Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Event Pavillion groundbreaking ceremony
A groundbreaking ceremony for the new Event Pavillion at the Carleen Bright Arboretum will be held on Wednesday, June 8th at 7:00 pm. I gather that there will be refreshments provided. This is just before the Elephants perform the second of the Midsummer Nights Concerts. The new pavillion has been very carefully planned, and I think you'll find the design to be impressive.
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Another lost doggie...
A lost dog has been reported on the Woodway website here. "Brown female boxer in the 400 block of Elm Wood. No tags or chip. Has on a silver choker chain. Very friendly." Anyone you know?
Monday, May 23, 2011
Midsummer Nights concert series
As in years past, the City of Woodway is sponsoring the Midsummer Nights concerts every Wednesday evening in June at the Carleen Bright Arboretum. Concerts begin at 8 pm. The schedule is posted here. The first concert (June 1st) will be The Morticians, a very popular local oldies band. I highly recommend this one!
Results of the May 23rd meeting
Note: The audio recordings (three parts) are found here.
Reporting on this meeting will be shorter than usual because I didn't arrive until nearly the end. I was out of town visiting my wife in Holland, Michigan, for the past 10 days. My return flight was designed to get me back to DFW with enough time... assuming no weather problems. But the plane left Grand Rapids about 90 minutes late, and I arrived at DFW almost 2 hrs late. All this wouldn't matter so much except this is the one meeting of the year where the Council chooses a Mayor and Mayor pro tem for the next year. That still wouldn't matter so much except the other six Council members ended up being deadlocked at a 3:3 vote for both positions, and I ended up being the deciding vote, so they waited for me to arrive. I made it from DFW to Woodway in 2 hrs despite rush hour traffic. I arrived about 7:05 pm, only about 5 minutes or so after the regular business was finished.
One of the City Attorneys (Craig Cherry) was present to take the re-vote after I arrived, and it was an exact repeat of last year's vote. There were two nominees for Mayor (Don Baker and Bill Weber), and the vote was 3:4 in favor of Bill Weber. There were two nominees for Mayor pro tem (Jane Kittner and Gil Lillard), and the vote was 3:4 in favor of Gil Lillard. The Mayor has a lot of input in setting the meeting agendas and, of course, presiding over meetings. Don Baker is a highly-experienced and dedicated Councilman and former Mayor, on the Council since 1991 (see here for Council history, scroll down to the chart). Bill Weber is ex-military with lots of practical get-it-done know-how. He has lead the Council to ask new questions and look at some things from different perspectives. Overall, I think Woodway City government has been somewhat more responsive to our citizen's needs since Bill Weber took over as Mayor.
Since I missed all of the other business, I'm not sure what transpired. I'll post a link to the audio recording when is becomes available.
Reporting on this meeting will be shorter than usual because I didn't arrive until nearly the end. I was out of town visiting my wife in Holland, Michigan, for the past 10 days. My return flight was designed to get me back to DFW with enough time... assuming no weather problems. But the plane left Grand Rapids about 90 minutes late, and I arrived at DFW almost 2 hrs late. All this wouldn't matter so much except this is the one meeting of the year where the Council chooses a Mayor and Mayor pro tem for the next year. That still wouldn't matter so much except the other six Council members ended up being deadlocked at a 3:3 vote for both positions, and I ended up being the deciding vote, so they waited for me to arrive. I made it from DFW to Woodway in 2 hrs despite rush hour traffic. I arrived about 7:05 pm, only about 5 minutes or so after the regular business was finished.
One of the City Attorneys (Craig Cherry) was present to take the re-vote after I arrived, and it was an exact repeat of last year's vote. There were two nominees for Mayor (Don Baker and Bill Weber), and the vote was 3:4 in favor of Bill Weber. There were two nominees for Mayor pro tem (Jane Kittner and Gil Lillard), and the vote was 3:4 in favor of Gil Lillard. The Mayor has a lot of input in setting the meeting agendas and, of course, presiding over meetings. Don Baker is a highly-experienced and dedicated Councilman and former Mayor, on the Council since 1991 (see here for Council history, scroll down to the chart). Bill Weber is ex-military with lots of practical get-it-done know-how. He has lead the Council to ask new questions and look at some things from different perspectives. Overall, I think Woodway City government has been somewhat more responsive to our citizen's needs since Bill Weber took over as Mayor.
