Results of the September 26th meeting

Mayor Don Baker opened the meeting at 5:37 pm, having waited a few minutes for Councilperson Dr. Paul Scibielski. He is what Ph.D.'s refer to as "a real doctor", and he drives in from seeing patients in outlying communities. Mayor pro tem Gil Lillard was uncharacteristically absent, being tied up in Dallas on this occasion. I did the invocation at Mayor Baker's request.

Item 1 was hearing from visitors, but although there were more than usual in attendance (maybe a dozen or so), no one came forward to speak.

Item 2 was a special use permit for childcare requested by Tiffany Dorman. There had been no complaints and the application was in order. However, only four of the Council were present, and as P&Z had denied the application on a technicality, five votes were required for approval. Mayor Baker asked that the item be deferred until later in the meeting when Dr. Scibielski was expected to be in attendance.

Item #3 was approval of last meeting's minutes.

Item #4 was a discussion of what would be required to allow video conferencing of out-of-town Councilpersons to participate in meetings. The context here is that Councilmember Bill Weber had expressed an interest in participating via video conference. The City staff had explored the various requirements and costs. The reported cost was a lot higher than what I expected, driven largely by certain Open Meeting Act rules. Also, the City appeared to have no other use of such facilities. After probably 30 minutes of discussion, we voted to not proceed with video conferencing at this time.

With Dr. Scibielski now in attendance, we returned to item #2, and approved the special use permit.

Item #5 was a discussion of how the Council would fill any openings. The City Charter requires that the Council appoint a replacement in "a reasonable time" after any opening occurs (see here, thanks to Jennifer Canady for the location of this). The proposed new charter (to be voted on in May) requires a special election, which is expensive and time-consuming. But the proposed 3-year terms may make that necessary (I gather that you can't fill that long of an unexpired term by appointment).

Item #6 was a very lengthy discussion on the parking ordinance that has resulted in 90 or so violations noted in the past year or so, and about 9 cases where the City filed a complaint. Code Enforcement Officer Albert Lopez tries hard to work with residents to bring situations into compliance. Last October the Council approved a change that made RVs "prohibited vehicles" that cannot be simply parked in one's driveway or even on the side of your home unless screened as to be almost invisible from the street, and enforcement of boat, camper and RV parking was stepped up around that time I believe. Assistant Police Chief Robert Smith went over the existing law, complete with photos. Then Robert Humphrey spoke. The Council discussed this for probably 30-40 minutes and concluded that the ordinance should be revisited if only to clarify language. I understand that on-street parking could be a problem, but I have never considered campers, boats and RVs to be unsightly (in general at least). I think parking of these in one's driveway should be permitted, but I sense that most of the Council disagrees.

The Council then went into Executive Session to discuss property until 7:33 pm.

After brief Manager's Report and a little discussion of Council Report stuff, the meeting was adjourned at 7:43 pm. I was impressed by Mayor Baker's handling of the meeting; he was patient to hear everyone out and did an excellent job of managing things.

Agenda for September 26th meeting

The agenda for the upcoming meeting has been posted at the City's website here. Items of interest will include a discussion of whether Councilperson Bill Weber can participate in meetings via videoconferencing and a discussion of the "prohibited vehicle" parking ordinance. This is the new rule (or newly enforced rule?) that is causing some Woodway residents to struggle to "properly" park their boats, campers and RVs.

Anyone you know?

Two dogs have been found in the Windwood Lane area of Woodway, and their photos posted on the City website here. Anyone you know?

Beware of mail theft

Waco has warned its residents not to mail checks from home mailboxes, because there has been a rash of thefts and attempts to fraudulently pass stolen checks. I heard awhile back that there was some of this sort of thing going on in Woodway too. So to be safe, use postal boxes instead.

Results of the September 12th meeting

Mayor Bill Weber opened the meeting and asked Councilman Don Baker to give the invocation, though I didn't arrive until a couple minutes later. When I came in, Mayor Weber was honoring the Public Utilities workers for keeping Woodway water operating through a very long, hot and dry summer. Those honored were

Donald Barnett
Nathan Donnnell
Greg Niemiek
Robert Starnes
Dale Glass
Derrick Robinson

The assembled crowd responded with a standing ovation for this group.

Next was the proclamation of Woodway Public Safety Association Day, as October 1st. This is also the day of the annual barbeque, 11 am to 7 pm at Woodway Elementary School. For more information, here is the website announcement. Three officers were present to represent the Public Safety Association:

Norm Burgess
Ray Dobbs
Bert Hernandez

These received a round of applause at the conclusion of the ceremony. I met these three (and two others) waaay back at the beginning of my term (see here), and can testify that they are amazingly dedicated and a great credit to the City.

Next was the Yard of the Month awards. The Deaton, Henke, Mayer and Crawford families were honored, but none were in attendance. ("must be working on their yards" someone quipped)

Next was a time to hear from visitors. Only one was present to speak, former Councilman Robert Humphrey. He came to speak about the boat/RV/camper ordinance, and distributed color photos of various violations of the ordinance around the city. His point was that it was "obvious that the City does not have a uniform approach to this..." and requested that the Council revisit this issue. (I'm in favor of this.) In particular, he wondered if it shouldn't apply so broadly to all three categories. He went on to call on Mayor Bill Weber (whose resignation was being considered later) to fully resign from the Council and not simply from the Mayoral position.

Next was the "consent agenda", which included the minutes of three meetings, purchase of some almost indestructible (and expensive) laptops for Public Safety, and appointment of Natalie Edwards to represent the City at the MPO Board (Metropolitan Planning Organization). These were unanimously approved.

Next was a discussion of street lighting in Woodway. This was on the agenda at my request, prompted by an email from a constituent. The policy is that unless a developer puts in street lighting, new lights require a citizen request (including agreement among 4-6 near neighbors) and a $600 fee. The actual cost is much greater, but largely borne by Oncor (after a feasibility study approval). The City Engineer (Mitch Davidson) said that no requests for street lights had been placed in the past year or so. Councilman Scott Giddings said that Marble Falls had no well-defined policy on street lighting. Given that some are opposed to lights near their homes, the Council consensus was that the system was reasonable as-is.

The Council skipped ahead to the Manager's report, then returned to items 7-8, discussion and possible action on Mayor Weber's letter of resignation. Bill said this was a very difficult decision, but that he is taking a job elsewhere. He went on to say, "It was an honor and a privilege serving and working with the City." Full of humor as always, Mayor Weber said that the excellence of Woodway City employees "must be a function of my leadership." The Council voted unanimously to accept his resignation as Mayor (could we refuse?!).

Under the direction of City Attorney Mike Dixon, the Council then proceeded to elect a new Mayor. Councilperson Jane Kittner nominated Don Baker. Then Mayor pro tem Gil Lillard nominated Scott Giddings, but Scott declined, saying that he was honored and could certainly do the job, but that he wanted Don Baker to be Mayor. With only one nomination, the Council proceeded to vote unanimously for Don Baker to be the new Mayor of Woodway. This was followed by applause. The local newspaper reported on all this here.

Mayor Baker then asked Bill Weber to conclude the meeting, which adjourned at 6:18 pm.

Agenda for the September 12th meeting

The agenda for the upcoming meeting has been posted at the City's website here. Items of interest include announcing Woodway Public Safety Association Day (more later), a discussion of street lighting (or lack thereof) in Woodway, and the impending resignation of Mayor Bill Weber as he moves on to bigger and better things (hopefully).