Mayor Baker opened the meeting at 5:33 pm. The invocation was scheduled to be delivered by a pastor from Central Presbyterian Church but there must have been a mistake somewhere. Mayor Baker gave the invocation himself.
The next item was to hear from visitors, but though there were several visitors, none elected to speak.
Item 4 was to approve the minutes of the last meeting (November 28th).
Item 5 was an application to develop in a planned district, for a single story retail/medical building near the Hollywood theaters. There was perhaps a 15 minute discussion with a representative of the developer concerning some aesthetic aspects of the plan. The Council voted unanimously to send this to the Planning and Zoning Commission for further consideration.
The next item (#6) was a discussion of options to deal with the infrastructure surrounding the Business Acres well. This is the well that is producing rather warm (116°F) water that needs to be cooled before being pumped through PVC pipes (otherwise the heat weakens the plastic pipe). There were a few options presented, some cheaper and some more expensive. But the bottom line is that you get what you pay for, and the Council decided to choose the long-term cheaper option rather than the short-term one. This will involve, among other things, a 1 million gallon concrete holding tank, said to be maintenance-free by well-consultant Bob Wallace. The City already has one such tank that has given very good service. In contrast, the cheaper steel tanks (as on Bosque) have to be sand-blasted and painted at intervals at a cost of about $100k each time. I think this was a good decision for the long-term stability of the Woodway water system.
Item 7 concerned "pod" type storage containers within the City. The Council had previously expressed a strong sentiment against having such storage containers in residential areas on any sort of permanent basis, but commercial situations had not been seriously addressed. The Council was shown photos of three commercial sites in Woodway with pod-type storage, at least one of which was unsightly. There was sentiment expressed that the City should not burden businesses with fees for long-term pod storage. City staff are investigating how to proceed.
Item 8A was an Executive Session to discuss possible replacements for General Bill Weber's at-large Council position. Afterwards, in open session, item 8B was discussion and to consider action on choosing a replacement for the open Council position. There were several highly qualified applicants, and the Council voted unanimously to appoint Barbara Grandy to the open Council position. Ms. Grandy has served the City of Woodway in several capacities through the years including service on the Woodway Beautiful Commission, the Carleen Bright Arboretum Board, and the Parks and Recreation Commission. Her dedicated efforts led to the City receiving a $10,000 beautification award from the State of Texas. In addition, she was instrumental in the organization of the very first "Trash-Off Day" in Woodway, and she served on both the original master plan committee and the master plan expansion committee for the Carleen Bright Arboretum. Ms. Grandy has also volunteered in many other ways throughout the Woodway community such as serving as chair of the Woodway Foundation.
The meeting adjourned at 7:59 pm. Contrary to my expectation, this was a long meeting (2.5 hours). Another meeting next Monday!
