Here are three takeways from Monday evening's Lakeway City Council meeting.

1. New mayor and council members sworn in

Newly elected Mayor Sandy Cox took the oath of office Monday evening, immediately following the swearing-in of incumbent Council Member Keith Trecker and newcomer Steve Smith. All were sworn in before Presiding Municipal Court Judge Kevin R. Madison.

2. New portables coming to Lake Travis Middle School

A contractor representing Lake Travis ISD received the go-ahead from the council Monday night, May 21, to locate three portable classrooms on the campus of Lake Travis Middle School.

The council agreed to grant a special-use permit for the portable buildings, each one 1,800 square feet in size and containing two classrooms. Each building will include accessible ramps, handrails and stairs. The portables will go on school-owned land near the main school building, a staff report showed. They are not expected to interfere with adjacent properties.

The 1,200-student school opened in 2014 and is the district’s second middle school. A third middle school, yet to be named, is currently going up on Vail Divide in the Bee Cave area. Development Director Ray Miller told the council the portables would be taken out once the new school opens in the 2019-20 school year.

Similar portables were approved in Lakeway in 2005 for a five-year term at Emmaus Catholic Church, according to city records. The city of Lakeway, in 2016 brought in its own portable on the campus of City Hall, 1102 Lohmans Crossing Road.

City-owned land northwest of Lake Travis Middle School located at 4932 Bee Creek Road will be reserved for the new Travis County 2017 bond-funded park and sports complex.

3. Engaging residents

The council also decided to move forward with the selection of a new citizens’ public engagement advisory committee,  which will consist of seven residents. Each council member will pick one person from a list of 16 people who applied for the role based on two public calls for members. The engagement committee is aimed at opening up lines of communication between city government and residents, including the more prevalent use of social media tools and topic-specific web pages to share news of initiatives and plans.

Newly sworn-in Mayor Cox told meeting attendees that one of her frustrations before the election during discussions regarding the failed City Center project was a lack of a dedicated page on the city website laying out the latest information and public decisions.

Council Member Jean Hennagin, who was one of Cox’s mayoral opponents proposed the idea of the engagement committee in late 2017.

The decisions surrounding appointment of committee members will occur at a council work and public comment session that Cox called, which will take place within two weeks. That session will be aimed at going over the scope and function of all city committees and boards before any new vacancies are filled.