visitors. Woodway resident Kevin Draper briefly inquired as to the status of what has become known as the "windmill ordinance" (i.e., rules by which wind generators may be erected). It will be considered at the next P&Z meeting, tomorrow night.

Item two was a budget review. This is a Council-initiated exploration of various aspects of the City budget. There were interesting things to learn. For example, how much do you suppose the City has to pay the McLennan County Appraisal District to assess valuations and maintain tax-related arbitration? ($61k/year, out of about $3.7 million in Woodway property tax revenue) Also, Woodway employee fringe benefits average around 25-30% of salary. Next meeting we will look at the Public Safety budget.

Items 3 and 4 were to discuss and take action on two sealed-bid awards related to the Business Acres well, one to re-drill a new well ($886k) and one to install new pipes and a pumping station there ($364k). These were both approved unanimously.

Note added 1/3/11: I misunderstood items 3 and 4 above. City Secretary Jennifer Canady sent me the following clarification: "Actually, the pump station is one of the two remaining portions of the project that have not even been bid out yet. Consensus was for Mr. Wallace to move forward and begin the process to solicit formal bids for those. What was approved on December 13th was $886,400 for Phase 1A of the project to drill a new well, and $364,379 for the 12” waterline extension."

Item 5 was approval of a property purchase negotiated by City Manager Yost Zakhary. This is located fairly near the Family Center area going toward the new Lazy Acres development off of Estates. This had been part of the master plan, and the vote was unanimous.

Item 6 was the "consent agenda" (items for approval), as follows:

(a) Approval of the December 6th meeting minutes.

(b) Discussion of the "unified destination marketing plan" presented last week by the Hahn, Texas group. There was a fair amount of discussion as to whether this was a good use of City funds, whether there was local talent that could perhaps do a similar job more economically, possible conflicts of interest, etc. The City Manager was well aware of these issues, but "in the spirit of cooperation" with Waco, recommended that we approve this one-time funding of the project. If this leads to further requests for funding, the Council will likely be more skeptical.

(c) Purchase of chlorine for water disinfection for City wells. The City obtained bids for 311 drums of 150 pounds each of liquified chlorine, at a cost of $28.5k. This represents only about 60 cents a pound, and (if I did the math right) that is enough chlorine to disinfect about 60,000 gallons (more or less) of water at around 2 ppm (or 1 cent per 1000 gallons of water).

(d) Discussion on authorizing the City Manager to enter into an interlocal cooperation agreement to transport Heart of Texas MHMR patients to psychiatric facilities using Public Safety officers.
Note added 1/3/11: Woodway Public Safety officers would not be transporting patients long distances. City Secretary Jennifer Canady clarified this for me as follows: "Actually, the agreement authorizes the Heart of Texas MHMR to transport psychiatric patients for the City, through a private vendor they have contracted with, to the appropriate facility throughout the state or wherever. They would transport at the rate of $25.00 per hour."

(e) Discussion on authorizing the City Manager to enter into an interlocal cooperation agreement with McLennan County related to updating the Mitigation Action Plan.

Item 7: all "consent agenda" items were approved in one unanimous vote.

The Mayor wished all City staff and Council a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, specifically mentioning that we should "enjoy what liberties the season provides".

The meeting adjourned at 6:38, making it (I believe) the shortest meeting since the May election.

Agenda for the December 13th meeting

The Agenda for the upcoming meeting has been posted at the City's website here. Items of interest include a couple of well-related authorizations, an authorization to purchase a piece of land near the Family Center, action on the Waco area marketing proposal discussed last week, the purchase of chlorine for water sanitation, and discussion of a proposed agreement between the Heart of Texas Region MHMR and the Woodway Police Department for transport of patients.

A Christmas Greeting

Each year, the Woodway City Council makes a Christmas greeting, courtesy of Time Warner Cable. On November 5th, all seven of your Council members gathered at the Woodway City Hall to film this. You might catch it on TV, but it has also been posted to the City website by Natalie Edwards. To view, go to the Woodway home page and click on the "Season's Greetings" video link on the right side of the page.

The December 6th meeting

Mayor Bill Weber opened the meeting at 5:30 pm; I came in as Mayor pro tem Gil Lillard was delivering the invocation.

The first agenda item was a presentation of a unified marketing plan by Liz Taylor and Jeff Hahn of the Hahn, Texas group. This is a group that works to help cities, or groups of cities, market themselves as tourism destinations. The Hahn group is working on marketing plan for five cities in the Waco area (Waco, Lacy-Lakeview, Bellmead, Hewitt and Woodway), and the planning has been going on for some time. They showed a very clever 3-4 minute video of a "future news report", from the year ~ 2013, describing how tourism in the Waco area (and especially in Woodway) had risen significantly in the past two years because of wise investment and advertising of the area's attractions. The cost of developing a "roadmap" for investment to improve tourism will cost about $118k, of which Woodway is being asked to pay $16k (proportional to our Hotel tax revenue). This will be an agenda item at next week's meeting. I found the group to be pretty impressive, and I think this is a worthwhile project.

The second agenda item was a time for visitors, but there were none this time.

The third agenda item was an executive session (started at 5:59 pm) to discuss the Hwy 84 well rehabilitation (see more below) and the possible purchase of property in the City. This session closed at 6:29 pm.

Agenda item 4 concerned a plan to upgrade the City's communications equipment to meet new federal guidelines. Basically, the government is requiring police radios to use a smaller section of the radio spectrum, requiring new equipment. Complicating this is a recent failure of a City repeater (cost $100k) that will have no place in the new system. So what the City Manager has arranged was a plan to get the new equipment soon on what is basically a lease-to-buy plan at low interest (none for 18 months). The cost is significant ($1.2 million total) but will be spread over three years, and the required switchover was already being anticipated by the City. Many of the nearby cities (e.g., Waco, Lacy-Lakeview) have already made the switch. The Council unanimously voted to authorize the City Manager to proceed with this.

Item five was a report on the Hwy 84 well rehabilitation. The news is generally good: the well has the same output as it originally did when drilled, before problems set in. The calcium level is rather high (about 12.5 mg per liter) and so the water is quite prone to scale formation (calcium salt deposits), but this can almost certainly be controlled by the addition of sodium hexametaphosphate. This well is expected to begin production again in maybe 2-3 weeks. To compensate for a drop in the water table, the Wallace Group has recommended that the pump be placed 100 feet lower than previously, which places it at 1350 feet (1/4 mile!) below ground level.

Item six was a amended set of parking regulations within the City. The changes mainly involved RVs, trailer and boat parking. Basically, this is how it came down: if you have an RV, boat or trailer, on-street parking can only be temporary. Permanent parking must be on the side or behind your home. If the parking is on a natural surface (grass, etc.), the vehicle must be mostly screened from street view. And no inoperative vehicles can be permanently parked in your driveway or on the street. This is just my assessment of the 12-page regulations. I understand that most cities with nice residential areas have ordinances like these. The ordinances were approved unanimously.

Item seven was adoption of a resolution related to our CAPP membership that should allow the City to continue getting low-cost electrical power.

Item 8 was approval of last meeting's minutes. Item 9 (budget discussion) was tabled until next week.

Item 10 was the City Manager's report. (a) There was a brief discussion of whether the City should go to an entirely-electronic (website post only) version of "Woodway Today". Most of the Council favored keeping the printed copy. (b) There was some discussion of the idea of lending Hewitt money with the prospect of better return than we can get otherwise (will be discussed again in January). Councilman Don Baker asked, "When did Woodway become a bank?!" In this bad economy, some cities have begun loaning each other money. (c) There is another unfunded mandate from the federal government, changing street signs to have somewhat more reflective surfaces on all streets with 25 mph or greater speed limits. Someone joked that we could meet this requirement by simply making all the speed limits 24 mph!

The meeting closed at 7:10 pm. The next meeting is just one week away (Dec. 13), so as to leave the Christmas holiday meeting-free.

Agenda for the December 6th meeting

The agenda for the December 6th meeting has been posted as a pdf download here.

