An overhaul of the Granite Shoals water meter system in 2023 has saved nearly $180,000 in its first year of implementation.
The city completed a full-scale replacement of residential water meters in June 2023 after taking out a 10-year, $1.2 million loan. The new system has a guaranteed lifespan of 20 years.
The change was needed due to the city’s water meter system becoming obsolete in 2022 after AT&T ceased operation of its 3G network on which the old meters functioned.
The new meters work on 5G and allow for rapid digital monitoring of all water use in Granite Shoals by residents and city staff, leading to more accurate readings and operational efficiency.
“(The new system) is working better than we expected,” Granite Shoals Utilities Superintendent Josh Hisey told the City Council during a Nov. 12 meeting. “We love it. It is a great program.”
According to Hisey, water bills are now more accurate and his small staff is able to digitally read meters from their trucks and offices, which allows for faster problem solving and leak identification.
“We have more usage inquiries about high bills,” Hisey said. “Well, your bill is high because you’re actually reading the water accurately now.”
Residents can monitor and manage their water use through the Eye on Water system. The new meters track usage and the data can be accessed online along with a suite of tools to keep an eye on the water coming in and out of the home.
Performance Services, the utilities firm that handled the meter transition, installed 2,752 of the new models in the spring of 2023 and then tracked all usage for the first year of operation, which ran from June 30, 2023, through July 1, 2024.
In that timeframe, the meter switchout was shown to have saved the city $179,463 in operational, utility, and capital costs.
A third of the savings came from the durability of the new meters. Hisey said his team was replacing 30-60 meters a month under the old system. The new meters are guaranteed for 20 years, and no meters have been replaced since the system was implemented.
“(The ease of the new system) frees up staff time,” City Manager Sarah Novo said during the council meeting. “It’s a digital meter reading system, which allows staff to utilize that time for repairs or general maintenance.”
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The developer of Creekfall, a new Burnet subdivision, will add 115 homes to its plans thanks to a deal with the city that will expand municipal and water services to the site.
Meritage Homes of Texas signed a Developer Participation Agreement on Nov. 12. Its original plans called for 135 homes. With the utilities upgrade, the subdivision will have 250 homes.
“This agreement supports the city’s development goals by enabling shared costs to enhance public infrastructure for future needs,” Burnet City Manager David Vaughn said in a recent media release.
With the agreement, the city and Creekfall developer will share utilities costs for phase three of construction near the intersection of Cactus and Westfall streets.
Building firm DR Horton has already begun work on phases one and two. The massive build site is easily seen on the south side of Texas 29 on the east side of Burnet.
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News stories, staff photos, and other online content are copyrighted property of Victory Media. Reproduction in part or in whole is prohibited without the express written consent of the publisher.
The Llano Earth Art Festival is not coming back in 2025, or maybe ever again. The festival’s founder announced its end on Nov. 27 due to several obstacles, including a lack of funding, volunteers, and community support.
First held in 2015 on the banks of the Llano River in Grenwelge Park, LEAF featured a rock-stacking competition that attracted stone balancers from around the world. During its peak years, the popular event drew thousands of visitors who came for the earth art and activities, live music, camping, and unique workshops.
LEAF founder Binky Morgan said the festival created an international community.
“It’s been one of the best experiences of my life to see people from all walks of life and all different beliefs come together in Llano, Texas, on the banks of the Llano River and, in nature, create art,” she told DailyTrib.com. “It was just always a beautiful thing, and I hope that continues somehow, somewhere, even if it’s just one person going down to the river on their own.”
Morgan said the festival’s founders had reached financial and personal breaking points, and the number of volunteers had dwindled despite the event’s popularity.
“The main (LEAF committee) took off work for a month or six weeks to put this on, and it was a big sacrifice to our personal income and our families,” she said. “Volunteerism was a huge part of it, too. The festival was growing every year, but volunteers were not. In fact, it was declining.”
Morgan and the other organizers had already pulled back from operations, canceling the 2024 LEAF to accommodate the gargantuan crowds expected for the total solar eclipse that passed over Central Texas in April.
A new crop of volunteers and organizers took on the project with hopes of bringing it back in 2025, but those plans didn’t come together.
“We talked with a new group of folks who were excited to take the helm and continue on,” Morgan wrote in her Nov. 27 Facebook post announcing the end of LEAF. “We all had high hopes that things would move forward.”
This series of stone arches was typical work left behind by artists on the banks of the Llano River after the Llano Earth Art Festival.
The post also notes the “nail in the coffin” for the festival was a lack of funding from Llano County.
LEAF organizers applied for a $40,000 hotel occupancy tax grant from the Llano County Commissioners Court for the 2024 cycle but were denied money this year. Hotel occupancy grants are typically awarded to events that draw tourism and put “heads in beds” in local lodging, but the grant process is at the discretion of the Commissioners Court.
