Recap September 13, 2023 Board of Adjustment & City Council Meeting, Submitted by Council Member Debra Hines and approved by Mayor Jeff Rasco
Received by City Staff on November 1, 2023
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City Council meeting recaps are unofficial summaries of Council meetings. They are not minutes of the meetings, which can be found on the city's website along with video recordings of the meetings. The recaps have been very popular with citizens – they contain more information than official minutes and are less time consuming than watching the videos. Councilmember Debra Hines has generously given her time to produce the recaps since taking office in 2021.
This Recap submitted by Councilmember Debra Hines and approved for distribution by Mayor Jeff Rasco
Sept 13th 2023 Council Meeting and Board of Adjustment Recap
Board of Adjustment Meeting:
The Board of Adjustment met to discuss a variance request to allow a fence up to 8 feet in height for the purpose of privacy due to a new construction residency being on a taller than average foundation. The Board approved the variance. It was noted that there were no conflicts with neighbors on this variance. The resident was not present for the meeting.
City Council Meeting:
Items in this meeting were taken out of order and this is reflected below.
Item 10 from New Business: The City of Woodcreek declared the week of Sept 17th through Sept 23rd as Constitution Week. Members of the Daughters of the American Revolution were present. Mayor Rasco presented the proclamation. This is the 236th anniversary of the Constitution of the United States of America.
Item 11 from New Business: The City of Woodcreek declared September 2023 as Hispanic Heritage Month. Presented by Councilmember Hambrick. Honors were given to resident and former Councilmember and Mayor Pro Tem Aurora LeBrun who is originally from Cuba and has served the City of Woodcreek and the Wimberley Valley in multiple facets for many years. The theme for this year is Prosperity, Power, Progress
Item 24 from New Business: Councilmember Bailey introduced the item to authorize a traffic study to be conducted by K.Friese. Council had previously asked staff to discuss such an item with K.Friese and set a spending limit of $15,000 for the proposal. This item was to follow up on that previous item and to direct staff to take immediate action rather than waiting for the next fiscal year as discussed during the budget planning. After discussion, the scope of this work was to be reduced to focus on an engineering judgement on the placement of a “first five” speed cushions focusing on Woodcreek Drive, Brookhollow and August Drive where the most “cut-through” traffic and speeding occurs. This work was to be capped at a cost of $10,000.
Item 25 from New Business: Council unanimously voted to send the contents of this item along with the item from 24 as presented by Mayor Pro Tem Pulley as a reduced scope and sequence for a traffic calming study in this agenda to K.Friese for review and consideration in the reduced scope of work of the traffic study and engineering judgement. This included a proposal for speed cushions throughout the City of Woodcreek for consideration in phases. The reduced scope was read into record during the previous item. A copy can be requested.
Items 7-9 from the consent agenda: These concerned events hosted by the Community Garden as free public events. Some discussion was held about possible bathroom access at City Hall. Councilmember Hines volunteered to be present and accountable for a City Hall key to allow citizens access during the event and for clean up after. All three events were approved. This includes a Movie Night to be held on October 14th, a Wildflower stomp to be held on November 11th, and a Holidays in the Garden to be held December 10th
Item 12 from New Business: Attorney presentation occurred – Denton, Navarro, Rocha, Bernal & Zech (tune in at minute: 1.22.40 / link https://www.woodcreektx.gov/citycouncil/page/city-council-meeting-cyj-14 ) Followed by a brief period of Q&A with Council.
Item 13 from New Business: Attorney presentation occurred – DTR&G Mr. Austin Beck (tune in at minute: 1.34.05 / link: https://www.woodcreektx.gov/citycouncil/page/city-council-meeting-cyj-14 ) Followed by a brief period of Q&A with Council.
Item 14 from New Business: Executive session occurred to discuss the selection of a law firm to represent the City. No action was taken during the executive session.