Also, I just noticed that Woodway Animal Control found a blue heeler, shown on the City website here; anyone you know?

The November 22nd meeting

Mayor Bill Weber opened the meeting at 5:31 pm, with the invocation given by Councilman Don Baker. About 25 visitors were present initially, but that number grew in the next 10-15 minutes to perhaps 40 (a full house). One Council member (Dr. Scibielski) was absent due to traveling.

The first agenda item was the financial presentation by Finance Officer William Klump. A few high points: less water was sold this year because it was a rainy year, resulting in about $340k less utility income, but the utility fund still ended with a $90k surplus. The City brought in $378k in hotel occupancy tax. The general fund ended with a $266k surplus, which the City moved to a contingency fund for the next fiscal year, as in years past.

Item 2 was a presentation by the Woodway Public Safety Association of the proceeds of the 37th Annual Barbeque to the City. This year they were able to donate $16,000 toward new fire equipment. Lieutenant Ray Dobbs and Captain Bret Crook made the presentation. They also took this opportunity to honor Council member Gil Lillard with a plaque for his work toward making the BBQ a success. On several occasions, Gil recruited his extended family and others (including me once) to hand out flyers around Woodway neighborhoods. He also donated at least one large banner-type sign to go over Estates drive to advertise the event. Gil is a huge supporter of our police and volunteer fire personnel. And Ray Dobbs is as good and honest a guy as you'll ever meet.

Agenda item 3 was to hear from visitors. First, Mike Skains, a local Attorney, came to speak on behalf of his in-laws (the Ropers). The issue was the habitual neglect of mowing of the land that was previously the Western Oaks golf course, now being developed into a housing area. Contrary to a letter the owner/developer Mark Felton distributed in 2005, parts of the property are rarely mowed. This is in violation of ordinances. City Manager Yost Zakhary said that the City would, as necessary, begin mowing it (at a cost of several thousand dollars each time) and placing a lien against the property.

Then Pat Kultgen of Lorena came to speak in support of a Special Use permit for Ullja Kuntze. This was a bit premature, since the hearing on that matter was a separate agenda item. (see below)

Item 4 (Executive Session) was canceled because no executives were present. (little joke there) The City Attorney was either unable to be present or not prepared to discuss a legal issue involving the Hwy 84 well rehabilitation.

Item 5 was a public hearing and action on a request by Ms. Ullja Kuntze for a new special use permit for a home occupation in a residential zoning area. Ullja was requesting a permit to allow "Garden Club meetings, organically grown seedlings and supply sales" from her home, which is in a cul de sac. As a public hearing, parties were invited to speak in favor or in opposition to the request. First, Ullja and four others spoke in favor of the permit. Ullja referred to the benefits of organically grown "chemical-free" food, and once or twice implied that opposition to her permit was motivated by those who are committed to the domination of chemical and pesticide-laden food. After Ullja, former Council member Tom Oliver made a strong statement in support. After each person spoke in support, there was applause by about 8 or so of those present.

Then three people spoke in opposition, all near neighbors of Ullja. When a special use permit is requested, the City invites all near neighbors (with property within 200 feet) to comment. If 25% are opposed, by ordinance the request is automatically denied unless a supermajority of the Council (five of the seven) vote in support. In this case, 100% of the near neighbors were opposed, strictly because they felt that commercial activity would compromise the residential character of the neighborhood. There was no applause after each person who spoke in opposition, even though I believe those in opposition were the majority of those present (just more polite). During the third speaker's (Walter Grisham) presentation, he mentioned that he was in no way opposed to natural foods. At that point, Ullja disrupted the speaker with a hacking cough, apparently indicative of her maturity and respect for the proceedings.

Then Mayor Weber closed the public hearing, and opened Council discussion. Council member Don Baker said that special use permits should be reserved for activities that are nearly indistinguishable from, say, inviting guests and visitors to one's home. He gave the example of a wedding planning business. Then Council member Jane Kittner pointed out that there were two distinct issues, that of hosting a garden club versus retail sales. Then Council member Scott Giddings pointed out that this was the first time he had seen any opposition to a special use permit in over a year on the Council. He was describing what it was about this application that he opposed when Ullja began responding/interrupting him, very inappropriately. It was bad enough that I was expecting a police officer to remove her from the room. About then, Ullja made her "surprise announcement" (promised to supporters by email the week before) that she would be hosting garden parties at her home open to everyone, and the guests would be parking all over her cul de sac. Then Ullja made a rude and noisy exit. She would have been ejected from the proceedings had she not left voluntarily. I then mentioned that organic gardening training in a non-commercial venue could easily be done through the Arboretum; similar events happen there all the time. The Council voted unanimously to deny Ms. Kuntze's request.

By the way, Ullja made a point that "everyone" would be free to attend her parties. To date, I understand that she has banned four vendors and over a dozen members from her group. I happen to know that the banning of one member from her food bank group was done apparently because this person holds pro-life beliefs. It seems that Ullja's brand of open-mindedness only extends to those who agree with her.

Item 6 was renewal of a special use permit by KWKT-TV to operate communication equipment within the City. Given that there were no complaints, the request was approved unanimously.

Item 7 was for renewal of a special use permit by Verizon to operate a communication tower in Woodway. The only interesting aspect of this was that this tower had recently become a major hangout for vultures. A photo was provided to the Council that showed at least 23 roosting on the tower! Unfortunately, the photo was too poor to post here. But they promised to use bird-be-gone spikes to clear them out (apparently this has worked well in other places). The Council approved a 6-month permit. We'll check back then to see how the bird problem is going. There was concern that they may find new and more troublesome roosting places. I had a colleague that had a terrible problem with vultures in Woodway just over a year ago. (no, you are not allowed to shoot them.)

Item 8 was the second hearing on an application to build a facility for specialized wheelchair construction and modification (see the November 8th meeting). Passed unanimously.

Item 9 was the "consent agenda", items needing Council approval. This included the minutes of the last meeting, video equipment for three new and two existing patrol cars, emergency repairs to the Hwy 84 well, and "codification services" (professional help with ordinance wording). All approved unanimously (the vote to approve was agenda item 10).

Item 11 was year end budget transfers (mentioned in item 1 above). Approved unanimously.

Item 12 was the radio communication update. The federal government has mandated (but not funded) radio equipment that operates on a much narrower band than previous equipment did. This (a) allows the government to sell bandwidth, and (b) requires that the City (actually, all cities) buy new equipment. Yost Zakhary has been aware of this and saving funds accordingly, but the City's radio repeater recently failed. Replacing this now would add about $200k to the overall cost of the transition. Contingencies are being explored by Captain Bret Crook, to be reported at the next meeting.

Item 13 was an overview of the City budget, requested by Mayor Weber. Having significant experience in military budgets, Mayor Weber is encouraging more discussion and analysis of the City budget than has generally been done in the past. This is an ongoing emphasis, leading into the next budget preparation.

Item 14 was an update/discussion of review of the City Charter. So far, six members have been chosen to serve on what will probably be a 7-member panel to work of updating the charter.

Item 15 was the City Manager's report. I asked if the City had a long-term plan to take over maintenance, etc., of Elysian Lane. The answer was, no, these privately-owned streets are far below current code, and the City sees it as a very poor use of resources to do the necessary very expensive upgrades. If the residents and/or owner of the property were to bring it to code the City would consider assuming responsibility for the streets, etc., there. This very thing happened in Sugar Creek awhile back.

The meeting adjourned about 7:35 pm.

Pet Microchip Day results

November 13th was Pet Microchip Day in Woodway, where pets could be permanently identified at a reduced cost. This was Animal Control Officer Albert Lopez' idea, and one reason he was awarded the Innovation Award at the annual appreciation/recognition banquet (see previous post). Albert told me that 23 pets were microchipped. He hopes for a bigger turnout next year, so look for announcements of the event, probably next fall.

