The Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission recently revamped regulations on how harvested deer can be processed and transported to curb the spread of chronic wasting disease. No cases of the deadly illness have been reported in Burnet or Llano counties, but statewide efforts are essential to lessen CWD’s impact on the multibillion-dollar hunting economy.

The new rules will take effect at the beginning of the 2024-25 deer seasons, which kick off with archery-only hunting on Sept. 28. They only apply to native deer species, like white-tailed deer and mule deer, not exotics. 

THE DISEASE’S IMPACT

Chronic wasting disease is a fatal neurological illness that is transmitted animal to animal by direct contact. The disease is even transmissible from the remains of an infected carcass to a live deer, which is why the state added regulations around transporting potentially contaminated remains from one place to another.

The disease has an outsized impact on deer-breeding facilities across Texas and also affects free-range deer.

As of June 20, the TPWD reported 795 cases of chronic wasting disease across 29 counties, including Mason, Gillespie, Kimble, and Cherokee, all west of the Highland Lakes.

THE NEW RULES

Under revised regulations, hunters may debone a native deer (white-tailed or mule) at the site where it was killed, which was not previously allowed. Leaving unused parts from native deer on the site of the harvest reduces the chance of spreading chronic wasting disease. 

If transporting a deer for processing, hunters must be able to report its gender as well as maintain its tags until the carcass reaches its final destination. 

If a hunter uses a processing service, the processor will take care of carcass disposal. If the hunter processes the deer themselves, they must follow the new disposal rules.

“Disposal of unused parts in a commercial trash service is preferred, but other options are available,” TPWD wildlife biologist Erin Wehland said in a written response to questions from DailyTrib.com.

New acceptable disposal options are:

• taking deer remains to a landfill permitted by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality; 
• burying the carcass at a depth of no less than 3 feet below the surface of the ground with at least 3 feet of earthen material on top;
• or returning the remains to the property from which the deer was harvested.

“Proper disposal of all potentially infectious material is critical for reducing the risk of (chronic wasting disease) transmission,” TPWD White-tailed Deer Program Leader Blaze Korzekwa said in a media release announcing the rules. “These new regulations provide hunters more options when it comes to processing their deer to reduce that risk. If CWD is not managed and efforts are not made to mitigate potential spread of the disease, the implications for Texas and its multibillion-dollar ranching, hunting, wildlife management, and real estate economies could be significant.”

dakota@thepicayune.com

Horseshoe Bay is considering more roundabouts, a shared-use path, and even a pedestrian tunnel under FM 2147 to ease traffic congestion and increase mobility.

The City Council heard these proposals from the Horseshoe Bay Transportation Advisory Committee on Tuesday, June 18. 

The presentation followed months of work by committee members to find ways to alleviate traffic issues in the city.

“We really focused on (goals) for the next three to five years, but we did go a little bit more long-term than that,” said committee Chair Kelly Kaatz.

The Transportation Advisory Committee was guided by the results of a resident survey in October 2023, which showed a desire for increased mobility in the city.

“We had a little less than 400 respondents,” Kaatz said. “That’s pretty good for Horseshoe Bay.”

With the feedback, the committee looked at how to connect popular Horseshoe Bay hotspots to a shared-use path along city roadways for pedestrians, cyclists, and golf carts. 

“The shared-use path probably led to the most excitement,” Kaatz said.

If built, the path could link Bayside Fresh Market, Horseshoe Bay Resort, Caprock Golf Course, Summit Rock Golf Course, Slick Rock Golf Course, and Escondido Golf and Lake Club.

“We did a lot of work to find out where the key destinations were for residents,” Kaatz said.

The proposed project is complicated by the Texas Department of Transportation‘s refusal to lower the speed limit on one section of FM 2147 to allow for a pedestrian crossing.

“Speeds have to be below 40 miles per hour (for pedestrian crossings),” Kaatz said. “The speed limit on FM 2147 is 45 (mph). We asked TxDOT to lower it in just one section, and they were not receptive.”

