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.