Since I missed all of the other business, I'm not sure what transpired. I'll post a link to the audio recording when is becomes available.
Friday, May 20, 2011
Agenda for May 23rd meeting
The agenda for the upcoming meeting has been posted at the City website here. Items of interest are (a) annual organization of the Council, including choosing both a Mayor and Mayor pro tem, (b) recognizing Troop 456 for work of the Woodway Park trails, and (c) "Discussion and consider action on postponing to June 13, 2011, the adoption of an ordinance authorizing the issuance, sale and delivery of an amount not to exceed $2,500,000 in aggregate principal amount of "City of Woodway, Texas Combination Tax and Revenue Certificates of Obligation, Series 2011"; securing the payment thereof by authorizing the levy of an annual ad valorem tax and pledging certain surplus waterworks and sewer system revenues; and approving and authorizing the execution of a paying agent/registrar agreement, purchase contract, official statement and all other instruments and procedures related thereto."
Thursday, May 12, 2011
Woodway Park trails ribbon-cutting
This Monday (May 16th) at 6:00 pm at Woodway Park there will be a ribbon-cutting ceremony to celebrate the upgrading of the park's hike and bike trail system. A new bridge across Cherry Creek was installed recently (described in the May 9th meeting report, see photo below). The park is said to have 4-5 miles of trails in place. I hope to post a trail map at some point, none currently exists.
Monday, May 9, 2011
Results of the May 9th meeting
Note: This is the one-year anniversary of this blog, and the 117th post. I have kept my campaign promise to improve communication with the citizens of Woodway.
The meeting audio recording is posted here.
Mayor Bill Weber opened the meeting promptly at 5:30 pm, and the invocation was done by myself (with about 15 seconds notice).
The first agenda item was to hear from visitors. There were two tonight.
First came Bonnie Finstead to remind the Council of the unsightly trash problem at the apartments on Shadow Wood. She felt strongly that the trash cans should be kept behind a fence. I went by after the meeting and took a photo (below).
City Manager Yost Zakhary said that discussions had taken place, and that the owner was going to get a dumpster and erect a fence around it. No further details were available. This was Ms. Finstead's second visit to the Council on this issue.
Next came William Jackson, a neighbor of mine on Cherry Creek Dr. He came to present a hardship caused by the recent change in parking rules for campers, RVs and boats. His boat sits in a driveway behind the front edge of his house. However, as his home is adjacent to Estates Drive, his boat is exposed to Estates on that side. He has been asked by the City to erect a fence to screen his boat, or else move it into the backyard. This is both a financial hardship and an inconvenience, since he was wounded in the Vietnam war and has some difficulty walking. He was hoping some exception might be made. This led Mayor Weber to ask whether or not there can ever be exceptions to ordinances. Yost responded with a clear "no", then went on to explain that the granting of exceptions can easily get out of control and render ordinances useless; and that Hewitt has the same ordinance and enforces it. Council member Jane Kittner said that storage facilities were available across the Hwy 6 twin bridges at low cost (~ $25/month), as she knows from personal experience.
Item 2 was the "consent agenda", which consists of "non-controversial, routine and budgeted items which require no public hearing".
Item 2A was approval of the last meeting's minutes.
Item 2B was consideration of the single bid received for Arboretum landscaping, which was rejected so that additional bids could be solicited.
Item 2C was renewal of a Special Use Permit for Home Occupation for very limited childcare at a home on Forest Ridge.
There was a little discussion of the last two items, followed by unanimous approval of the consent agenda (the approval was itself item 3 on the agenda).
Item 4 was the City Manager's report. There were two items discussed.
The first was an update on the Hwy 84 well rehabilitation. This well has had several problems, recently failing to pass TCEQ*-mandated coliform bacterial tests. A little later it passed the required coliform bacterial tests but was found to contain other potentially harmful bacteria (for example, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, arguably the most abundant microbe on Earth) , testing for which is not mandated by the TCEQ. The final disposition of all this remains to be decided, but in my estimation it promises to be problematic.
(*Texas Commission on Environmental Quality)
The second item was good news, an announcement of the completion of hike and bike trails at Woodway Park. This has been a project of the Woodway Parks & Recreation Commission, and there will be an inaugural celebration on Monday May 16th at 6:00 pm, at the park I believe. With the help of Martin Kemper (a P&R member) and Eagle Scouts Troop 308, trails have been cleaned up and a concrete bridge across Cherry Creek has been built (no easy feat). The trails total about 4.5 miles. Living right next to this park, I can tell you that these are really nice trails (but don't go very soon after a rain!).
