It was a case of a little pain now rather than a lot of pain later when Lakeway City Council members committed to start repair work on Lohmans Crossing Road from Lakeway Boulevard to Sailmaster Street.

At their regular council meeting Feb. 16, the council unanimously authorized $48,400 for engineering work in advance of repairs that are expected to cost $375,000, a figure that unsettled some council members.
The project will reconstruct a section of the road from The MarketPlace driveway to north of Cross Creek Drive, including Hurst Creek Bridge, and place a 1 1/2-inch asphalt overlay from Lakeway Boulevard to the MarketPlace driveway and from just north of Cross Creek to Sailmaster Street.
City Manager Steve Jones said that if bids come in under projected costs, the city might put down an asphalt overlay in the Hamilton Greenbelt parking lot.
Mayor Dave DeOme asked if the city could delay construction for another year or two or three.
“I still am not comfortable on why we have to do this road now,” DeOme said. “Sell me on why we have to do this road this year and spend $300,000-plus.”
Construction would take about 90 days, and the city will likely start construction in the summer when traffic volume is lower.
The city will close the road and detour traffic to Lakeway Drive.
The road also serves as a major entrance and exit for Lakeway Police Department and Lake Travis Fire Rescue Station 602, but City Manager Steve Jones said construction crews would allow access for emergency vehicles.
To stay under budget, the Lakeway held off on doing overlays on its roads last year, but in September the city hired a contractor to do a road study in which the crew drilled three bores into the road and detected failures.
“We have significant base failure and alligator cracking. It’s just getting worse. It could be a maintenance nightmare,” City Engineer Paul Duncan said, adding that when the road and bridge were built it wasn’t to the city’s standards today.
City staff members said overlays can provide a temporary patch, but they do not improve the condition of the road underneath.
“It’s imminent the road will come apart,” Jones said. “If we don’t do it now, what we are going to end up doing is patching it one piece at a time and the money we will spend on those patches will be considerable and it ultimately will be wasted. We are going to have to rebuild that road eventually.”
“It sounds to me like it’s best to bite the bullet,” council member Bruce Harris said.
Council members also approved 10 charter amendment propositions to go before voters in the May 8 general election.
Charter Review Committee Chairman Steve Swan, a former mayor of Lakeway, presented the committee’s recommendations to the council based on simplifying wording to remove confusing language, remove outdated wording that could cause problems in interpretation and eliminate wording that does not follow state law, which supersedes home rule law.
Swan complemented his fellow committee members and City Attorney Patty Akers for their input in the amendments.
“I had a lot of help,” he said.
The 10 proposed charter amendments are:
• Proposition 1 — Shall Sections 3.02, titled “Qualifications,” 7.02 titled “Qualifications and Term of Office” and 9.05 titled “Counterclaim of Tax Arrears and Debt of City” be clarified to define the term “in arrears”? If so, then each of these sections will be amended to include the definition:
“‘In arrears’ shall mean nonpayment of a tax, liability or other obligation owed the city, other than a citation properly contested through municipal court, that has not been received by the city within 90 days from due date.”
• Proposition 2 — Shall Section 3.09, titled “Filling of Vacancies” be amended to simplify the procedure for filling vacancies that occur on the City Council by modifying the procedure to achieve flexibility and conformance to the current uniform election process contracted with Travis County? The first two paragraphs of the section would read:
“The City Council shall fill any vacancy that occurs on the City Council unless an election to fill the vacancy is required by Article XI, Section 11, of the Texas Constitution, or unless a majority of the City Council votes to call a special election for the next uniform election date to fill the vacancy for the unexpired term only.
“A person serving as a member of the City Council is not, because of that service, ineligible to be appointed to fill a vacancy in the office of mayor, but the person may not vote on the person’s own appointment.”
• Proposition 3 — Shall Section 3.09, titled “Filling of Vacancies,” be amended to provided that in the event that a number of vacancies exist on the City Council, and the situation prevents the Council from having a quorum of four members as required in Section 3.12, then the remaining members shall constitute a quorum for the limited purpose of meeting to fill enough of the vacancies so that a quorum of four exists? If approved, the third paragraph of this section will read:
“If a number of vacancies exist on the Council causing the remaining members to number less than four, those remaining members shall constitute a quorum for the limited purpose of meeting to fill enough of the vacancies so that a quorum of four exists.”
• Proposition 4 — Shall Section 4.07, titled “Police Department,” be amended to clarify that the certification and training requirements for the Chief of Police shall be consistent with state law. If approved, the third sentence of this section shall read:
“The Chief of Police must be of good reputation and must, as required under state law, maintain sufficient certification and continuing education training to be authorized to serve as chief.”
• Proposition 5 — Shall Section 5.01, titled “City Elections,” be updated to recognize that the date for the city’s regular election be consistent with state law? If approved, the first sentence of Subsection (a) of the section shall read:
“The regular city election shall be held annually on the uniform election date provided by state law occurring in or nearest the month of May.”
• Proposition 6 — Shall Section 6.03, titled “Form of Petition,” be clarified to provide better definition of the reasons why a signature on a petition for initiative, referendum or recall should not be counted? If approved, the first sentence of the second paragraph of the section will read:
“No signature shall be counted if it is a duplication of either a name or the handwriting used in any other signature on the petition, or if the signer is not a qualified voter of the city or if the signature fails to comply with the requirements of the Texas Election Code for the validity of petition signatures, or if the City Secretary is in possession of a document that credibly and reasonably establishes that the signature is not that of the person purported to have signed the petition.”
• Proposition 7 — Should Section 9.02, titled “Tax Levy,” be modified to provide that if the City Council fails to enact the annual tax levy ordinance and until council enacts such ordinance, the tax levy for the new fiscal year shall be that amount authorized by state law? If approved, the third sentence of the Section shall read:
“If the Council fails to enact the annual tax levy ordinance for a particular year, within such year the tax levy shall be the amount authorized by state law until the next tax levy ordinance is enacted.”
• Proposition 8 — Shall Section 11.01, titled “Oath of Office,” be amended to establish that oaths of office may be administered only by persons who are authorized to do so by state law? If approved, the last sentence of this section shall read:
“The oath shall be administered by a person authorized by law to administer oaths.”
• Proposition 9 — Shall Section 11.12, titled “Political Activities of City Officers and Employees,” be amended to be consistent with state law and to provide for penalties by ordinance? If approved, this section will read:
“(a) No city officer or employee, elected or appointed,” may spend or authorize the spending of public funds for political advertising in a manner that is prohibited by Section 255.003, Texas Election Code, as hereafter amended.
(b) Any person who by himself or with others is convicted of a violation of Section 255.003 of the Election Code may be required, in addition to such conviction, to forfeit his or her office or employment with the city.
• Proposition 10 — Shall Charter Section 11.17, titled “Interim Government,” and Charter Section 11.20 titled “Submission of Charter to Voters,” relating to the original Charter adoption in 1990 be deleted as they are no longer relevant?
Council members also adopted a new Parks and Recreation Ordinance to recognize the existence of the Parks and Recreation Department and staff members. When the original ordinance was implemented in 1991, it established a commission to oversee use of the city’s parks and recreation facilities, develop a system for use permits and collect fees.
When the city hired a parks and recreation director, it never amended its ordinance.
Lakeway’s Parks and Recreation Commission recommended approval of the ordinance.