LEAF had been awarded funds in past years, and it is common for festivals and events to receive HOT grants. This year, the Llano Crawfish Open was awarded $75,000, the Llano Music Festival $48,000, and the Llano Chuck Wagon Cook-off $15,000.
LEAF survived via ticket and T-shirt sales as well as community support. According to Morgan, the lack of county funding and increasingly prohibitive policies by the city of Llano made it difficult to move forward.
“We did depend on the city and the county HOT funds to do (the festival),” Morgan told DailyTrib.com. “The requirements from the city also became cost prohibitive. Really, what it boils down to—even with obstacles from the community—it really just boils down to money and participation.”
Thousands of visitors attended the Llano Earth Art Festival in 2022, and at their core were the original founders of LEAF and an international group of artists and enthusiasts that had been part of the production since its inception.
Despite LEAF fading, Morgan has hope for what is to come.
“We had a great run,” she wrote in her farewell address to LEAF fans. “We created a global community with other similar festivals being spawned. We made lifelong friends from all parts of the world. Thank you for loving LEAF and thank you for helping make the dream come true, the dream of a gathering of love and peace and nature and creativity, sprinkled with song and learning. I hope you will all continue to commune with nature and create Earth Art whenever you can.”
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The Llano County Commissioners Court took emergency action Nov. 26 to ensure Llano Hospital remains open and running amid concerns about its financial viability from operator Mid Coast Health System.
The county created a fund and approved legal representation during a special-called meeting Tuesday afternoon to negotiate with Mid Coast over potential new management or improving the current situation.
While the county is still learning the specifics of Mid Coast’s concerns, the Commissioners Court took swift action Tuesday to prevent an imminent loss of hospital management and operation services.
“ … There is an indication from Mid Coast as a partner of the county that they are in financial difficulty and there could be a need to respond with county funds on an immediate basis,” explained Llano County Attorney Dwain Rogers.
During the meeting, the court:
approved a $450,000 budget line item to make potential “emergency payments” to hospital employees and vendors;
authorized any necessary legal action to help maintain hospital care for patients;
and approved legal representation by Husch Blackwell for future negotiations.
The Commissioners Court called the emergency meeting two hours prior as the situation was deemed “an imminent threat to public health and safety.”
“We’re preparing for a transfer of management for the hospital,” County Judge Ron Cunningham told DailyTrib.com after Tuesday’s meeting. “We don’t know what that looks like at this time, and that’s what (today’s actions) are doing. This is allowing us to open up a dialogue with Mid Coast for a transfer of management.”
Cunningham said the situation remains in flux, but it was possible that Mid Coast would have ceased operations of the hospital in the near future without immediate action by the county.
The court is expected to discuss the matter further at its Dec. 9 meeting, which begins at 9 a.m. in the Justice of the Peace Precinct 4 Courtroom at 2001 Texas 16 North in Llano. County Attorney Rogers said the county has not yet committed to paying for anything, but the budget line item and an attorney contract allow negotiations with Mid Coast to move forward.
Mid Coast Health System is a Texas-based, rural health network with hospitals in Llano, El Campo, Palacios, Crockett, and Trinity and walk-in clinics across the state. The Llano facility is owned by the county but managed by Mid Coast, which has a lease agreement and indigent care contract with the county for a combined $150,000 a year.
Llano Hospital Administrator Hatch Smith provided this written statement to DailyTrib.com regarding the situation:
“Llano has a great asset in this hospital and the clinics that support it. We believe we have a lot going for us and will set a path based off of what the county and (Mid Coast) decide.”
Llano Hospital, 200 W. Ollie St., has 46 employees and is the primary hospital for western Llano County and San Saba County residents.
“Rural hospitals in general are struggling right now, and we’re no exception to that,” Judge Cunningham said.
“Low volume is part of the tough recipe for rural health care, but I think it actually starts with demographics,” Henderson told DailyTrib.com. “Rural hospitals tend to serve an older, poorer, less healthy, and chronically ill population.”
He also said uninsured patients and those with Medicare and Medicaid actually cost the hospital money to treat.
“Uninsured is charity care—you generally don’t get paid for that—but folks who are seniors under Medicare or Medicaid, those payments are typically less than (the cost of treatment),” he explained. “That really puts a lot of pressure on small, rural hospitals.”
According to Henderson, 58 percent of rural hospitals in Texas posted operational losses in 2023.
“(Rural hospitals) are always going to be vulnerable,” he said.
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Andrea Stephens shared these photos she took of a bald eagle she spotted while kayaking on Lake Marble Falls on Nov. 17. She actually saw the bird on a Nov. 13 kayak trip and returned later to the same spot for a photo, finding a pair of the regal raptors. Bald eagles are known to overwinter in the Highland Lakes, especially around Lake Buchanan. They mate for life and can live over 25 years in the wild and even longer in captivity. “I’m so excited that these beautiful eagles get to live with us in the best part of Texas,” Stephens said. (DailyTrib.com is not sharing the location of the eagles to help keep their nesting area undisturbed.)
