City Council - Regular Meeting

All right. I'll call this meeting of the Wood Creek City Council to order on March 11th, 2026 at 6:01 p.m., we will have a moment of silence if you'll rise if you are able.

If we could give a thought to our neighbor down the road who has an ambulance at their house right now, I'd appreciate that. All right, we will move into the pledges. We'll start with the United States for it stands and liberty and justice for all. Honor the Texas flag and indivisible.

We will call and council member Jeff here. Council member Elizabeth here and we have a quorum. All we have four members of council present. Thank you. Lauren, is that acceptable or would you like to sit over here? Council member or member Gmer is not going to be there. So, whatever youall prefer. I'm comfortable here. Are you going to work on your laptop? You're welcome.

Feels good right here. Sorry, one second. Let me get All right. We have a proclamation. month. March 2026 will be known as Women's History Month in the city of Wood Creek. So, thank you all for your attendance and thank you all to the women in the room for all the good work you do keeping our houses running and our families going and the work you do out in the world as well.

We're going to move into public comments, but I have a statement as mayor to start and then I will proceed to reading the written submission comments. So, I want to take a moment to review the public comment process rules for the city of Woods Creek. Due to some confusion as a result of the social media post, we will be reading all communication sent to any council member or staff for this agenda item. Speaking of number four, however, for the future, the proper process for a written public comment is to be submitted to the Wood Creek at woodcretx.gov email address before noon the day before a meeting. Items received after that will not be included and most residents can still attend and make their comment in person. The letter should have noted that it is a formal public comment to be read onto the record during the meeting. These instructions are at the top of all agendas, so you can always reference that if you're confused. Emailing council members is useful to let them know your thoughts on an item, but it does not replace nor can it be considered a formal public comment. It would be up to that council member to present the comment on behalf of the resident. The second part, and this goes for all comments, those submitted in writing and those made in person, you are supposed to note which part of the agenda you wish for to take place. those options being during the public comment period at the start of me meeting or during the agenda item itself. Lastly, even written comment should be under three minutes in duration. I'm happy to make exceptions to the rules and procedures this time around due to the information provided by Mayor Proen Gummer and the online post, but I will have to honor and abide by the rules in the future out of respect for everyone's time and fairness to all residents. I'm going to proceed to the written comments and then we'll go to those present in the meeting who wish to speak.

Dear Wood Creek City Council members, my name is Grant Buck and I'm a 12-year resident of Wood Creek. I'm writing to express my strong opposition to the proposed installation of a digital sign at the entrance to our neighborhood. While I appreciate the council's efforts to enhance community communication, I believe this addition would detract from the unique characteristic to present practical challenges that outweigh any potential benefits. First, the digital assign is inconsistent with the goals outlined in the city's 2022 comprehensive plan, particularly an emphasis on preserving the peaceful rural feel of the community through sustainable land management, responsible planning, and quality infrastructure. Our community prides itself on its natural, serene, and low-key aesthetic, which draws residents and visitors alike. Introducing a modern digital display would disrupt this character, potentially making the entrance feel more commercial and less in harmony with the surrounding environment. Resident surveys tied to the plan also highlight desires to maintain a non-commercial vibe, including reducing city signage from the neighborhood to avoid clutter. Preserving our neighborhood's distinctive appeal should remain a priority as it aligns directly with the strategic v vision we've collectively endorsed. Additionally, drawing from my 25 years of experience as a professional marketeteer or marketer, I have serious concerns about the long-term viability and effectiveness of such a system. Over time, these digital sites often become burdensome to manage as new council members, staff, and community leaders rotate in differing ideas and priorities can lead to inconsistent usage, outdated content, or even abandonment, resulting in an eyesore rather than a useful tool. Maintenance issues, software updates, and content moderation can quickly escalate cost and administrative headaches. Furthermore, from a marketing perspective, the sign's placement at an intersection where drivers are traveling around 300 300 30 mile per hour poses significant readability challenges. Research and best practice and signage design show that motorists can typically process no more than 5 to seven words in such conditions before entering the next intersection. The digital sign risks to overwhelming drivers with too much information, reducing its impact to near zero while potentially distracting them

and compromising safety. Thank you for time and consideration. Grant Buff 91 Bollo. This letter is to be read during public comments. I am writing to voice my strong opposition to the installation of an electric sign at the entrance or at any other location in the city of Wood Creek. The rural atmosphere of our city is slowly being chipped away by an administration that is intent on turning it into a copy of a big city subdivision. There are several other sources available for the purpose of communicating important information to the citizens instead of relying on a sign that is seen in passing as you drive by the entrance. The Texas Hill Country is a unique place and we need to maintain our small corner as such. The constant spending of tax dollars needs to be re um that is not a word I recognize. Read nine re I don't know. Um in I think there's some typos there because it just ends. Former city Kathy Alden. Dear city secretary, please accept my written public comment addressing item four of the regular agenda for the March 11th, 2026 regular city council meeting. I'm requesting that the comment be read by the mayor and made a part of the official record of the meeting. Public comment to Mayor Hines and council. I want to thank Council Member Garment for his efforts to inform citizens of the opportunity to express opinions regarding public purchase and placement of a digital site at the city entrance. My husband and I have lived in Wood Creek for 26 years. We previously lived in Houston and Austin engaged in busy city life. Our dreams came true when we retired and were able to move to the Wimberly Valley and city of Wood Creek. We join many like-minded friends and neighbors in enjoying the natural beauty, peace, quiet, and safety of this unique rural setting. Residents are on record expressing the special values and wanting wanting them preserved. Our tiny city has a lovely entrance with existing natural beauty of trees, a veterans memorial, and a small park area. It does not need a sandwich for sign, and in my opinion, truly does not need the garish proposed digital sign replacement at a cost of $27,000. Please consider consider carefully the wishes of residents who want to keep Wood Creek's unique beauty and character. The entrance to our city is our welcome sign of who we are. Say no to a flashy, expensive, unnecessary sign of our city entrance. Respectfully,

former mayor Gloria Whitehead, 17 public, I'm not going to be reading her phone number. Sometimes the roar of bright shiny objects causes us to acquire items that are that add little or no value to our lives. In my opinion, a digital sign at the entrance to Wood Creek is one of those items. Let's concentrate on our time, money, and energies on preserving our plaint, keeping it safe and clean, maintaining our resurface streets, which will surely begin to need repairs and periodic seal coating in the near future to asssure a long lifespan, drainage issues, and figuring out a way to get a number of priorities within our borders before eyes and which devalue nearby properties in our city as a whole into a basic compliance of upkeep standards. Let's operate within a budget that allows us to pay for these things while being aware that unscheduled demands are almost always just around the corner. Fiduciary responsibility is important. The above said, "My vote for the digital sign is no." Bill drum. Please accept this as our disapproval for the proposed electric sign electronic sign to be considered at the March 11th city council meeting. It does not meet the character of our neighborhood and community and it seems to be an unnecessary expenditure. I could carry on about using local, but perhaps this company in Cedar Park is the only one around who does design such a sign. Just a couple of benefits. When we hire local, it helps some support those living and fitting in our community. And the sales tax comes to our comes back to our county and schools. I would implore you to consider the resident's wishes. Thank you, Kristen Weaver, one champion port. I am a resident of Wood Creek and I would like it to be on record in opposition to a digital neighborhood. I would prefer to entertain the character of this area of the country. The city of Wood Creek sign at the entrance is tasteful and really serves the purpose of designating who we are. I'm not sure we need to show messages to our citizens as they are driving in at all. We have social media mail and email to keep people up to date and informed. I understand that the sandwich board will no longer be in use and that is okay with me as well. Thank you. Marcia Sanderson or Marcia Sanderson 18 Canyon Creek Drive.

How does the sign fit into our dark sky initiative? Seems contrary to that requirement. Where is the funding coming from? Jay Galloway. My family and I are against your proposal on erecting ugly signs at the entrance to Wood Creek. Why? One, we live in a dark space neighborhood, so no, we don't want the signs you're proposing to erect. Two, the proposal is expensive. Sharon Ryan, I have worked on many projects and try to keep an open mind. I'm a curious person and wonder where did this idea come from? What is the benefit and is it necessary? The city does a great job communicating through the sandwich board emails and the city website. It's up to individuals to stay informed. If I am missing something and there is a need. Okay. Otherwise, Carolyn Espet, I'm writing to express my strong opposition to the digital sign at the entrance of Wood Creek. It is totally unnecessary. I'm sure there's a better use for $27,000 of a tax dollars. Janice Butler. I am opposed to such trash, hideous, and total waste of dollars. Find exclamation points.

I failed to understand the problem or opportunity we are trying to address with the digital sign. From my perspective, the 29,000 could be better used for higher priority items such as vehicle speed control at Champion Circle and Wood Creek Drive. I disagree with the proposed purchase and installation of proposed digital sign. Thanks for soliciting input, Susan and TA Miller, 19 Champion Circle, Wood Creek TX. Totally against the digital Wood Creek sign. Seems to go against our dark skies designation and unnecessary use of tax funds. Jill Carter, I'm not in favor of the digital sign. I think it looks like something you'd see in a school or commercial setting. It's completely out of place for a residential neighborhood. The temporary signs being used currently don't look great, but they are less offensive than a permanent sign. Anyone who is interested can get the unnecessary information from the current signage being used. Also, not sure this is a good use of tax dollars. Regarding the comment about the Baptist church line that would be inappropriate on so on many levels, so I'm happy that was not approved. Thanks for reaching out to the community for their feedback. Vicki Sierra, hello. I'm submitting my opposition to a digital site at the entrance of Woodgrrief. Thanks, Jennifer Zavaletta. Oh, I am very supportive of you guys, but to me, replacing a sandwich board isn't a compelling enough reason to spend $27,000 on a permanent electric. It says seven fixture. I think that's a title. Frankly, the mockups looks tacky. Secondly, if you put into place, I wouldn't be surprised if you experience fairly frequent vandalism and defacement from those sympathetic with the old ways. Honestly, my first thought was of Christy Nan's luxury jet, an extravagance that doesn't allow me to take an objective. Good luck with best interest.

Jim O'Neal. Wake Creek is an analog kind of place from Steve Conger.

