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• CALENDAR:  Meetings and events that you might want to attend in the Lewisville area...  Click here for more..

02-04-2012 Thru 02-05-2012 - Lewisville Gun Show - $1 off coupon.

02-02-2012 Thru 02-04-2012:  The Annual Council Retreat - we have two retreats a year.  The Budget retreat is in August and the Planning retreat is in February.  They are open meetings but we may have a short closed session once in a while.
     Here is the Short Agenda and the Long Agenda with backup material.  Please look through it.  There will be interesting topics discussed and the agenda may even be reorganized in the order of presentations.  Come and go as you want but I encourage you to stay through the whole thing so you do not miss anything.

• Q&A: 
  • Where will it be? At the MCL Grand across from City Hall at 100 N. Charles St.; Lewisville, TX 75057. In the Recital hall. (Charles St & Main St).
  • Can we buy dinner there?  No, though it is in the agenda, that is the catered food for Council and Staff.  I do recommend picking up something to eat and bring it if you like.
  • Are there set times for each item?  No, we do try to go in order as listed but they may also be reorganized if a presenter is going to be late or something else comes up.
  • What is TBD?  It means To Be Determined.  We finish when we finish.
  • Will you vote on things as you go?  That depends on the Council.  We have waited until the last day to recap and vote on each item and sometimes we just vote on the item when it is presented.
• AGENDA:
  • Thursday, February 2, 2012 - 6:00 p.m.
    1. 2011 Retreat Recap
    2. Rodeo Arena
    3. Holiday at the Hall/Stroll/Western Days Entertainment
    4. Downtown Entertainment District
    5. 2025 Plan: Process
    6. Utility Line Insurance Program
    7. Adjourn
  • Friday, February 3, 2012 - 9:00 a.m..
    1. Follow-up from Previous Session as Needed
    2. Retail in LV: Issues, Markets, Competition, Approaches
    3. Zoning & Development Standards, SU Permitting, Amortization, Green Standards
    4. Neighborhood Revitalization Standards: Continued Discussion
    5. Storm Water Utility: Potential Structure and Rate Design
    6. Adjourn
  • Saturday, February 4, 2012 - 9:00 a.m.
    1. Follow-up From Previous Sessions as Needed
    2. Draft Park Master plan
    3. Water Supply: Issues, Plans, Conservation, Drought Emergency Management, Rate Structure Options
    4. Smoking Ordinance Options/Discussion
    5. 2012/2013 GO Bond/Capital Project Program
    6. Adjourn

01-23-2012: Lewisville City Council Meeting:

• 6:30 PM - WORKSHOP SESSION - Discussion of Regular Agenda Items and Consent Agenda Items. This is a regularly scheduled open meeting.
  • A. Discussion of Regular Agenda Items and Consent Agenda Items
• 07:00 PM, Regular Council Meeting. Please look over the Agenda - Short Version or the Long version with backup material. Please look over the long version which has some backup material that might peak your interest.
  • ITEM 2. Approval of a Supplemental Appropriation in the Amount of $55,000 for the Professional Services Agreement With Wynne/Jackson, Inc., for Services Related to the Lewisville Lake Master Plan From the Utility Capital Projects Fund; and Authorization for the City Manager to Execute the Contract.
    • After meeting comments:  On 11-01-2010 the council voted to approve the spending of $210,000 for this consultant to look into the Lake development project proposed by the staff.  This vote was to raise it another $55,000 to bring it to $265,000 so far.  To this date, they have spent about $40,000.
           I voted NO and recommended that this by stopped now to avoid anymore spending.  Watch the online video of the meeting to see exactly what I said in the meeting.  I do not think that the City should be playing developer with tax dollars.  I think that a Private developer should take the lead and spend the money to hire consultants to determine if they want to buy property and develop for their profits or loss in this venture.
           In the past few budget retreats, it has been mentioned that taxes will need to be raised to pay for our bills.  I say, that we need to stop unneeded spending like this or the other items that I voted against - trying to save money.  Here are just a few examples:
      • 08-08-2009 - Cut $390K for corridor beautification.
      • 07-19-2010 - Where I voted against the spending tax money on what should be private transactions as explained at this entry.
      • 06-20-2011 - again I voted against the spending tax money on what should be private transactions as explained at this entry.
      • 08-13-2011 - Cut $160 for a consultant to facilitate the 2025 committee.
• Minutes of Meeting when available...
   

01-10-2012:  USA Today Candidate Test. Take the test to see which candidate best fits you. I am not a fan of USA Today but the test is actually well written, for a test such as this. My results were fairly accurate as I had ranked the candidates. You start by determining what issues are less or more important, then answer the questions on each of the issues. BE HONEST when you give your answers. NOTE: You can click the topics on the side and check your answers to see if you made a mistake or to change them.  It is CHEATING and lying to yourself if you change your answers to change results to make a candidate your first choice!
     My results were pretty accurate. I had Bachmann first then Santorum but the test ranked Santorum first with Bachmann a very close second, and then Perry a distant third. Michele Bachmann quitting after a measly little state primary was very disappointing as I mentioned on 01-04-2012. They ALL should stay in until ALL the primaries (or most) are over.

01-09-2012:  Lewisville City Council Meeting

• WORKSHOP SESSION – 6:30 PM
  Discussion of Regular Agenda Items and Consent Agenda Items.  This is a regularly scheduled open meeting.
  • A. Discussion of Regular Agenda Items and Consent Agenda Items
• 07:00 PM, Regular Council Meeting.  Please look over the Agenda - Short Version or the Long version with backup material. Please look over the long version which has some backup material that might peak your interest.
• Minutes of Meeting

01-04-2012: The Iowa Primary... WHAT IS WRONG with this Country?
     All these candidates allow one measly State decide who is going to be on the primary ballot? It is the PRIMARIES... At just over 3 Million people, Iowa is less than 1% of the USA population. Only 122,225 people voted in Caucuses in Iowa.

- Iowa Popuation (2010): 3,046,355
- USA Population:310,000,000

     It would be better if the candidates all stayed in until the primaries for ALL States are over. Then the winner will be on the ballot for the November Elections.
     I also think that there should be a runoff in December if there are more than two candidates and a majority was not achieved.  This Plurality method is bad to me and that is why we got Clinton.  I think Perot supporters would have voted for Bush.

NOTES:
     Majority rule is a decision rule that selects candidates which have a majority, that is, more than half the votes. If no majority, it goes to a runoff of the top two.
     Plurality (most votes) is often mistaken for majority rule, they are not the same. Plurality makes the candidate with the most votes the winner, regardless of whether the fifty percent threshold is passed. This is equivalent to majority rule when there are only two candidates. However, when there are more than two candidates, it is possible for plurality to choose a winner that has fewer than fifty percent of the votes cast.