After almost a decade of planning, the Ophelia Hotel and Conference Center in Marble Falls is breaking ground sometime between late July and early August. It will be located near Lakeside Park, 305 Buena Vista Drive.
Marble Falls Economic Development Corp. Executive Director Christian Fletcher is “close to 100 percent” confident the groundbreaking will keep to that schedule.
“It will be a huge relief,” he said. “Obviously, the excitement level has waxed and waned over the last several years because of how many other distractions there have been and things that were completely out of our control, but it is very nice to be in this position.”
The building permit for the boutique hotel, which will be part of the Tapestry Collection by Hilton, should arrive on the city’s Development Services Department desk by Monday, June 10.
Marble Falls officials won’t know an exact date for a groundbreaking ceremony until the permit is approved.
“The city may take a couple of weeks to review the permit,” Fletcher said. “It may take a month or six weeks. There’s no precise time when the general contractor is authorized to start the project.”
The groundbreaking announcement follows a flood of articles from other media outlets in response to a story by a San Antonio publication that used “outdated information” on a construction start date.
“(A reporter) decided to write an article about it based on their own research, which was old research, and didn’t call anyone to verify that information,” Fletcher said.
Once built, the Ophelia Hotel and Conference Center will have an economic impact of roughly $200 million over the next 10 years. The project is named after Ophelia “Birdie” Harwood, the city’s first woman mayor.
“Tourism is great because people come into town, stay for a few days, and then they go home,” Fletcher said. “We don’t have to worry about permanent infrastructure to support them.”
The center will also have an immense impact on the funding of the Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone Board No. 1, which oversees improvements to downtown Marble Falls, Fletcher added.
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The Marble Falls City Council on June 4 unanimously voted against a conditional use permit for a gas station to be built next to the Gregg Ranch subdivision.
The Tuesday decision followed city staff and Planning and Zoning Commission recommendations to deny the proposed eight-pump fueling station with a 4,507 square-foot convenience store along U.S. 281.
A roughly 9,000-square-foot retail center next door to the station was not part of the conditional use permit.
Conditional use permits allow developers to build in areas not specifically zoned for a proposed project.
Marble Falls Mayor Dave Rhodes said one of the main reasons the station’s permit was denied is because the applicant failed to disclose the project to Gregg Ranch homeowners.
“I’m into property rights, but there were some things that didn’t happen in the order that it should have,” he said. “If you own a home, disclosure is an important thing. People need to know what they’re buying. This wasn’t disclosed, and it should’ve been.”
The site’s prior zoning as neighborhood commercial, before becoming a planned development district, was another issue.Neighborhood commercial zoning does not allow construction of gas stations.
“For me, it was plain and simple,” Councilor Bryan Walker told DailyTrib.com. “That zoning would never have allowed a gas station to be there. Nobody wants to look over their back fence and see a gas station being put up.”
Rhodes explained that the applicant’s inclusion of gas pumps, as opposed to building a standalone convenience store, put the permit application before the City Council.
“(The permit) wouldn’t have even had to come before council or (Planning and Zoning) if it didn’t have gas or fuel,” he said. “When you add that, all the sudden, it requires a conditional use permit, mostly for health and safety reasons.”
He elaborated on what health and safety concerns the council looks at when considering conditional use permits.
“Gasoline is flammable, so there’s a lot of things involved to make sure that (safety issues) are being dealt with in order to issue a permit,” Rhodes said.
Several Gregg Ranch residents spoke against the station during the Tuesday council meeting as well as at prior Planning and Zoning Commission meetings.
“The folks in Gregg Ranch did a really great job at being respectful to the process,” Rhodes said. “I was really proud of them. They were noisy, so to speak, but they did a good job to put their voices together in an appropriate way.”
Councilors Richard Westerman and Lauren Haltom were absent from the June 4 meeting.
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The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit has upheld most of a district court’s preliminary injunction in the ongoing Llano County library lawsuit. The ruling was issued on Thursday, June 6.
The final judgment favored the plaintiffs in the case of Leila Little et al. v. Llano County et al., who initially filed a civil lawsuit in April 2022. The suit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas in Austin, claimed Llano County officials violated the plaintiffs’ First Amendment right to access information and ideas by removing 17 books based on content and messages.
After several hearings on the matter, District Judge Robert Pitman issued a preliminary injunction ordering Llano County to return the books to library shelves and the library system’s online catalog. Defendants followed the ruling but also filed an appeal, which stayed further action on the district court level.
After 364 days of consideration by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, judges upheld Pitman’s injunction with a few modifications but an agreement with the plaintiffs that their First Amendment rights had been violated.