Hello. Please do not spend $27,000 on electric signage. There are other ways to spend this money or even save it for important essential projects down the road. Down the road. Thanks, Desiree. 16 from Trade. Hi, Chris. As a property owner and resident of Wood Creek, my vote is a resounding note for the entrance marquee sign. There's no need the community has for it. It's money wasted on flashy nonsense. Thank you for asking, Stephanie Dean. These have a very commercial appearance, like a bank advertisement for a new car loan, right? I find them in congruent with the natural feel of the entrance to the city. That might be important to review how many times signage excluding drought restrictions and scheduled meetings actually require it. It would be the most direct way to get information to citizens during an emergency. Oh, it would not be the most direct way. My preference is a no without very compelling data. Karen Duncan, I'm not going to read her phone number. Lana, I totally I am totally against the city of Wood Creek spending our hardearned tax dollars on an unnecessary light at neon sign at the Wood Creek entrance. The last thing we need is a big lit sign that will blind us, obscure our vision, and possibly cause us to have an accident as we make our way through our neighborhood at nighttime. The city mentioned the cost and of the sign, but not the cost of the long-term maintenance of it. This is just an unnecessary eyesore. That is a ridiculous idea. I have never seen such a fun at the entrance of a neighborhood. Also, aren't we living in a dark skies community? Should we even be discussing this topic? Thank you for your efforts to support our community. Diane Castillo, interesting that the city is considering a sign that they denied the Baptist church putting in the ETK. Okay. Dear Mayor, uh, sorry, this Okay, here's where it starts. Dear mayor and council members, first of all, I thank you to Chris for giving residents an opportunity to weigh in on this matter and for making it easy. For various reasons, few of us have come to council meetings to speak to issues, but this is a good way for our city to give all of us a chance to give input. I'm definitely positively beyond any shadow of a doubt totally and completely against having digital signs of entrance in Wood Creek. It isn't the money. I would be against it if it were offered to our city for free. I'm blanking this minute on what used to be just tagline, but it was something like keep Wood

Creek Wood Creek. Many of us moved here for the small community feeling of Wood Creek and Wimberly. It is a slippery slope to completely changing that character one improvement at a time. I believe one of the last things Wood Creek needs is a digital sign. Let's not contribute to making wreath memberly into another pile or dripping springs or San Marcus or New Bronze Wolf. Those are all all used to be charming communities. As always is to say our thank you to each of you. Emma and Davenport 35 Berg Meadow. I don't believe this is part of our public comment, but I'm going to read it. PS, I wonder if things like this could be included in a city email. I used to see Next Door every day. However, it changed to include so many surrounding communities that I opted out of getting Next Door notices. I know that others have done the same. It started out as a community bulletin board but seems to have morphed into something else. I vote yes to spending money for a way for Wood Creek to communicate just like Wood Creek. It is luck that I have been upon this notice again. Thank you Chris. I vote no to digital sign Harry satellite. Dear city council members, I'm writing a concerned resident regarding proposal to purchase a 27,588 lighted monument R key for the entrance of our city. I understand the desire to promote community events and create a welcoming entrance. I strongly feel that this type of signage does not reflect the character of our small Hill Country community. Our town's charm comes from its natural beauty, simplicity, and authenticity. A large illuminated monument marquee feels more in line with a larger urban style of development. Does not represent the traditional Hill Country aesthetic that many of us value and work hard to preserve. Additionally, many residents are concerned about the cost at a time when our city must be mindful of budgeting and prioritizing essential services and infrastructure. Spending $27,588 of taxpayer money on a feature like this seems unnecessary. Those funds can be better directed towards the needs of our community rather than non-essential enhancements. Many of us choose to live here because not a large plan city like Austin. We appreciate the small town atmosphere and the character that makes our community unique. Projects like this moving us away from that identity. I respectfully ask the council to reconsider this purchase and focus on investments that address the real needs of our residents while preserving the character of our Hill Country town.

Thank you for your time and for your service to our community. Amy Montgomery, public work lane, Woodpick, Texas 7860. Good evening, team Wood Creek. First of all, I've always been in support of you and your ideas. I'm so incredibly grateful for all of your time, effort, and support for our community. So, thank you. Regarding the sign, thank you for giving us the opportunity to give you our thoughts. I'm actually not in favor of the proposed sign. I think so think it takes away too much of a small charming town vibe. Having said this, I do think we need a permanent option. My favorite option would be a message board. I have a link here for what I mean. Included our photos I will pass around. I truly would rather keep this sleepy and put more into community events or a pool. JK kind of. I hope the information you receive from all of us will be helpful and not hurtful. Respectfully, Molly Gamora by Traant Trace. I will not be reading her phone number. Hi, my husband and I are Wood Creek residents and opposed to digital sign. Thank you for the opportunity and voice our opinion. Thanks again. Jennifer Robert Lewis, 109 Augusta Lane. Dear city council, I'm writing to formally express my opposition to the pro proposed installation of a digital sign in our neighborhood. As a resident Augusta Drive, I have several concerns regarding this project, specifically relating to impact on the character and aesthetic of Wood Creek. I believe that a digital sign is not in keeping with the aesthetic of our community and may negatively impact the quality of life for local residents. We are not a mall or a drive-in movie theater. It is a neighborhood, not an event center. Digital signs tend to look tacky. I kindly request that you take these concerns into consideration during this decision-making pro process. Thank you for your time and for your dedication to our community. Best regards, David Jacobson. Dear Chris, to council's credit, I appreciate the attempt to improve upon the unattractive sandwich for sign at the entrance of Wood Creek. Though I think that you've really made a wrong turn. Instead of improving the concept, it is now at the far end of the continuum of poor taste. Not only is it an unattractive sign, the cost is outrageously expensive. Please re-evaluate your design and tamp down the need for flash. Perhaps then you

would garner more support from the citizens. If we have to have a sign, go back to the drawing board and design something in more in line with the aesthetics of the intrigue into our quiet community. Thank you, Marilyn Wilson. Dear Mayor Hines, thank you for the opportunity to voice our opinion about the lighted sign project. Richard and I both feel that a sign such as this is unnecessary. The design would not blend into our rustic rural neighborhood setting. It is too expensive. money could be used to address other significant needs. In the lighting sign, we contribute to more night lighting in opposition to our efforts to be dark sky community. I do think the idea of a versatile permanent sign is good. I envision a sign that might look like one entrance to a national park. Wooden, rustic, and compatible with nature. Thank you, Richard and Judy Newton. Please read the following during public comments at the city meeting. Thank you. I object strongly to the purchase and placement of an electric sign in the entrance or for that matter in any area of Wood Creek. The $27,000 cost is unnecessary for an electronic sign and be used in better ways for our city. For example, beautifification and improvements. One such improvement would be to widen the road and add other safety features for the hill just past city hall. I have long been concerned that someday will die on that stretch of our roads. This applies to autos and the pedestrians who dare to walk there. sure there were any other improvements needed that would provide safety and security to the citizens of Wood Creek. Ask and I am sure our citizens will let you know. And lastly, I've always been proud to live in an area that respects dark skies. When all the lights are off, the beauty of the hill skies is amazing. Suzanne Gordon, 38 Kingman Creek. Dear city council, I'm opposed to a digital sign. I would like to share my concerns regarding the proposal to install a digital sign at the entrance of our neighborhood. While I understand the current footboard is not ideal, I do not think the solution would be a digital sign. The initial cost of the digital sign is significantly higher than a traditional neighborhood sign or bulletin board and will incur ongoing maintenance software and electricity costs. I think there are more valuable ways to spend $27,000 within this community. Longevity of a digital display 7 to 10 years before needing significant repairs or upgrades should be should also be a warning against

this. For my family, more than the cost consideration is the impact to our community's aesthetic. the type of electronic display will change the visual character of our neighborhood entrance and will feel like commercial advertising rather than a natural beautiful residential community. In addition, none of the surrounding neighbors neighborhoods have digital signs of their entrances and I think that installing one would make our neighborhood stand out in a negative way. If the problem you are trying to solve is ensuring that all residents have timely information, I would ask that you share data that reflects that residents do not feel that way. I think the information shared on the clipboard while antiquated I understand and digitally and digitally via newsletter and social media have been sufficient for my family. Thank you for considering this concern. Fast Claire Palmer, I am opposed to having a digital sign in our community. The $27,000 price tag could be better used within Wood Creek. Sher Dawson, vote no on digital sign. Dorothy Harris, I don't think we need to spend tax money on the sign. Susan Sison. Dear city council members, this correspondence is in response to the proposal to install digital assignment of entrance to Wood Creek. To start, I have not spoken to one person who speaks favorably of having a digital sign installed at one or multiple entrances. Many people I've spoken with are concerned with digital signage being a blemish on our tranquil entrance as well as being a distraction to drivers in an already congested intersection. Concerns about a digital sign of wood information consumption and distraction to drivers. Not everyone is able to quickly read and comprehend information from signage while driving a vehicle, especially some as to scroll a long message. There will be some drivers who need to significantly slow down and perhaps stop in order to read signage that contains more than four or five words of information. Digital signs divert drivers attention away from the road, increasing the likelihood of accidents. Studies indicate that drivers need to focus on digital signs longer than the static ones, thus impairing their driving ability. In case of emergency, a digital sign is probably the least effective way to distribute information because you would have to be driving around to see it. is more time effective to provide information to residents via email, text, and or

automated phone calls. Potential contribution to vehicle crash risk and traffic backups. When entering W Creek from Ranch Road 12, there are only a few yards on W Creek Drive before drivers reach intersections for deal drive and Champion Circle. There is a real risk of drivers being distracted while trying to read the contents displayed on displayed on a digital sign when their main focus should be on the traffic in front and behind of them. Cars learn slow digital sign could have an adverse effect on traffic attempting to enter the community. Cars could be stuck on Range Road 12 when trying to turn into the community and get in delayed by other drivers slowing down to read a digital sign. Aesthetic concerns. Currently, our entrance conveys a lot about our community. When turning into the neighborhood, we are greeted with trees and grass and the occasional deer. A welcoming and calming oasis from big city life. We are small community. Many have moved here have been people looking for peace and quiet and escape from big city vibes like noise, light pollution, blinking signs, etc. There are four access points into Wood Creek. Placing a plane at Rach 12 entrance would not substantially guarantee the distribution of important information to everyone who lives in Wood Creek. Environmental concerns. We are a Doug Sky community. A digital sign would unnecessarily contribute to light pollution. If the sign is programmed to turn off when it gets dark, there are residents who might not get home in time to see the message. In summary, we are a small community and there already exists multiple ways to communicate important information to all who live in W Creek. Digital sign simply does not provide a better and more cost effective method to convey important information to all residents. And if the information is not that important, there is no need for a digital sign anyway. If additional contact information is not available for residents to make the current contact methods most effective, perhaps find better ways to get the contact information needed. I'm sure that there are better uses for our tax dollars respectively to Hampaw Sicklewood Creek resident. That's all the written comments I have for this portion of the meeting. Thank you for entertaining that. Um, I understand it was a little outside of our norms, but that's because we could not possibly sort through all those to determine which were intended to be read and much more. So, we didn't want anyone's voice silenced or any concerns about mayor. Um, I think you may have a career as an

I'll take that under consideration. You got a guy so low. I might not All right, we're going to move into the written or uh sorry, any person public comments. Um, some people have designated to speak at certain items at this point in time. I do not see anyone who's wanting to speak in open comment except for Betty Bernette at the end of the list.

Yeah, I'm sorry. It says four or 12. Oh, before I need to learn how to read the sheet. Okay. Sorry, we have a lot of work. My apologies. Lydia John, throw up first. Okay, I'm not going to beat a dead horse. Thank you all for everything you do. I know this isn't an easy job. I've been on plenty of things like that. I really want to talk to you about wants and needs. You know, I had to teach my kids that. And they could not. And they were really good people about learning about student wants and needs. I think this digital sign is a launch rather than a need. We've got a lot of needs in this community that need to be addressed. And I don't see I'm not going to beat the dead horse with all the comments that were made because I think there were a lot of good comments. I mean, but I really want us to consider using that money to where things would really be and in this community drainage being one of them. You know, I've never had anybody get their house on a digital sign, but you know, water coming in your house is a real problem. So not stay on that one number 12 the road down by sight up the hill and you go into what I call the long store. Um I probably could have made a big contribution to that project just in the front end alignments on my mark. I drive that thing at least once a day, if not twice or three times a day.

