Burnet County’s finances are in good health, according to a fiscal year 2022-23 audit. The annual checkup showed the county has continued to grow its ample fund balance and departments remained within or under their budgets.
“I’m happy to report that we’ve issued what is called an unmodified opinion,” said Todd Pruitt, a lead CPA with accounting firm Pattillo, Brown & Hill, during his presentation to the Commissioners Court on March 26. “You’ll often hear it referred to as a ‘clean opinion.’ It is the highest form of opinion that you can receive.”
The county receives a third-party audit every year of its financial statements. Pruitt’s presentation was based on months of work by the office of Burnet County Auditor Karin Smith and PB&H that resulted in a 114-page report detailing the county’s financial position.
“(The financial statements) have been audited by our firm, and they are free of any material or misstatements and adhere to compliance in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles as they apply to local government,” Pruitt said.
A strong measure of Burnet County’s fiscal health is its ever-increasing fund balance, he continued.
The current fund balance stands at $47.4 million, an increase of $13.6 million, or 37 percent, from the previous fiscal year’s balance of $33.8 million. This new fund balance is more than double FY 2020-21’s balance of $22 million.
Of the $47.4 million in the fund, $17.7 million is available for discretionary spending, representing 82 percent of the county’s total general fund expenditures for the year.
“(County) departments stayed under their budgeted amounts and our revenues exceeded expectations,” Smith told DailyTrib.com. “When the departments stay within or under their budgets, it leads to a strong fund balance.”
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Lakeside property owners struggling to manage nuisance aquatic vegetation on Inks Lake, Lake LBJ, and Lake Marble Falls have access to two new Lower Colorado River Authority programs.
One program offers a new treatment zone schedule to consolidate the efforts of property owners wanting to remove or treat nuisance aquatic vegetation.
“The new schedule is designed to coordinate efforts, make treatments more effective, and help others know when herbicides may be in the water near their property,” said John Hofmann, LCRA executive vice president of water.
The program divides property on the three designated lakes into separate zones and limits the application of herbicides to specific time periods.
Secondly, a rebate program will provide up to 50 percent of the project cost, to a maximum of $7,500 per applicant, for municipalities, counties, and property owners associations that manage invasive aquatic vegetation on the three lakes.
Despite the new programs, the LCRA recommends physically removing invasive plants rather than treatment with herbicides. Plants treated with herbicides can decompose and turn into a nutrient source for other plants and algae to grow in the same area.
Reducing the amount of nutrients entering the lakes is the best long-term strategy to manage nuisance aquatic plants and algae. Nutrient sources include leaves, grass clippings, fertilizers, animal droppings, fish food, food scraps, and other organic matter. Keeping these items out of the lakes helps protect water quality.
NEW TREATMENT ZONES
The new treatment schedule divides property along Inks Lake, Lake LBJ, and Lake Marble Falls into zones, with each zone having three designated periods to apply herbicide treatments.
The zone map, as well as a treatment proposal form, a list of approved herbicide ingredients, and more information, are available at lcra.org/waterweeds.
The LCRA strongly recommends contacting a licensed applicator to design and implement a treatment plan, which must first be approved by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department and the LCRA.
A list of licensed herbicide applicators and aquatic plant management companies is available at aquaplant.tamu.edu/applicators.
Before an herbicide is used, the applicator must provide notice at least 14 days in advance to all public water intakes within 2 river miles of the treatment site and all individuals on the TPWD herbicide use notification list. See lcra.org/waterweeds for a full list of required notifications.
Property owners on Lake Buchanan and Lake Travis may remove or treat nuisance aquatic vegetation at any time, provided they have a treatment plan approved by the TPWD and LCRA.
The city of Austin has jurisdiction over Lake Austin and any vegetation management there in coordination with TPWD.
REBATE PROGRAM
To qualify for a rebate, herbicide treatments must occur during the treatment zone schedule periods, and physical (manual and/or mechanical) removal must occur between April 17 and Aug. 31. The deadline to submit rebate applications is Sept. 15.