“Government actors may not remove books from a public library with the intent to deprive patrons of access to ideas with which they disagree,” Judge Jacques Wiener wrote in the conclusion of the main opinion. “Because that is apparently what occurred in Llano County, Plaintiffs have demonstrated a likelihood of success on the merits of their First Amendment claims, as well as the remaining factors required for preliminary injunctive relief.”
In modifying Judge Pitman’s order, the appeals court ordered eight of the 17 books that were removed be returned to library shelves and the online catalog within 24 hours.
The ruling also enjoins the Llano County Library System from removing any books from its “publicly visible and accessible shelves and/or searchable catalog” without providing the plaintiffs with documentation showing who asked for the “removal or concealment” and why the library system decided to do so.
The eight books being returned to shelves are:
“Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents” by Isabel Wilkerson
“They Called Themselves the K.K.K: The Birth of an American Terrorist Group” by Susan Campbell Bartoletti
“Spinning” by Tillie Walden
“Being Jazz: My Life as a (Transgender) Teen” by Jazz Jennings
“Shine” and “Under the Moon: A Catwoman Tale” by Lauren Myracle
“Gabi, a Girl in Pieces” by Isabel Quintero
“Freakboy” by Kristin Elizabeth Clark
The books the library system does not need to return are:
“In the Night Kitchen” by Maurice Sendak
“It’s Perfectly Normal: Changing Bodies, Growing Up, Sex, and Sexual Health” by Robie Harris
“My Butt is So Noisy!,” “I Broke My Butt!,” and “I Need a New Butt!” by Dawn McMillan
“Larry the Farting Leprechaun,” “Gary the Goose and His Gas on the Loose,” “Freddie the Farting Snowman,” and “Harvey the Heart Had Too Many Farts” by Jane Bexley
Appeals court Judge Leslie Southwick made the argument that removing the butt and fart books (as they are referred to in legal documents) did not violate anyone’s rights.
“I do not find those books were removed on the basis of a dislike for the ideas within them when it has not been shown the books contain any ideas with which to disagree,” Southwick wrote.
Appeals court Judge Stuart Kyle Duncan wrote the dissent, using a quote from author Stephen King as his conclusion.
“Stephen King saw this coming,” he wrote. “One of his scary stories once warned: ‘Avoid the library police!’ Now, thanks to the majority, we are all the Library Police. I dissent.”
In the main order, Judge Weiner countered with his own quote from King, who he said would be “horrified to see how his words are being twisted in service of censorship.”
“Per King,” he wrote, “‘As a nation, we’ve been through too many fights to preserve our rights of free thought to let them go just because some prude with a highlighter doesn’t approve of them.’ Defendants and their highlighters are the true library police,” Weiner concluded.
The appeals court ruling lifts the stay on action in the district court in Austin. The case had a jury trial set for October 2023, but that and all other motions were put on hold until the ruling.
“This has been an excruciating year of waiting,” said Leila Green Little, one of seven plaintiffs in the lawsuit. “And I am so thrilled that the court has upheld the preliminary injunction and that the case may proceed.”
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The newly opened Brett’s Biltong in Llano offers an assortment of traditional African-style jerky, called biltong, and imported goods from owner Brett Petzer’s home countries of South Africa and Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe.
Located at 504 Bessemer Ave., the shop is currently open Monday-Saturday from 10 a.m.-6 p.m., but hours could be adjusted as Petzer adapts to the ebbs and flows of business.
Petzer moved his store from Pipe Creek in Bandera County to Llano because he saw the Deer Capital of Texas as a perfect fit. He was once a game ranch manager in Hondo and grew up hunting in the wilds of southern Africa, which he says looks very similar to the Texas Hill Country.
“Llano is one of the hunting capitals of Texas, and biltong goes hand in hand with that,” he told DailyTrib.com. “If you look at the granite countryside, it is just like my hometown. When I drive between here and Fredericksburg, I feel like I’m at home.”
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yearly report on 4-H activities from AgriLife Extension
discussion and action to approve Commissioner Peter Jones conducting a feasibility study to have Llano County move rural transit services from the Hill Country Transit District (The HOP) to Capital Area Rural Transportation System (CARTS)
discussion regarding utilizing hotel occupancy tax funding
review of the fiscal year 2024-25 hotel occupancy tax budget
discussion and recommendation of the following hotel occupancy tax reimbursement grant applications: Texas Bassmaster Open Team Trail State Championship; Music on Main; Marble Falls/Highland Lakes Area Chamber of Commerce; Highland Arts Guild and Gallery; Falls on the Colorado Museum; Highland Lakes Creative Arts; Highland Lakes Chili Pod; FiestaJam
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Granite Shoals has a finance director for the first time in nearly two years. Kevin Rule was hired May 22 and is already deep into preparations for the coming budget season.