The meeting adjourned about 6:20 or so, one of the shortest meetings in the past year.
The meeting audio recording is posted here.
Mayor Bill Weber opened the meeting promptly at 5:30 pm, and the invocation was done by myself (with about 15 seconds notice).
The first agenda item was to hear from visitors. There were two tonight.
First came Bonnie Finstead to remind the Council of the unsightly trash problem at the apartments on Shadow Wood. She felt strongly that the trash cans should be kept behind a fence. I went by after the meeting and took a photo (below).
City Manager Yost Zakhary said that discussions had taken place, and that the owner was going to get a dumpster and erect a fence around it. No further details were available. This was Ms. Finstead's second visit to the Council on this issue.
Next came William Jackson, a neighbor of mine on Cherry Creek Dr. He came to present a hardship caused by the recent change in parking rules for campers, RVs and boats. His boat sits in a driveway behind the front edge of his house. However, as his home is adjacent to Estates Drive, his boat is exposed to Estates on that side. He has been asked by the City to erect a fence to screen his boat, or else move it into the backyard. This is both a financial hardship and an inconvenience, since he was wounded in the Vietnam war and has some difficulty walking. He was hoping some exception might be made. This led Mayor Weber to ask whether or not there can ever be exceptions to ordinances. Yost responded with a clear "no", then went on to explain that the granting of exceptions can easily get out of control and render ordinances useless; and that Hewitt has the same ordinance and enforces it. Council member Jane Kittner said that storage facilities were available across the Hwy 6 twin bridges at low cost (~ $25/month), as she knows from personal experience.
Item 2 was the "consent agenda", which consists of "non-controversial, routine and budgeted items which require no public hearing".
Item 2A was approval of the last meeting's minutes.
Item 2B was consideration of the single bid received for Arboretum landscaping, which was rejected so that additional bids could be solicited.
Item 2C was renewal of a Special Use Permit for Home Occupation for very limited childcare at a home on Forest Ridge.
There was a little discussion of the last two items, followed by unanimous approval of the consent agenda (the approval was itself item 3 on the agenda).
Item 4 was the City Manager's report. There were two items discussed.
The first was an update on the Hwy 84 well rehabilitation. This well has had several problems, recently failing to pass TCEQ*-mandated coliform bacterial tests. A little later it passed the required coliform bacterial tests but was found to contain other potentially harmful bacteria (for example, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, arguably the most abundant microbe on Earth) , testing for which is not mandated by the TCEQ. The final disposition of all this remains to be decided, but in my estimation it promises to be problematic.
(*Texas Commission on Environmental Quality)
The second item was good news, an announcement of the completion of hike and bike trails at Woodway Park. This has been a project of the Woodway Parks & Recreation Commission, and there will be an inaugural celebration on Monday May 16th at 6:00 pm, at the park I believe. With the help of Martin Kemper (a P&R member) and Eagle Scouts Troop 308, trails have been cleaned up and a concrete bridge across Cherry Creek has been built (no easy feat). The trails total about 4.5 miles. Living right next to this park, I can tell you that these are really nice trails (but don't go very soon after a rain!).
The meeting adjourned about 6:20 or so, one of the shortest meetings in the past year.
Sunday, May 8, 2011
More Woodway wildlife
Out in the Cherry Creek area (near where Estates runs into the lake) we encounter lots of animals. We have not seen any rattlesnakes or live coral snakes, but we find copperheads about once a year. Fortunately, in our experience they do not strike easily and we have never felt the need to kill any of them. The photo below is of an average-sized one (about 2' long) near our front door last October. They blend into dry leaves almost perfectly, being nearly impossible to spot.
Friday, May 6, 2011
Agenda for May 9th meeting
The agenda for the upcoming meeting has been posted at the City's website here. Interesting items include discussion/action on a proposal for Arboretum landscaping, and discussion/action on a special use permit for childcare (beyond one's own children) in a home.
Thursday, May 5, 2011
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Two City of Woodway job openings...
Two full-time job openings for a Communications and Records Clerk I, and a Family Center Assistant are posted on the City's website here.
Sunday, May 1, 2011
Some Woodway FAQ and answers
The City of Woodway website has a section on FAQ that might interest you, located here.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