Woodway Employee Appreciation and Recognition Banquet

Woodway held a very enjoyable appreciation banquet this evening. Some employees (esp. public safety officers) had to work, but most everyone was in attendance. City manager Yost Zakhary presided, recognizing various City employees and making awards, too numerous to list completely here. But I'll mention a few that were given to people I happen to know. Natalie Edwards was recognized for 5 years of service, and Jennifer Canady for 10 years with the City. Kasia Redden earned one of the Customer Service Awards. Animal Control/Code Enforcement Officer Albert Lopez earned the Innovation Award. Arboretum/Family Center Manager Janet Schaffer earned the Leadership Award. City Secretary Jeniffer Canady earned the Outstanding Service Award. Yost said, in part, that Jennifer had "triumphed through an especially challenging year, always with a smile." Which is very true. Jennifer Canady, Natalie Edwards and Donna Barkley are the sunshine around the City Council meetings. The City Manager Achievement Award went to Financial Officer William Klump. Many of the Woodway volunteers were also honored, including Beau Crosby, Ray Dobbs, Bert Hernandez and Wayde Hartman (Volunteer of the Year). Officer of the Year was Sgt. William Hitch. The food was great, catered by Big Daddy's. Some photos are shown below.
(left to right): City Attorney David Cherry, City Manager/Police Chief Yost Zakhary, Mayor Bill Weber and his wife Robin, and Lieutenant Bert Hernandez.
Animal Control Office Albert Lopez and his wife.
(left to right): Megan Salinas, Kasia Redden, Jennifer Canady, Donna Barkley and John Norman.
City Engineer Mitch Davison and Yost Zakhary. At far right in the background is the wonderfully personable Julie Zakhary.
At my table (clockwise): City Engineer Mitch Davison and his wife, Building Inspector Cory Turnmire, and Kasia Redden.
Assistant to the City Manager Natalie Edwards, and City Manager Yost Zakhary.
Janet Schaffer and husband Troy.

Agenda for the November 22nd meeting

The agenda for the November 22nd meeting has been posted on the City website here. Items of special interest include a quarterly presentation by the Woodway Finance Department, several Special Use Permit considerations, an Executive Session on the Hwy 84 well rehabilitation, and a time to hear from visitors (not necessarily in that order).

The November 8th meeting

The meeting opened at 5:31 pm, and Councilman Scott Giddings gave the invocation.

Then was a time to honor the previous City Council members for their service. I believe this was Mayor Bill Weber's idea (and a good one), and he mentioned that for a long time he had felt that the transition from the old Council to the new was too brief and some recognition of service was in order. All four immediate past Council members were present to receive their official Council portraits and a nice wooden box (I didn't catch what was in them). First came Barbara Tennison, then Robert Humphrey, Jerry Don Mathis and finally Dee Smith. All four spoke briefly of their experience on the Council, though I'm not fast enough at writing to do them justice. But Dee Smith said that she had "enjoyed three years and intended for it to be longer, thank you Mr. Garner." As I have written elsewhere, the previous Council members are outstanding people. I've gotten to know Barbara Tennison and Dee Smith a little, and found them to be very personable, sharp and funny. For example, on election day, some of us were in front of City Hall. When lunchtime came, Barbara told Bill Weber, "You can have my votes while I'm gone."!

Then Mayor Weber recognized Councilman Don Baker's many years of service as Mayor of Woodway (1994-2010). Mayor Weber said he deplored the "rather inglorious way this works", referring to the changing of mayors at the first meeting of the new Council as "musical chair day". Mayor Weber presented Councilman Baker with a plaque that recognized his contribution. Don said he hoped there was room at the bottom where it said "1994-2010" to add "2011-on" later! And he commended the quality of the City Staff during his term.

Then came Yard of the Month awards. Awards were made to the Kearney, Jennings, Schmeltekopf and Ayers families. Chris Kearney is a colleague of mine at Baylor, and a great guy in every way.

Then came the Quarterly Staff presentation, this one by the Woodway Public Safety Department. Assistant Chief Robert Smith went through both this year's and last's quarterly and annual statistics related to crime, etc., in Woodway. At the end, in typical fashion, Mayor Bill Weber asked what all this meant, basically asking for reasons for the trends. For example, was the increased Animal Control activity due to "the animals getting slower or City personnel getting faster?"! Asst. Chief Smith promised to have more such details at hand for the next report.

Then came a time for visitors. Kevin Draper came to ask about progress on the "windmill ordinance", that is, rules by which wind power generators might be installed in Woodway. City Engineer Mitch Davison responded to say that the ordinance has been worked out by the Council and is at the Planning and Zoning Commission for approval. It is expected to get final approval by the Council in January. The Draper's have been seeking permission to install a wind generator for about a year now.

The Council then went into Executive Session for 45 minutes to discuss pending lawsuits and the Hwy 84 well rehabilitation. The open meeting resumed at 6:53 pm.

The next item was discussion/approval of plans by Rick Hagelstein to build a commercial office/warehouse to fabricate and customize various mobility and medical devices (wheelchairs, orthotics, etc.). This would be located along Hwy 84 just East of the Methodist Church, and was approved unanimously.

The next item was the newly revised Sign Ordinance. This was revised to correct for some omissions, and was approved unanimously. It is, however, likely to be amended to include a "grandfather clause" to exempt long-term existing signage from the current requirements.

Then came the Records Retention Ordinance. This was revised from the 1989 version to update to current practices. This passed unanimously.

Then was a discussion on the process to update the City Charter. Some sections of the City Charter are out of date and/or otherwise in need of modification. The Council had agreed that each member should try to identify a Woodway citizen to be on a panel to review the charter. So far, a little over half the Council has identified such a volunteer (I haven't yet, anyone interested?).

Then several "consent agenda" items were discussed. Most notable were the purchase of three new Public Safety vehicles ($79k before modification for police use), a new roof for the Family Center ($49k), and two zero-turn radius mowers ($5.3k and $6.6k, for 48" and 60" versions, resp.). These were approved unanimously.

Then came the City Manager's report, which was very brief. But I asked about one item, the water line issue on Elysian Lane. This came up at the last Council meeting, but I was absent and wanted to know where things stood. The basic problem is that the Hansen family has begun to develop a lot for a new house on that street, at significant cost, but the existing water line is only a 2" diameter one and is already serving 14 homes, well over its TCEQ-allowed capacity of about 8 homes. The cost of a new 6" line is significant, about $50k if contracted out. And it turns out that an outside contractor would be needed because the soil is very rocky and I'm told that Woodway doesn't have the trenching equipment needed for that. So I believe the current plan is to budget this cost for next year.

The meeting adjourned about 7:30 pm.

Some dates/events to note:

This Saturday (Nov. 13) is Pet Microchip Day, 8:00 am - noon at the Woodway Public Safety Department. Cost is $15 per pet, which I think is about half the cost elsewhere (based on my internet searches).

This Thursday (November 11) is a City holiday (Veteran's Day).

Agenda for November 8th meeting

The agenda for the next City Council meeting has been posted at the City website here. Items of interest include special recognition of the previous City Council, Yard of the Month awards, changes to the Sign ordinance and Records Retention ordinances, discussion of vehicle and equipment purchases, an Executive Session pertaining to several issues, and a time to hear visitors.

Friends of the Arboretum

This evening was the Friends of the Arboretum event. I arrived just in time for the presentation of the new plans. About 50 people were in attendance. Various aspects of the plans for upgrading the facilities were presented by the three architects/landscape developers (see photo below), and the level of detail was impressive. It seems that every possible design feature has been optimized. These upgrades will allow two simultaneous weddings to take place, in better facilities, and still not disrupt public visitation of the grounds. And all this without drawing from the City's General Fund, costs being covered entirely by the Hotel Occupancy Tax. This is the culmination of extensive efforts by Arboretum Manager Janet Schaffer, her Assistant Megan Salinas, the Arboretum Board, City Manager Yost Zakhary and the MESA Group. (and probably a few more I'm not aware of)The MESA planning team.

Mayor Bill Weber and Arboretum Board Chair Dean Haun.

MESA design expert Tres, Arboretum Director Janet Schaffer and Youth Commission member Rayanne.

