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.