BY ELENI HIMARAS
news@ltview.com
The Lakeway City Council voted last week to make pruning restriction on oaks based on the month of the year instead of the temperature.

 Lakeway residents are now only allowed to prune oak trees from June through January, and preferably only November through January to prevent oak wilt from infecting the trees.
“Oak pruning [was] restricted to very cold temperatures and very hot temperatures, below 45 degrees and above 90 degrees,” Forester Carrie Burns told the council. “These are impractical.”
She offered up a Texas A&M study that revealed month-based restrictions are equally effective. While she said the use of the legally required sealant on wounds in the trees would all but prevent oak wilt, the general population could not be counted upon to use it.
“Often I’ll show up and they’ll say, ‘look, I have it!’ But they are not using it fast enough,” she said. The measure was approved unanimously.
The council also held the first public hearing on a series of annexations of land in the Highlands development. The various tracts and bits of land total more than 90 acres. Building and Development Services Director Shannon Burke recommended council approve all requests after the required public hearings.
The rest of the meeting was a matter of housekeeping as the council heard reports from the city treasurer and the Pedernales Electric Cooperative.
PEC General Manager Juan Garza stopped by the meeting to personally address concerns about the recent Navigant Report.
“Some things in the Navigant Report give the impression that the financial condition of the PEC is not what it should be,” he said. “I can assure you it’s very strong.”
The only worrisome statistic, he said, was member equity, which he said they were working to bring up but that it could not be done quickly.
He went on to assure the council that the PEC abides by its open meeting and open records policies.
“All decisions made by the board are made in open session – they can discuss them in private – but all decisions are made in the open,” he said.