Steps to institute a bond advisory committee began at the May 8 West Lake Hills City Council meeting.

The city is seeking five residents to look at proposed projects for the potential November bond election and weigh in on whether the projects will truly meet community needs and wants, Mayor Linda Anthony said.

The plan is to solicit applications for residents interested in serving. After about a month, applications will close and council will review the candidates in early June.

Typically the city uses a general volunteer application form, but Anthony said she and City Administrator Robert Wood felt it would be best to create a specific, more detailed form for this committee.

“We asked Eanes ISD to take a look at the form and guidelines they used for their [bond advisory] committee and then modified our form to integrate some criteria,” she said.

The city is seeking committee members with backgrounds in engineering, construction or financial expertise—experience relevant to examining an infrastructure package.

“We will be talking about buildings, roads and drainage,” Anthony said. “It would be nice if applicants had relevant backgrounds in those fields.”

Once formed, the committee would meet a few times before coming back to make a report to council.

Some advisory committees stay on for the duration of bond projects and oversee implementation, though Anthony said she does not see any reason for West Lake Hills to take that approach as this is a relatively small bond election with limited scope projects.

“I suspect there will be interest in serving on the committee,” Anthony said. “People will want to have a voice regarding their tax dollars and how they’re spent.”

No motion was needed for the agenda item.