And that thing it's get worse. You know what a front end of lineup costs. Yeah. Plus tires. Anyway, I really support y'all moving forward with that. I know that it's been a long time coming. Um, but it would help a lot of people if it starts and I really want to support that. So, good news, bad news, no sign, but please do. We need that. So, it's not a want. Thank you very much. Uh, Miss Jenn,

well, we're talking about something. There is absolutely no place in this community for sign of that nature. And I have to wonder if the $30,000 that's mentioned in handed out is a clean $30,000 or it's just money sitting somewhere in an account that's already been allocated or spent on something else. I have to wonder about that. And um have you given any thought to the fact that a sign of this nature is a very appealing target for guns and people tearing it up and shooting it. So, I have to ask if you've given any thought to budgeting and uh the cost of this thing, a fund to keep it under repair and keep it working. And I doubt that. So, I'm just here to say that. Well, I guess tacky people like tacky things. Good luck,

Mr. Brent P. Thanks for saying you hear I'm speaking on items number 12 and number four. Uh there's plenty of folks here I think are going to probably be a lot more helpful than I am about that road because they live down there but it's fine road. Everybody knows that we have worked for years with stakeholders, you know, to get an agreement to do it and we've got that close. We got one stakeholder that's holding out. They're still holding out. So unfortunately the next step in any business situation when people are recalcitrant about want to want to change their minds you got to take the next step go to take legal action and I think you got to here and that's just a part of business it's part of our business process our constitutional process and I think it's fair and right and it's time to do that and I think our community demands it for for our safety and for the integrity of our roads. So I'm all in favor of that. understand that just because you start litigation a lot of times that open up more avenues for resolution fact about 80% probably or 70% of cases probably resolve uh during the course of litigation so I I encourage you to go ahead and take that step uh today uh I want to talk briefly about the s folks know that you know I'm big defender of the hill country and that I was been on this you know I've been a city council person I've worked with countless matters to try to preserve our hill country but I up for a second. This is going to damage the hill country. I'll be the first one up here fighting it. But what I think this is kind of some clickbait rage sort of been generated because I thought it's going to be the size of a Greyhound bus out there. They're going to fold those are old signs and we're going to look like Las Vegas. And then I found out the sign's 4 foot high and then you found out that the sandwich board that's already out there is 3 ft high. So scale this thing is really diminish. The only question is are we going to keep putting letters on

the sandwich board that that people you know trying to read or can we do this digitally also found this is compliant. Uh we can dim it at night if we need to. Uh we can turn it off at night if we need to. And I I don't think that's going to destroy the Hill Country. I I think it's a good common sense next step for us to do. And again, if it was going to damage the Hill Country, I'd be the first person senator to oppose it. So I think you may change the u look at the design look at the cost but I think you want to go forward. So thank all right Mr. Ed Fleming

mayor and council member thank you for your time and I just got a good idea what y'all do for a living. Uh I'm I'm president of the uh Cypress Point Property Duners Association and I have the president an ex-president with me tonight, Jan. I've submitted letters uh from our ex uh two ex-presidents, Mason me and Bill Shield, who is also mayor down here in support that I've given to Mayor Deborah for use in the hearing later today. We had our annual meeting uh last Sunday and by overwhelming uh vote no negative. So they urged me to a resolution to urge y'all please let's take the next step. We have right on our side. We certainly have attorney I've talked to see think we have the perfect right at the easement to get this thing done. And uh along with what Lydia said, you know, we call Ukraine Road,

but anyhow, we urge you to get that done. U we live in in Wood Creek is in the city limits of of the city of Cypress Points in the city limits of Wood Creek. uh our road street going through there Cypress Point as a city of Wood Creek Street and we just need to get linked up with the with the main system. It's a real hazard. We've all seen and heard near accidents down there. A couple of us that have assisted people who had one I did with a bicycle in one of those potholes.

It would have killed me in my old age young walked off. But anyhow, we urge you all to uh just go forth and have our support and we hope that we can just leave these RTC days. Community was bifocated with foreclosures and auctioning off to various people and to work together for a better community and we certainly want to do that. Um and I just yield my time to my folks that I have here in support of that motion. that sort of cut. Okay. 46.

Jan Coburn. Yes. Jan Coburn is next. Jan is has been in Wood for a long time and it's an exresident of our association.

My husband and I believe in Woodrove in 2006. Our home was on champion circle at that time. We discovered Cypress Point when we were walking one day and fell in love with it. Uh we have been uh we have been seeing so much done in our neighborhood to improve it by Jamaica driving to people who want to live there. However, the current weather conditions leading to Cypress Point are dangerous and are a deterrent to visitors and to ourselves. I actually have friends that have said, "We'd love to go and see you, but we don't want to drive on those roads." We respectfully ask you to do what it takes to get these roads repaired to get

right, Mr. Todd Rawlings. Oh, I handed out some uh concepts to clarify what the sign could look like instead of the example that was provided on social media. Um, my name is Pat Rawlings. My wife and I have lived here nine years and have owned three homes in Wood Creek. I volunteered on the Citizens Emergency Management Advisory Committee, CMAC, the Comprehensive Planning Committee, the Wood Creek Parks Board as chair, and currently on the Planning and Zoning Commission. Initially, I was pretty negative on the example of a digital sign posted on social media. After talking to the manufacturer, I learned that it didn't have to look like the strip mall ad depicted in the provided example and that it could be made very compliant to dark sky guidelines. First, the sign needs to be a reflection of the natural beauty of the city. I'm submitting, which I gave you guys copies, a slightly altered version of the sign with colors that would blend into the landscape and tight display an easyto- read format. By using careful graphic guidelines, this sign could be an enhancement to the city. I've been a graphic artist and illustrator for NASA and could help establish this. I if the digital sign would replace the hard to update flea market style sandwich board that we currently use. Updating the sandwich board is not without cost and it has been damaged beyond repair a couple of times. I do believe the cost for this is about half the original budget line item estimate and is a very fair price for a two-sided sign which you can see coming and going. It is a capital improvement which has a value which can be advertised over 10 years at least. The second concern is how digital

sign might disrupt our dark skies by reducing the illumination levels and through the careful use of colors. This would no longer be a concern. Red light, for instance, has lower impact on night vision and is the reason why battle stations on submarines use red lighting. Wood Creek already has several LED displays on speed cameras that do not affect the night sky or driving. The software in the digital science SM Infiniti allows you to program the brightness levels on an hourby- hour basis. In closing, I do believe the concerns that you have heard are driven by misleading graph the misleading graphic concept that was released without any clarification. I learned on the parks board that folks that disagreed were usually much more vocal than those that supported the plans and that once the project was complete, most people appreciated the end result. A third factor to consider is the instant updating of critical emergency information such as tornado hail and severe storm warnings. Only about a third of our citizens are subscribed to city or credible emergency alerts and many citizens have phones that do not text. We've had more than our fair share of drastic weather events in the last few years. The software on this sign can be linked to the federal iP without requiring the city to manually enter it. I strongly encourage you to support the installation of a digital sign for our city that is consistent with the goals of protecting the people in our community while also blending in with the natural landscape. H I believe you got one more. I meant that before. I thought it was during the meeting. Um but Betty Bern, you said

before meeting, right? I did, but I'm asking to let everybody go on the topic to be mostly the sign of the road because my topic's a little different. So if you want to put me at the end, I'd be fine with that. Oh, no, not at the end. That's fine. Go ahead. All right. Thank you. I just want to offer that. No, you have very beautiful writing. I don't know why I had a hard time reading. No problem. Thank you. And I have three minutes. Is that correct?

Yes. Yeah. Okay. I have a public record sign request which I'm going to hand right now to this cherry. Um I live at two Champion Circle and I want to thank um the mayor Deborah and the city administrator Jim. They met with me, talked over the Fremont Turk project, and I do have to apologize because I was not aware of the work that was going on regarding storm water flow in the area until the crew came onto the property and we put up uh uh the pieces of information regarding this. So, I did a little bit of looking. I really um noticed in the information that was out um that the identification of my particular scientific corner of Champion Circle in Creek in the mapping that was done by Freeman and Kirk, it does not show it as being in a flood hazard area. It shows it as a property of drainage concern. And I learned from the mayor that is largely due to the prior owner of the property who is quite concerned, I guess, about a lot of ponding on the site. I don't have a problem with that. I have 59 oak trees that are in the front yard. This project, we're talking about a $12,000 sign. This project is $400,000 to drain water from my site. That's a lot of money. And the city hasn't helped yet. how to pay for that. I also took a look at the USGS information that's available online and um the site is not identified in USGS as um being a flood hazard. Probably not. Just hand you that. So you can circulate that. Um, I took a look back into the 2016 and 22 2022 comprehensive planning documents that were done by the city and there were tons of resident comments. This is a very active community. Y'all should be

very proud of yourselves for being out here talking about all the states. There was only one comment that dealt with rural raft 12 and Wood Creek Drive. And basically what it said was that the the city of Oaki could be used as a dog park because of how much water it collects in storm. The water on my site runs off very quickly already. Although there could be some work done on the drainage on the city property and it will probably help. But $400,000 a lot of money to pay for that. But is essentially just expanding the existing little squal that goes through there. I it has found it very very expensive. I know the community is extremely concerned on watching my time regarding flooding largely due to the 2015 events, but I just wanted to point out the USGS and the flood data. Um a 10ear storm on Creek is a 34,000 um number for cubic feet per second. the only data available even close to us is less than a quarter of that for our area in that location.

So, I want to point those things out. All right, we're going to move from public comment into the consent agenda and entertain a motion that we accept agenda would be accepted.

So you would like to move item four into the regular agenda. Is there a second of moving item four into the regular agenda? Hearing no second and we'll remain in the consent agenda. Is there a motion to pass the consent agenda items 1 through six? So, uh, we need a motion. Make a motion. Motion by Linda Sber to approve the consent agenda items 1 through six. Seconded by council member Rosco. We'll do a show of hands vote. All in favor raise your hands and say I.

So three eyes and nay one nay. If you have questions about that item I'm happy to be with you outside. I didn't know if research. Okay. Um reports from officers or city administ report

real quick. Sheriff report. Um he's basically writing tickets for the movie violations give warning on pretty much everything else but continues to make comments about how effective uh traffic bombing uh code enforcement uh we only needed two letters in the month of February there's one unresolved state so those efforts are paying failed dividends engineering updates real quick. The Champions Court turnound um for the most part it's complete. I have a walk through schedule Friday with the engineers and the um the contractor. Um there has been brought up the possible need for no parking signs or maybe some striking over there to try to keep people parking. they park there. So, I'll look into that. Um, we're working on a price the bid the quote for the ADA improvements along with the striping here at the the parking here at city hall. One thing I've asked him to do that I will bring back to council is um potentially doing the seal coat that we plan to do on all the other roads. As you can see, the parking lot here, it was done um when we redid the roads, they sealed and restriped it, but it's obviously not that good stuff that real Turk was telling us about for the roads. So, I'm asking to give me a quote on that to red do that when we do the whole project. I'll bring that back to consideration. Um the master plan, drainage master plan, they've completed the surveys of the five areas. Um they anticipate end of April hopefully for final deliverable with the presentation in May.