Reception at the Arboretum

For past, present and future Friends of the Arboretum, this Thursday (November 4th) a reception will be held there. This is open to all, so please consider attending. The schedule is as follows:

5:30-5:45 pm: Tours of the grounds

5:45-6:15 pm: Socialize and hors d'oeuvres

Starting between 6:15 and 6:30 pm will be a presentation of the plans for the Arboretum improvements. The designs are impressive, and if you haven't seen them already, I strongly encourage you to go by and see what is being planned. A decision on precisely how to fund the improvements will be before the City Council in the near future.

Also consider becoming a Friend of the Arboretum by adding an $8 per month fee to your water bill. The Arboretum website is here.

No report on the Oct. 25 meeting

I was out of town for the October 25th meeting, the only meeting I have missed since being elected. The audio file will be posted on the City website before long, here.
Added 10/27: The audio file was posted by Jennifer Canady, City Secretary, on Tuesday (10/26), one day after the meeting.

Pet Microchip Day

The City of Woodway will be holding a Pet Microchip Day on Saturday, November 13th from 8 am until noon. This allows permanent ID for dogs and cats, and helps get pets returned if they are lost. The cost will be $15 per pet, which I think is lower than the cost elsewhere. If you have questions, contact Animal Control Officer Albert Lopez at 772-4470.

Agenda for October 25th meeting

The agenda for the next meeting has been posted on the City's website here. It looks likely to be a short one.

Children's Garden Fair a success

The fair was well-attended, with about 600+ visitors by the halfway point. There were a wide variety of booths, from making hats with newspaper to the life of bees to identifying bugs, and many more. Also in attendance was "Carl" the cardinal (see photos below), who I found out was really Emily Zakhary, daughter of our City Manager Yost Zakhary. A good time was had by all. Arboretum Director Janet Schaffer and assistant Megan Salinas did a good job organizing this event. And thanks to all of the volunteer groups that set up and staffed the booths.

Audio of meetings now available

Thanks to Natalie Edwards (Assistant to the City Manager), the audio recordings of City Council meetings have begun to be available on the City website. You can find the link here. So far, only the October 4th meeting is available.

Reminder - Children's Garden Fair THIS weekend

This coming weekend (Sunday, October 17th), the Carleen Bright Arboretum is hosting the Children's Garden Fair from 2 pm to 5 pm. My previous post on this has most of the information you'll need; see here.

A water pipe break

I came home tonight about 7:30 pm to find a few utility trucks down the street, most noticeably a Grande truck. So I thought there was a cable problem. A little later I went to run a load of laundry and my washer just hummed, with no water flow. The washer is getting pretty old, so I figured that it was malfunctioning, and I called a repair guy I know.* Then I went to do some dishes and noticed there was no water! So I re-called to cancel the repair request and went outside to see what was going on. About then, City Manager Yost Zakhary drove up to explain what was happening. The three-man Woodway work crew later filled in the details. The PVC water pipe, which is buried about 4 feet or so under the street, had developed a leak. This was probably the result of a long-term conflict with an adjacent rock that somehow managed to crack the pipe. Anyway, the crew (Derek, Robert and Mike) worked from about 6:30 pm to at least 1 am to get it fixed. As of 1:30 am, the water flow is back to normal. Good job guys!

*If you ever need an appliance serviced, I highly recommend Jim Johnson Repair Services (752-4506). He worked for the Sears repair department for years, and does prompt house calls at a reasonable cost.

The October 4th meeting

The meeting began at 5:30 pm, presided over by Mayor pro tem Gil Lillard (Mayor Bill Weber was traveling). Perhaps 10 visitors were present, maybe less. I did the invocation.

The first agenda item was Yard of the Month awards, which went to the Crook, Riley, Williams and Wells families. Gil Lillard was assisted by Carolyn Baccus.

Next was the quarterly report from the Community Services and Development, presented by City Engineer Mitch Davison because Community Services Director Randall Riggs was out. Mitch showed photos of six new buildings, and mentioned that three new homes were under construction.

Then was a time to hear from visitors. First came former Councilman Robert Humphrey "seeking justice" regarding the investigation of evidence of impropriety during Karen O'Bric's management of the Arboretum. Noting that this issue was on the agenda, he encouraged the Council to "be brave" in pursuing this, but only if actual evidence came to light. He did not want to sanction the expenses of an investigation without evidence, unlike the recent investigation of City Manager Yost Zakhary. He also mentioned that he had determined via an Open Records request that the total cost of investigating the City Manager had been just over $71k, rather than the ~ $25k figure that was only the cost of Barney Knight's investigation (actually $23.6k, see here). Mr. Humphrey had alluded previously to costs of the internal investigation that preceded the external one. So I think the $71K figure must include costs of the City Attorneys and personnel hunting down documents and getting statements, etc., though no details were given.

Next came Sue Wolff to say that she appreciated getting the Mayor's letter announcing the exoneration of City Manager Yost Zakhary (see here) in her water bill a few days ago. She hopes the City will continue to use this venue to get out the facts of various situations to counter gossip and rumors.

Then former Councilmember Dee Smith came to ask about when the letter would be showing up in water bills. It turns out that these letters only began going out a few days ago because the three billing cycles are 14 days apart, and the letter had to await the signatures of all seven Council members before going out. But if you haven't gotten it already, you should in your next water bill. (it hasn't shown up in mine yet)

Incidentally, expect your next water bill to include the 10% increase that was deemed necessary to keep the water fund viable. (I think that part did show up in mine!)

Then came the "consent agenda", which consisted of

(a) last meeting's minutes;

(b) paying for pizzas for the Woodway Family Center's programs (this comes out of a fee each team pays); interestingly, Mazzio's under-bid Pizza Hut and Rosati's, with a large 1-topping pizza (including drinks) at $5.25 each.

(c) purchasing a backhoe for the City. The lowest bidder (out of six) was RDO Equipment (a local place) with a John Deere at $51,961. This was well under the next nearest bid, reflecting excellent homework by the City staff on this. Buying locally an American-made unit at the lowest cost was the best of all possible outcomes. And "nothing runs like a Deere"!

Items 6 and 7 dealt with costs associated with rehabilitation of the Hwy 84 well, and Item 8 dealt with authorizing the City manager to get started on the Business Acres well. This well is projected to cost a total of about $4 million (including the pipes to connect it to the existing system) and is expected to be online about next June. With the Hwy 84 well back in service and the new Business Acres well, Woodway would have enough capacity to need no external water Oct. - April. However, during May - Sept., Woodway uses so much water per capita, in the same range as very upscale communities like Highland Park in Dallas, etc., that even with the new wells we will have to purchase outside water (from Waco and/or Lake Belton).

The final item was discussion and possible action on authorizing the City Attorneys to proceed to look into allegations regarding Karen O'Bric's management of the Arboretum (mentioned previously). Mayor pro tem Gil Lillard mentioned that he had been called late this afternoon (as had Don Baker) by one of the City Attorneys and asked to table this item, with explanations to be given each Councilmember individually by phone. This caused a good deal of frustration among several of the Council, especially Scott Giddings and myself. I had asked one of the attorneys to deal with this at least two weeks ago. I think everyone on the Council wants whatever is known or can be known about this to be made public. Former Councilman Robert Humphrey has certainly been very patient waiting for some action or announcement on this. Several of the Council were under the impression that the City Attorneys had already investigated this, so why not make it public? The explanation seems to be that once a report is made to the City Council, that information becomes public record, and the attorneys want to keep some things confidential in light of the pending lawsuit Karen O'Bric has against the City. Incidentally, Texas Municipal League attorneys are representing the City in the lawsuit, but our City Attorneys still render legal counsel on this matter. As Scott Giddings suggested, as things stand the Council will likely require an executive session with the City attorneys on this at the next meeting (Oct. 25) or the one following.

The meeting adjourned about 6:15 pm, making this the shortest regular meeting of the Council since the May elections. No meeting for three weeks, since next Monday is a holiday (Columbus Day). Incidentally, daylight savings time doesn't start until the first Sunday in November (the 7th).

