Fischer
GOVERNMENT
Public Warned to Stay Out of Upper Guadalupe River near Spring Branch
Comal County advises the public to expect debris in the Guadalupe River at Rebecca Creek Road bridge and the FM 311 bridge west of Canyon Lake near Spring Branch. The river was expected to crest at around 12.06 feet by 2 p.m. today, with flow rates of around 8,000 cubic feet per second (cfs) at the two bridges.
Outsourcing inmates cost county $167,000 for week of July 7-13
Hays County spent $167,719 outsourcing inmates from the Hays County Jail to other jail facilities across the region during the week of July 7-13, according to a weekly report by Hays County Judge Ruben Becerra. “The estimated cost for outsourcing inmates this week was $167,719. The average number of outsourced males is 266 and females are eight,” Becerra said. “Paper ready inmates we have 47, and those are state inmates [that have] gone through our judicial system and are no longer county inmates. That should be on the state dime, not the county's dime.” Outsourcing costs for two weeks prior was $171,297...
Moving to Wimberley: 5 Essential Tips for a Smooth Relocation to This Charming Texas Town
Discover Wimberley’s Charm: A Guide to Relocating Five Tips for a Smooth Move to This Scenic Texas Town Do you want to relocate to Wimberley, Texas? This quaint village in Hays County home to about 2,837 Americans offers a unique blend of vibrant local culture and tranquility in the country. Elderly Americans and families find […]
Marble Falls, Bertram smart electric meter switch almost done
The switch to AMI “smart” electric meters in Marble Falls and Bertram is nearly complete, with Canyon Lake residents next on the meter replacement list, Pedernales Electric Cooperative board members learned at their regular meeting on July 17. Only four of the seven board directors were on hand...
Hays County Judge explains he livestreams his court to promote transparency
Hays County District Court Judge Tanner Neidhardt has started live-streaming his court to promote transparency. “I don't think that the courtroom should be a black box. And that's what we're doing by live-streaming – we're opening it up,” Neidhardt told KXAN.
Masons commemorate North Hays counties new EMS builings
Masons from the local Rambo Masonic Lodge 426 joined representatives from the Grand Lodge of Texas to perform and witness the old and traditional masonic ceremony to officially pronounce the new EMS stations 74 and 75 as ‘level’ finished and ready to serve the emergency medical needs of the residentsin North Hays county. The tradition of cornerstone ceremonies for public buildings, like the EMS building 75 on Ranch Road 12 and EMS building 74 on Heritage Oaks Drive dates back to the early days of the United States. Until the development of steel frame construction in the 20th century, most buildings were...
City of Kyle purchases multiple downtown properties for $4.45M
Hays City Donuts and The Main Squeeze are located inside 106 N. Burleson St. in downtown Kyle—which is one of the three properties being purchased by the city of Kyle. (Amira Van Leeuwen/Community Impact) The city of Kyle is continuing its quest to revitalize the downtown area. Kyle City...
Kyle City Council discusses future projects
KYLE — On July 16, Kyle City Council heard discussions on the future of the Sportsplex and the prospect of a local favorite, Hays Co. Bar-B-Que, coming to town. Sportsplex After years of discussion, council members were presented with conceptual designs for the long-awaited Sportsplex. Mark Maldonado, senior principal with Stantec Consulting Services, explained that the site is 90 acres, located along FM 1626, north of the Brick and Mortar District, and will aim to create a “unique destination that embodies the proud and vibrant spirit of our community.” The site concept includes four basketball courts, 17 bleachers, 30 shade pavilions, five youth turf fields, 11 pickleball courts, ten full-sized turf fields, four playgrounds, two miles of trails, five volleyball courts, five shuffleboard courts, a 750-space parking garage, a plaza and an approximately 100,000 square-foot indoor recreational facility. The indoor portion of the facility will have multipurpose courts, an indoor track, catering kitchen and open workout areas. According to Ryan Sheridan of Huden Partners, it takes approximately five years to stabilize an event schedule, so the facility is typically losing money “in terms of bottom-line performance,” until operations become more efficient: “The goal of these facilities, ultimately, is to break even and to be that tool for the community. These things across the country are not money printing machines.” The event schedule will be driven by tournaments, which will generate an estimate of 47,500 room nights on an annual basis, according to agenda documents, and local and hourly usage. This, combined with out-of-town spending, leads to a projection of more than $786 million over the course of 30 years. When discussing the finance, city of Kyle Assistant City Manager Jesse Elizondo stated that staff and consultants have used a phasing approach, beginning with phase one that would have a cost estimate of around $65 million, which would include site preparation, the indoor recreation center, an outdoor area and many of the exterior improvements and amenities. This money comes from general obligation bonds and has a tax rate impact of approximately $0.0503 per $100 of valuation. The estimated total cost, prior to finalizing details and changes, is $185,615,701.20. Although excited about the designs, Mayor Travis Mitchell brought forth concerns of the heat that comes with using turf. According to Mitchell, it is about 10 degrees hotter than grass. Because of this, he suggested an indoor air conditioned area, an outdoor shaded turf, such as a pavilion, and using an irrigation system with reclaimed water for an outdoor field, similar to what the Plum Creek Golf Course does. “To have something like this centralized would be important for all the kids in the area, all the region. But for the adults and everybody else, I know that it’s going to be a really big investment. I think the draw, if we do this right and we program it right, [is] that it can pay for itself and that’s the important thing,” said council member Robert Rizo. The next step is to begin the master planning process, which will address concerns and changes that council has, as well as a community outreach component, where feedback will be received to know what the priorities are for residents. In order for the financing for phase one to be presented to residents, council must vote to add a bond proposition to the November ballot no later than Monday, Aug. 19.