The council um the pedestrian bridge feasibility I just received a copy of it today. I have yet to review it and see um but I will get in I'll get in touch with Fre Kirk to um coordinate a time for um presentation by then that coincides you know with at the appropriate time um that's that that's engineering updates city hall updates uh the park gustoa park and playground the parking concrete areas are complete. They still need to be striped and some finished grading to do at Augusta Park along with moving a couple of the items park but it that's almost almost done. The weather's kind of held up our tracking. Um the missions and radar signs for the safety enhancement program um hopefully will be complete in the next couple of days. So, if you've noticed, there's polls that have been set the last couple of days. Um, and so that that will be wrapped up here shortly. Um, and we we received many many compliments about music in the park.

So, kudos to all those involved with that. And one last announcement, effective March 30th, we're going to change city hall office hours. We're going to start opening up at 9:00 Monday through Friday

uh to give those who need the extra time. 10 to 4 sometimes is restricted. So, we're going to switch 9 to 4 Monday through Thursday and then 9 to1 on Friday. That'll be effective March 30th. And we'll send out some notices on helping out that actually we're going to be open an extra two hours a month or a week now with that and staff is on board with that. So they're vulnerable. So that's that. May

I have a comment? It actually is more to the financials, but I wanted to know that when uh city administr put together, he's now showing our revenue and expense online. The first quarter I I went through the report, namely an ex accountant. I made 18 questions about things. I didn't force anyone to get those done. But the first time I met with Mr. Britain, he had answers to all of those questions. Um, and some of them were just little corrections. Usually you don't like to see a negative in your remaining balance. That means something's off. So now in our new report, February, it's clean. There are no there's two negatives that he explained. I've compared it to other cities and now we have some of the most accurate and and detailed accounting. All right,

we are going to move into the regular agenda. You'll notice we had a public hearing scheduled for item one. We will not be able to hold that today as paper miss publishing ad sent in by grant work. So we have confirmation that grant work sent the ad, did everything they were supposed to and unfortunately it was just a small oversight from the newspaper. But that means we can't hold the public hearing. We are going to move into item two, the public update on Aqua, Texas rate case provided by Lauren Ice Legal Council representing the city of Wood Creek in this matter. Miss David, did you want to speak first?

Yeah. Yeah. Thank you, Mayor Council. And uh u Yeah. I also wanted to offer to come back and do presentation on the Blanco Cypress wershed protection plan. Um we you know the council is um is is an ILA with the city of Wimblely Meadows Wood Creek Association uh and his county and we invest in close to 400,000 in that program so far over the last two years and u I know I did preservation last year but I'd like to go back and give you the full financial picture on Denver but I'm here to talk about the aqua rate hikes And uh I'm David Baker, the the founder, executive director of the Wershed Association. Lauren have been we've worked together for over 20 years. And you know, Aqua is trying to raise the rates, you know, 42% on wastewater, 18% on water. And that is a burden for families, small businesses, and folks on uh fixed incomes. And what we're what we're doing is trying to look and see what you know these are very technical processes and there are hundreds of thousands of invoices and there's there's accountants and lawyers engineers and and so it's hard for the public to participate in these processes and then PC often just kind of rub it bad whatever the company says. So, we hired Lauren and and we had expert witnesses, expert uh financial people and they were able last year to get a refund by going through this information of 4.9 million. You all probably saw a little credit of Aqua that was because we fought that case and Lauren won that case. So um we're now having a conference rate you know's going to tell

you more about the details of that but the the outcome is important. We we do not want you all to be burdened with uh costs that are not legitimate and there not really a lot of transparency in this. So we're there this process and what Lauren's doing and our experts just ensure the transparency of the process to verify that these infrastructure expenses are being passed to rate payers are appropriate and the and uh to challenge expenses that may not be reasonable and to protect the people and ultimately that pay the bills fuel. And so we believe this process is it's uh complex and and Haste County is also a intervening and but we're covered the cost of this. This is almost 350,000 spent already. We may have to spend that much to get to the end, but that's no cost to the city. It's uh something we're we we're fundraising for. And uh and I think this partnership between the city uh Wimberly, Wood Creek, Ace County on the water wastewater uh infrastructure initiated by LA. We need to ultimately take control somehow of our own water and these processes are really hold them accountable and for us to really plan for our future and keep that money in the community that uh so um Lawrence and to tell you more about that. But u I thank the mayor and the council for their leadership on this. It's not easy to stand up to a multi-billion dollar corporation that's about ready to become an even bigger corporation with the mer with American water. They will be a $50 billion company instead of a 10 billion.

So, we need to hold their feet to the fire and uh that's what we're doing and and thank you guys for for participating that. and we'll do our part and thank Lauren and her her team of experts for for standing out to uh this this big company. So, thank you all. Thank you, David.

All right. As David said, my name is Lauren Ice. I'm an attorney with the law firm for all day and I I'm special. I love this case. I'm not the tribal law attorney. Um, so we're just working on this case and I'm representing in the rate making case um, as they said the wershed association, the city of Wood Creek and Haze County. So alto together we're we've intervened. Um, many of y'all know at this point that Aqua has applied to increase rates, water rates and sewer rates. As David mentioned, the average rate increase is going to be about in in this part of the state is going to be about 18% for the average user in water rates and 42% for uh wastewater rates. Um the last time I was here, well, let's let me back up and say this is the application. If you're a customer, you would have received notice sometime in July or June 2025, going over last year, getting that big packet in the mail. So we have been spending the months since then with all the other interviewers, other parties in the case reviewing all the information, exchanging information with Aqua and with other parties in the case just trying to understand the basis for this proposed rate increase, right? Um so the last time I was here, we just talked about how Aqua had submitted their application with that application. They submit testimony from their expert witnesses. So, any individual who's going to support the application, they're going to have to testify live at a hearing. So, when I say expert witnesses, that's who I'm referring to. Um, since then, we have had the opportunity to submit testimony from our expert witness. The PUC staff has also had the opportunity to submit expert testimony from their witnesses. They have several. Uh, OPC, which stands for the Office of Public Utility Council, has also submitted expert testimony. and some of the other parties to the case. Other interveners have submitted expert testimony or statements of position. So, at this point, we kind of now have a good idea of what the various parties positions are going to be. though I will

point out um we're kind of in a real exciting time uh in the case or exciting to me anyway that we uh we will be getting it's called rebuttal testimony. So we'll see a witnesses respond to our testimony on March 20th. We also have the opportunity to submit more testimony at that time as do the other interveners and parties because we get to respond as sort of what the other interveners and what the staff have said um as well. So there will be more testimony that comes out on March 20th. I just want to make sure folks are aware of that. But to um today I I want to just kind of highlight or summarize for everybody what the different parties positions are so far. Um our experts and the expert for OPC for the for the general public at large recommend actually returning the application to Aqua. denied the requested rate increase for trying the application and um and that would effectively, you know, deny the rate increase that they've asked for right now. To be clear, our expert has so far found two main problems that I can talk about with y'all um here publicly and I want to kind of lay out what those are. If y'all look at your bills right now, you'll see that fixed charge. That's the charge that doesn't change monthtomonth. And then you'll see a volutric charge and that's the charge that changes depending on how much water you might use. Um, our expert and the expert for OPAC have determined that with the new weight increase, Aqua is proposing to put way more of their expenses in that fixed charge than it's justified. meaning y'all would not have as much control over what your you know what your goals would look like um as we think is appropriate under the rules and the way this think this this um the bra structure is supposed to work. Um the other um big error that our um expert

found is that they actually are not assigning the true cost of service to water to water users. if they were to assign the true cost of service to you as a water user, that rate base, that fixed charge would go down even more. Um, so those are two really big errors that I think the public should know about that we are going to be raising in the hearing and that could have a really big impact on water bills even if the rate gets approved. But as I said, our position is that the application itself just needs to be returned because it's really difficult as David was mentioning of parsing through an application that's been put together the way Aqua has put theirs together and determining actually we were going to make these adjustments. What would the rights be? We actually can't determine that in any reliable way at this time. So that's one way to turn the position that it should just be returned and if Aqua wants to do a better job they they're welcome to do a better job but that's that's um also importantly the staff filed testimony their testimony also recommends adjusting Aqua's proposed rates downward. Um it's not as significant as it's not they're not saying that they should return it but they are recommending you adjust it downward. I do want to point out that the staff did a little bit of a different analysis than we did and um and as I mentioned we still have more testimony. I think that's going to help from staff and that's just part of their going to be. So overall I think the analysis shows that what all the other parties have done is that um the rates should be lower if the rates are approved at all. I'm optimistic that a judge in this case will see it the same way. I'm optimistic that the public utility commission will see it the same way. Um but of course we're still developing the case. I can't make any promises for the ultimate decision makers and they have control right. Um so I want to talk a little bit about the the status of the proceedings where we are right now and just um I want to talk about something that that I think a lot

of people it's on a lot of people's minds called this effective date. Folks may have remembered hearing about the effective date. At one point the effective date was July last year. it was extended again. Um the effective date was March 9th. So it was just earlier this week. What the effective date is is actually ostensibly in these rate cases the utilities if the rate is not approved and it's not final or going through a hearing and it's not going to be final for a while. Ostensibly, the proceedings allow for utilities to start charging their proposed rates or some kind of rate increase during the proceedings because the idea is is that if they're asking for a rate increase, they must need it to continue to provide service to water sewer customers, right? We don't want to unfairly put a utilities in a position where they're disincentivized for making investments and providing good service to you guys. So, that is a rule that exists. um there's not much we can do about that and so in this case the effective date was March 9th. What we can do something about though and what we did is we went to the public utility commission and staff led the charge on this and thank goodness they did and asked for the rate if they are going to start charging rates early on the effective date. We asked for those to be what are called interim rates, which means that if we get to the very end of the proceeding and the obligation is denied or their rates are sent lower than what Aqua has asked for, then Aqua customers will be refunded or credited for anything they've been overcharged to date. So, just like we got in the SIC case, you rece when you've got that um credit on your bill, if we get what we want in this case, you might start seeing charges on your bill as early as next month. But if we get what we want, those those overcharges would be credited or refunded to you when the case is over. Um, and I want to talk about how long we think that's going to be that the case

is going to go last from here on out. So, in the next few weeks, we're filing the rest of our testimony. we have a little bit more opportunity to do some more discovery. So, we're basically just going to be exchanging information for a few more weeks and getting ready for our hearing on the merits. This is like a bench trial if you've ever, you know, seen a TV show. We don't have a jury. It's not going to be that exciting. It's exciting to me. Good exciting to y'all, but um but we're going to have some some judges, some administrative law judges, and it's going to be our opportunity to cross-examine witnesses on the stand under oath and ask them the basis for their opinions. That hearing on the merits is going to be Tuesday, April 21st through Thursday, April 23rd. It is a public proceeding. It'll be online and so you can attend and you can watch. If you'd like to watch, if you want to tune in at any part of the day or tune out, you can. We will ask the judge to put it on u the the state office of administrative hearings YouTube channel. That'll make it really easy for the public to watch it without your face showing up on Zoom and you feeling like you have to keep your eyes open the whole time. Um, so we're going to ask for that. We I can't guarantee that she will grant that request, but often they do. And if she does, I'll pass that link that information along to David and to the mayor so that they can disseminate that to the to the public that I can watch. Um, following the hearing on the merits, I can get into the detail, the nitty-gritty with y'all, but basically following the hearing on the merits, we have an opportunity to then brief, you know, the evidence that we heard. We'll get to make arguments about why do we think the judge should go with us. Um the judge will take about 60 days to then issue what's called a proposal for decision and that will be the judge's recommendation back to our public utility commissioners and then the commissioners usually take about another month to set a meeting and it won't be until that meeting that we'll get a final decision as to whether office rates have been approved or adjusted or

deied altogether. So, if I were to do the best math I could do, I estimate that we could get a final commission order sometime around the first week of October of this year. So, that is when I, you know, I would start to look out for what that final decision might be. And I will come back and give another update well before, but maybe not for the hearing. It'll be really um we'll be really busy between now and then. Um yeah, so I think that's my that's basically my I'm happy to answer questions from the council. Anybody? Um, one. Yes. You said staff and um I assumed it was the public facility commission when you were talking about they also agreed the rates should come down and then I realized you might have been talking about aqua. So which one was it?

