5 vying for 3 Lakeway council seats

Five candidates, including one incumbent, are running for three seats on the Lakeway City Council.

The lone incumbent seeking reelection is Gretchen Vance. Also seeking seats are Kevin Bernzott, Christopher Forton, Kent O’Brien and Dan Vardell.

The positions are elected at large, so the top three vote-getters will win the seats. Council Members Sanjeev Kumar and Keith Trecker did not file to run again.

Election day is May 6.

The American-Statesman asked each candidate a series of questions, and all but one gave responses.

Kevin Bernzott

Bernzott, 69, is running for political office for the first time. He is the founder and CEO of a boutique institutional investment management firm. He received a law degree from the University of West Los Angeles School of Law.

“The two biggest issues are traffic and crime,” Bernzott said. “The traffic is already here, and I’m afraid the crime is coming.”

Bernzott said the traffic relates to the congestion on RM 620, and that while construction will improve the road, it also will affect businesses along it. He said he spent time on the police force, and that an adequately resourced Police Department is a priority to combat crime.

“I also want to ensure that we have the best-trained, best-equipped and best-led Police Department in Central Texas,” Bernzott said. “The women and men who protect us need to be up to the task.”

Bernzott also is a director of Travis County Municipal Utility District No. 11, a member of the Lakeway City Building Commission, and a director and the treasurer of the Rough Hollow South Homeowners Association. He’s a lifetime member of the Sheriffs’ Association of Texas and the 100 Club of Central Texas.

Christopher Forton

Forton, 46, is a life insurance specialist and was a firefighter/paramedic and retail manager. He ran for the City Council in 2018 but was not elected. The mayor then appointed Forton to the Zoning and Planning Commission, and he is now its chairman.

Forton received degrees in fire science and business management from Macomb Community College in Michigan. With his work experience, he said, protecting and enhancing parks and trails are among his top priorities.

“Aside from accessibility issues from downed trees,” Forton said, "we also need to make sure we are removing the numerous dead trees to allow new growth and mitigate fire hazards.”

Maintaining low property taxes and preparing for the RM 620 expansion project are issues Forton wants to address.

“My work history has included aspects of budgeting, short- and long-term planning, teamwork and decision making,” Forton said, “all attributes which will be needed on City Council.”

Kent O’Brien

O’Brien is the vice president at Quiddity Engineering LLC, and his work history includes land development, water resource and transportation projects. O’Brien received a degree in civil engineering from Texas A&M University. He worked for the Texas Department of Transportation, where he served nearly 10 years as assistant area engineer for the Seguin and New Braunfels areas.

O'Brien did not respond to questions from the Statesman. His website says he has expertise in “residential, commercial and industrial land development, federal and state rural highways, route and cost feasibility studies, schematic design and development, right-of-way requirements, site grading plans, construction administration, and municipal and private utility systems.”

A few of O’Brien’s more notable projects include parking improvements at the Hamilton Greenbelt, culvert replacements on streets, and schematic improvement to 22 miles of Interstate 35 from San Antonio to the Hays County line.

Gretchen Vance

Vance, 56, is running for reelection for a third term. She owns Electric Avenue Athletics. Vance studied business and hospitality management at the University of Georgia.

Vance said the top issue Lakeway faces is transportation.

“Transportation continues to be a challenge for western Travis County,” she said. “We need to put pressure on (the Texas Department of Transportation) to prioritize the expansion of (RM) 620.”

Vance said that while she aims to be accessible to the residents so they can be heard, she also goes through data-driven research on the issues brought to the council to ensure that members see all angles and vote in the best interests of the community.

Dan Vardell

Vardell, 55, is the senior director of health solutions at Oracle. This is his first campaign for political office. He received his degrees in engineering and economics from Vanderbilt University.

Vardell said the most important issues said the city faces are growth, schools and traffic.

“Both (issues of schools and traffic) are owned by entities outside Lakeway, which means we must work twice as hard to ensure our voices are heard in their long-term planning and decision-making processes,” Vardell said.

Another priority is bringing more residents' voices into the decision-making processes because the city makes “better decisions when we understand what matters to residents.”

Vardell said his diverse work history from construction to health care to government would help him make decisions in the situations the council will face.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: 5 vying for 3 Lakeway council seats