“I just feel it’s prudent to have somebody who is dedicating full-time attention to the city’s finances,” said City Manager Sarah Novo in an interview with DailyTrib.com after Rule was brought on board.
Rule’s hiring was one of the first things Novo did in her initial 90 days as interim city manager. She was given the permanent job on May 28.
Granite Shoals had been without a finance director since June 2022, when Russel Martin resigned from the position. Former City Manager Peggy Smith chose not to hire a finance director throughout her tenure as interim city manager and full-time city manager in 2022 and 2023.
The position was in the city’s 2022-23 fiscal year budget but removed in 2023-24 from a budget proposed by Smith and approved by the City Council.
Rule will be paid his $108,500 annual salary from the existing assistant city manager salary budget line item of $115,000. Granite Shoals does not currently have an official assistant city manager, making the derelict salary available.
Granite Shoals’ finances and the 2023-24 budget cycle were fraught with controversy. Smith’s management of the budget led to the resignations of Mayor Kiel Arnone and Councilor Kevin Flack, and the city almost missed its state-mandated window to submit a budget in 2023. A financial consultant had to be brought in to straighten out the numbers.
As finance director, Rule will ensure the budget is balanced and that city leaders have a clear understanding of Granite Shoals’ financial standing.
“Any money that comes in and out of the city, I’m responsible for,” he told DailyTrib.com. “I’m used to doing the budget at this size of organization.”
Rule has eight years of experience as a municipal finance director, coming to Granite Shoals from the city of Bulverde, which has a population of roughly 6,500. Prior to civil service, he spent two decades in the private sector, working in banking and brokerage.
“Granite Shoals is a great town with a lot of potential. It’s not a big city, but it’s not a small city,” he said of the town of around 5,300 people. “There’s no lack of growth going on (in the area), so why can’t we be part of that?”
Rule is aware of the city’s financial struggles prior to his arrival but is confident in his ability to help right the ship.
“I think we can overcome any challenge,” he said. “Where there’s a will, there’s a way. Now, how you get there is a different story. It depends a lot on the council, since they are the true decision-making body.”
The city plans to hold its first budget meeting of the year on June 20, during which Rule will present his initial findings on Granite Shoals’ financial situation and begin working with leadership on developing the 2024-25 fiscal year budget.
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Marble Falls residents and business owners now face costlier consequences for violating water restrictions. The City Council on June 4 unanimously approved raising punitive fees by as much as 200 percent for water users who violate Stage 3 rules four times in one year.
The new fees went to effect with the Tuesday vote and are shown below.
A table of the new fees for city of Marble Falls water users who violate Stage 3 restrictions. Fees listed under the ‘proposed’ column are under effect as of June 4, 2024. Screen-captured image
Mayor Dave Rhodes explained how pressure from the Lower Colorado River Authority fed into the council’s decision to hike fees.
“LCRA for the longest time, at Stage 3 and Stage 4, was always requesting a 20-percent reduction in overall water consumption,” he told DailyTrib.com. “Now, they’ve put teeth in it. If we don’t meet those goals, we’re going to get fined.”
For Rhodes, the increase was not made lightly.
“I hate doing it,” he said. “I hate punitive (fees). Even when we went to Stage 4 (water restrictions in 2023), I refused to allow the fines to take place.”
Councilor Bryan Walker pointed to the watering habits of a handful of residents and businesses as the driving force behind the decision.
“It’s always a few bad apples that make it an issue for everyone else, but what we’re doing isn’t working,” he told DailyTrib.com. “We have to get everyone into compliance.”
Rhodes encouraged residents to take on water conservation as a community.
“Rather than us looking at individually, I’d like for us as a community to think, ‘What if we all did our part?’” he said. “We’re in this together. We own one water system and draw from one source. We need to make it a ‘we’ thing instead of a ‘me’ thing.”
He specifically pointed out lawn watering practices as a major draw on the city’s resources.
“Irrigation is the number one consumer of water,” Rhodes said. “It’s not showering or flushing or drinking.”
Walker offered suggestions to residents wanting to be more mindful of their water consumption.
“If you use less sprinklers and more hand watering and get more direct watering, it’s an awesome tool,” he said. “I hand water my own yard. I haven’t put a sprinkler system in for seven years.”