The LCRA will issue rebates after the Sept. 15 application deadline. Rebates may be less than 50 percent of the project cost, depending on the total number of applications submitted and rebate amounts requested.
To qualify for a rebate, an applicant must:
be a lakeside property owners association, homeowners association, or a governmental entity such as a city or county;
conduct the management on Inks Lake, Lake LBJ, or Lake Marble Falls during the treatment zone schedule periods for herbicide treatment, or between April 17 and Aug. 31, for physical (manual and/or mechanical) removal. Any herbicide must be applied by a licensed aquatic herbicide applicator;
use a treatment plan that has been approved by the TPWD and LCRA as described in the State Aquatic Vegetation Plan. The TPWD Aquatic Vegetation Management Guidance Document is available online at tpwd.texas.gov;
and submit an application, itemized receipt of the work, and proof of TPWD approval of the treatment plan to LCRA by Sept. 15.
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By the end of May, the Pedernales Electric Cooperative will install about 34,000 new meters in Marble Falls. The meters will self-report power outages and provide co-op members with timely usage data. They also will allow for remote functions such as readings and reconnecting or disconnecting power.
“Upgrading our meters to the latest technology is an important step in enhancing our reliability and improving outage response times for our members and communities,” PEC CEO Eddie Dauterive told DailyTrib.com in an emailed response to questions. “The new meters immediately notify PEC about outages and other potential issues, providing our control room a better view into our system.”
PEC installed its 400,000th meter in November 2023, marking a milestone in a historic period of growth in the Central Texas service area. In 13 years, from 2005-18, PEC grew by 100,000 meters. Within the next five years, from 2018-23, it grew by another 100,000 meters to reach the 400,000 milestone.
Work replacing older Marble Falls meters with the newer version began on March 11. Members about to have their meters replaced will receive a letter in the mail and an email two to three weeks before contractors are due to arrive. Followup reminders by phone and text should occur a few days prior. Members will lose power for about two minutes during the exchange.
For more information, including answers to Frequently Asked Questions, visit pec.coop/ami.
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The Granite Shoals City Council approved a comprehensive update to the city’s animal control ordinance after months of development in the aftermath of its community cat fiasco in December 2023. This new ordinance might put the city on track to heal its damaged partnerships with local animal welfare organizations and could result in a new contract with the Hill Country Humane Society.
The council approved the new ordinance, contingent upon minor changes to the definition of a nuisance animal, during its regular meeting on Tuesday, March 26.
“The updated animal control ordinance includes new provisions for community cats and demonstrates the city’s commitment to humane treatment of all animals within our community,” reads a statement sent to DailyTrib.com by interim City Manager Sarah Novo. “We are grateful for our community partners. The ordinance was crafted in partnership and with the participation of a variety of animal organizations. Together, we are working toward solutions that benefit the community and animals we serve.”
The city began reworking its animal control ordinance after a public outcry over an audio recording of city officials and representatives discussing how to kill and dispose of the city’s feral cat population.
The Hill Country Humane Society publicly cut ties with Granite Shoals over the discussion and chose not to renew its contract with the city to take in stray animals. Past contracts with the local Humane Society have been between $20,000 and $30,000 to take in 100 animals per year. Without the contract in place, the city has been spending far more to manage its stray population.
According to Police Chief John Ortis, the city spent $7,000 to $10,000 on housing and transporting stray animals between Dec. 14 and Jan. 9 alone.
Former City Manager Peggy Smith resigned following the cat controversy and so did multiple members of the city’s Wildlife Advisory Committee, all of whom were involved in the unpopular cat management discussion.
The newly approved amendments to the animal control ordinance, which focuses heavily on how pets and stray animals are managed and perceived in Granite Shoals, were developed alongside the Hill Country Humane Society and several other local animal welfare organizations.