No, it wasn't a it was they did actually agree that they should come down a little bit but not not significantly in any way. But yes, the public utility commission staff staff recommended that the rates should be lower. Any other questions?

One question that is something that's bothered me a lot. Um, so you have the fixed cost and then you have the volumetric and so we got the water now but wastewater they don't have a way to measure that. So it's basically just a estimate chart. I mean has that been a big part of the conversation or I mean they're not going to put in meters on our wastewater system. They're not going to come house to house and put meters on so they can actually get a reading like they can't brought this water in go out. So, and that's always been a little problematic since we hear it work so hard to conserve.

And I bet you that a large number of the people in this room have buckets in their shower and their kitchen sink and and everywhere. So, and rainwater barrels and anything else I think. So, anyway, I just something I've been been talking to Aqua about and and everybody else to elicit and I just I wonder if that's even consider or just like it's just so far down the road that no one could to deal with it or

my understanding is there are industry sort of accepted norms in how to you know allow one to calculate waste water based on water use. Um it's not been something that we've looked real closely that I think that we've looked real closely at in terms of the testimony but there's not a lot of testimony about it. That doesn't mean there can't be. So we could talk issue. Any other comments?

All right. Thank you so much. What you said is very important and thank you Mr. Baker as well. Uh we do have an executive session later in the meeting. So I wanted to not release it. Um and that's when we'll kind of dive a little deeper. Um we're going to move into item number three now. Um, this is discussed and possible action to increase the expenditure for final work for fourth July. Thank y'all. Appreciate y'all. Thank

All right. Uh, do I have a motion from council to adjust the expenditures for the 4th of July fireworks? I move that we increase the expend work for the 4th of July 2026 at the DFW not to exceed $4,000 from budget line item 10 10 5313 other operating expenses in celebration of the 250th anniversary of the United States of America. Second. All right. Motion made by council member Rasco, seconded by council member Richardson.

Richardson. Um, just to introduce this because I I council not really privy to this and this came directly from me. Essentially, Tim Kemper from the BFW um in preparation for this event got with us and let us know that fireworks costs have gone up this year for two reasons. one, it's the 250th anniversary of the United States, so they're in high demand. And then the second being all of the international stuff going on is highly impacting trade and fireworks um in large part aren't necessarily manufactured here or more importantly, the components come from somewhere else. So the cost has gone up and so that meant that to do the same show we've been doing, the price has gone up. So, this is our portion contributing to that massive event that occurs over there. And um we've been pretty committed to that in the past and we had allocated $3,000. So, this is a slight increase of about oneird or 33%.

We have production, sir. We have 4,000 budgeted in our budget. The request is to bump it up to five. Oh, that typo means we cannot do it. How did we miss that? So sorry.

Well, that means unfortunately we will not be able to proceed with this item. We'll postpone it to the next meeting then. Sorry about that, y'all. All right. expect that to come back up in April if we don't have to call a special meeting related to the item one that was postponed. Just a heads up on everyone that item one public hearing related to the Deerfield grant might require special meeting this month. We have not heard confirmation or denial that. All right, we'll move into item number four. We have more public comments. I get the joy of reading out loud to you all. And we have two people in person. Um, those in person, I would ask that you all speak first this time around. You've been waiting so patiently, Miss Carol.

You don't have to.

Okay. Good. Okay. Well, my name is Carol Le. We live at Lemon Palmer Lane right around the corner. And u I'm writing a response to the regular agenda item four on the meeting agenda for March 11th, 2026. opposed to the expenditure of 207 $27,000 for a lift sign on Woodruff Drive as a cars in the snip wood. I didn't put this but after Miss Rodette spoke I learned like wow $400,000 versus 27 okay I mean in your own home budget $400 versus 2700 oh $27 you know that's a kind of a comparison so but I'll continue I feel like the purpose of this sign is to inform Wood Creek residents of upcoming meeting upcoming events meetings and other information important to them. There are so many other ways to get that same information to residents. The first is email. I know that some residents do not want their mailboxes full of stuff, but the very stuff that the sign will post is always emailed in various boards. Often it is named Wood Creek news, usually from the city of Wood Creek. Email. The second kind of email is the Wood Creek update sent with a note from the mayor. upcoming events, holidays, and warnings. Then the third email is received from the city secretary Terry with important information about Wood Creek as a whole. Again, upcoming meetings and events planned by the CRC and often times they're in letter for how the email looks in the letter. The next way is texts. Uh you can sign up for texts from the city of Wood Creek office. Again, few few people want texts that are not from family or friends, but if you want the information,

then you got to get it somehow on the city of Wood Creek's website. And yes, you would have to remember to go there to get the information. Facebook, Wood Creek United Community, Raising Wimberly, Wimberly Events, Wimberly Community Forum, Cheryl Mills, the chairman of CRC, regularly post on these groups and more. And one of those events was just this past weekend which we got positive comments about for the music department. Then the Wimberly view if you take the newspaper and you should with prick events are are always in the newspaper radio program on Monday mornings KWV8 Wly Valley radio offer child citizens council members or committee members are there in person to talk about an event then the signs they are at the same entrance as the proposed new sign and usually at the triangle and other places in the city there's other signs that of And then the sandwich board, the white sandwich board at the front that serves as an announce closings, meetings, whatever it is. Each of the council members and so

thank you, Miss L. I'm so sorry, but we do have to No, no, no. That's why it run so fast earlier. It was like Okay. All right. Mr. Clint Schubert. Yes. Mayor B was on the road. Okay. Number 12. Okay. You wrote number four. So, sorry. I'm gonna, if you don't mind, I'm going to change that on this and Yes, sir. Okay. I appreciate it. Thank you. Okay.

Thank you all for your time. As I make those notes, uh, I have some letters to read. Attention, Mayor Deborah Hines, since you have already probably read the comments that Chris Card is reacting to on Next Door, I will submit my comments to you and the council members. I would like to have my comment read aloud and added to the record at the council meeting when the topic comes up as an agenda item. The city does not need to have a fullcolor digital sign at the entrance to Wood Creek. To me, it would be just like you were entering the strip in Las Vegas. It cheapens the residential look of our city. I wonder who had this idea in the first place and if it has been well thought through. I think not. The estimate costs for the sign are high and those funds should be used for other projects of which there are many that would better serve our citizens. The priority that is in touch with this proposed project should be at the very bottom of the list of priorities never to see the light of day again. It is my hope that this administration would use common sense, listen to your constituents, and drop the idea of this digital signing the entrance to Wood Creek for other projects that are more worthwhile. Eric C. Escalen, 184 Augusta Drive. Uh to be read aloud before item four of March 11th, 2026 council meeting agenda. I'm sorry I'm unable to attend tonight's meeting, so I'm writing in as a private citizen regarding the proposed illuminated digital sign at the entrance of the city of Wood Creek. I want to begin by expressing my appreciation for the city council's openness to explore creative solutions to the challenges facing our community. I believe that ideas should be explored and entertained rather than not discussed at all. Doing so can lead to solutions that may not otherwise have been considered. Over the past years, both council and city staff have worked tirelessly to expand communication with our citizens, helping them stay informed and engaged with city business. I see this proposed eliminated digital sign as a continuation of that commendable effort. However, I do not believe this particular solution is the right thing for wood to do. Preserving Wood Creek's character and charm. The comprehensive plan highlights the character and charm and rural setting of Wood Creek as defining feed valued by its citizens. This eliminated digital sign, however, and feels more appropriate for a corporate convention center or car dealership than for the entrance to a charming hill country neighborhood. As a main gateway to our city, this location deserves careful

consideration and protection regarding the aesthetics being placed at this location. Many people passing through residents and visitors alike from their first impression of woodreed gear form their first impression of woodreed gear. Does the moving colorful brightly lit digital sign convey the image we wish to project? I would say no it does not. Or does it risk adding visual clutter that competes with other important signage diminishing the impact of all messages at this intersection? Even the existing sandwich board which this sign would replace might hear a reevaluation. Given the time the city staff depends on these sandwich boards, perhaps they should could be done away with altogether and save staff time for other important tasks and a different solution regarding fiscal city communication should be considered perhaps in a more central location in the city. Ideally, this main entrance to our community should showcase our city's identity through the existing welcome to Wood Creek sign and the thoughtful landscaping and beautifification efforts already in place and maintained by our wonderful volunteers. These features alone should effectively convey the charming part of our community. Safety and visibility concerns. Traffic safety is paramount at this intersection. A colorful illuminated moving sign could distract drivers from essential traffic signals and signage. Furthermore, the location itself makes reading such a sign challenging as drivers entering the Highway 12 must first navigate the intersection safely. This raises the question, is this truly the best place to communicate city information to residents? Reaching our citizens effectively. We must consider whether the main entrance is the optimal location for reaching the majority of Wood Creek residents. Many residents, including myself, do not pass this entrance in daily travel, but physical signage can complement emails, text, and social media. We need to evaluate Well, their $27,000 illuminated digital sign represents the most effective investment to engage our community. The reality may need that only a portion of residents actively seek information about city business and those that are the ones who sign those are the ones who sign up for city texts or email notifications or follow city social media accounts or visit the city website. Perhaps that pretend to enjoy living their best lives without the information what the city is doing on their behalf. It's easy to simply enjoy your life here in Whit Creek. I understand that in an ideal world, the goal would be that information about city business would reach every resident. But I think it should be recognized that not every resident is

