Leander Candidate Forum Canceled

From Hill Country News, May 21, 2009...

The Leander City Council Candidate Forum is canceled for May 26 at Pat Bryson Hall. There will be no makeup date. Four candidates - Iris Davis (mayor candidate), Mark Kronkosky (place 1 candidate), Cathy Broun (place 4 candidate) and Josh Payne (place 6 candidate) - have said they will not attend. The Leander runoff election will be June 13. Early voting will be June 1-9. Read next week's Hill Country News for more details on why it was canceled.

From a previous Hill Country News article:

"They'll have a candidate forum on May 26 at 7 p.m. at Pat Bryson Hall, but with a new twist. Unlike the traditional forums in the past, this one will have more open debate between the candidates. And the first eight questions of the night will be written by each other's opponents.

Each group will formulate their own questions to ask the other group. For example: a question formulated from the Iris Davis group will be asked to John Cowman, who will have three minutes to answer. Then, Davis will have one minute to rebut his answer. Each candidate will have a question to answer and an answer to rebut. There will be questions from the audience as well as opening and closing comments. As another new addition to the forum, the moderator will have the opportunity to redirect a question or ask an opponent to explain further on a topic."

[RCA] Hmmmmm... all of the challengers opt out of a debate with the incumbents!  Is it perhaps because they felt they would not be able to make a good showing in such a forum?  Is their slience golden, or just an indication of nothing to say? 

I believe this is just indicative of the lack of insight into the city's issues which is generally exhibited by the city council challengers.  One challenger was recently heard to ask when the city council has its meetings.  When told, he replied, "I guess I better go attend one of those meetings so I'll know what's going on."

Cantwell, Broun to run off for Place 4

From Hill Country News, May 14, 2009...

Michell Cantwell won nearly 47 percent of the vote in her bid for reelection for Place 4, but she was only five percentage points ahead of challenger Cathy Broun. The two will run off against each other on June 13.

“Certainly, I would have preferred that my reelection could have been confirmed on May 9, rather than the continuation of the campaign and another election on June 13,” Cantwell said. “I was greatly disappointed in the low voter turnout of approximately 1,100 voters overall in a city with over 12,000 registered voters.”

Read more...

Leander to have 4 runoffs for city council

From Hill Country News, May 11, 2009...

For Leander Mayor, incumbent John Cowman will face challenger Iris Davis, who beat Vic Villarreal for the second spot.

In Place 1, Mark Kronkosky and Andrea Navarrette will meet in a runoff.

In Place 4, incumbent Michell Cantwell will runoff against Cathy Broun.

In Place 6, incumbent Dave Siebold will runoff against Josh Payne.

In Place 2 - the only race with just two candidates - incumbent Kirsten Lynch defeated carl wake.

The runoff is scheduled for June 13.

The following are the total votes (and percentages) in each race:

Read more...

Candidate forums planned

From Impact News, April 15, 2009...

Candidates for the Leander City Council will introduce themselves and answer audience-generated questions from 7-9 p.m. April 22 at the Leo Center, 300 S. West Drive, Leander.

Leander Independent School District Board of Trustees candidates will participate in a forum from 6:30-8 p.m. April 27 in the Cedar Park Middle School cafeteria, 2100 Sun Chase Blvd., Cedar Park. The forum is sponsored by the LISD Council of PTAs.

An LISD Board of Trustees forum for place 1 and place 2 candidates will begin at 7 p.m. May 9 at Laura Welch Bush Elementary, 12600 Country Trails, Austin. This forum is sponsored by the Laura Welch Bush Elementary PTA.

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Leander council rescinds lawn parking ordinance

From statesman, February 19, 2009...

The Leander City Council tonight repealed a controversial parking ordinance meant to stop people from parking on their lawns.

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Leander city council approves land deal

From statesman, January 15, 2009...

The Leander City Council tonight unanimously approved a land agreement to develop about 2,000 acres of land next to of the city’s largest master-planned community.

The agreement allows local developer Bill Hinckley, president of Lookout Partners LP, to begin building roads and utilities on the land for a future mixed-use project southwest of the 3,000-acre Crystal Falls community and golf course.

Hinckley hopes to eventually build as many as 6,000 homes, along with offices and retail on the land. That would be in addition to the 5,000 to 6,000 homes planned for Crystal Falls, of which about 1,300 have been built.

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Leander council approves water line study

From Impact News, December 5, 2008...

At its Dec. 4 meeting, the Leander City Council approved a study to assess water and wastewater needs for the Ronald Reagan Boulevard corridor. Engineering firm Bury + Partners will conduct the study, which will be funded by the city, landowners in the area and the Reagan Parmer Corridor Association.

The city, landowners and RPCA will contribute $12,500, $6,000 and $4,000, respectively, to fund the research.

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CR 272 becomes hot topic in Leander

From Hill Country News, November 13, 2008...

Moments before Leander City Engineer Wayne Watts gave an update on the city's 2007 Bond projects at last Thursday's city council meeting, resident Blanche Corley expressed her concerns about the lack of work done on County Road 272, which is better known as East Crystal Falls Parkway.

The council also expressed discontent about the fact that no work has been done to widen the road as originally planned several years ago. Watts and City Manager Anthony Johnson blame it on a TxDOT grant that requires an additional environmental study that's required for the road. After voicing their displeasure, the council unanimously decided that the city must look forward into seeing what needs to be done to get the road finished in a timely manner.

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Ed. Note: The construction timeline for East Crystal Falls Pkwy calls for bids to be opened Feb. 5th, awarded Feb 19th, ground-breaking to begin in March, and project completion Nov. 15, 2009.

Water rates increase in Leander

From Hill Country News, August 13, 2008...

The Leander City Council saw one of its more action-packed agendas for last week's regularly-scheduled meeting, and it led to a night of citizens' complaints, bickering between council members and one particular teary-eyed moment.

The council passed a hefty increase in the water rate, set the dates for the public hearings on the 2008-09 budget, talked about next year's residential tax rate and named a stretch of road after a former land owner who passed away in November.

The water rate will increase 21.3 percent over the next three years. Council voted 6-1 to increase it. The dissenting vote was cast by Place 3 councilmember John Perez, who expressed concerns about senior citizens who will not be given a discount.

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