I was unable to attend the January 24th meeting, but have listened to most of the audio file, which can be found here. Unfortunately, these audio files have no fast-forward or rewind, but such improvements are being considered.
One significant result of the meeting was providing the City staff direction on which route to pursue funding the Arboretum expansion project. Issuing General Obligation (GO) bonds would require a vote of Woodway residents while a Certificate of Obligation (CO) would not. I discussed these in the previous post. The Council did not take a formal vote, but was clearly in favor of the CO/non-election route by a 4 to 2 margin of those present (or 5 to 2 counting my own preference). So the tentative decision is to proceed without requiring an election. If you'd like to hear the proceedings, the discussion of this occurs near the end of the first audio file and carries into the first part of the second audio file.
Sunday, January 30, 2011
Sunday, January 23, 2011
Decision time on Arboretum expansion funding
As I discussed at length way back in September (see here), the funding of the Arboretum expansion project will be done entirely out of hotel occupancy tax revenue. But there are still two ways to go about this. One way requires a vote of the citizens of Woodway to approve, the other does not. What I said in that earlier post still holds: there are advantages to doing this without the approval vote. I had asked my blog readers for their opinions on this, but received none at all. So I conclude that there are no strong feelings on this issue among Woodway residents. And that makes sense, because restrictions on how the occupancy tax revenue is spent allow for funding of almost nothing outside of the Arboretum anyway (except advertising, which is already ramping up significantly; more on that later).
This issue will be discussed at the January 24th Council meeting, which I cannot attend, but I have let the City Manager Yost Zakhary know that I support the non-election option. If you have strong feelings about this, you should attend the meeting and speak during the "hearing from visitors" time.
This issue will be discussed at the January 24th Council meeting, which I cannot attend, but I have let the City Manager Yost Zakhary know that I support the non-election option. If you have strong feelings about this, you should attend the meeting and speak during the "hearing from visitors" time.
Thursday, January 20, 2011
Agenda for the January 24th meeting
The agenda for the upcoming meeting has been posted at the City website here. There are some items of possible interest, including discussion and possible action on the wind energy systems ordinance (finally!).
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Off-topic: a serious problem...
I recently watched a couple of documentaries about North Korea; if the links to Netflix function, see here and here. I knew things were bad there, but it is worse than I thought. Please pray for the people of that nation. China could change things there easily enough if they wanted to, but instead they support the NK dictatorship. So buy American when you can.
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Two stray dogs found in Woodway
There are currently (as of Tuesday Jan. 18th) two stray dogs on the city website (here), one is a dachshund. Anyone you know?
Monday, January 17, 2011
Online bill payments to Woodway
Did you know that you can pay Woodway water bills and traffic citations online? The link is here. I paid my water bill that way last month and there appears to be no service charge.
Monday, January 10, 2011
Missing a border collie?
A stray border collie was found Monday morning by Woodway Animal Control in the 600 block of Estates Drive, and the photo posted on the City website here. Anyone you know?
Note added 1/12/11: The situation has apparently been resolved, the photo is no longer on the City website.
Note added 1/12/11: The situation has apparently been resolved, the photo is no longer on the City website.
A curb-numbering scam?
I gather from a message on the City website (here) that a curb-numbering business has been representing itself as being affiliated with the City and/or fulfilling some City requirement. Neither is true.
The January 10th meeting
Mayor Bill Weber began the meeting at 5:30 pm, and called on Mayor pro tem Gil Lillard for the invocation. Then Mayor Weber welcomed all attendees into the new year, and also asked that we keep Councilman Paul Scibielski in our prayers as he recovers from an illness.
The first agenda item was to welcome those who had been asked (and agreed) to serve on the Charter Review Committee. These were Link Harris (Chair), Hank Fielder, De Smith, Robert Humphrey, Ed Fadal and Beth Badeaux (not present). Mayor Weber said the City should "review the Charter at least once every 40 years.", to which De Smith replied that this was her second time! (The original Charter was put in place in 1973.) The charge to the committee was to review the Charter and recommend changes in a report to the City Council no later than (and preferably before) November 1, 2011. This will allow time for the Council to settle on a final version, have it approved by the US Department of Justice and be published and voted on in the May 2012 election. (Charter changes require the approval of the majority of voters in a City election.) The group had their photo taken.
