Results of the March 28th meeting

Note: The audio file for this meeting is located here.

Mayor Bill Weber opened the meeting promptly at 5:30 pm, and asked me to do the invocation.

Item 1 was a time to hear from visitors, but the only visitors who wished to speak pertained to item 2, so they were asked to speak then.

Item 2 was a public hearing on a proposed special permit to install a wind energy system on the property of Kevin and Linda Draper. For about the past 18 months, the Drapers had patiently pursued getting the Council to come up with an ordinance for wind power systems. Once the ordinance was in place (which took about 12 months), they had gotten approval from the Planning and Zoning (P&Z) Board. Mr. Draper came to speak in support of the proposal, but he humbly said that he would be content with whatever the Council decided. However, some opposition was present tonight; three neighbors were present to speak against approval of the special use permit. First, Weldon Walker eloquently spoke against approval, stating that wind turbines were inappropriate for urban settings, and also produced copies of the Dominion Park deed restrictions. The restrictions said that "No solar panels or solar heating or electrical systems or similar apparatus shall be placed in or upon any lot without the prior written approval of the Architectural Control Committee", of which Mr. Walker is Chair. Next, Tina Freeman came to say that she knows of no other urban areas that allow wind generators, and that she thought it would negatively impact property values. There was a third resident in opposition, but he indicated that he would simply be repeating things that already been said, so he declined to give his comments.

This closed the public discussion, and then the Council debated the proposition. Scott Giddings stated that he thought the ordinance was well crafted and that it was not the City's place to mediate homeowner association disputes or to worry about the economics of the proposal, and would therefore be supporting approval of the special use permit. I stated my agreement with what Councilman Giddings had said. Council member Jane Kittner spoke briefly, then Bill Weber stated that the ordinance had been carefully worked out over an extended period of time without opposition until now. Then the most senior Councilman Don Baker gave a balanced discussion of the pros and cons, but ultimately felt that the Council's responsibility was to "protect neighborhoods" and would be voting against it because of the opposition and restrictions.

Then the vote was held, with five in favor of approval and two opposed (Baker and Lillard). This was a rare example of a divided vote, most being unanimous. I think Mr. Draper might be well-advised to not proceed with his plan; the deed restrictions may be ruled applicable in court, and in any case I think it is unlikely that he will recover the significant investment from decreased electrical costs. But I do wish him the best. Personally, I don't think I would find a wind tower near my home objectionable, but I have never had to live with one either.

Item #3 was discussion of whether to permit daycare centers in P-C (planned commercial) zoning areas. Gary Tully has owned a property for a long time in a P-C zoned area, and he has been trying to sell or lease it for a long time. Until 2006, it had been allowed to place daycare centers in P-C zones, but not since. However, no one on the Council could remember a really good reason why (only that daycare centers do not pay sales tax). One of the Council pointed out that the only zone that allowed daycare was P-I (planned industrial) but that zoning also allowed sexually-oriented businesses, totally incompatible with daycare. Thankfully, Woodway has no such businesses, but the incongruence remained. The Council's consensus was to refer the matter to P&Z to amend P-C zoning to allow daycare.

Item #4 was on "Certification of unopposed candidates" (i.e., that none of the incumbent Council members up for election this year had opponents, and therefore did not need to be elected in May) and cancellation of the planned May 14th election. This was approved unanimously.

Note 1: The election of Midway ISD board members still takes place on May 14th, and voting at Woodway City Hall will still happen, just not for City Council.

Note 2: Woodway's population now exceeds 5% Spanish-speaking (about 5.03% according to the City Manager), and this necessitates publishing certain things in both English and Spanish.

Item #5 was discussion of certain aspects of the City budget (Parks and Recreation, and Community Development).

Item #6 was presentation of the "consent agenda", which was approval of the past meeting's minute and several expenses to keep wells running, etc. These were unanimously approved (Item #7).

Item #8 was the City Manager's report. Some discussion of unsightly trash storage at a rental property concluded with the suggestion that the owner be contacted to voluntarily correct the condition so that an ordinance would not be necessary.

The meeting adjourned at 6:41 pm.

March 25th City Council Work Session

The City Council occasionally has a work session where long-term planning is discussed. Just a couple of things from today's meeting. First, I was surprised to find that Waco's property tax rate ($0.786 per $100 valuation) was significantly higher than Woodway's ($0.457, unchanged for a long time). Also, the Waco School District rate ($1.364) is slightly higher that that of the Midway School District ($1.320). The lower tax rates in Woodway are somewhat offset by the higher valuations of our homes, but I was still surprised to see these differences. Also, Finance Director William Klump came up with a clever way to present the City's income and expenses (top and bottom pictures below, respectively).

Agenda for March 28th meeting

The agenda for the upcoming meeting has been posted at the City website here.

No opponents in City Council races

The three Woodway City Council incumbents (Don Baker, Jane Kittner and Scott Giddings) who were up for re-election this year have drawn no opponents. They will therefore be re-elected automatically and sworn in at a May meeting as if there had been an election. As I mentioned in an earlier post here, I think that all three are doing an excellent job for the City. Historically, it is more the rule than the exception that sitting Council members would run unopposed. This means that Woodway politics have returned to normal after last year's turmoil!