interested in such things, no matter how much effort is made to engage, and I do think the city's community events are one of the most effective ways the city uses to create civic engagement beyond the already existing ways the city shares information. Conclusion: I fully support the city's ongoing effort to expand civic engagement. However, I believe that this $27,000 illuminated digital sign is not the right solution. preserving the character of our community, maintaining driver safety at this intersection, and preserving the natural beauty of this main entrance to Wood Creek, which may include the possibility of removing or removing the sandwich board, and focusing resources on our outreach method outreach methods that already reach citizens should guide the city's decisions. Chris Kmer exchange for money

three. Uh we do not we did not move to the Wimberly Valley 40 years ago after living in Oh why we moved to the Wimberly Valley 40 years ago after living in Orange County working in Los Angeles for several years. We wanted to live and raise our young daughter in a quiet peaceful community. We packed and moved to Texas rented a small home in Austin and found a Wimberly Valley in Creek. We bought a home here and we never regretted making a choice. Gone were the bright lights of a congested city and a multitude of signs and selling and offering things we did not want. Here was a rural peaceful community. When res responding to the comprehensive plan survey, residents identified the five aspects of Wood Creek they value most in order. Natural beauty, peace and quiet, location, safety, and rural setting. This was not news. The residents had identified natural beauty and rural setting and character in previous vision plans. Why do we need a digital sign at the entrance of Wood Creek? The city has multiple avenues to inform its residents. the website, email bot, social media, and the non-obnoxious the not obnoxious sandwich board we now have. Our main interest has been improved through the years. It welcomes us with a park honoring our veterans, native plants, and majestic trees. And I believe a digital sign will affect the natural beauty of our interests. I've researched the use of digital signs find that it faces criticism for addressing non-existent problems. I believe that is relevant here since it will duplicate available methods of communication and there's strong debate about their necessity. Some cities have gone ahead with installation of such fines and billboards in spite of strong opposition from their citizens. which I hope that will not be the case here. Laura F. Lebron Leon 10 will encircle Wood Creek. Uh, check out this next door post. Not going to read the link. I do not want a digital sign at Wood Creek's entrance, which is garishly something that I would only expect in a large metropolitan city like Houston. We already have fourway lights there as it is and don't get any more light or visual pollution. Lou Joseph 21 Little Drive.

I believe you already did the next one. Amy Montgomery. Yes. Sorry. That concludes all of the public comments on the digital sign. I would entertain a motion on this item. Second. Um if for nothing else the purpose of conversation on this I'd like to move that city of Wood Creek purchase and install dark skies blind digital sign at the Wood Creek Drive and rent for 12 entrance at Memorial Plaza not to pay $30,000 from the capital expense budget line item allocated for this purpose. I second

motion made by council member Rasco seconded by council member Richardson for the digital sign. I would like to take a point of privilege real fast or would you like to explain the item? Um, you sure?

Well, I think that um there was a lot of confusion online due to the vagueness of the post made. I know that many comments tonight have um opposed it, but I do feel that opposition was unfortunately tainted by the lack of information. For example, many of them reference dark skies being a concern. It is a dark skies compliant sign. We did the due diligence to ensure we would not be promoting anything otherwise. Our city is heavily committed to that principle. The other components um were that no, this does not replace the entrance sign. We would not be tearing that down. It is to complement it and it is a digital message board specifically for replacing the sandwich board and effort. This discussion first arose about five years ago related to the snow apocalypse or snowageddon that we talk about. Um and in that report um it was highlighted about alternative communication uh methods with our residents. Um, every emergency preparedness meeting I've attended as mayor proton mayor and council member over the last five years has highlighted the necessity for communities to improve passive communication in the event of emergencies. Items like digital signs and sirens are highly recommended for that purpose. This council has been considering both of those since the CMAC report and more specifically in this budgetary here. Uh lastly, I feel like it is important to talk about that the council approved the budget which included an allocation for this and that's why this is being discussed because it is pending business for the city and as we close out this year and other infrastructure projects, this is the natural way of things. So, uh it's not meant to be a controversy or a big,

you know, hot button item. It is just the the proper process of closing out a budget for a year. Did you have anything you wanted to add?

I I I do um you know and I first of all I I appreciate the feedback that we've received. um even though I don't approve of the method um but it was good to hear from our our citizens and and and even though the information that they were they were given um wasn't accurate um I mean it's it's good it's good and and we appreciate it and and I don't disagree with a lot of what was said if in fact this item Um, and was that like cuz it is dark sky. I mean that's when when we started getting into this after we put it in the budget. One of the first calls I've made was to Greg Webb who with other dark sky committee and is sort of the go-to person in the valley and he said in fact, you know, we don't want to see any new light anywhere in the valley, but if you're going to do it, you know, then then do it right. So, so Mr. Burton spent hours and hours, you know, researching um different companies, different sites. He was able to find a system that dark sky compliant for about half what we had budgeted. So, I mean, we actually saved, you know, a significant amount of money off of what we thought we were going to have to spend through this. Um, it is I I really appreciate Mr. drawings, your um your design scheme because that is what we had in mind the whole time. It's not garish, it's not Las Vegas, it's not Houston. It is it is there for for

really for two purposes. One would be to be able to share information, especially critical information about emergencies and things that are happening. Obviously, we'd also use it to highlight, you know, music in the park or or other events that are coming up, which we now have hanging from banners that are sort of like this most of the time because we don't have the facility to drive those things into the ground if we're glad to. So, and the sandwich board, I have I have personally picked that sandwich board up, you know, off the ground and reassembled it after it's been blown over or run over or pushed over. We had two sandwich boards. one was stolen. Um, so our the goal was to be able to communicate more effectively, give us one more one more way to reach our our citizens and let them know what's going on, but also

we're spending something to the tune of $2,000 a year to take care of that sandwich for. So, um I mean the time that our the time that Sean goes down there and does all the lettering, you know, it has to be cleaned up and all the letters have to be spent in order amount of time. So, when when we were talking about doing this, I said, "Okay, that knocks that one out. No more need for that. Sean can do his job. stop. You know, Sean has responsibility for enforcing our codes and helping us with our art code administration and making sure our ordinances are adhered to. He does a great job of that. But every time he's down there putting little letters on that sign, he's not doing that job. And it's the one thing that that people were really upset about just a few months ago that, you know, we weren't we weren't working on it. We weren't doing it, but he's been doing a great job. This would give him more time to do that. It gives staff more time to do that because you can access this sign, I think, remotely on computer or an iPad or whatever. you know, if if the city manager, city administrator got a call that there was, you know, bad weather, you know, this is if this is true, you know, this message can be up on the board um in a minute, not in an hour or two hours when it might be passed. So, it was it was there was there were there were multiple reasons why we looked at it. I like I say, I I appreciate more than anybody. We've been here 30 years and you know I I love this community um a lot and and I love our our citizens a lot and it was just trying to take care of it. So it wasn't it wasn't oh there's a flashing thing we can put up here. I think you know it's like I'm not say

going to say it's insulting for those those comments to be made. um your opinions are valued even though they're based on poor information, but there was never ever ever any plan to turn this into, you know, Las Vegas or Northeast. It was just we're just trying to try to do a good job for the city. So, um I'd be surprised, you know, if we can that we would pass this tonight considering u the public outcry. But I do feel like we need to find solutions to those issues. Um you know, we've got to be able to if this if this redesign or some other system might be better, you know, we need to research that and do it. Um, but you know, we we need to make better use of more efficient use of our staff. Um, and we need to be able to communicate properly and in every single way that we can with our citizens. And we don't have everybody signed up for email. We don't have everybody signed up for text. In fact, probably less than half. Um, you know, you know, we um we just aren't able to communicate with everybody and never will. But this is just one one more. Thank you. Thank you very much.

Thank you, Mayor. Council member Richardson had her hand up first and then next.

So, I just wrote down some of my thoughts about the discussion tonight. Um, so, you know, I recognize that this proposal sits at the intersection of modernized communication and the preservation of our local character. Um, so this proposal for the digital sign was introduced to address several operational needs for our city, staff, and residents. Um, the main one being emergency responsiveness. you know, providing a near instantaneous way to disseminate critical information regarding weather, public safety. The next would be civic engagement, you know, a high visibility platform to inform residents of all the events going on in our city and upcoming meetings. Um, and the next would be operational efficiency, which would be reducing the manual labor and time currently required for our city staff to update the fiscal signage. Um so why you know the benefits are very clear we have to weigh them against you know the significant drawbacks that we've identified tonight. Um one of those is you know why I feel that this is very useful as a tool during certain emergencies if it is warning of us of like an impending tornado or other severe weather. Our residents would potentially have to leave their home to go drive by the sign. So, I think the money would be more wisely spent by reinvesting into our mass text messaging program and getting more residents to sign up for alerts. Um, another drawback is, you know, the preservation of Wood Creek. Our our town prides itself on its rural aesthetic. There's a valid concern that a digital display would just be a mismatch for our community's character. Um, the financial constraint. This project carries very high cost representing significant capital investment that must be justified against other municipal priorities and most importantly public sentiment. Um a general consens consensus has emerged from our residents that they're firmly against the installation setting concerns over the $27,000 and the loss of our small town feel. Um so this holds very significant weight as it's your taxes that are paying for this project. So I I appreciate the intent behind this

proposal. Um and I do feel it offers significant benefits. Um we must remain a government that listens to its people and spends its budget judiciously. And so therefore I'm not in uh support of this agenda item due to the overwhelming response of our community speaking against it and the high cost. Um, I might like the alternate proposal that was not in the packet. And to me, this does reflect the Hill Country and what we love about it. And I also like the fact that it's tied directly to emergency services.

Uh, that is a is a big thing for me. Um, and you can still you can reduce the amount of information that you put on the sign like this like uh Mr. Rollins has drawn up and not base what was in some of the com comments that you'd have to slow down, you know, to to which might make it uh might make it a dangerous thing to have it be uh near the entrance. I really like this, especially if it could be brought in at half the cost. Um, and I would like to see this looked at again. I know it's been looked at forever.

Actually, just this once. Well, I mean, not this particular pro uh proposal, but you said it's been on the Yeah. in discussions for some time and particularly as it relates to emergencies. And so uh I don't know the protocol for that if it could be brought back for alternative solutions maybe and for staff and to look at it again and to take other designs into consideration. You can amend the current motion which is um for discussion to purchase and install a dark skies compliant digital sign the Wood Creek trike. One second. Thank you. Before you do that though,

can she finish her comment? She asking for a help with an amendment. So, I'm going to provide her that help because she has the floor. So, the current motion is to purchase and install a dark space compliant digital sign at the Wood Creek Drive and Ranch Road 12 entrance and Memorial Plaza not to exceed $30,000 from the capital expense budget line item allocated for this purpose. An amendment could read to bring back with a reduced cost

and a different design and a a design more accommodating to our concerned citizens about the essence of the Hill Country that we represent. So to summarize, are you wishing to make an amendment that says reduce costs and updated Hill Country design and take into account the uh comments from our citizens that we've received to date? Take into account citizen comments. Does she have a second? Excuse me.

Second. So that amendment is on the floor for reduced cost and updated Hill Country design to take into account citizen comments. Council member Bailey. No, I it's not a vote. She said my comments. Yes, ma'am. On the first discussion, not on a Well, that that discussion is still open. The amendment simply modifies the first motion.

