Rollingwood Mayor Mike Dyson resigns effective Nov. 30

Austin American-Statesman - 11/18/2021

Rollingwood Mayor Mike Dyson submitted his resignation effective Nov. 30, citing other responsibilities in his life that need to take precedent. Rollingwood's mayor and City Council positions are all volunteer roles.

"It's been an honor serving but I've got other things I've got to focus on," Dyson said at Wednesday's City Council meeting. "I wish everybody all the best."

The council appointed Mayor Pro Tem Gavin Massingill to fill the role for the remainder of the mayor's term, which goes until early next November.

Dyson said he waited until the end of November so that there would be less than a year left in his term, which allows the council to appoint a replacement. If there had been over a year left on his term the city would have to hold a special election, which would be expensive and time consuming, he said.

The council discussed holding a special election in May anyway, but Council Member Sara Hutson said she favored an appointment because anyone taking office in May would have to jump directly into the budget process and would only serve six months before another election is held.

"I don't think it's prudent or cost effective or an effective use of anybody's time to hold a special election," she said.

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Rollingwood also is losing its city administrator, Amber Lewis, who took a job with the city of Kyle and will be departing in December.

Newly elected members of the City Council also were also sworn in at Wednesday's meeting. Brook Brown, Alec Robinson and Phil McDuffee all took the oath of office and participated in the meeting as voting members. Municipal Court Judge Sarah Teten also was sworn in.

The council also voted to change the base fee the city charges commercial customers for wastewater use. Consultant Nelisa Heddin, who presented on different options for the fee structure, said the city's current policy seems to be a holdover from when the Lower Colorado River Authority operated the city's water system. She said because it is unclear how the current fee structure was designed, there is no way to know if it is equitable, how to explain it to businesses, or to apply the same standard to new commercial entities. This fee will be reassessed each year and adjusted for each business.

Instead, the city will now charge businesses a base fee for wastewater based on that businesses past usage data. If not enough data exists to set up a fee, the city will use the American Water Works Association fee structure recommendations to charge for wastewater.

This new fee structure will not go into effect for at least a few months and the city will contact its approximately 36 commercial wastewater customers about the changes, according to Assistant City Administrator Ashley Wayman.

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The council also discussed forming a task force to represent the city's interests related to the MoPac South Expansion project. Brown said she wants a group of people dedicated to working on the issue that connects both with Rollingwood residents and businesses that will be most affected by the expansion and with other communities in the area that will be similarly affected.

Brown also suggested scheduling a special meeting to allow the legal firm Bickerstaff Heath Delgado Acosta to brief the council on the specifics of the expansion project proposal and the upcoming comment period so the city can work on submitting informed comments that protect resident's interests.

The idea of a task force will be discussed further at the next regular council meeting in December and no action was taken on Wednesday.