The committee proposed digging a tunnel under 2147 near Summit Rock Boulevard instead.

“This is what we’d like to do,” Kaatz said. “It’s just hard to find a place to do it. 

Councilor Frank Hosea suggested a multi-use bridge over the road.

“The only reason I say that is that a bridge would definitely control truck traffic,” he said. Trucks would have to be under a certain height to pass under the bridge. 

Another topic of conversation for the council on Tuesday was the Wirtz Dam Bridge, a Burnet County project to connect Granite Shoals to Cottonwood Shores that would empty out on FM 2147, roughly 2 miles east of Horseshoe Bay’s entrance.

Councilors are wary of increased congestion from a sudden influx of motorists.

“It’s going to affect Horseshoe Bay more than anyone else,” Councilor Dwight King said. 

Mayor Elsie Thurman suggested forming a group of officials from Horseshoe Bay, Marble Falls, and Burnet County to address the issue.

“We may have to be willing to put some money in for a plan,” she said.

During his presentation, Katz also talked about replacing accident-prone Horseshoe Bay intersections with roundabouts.

“(Roundabouts) are very popular now,” he said. “If you go to Europe, they’re everywhere.”

He cited the October survey showing that 57 percent of residents preferred roundabouts over traffic signal intersections.

“It just looks nicer than a signal,” Kaatz said. “That’s part of the attraction.”

City Manager Jeff Koska seconded Kaatz’s idea.

“It’s a lot safer than just a light,” he said. 

nathan@thepicayune.com

It’s back to the drawing board for the eight-month-old Granite Shoals tourism logo. City leaders want the image to better represent the lakeside town.

Granite Shoals Marketing Specialist David Frank created the logo in November 2023. The City Council has been wanting to discuss tweaks to it for most of this year and finally put it on the June 11 agenda for open discussion. 

During that meeting, council members offered Frank critical feedback, asking him for fresh ideas on how to better showcase Granite Shoals and match its lakeside image. He is now developing a updated logo based on the recommendations and said the city could have a new design soon. 

The tourism logo is an extension of the Visit Granite Shoals project, the city’s tentative step toward economic development.

“Visit Granite Shoals is intended as an initial step, if you will, to play the role of a (chamber of commerce) or tourism bureau to help to promote the Airbnbs that exist, since we don’t have hotels, and to help promote the small local businesses, since we don’t have a chamber,” Frank said.

He was hired as Granite Shoals’ full-time marketing specialist in the fall of 2023 at a salary of $41,000 after working as a contractor for the city on and off for several years. Since then, he has developed the tourism logo, created the VisitGraniteShoals.com website, and generated promotional videos and photography for the city.

Several members of the council said they disliked the logo’s blue and orange colors. 

Place 1 Councilor Michael Pfister and Place 3 Councilor Judy Salvaggio suggested changing the colors to green and blue, like in the official city logo, which is different than the tourism logo. 

Mayor Pro-tem Steve Hougen requested that the hillscape used in the tourism logo resemble Packsaddle Mountain, an iconic peak visible from Lake LBJ.

City Manager Sarah Novo and Place 5 Councilor Michael Berg wanted changes to the logo’s wording. Novo recommended replacing “escape” with “getaway,” and Berg suggested switching “recharge” to “relax.”

The council decided to allow Frank more time to rework the design. 

Frank defended his design, stating the orange represented the sunsets and sunrises of Granite Shoals and the blue the city’s greatest asset: Lake LBJ. He also stood by his belief that the logo had to attach Granite Shoals to the Highland Lakes region.

“Basically, what it comes down to is how do we spread our reach?” he asked the council rhetorically. “How do we get more people? The Texas Hill Country and the Highland Lakes are destinations. Granite Shoals is not yet a destination. So, how do we become a destination? We have to marry ourselves to the bigger picture.”

dakota@thepicayune.com

Marble Falls city councilors are brainstorming potential projects they’d like to see included in a bond sale scheduled for Sept. 3. The amount for the proposed bonds is unknown at this time. 