Agenda for October 4th meeting

The agenda for the upcoming meeting has been posted here. Notable items are awards for Yard of the Month, issues related to two of Woodway's wells (Hwy 84 and Business Acres), a time to hear from visitors, and discussion and consideration of action on authorizing the City Attorneys to investigate past operations of the Carleen Bright Arboretum. This meeting is occurring only one week after the last one to avoid a conflict with Columbus Day.

September 27th meeting

Mayor Bill Weber opened the meeting promptly at 5:30 pm, with about a half dozen visitors present. Scott Giddings gave the invocation.

Then there was a presentation by Bob Wallace on the progress of rehabilitating the Hwy 84 well, the subject of past posts. In brief, the good news is that the water appears to be Trinity aquifer-quality, having some scale content but not excessive. The pH (8.68) is a little higher than the nearby Tater Hill well (8.5), but again not seriously different. The bad news is that a video inspection revealed that the holes in the well casing that allow water to flow in appear to be clogged. Mr. Wallace consulted with several knowledgeable people before concluding that the clog is most likely to be from leftover "drilling mud", which is Bentonite clay. At this point, Mr. Wallace recommends a mud-removal process instead of the planned acid treatment, at an additional cost of $28k. It appears increasingly likely that the company that originally drilled the well (Layne-Texas) did substandard work, and even at the time (2007) failed to meet all specifications. For example, a drill bit was left lodged in the well. There was some discussion of what would be required to try to recover costs from the company. There was no vote. The Council is beginning to be less optimistic about this well’s prospects.

Then there was a presentation on the progress of the Public Safety Building renovations. Awhile back, the foundation repair was done, and this was tested over a couple of wet/dry cycles to see if it was really fixed. The answer was yes. So now plans are being made to renovate the inside of the building to redesign it for higher efficiency and to make more room for the municipal court. The total cost (including the foundation repair) will be ~ $625k. The Wallace group is overseeing the planning, at a cost of $30.5k. However, certain changes in the plans have required the services of a structural engineer, so they are requesting an additional $13.5k fee in services. As this was a presentation only, no vote was taken.

Next was a time to hear from visitors. Former Councilman Robert Humphrey came to ask what progress the Council had made on the investigation of former Arboretum Manager Karen O’Bric’s alleged improper rentals of the facility. Way back in June (see here) Robert had presented the Council with some evidence of impropriety on Mrs. O’Bric’s part, and has been patiently waiting for results, or even any indication that an investigation is ongoing. This is at least the third time Mr. Humphrey has asked the Council about this issue, and about a month after the original request I had mentioned (here) that the City had “investigated carefully well in advance” of this allegation. I still believe this is true, and I had asked the City Attorney about a week ago to help settle this. However, it appears that the City is now seeking guidance from the Council on how to proceed. Some discussion ensued, and the sentiment among the Council seems to be that the City should reveal what it knows about this as long as it doesn’t compromise the City’s position in the ongoing lawsuit, and if necessary carry out further investigations.

Then came the “consent agenda”, generally routine things needing the Council’s approval. This involved plans to put up some public Christmas lights this year (for the first time I believe), to purchase t-shirts and caps for the Woodway Family Center, and to purchase an air conditioner for the Public Safety Courtroom. All were approved unanimously.

The next agenda item was to consider authorizing the City Manager to execute a Task Order for engineering services related to the Business Acres well. The Wallace Group engineering fee (which I believe covers contracting and oversight of the project) is $400k, and the entire well drilling project is projected to cost $4,194,500 (up from an earlier estimate of $2,942,767). As are virtually all major projects in Woodway, this one has been planned and budgeted for well in advance, to City Manager Yost Zakhary’s credit. But at Mr. Zakhary’s request, the authorization was delayed by one week to check on some details.

Then there was a discussion about whether to approve a new ordinance regulating signage in Woodway. There was discussion of whether largish signs should be allowed along Hwy 84, and whether they should be allowed in office parks. Action on this item was put off until these questions could be settled.

There was an item dealing with the Health District fee schedule, then a discussion on how to proceed with considering updates to the City Charter. There are several places at least where the Charter is out of date. It was decided (Don Baker’s idea) that each Council member would choose one citizen to help with proposing updates to the document. This is to be done by the October 25th meeting. Any changes to the charter will require a vote of the citizens, and the hope is that this could be on the May ballot.

The placing of audio recordings of each Council meeting on the City website is proceeding, not in place yet but probably before long.

The Mayor had requested a study of how much the City had saved by combining the positions of City Manager and Police Chief, and the information was available tonight. Since the City Manager is the higher-paying of the two positions, Finance Director William Klump put together a tabulation of Police Chief salary, benefits and vehicle costs for the past ten years. This was based on a second-year salary of $80k, with yearly raises, etc. The total came to $1,210,342 since Yost Zakhary took over the combined positions in 2001. Don Baker mentioned that Yost’s ideas along the way had saved the City additional costs.

There was discussion on the windmill ordinance, that is, the developing regulations for putting wind power generators up in Woodway. There has been some progress on this, and it will probably be complete around the first of November.

The meeting adjourned about 7 pm. The next meeting is in just one week, the result of a Columbus Day conflict.

Results of the annual barbeque

The 37th annual Public Safety Department Association Police and Firefighter Barbecue this past Saturday raised about $18-20k, City Manager Yost Zakhary told me today. I believe he said that it was the most successful fundraiser of its kind to date, and went most of the way to buying new life-saving equipment for the department.

Agenda for the September 27th meeting

The agenda for the upcoming City Council meeting has been posted at the Woodway website here. Notable items include an update on the Hwy 84 well rehabilitation, progress on renovations to the Public Safety building, and a time to hear from visitors.

Reminder - Woodway Public Safety Association's 37th Annual Barbecue fundraiser this Saturday (Sept. 25)

Finding lost pets in Woodway

Woodway has an easy way to find your lost pets if they have been picked up, thanks to an idea from Albert Lopez, Woodway Animal Control Officer. When he finds a stray pet, he photographs it, and the photos are posted to the City website here. The City will hold the animal for up to 10 days before trying to place it with Fuzzy Friends or Happy Endings. Only if placement doesn't work will the animal be taken to the Waco Humane Society shelter. There is a fee to recover your pets, but its better than the alternative.

Of course, the best way to make sure your pet gets back home is to have a microchip ID tag inserted. Officer Lopez checks all stray animals for this. A one-day microchipping clinic is being planned for Woodway residents, free of charge I believe. Watch here or Woodway Today for more details.

There is currently a miniature pinscher "in custody" (above). Anyone you know?

The September 13th meeting

With military precision, the meeting began right at 5:30 pm, as usual. The invocation was done by me, recruited on the spot. Then Jan Burnett (of Woodway Beautiful) and Mayor Bill Weber made the Yard of the Month awards to the Williams, Holmes, Black and Bauer families, but none were present. Then Finance Director William Klump received the GFOA Distinguished Budget Presentation Award for excellence in budgetary matters.

An annual proclamation of Woodway Public Safety Association Day (September 25th) was read by Mayor Weber. This is the day the 37th Annual Barbeque will be held (see here for details).

Item #4 was the continuation of the youth curfew ordinance. This ordinance requires that youths under 16 years of age be off public areas between the hours of 11 pm and 6 am Sunday - Thursday, and between midnight and 6 am Friday and Saturday, with all reasonable exceptions, such as accompanied by parent, etc. Councilman Scott Giddings asked how many violations there had been in the past three years (since it was last renewed), and Assistant Police Chief Robert Smith said there had been two. The continuation passed unanimously.

Then was time for visitors. Former Councilwoman (and current P&Z Board member) Dee Smith said that the recent threat by a Florida pastor to burn the Koran reminded her of what Woodway has gone through, that is, the power of one person to stir up trouble. She warned the Council not to assume that people don't pay attention to Mike O'Bric's accusatory letters, and that the proper response has to come from the Council. Councilman Gil Lillard described how he had marked both letters he received as "return to sender" and suggested that response. Mayor Weber mentioned that a response to the most recent letter was an agenda item later tonight.

