CITY& COUNTY
News from Bee Cave, Lakeway & Travis County
Bee Cave City Council Meets Feb. 22 and March 8 at 6 p.m. 512-767-6600. www.beecavetexas.gov Lakeway City Council Meets Feb. 22 at 6:30 p.m. 512-314-7500. www.lakeway-tx.gov Rollingwood City Council Meets Feb. 16 at 7 p.m. 512-327-1838. www.cityofrollingwood.com West Lake Hills City Council Meets Feb. 23 at 7 p.m. 512-327-3628. www.westlakehills.org Instructions for meeting attendance are at each city’s website. MEETINGSWE COVER Transportation in coming months. The task force will consist of ve members. Applications for positions were accepted through Feb. 9, and appointments will be made at the next council meeting Feb. 16. BEE CAVE City Council approved the hire of a project manager for the capital improvement project in January. The construction, architecture and engineering rm CBRE Heery Inc. will at least provide a part-time senior project manager and a full-time assistant project manager for the duration of the project, according to city documents. The $103 HIGHLIGHTS TRAVIS COUNTY Austin will get help with COVID-19 testing from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, public health o cials announced at a Jan. 21 press conference. Janet Pichette, Austin Public Health chief epidemiologist, said she received notice during the conference that FEMA would send a team. She said APH had received over 22,000 positive cases within the week. APH sta is working from 7 a.m.- 10 p.m. and on the weekends to process the cases, Pichette said. ROLLINGWOOD City Council adopted a resolution in January to create a MoPac South Expansion Task Force that will work with residents, businesses and surrounding neighborhoods to raise local concerns about the MoPac South expansion project to the Texas Department of SAVE THE DATE is the last day to register to vote in the general election May 7. APRIL 7 million capital improvement plan includes major projects including new city buildings such as a new city hall and library, and roads.
Despite latest COVID 19 variant, area cases are declining
BY CLAIRE SHOOP
COVID 19 IMPACT ON CHILDREN
Pediatric cases account for a small amount of COVID-19 hospitalizations.
TRAVIS COUNTY O cials with Austin Public Health said at a Jan. 28 press conference the area has reached the peak of the COVID-19 omicron variant wave, and case numbers are beginning to decline—a fact Austin-Travis County Health Authority Dr. Desmar Walkes characterized as “good news.” “Our e orts to curb the spread of COVID-19 have been e ective, and we are starting to see our case numbers go down,” Walkes said. APH Chief Epidemiologist Janet Pichette said the number of positive COVID-19 lab results reported to APH have decreased frommore than 22,000 the week of Jan. 17 to 15,000 the week of Jan. 24, a 31% decrease. Walkes said APH expects a peak in intensive care admissions in the rst weeks of February and a continued decline in hospitalization rates. APH o cials said these downward trends will only continue if the
HOSPITALIZATIONS
91% of the pediatric cases of COVID-19 admitted to local hospitals are among unvaccinated children.
Children account for 2.9% of COVID-19 hospitalizations.
TESTING POSTIVE
9million children in the U.S. have tested positive for COVID-19 since the pandemic began.
900,000 of these positive tests are from January 2022.
SOURCE: DR. SARMISTHA HAUGER, DELL CHILDREN’S MEDICAL CENTER COMMUNITY IMPACT NEWSPAPER
the community. She said because BA2 is “extremely transmissible” there could be another increase in cases as that strain becomes the dominant variant in the area. Still, Walkes said the vaccines that are available are working against the BA2 variant, and it appears to produce mild disease.
community remains vigilant. Pichette called another new variant called BA2 a “daughter lineage” of the omicron variant, stating it will be very similar to the original omicron variant—BA1. With three detected cases in the Houston area, Pichette said the subvariant is likely circulating within
Twomayors and council seats up for election; early voting begins April 25
UPCOMING ELECTIONS
Here are city seats that are up for election and seeking candidates.
WEST LAKE HILLS Mayor and two council seats Incumbents: • Mayor Linda Anthony • Council Member Brian Plunkett • Mayor Pro Tem Darin Walker
LAKEWAY Three council seats Incumbents: • Council Member Laurie Higginbotham
BEE CAVE Mayor and two council seats Incumbents: • Mayor Kara King • Council Member Courtney Hohl • Council vacancy
BY GRACE DICKENS
BEE CAVE ANDWEST LAKE HILLS Several positions in local government will be up for grabs in the May 7 election, including the mayors of Bee Cave and West Lake Hills. Council seats in Bee Cave, Lakeway and West Lake Hills also are available. Candidates wishing to run must le to be on the ballot no later than Feb. 18 at 5 p.m. with a city’s respective secretary, according to the Texas secretary of state. Early voting by in-person appearance at Travis County voting sites will take place April 25-May 3.
• Mayor Pro Tem Louis
Mastrangelo • Council Member Steve Smith
SOURCES: CITIES OF BEE CAVE, LAKEWAY AND WEST LAKE HILLS COMMUNITY IMPACT NEWSPAPER
Lake Travis FilmFestival approved for city funds
FILMFESTIVAL 2021 BY THE NUMBERS
a destination for the arts, festival director Kat Albert said. The festival also has master classes with industry professionals, table readings and parties in addition to the screenings. The festival is Sept. 15-18 and takes place in a variety of venues throughout Bee Cave and Lakeway. Screenings consist of short lms, music videos and feature-length lms. Wristbands are available for purchase at http://laketravis lmfestival.com.
BY GRACE DICKENS
100+
BEE CAVE AND LAKEWAY In December and January, each city approved the use of hotel occupancy tax funds for use by the Lake Travis Film Festival. Both cities allocated just over $43,000 to the event, which brings together lmmakers from around the world to screen their work for local audiences. The funding will be used for advertising to promote Lakeway as
lm projects
25%
of entries
from Central Texas
1,000+
people
attended at least one event venues
7
SOURCE: LAKE TRAVIS FILM FESTIVAL COMMUNITY IMPACT NEWSPAPER
19
LAKE TRAVIS WESTLAKE EDITION • FEBRUARY 2022
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