The City Council will hold a public meeting on July 9 to hammer out the details of the certificate of obligation bonds, such as the bond’s total borrowing amount and what projects to fund. 

“We still haven’t nailed down the borrowing cost,” city financial advisor Mark McLiney of Samco Capital Markets said during the council’s June 18 meeting.

Based on laws surrounding certificates of obligation, the money may only be applied to projects considered necessary for city operations such as infrastructure, public safety, and utility improvements. 

Topping the city’s wishlist is funding for its proposed wastewater treatment plant and projects from its Capital Improvement Plan.

“We’re still working with you all to come up with that project list,” McLiney said.

Once the scope and dollar amount are determined, the bonds will be publicized for 45 days to notify residents of the city’s intent.

“That’s the date that we’ll notice your citizens that the city is going to borrow money through a certificate of obligation,” McLiney said. “We have to give the dollar amount and what the projects will be for.”

During that 45-day window, Marble Falls officials will work to establish a tax rate for the next fiscal year. 

“The tax rate has to take into account the new bonds,” McLiney said.

The city’s “financial shape” has grown stronger every year, according to McLiney.

“The market recognizes that,” he said. “You’ve been really good and you’ve managed your resources very well.”

McLiney also provided insight into the current bond market.

“At the beginning of the year, we talked about the (Federal Reserve) lowering rates, perhaps, eight times,” he said. “We’re now through June, and they haven’t lowered it yet.”

He said conservative estimates by economic forecasters for the past six months are the main reason behind the current state of the market.

“It’s being driven by the economy doing better than what the economists thought it was going to be at the beginning of the year,” McLiney said.

nathan@thepicayune.com

Three members of the Pedernales Electric Cooperative Board of Directors have been re-elected. Milton Rister, Paul Graf, and Amy Akers return to their three-year seats in districts 1, 6, and 7, respectively. 

They will be seated and new officers elected by the full seven-member PEC board at its regular meeting on Friday, June 21. That meeting follows the co-op’s annual membership meeting at 9 a.m. at headquarters, 201 S. Avenue S. in Johnson City.

Certified election results will be presented during the annual meeting followed by remarks by PEC CEO Julie C. Parsley and board President Mark Ekrut (District 3). 

Newly re-elected directors Graf and Akers will begin their final terms in office. Directors are limited to four terms of three years each.

Rister is eligible to serve one more term in District 1 if he chooses to run again in 2027. Only Rister was unopposed in his bid for re-election.  

District 6 incumbent Graf drew two challengers: Garry D. Crain of San Marcos and Grover D. Clifton Jr. of Spring Branch. Graf was first elected in 2015 and is a retired energy and power company executive who lives in Spring Branch.  

District 7 Director Akers was also first elected in 2015. She is a corporate transactions lawyer and business consultant with experience in the construction industry. She was challenged by Daniel Ayala Jr. of San Marcos and Mark Jones of Kyle/Buda. 

PEC members in each of the three districts were eligible to vote from May 21 through June 14.

editor@thepicayune.com

The city of Marble Falls will receive a $5 million grant from the Environmental Protection Agency Clean Water State Revolving Fund for its proposed wastewater treatment plant. 

U.S. Rep. John Carter, who serves as a chairman on the U.S. House Appropriations Committee, explained how the city’s recent growth galvanized his efforts to secure funding for the plant.

“Marble Falls is growing 87 percent faster than other cities of the same size, and that growth requires investments in infrastructure to ensure quality of life for residents,” Carter said in a June 18 media release. 

The $5 million follows the announcement of several other funding sources for the plant in recent months, including grants from the Texas Water Development Board and zero-interest loans.

“This necessary piece of infrastructure is only possible for Marble Falls with the assistance of State and Federal assistance,” Mayor Dave Rhodes said in the release.

Rhodes believes the plant will cost roughly $65 million to construct, a break from previous estimates that topped out at about $80 million.