Item 2 was making awards in the Holiday decorating contest. There were two categories of awards (four each), individual family and neighborhood. The family awards went to the Rahenkamp family, the Earley family, the Treese family and the Rodriguez family. The neighborhood awards were given to Wooded Crest Drive, Kingswood Place, Creek Bend Drive, and Cypress Court.
Item 3 was a presentation by Steve Sorrels, developer of the Badger Ranch addition. The main point was to present the idea and benefits behind higher-density mixed commercial/residential zoning. Several questions were asked, and Mr. Sorrels did an admirable job of explaining everything. The plan is to have about 25 acres mostly along the Hwy 84 edge of Badger Ranch just past the South Bosque elementary school as the mixed zoning. This would allow a limited amount of commercial availability (e.g., dry cleaning, coffee shops, etc.) to the residents of Badger ranch. This still needs to go through the Ordinance Committee, to the P&Z Board, and to the Council at least once before it can be approved. But it strikes me as a well-designed plan.
Item 4 was a Quarterly Presentation by the Public Safety Department, given by Captain Bret Crook. There were several statistics of interest given. For example, average response time had dropped from 2:59 (2 minutes 59 seconds) in 2009 to 2:33 for 2010. Traffic citations are up sharply (861 vs 569 last year), and most citations are given along Hwy 84 (Bosque and Estates make up most of the remainder). But accidents are down by 25%. Fire calls are also up (45 in 2010 vs 23 in 2009) but no large fires have happened. Fire response times are about 8 minutes (for the truck to arrive), with a police officer there in under 3 minutes usually. City Manager Yost Zakhary said "Do not use indoor extension cords outdoors.", the cause of some fires. I also learned that many of the automotive break-ins occurred at the Hollywood Theaters Sunday though Thursday (Woodway police patrol on Friday's and Saturday's), but generally in cases when valuables were left in plain sight within the vehicle. So be extra careful when you go to the theater on off-peak days.
Item 5 was a Quarterly Presentation by Community Services. Randall Riggs (Director of Community Services and Development) gave a presentation of new construction in Woodway. There was significant amount, especially in Badger Ranch.
Item 6 was hearing from visitors, but there were none who wished to speak.
Item 7 was a resolution setting the Council meeting dates for 2011.
Item 8 was an announcement about the Wind Energy System Ordinance, which is slowly coming into being after a little over a year since the Draper family made their original request.
Item 9 was a discussion of the budget, this one focusing on the Department of Public Safety. The total budget is $3.62 million, which is 52% of the City budget, and about 85% is personnel costs. The Woodway Public Safety Department has 27 sworn officers, an Animal Control officer, six full-time dispatchers, three part-time dispatchers, one court Clerk, one Deputy Clerk, two secretaries and one part-time maintenance person (36 full-time people not counting court personnel). City Manager/Police Chief Yost Zakhary said that the number of police officers in other cities varies from 1.5 to 3.5 per 1000 population; the figure for Woodway is at the upper end of that, about 3.1 officers per 1000 population. But that is largely what allows the police to respond so quickly and crime in Woodway to be generally low. It also allows Woodway to have a low ISO rating, which (in theory) lowers our insurance rates. To read how ISO ratings for another city affect insurance rates, see here.
Item 10A was approval of last meeting's minutes, and 10B was approval of funds to purchase a new drinking fountain for Whitehall park ($2,542). Item 11 was approval of both of these (unanimous).
Item 12 was the City manager's report, which included a design for a flier to advertise Woodway hotels, parks and the Arboretum. Including all of these on an easily-read map was a challenge, but Natalie Edwards (Assistant to the City Manager) did a good job of this.
The meeting ended at 7:04 pm. Please remember Councilman Paul Scibielski in your prayers.
The first agenda item was to welcome those who had been asked (and agreed) to serve on the Charter Review Committee. These were Link Harris (Chair), Hank Fielder, De Smith, Robert Humphrey, Ed Fadal and Beth Badeaux (not present). Mayor Weber said the City should "review the Charter at least once every 40 years.", to which De Smith replied that this was her second time! (The original Charter was put in place in 1973.) The charge to the committee was to review the Charter and recommend changes in a report to the City Council no later than (and preferably before) November 1, 2011. This will allow time for the Council to settle on a final version, have it approved by the US Department of Justice and be published and voted on in the May 2012 election. (Charter changes require the approval of the majority of voters in a City election.) The group had their photo taken.