Interim City Manager Novo told DailyTrib.com she is optimistic the Humane Society would be amenable to renewing its contract with the city now that the ordinance had been updated.
An important feature in the updated ordinance is the codification of “community cats” and the trap-neuter-return method of managing their population.
Granite Shoals formed the Community Cat Advisory Committee in January, which is composed of volunteers dedicated to trapping stray cats and raising money to pay for neutering and vaccinating them. The committee has trapped over 40 cats to date, with another 60 scheduled for April.
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The Burnet Zoning Board of Adjustment ordered three city leaders to testify in an upcoming meeting about a variance request for a gravel driveway at 5388 U.S. 281 South. A hearing on the request from David Jamar of J-Bar Enterprises was held on March 28.
Jamar said city officials consistently misled him on city zoning regulations for the driveway.
“It has been very difficult,” Jamar told DailyTrib.com after the meeting. “They say one thing and then deliver something totally different.”
Board members asked to hear future testimony from City Manager David Vaughn, Fire Marshal Johnny Caraway, and City Engineer Eric Belaj.
“The best way for you to know what the intended message was of these people is to get them in front of you,” Assistant City Manager Habib Erkan told the board.
The disagreement originated from a Burnet zoning ordinance passed in 2012 that requires commercial properties to have paved driveways as opposed to gravel or other aggregate driveways.
“In that site development regulation, paved driveways, parking areas, and sidewalks are required,” Burnet Planning Manager Leslie Kimbler told the board. “That is why we’re here for the variance request today.”
Jamar first encountered problems with city staff during a meeting in August 2022 following his decision to develop the site.
“Eric Belaj, your city engineer, questioned the paving of the driveway and parking areas, and I explained that my intent was to keep the driveway as-is with compacted gravel, to which he agreed, excluding the handicapped parking,” Jamar said. “He stated that while compacted gravel is acceptable for the driveway, we must use either asphalt or concrete for the handicap parking.”
City fire officials also found the site’s gravel driveway to be fine, Jamar said, so long as the property owner installed signs for the fire lane in place of striping. A fire marshal review a few weeks later changed that.
“Mr. Caraway agreed that the compacted gravel drive that we currently had met the requirements of the code but that he was directed by the fire chief to enforce an asphalt or concrete drive,” Jamar said. “He went as far to say that it was an unenforceable requirement because of all the other businesses in the area that were not paved, namely Collier Materials across the street.”
Jamar referred to an additional 11 other properties in the Burnet city limits with gravel or other aggregate driveways as proof the city has allowed other variances in the past.
“All of those properties that I’ve given an example of have either had a permit pulled or a change in use or occupancy in the last two years,” he said.
Zoning board members were also told of a purported phone call between Jamar and the city manager that indicated the city was changing its standards.
“On that call with the city manager, (Vaughn) stated that city staff wanted to set a precedent of having paved driveways,” Jamar said. “I don’t disagree with the city setting a precedent. I do, however, have a problem with them setting it after the fact. This is an undue burden on myself and anyone else who did their due diligence, planning, and budgeting.”
Erkan reminded the board that Jamar’s retelling of the call was hearsay until they could speak with others involved in the dispute.
“A statement has three different spins,” Erkan said. “It’s what the person thought they said, what the person thought they heard, and what actually was said. That’s why I characterize the statements as hearsay. It’s being presented that these people said something, but it may have been misconstrued or intended another way.”
Board member Tommy Gaut was unimpressed by Jamar’s presentation.
“With the statements you’ve made, to me, it doesn’t sound like you were prepared in talking to the city or even coming before this board,” he said.
Jamar was offended by Gaut’s comments.
“I’m disappointed in your statement about not being prepared,” he said. “I have brought more material, more evidence than the city has provided today.”
Gaut then closed the meeting. As of Friday, March 29, no date had been set for the next meeting.
