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.