Then Kevin Draper came to ask about the status of the ordinance on wind power generators. The Mayor stated that there was a meeting of the Ordinance Committee that very evening following the main meeting, and that a proposal might be expected by the October 4th meeting. The Drapers are very interested in using wind power to lower their electricity bills.

Then came items 6A-H, the "consent agenda", things that needed to be approved but were unlikely to need extensive discussion. These included the last three meeting's minutes*, reappointments to the Youth Commission, paying for emergency repairs to the Bosque well ($31k), an agreement with Waco for a cost-free repair/expansion/realignment of part of Ritchie Road, paying the invoice from Barney Knight ($23.6k) and a soil/foundation study in preparation for a new building at the Arboretum ($8.6k). All approved unanimously.

* I have noticed that the official minutes are really detailed, usually much more than these blog notes, and you can request a copy from the City Secretary Jennifer Canady.

Item 8 was acceptance of a settlement agreement with Atmos Energy, the providers of natural gas to Woodway and many other cities. Apparently there had been a large-scale settlement for overcharging, which will amount to a savings of $1.40 per month for gas customers (there is no gas in my part of Woodway I gather). Approved unanimously.

Item 9 was to allow the City to contribute to the Texas Municipal Retirement System at a rate of 14.39% instead of the usual maximum of 13.5%. Approved unanimously.

Item 10 was a resolution in support of Yost Zakhary as City Manager/Police Chief and support of his service as 4th Vice President of the International Association of Chief's of Police. This was done to encourage Mr. Zakhary and to show that he has the Council's support. The resolution received unanimous approval by the Council, and a copy was signed by all the Council immediately after the meeting.

Item 11 was a discussion on the merits of updating the City Charter, and everyone thought that was a good idea, including the City Attorney Mike Dixon. There was some debate about how soon we could hope to accomplish this. All Charter changes require voter approval, so we would arrange for this to be voted on at one of the May Council elections, but whether it could be May 2011 or a year later was unclear. Mayor Bill Weber reminded everyone that even the Declaration of Independence didn't take that long(!). The possible timing is being explored.

Item 12 was a discussion on correspondence received from Mike O'Bric, specifically the letter dated August 24th. Mayor Bill Weber said that he felt the City had been in a battle with it's hands tied, and felt that there needed to be a change in "the rules of engagement". I think the sense of the Council was that each accusatory letter be addressed promptly, and in a variety of venues. In addition to a direct reply to Mr. O'Bric, a response could be posted online, go out in water bills, be included in Woodway Today, etc. There was some discussion on whether the City should send him a bill for the recent investigation.

The Council went into Executive Session at 6:46 pm to do the annual performance evaluation of City Manager/Police Chief Yost Zakhary. Open session resumed at about 7:13 pm.

There was an update on the Hwy 84 well rejuvenation, which is encountering some difficulties but none that are insurmountable yet.

There was some discussion of getting audio of the Council meetings available, and I believe that is proceeding.

The meeting adjourned at 7:23 pm.

Correcting a misconception

One former City Council member has recently blogged to the effect that the recent external review of accusations against City Manager/Police Chief Yost Zakhary was arranged to benefit Mike O'Bric by his "friends on the Council". Wrong. Check the record: the Council was unanimous in their vote for the external review, and it certainly wasn't to benefit or appease Mike O'Bric. The Council realized that whether or not any of the allegations were true (a) a large segment of Woodway residents had apparently lost trust in their City government as evidenced by the May election results, in which every incumbent that ran was voted out; and (b) to those mistrustful of City governance, no internal review would suffice to restore confidence. The internal review had made it evident to the Council that the allegations were at least mostly unfounded, but the entire Council recognized that any self-investigation would be easily dismissed by a significant fraction of the public. Only an entirely independent review would be convincing to many. Yes, the cost was significant. But what price do you put on trust in your government? As I recall, in the end the entire Council seemed to agree that the money was well spent, given the circumstances.

Does Mike O'Bric have "friends on the Council"? Wrong again. I was elected to serve all of the citizens of Woodway, and I have tried hard to do so honestly and to the best of my ability. And I think the same applies to all of the new guys on the Council. It is true that Mike O'Bric contributed to some of the challenger's campaigns. In my case, he covered the cost of my mailings, which totaled somewhere around $400 or about 20% of the cost of my campaign (all public record). But even on a professor's salary, $400 isn't much, and my loyalty isn't for sale anyway. Since joining the Council, I have had virtually no contact with Mike O'Bric, and I think that's true of the other new guys too. Personally, I feel misled by his confident assertions of corruption that turned out to be false.

Do I support the "O'Bric agenda"? I don't know what that "agenda" is, but I doubt it. I did campaign partly on separating the positions of City Manager and Police Chief, a stance Mike agreed with, but that's where any "agenda" ends. I still think (as do others, Barney Knight for example) that it is poor policy to combine the positions, since such a concentration of authority "invites abuse" (to quote from my campaign website). Suspicions and allegations prosper more easily under those conditions, as I think the May elections attest. But I have come to realize that Yost Zakhary is doing a remarkably good job of City Manager/Police Chief. There appears to have been no abuse of the combined position. To make this arrangement work requires both skill and honesty, which I think Woodway has in Yost Zakhary.

To RH: Try not to find evil intentions where they don’t exist, to assume the worst about people when you don't really know them. Mike O’Bric fell into that trap. To some extent I did too during my campaign and for a while after. But don’t you and I both know better now?

The agenda for the September 13th meeting

The agenda for the upcoming (Sept. 13) City Council meeting has been posted here. Notable items include:

(a) discussion of the youth curfew ordinance, and possible "abolishment, continuation or modification" of it.

(b) an interlocal cooperation agreement with the City of Waco for the reconstruction of Ritchie Road.

(c) a time for visitors to speak.

(d) discussion and consider action on Resolution R-10-12, affirming the City Council’s support of Yost Zakhary as City Manager/Public Safety Director, and affirming the City Council’s support of Mr. Zakhary as 4th Vice President of the International Association of Chief’s of Police.

(e) discussion on need to review the City Charter.

(f) discussion on August 24th letter from Mike O’Bric and the City’s response.

(g) an Executive Session, apparently to discuss the annual evaluation of the City Manager/ Director of Public Safety.

Funding Arboretum improvements

An important decision on how to fund the proposed Arboretum improvements will be coming up before long. You may recall that plans have been developed to build a second event center so that two activities can go on simultaneously, and with much better facilities. I have seen the plans and have been somewhat involved in the process. I won’t go into the details here, but I can tell you that the design is fantastic, having been highly refined by expert architects and with much involvement of the Arboretum Board, the City Council and others. This project would likely result in at least a tripling of the Arboretum’s income and boost Woodway’s stature in Central Texas. The project will require about $2.5-3 million, about twice what the new City Hall cost (not counting parking and other improvements). But there is one major difference: the Arboretum improvements will be covered strictly by the Hotel Occupancy Tax (HOT) revenues. The City currently has about $500,000 saved toward this, but will need to borrow about $2.5 million.

The question will be whether to have this borrowing authorized by the citizens of Woodway via a bond election, or instead simply have the City Council issue a Certificate of Obligation that requires no citizen approval.

I campaigned on, among other things, greater communication with Woodway residents and tentatively came down on the side of putting this to a bond election (see earlier post here). Former City Council members have expressed opinions both for and against having a bond election (see here). However, unlike most other major City projects, approval or disapproval of this project has no bearing on any other aspect of City services or operation. A negative vote would simply result in bankrolling the excess HOT revenue (i.e., that over and above Arboretum operation), since there is nothing else to spend it on, beyond the recently-discovered need to spend about 14% on tourism promotion.

There are some good reasons to NOT put this to a vote, as follows. Most importantly, the election process is subject to delay because of legal restrictions; for example, the next election could not legally be held until May (fully 8 months away). This delay would prevent the City from taking advantage of the current low interest rates. Also, this would place the bidding process in a less favorable timeframe, competing (for example) with school district projects, making low bids and timely starts less likely. Finally, as one former City Council member has pointed out, citizens generally vote against even very good ideas, perhaps thinking increased taxes or decreased services are at stake.