Okay. Um we were elected to represent the citizens of it's not what we individually feel. We are just representatives. We are also in charge of managing the spending of tax dollars. Um what I heard mostly was too much money we're spending. That's that's just too costly. And when you say, "Oh, well, we could save $2,000 um from the code enforcement guys working on it." I just heard that code enforcement was doing fine. I mean, you're not actually unless you reduce those hours. That's not a savings. Plus, there's been nothing that talks about maintenance of this digital sign. And supposing we have a big drainage problem at that intersection was likely that this might be washed out a lot. Also back to the representative notion I counted 42 uh letters or discussions opposed to this and I counted two that are in favor. So, you know, minority rights, but this is a strong majority and I feel that if if we don't listen to the people, they're going to be very outraged. So, I do like the idea of maybe amending this or I don't think what was published is representative what's actually going to go up there. And it was very

screaming the shopping center. But what I heard was cost and aesthetics. It didn't represent our city. And I think I mean I thought it was kind of delightful. We got so much information.

I mean people were and I thought for the most part they were very polite. So, uh I think we should listen to that and maybe that solution is to come up with with something more aesthetic or to give everyone better information. One one suggestion is to have some kind of a survey. We should consider this on a lot of things where not just one side but the pros and the cons of each side. I don't think there was a fair representation of of the benefits of the side. I agree and that's why my amendment was to take into account all the comments.

See if we can address. So sorry. I'm sorry. Do you the floor at this point? Yes. Um I'm going to speak briefly one more time. We've all spoken once. This would be my second. We'll do a second round if you wish. Otherwise, we'll call the vote.

So um I just want to remind everyone that our email and newsletters and all of that stuff is opted. And I know there were comments during that, but we do not have even half of our residents that have opted in. And we are continuing to call that as emails bounce back or people like reject and don't open them, we get notices about that over time. So unfortunately, that number is kind of not necessarily increasing despite our our significant efforts to continue to get people signed up, including new residents. It's kind of staying pretty steady. has increased since we first got the new website. We do have a splash page on there for everyone. So, we are doing our best to get people registered for everything and of course all of us could improve on that front.

Um do think that it is intelligent to listen to the residents. We must, right? And I agree that council member Swedber's alteration to the existing amendment does that. Meaning, we're going to take into account the concerns over aesthetics. We're going to take into account the concerns over cost. And I do think it's reasonable to bring it back for discussion one more time via council vote if y'all are immuneable to that. With that, we could also take into account location concerns, a survey, um add maintenance considerations. We don't need all of that wrapped into the formal motion. I've heard you, staff has heard you. Um so I would encourage council to consider um voting on the amended motion which factors in public comment doesn't kill it immediately because we've established there are some important helpful components to this. There are benefits and I would like us to just take you know another month reconsider. As I said this is the first time we've ever debated this as a council. We don't always have to immediately decide things the first time they come up. So, um, in light of all the public comments, I think that flies. Sir,

I'd like to speak in favor of the amendment and the amended motion. I do think that we need to go back to the drawing board as one of the one of the speakers or writers said, um, and make sure that that whatever we do, we be right. I mean, we heard trash all the sites. No signs. Yeah. So,

I don't know. That's correct. Um but you know there was since since this ground swell of opposition um was a social media phenomenon and not organic. Um you know I just I I think we've heard people's concerns even though it was based on sort of maybe not so great information. So I think the amendment um deals with that effectively and I'll any other comments.

Okay. I wanted to mention that um email we're talking about expanding email. I have to tell a lot of people have to text them and tell them I sent them an email. You know my watch tells me everything could do. Stand up. Sit down. If it says there's a storm coming, run down to the corner and look at the sign, then it is going to say, "What are you doing? Get back in your house." You know, simple. We have digital messaging. But I do believe when we first talked about this sandwich boards, it wasn't one. It was one there, a little sign. It was broken and that. So that is also not a good aesthetic

with those little uh email things. So and as far as social media, I don't really use it, but in light of what's happened, that's where a lot of our cit citizens go and we can't they're going to continue that direction than back ours. So, we might have to combine that. But I I'm in favor of a rethink, but um like a little clarification of timing and who's going to rethink it? Are we going to have a committee or citizens? Any thoughts there?

Question. You are welcome to issue another amendment. That would be the final one before we have to have a vote. Sir, nothing. I was going to say, can we allow city manager administrator Burton to speak, please? Okay.

Um, as a resident, but I have my own opinions and I'll withhold those. I'm just sitting here, but the way the information was solicited was not right. Um, as far as and having been the guy that spent a lot of time on this with a lot of different people and working with economies of scale with other projects that we want to bring forward kind of tied into it. But the thing I kept hearing tonight was about aesthetics lay the blame completely on my feet for what's in the packet. That was simply sent to me by the the manufacturer. I never in a thousand years would have thought some stars on a thing was that was going to cause such an issue. But my my vision was this Mr. Rollins presented something along those lines. And I'll take the blame on that for causing any confusion. And I don't think it was anybody's intention to have fireworks going off and

stars and 1800 colors cuz it is an LED sign two-sided that has the ability to have a million different colors and I don't think that was the intention and so I will take the blend for the confusion on the aesthetics of the to be fair I don't think you expected that to publicly posted item, but we can't control that now. Um,

we have I'm just going to state the motion again. Purchase and install a dark skies compliance sign at the Wood Creek Drive, Wood Creek for 12 entrance at Memorial Memorial Plaza not to exceed $30,000 from the capital expense budget line item allocated for this purpose. amended to bring back with the reduced cost and updated Hill Country design taking into account citizen comments. Motion was made by council member Swedberg, seconded with uh voice by council member Bailey. We don't have a subcommittee. I'm more than happy to serve on that. I believe council member Rasco is happy to serve on that. If y'all would like to issue an amendment and nominate people, that would be relevant. Mr.

Mr. Yes. Oh, he wasn't getting on it. And I if I may. Okay. I I I did send a note to council member Drummer about possibly serving on a subcommittee together to look at at this and and what the options are. Um I to my knowledge I haven't I mean I haven't checked my email. He said by email. No, he said by email. He would be happy to participate by email. He had back surgery. That's why he's back here. I don't want to divulge too much of his personal information, but his mobility is currently eliminated. And so he's saying by email.

He could he could serve by good. So I still don't have an amendment on the floor. Does anyone wish to make an amendment nominating a subcommittee of any makeup of the people who have volunteered or names listed? Sir,

I move that we amend the motion to include a subcommittee to look into what's been suggested. Um, and that myself, council member Gummer, Pat Rawlings with two council initials. Yeah. Okay. Sorry to interrupt. I just That's We can't have any more council members. Okay.

Is there a second? Is that a second? I swear I heard your voice. All right. Uh, yes. Just as a reminder, all of council, if you speak and you don't me mean to second something, it unfortunately counts. Those are Robert's rules. We've collectively agreed to follow them. It's awkward, but uh I must enforce. So, um, we have the amendment made by council member Rasco, seconded by council member Swedberg, and, um, that concludes the amendment amendments. Everyone has spoken twice except for council member Richardson. Did you have any additional comments you'd like to make? Council member Bailey, if it's new information, we'll entertain. Otherwise, we do need to move on.

It's new information. Okay.

Okay. I I actually would like to be on that subcommittee because a lot of these negative comments are from the people that have represented me and I feel that I need to speak for them. And so that's why I think I would like to be on that committee rather than Councilman Gber. It's an observation. um since the amendments we've already got to the max amendment can't amend that but I mean you certainly talked to council member member Gmer or me and convince us to go off and you could replace them but we can't take them in the house right

it gets really messy So, we could downvote this amendment, make a new second amendment. That's possible. Uh, we can bend some rules and just have a third one. I don't I don't know what I want to do. Um, at this point in time, to me, it's a it's just kind of a preference, you know. It's not really

I think you should just talk to Council Member Garrett and see if he would swap with Bailey outside of this moment. And I think everyone in the public would be okay with that happening in the meantime and I'll handle it. So there's no forms. Or you can down vote and bring the amendment. All right. We're going to call to vote the second amendment which is the subcommittee to vote to sorry to look into what's been suggested. Rasco grick Rawlings named on it. All in favor raise your hands and say I. I.

Three I's. Second amendment passes. One nay. Bailey. All right. The first amendment which would be to bring back this item with a reduced cost and updated Hill Country design taken into account citizen comments. All in favor raise your hand and say I. Three eyes and nay. One nay. Motion carries to bring back with reduced cost and updated Hill Country design. So now we'll made vote on the full motion with both amendments. I will not read it again unless someone needs me to. All in favor of the full main motion as amended, raise your hand and say I.

I. Three eyes and nay. One nay. On the motion. Motion carries. This will be brought back at a future meeting. We did not establish a timeline, but per our council rules, it will be 3 to 6 months minimum. All right, here we go. Item number five, discussion of possible action to adopt a resolution establishing longevity pay. Are you all good to keep going or do you all need a break? Longevity pay. Does anyone have a motion on the table? What? I would to discuss and possibly act on adopting resolution 26-03-11-03 establishing a longevity pay policy for city of employees.

Motion made by council member Richardson by council member Rasco. And so to describe this item, essentially we have it through a budgetary process established a desire to create a way to incentivize staff to stick around and reward great staff who stick around. We can't really just give them gifts and it's problematic to create a bonus process because we have to actually create like a rating scale and have all these like managed interviews and this and that. And so the longevity pay is sort of the cleanest, simplest way to achieve the means through a kind of measured mathematical very foreseeable method. So we just, you know, it's it's projected long term. It does the same thing every year. So it's easy to budget as well. Any other comments, questions, concerns?

All right. Hearing none, we'll hold a vote. All in favor of longevity pay, raise your hand and say I. I.

Four eyes, no nays. Motion carries. All right. Item number six. This is about the community relations budget. It's very important that this motion follow pretty closely to what is written. Please. Would anyone like to make a motion about the community relations committee event calendar events and itemized budget request for 2026? Ma'am. I move to discuss and take action to approve the community relations committee event calendar events and itemized event budget requests for 2026 and authorize the city staff to coordinate and facilitate with committee members to plan, execute, engage in contracts and purchase items in accordance with the itemized budget requests as presented with funding to come from the community relations budget line item.

Six. All right. Motion made by Richardson, seconded by Rosco. Um, this item follows up with their submissions. Everything is there and itemized. By approving this tonight, we allow them to proceed with the planning through the end of the year. Um, and kind of carry out all of those events. It is an updated version from the last time we saw it, which was last year during budget season because we added events onto their plate. So, they needed to adjust. Any questions, comments, or concerns? Hearing none, we'll hold a vote. All in favor of approving as stated, raise your hand and say I. I.

Four eyes, no nays. Motion carries. Well, that's part of the night and day.

All right, getting on to discussion and possible action for a water wise phase two. Yeah. I move to discuss and take action to approve a water wise phase 2 plant installation at the triangle park and allocate funding to plant purchases not to exceed $120 from the trees and parks budget line item. Council member Bailey is the second motion made by Richardson. Um this is just adding more to the work they've been doing. They sort of always intended to do a phase two. It outlines that pretty nominal cost for us. the plants are thriving and doing well. You all saw the rock border go up that we approved. Um I I believe this is going to look pretty nice in the future and we're grateful to them for volunteering the labor. Any other questions, comments? All in favor say I.