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The Llano County Sheriff’s Office and the County Attorney’s Office are due to receive hundreds of thousands of dollars in state funding thanks to State Senate Bill 22, which offers grants to support law enforcement in rural counties. Funds from the bill, which was passed in October 2023, were made available in early March. The Llano County Commissioners Court approved the allocations during its regular meeting on Monday, March 25.
The Sheriff’s Office is getting $350,000, which will be used to purchase four new patrol vehicles for county investigators and to pump up the salaries of officers to more competitive levels.
The County Attorney’s Office is getting $175,000 to supplement the salaries of investigators, crime victim assistance coordinators, and the assistant county attorney. The Commissioners Court is also considering either combining a chief bailiff/investigator role or hiring a new investigator.
The funds are not permanent. They will be available until the next meeting of the Texas Legislature in 2025, at which point, the funding may or may not continue based on the new legislature seated in January.
This funding was only made available to counties with populations of 300,000 people or fewer. Llano County more than qualified for its funding with an estimated population of just over 22,000.
“This is a blessing for the county and our officers, and I hope that they continue to fund this in the future,” said Commissioner Jerry Don Moss before the court’s vote. “It sure helps us. We all know that pay is an issue and it always is.”
Commissioner Peter Jones asked Sheriff Bill Blackburn what his deputies and investigators thought of the incoming salary raises and new vehicles.
“The feedback was good on it,” Blackburn replied. “Anytime you get more money, it’s good. Especially when it doesn’t cost the county anything.”
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Another lawsuit that includes Llano County was recently filed in federal district court, adding a fourth to a list of lawsuits on the Executive Session agenda for a special meeting of the Llano County Commissioners Court on Monday, April 1.
The court meets at 9 a.m. in the Justice of the Peace Precinct 4 courtroom, 2001 North Texas 16, in Llano. (For other agenda items, see Government Meetings for the week of April 1.)
The latest suit includes one local person, Madelon Highsmith, in a list of five plaintiffs versus the Texas Secretary of State Jane Nelson, Director of the Elections Division of the Texas Secretary of State Christina Adkins, and the election administrators of three counties: Llano, Williamson, and Bell. Andrea Wilson is the Llano County elections administrator.
The suit is referred to in short as Pressley et al. v. Nelson et al. It was filed on March 26 in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas, Austin Division, and assigned to District Judge Robert Pitman, no stranger to Llano County lawsuits. The very next day, Pitman denied the plaintiffs’ request for a temporary restraining order and temporary injunction.
As registered voters in either Llano, Williamson, or Bell counties, plaintiffs Laura Pressley, Robert Bagwell, Teresa Soll, Thomas L. Korkmas, and Highsmith ask for “injunctive relief to protect the integrity and secrecy of their in-person ballots and, indeed, the in-person ballots of all Texas voters using the Secretary (of State)’s wrongful authorization for ballot number tracking through voting system software provided by Tex. Sec. of State Election Advisory 2019-23, Section 13.”
Plaintiffs claim that it is possible to use election records subject to the Public Information Act to match the unique identifier/ballot tracker on the voting system equipment in Llano, Williamson, and Bell counties to reveal individual voter identities.
The injunction request seeks to restrain defendant counties from numbering electronic ballots with computerized random unique identifier/ballot trackers.
Pitman ruled that the plaintiffs did not meet either of two requirements of the rules for a TRO, including not notifying defendants in writing that a TRO application was being filed.
“More substantively, plaintiffs have not shown why their alleged injury requires a highly accelerated form of relief,” Pitman wrote in his order. “Plaintiffs’ request for an order prohibiting the manipulation of ballot data is more backward-looking, in that it relates to the potential misuse of existing voting data. However, that alleged injury still lacks any threat of immediate harm.”
Baker vs. Llano County
The second most recent civil lawsuit filed against Llano County involves former Kingsland head librarian Suzette Baker. The suit was filed on March 4 and claims Baker was fired in March 2022 for refusing to remove books about racial minorities and LGBTQ+ individuals from its collection.
