The June 14th meeting

Note: Updated 6/16, 6/22 and 6/23 in Visitor comments section regarding allegation against Karen O'Bric.
The meeting began at 5:30 with a packed room, chaired by Mayor Bill Weber. Mayor pro tem Gil Lillard gave the invocation, then the Yard of the Month awards were given. Mayor Weber was assisted by Woodway Beautiful Commission member Jan Burnett. The awards were given to the Eaton, Owen, Henry and Walker families. These awards are always well-deserved, because Woodway has lots of tough competition for beautiful yards. Thanks also to the Woodway Beautiful Commission for their work on this.

Then all the Council members gave brief introductions of themselves, which were interesting. Councilman Scott Giddings is in the granite tombstone/grave marker business, and he noted that "people are dying to get his products"!

Then there was a presentation of the proposed budget for next year by Yost Zakhary. A sales tax shortfall of about $200k is expected due to the poor economy. The City is mandated by law to have a balanced budget. I gather that surplus funds can be used if necessary to get through lean times without raising taxes, but the City needs to keep in reserve enough extra funds to operate for 90 days to maintain our excellent bond rating. The City currently has funds to operate for 131 days with no income. But the Water Fund is required by ordinance to be self-sustaining, so the City staff were recommending a water rate increase of $0.25 - 0.50 per 1000 gallons to cover the expected shortfall in that fund. I believe that even with this increase, Woodway water would remain less expensive than about half of the surrounding communities. The Council members have budget meetings scheduled on Tuesday and Wednesday of this week. There will be a public hearing on the finalized proposed budget on Monday, August 16th at 5:30 pm at Woodway City Hall.

The next item of business was the "consent agenda", which included approval of the minutes of last meeting, approval of Robert's Rules of Order (finally!), and to approve Woodway remaining on the Steering Committee for cities served by Oncor. Membership gives us some clout with Oncor and especially access to specialized legal council. The cost appears to be $0.10 per resident, or a total of $881.40. All three items were approved unanimously, with one minor change to the minutes.

The next item was to decide whether or not to authorize the City Manager to execute an agreement with the MESA Design Associates, Inc., for planning and landscape architectural services related to the new event pavilion for the Carleen Bright Arboretum. This includes five tasks: (1) schematic design, (2) design development, (3) construction documents, (4) bidding assistance, and (5) construction observation. The cost of fully developing these plans is not to exceed $259,200. The action was approved unanimously (followed by applause). The full cost of the project is thought to be around $3 million, and whether or how to finance that will be the subject of future discussions. There are several options, including a bond issue that would be voted on by Woodway residents.

Next, Bob Wallace of the Wallace Group discussed what would be involved trying to bring the Highway 84 well back into service. This well was first put into service in April 2007, ran 6-9 months before the pump locked up with "scale" (insoluble mineral deposits). Chemical analysis showed high calcium levels. So a special one-of-a-kind injection system to add sodium hexametaphosphate, a chemical used to prevent scale (and is safe to use in drinking water), was prepared, but the new pump shut down again before it could be put into use. Another firm was hired to "acidize" the well, but this may have been done poorly because the next pump ran only about 3 hrs before stopping, because of extensive rust deposits from the casing pipe. So much more extensive cleaning of the well is needed, but Mr. Wallace believes the chances of success are good (if an initial water test looks OK). Well water is valuable enough that the > $ 1 million cost of drilling a new well typically gets paid back in 7-10 years. In this case, the well cleanup is expected to be less than $200k, and getting a reliable water test (the first step) should cost less than $30k. The Council unanimously approved the cost of the water testing phase.

An entirely new well project (Cactus Drive, near the Holiday Inn on Hwy 84) was discussed as a long-term project, total cost expected to be about $4 million.

The next item was appointments to the Carleen Bright Arboretum Board, an item I had asked for after receiving a request from Dean Haun, the Chair of the Arboretum Board, to make one more appointment. The matter was referred to the yet-to-be constituted Nomination Committee.

The City Manager's Report
It was announced that a new City Engineer (Mitch Davidson) had been hired, and will start on June 21st. The previous City Engineer, Nick Clark, will come back as needed on an hourly basis to help accomplish a smooth transition.

Microsurfacing of the following streets began recently or will soon: Alto, Elmwood, Rockford, Sleepy Hollow and Oak Hill.

Someone has volunteered to haul away "paving and base material" from street resurfacing, at no charge to the City. The City Attorney recommended a check on possible liability first.

White residue on dishes in areas serviced by the Bosque well (which is currently using Waco water) can be removed by treatment with vinegar added to the dishwasher. I suspect this is calcium carbonate, a harmless material.

