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.