Incidentally, this marks the 100th post on this blog, which started on May 11, 2010. I will continue to communicate items of interest or concern, so say tuned...

Woodway Public Safety Department on Facebook

The Woodway Public Safety Department has been on Facebook for awhile, but I just found the link (here) at the City website. The Facebook page looks like the best way to check on lost doggies.

More lost doggies...

Two lost dogs have been on the Woodway website here for about a week now,; anyone you know?

Results of the March 14th meeting

Note: The audio of this meeting is available here.

The meeting opened at 5:30 exactly, with Mayor Bill Weber announcing "Welcome to daylight savings time". Councilman Don Baker gave the invocation, which included a rememberance of the sufferings of those recovering from the tragic earthquake in Japan.

The first agenda item was to hear from visitors. First up was Carl Bennett. He came to speak on several things, and did a remarkably good job despite the 3-minute limit. He stated (a) that he was glad the Council spent the money necessary to prove what he already knew, that the accusations against Yost Zakhary were groundless. He expressed his appreciation of Mr. Zakhary's past 30 years of service to the City, and despite two occasions where they were in opposition, he wished Yost another 30 years. (b) He thanked me for my piece in the latest Woodway Today (available here), referring (I believe) to the parts where I praised Mr. Zakhary. (c) He said (if I understood) that the baseball that goes on near City Hall should be moved to a park for safety reasons. (d) He deplored that the street gutters in places were clogged with dirt, with weeds and sometimes even trees growing in the debris. "This is Woodway, not East Waco." He even said he would bid on street cleaning if needed. (e) He has trouble getting his RV under some of the trees and even phone lines, including on Estates Drive. (f) He expressed frustration that he has been required by the RV/boat/camper parking ordinance (see here) to rent two sheds at a storage facility while a contractor across the street from City Hall has a commercial vehicle and fuel tank parked openly. (g) He stated his pride in the Woodway Public Safety Department, the Woodway firefighters and in the City Council, saying that he respects each and every one of the Council members.

That makes seven points, each eloquently stated, in only about 3 minutes. I don't believe I have heard a more efficient presentation since joining the Council! There followed a bit of discussion among the Council and Mr. Zakhary, the upshot being that these issues would be investigated.

Next was Bonnie Finstead, who came to tell the Council about the very unsightly trash at the apartments on Shadow Wood. She said that Hewitt has an ordinance about storing trash cans out of sight. Councilman Scott Giddings said that Marble Falls also had an ordinance. Some of the Council said they would go by to check it out, and Mayor Weber suggested that the Ordinance Committee would be asked to address this.

Agenda item 2 was a presentation by Carl Dorton, Executive Director of McLennan County 911. He gave information about the county 911 system. For example,

(a) the service is entirely paid by charges on telephone bills;

(b) in 2010, there were 4363 of 911 calls placed from Woodway, and 161,000 county-wide;

(c) the system has been able to identify the location of wireless calls since 2003, and is being upgraded to accept text, photo and video feeds from callers.

The Council voted to enter into an agreement to have 911 equipment placed in the Public Safety Department.

Agenda item 3 was about the Hwy 84 well. You'll recall from past posts that this well is being rehabilitated after a rather short operating lifetime. However, the process has been problematic at nearly every step. The latest problem is that the water is failing the "total coliform count" test, a measure of bacterial abundance. Background on this test can be found here. The Wallace Group (our consultants/contractors? on well-related matters and sometimes on major project bids like the renovation of the Public Safety Building) recommends that we have a lab in Ottowa, Kansas (not Canada!) do a detailed analysis of the bacterial content. The idea is that knowing what bacteria are there might indicate either the source of same, or perhaps that these are harmless bacteria. If the latter were the case, the City could apply for a waiver of the coliform count requirement imposed by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ). Mr. Wallace is wondering if these are "iron reducing bacteria" (info on a similar bacteria here) that thrive in high-iron environments. Mayor Weber cleverly noted that "we keep coming back to the well", which has two meanings here. But the Council voted unanimously to approve funds (up to $6k) for the tests, the idea being the this is a tiny amount of money compared to the possible value of a functional well.

Item 4 was a discussion of budget matters, deferred until the end of the meeting.

Item 5 was the "consent agenda", items that are voted on as a group. These were (a) the minutes of last meeting; (b) appointment of Municipal Court judges; and (c) approval to seek an easement to optimize routing of pipelines associated with the Business Acres well.

Item 6 was a vote on Item 5, all approved unanimously. Incidentally, Woodway Municipal Court is held each Tuesday at 3:30 pm in the Public Safety building (moved elsewhere? see below), in case you'd like to watch the proceedings.

Item 7 was the City Manager's report. Renovation of the Public Safety building is now underway, and hopes to be completed in October. Meanwhile, people and communications have been dispersed among other City facilities.

We returned then to Item 4, discussion of the 2010 budget. Of interest: about 53% of the City budget goes to public safety, and 29% to Community Services (like road and other infrastructure maintenance). Sanitation (garbage service ) was contracted out to Eagle Disposal a couple of years ago, and service is much improved, especially in brush-pickup times.

The meeting was adjourned at 6:41 pm.

Agenda for the March 14th meeting

The agenda for the March 14th meeting has been posted at the City website here.