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).