It, too, was filed in the U.S. District Court, Western District of Texas, and assigned to Judge Pitman. Defendants are listed as Llano County, Llano County Commissioners Court, Llano County Judge Ron Cunningham, Llano County Library Director Amber Milum, Precinct 4 Commissioner Jerry Don Moss, and Library Advisory Board members Bonnie Wallace, Rochelle Wells, Rhonda Schneider, and Gay Baskin.
The defendants have been served and have until April 1 for some and April 2 for others to answer. No attorneys for the defendants have been listed on court papers as of Friday, March 29.
Little vs. Llano County
Little et al. v. Llano County et al. involves the same defendants as the Baker suit. It was filed in April 2022 in the same court and assigned to the same judge.
Defendants’ attorney Jonathan Mitchell appealed a temporary injunction issued by Judge Pitman to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in New Orleans. The injunction ordered the return of 17 books to library shelves and the digital catalog. The books were returned, but all other actions, including a jury trial originally set for October 2023, are on hold pending the appeal court’s ruling.
Mirelez vs. Llano County
Adam Mirelez v. Llano County, Williamson County, Llano County Sheriff’s Department, Williamson County Sheriff’s Department, Officer John Doe #1, and Officer John Doe #2 was filed on Sept. 11, 2023, by Mirelez, who is serving a 40-year sentence in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice for unlawful possession of two firearms.
Mirelez was found guilty of the charges by a Llano County jury on Aug. 24, 2022. As a convicted felon on parole at the time, Mirelez could not legally have possession of firearms.
In his handwritten complaint, Mirelez says he was surrendering peacefully and complying with all orders of the arresting officers when he was assaulted by those same officers.
“In a premeditated and malicious assault that caused bodily injury, two unknown SWAT officers, herein named as Officer John Doe Numbers One and Two, shot the Plaintiff twice in the leg with non-lethal rounds at close range,” Mirelez wrote in his complaint.
He suffered a broken femur that required surgery and caused him permanent disability, he said.
This case is also before Judge Pitman in the Western District of Texas. Pitman denied appointed counsel in the case. Mirelez has a legal right to a defense counsel in a criminal case but not as a plaintiff in a civil case. Currently, Mirelez is representing himself. Llano County is represented by Michael A. Shaunessy of McGinnis Lochridge LLP in Austin.
On Feb. 6, Pitman granted defendants’ request to re-file a summary judgment motion.
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certify the Rural Prosecutor Grant revenue for $175,000 and establish a budget in the Rural Prosecutor Grant Fund
approve the tank rental agreement with Sun Coast Resources LLC for two, 1,000-gallon fuel storage tanks and two, 1,000-gallon containment pads
approve cancellation of a $234,761.20 purchase order for four Dodge Durangos from Donalson-Silsbee and replace it with a new $198,525 purchase order for three Chevrolet Tahoes and one Chevrolet Silverado from Caldwell Chevrolet
Civic Center, 4111 Cottonwood Drive, Cottonwood Shores
Agenda wasn’t available at the time of this story’s publication. Visit the city’s website for more information.
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The Llano County Commissioners Court on March 25 unanimously approved a proclamation that declares April as Child Abuse Awareness and Prevention Month.
Three members of the Llano County Child Welfare Board — Heather Martin, Joann McDougal, and Cindy Scallorn — presented the proclamation to the commissioners and reminded everyone that Wednesday, April 3, is Go Blue Day, which asks everyone to wear blue to bring awareness to the issue of child abuse throughout the county.
According to the court’s proclamation, 264,464 victims of child abuse or neglect were reported in Texas in 2023, and 100 of those cases were recorded in Llano County. The Hill Country Children’s Advocacy Center interviewed 44 children in Llano County for abuse in 2023 and has 22 open court cases involving 36 county children as of March 28.
“We acknowledge that we must work together as a community to increase awareness about child abuse and contribute to promoting the social and emotional well-being of children and families in a safe, stable, nurturing environment,” reads the proclamation. “Prevention remains the best defense for children and families.”
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