He also proposed a recreational alternative to cooling off the kids with lawn sprinklers during the hot summers.
“I’m a big proponent of finding ways to meet community needs, so that we don’t have 30 to 40 residents kicking on sprinklers at the same time for kids to play in,” Walker said. “Let’s get a splash pad or something that shuts off when nobody is there.”
Councilors Lauren Haltom and Richard Westerman were absent from the June 4 meeting.
STAGE 3 WATER RESTRICTIONS
Stage 3 limits the watering of landscaped areas to once a week between 7 p.m. and 10 a.m. based on the following schedule:
residential addresses ending in an odd number on Tuesdays
residential addresses ending in an even number on Thursdays
commercial even-numbered addresses on Mondays
commercial odd-numbered addresses on Fridays
public schools on Wednesdays
Watering by hand-held hose with a positive shut-off device, drip irrigation systems, or a faucet-filled bucket or watering can of 5 gallons or less is allowed at any time.
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Texas is one of nine states so far in 2024 with reported cases of bird flu detected in domestic livestock and at least one human.
An outbreak of the latest strain of highly pathogenic avian influenza, or H5N1, in the United States began in Texas this spring. The first case was reported at a dairy cattle operation on March 25. Since then, bird flu has been detected in 81 dairy herds in the country—15 of them in Texas—according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Texas Health and Human Services reported that a dairy worker in the Panhandle tested positive for the virus in April. The Texas case is one of three known human cases of H5N1 in the country and the only one believed to be transmitted by cattle rather than poultry. The other two cases were in Michigan.
The Highland Lakes is currently far from the H5N1 hotbeds, but experts say the situation is still developing.
WHAT IS BIRD FLU?
Bird flu is a virus that has spread worldwide among wild and domestic birds, but it is not limited to fowl. Cattle, humans, skunks, foxes, sea lions, leopards, and squirrels are just some of its potential hosts.
The virus is highly contagious among birds but affects different species in different ways, according to the CDC. Certain types of wild ducks might show no symptoms, but the virus can be fatal to chickens, turkeys, and domestic ducks. It is believed that bird flu is spread by migrating waterfowl.
HOW SERIOUS IS IT?
Bird flu can cause sudden death in domestic birds with little warning. Infected animals might show signs of low energy or appetite and produce fewer eggs.
Nearly 2 million birds are currently quarantined for potential bird flu contamination at a poultry plant in Parmer County, Texas, according to the Texas Animal Health Commission.
Infected cattle might produce less milk, or the milk is thicker than usual or discolored. Bird flu is rarely deadly in cattle, according to the American Veterinary Medical Association.
The virus can be spread from cow to cow or cow to human, but it has not spread from human to human so far.
The Panhandle dairy worker’s only reported symptom was eye irritation. Human symptoms can vary wildly, depending on the situation and the exact iteration of the virus.
H5N1 has been around since 1996, when it emerged in the poultry industry of southern China. That first outbreak led to 18 cases of infection in humans, six of which were fatal.
Outbreaks began in the United States among commercial and backyard poultry operations in late 2021.
Milk, beef, and poultry are safe to eat, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Bird flu is not a foodborne illness, so meat and eggs that are cooked properly have little to no chance of causing infection.
The virus is typically transmitted through exposure to living or recently dead animals. It can be transmitted to humans from birds through saliva, mucous, or feces. According to the CDC, it is possible to become infected with the virus through exposure to raw milk from infected cattle.
“The FDA and USDA have indicated that based on the information we currently have, our commercial milk supply is safe because of both the pasteurization process and that milk from sick cows is being diverted or destroyed,” reads an FDA report.
The high heat applied to commercial milk sources through the pasteurization process destroys the virus.
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“We are committed to enhancing disease awareness and prevention among our community partners,” the city stated in a June 5 media release. “The health and safety of the animals in our care and our community remain our highest priority.”
The city encouraged pet owners to ensure their animals’ vaccinations are update. The Hill Country Humane Society held a free vaccination clinic on Wednesday in Kingsland and is planning future clinics.
Canine distemper attacks an animal’s immune system, making it susceptible to other infections.
Symptoms include:
discharge from the eyes and nose
fever
coughing
lethargy
reduced appetite
vomiting
diarrhea
walking in circles, unable to follow a straight path
head tilt
lack of coordination
muscle twitches
convulsions with jaw-chewing movements (“chewing gum fits”) and drooling
seizures
partial or complete paralysis
“We appreciate the community’s support, cooperation, and understanding as we manage this situation and will continue to provide updates as additional information becomes available,” the release reads.
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