Item 2 was making awards in the Holiday decorating contest. There were two categories of awards (four each), individual family and neighborhood. The family awards went to the Rahenkamp family, the Earley family, the Treese family and the Rodriguez family. The neighborhood awards were given to Wooded Crest Drive, Kingswood Place, Creek Bend Drive, and Cypress Court.
Item 3 was a presentation by Steve Sorrels, developer of the Badger Ranch addition. The main point was to present the idea and benefits behind higher-density mixed commercial/residential zoning. Several questions were asked, and Mr. Sorrels did an admirable job of explaining everything. The plan is to have about 25 acres mostly along the Hwy 84 edge of Badger Ranch just past the South Bosque elementary school as the mixed zoning. This would allow a limited amount of commercial availability (e.g., dry cleaning, coffee shops, etc.) to the residents of Badger ranch. This still needs to go through the Ordinance Committee, to the P&Z Board, and to the Council at least once before it can be approved. But it strikes me as a well-designed plan.
Item 4 was a Quarterly Presentation by the Public Safety Department, given by Captain Bret Crook. There were several statistics of interest given. For example, average response time had dropped from 2:59 (2 minutes 59 seconds) in 2009 to 2:33 for 2010. Traffic citations are up sharply (861 vs 569 last year), and most citations are given along Hwy 84 (Bosque and Estates make up most of the remainder). But accidents are down by 25%. Fire calls are also up (45 in 2010 vs 23 in 2009) but no large fires have happened. Fire response times are about 8 minutes (for the truck to arrive), with a police officer there in under 3 minutes usually. City Manager Yost Zakhary said "Do not use indoor extension cords outdoors.", the cause of some fires. I also learned that many of the automotive break-ins occurred at the Hollywood Theaters Sunday though Thursday (Woodway police patrol on Friday's and Saturday's), but generally in cases when valuables were left in plain sight within the vehicle. So be extra careful when you go to the theater on off-peak days.
Item 5 was a Quarterly Presentation by Community Services. Randall Riggs (Director of Community Services and Development) gave a presentation of new construction in Woodway. There was significant amount, especially in Badger Ranch.
Item 6 was hearing from visitors, but there were none who wished to speak.
Item 7 was a resolution setting the Council meeting dates for 2011.
Item 8 was an announcement about the Wind Energy System Ordinance, which is slowly coming into being after a little over a year since the Draper family made their original request.
Item 9 was a discussion of the budget, this one focusing on the Department of Public Safety. The total budget is $3.62 million, which is 52% of the City budget, and about 85% is personnel costs. The Woodway Public Safety Department has 27 sworn officers, an Animal Control officer, six full-time dispatchers, three part-time dispatchers, one court Clerk, one Deputy Clerk, two secretaries and one part-time maintenance person (36 full-time people not counting court personnel). City Manager/Police Chief Yost Zakhary said that the number of police officers in other cities varies from 1.5 to 3.5 per 1000 population; the figure for Woodway is at the upper end of that, about 3.1 officers per 1000 population. But that is largely what allows the police to respond so quickly and crime in Woodway to be generally low. It also allows Woodway to have a low ISO rating, which (in theory) lowers our insurance rates. To read how ISO ratings for another city affect insurance rates, see here.
Item 10A was approval of last meeting's minutes, and 10B was approval of funds to purchase a new drinking fountain for Whitehall park ($2,542). Item 11 was approval of both of these (unanimous).
Item 12 was the City manager's report, which included a design for a flier to advertise Woodway hotels, parks and the Arboretum. Including all of these on an easily-read map was a challenge, but Natalie Edwards (Assistant to the City Manager) did a good job of this.
The meeting ended at 7:04 pm. Please remember Councilman Paul Scibielski in your prayers.
Friday, January 7, 2011
Agenda for January 10th meeting
The agenda for the upcoming meeting of the Woodway City Council (Monday, January 10th) has been posted at the City's website here.
Sunday, January 2, 2011
Job openings and meetings in Woodway
Looking through the City's website, I found two possibly interesting things. Job openings in the City of Woodway (currently two) are posted here. Also, meetings of the City Council and the various Boards are listed here.
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