Barbara Huffman has joined the Westcreek Executive Committee. Welcome aboard Barbara!

Last night at the annual Westcreek Neighborhood Association meeting, resident Sandra Baldridge gave an impassioned talk about a new city ordinance from the Zoning and Platting Commission. This ordinance will affect large trees in Austin.

If you’re interested in reading the ordinance, please follow the link below.
* Note: The pages aren’t quite in the right order. Go to page 11 of 45 for the ordinance language.

http://www.westcreekna.org/wp-content/uploads/c1_heritage_tree_ord_011910.pdf (2 MB PDF)

Sincere and warmest Season’s Greetings to all homeowners and residents of Westcreek from your representatives on the Westcreek Neighborhood Executive Committee. As we look ahead to 2010, your Board is hoping to make significant progress in several areas to improve the safety and amenities of Westcreek. A new speed indicator is to be installed on Summerset Drive and we are in discussions with the City of Austin on how to turn a piece of vacant land within the community into a “pocket” park where residents can relax and children can safely play. This latter project is not an easy one and several of the Directors are devoting a lot of their personal time to keep this idea on track by meeting regularly with City representatives and their aides. These are just 2 of the many projects we have in mind.

In order to plan ahead, we need to have the financial resources in place before we can make any commitments that some of these projects will require. And so we are making an urgent request to all homeowners and residents to cement their relationship with Westcreek by paying the annual dues of $25 (no increase!) for 2010 membership in the Westcreek Neighborhood Association (WNA). This is possibly the best bargain in town and by year’s end we hope that we can announce that this is tax deductible as the association is working on acquiring a non-profit status. For anyone who would like to make $75 on the deal, we will be having a raffle at the Annual General Meeting in January where the names of all 2010 paid WNA members will be entered and a well-known local celebrity will conduct the drawing.  The Lucky Winner will receive $100 in cash! Those who bring their checks to the annual meeting will also be included in the raffle.

In 2009, we had 137 due-paying members out of over 1,000 homeowners and residents.  Our goal for 2010 is 500 WNA Members!  Please send your check for $25.00 made payable to “Westcreek Neighborhood Association” to P.O. Box 91373, Austin, TX 78709-1373 before the January 27^th Annual Meeting.

See you at the Annual General Meeting!

With best wishes,

Your President and Board

This Saturday, members from the Westcreek Yard of the Month Committee will be roving the neighborhood looking for the best holiday display. Can your house win December’s Yard of the Month contest? The best seasonal exhibit will win gift cards from Randall’s and Emerald Garden.

The Westcreek Neighborhood Association is looking for someone to chair our Yard of the Month committee. If you would enjoy finding the best yard in the neighborhood each month, please email Chris Schexnayder at chrisschexnayder@sbcglobal.net or call (512) 899-0087.

Westcreek Neighbors, Our annual meeting of the WNA, scheduled for late Jan. 2010 at the Will Hampton Library, is approaching fast and there is a lot of Neighborhood business to take care of this year. We have four seats on the Board to fill this year and we will need some nominations from our members to fill them.

More importantly we will need volunteers to be nominated for these board positions if we are to continue to represent our community’s interests. It is vital to all the residents of Westcreek that we stay involved in with the City of Austin to look after our interests as Oak Hill is developed and the 290 highway project is built. Our quality of life and our property values are just two of the many things on the line over the coming years.

The same seven people can not be expected to carry this task indefinitely. We need new volunteers to cycle through, taking their turn to spend a few hours a month helping to take care of our Westcreek community. So please volunteer, and please show up to vote for your candidate and by-laws (see below) at our annual meeting.

The terms are expiring for the following positions on the Westcreek Board: Vice President, Treasurer, and Member at Large Place #3. The position of Secretary is also open as Judy Jefferson is retiring after many years of service.  Thanks so much Judy and good luck. The Executive Committee has received nominations for Vice President, Treasurer and Member at Large #3. Any (paid) member of the WNA may nominate a candidate for any of the open positions.  Nominees must be a paid member of the Association and must reside in the Westcreek neighborhood. Nominate yourself or a neighbor and support your neighborhood. Nominations will be accepted by mail, in person or by sending us an e-mail to board@westcreekna.org.

We will also be voting on amendments to our our bylaws this year. The following amendments will be proposed:

Amendments to Bylaws

A. Article VII : That “and the Immediate Past President” be deleted from the last paragraph of the preamble.

B. Article VII, Section 2 : That “The Immediate Past President will serve as a member of the board for two years following the end of his/her term as president.” be deleted from this section.

C. Article VII, Section 4 : That the following sentences be added to the Vice President’s duties : “In the event that the Vice President is required to fill the role of President prior to the end of the President’s term, then the Vice President shall nomonate his replacement to the Executive Committee. A majority vote is required to approve such a nomination”.

D. Article VII, Section 4 : That “Immediate Past President - shall have full voting privileges on the Executive Committee and shall serve as a consultant to the current officers.” be deleted from this section.

E. Article VII, Section 5 : That the following paragraph be added to the exisiting Section. “When a position on the Executive Committee becomes vacant for whatever reason and there is no successor willing to succeed the position, then the Executive Committee may appoint a successor to the vacant position for the remainder of the term or choose to leave the position vacant until the next election. A majority vote by the Executive Committee is required for such an appointment.”

F. Article VII, Section 7 : That the first sentence of this section be rewritten to read “Executive Committee members shall [delete the word "will"] meet monthly [delete the words "except December"] to conduct …………….”

Submitted by Chris Schexnayder, President, WNA

An idea is being tossed around by board members of both Westcreek and Western Oaks about a combined annual picnic or gathering of some sort.  There are really two main reasons.  Both neighborhoods have had historically low turn outs to their annual or special gatherings.   That is one reason Westcreek cancelled the 2009 Fall Halloween Picnic – low turnout last year.  So hopefully a combined gathering would attract more people.  It would also be a great chance to meet some of your neighbors across the William Cannon way.  Which brings me to the second main reason to get the two neighborhoods together – there is strength in numbers.  The two “burbs” share some of the same interests.  Both neighborhoods have showed strong interest and participated together in zoning and development cases which effect both neighborhoods.  The Arbor Trails development and 4808 William Cannon where the music school now resides are good examples.  Westcreek is in the process of working with City Council to develop a pocket park at the end of Brush Country as well as a “Safe Walk” through that area to both PattonElementary and Small Middle School.  Such an improvement would be of benefit to both neighborhoods.  Before the respective boards spend the time, effort and money to put together such an even we want your feedback on this idea.  Please send your opinions and ideas to the board@westcreekna.org.