I’ve gone over the figures with City Manager Yost Zakhary and Finance Officer William Klump, and I think the plan is sound. Even current HOT revenues fully cover the costs involved, and these revenues will almost certainly increase (at least slowly) with the opening of the new Best Western hotel and with the much-increased tourism advertising the City will be doing. In my opinion, this project is something the City needs to do, and better sooner than later.

I’d like to hear what readers of this blog think about these two options, that is, either waiting for a bond election or proceeding without one. You can contact me (on this issue, Woodway residents only please) by email at chuckimgarner@gmail.com or through the “contact us” page on my website (www.woodway-chuck.org). I will share your opinions with my fellow Council members, and it will help inform the Council on this matter.

Where things stand

It has been almost three weeks since the results of Barney Knight's investigation into Mike O'Bric's allegations against Yost Zakhary. That investigation found no substantial basis for the allegations. So where do things stand?

As far as I can tell 4+ months into this, there is no corruption in Woodway City government, and there was no failure on the part of the previous Council to oversee the City's management, including the activities of the City Manager/Police Chief. From what I know of the four Council members that were voted out of office, having spent a little time with two or three of them, they are honest, intelligent and insightful people who served Woodway well. The four new guys are not better than our predecessors, just different in the ways that make all of us unique, and hopefully we'll each play a part in maintaining and improving this special place.

I have also been impressed with Yost Zakhary's performance as City Manager/Police Chief. He clearly has the respect and admiration of his employees. He appears to me to be a skilled manager, both in terms of personnel and City planning. Every anticipated expense is budgeted for, often years in advance. This next year's budget was especially difficult, since there was a significant decrease in the state sales tax revenue. But Mr. Zakhary presented a balanced budget (summary here) such that there will be no loss of City services, no employee layoffs, and no tax rate increases. I know enough to know that Mr. Zakhary is not perfect, but none of us are. I still think it is poor policy to combine the positions of City Manager and Police Chief, but I have to say that Yost Zakhary is doing an admirable job of both.

Children's Garden Fair, Oct. 17th

This just in from Megan Salinas of the Woodway Arboretum. There will be a Children's Garden Fair at the Arboretum on Sunday, October 17th, from 2 - 5 pm. Admission is free and there will be fun for the whole family, including live music, a bird walk, a scavenger hunt, rock painting and more! If you have questions, contact the Arboretum at (254) 399-9204 or by email at arboretum@woodway-texas.com.

For those who are interested in supporting the Arboretum with a small addition ($8) to your water bill each month, how to do this is posted here (along with a nice picture of one of the Woodway roadrunners). My wife and I have been doing this since moving to Woodway 8+ years ago.

37th Annual Woodway Barbecue

The Woodway Public Safety Association's 37th Annual Barbecue will be held on Saturday, September 25th, 11 am to 7 pm at Woodway Elementary School, 325 Estates Drive. Its an all-you-can-eat event catered by Vitek's, cost is $10 for adults, $6.50 for children. The funds raised will go toward a variety of Woodway youth programs and to purchase much-needed equipment for the Woodway Public Safety Department. The City has posted a link to the event here (a pdf file will download).

If you found a barbecue advertisement on your door, here is why. About 6 pm, about 15 or so volunteers came out to go door-to-door giving out flyers advertising the barbecue. We were driven out in three fire trucks. I will almost certainly miss some of those that that were there but here is who I noted: Woodway officers Craig Bouse, Ben Selman, Ray Dobbs, Norm Burgess and Bill Killian; Mayor pro tem Gil Lillard recruited his extended family: his wonderful wife Teresa and their two daughters Jennifer and Shelli, son-in-law Andrew, grandchildren Makayla and Eli, and Makayla's BFFL (best friend for life) Marlee; and the Lillard's neighbor Tim Barrett and his two sons TJ and Stephen. It was a hot day and even hotter inside the fire truck despite the non-functional AC unit. I suspect the City Council would have no objections to getting that AC unit fixed...! This is one way to let the Council know what things you need!

Special meeting September 1st

There will be a (hopefully) brief meeting of the Woodway City Council at 7:45 am on Wednesday, September 1st. This is required to formalize adoption of the 2010-11 annual budget and the 2010 ad valorem tax rate. As I recall, the tax rate is remaining unchanged, though any increases in the assessed valuation of your home will result in higher taxes. Also, some fees are increasing and there is an approximately 10% increase in the water rates. These take effect as of October 1st, the beginning of the new fiscal year. The meeting agenda has been posted at the City's website here.

How many support the Arboretum monthly?

I occasionally am asked by Woodway residents to find out and report the answers to various questions, like here. Yesterday I was asked how many households there are in Woodway, and how many support the Arboretum through an extra $5 (soon to be $8) each month as part of their water bill. This donation makes one a "Friend of the Arboretum", and a minor benefit is the privilege of renting the facility at a reduced rate. I sent the question to City Secretary Jennifer Canady, who forwarded it to Finance Director William Klump. Here is his response:

"There are approximately 3,450 households in Woodway. This is based on the number of active residential water accounts in Woodway. There are about 100 that support the Arboretum with the small monthly donation on their water bill."

If you have a question about the City, let me know and I'll try to find the answer.

Results of the August 17th special meeting

This special meeting was called to formally receive the report from Mr. Barney Knight detailing his review of the allegations against City Manager and Police Chief Yost Zakhary. Mayor Bill Weber opened the meeting right at 5:30 pm to a packed room with several standing along the back. Mayor pro tem Gil Lillard did the invocation.

The Council immediately went into Executive Session, but in a rear conference room so that the gathered crowd would not be asked to move (this was appreciated). The Executive Session lasted until about 6:42. Open session was convened at 6:58 pm. The Mayor introduced Barney Knight, the external counsel, and asked him to review his findings. Mr. Knight is a lawyer and very experienced in all sort of municipal matters, having served as a City Manager himself in several capacities. He is absolutely independent, having no ties to Woodway or to Mr. O’Bric, and has carried out reviews of other cities. Mr. Knight read from an abbreviated version of his report made up of a summary of the findings and the conclusion. Copies were handed out at the end of the meeting, and the entire report, with parts redacted on the advice of legal counsel, will be posted on the City website tomorrow.

Note 8/19: The redacted report is posted here.

But a few highlights of his statement were that the report (41 pages) was entirely his own, influenced by no one. He considered every allegation and complaint, and ultimately categorized all of them into one of six categories, but not a single one was “material” (substantial). He found Woodway to be “well organized, with excellent documentation”. Regarding the 1.5 hours he spent with Mike O’Bric, Mr. Knight said that not a single fact or piece of evidence was given despite repeated requests. Along the way, he stated “The City has now exhaustively examined each and all of the many complaints. My concise summary is that most are fabricated out of thin air.” This was followed by applause of almost everyone present.

There were lots more pertinent things, but the basic conclusion is that the accusations were, at best, unsupported by the evidence or gross misrepresentations of underlying facts, and much more often were simply false. I’ll post a link to the City website when the report becomes available there.

There were a few things that Mr. Knight recommended be done differently, but they were relatively minor and he often finds the same things in other cities.

Then Mayor Weber read a statement that began, “As Mr. Knight has presented, he found no basis of illegal or unethical behavior associated with the allegations against the City Manager and Police Chief, Mr. Yost Zakhary.” Copies of that statement were handed out at the end of the meeting, I believe. Incidentally, this investigation cost will total about $25,000, not counting any costs associated with the initial internal review by City counsel.

Then the Mayor gave the Council members an opportunity to ask Mr. Knight questions or make statements.

Councilman Scott Giddings thanked Mr. Knight.

Dr. Paul Scibielski stated that he saw the need for the investigation, but that he himself had naively assumed the truth of some of the allegations and had used some in his campaign literature. He realized now that there was nothing to the allegations, and apologized to Mr. Zakhary for any pain he had caused. (applause)

Councilwoman Jane Kittner thanked Dr. Scibielski for his statement and Mr. Knight for his hard work, asked that we put all this behind us and take on the next big task: the Arboretum expansion.

