City Council looks to fill seats on boards
Following the June 18 Lakeway City Council meeting, about half of the city’s open seats on its boards, commission and committees are filled, but newly elected Lakeway Mayor Sandy Cox said about 20 positions are still open, and 80 residents have submitted applications.
Although the proposed composition of the groups was discussed and approved at a May 31 City Council work session, the resolutions passed June 18 formalized the decisions. Many new names were added to the city panel.
Council Member Dwight Haley advocated for a formalized program for all of the newcomers to the city committees and boards, with possible specialists available for each group.
“We need to give some serious thought to some serious training,” Haley said of the numerous new members of the city’s boards, commissions and committees.
Council Member Jean Hennagin suggested the council hire a professional consultant to ensure that members of the city’s new Public Engagement Advisory Committee understand their role and “have some type of orientation.”
“This is a breakthrough movement for us to really build communications and awareness back and forth with the public,” said Council Member Steve Smith. The committee will be launched soon, he said.
The council also amended the Police Facility Building Committee’s mission to focus on delivering the new police station project on time and on budget since the committee’s original purpose of developing a building program and preparing for a bond election already has been achieved. Also at the meeting, the City Council:
Approved a recycling and solid waste fee increase in residents’ monthly base rate from $21 to $21.40 to cover the provider’s increased disposal costs.
Approved a final plat for the Overlook at Lakeway subdivision, about 9 acres northwest of Flintrock Road and west of RM 620, to provide for two multistory office buildings of 45,000 square feet and 24,000 square feet each, along with parking garages and surface parking.
Approved rezoning 15096 and 15099 Strader Circle from R-1, single family residential, to R-6, single-family rural residential, a zoning category that allows for additional animals and does not require certain masonry provisions and attached accessory structures required in the R-1 class.
Heard a progress report on the new police facility, which included information indicating that the project is about 40 percent complete.
Tabled until July 16 a decision on amendments to the city’s sign ordinance following a 2015 U.S. Supreme Court decision providing cities cannot regulate signage based on the sign’s content. Council members discussed changing the city’s ordinance to limit the number of signs permissible on residential property to four signs, including a school sign depicting a child’s activities such as high school football.