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The Central Texas Groundwater Conservation District on Nov. 20 fined Whitewater Springs Water Supply Corp. $2,000 for a major rules violation. The corporation, which serves the Whitewater Springs subdivision at the intersection of Whitewater Springs Drive and FM 1174, was found to have operated a well without the proper operating permit for 333 days. Whitewater Springs paid the penalty Tuesday, Nov. 26.
The Groundwater Conservation District (GCD), which monitors and regulates Burnet County’s groundwater, assessed the fine after a show-cause hearing in which Whitewater Springs was given an opportunity to explain the violation.
District rules require all wells be registered, but only some wells require permits. Wells that pump above 25,000 gallons per day (17.36 gallons per minute) are required to have a permit due to the large volume of water they are capable of producing.
“Some wells are exempt from permits, and those are wells that have a smaller pumping capacity,” GCD General Manager Mitchell Sodek told DailyTrib.com. “That exempts most home wells and livestock wells, but larger wells that are used to serve communities need permits.”
The issue arose after Whitewater Springs drilled two test wells in late 2023, equipping and operating one without obtaining the necessary operating permit. The corporation faced penalties for operating a well without a permit for nearly a year, initially calculated at $83,250—$250 per day for 333 days. The fine was reduced to $2,000.
“We understand the financial side of things, and we wanted to make it an amount of money that is fair but, hopefully, reflects how serious a violation this is,” GCD board President Rowney told DailyTrib.com. “We’re not trying to be punitive, but we have to get people’s attention. It’s serious, so we have to set an example so, hopefully, people who are operating water systems see they have to follow the rules.”
The GCD was alerted to the unpermitted operation earlier this year when the corporation submitted production reports for the well. Upon discovery, the district ordered Whitewater Springs to cease operating the well and initiate the permitting process.
“We expect the operators of water systems to understand and follow the rules,” Rowney said. “Ignorance is not an excuse. There is not a lot of water to begin with, but everyone in Burnet County follows these rules and they should be held to the same standard.”
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The city of Burnet named Jessica Carpenter its new administrative services specialist. She begins the job Dec. 2, moving over from the Burnet school district, where she was the administrative assistant to the Board of Trustees and superintendent.
In her new role, Carpenter will take the lead on a range of administrative tasks, including spearheading the redesign of the city’s website.
“This position helps with everything, ranging from putting on concerts and events to reviewing and drafting ordinances, bids, and more,” City Manager David Vaughn told DailyTrib.com in an emailed reply to questions. “Jessi is a very talented person, and we look forward to her joining our team.”
Carpenter is the latest addition to the city’s staff with ties to the Burnet Consolidated Independent School District. She previously worked with Assistant to the City Manager Keith McBurnett when he was the BCISD superintendent.
McBurnett expressed his eagerness to work with her again.
“… I was pleasantly surprised to see Jessi’s name,” he said about the job’s applications. “I’m super excited to have her as part of our team. She’ll handle a lot of different administrative duties, and the website redesign is an area she will lead.”
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Firefly Aerospace is preparing its new lunar lander for a trip to the moon, but it must first make the much shorter trip to Cape Canaveral in Florida. The lander, Blue Ghost, recently passed all environmental testing, which means it is ready to endure the rigors of space travel and carry out its NASA mission in January.
Firefly is headquartered in Cedar Park but has a massive manufacturing facility and testing site in Briggs, located in the northeastern corner of Burnet County. That facility, informally known as Rocket Ranch, has over 300 employees in jobs ranging from welder to rocket scientist.
For Blue Ghost’s first mission, dubbed Ghost Riders in the Sky, the lander will make the 45-day trip from Earth’s surface to the moon, where it will spend a full lunar day (equal to 14 Earth days). The lander will collect valuable data that NASA will use in its Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative, an ongoing project related to the moon’s economic prospects.
Blue Ghost is expected to be shipped in mid-December to NASA’s launch facility in Cape Canaveral, where it will wait for ideal launch conditions, which should be sometime in late January.
Ghost Riders in the Sky is the first of three missions Firefly has on the books with NASA for the CLPS initiative. The Central Texas firm is working under a $230-million contract with the space administration.
Firefly’s lander had to undergo extreme testing before it could be cleared for the mission to ensure it was ready for the severe conditions expected on the moon. This included being subjected to extreme temperatures, intense vibrations, and high levels of electromagnetic interference.
“Blue Ghost aced environmental testing and proved the lander is performing 100% as expected, which is a testament to the incredible Firefly team,” said Firefly Aerospace CEO Jason Kim in a Nov. 25 media release. “This team has gone above and beyond with innovative testing approaches to ensure Blue Ghost is flight ready. While we know there will be more challenges ahead, I’m confident this team has what it takes to softly touch down on the lunar surface and nail this mission.”
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