San Antonio neighbor leads U.S. in housing and cost of living, says report
Texans looking for their next apartment or house to rent have many options to choose from, but only one city tops RentCafe's annual ranking of the cities with the best balance of housing and cost of living: San Marcos. San Marcos ranked No. 55 overall in RentCafe's "Best Cities for...
Texas boosts investment in energy fund to meet growing demand
San Marcos, Texas used to be a small town, but with the undeniable growth in most communities along the I-35 corridor, that is no longer the case. Andrea Villalobos, the assistant director of planning and development services for the City of San Marcos, expressed her deep admiration for the community’s growth and her love for the area, stating, “I’ve witnessed the community’s evolution and have come to cherish my life in this region.”
Kyle Area Chamber of Commerce provides traffic forecast update
KYLE, Texas — The Kyle Area Chamber of Commerce is giving an update on the city's traffic forecast Tuesday morning. The program, "Driving Change": A Transportation and Traffic Forecast, will give businesses a breakdown of upcoming road improvement projects and the impacts they may have for traffic flow. Kyle...
Council talks Dripping Springs Mountain Biking Team
DRIPPING SPRINGS — At its July 16 meeting, Dripping Springs City Council discussed the future of a local mountain biking club's use of Dripping Springs Ranch Park. This comes on the heels of damage found at the park following a Trail Maintenance Day that took place earlier this year on April 23. The gathering was hosted by the Dripping Springs Mountain Biking Team (DSMBT), however, the city and DSRP staff were unaware of the scheduled event. The next day, on April 24, Parks & Community Services Director Andrew Binz noticed displaced dirt, boulders and trees in the ravine located behind the Ranch House, according to agenda documents from a previous meeting on May 7. Upon further investigation by DSRP Manager Emily Nelson and DSRP Assistant Manager Lily Sellers, it was determined that the mountain biking team created an unsanctioned trail in the ravine, resulting in a large amount of tree trimming along with entire trees being cut down, agenda documents continued. There was a dramatic drop off that would be very dangerous for mountain bikers, equestrians and hikers. Even more extensive trail destruction was found, such as improperly cut limbs and enhancements of unsanctioned trails. They also discovered that the trail work had continued down the environmentally sensitive ravine, which resulted in a lot of trees being cut down that provided structure for the ravine’s rock edge. Nelson contacted Lindsey Thomas, one of the DSMBT coaches, immediately to make sure a cease and desist on all trail work occurred. Thomas stated that the team had been working in that area, but she had asked them three times to stop, according to agenda documents. The mountain biking team came out to remedy the ravine unsanctioned trail to the best of its ability, but some of the damage could not be fixed. City staff and the DSMBT Board met on April 30 to discuss how the damage happened to the trail system without adult intervention. According to Nelson, the team showed interest in correcting the improper trail maintenance that had taken place. Prior to the club’s use agreement and settlement agreement being brought up again before council last week, the DSRP Board of Directors had the Dripping Springs Mountain Biking Agreement on the agenda at it's June 12 meeting. As presented at the July 16 meeting, the following is the communication timeline between Nelson and Thomas. • 5/28: Email from Nelson requesting a meeting. • 5/29: Email from Thomas saying she would speak with the DSMBT Board. • 6/17: Email from Thomas requesting a meeting to be the week of Aug. 5 because the board is traveling and has summer plans. • 6/19: Email from Thomas pushing to the week of Aug. 12. • 6/20: Email from Nelson to Thomas discussing the delicate timing and the possibility of delaying the season due to pushing out so far, as well as requesting the insurance policy. Nelson suggested that the entire board didn’t need to be in attendance. • 6/21: Email from Thomas saying, 'That is fine," and that they are more comfortable waiting for the full board. • 6/21: Email from Nelson still requesting insurance. • 6/22: Email from Thomas stating they don’t name the city of Dripping Springs on their policy. • 6/24: Email from Nelson requesting a copy of their insurance anyway. “I don’t have an update to the agreement yet because we have not met with [the DSMBT], so we do not have agreement in place yet or a new agreement — none of those items have taken place,” Nelson explained to the council. “Any agreement that we are able to compose once we’ve met with them for the first initial meeting would have to go to the [Dripping Springs] Ranch Park Board and then city council. They are expecting their season, I believe, to start in October. So, the timing would be very tight.” Mayor Bill Foulds said that he believes that the council as a whole is in support of the mountain biking team, but the situation needs to be resolved. “I think we need to forward a letter to the [Dripping Springs ISD] superintendent to make sure she is aware of the situation because if it’s not resolved in time,” Foulds said, “I feel like this council — and again, I am not trying to speak for everybody — is going to say, ‘Let’s put a hold on it until we do resolve it.’ We are not taking a vote, but I think that is a general consensus.” Council member Travis Crow said the team members should be taking responsibility for their actions in order to continue using the park. “I think we have bent over backwards trying to help the mountain biking club by saying this many hours and community service we need in the summer to help the cost of what they did. And for them to not respond or push this back, they were up here in force with 30 or 40 of them when they realized they messed up,” Crow said. “But not to take that kind of responsibility to help us out when we needed it during the summer … It's just very frustrating to me. I have a real problem with them getting on that park until they make up financially, [community service] hours or whatever they need to do.” Council member Taline Manassian asked if the team typically uses the park during the months of August and September. Nelson responded that they do have practices and recruiting sessions prior to the season officially starting in October. Also, Manassian questioned whether council is deciding that there will be no official use of the park until there is an agreement made. “It’s my understanding that we are still under an agreement with them. It’s getting the settlement agreement done. So, there’s two agreements,” Binz responded. “There’s a use of the park and there’s a settlement.” Foulds clarified that the Dripping Springs Mountain Biking Team is currently in breach of the agreement — and city staff agreed. City Attorney Laura Mueller said that the city has the option to terminate the agreement, as there is no expiration date. She also explained that the city could tell the team that as long as it’s in breach of the agreement, the bikers could not use the park at all or the trail for mountain biking until they do the agreement and hours. “It’s so important that they say that their season is going to start in October, but if they are not going to meet with us until August, they are not going to have very long to do those hours,” Mueller said. Manassian questioned if the team members, who are students, would be able to work off the hours during the school year, even after the season has started. She also asked if there would be enough time to negotiate an agreement during the period of mid-August to Oct. 1. “They’ve had time. They’ve had months. And for their board not to meet until August when we try to bend over backwards, I take that as an insult. We are all busy in the summer [and] we still come up here … and they don’t have time to meet and do something? I find that personally insulting,” Crow responded. “If they didn’t meet their timeframe, that is their problem. They’ve had three months to do this and it wasn’t important to them to do it.” Foulds said that right now, there is nothing that states that the mountain biking team has accepted responsibility and will remedy the problem. While there was extensive discussion, there was no action taken on the item. The council brought the item into executive session, however, did not make any vote following that period when the meeting was opened again to the public. To listen to the full discussion, visit bit.ly/4d37YSx . The News-Dispatch reached out to the Dripping Springs Mountain Biking Team for a comment, but no response was given as of press time.
Paul Peña Park improvements complete in San Marcos
Cecilia Pena unveiled the park's improvements with a ribbon cutting on July 19 alongside city staff and officials. (Amira Van Leeuwen/Community Impact) The city of San Marcos and community members came together on July 19 to celebrate the completion of improvements made to Paul Peña Park, located at 1209 Crystal River Parkway.
Dripping Springs earns 'Brew City' designation
Dripping Springs, renowned for its rich Texas history, natural beauty, and tourism attractions, has officially been designated a Brew City destination. In April, Dripping Springs became one of the first Texas cities to receive the Brew City designation from the Texas Craft Brewers Guild, a nonprofit association promoting the craft beer trade through education and advocacy. In honor of this recognition, the Dripping Springs City Council proclaimed July 16, 2024, as “Dripping Springs Brew City Day.” The resolution, sponsored by Mayor Bill Foulds and read by Mayor Pro Tem Taline Manassian, ac-knowledges the growing craft beer industry, which supports nine local breweries...
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