Woodway received the county-wide award for Recycling City of the Year, and the Woodway Beautiful Commission received that county-wide award for Innovative Education for the 2010 Gardener's Gathering. City Staff member Kaisa Redden and Woodway Beautiful's Jan Burnett were instrumental in the City's efforts to win these awards.

The City is currently working on getting audio visual equipment to record the Council meetings for the website, possibly even for live broadcast.

At 7:09 pm, the Council went into Executive Session to discuss personnel matters. This session ended at 8:42 pm, at which time a 10-minute recess was called. Many residents had been waiting the entire 3+ hours for a chance to speak at the meeting, and several later expressed dismay at being relegated to the end of the meeting. This change was probably a response to the rancorous tone of the first two meetings, which I sense has subsided somewhat (see visitors comments below), so I think it should be moved to the beginning again, and I'll suggest that.

So at 8:49, the first visitor began speaking. I hope I get the spelling correct and at least the gist of each person's comments. The agenda stated specifically that the Council would not respond and that each person's remarks should be kept to 3 minutes (which often didn't happen).

Linc Harris has been in Woodway 11 years and praised the DPS, garbage service and city infrastructure. He spoke of the considerate calls Yost Zakhary makes to his bank when possible problems arise. He felt that a vocal minority in Woodway had awaken the majority, and that having to wait in the foyer so long to speak was poor policy.

Former Council member Robert Humphrey gave a handout then began to speak. It had come to his attention that the former Arboretum Manager had allowed the Baylor Track Team to use the Arboretum facility nine times free of charge, as described in the handout. Since individual rentals are in the $300-500 range, this amounts to $2700-4500 of lost revenue to the City. Mr. Humphrey asked the Council to investigate this matter, especially in light of the anticipated tight budget year.

Note: Two days after the meeting, all the Council members received a letter from Mr. O'Bric explaining that all large donors to the Arboretum are granted one free use of the facility each year. According to the letter, as a major donor ($13,843) to the Arboretum, Karen O'Bric was entitled to this and used it for the Baylor track team each of the past nine years. Set-up and cleanup were done at no expense to the City, which was not always the case with other "free" users of the facility. Apparently the current track team leadership did not realize that this free use of the facility had been a gift, and upon contacting the current Arboretum management, confusion on both sides apparently led to the accusation against Mrs. O'Bric.

Note added 6/22: Before posting the note above, I verified with Yost Zakhary that large donors to the Arboretum are indeed granted one free rental each year. He did not know if Karen O'Bric was on the list of large donors.

Note added 6/23: Yost Zakhary emailed me a clarification this afternoon - "The only large donors who receive a free rental each year are those who were the founders and made a large donation prior to 1998. Karen is not on that list of founders. If she made a large donation after that time, as others have, she was only entitled to a one time free rental."


The next visitor, Mark Woodward, said he appreciated the tax rate being held steady, but in light of rising assessments (he said his home valuation was increased by 41% last year and 21% this year) he thought perhaps the City should consider a property tax rebate to the citizens. He also thought that the City Council's photos and description of their accomplishments that was in the May-June issue of Woodway Today (mailed in mid-to-late April) constituted an inappropriate political advertisement and would more appropriately have been published after the election rather than before. He also suggested that Council term limits be considered.

Bob Hickock has been in Woodway since 1974, and said to the new Council members "Don't screw it up [referring to the quality of life in Woodway], and do not base anything on unproven allegations." He especially thought that allegations of misuse of equipment or poor maintenance of equipment were unfounded.

Jim Ross read prepared comments to the effect that recent allegations were unfounded and the result of a personal vendetta or grudge. He said that citizens have a right to know what the Council is doing about this now, and encouraged a demand for evidence, to deal with the issues and move on for the good of the City's image. He thanked Yost Zakhary for his service to the City and asked him to not resign. He also mentioned that being relegated to the end of the meeting was poor policy. The audience applauded.

Ed Fadal has been a Woodway resident since 1974, and initially had a disagreement with Mr. Zakhary over a sewer line. But since then they have become friends. He stated a desire for the truth, not any one person's version of it, and asked whether an inquiry was being done. He then said there was a lot of animosity toward the new council members because none had volunteered for the City before and they are "completely unqualified" because of lack of experience. He will do everything in his power to promptly resolve the current controversy.

Finally, De Smith spoke to say that this would be the last time for awhile that she would address the Council. Audits and investigations take money, when it is so simple from a woman's point of view. Why doesn't Mike O'Bric have to prove his case rather than the City have to prove the allegations are untrue? De went on to say that she was frustrated after the election but had found a place to serve on the Planning and Zoning Board. She finished by saying, "Thank you for the change I have already seen, and I hope to see more.", which was followed by applause from the audience.

The meeting adjourned at 9:13 pm. I spoke with several residents afterward, including former Councilmen Robert Humphrey and Rodney Kroll.