Next was my turn. If I remember correctly (none of this was prepared ahead of time), I thanked Mr. Knight for his service and told him that he was exactly the right person for the job because of his complete independence. I then went on to say that I had gotten into this pretty naively, assuming that “where there is smoke, there is fire”, that is, that so many allegations must have some basis. I hadn’t used any of them directly in my campaign materials but I had bought into some of it. But Mr. Knight’s investigation had made it clear that there was virtually nothing to the charges. After being on the City Council awhile, I could see that there was no grand conspiracy there. I now realize that Mr. Zakhary is a talented manager who has the respect of his employees.

Councilman Don Baker then stated that he knew what the result would be before the investigation began, that Barney Knight was the right guy for the job, that Mike O’Bric was full of lies and that he was glad its over.

Gil Lillard thanked Mr. Knight, especially since the job got bigger and bigger as time went on. But the money was well spent, and now we can focus on the Public Safety Department Barbeque. (which is Sept. 25)

Mayor Bill Weber thanked Mr. Knight for “eliminating all of the rabbit holes” (that allegations could hide in).

Then Barney Knight thanked the City, saying that it had been a privilege to work with such quality people. He began to excuse himself when Mayor Weber reminded him that he needed to stay to answer questions from the gathered citizens.

Then was time to hear visitors, but the time would be limited to 15 minutes total. This worked out OK, since only four expressed an interest in speaking.

First was Lieutenant Ben Selman (police and fire), whose service with the City goes back to 1989. He stated that he had followed Mr. Zakhary into many fires and hoped to continue to do so. He was glad there was no basis for the allegations, but deplored the use of so much money on the investigation, which could have purchased 10 sets of bunker gear for the firemen. He went on to say that it would all happen again (new allegations) and for the Council to not be persuaded, and hopes the City’s money spent on this can be recovered. He affirmed his confidence in Yost Zakhary, and would follow him anywhere.

Next was Ray Dobbs, a Lieutenant with the volunteer police and fire, and who grew up in Woodway. He stated that Yost Zakhary is not just his Chief, but more importantly his friend, a good man but one with faults like us all. Lt. Dobbs was here on the night of his 36th wedding anniversary because he loves this city and resents all the trouble Mike O’Bric has caused. He hopes this is all behind us, but if the same thing happens again, the Council needs to deal with it immediately. He finished by saying that the money spent on this investigation was just a drop in the bucket compared to what this city means to him.

Then Glenda Strum spoke, a 30-year resident and also a realtor. She said that she owes Mr. Zakhary a lot for the hundreds of homes she has sold in Woodway, where the streets and especially the police service is so good (“where they take crime seriously”). But she said that Mr. Zakhary does lots of good behind the scenes, like at the Rotary Club (which she once included in a letter to the Council). She said he has a tough guy image but a big heart and she remembers when he was “just a pup”.

Finally, Barbara Tennison asked Barney Knight about his background, and what he thought of Woodway’s management. He said everything he saw “was a 90 or above”. She then spoke to Mr. Zakhary, to say that she realized her part in all of this by not dealing with the accusations much sooner. To the “new guys on the Council”: she heard some good things tonight but now you need to tell Woodway that Mr. Zakhary stays in both positions, in the Police Chief job because of his upcoming presidency of the International Police Chief Association and in the City Manager position “because he is so damn good at it”. She hasn’t known a better City Manager.

The meeting adjourned at 7:40 pm.

the August 16th meeting

The meeting began promptly at 5:30 pm, with perhaps 10 visitors and Erin Quinn of the Waco Tribune Herald present. Mayor Weber asked Councilman Don Baker to give the invocation. The Mayor then gave brief update on the review by outside counsel, basically to say that there would be a special meeting the next night (Tuesday, August 17th; see previous post) to receive the report from Mr. Knight and to make a public statement.

Item 2 was a Quarterly Presentation by the Finance Department. Finance Director William Klump presented the current City financials. These were given mostly in terms of where the City was at in the fiscal year (75% would be expected) and compared to last fiscal year's numbers. One interesting fact was that water sales were down, with the year-to-date figure at 52% of what was expected for the entire year even though we are 75% of the way through the fiscal year. Mr. Klump attributed this to (a) some rainy weather, keeping yard watering down, and (b) a poor economy and trying to keep water costs at a minimum. Woodway sold about $3.3 million in water last year. All in all, the City is doing OK.

Item 3 was an update on getting video recording in place to make the City Council meeting proceedings available on the internet. Assistant to the City Manager Natalie Edwards is in charge of researching this. To survey public opinion on whether to have streaming video versus simply viewing the proceedings afterwards, she sent out requests in 3700 water bills and has maintained a request notice on the City Website. This survey has resulted in a total of only 12 responses, 9 of which were in favor of the streaming video and 3 who didn't care. I voiced opposition to hiring anyone to do this (one of the options) or to paying Swagit Streaming Services (see July 12th meeting post) to do this, the second-most expensive option. Councilman Scott Giddings then voice his opinion that any video would be a waste of money, since it was really only requested by Mike O'Bric or by a few former Council members (see the May 24th meeting post) as a result of Mr. O'Bric's allegations, and virtually no cities the size of Woodway seem to record video of their meetings. The Council discussed the simple and cheap solution of making the audio file that has always been recorded available on the City website. There was some concern that the City's bandwidth would have to be increased, and Natalie was tasked with finding what costs might be associated with that approach, to be discussed at the next meeting.

Items 4-6 related to the proposed budget for the next fiscal year, which begins October 1. City Manager/Police Chief Yost Zachary went through several slides of financial information. The proposed budget is balanced, but this required the General Fund to be 3.14% below last year's value. Costs associated with the Utility Fund are anticipated to be 4.2% higher than last year, which will be covered by an increase in water rates. It looks to me that the water rates will go up by about 10% next year. Another problem is increasing health insurance costs, which were initially going to be 46% higher than last year. With extensive negotiations and some drops in coverage, this figure was wrestled to only a 14.5% increase. Mayor Pro Tem Gil Lillard commented on what an accomplishment that was, having experience in that type of negotiation. Mr. Zakhary said that he expects 1-2 more difficult years before things get better.

There was an opportunity for public comment on the proposed budget. Only former Councilwoman Dee Smith came forward to state her appreciation for the City staff coming up with a balanced budget, and while the lack of raises was unfortunate this year, it was good that the City was able to avoid the layoffs that other municipalities have resorted to.

This section concluded with some figures from the Master Fee Schedule, which is basically all of the charges the City makes for various things (like building permits, etc.), a rather extensive list. Some of these were being increased somewhat for the next fiscal year. For example, being a "friend" of the Arboretum will go from $5 per month to $8 per month, but this has the benefit of reduced rental prices when booking the facility.

Item 7 was Hearing from Visitors. The only one to speak was former Councilwoman and current P&Z Board member Dee Smith, to say that she wants not one more penny spent on anything Mike O'Bric wants. She would like to see "more on the streets" instead of video recording equipment, too much having been spent on one person's opinion already.

Item 8 was the Consent Agenda, consisting of (a) the previous meeting's minutes; (b) field lighting for the Woodway Family Center ball fields ($9,800); (c) a walkway repair at the Arboretum ($4,500); (d) renewal of a Special Use permit; and (e) continued membership in the Atmos Cities Steering Committee. All were approved (which was Item 9).

Item 10 was Board and Commission appointments, with nominations from the Nominating Committee. Eleven middle- and high-school students were nominated for the Woodway Youth Commission, one person (Charles Burns) was nominated for the Planning and Zoning Commission, and one (Barbara Grandy) was nominated for the Arboretum Board.

Item 11 was the City Manager's Report. Among other things mentioned was the possibility of stationing an East Texas Medical ambulance in Woodway for quick response. The Household Hazardous Waste event was not funded this year, and City staff will be thinking about a solution to this. There were a couple of non-compliance type issues discussed.

Upcoming events of interest:

(a) Saturday, September 25th: Public Safety Association Annual Barbeque, 11:00 am to 7:00 pm, Woodway Elementary School.

The meeting ended at 6:40 pm.