Item 15 from New Business: Council unanimously approved the selection of Denton, Navarro, Rocha, Bernal & Zech as the new legal Counsel representing the City of Woodcreek. Mayor Rasco reviewed the interview and selection process. It went as follows: six proposals were received, a rating scale determined four finalists for interviews, Mayor Rasco, Mayor Pro Tem Pulley and City Manager Rule conducted the interviews. The goal was to have two finalists for presentations to the Council. There was a tie with the top 2 and 3 candidates, but the third dropped out. Denton Navarro received the number 1 rating and were ultimately also the top selection of Council.
Consent:
Items 1-6 were passed unanimously. Small non-substantive edits were needed on the August 9th meetings and were sent to staff in advance. Interim Legal Counsel Roger Gordon noted on item 6 the petition to leave the ETJ was just a formality of approval as a new state law made this petition possible and all documents were filed. The packet lacked some of the necessary items as they were received after it was posted, but staff was able to confirm the application is complete.
Councilmember Hambrick requested items 7-9 be removed from consent to the regular agenda for discussion. They were discussed earlier in the meeting
Reports:
Mayor: 1). Talks are in the works for a reforestation program through Tree Work for the pond under Cypress Point. 2). A meeting was held on the memorandum of understanding with Aqua Texas, including Hays County Precinct 3 Commissioner Lon Shell and City of Wimberley leadership. 3). Discussions are being held regarding incentives for rainwater collection barrels and a local factory was consulted on the possibilities for bulk barrel purchasing to pass the discount on to residents. 4). A meeting with Lon Shell occurred to discuss road maintenance of the low water crossing. There is no plan to condemn at this time, but meetings will be held with the owners of these areas. It was learned that private roads used for public access must be closed periodically as a reminder to the public that they are a privately owned roads.
Manager: 1). Thank you to Camp Young Judaea for the Woodcreek Fun Day. It was a success with many in attendance. 2). Alpha is currently repairing subbase, paving to begin soon. 3). Sign up for text and emails to receive City notifications. And follow the City’s social media. Road work updates will be posted. 4). Utility lines throughout the City are accidently being cut during road repairs because they were not installed at the right depths. The City is working with Spectrum to get this dealt with. It is ultimately the responsibility of the cable company to repair these and install at the proper depths to avoid this issue.
New Business:
Item 16: Public hearing occurred on the proposed budget for fiscal year 2023-2024 – no comment was provided.
Item 17: Discussion of the 2023-2034 budget occurred. Councilmember Grummert attempted to reduce City expenditures in City Hall through the reduction of specific line items, but the motion failed with Mayor Pro Tem Pulley and Councilmembers Bailey and Hambrick voting “nay.” City Manager Rule noted that the budget was reduced by about $3,000 from last year. The ordinance to approve the budget as approved passed with a 4 to 1 vote, Councilmember Grummert being the nay vote.
Item 18: The resolution to ratify the budget passed with a 4 to 1 vote, Councilmember Grummert being the nay vote.
Item 19: Public hearing occurred on the proposed tax rate for 2023-2024- no comment was provided.
Item 20: Council voted 4 to 1 to approve the ordinance setting the proposed tax rate of $.2000, Councilmember Grummert being the “nay.” Council voted 4 to 1 to approve the proposed M&O rate of $.1023, Councilmember Grummert being the ‘nay.” The I&S rate (debt service) was unanimously approved at $.0977. Combined these tax rates stayed under the 2-cent increase as discussed for the Bond package.
Item 21: Council unanimously accepted the proposal from K. Friese for work related to the 2023 roads project to include pre and post inspections of Alpha’s work in addition to quality control and testing. The fee to be charged will not exceed $48,865.46. See the full proposal on starting on page 85 of the packet.
Item 22: Council unanimously approved allowing all advisory boards except P&Z which is a state mandated board with legal regulations to take and record their own minutes. This will free up more staff time and reduce overtime charges for staff labor. The Ordinance Review Committee and Tree Board were some of the first to try this and it worked well for them. Their attendance was not required previously. A resolution was requested to support this policy and make it in effect prior to the passage.
Item 23: Postponed until the next meeting due to time constraints.
Item 26: Postponed until the next meeting due to time constraints.
Item 27: Council approved applying for the Quadratec Cares Grant. Councilmember Hines volunteered to do it and named a beautification project for gazebo at The Triangle as an appropriate place for consideration of the grant’s application.