“I’m very confident we are certainly not going to go past the big $80 million we’ve thrown out there,” he said. 

The mayor anticipates a groundbreaking for the treatment plant in late September. 

“It should take 24 months to complete,” Rhodes said. “That will be the whole shooting match.”

Once finished, the 3-million-gallon-per-day wastewater treatment operation will utilize direct potable reuse, a technology that makes effluent water safe to drink.

“This will be a model plant for Texas,” Rhodes said.

nathan@thepicayune.com

New Granite Shoals Finance Director Kevin Rule determined the city was $1.5 million over budget last year. The good news is he was was able to account for where the money was spent and is implementing new procedures to prevent the same mistakes from happening again. 

His findings shed light on Granite Shoals’ 2022-23 finances, which caused weeks of infighting among city leadership last budget season. Ultimately, a mayor and a city councilor resigned in protest of how the former city manager managed municipal money. 

At the heart of the issue was that hundreds of thousands of dollars were not allocated properly and spending was not tracked effectively. That led to a series of unbalanced proposed budgets and Granite Shoals nearly missing its state-mandated budget submission deadline.

“(The city) went over (budget) by one million and five hundred and seventy-two thousand dollars (in fiscal year 2022-23),” Rule told the council during a presentation on June 11. “Going forward, this will not happen. We should never have this issue again.”

He explained that the city budgeted for $10.25 million in expenses last year but ended up spending $11.82 million.

“Nothing nefarious happened or anything,” Rule told DailyTrib.com after the June 11 council meeting. 

He said the city went over budget due to a lack of proper planning and documentation rather than overspending. 

Most of the $1.5 million difference between the budgeted expenditures and actual expenditures can be traced back to $1.2 million that was withdrawn from the city’s TexPool investment account and moved into the utility fund to pay for large-scale construction in the city’s water supply system in the summer of 2023. This transaction was not budgeted in fiscal year 2022-23, so it came out as an unaccounted-for expense. 

Granite Shoals also spent about $300,000 more than budgeted on its solid waste fund, $120,000 on its restricted parks fund, and $90,000 on its hotel occupancy tax fund.

Some funds came in under budget, like the general fund, which was underspent by $459,000, and the streets fund, which was $291,000 under.

According to Rule, these types of discrepancies are normal in a city budget, but they are typically tracked throughout the year and amendments are made to the budget so accurate numbers are available when a city sets its budget for the coming year.

He promised the council he would provide monthly finance reports and balance the city’s books on a monthly basis to keep the numbers as up to date as possible so accurate budgets could be quickly developed.

Balancing a city’s funds is known as “reconciliation” in accounting terms, and this was one of the key concerns of city leadership in fiscal year 2022-23. Former City Manager Peggy Smith did not reconcile the city’s funds from the time she was appointed interim city manager in June 2022 until the 2022-23 budget season rolled around in August 2023. 

At the time, Smith stated she was “very short-handed” and unable to devote adequate time to the city’s finances. She was also criticized for not hiring a finance director, which she had the sole power to do, throughout her tenure as interim city manager and city manager, which lasted from June 2022 through January 2024. 

Smith was unable to produce a balanced budget for the council or answer direct questions about discrepancies between funds. 

“My question to (Smith) is: How do we know the fund balances being reflected are accurate? I could be wrong, but, out of an abundance of caution, we’d like to get another set of eyes on (the budget),” said former City Councilor Kevin Flack in an August 2023 interview with DailyTrib.com.

Several emergency meetings were held and an outside consultant was hired to help straighten out the books as the city rushed to meet the state’s Sept. 29, 2023, deadline to submit its budget.

Granite Shoals did manage to get a budget submitted in time with the help of the consultant, but former Mayor Kiel Arnone and Councilor Flack expressed extreme concern over how Smith had handled the city’s finances during her tenure. 

They both publicly resigned in October 2023 in protest after the majority of the council chose to put Smith on a professional improvement plan rather than fire her for the fiscal fiasco.

