City Council Meeting Recap by Councilmember Hines - Dec. 22, 2021
Received by City Staff on December 28, 2021
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Dec 22nd 2021 Special Council Meeting Recap as provided by Councilmember Debra Hines - Jeff Rasco, Mayor
Ray Don Tilley, Lydia Johns, and Tomas Palm have been appointed to fill the three vacancies (terms ending Dec 2021) on the Planning and Zoning Commission.
Council created an official Ordinance Review Committee that will be subject to the Texas Open Meetings Act with unanimous support from all Councilmembers in attendance. The City will be opening applications for this Committee in 2022. Subsequent ordinance outlining the function, duties and expectations of this new committee will follow with documents being prepared by Councilmember Grummert. These documents, outlining clear directives for the committee, will be submitted for review and are subject to approval by the Council. Council has requested that previous members of the Mayor’s Ordinance Review Advisory Committee consider applying for these new positions.
The updated Resolution for Rules of Procedure received unanimous approval from all Councilmembers in attendance once the final edits and amendments were reviewed and accepted by the majority of the governing body. Mayor Pro Tem Aurora LeBrun will assist staff in a final revision and cleanup of the document to ensure there are no further editing errors.
Council unanimously supported the creation of a Platinum Panel to address roads, drainage, funding, a transportation plan, traffic calming, safety, and alternative modes of transportation including walking and biking. The goal of this panel is to synthesize existing studies, pavement assessments, etc. and help develop an outline for the next steps in road repairs for the City of Woodcreek in addition to researching funding options and costs of needed work. Mayor Rasco has requested an informal survey for funding options to gauge public support for tax notes versus a bond. Councilmember Hines volunteered to create this survey and has called for direct public input on these topics. Additionally, Council discussed holding another Town Hall and wanting citizens to provide more direction regarding what questions remain or what other steps does the public want Council to take before concluding on how to fund road improvements. Applications for the Platinum Panel will open in 2022.
Council unanimously supported sending the draft Brookmeadow one acre minimum zoning overlay document written by Councilmember Grummert to legal counsel for review and editing. Councilmember Hines added additional language about water conservation and the Jacob’s Well Management zone to the document as further reasoning to support the overlay. Legal counsel has been instructed to finalize this draft and send to the Planning and Zoning Commission for review at their next meeting.
Council unanimously supported sending our current building code ordinance to legal counsel for review and editing; specifically, to clarify what “alter” means in the definition section. Discussion on this topic surrounded reducing the number of instances a citizen needs to acquire a permit, establishing better communication in this process, ending the “stop work” signs, and creating a timeline for which the City must act on a permit. No action was taken on these other topics. City Manager Brenton Lewis suggested Council consider bringing a consult from ATS, the firm that reviews applications and determines what permits and inspections are needed. Concerns remain over citizens having to obtain permits for simple repairs that do not significantly alter a structure in design, its footprint, use or impervious coverage ratings for the lot.
Councilmember Pulley presented information gathered from the Hays County Sheriff’s Office as to what the cost of hiring off-duty officers through an inter-local agreement would be for the City. Councilmember Pulley confirmed that the cost for this service would be $60 an hour (including the vehicle) and that the officers work in 4 hour shifts. Once a week and four times a month, this service would cost less than $12,000 a year for an off-duty officer to run radar and police speeding within the City limits. It was established that off-duty officers from the sheriff’s office could provide night and weekend coverage whereas an officer provided through a contract with the Constable would not be able to work outside the hours of Monday through Friday, 8AM – 6PM. More information is needed at this time, and Councilmember Pulley will follow up with his contact at the Sheriff’s office to answer additional questions the Council asked. All Councilmembers now have access to the data collected from the radar signs.
Tree Ordinance 19-275 was repealed and 19-265 was reinstated with unanimous approval by Council. Preference to return to Tree Ordinance 19-265 shown by Council centered around the desire for preservation of heritage trees, concerns of over-development in the ETJ and the 1:1 replacement program for new home builders. Some discussion over the establishment of the Tree Board described in the ordinance occurred, but no further action was taken. It was established that obtaining the Tree City designation is a desirable goal and reinstating Tree Ordinance 19-265 is a step in this direction.
Sign Ordinance 19-277 was repealed and 19-266 was reinstated with unanimous approval by Council. The desire to return to the Sign Ordinance 19-266 centered around its references to our “Dark Skies Community” status and efforts to reduce light pollution within the ordinance. The Mayor’s Ordinance Review Advisory Committee has been working on this sign ordinance for the past two years and Council will consider their recommendations, when provided, at an undetermined future date. Some clerical errors were noted in the online code documents within this ordinance. These should be resolved once the new Ordinance goes into effect.