I. I. Four eyes, no names. Motion carries. Thank y'all. Salva with water wise will be very grateful and excited. All right, now the really fun stuff. Um, we're going to enter into executive session here at 7:56. So, unfortunately, this can't take place with the public. Uh, we need to go into a back room. If y'all are wishing to stay, if y'all darn it to stay,

I don't mean to encourage y'all to leave. We are happy to go to the other room. All right. Exiting executive session at 8:19. No actions were taken. We'll now move into executive session under Texas government code 551.071 at 071 consultation with legal counsel related to emergency planning and proposed memorandum of understanding with the Barnabas connection for emergency resource shelter. We'll enter at 89. We're going to exit executive session for item 9 at 8:26. No action was taken during session. We'll move to item 10. Do I have a motion to approve the memorandum of understanding with Barnabas?

Bailey. That we approved the proposed memorandum of understanding with Barnabas connection for emergency resource shelter. A second. All right. Council member Bailey made the motion seconded by Swedberg. And any discussion? All right. All in favor raise your hand and say I. I.

All for I. No names. Motion carries. We'll move on to item number 11, executive session under Texas government code 551.071, consultation with legal council related to legal options for western Wood Creek and road improvements in the ride ofway eastment within the city limits of the city of Wood Creek. Executive Executive session beginning at 8:27.

All right, we're going to exit executive session at 8:41. We will uh no action was taken during executive session. We'll move on to item number four. Do I have a motion? What did I just say? Four. I'm so sorry. Item number 12. The public comments made your record. Thank you for catching that. I missed my notes.

We do have uh three public comments to be read on your record. Mayor Hines, Wood Creek Council members, and fellow residents. We and my we my family and I are residents of Cypress Point Subdivision. The repair and paving of Wood Creek Drive would be a true benefit to all residents and visitors that travel on this roadway. The status of Wood Creek Drive creates a driving environment that has the potential for creating a serious loss of property and perhaps even lag to our residents when driving from Cypress Paul Fall, Cypress Point, andor FM 2325 to Wood Creek. Drivers do not have visibility of oncoming traffic from Wood Creek Drive due to driving up the hill. With the effect of drivers blind to oncoming traffic, dodging the potholes, dodging road defects, the potential for serious loss of property and or life is a significant opportunity for an occurrence. The paving and repair of Wood Creek Drive eliminates these causal factors that would contribute to an incident where loss of property and life may happen. My family strongly supports the goal of repairing Wood Creek Drive and urges you to do so as soon as possible. Thank you for your time and attention to this matter. Plant Barbara Schubert, 3 Cypress Point, Wley, Texas 78676. They actually live in Wood Creek. That's cute. That's their mailing address. And I will not read their email.

All right. Uh this is a statement for Wood Creek City Council, March 11, 2026 from former mayor Bill P. Shield, 26 Cypress Point. When my wife Caroline and I bought our home on Cypress Point in 1990, we learned that the developer of the golf course and much of Wood Creek went bankrupt during the oil bust of 1986 and following and that property seems in the process of developing were then sold by the bank that was providing financing. Little regard was given to surveys, design features, and property lines. This resulted in the anomalous situation we are addressing here 40 years later. What our city has inherited is a road that is and has long been a public fair affair, but which is owned by a private entity. Specifically, a 200 yard stretch of Wood Creek Drive has been allowed by its owners to deteriorate, is in bad condition. Perhap the civil engineer would use terms like hazardous or dangerous. The condition of the driving service is a danger to the health and safety of the public and some of that public, the residents of 54 homes on Cypress Point, must use the road to go anywhere. There is no alternative route. These people are taxpayers, voters, and participants in the life of our little city. For years, successive city councils have attempted to remedy the situation, but the road segments owner of the lodge at Cypress Falls has refused to cooperate, and the city cannot spend public money on private property without some agreement about road usage by the public. The last major repairs to the road took place 10 years ago following the Halloween flood of 2015 when a 8ft strip of 2-in thick black top was washed off the road surface. The city worked with the lodge so that the road could be reclosed to traffic and the road surface repaired. The lodge sends a laborer with a wheelbarrow, a shovel, and a few sacks of sackrete. That repair 10 years later is now just loose chunks of concrete a shallow trench. The road condition over the stretch dictates a maximum speed of about 3 miles per hour combined with serving around potholes to avoid damage to one's vehicle and p one's person. Because this council is focused on roads and this is the last piece of undercured service in town. Because money is available, I would suggest that the time

is now. If the owners of the lodge do not cooperate willingly, the city should take all the legal steps necessary to effectuate a resolution or as we say in Texas, get her done.

Um, this is from a former president and a longtime resident. Respectfully, SMM. Uh, oh, S. Mason Nick II. Um, dear board members, as a former association president, I want to thank my appreciation for the work, part of that word is missing. By the current Cypress Creek report on tackling one of the most vaccine problems for our properties and access to the rest of Wood Creek. For many years, the Cypress Creek Road near Cypress Falls is deteriorated. Deteriorated more. This is halfway cut off. Something else to third world country danger. The issues of vehicle damage increased and potential lawsuits are well known. Complete road plots near the sagging were words missing impact fast medical support for much of Wood Creek. However, more has been accomplished under President Ed Fleming's guidance words missing. It's a photo copy. I'm so sorry. Efforts in the 15 years I've lived in Cypress Point. Thanks also go to the efforts of Deborah Hines for overall direction and coordination of affected parties. Now there is solution. I will aid this effort in any manner found to be useful. While the optics of having such a road is secondary to safety, this road is a main entrance. Wood Creek Wood Creek is a picture perfect town. This picture needs a matching words missing. Respectfully, I'm so sorry to this man. This photo puppy, if y'all would like to see, it is missing a lot of words, but I think we got the idea. All right, public comments concluded. Thank you so much, Council Member Richardson. Great. Catch. Um, if y'all would like to proceed in making a motion on item 12.

Yes. Um, I moved that we authorize additional legal action regarding the western Wood Creek and road improvements in the rideway easement within the city limits of the city of Woodwood Creek. Unless we receive from Wimberly Water Resorts LLC a fully executed agreement by Friday, March 13th at 400 p.m. the city's close of business.

A second. All right. Motion made by council member Rasco, seconded by Richardson. Excuse me. I'm just going to take these notes. I need to convey this to them quickly. At 400 p.m. concluding a city business, right? Okay. To read it back. We will authorize additional legal action regarding western Wood Creek and road improvements on the rideway easement within the city limits of the city of Wood Creek unless we receive from Wimberly Water Resort LLC a fully executed agreement by Friday the 13th at 4 p.m. at the concluding of city business.

Is it is it necessary to define what kind of a fully executed agreement? We they have the license agreement. So it would be that one fully executed license agreement. Yeah. Is that Yeah, if that's sufficient. Okay. What is there sufficient or do we need to amend it? No, I mean the motion's sufficient. Um because the only one they have is the one they need to deliver. No, they know what we're talking about. Good job. I had a question. Okay. Should we say 2026? I think so.

March. Okay. Friday the 13th, March. Okay. And then issue, please. I'd like to amend the motion to include the year 20126 and the date. I second. All right, we'll vote on the amendment first unless there's further discussion to be had. Just Okay. So, all in favor of the amendment to add the date or the year of 2026 to the date, raise your hand and say I. I.

All I. Motion carries. And then on the pool motion as stated and amended, we'll raise our hands and say I if you have favors. I was another hand back there. Sorry. Four eyes. Motion carries. Thank you all. Um we'll move into council considerations for future business. As a reminder, this is part of the requirement for introduction of new items. You don't have to mention items that have already been mentioned or are in products.

And we'll be coming back to council with some um the the sign was part of a larger citizen safety comprehensive.

Yes. Uh park cameras as voted on by council. We asked staff to research and bring that back to us. And um we're also looking at upgrades inside city hall that are related to the sound and the video encoder to prevent people from being able to hack into our system. And we've included some upgrades to better facilitate uh presenting things to citizens on a TV and having someone on Zoom and us being able to see a screen if we needed. Um so that will be coming likely in April on April 8th. all of that. I don't know that the sign package will be ready again by then, but um that

part of the a bigger plan the other items in that plan. I'd love to see

Yeah. And then we had the fireworks item from tonight. Silly typo there. And then um like I said, we might have to call a special meeting depending on the block grant public notice that was not able to execute tonight. Um that is part of closing out that grant. So, if they're like, "We can't wait till April." I might have to get with that. I'm sorry. Um, any other things from council? All right. We will move into the announcement portion of the evening. Uh, March 13, 2026 is a required onboard training um starting at 9:00 a.m. to noon here at city hall. Um it's related to the handbook we recently passed, the first handbook for the city and um I'll be doing that little kind of crash course. Uh we'll have lunch provided and uh we're also going to record it because if uh people can't attend or they need to leave early, we wanted to have that resource on hand instead of trying to continually schedule more meetings over and over.

Um March 21st, 20 uh 10:30 a.m. at the VFW Post. Uh there will be a water wise event involving Tespa. They'll give an update on the litigation with the aqua. This is related to uh the the overp pumping case. So different than what we had tonight, different lawsuit with them. Um they'll also be doing a rain barrel and installation giveaway for 10 households. That's really exciting. There'll be educational opportunities and more. March 28, 2026, we'll have the emergency preparedness fair at the VFW post. This is where you learn how to keep your household prepared for emergencies and you have a good time doing it. There's a lot of engaging activities. You get a lot of little take-home items to sort of improve impair not impairness preparedness. Um that begins at 10:00 a.m. I believe. And so we hope as many of y'all that can attend will. Um, Council Member Rasa heads up that effort for the city and we do a benefit for Logan's dugout where we do like a baseball toss thing. Pretty cool. Uh, Friday, April 3rd, Music in the Park series, the Poochie Brothers of Sour Bridges. It's a BYO beverage to the Triangle Park from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. You get to enjoy live music, purchase light bites, and hang out with your neighbors. Wimberly Valley Dinner Club confirmed as the food along with So, that is new information to update here. Uh, real good food, world food. So, you get to taste some new flavors. Uh, Saturday, April 4th.

That right quick. Sure. Yeah. On that day, April 3rd, City Hall is closed. So, if anything is needed for the event, just stay with

Okay. Thank you. Um, Saturday, April 4th, the community egg hunt at Augusta Park is going to occur. More information. Information was posted today though, so that's exciting. they are doing the donate 12 eggs to participate. Again, you'll have to bring those up to city hall. Um, and so just kind of keep keep a look out for more post and information to come out from the city there. Uh, last item, we're still seeking volunteers for all advisory boards. Please u get anyone you know to apply online. As of tonight, we have another tree board member, but unfortunately they lost one due to health issues in the meantime. So they are back down to under quorum. Community relations is almost full. They have one spot and planning and zoning is almost full. They have one spot. So good news in closer. It's always hard to solicit volunteers over the holidays right after an election. It's like a lot. Um so anything else in the announcements from staff? No. Okay. Motion to

return. All right. Journed at 8:5. Woohoo! Under three hours.