Rule said he was confident in his ability to set the city’s finances on the right course going forward.

“I don’t know what happened because I wasn’t here,” he told DailyTrib.com. “All I can say is that with the changes we are putting into place now, and the reports that council will be getting in the future and the timeliness of those reports to council, this will never happen again.”

Granite Shoals will hold its first budget workshop of the year on Thursday, June 20, to begin preparing the fiscal year 2024-25 budget.

dakota@thepicayune.com

The city of Marble Falls is now part of Brew City, Texas. The Texas Craft Brewers Guild program highlights the currently 20 certified craft beer destinations in the state.

The program began this year with a mission of promoting craft beer in the Lone Star State by generating economic development and tourism within its certified cities. Brew City towns in Central Texas include Boerne, Bryan, Cedar Park, Dripping Springs, and New Braunfels.

“The Texas Craft Brewers Guild created this program to support cities and their local breweries,” Marble Falls Tourism Manager Kayla Gostnell told DailyTrib.com. “We just got the certification two or three weeks ago.”

As a Brew City, Marble Falls will get its fill of exposure for brewery-themed events.

“It’s another opportunity for us to get our events out there,” Gostnell said.

To receive a Brew City, Texas, certification, a town must attract and retain at least one craft brewery.

“It was really easy to get because we already have three fantastic breweries in town,” said Gostnell, referring to Bear King Brewing Company, Double Horn Brewing Company, and Save the World Brewing Co. “This is a way that we can help support them and that industry.”

Gostnell, who oversees the Marble Falls Visitor Center, said volunteers there are frequently approached by tourists looking for fun spots to enjoy an adult beverage.

“It’s definitely an interest of people who come,” Gostnell said. “For a lot of people—especially after going hiking or being outside—going to have a cold beer sounds fantastic to them.”

Breweries are an attraction in all seasons and conditions, she said.

“It’s something easy that the weather doesn’t impact,” Gostnell said. “If you come and it’s raining or too hot or freezing outside, you can still go to a brewery.”

The certification comes as the city looks for ways to boost foot traffic to local businesses via roundtable discussions with a variety of industries.

“We wanted to get them all together to learn from one another,” Gostnell said. 

One of those roundtable groups, Cheers, represents local breweries, bars, wineries, and distilleries. Gostnell said the group has one unannounced program on its radar that should be rolled out in the coming months.

“I don’t want to spill the beans on it until we’re able to get things going a little bit farther, but it should be fun,” she said.

nathan@thepicayune.com

Two hours after hearing that a fire at Motel 6 in Marble Falls on June 16 had displaced 65 people, the Highland Lakes Crisis Network had transformed the middle school into a shelter. The organization’s quick efforts also included a volunteer shuttle service to transport people from the motel.

“We had 40 cots ready to go, food on its way, and volunteers signed up to work shifts over the next few days,” said HLCN Executive Director Kevin Naumann. “We got a lot of (volunteers) out of bed. It was refreshing to see the system work so well.” 

Fortunately, the shelter setup turned out to be only an exercise as Motel 6 quickly partnered with Quality Inn and Hill Country Inn to find rooms for travelers and those who have been living at the motel. The 65 evacuated people included 38 families, overnighters and long-termers. 

By early Monday morning, Naumann had sent out an email to the nonprofit’s network of churches and volunteers asking for donations of food, supplies, and money for the displaced. He planned to update his request list later in the day.

“We are good with food right now, but any supplies or items for families should be taken to The Warehouse,” Naumann said. “Money is needed to help with rental assistance.” 

The Warehouse at 800 Industrial Blvd. in Marble Falls collects new and gently used household goods and furniture for people in need due to everyday hardships or natural disasters. It is one of HLCN’s array of programs aimed at helping individuals and families break generational cycles of poverty. 

To donate to the Highland Lakes Crisis Network, visit its website at highlandlakescrisisnetwork.com or call 325-423-3662. The office is located at  700 Avenue T in Marble Falls. 

suzanne@thepicayune.com