The Lower Colorado River Authority will not sell Highland Lakes water to most of its agricultural customers in Colorado, Wharton, and Matagorda counties in 2024 due to extreme drought conditions in Central Texas. This is the second year in a row that farmers were denied water because of drought.
“This (decision to restrict water to agricultural operations) is a reflection of the serious drought we’re in,” said LCRA Executive Vice President of Water John Hofmann in a media release. “Texas has gotten some significant rain over the last few months, but it hasn’t been in the right areas to benefit Lake Buchanan or Lake Travis. The (LCRA) Water Management Plan requires us to take this step to help ensure we can continue to meet the water needs of cities and industries throughout the region.”
The LCRA provides water to certain customers, such as coastal farmers, on an interruptible basis dependent on storage levels in its two reservoirs, Buchanan and Travis. The water supply is evaluated by the authority on March 1 and July 1 each year to determine how much water will be made available to interruptible customers.
This year’s March 1 evaluation determined the Highland Lakes region is experiencing an “extraordinary drought,” the most severe rating on LCRA’s scale. Under those conditions, no water can be sent to customers with interruptible contracts with one exception. The Garwood Agricultural Division can receive up to 16,800 acre-feet of water per a separate agreement with the river authority.
Most interruptible water use has been shut down since the spring of 2023 because of the drought, which has persisted across Central Texas since 2022. Due to guidelines in the LCRA’s Water Management Plan, water will not be made available to interruptible customers until at least the spring of 2025.
The combined storage of lakes Buchanan and Travis was 42 percent, or 845,016 acre-feet, at the time of this story’s publication. Last spring, it was 52 percent, or 1.03 million acre-feet.
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Check agendas to see if the following government meetings are in person, virtual, or both. Agendas are posted 72 hours before a meeting so are not always ready by the time this list is published. Check links for more information.
public hearing, discussion, and action on an economic development agreement between the EDC, the city of Marble Falls, and Flatrock Development Group Partners LLC
discussion and action on a funding request for the Getting Ahead in a Just-Getting-By World program
discussion and action on a community leverage grant for Music on Main
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The city of Marble Falls is re-striping every parking space in downtown Marble Falls and also adding new spots. The Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone Board No. 1 on Feb. 27 directed its parking committee to approve the process.
The board oversees projects that enhance the downtown district.
Downtown Manager Erin Burks told the board the parking project will be all-encompassing, including crosswalks, turn arrows, no-parking signs, and some uneven striping.
“If you’ve ever parked in the four spots in front of the Harmony Park green space, you know one of them is very skinny,” she said. “People typically get in the landscape beds. If you’ve ever parked in the City Hall parking lot, sometimes there’s people parked over the lines because they’re not exactly in the right angles.”
The TIRZ parking committee also identified several spots to add spaces, including along Avenue J and near City Hall.
“We think we can get five spots (near City Hall) once the dumpster enclosure is built,” Burks said.
The project’s cost is estimated at $22,000 to $44,000, depending on if the parking committee uses Type 2 pavement markers or thermoplastic markers.
Thermoplastic lasts much longer than Type 2, Burks said.
“It’s going to be a higher expense for (thermoplastic), but worth it in my opinion,” she said. “It’s a better option for us.”
TIRZ board Vice President Joe Don Dockery was quick to agree. He’s also the Burnet County commissioner for Precinct 4, which includes Marble Falls.
“We need to use thermoplastic,” he said. “That’s the way to go.”
After the parking committee approves he project, work should take about two weeks.
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Four Granite Shoals first responders saved the life of a resident on Feb. 4, and their actions did not go unnoticed. City leadership publicly commended the two firefighters and two patrol officers on Feb. 26.
“Too many times our crews don’t get recognized for the great work that’s done out in the field each and every week,” said Fire Chief Tim Campbell during the Tuesday meeting of the City Council. “The citizens don’t ever get to see that part of our job.”
When patrol officers Genesi Murphy and Charles Mejia responded to a 9-1-1 call concerning a “respiratory arrest” at around midnight on Feb. 4, they found a Granite Shoals man without a pulse. They administered CPR until firefighters Eric Wuench and Bjorn Neuville arrived on the scene minutes later. The team was able to bring the patient’s heart back online within 12 minutes, and he has since made a full recovery.
“It’s amazing when you hear stories like that,” Mayor Ron Munos said. “We get lost in our day-to-day activities and don’t think about things like that, but these men and women actually make a difference and save lives. There’s somebody walking on the earth now that wouldn’t be if not for their actions.”
Police Chief John Ortis presented each of the first responders with a challenge coin bearing the insignia of the Granite Shoals Police Department and its motto: “Success is not owned, it’s rented.”
“Ladies and gentlemen, you paid your rent that day,” he said.
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Firefly Aerospace manufacturing and test facility in eastern Burnet County has more than doubled in size over the past year, adding a new test site that will facilitate the firing of increasingly powerful engines expected to reach the moon.
The company held a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Wednesday, Feb. 28, for the latest additions to the 200-acre “Rocket Ranch” compound at 281 CR 210 in Briggs. The facility expanded from 92,000 square-feet of manufacturing space to 207,000 square-feet. It has roughly 700 employees: 300 in Briggs and about 400 at its Cedar Park headquarters.
Staff are working on everything from small thrusters to maneuver spacecraft to massive rockets that would carry payloads to the outer reaches of Earth’s orbit and eventually the moon. Spacefaring veterans Northropp Grumman partnered with Firefly to develop the Medium Launch Vehicle, which will be capable of delivering 35,274 pounds into low-earth orbit.
Officials from Burnet County and beyond attended a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the Firefly Aerospace manufacturing and test facility in Briggs on Feb. 28, 2024. Pictured are Sheriff Calvin Boyd (left), Precinct 2 Commissioner Damon Beierle, U.S. Rep. John Carter of District 31, County Judge James Oakley, Firefly Aerospace CEO Bill Weber, and Sheriff’s Office Chief Deputy Alan Trevino. Staff photo by Dakota Morrissiey
Firefly Aerospace CEO Bill Weber spoke to a room of hundreds on Wednesday, including dozens of employees and Burnet County dignitaries.
“I’m very impressed with their operation and what they are working toward,” County Judge James Oakley told DailyTrib.com after the ribbon cutting. “It’s hard not to be excited about a rocket factory. There’s a kid in all of us.”
Oakley was accompanied by Precinct 2 Commissioner Damon Beierle, Sheriff Calvin Boyd, Chief Deputy Alan Trevino, and U.S. Rep. John Carter of District 31.
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The controlled burn that ended up destroying the historic Conrad Fuchs house in Horseshoe Bay was started by the property owner. Paul Raley got a permit from the Horseshoe Bay Fire Department to burn a 5-foot-by-5-foot brush pile on Sunday, Feb. 25.
An ember from the fire blew onto the roof and started the blaze, leaving only the outside stone walls of the 150-year-old home standing.
Raley was burning the brush to “bring the property back up to a beautiful state,” he told DailyTrib.com.
He had spent the past six months cleaning the 2.6-acre property.
“There was a whole lot of dead brush on the live oaks that had been trimmed up,” Raley said. “There was also a lot of overgrown shrubbery and bushes around the property.”
He had from 12:30 p.m. Feb. 25 to sunset to burn the brush per the rules of the permit obtained by DailyTrib.com.
Raley started the fire at around 1 p.m. About 30 minutes later, he observed smoke coming from the roof of the home’s porch.
“I ran over there and drug my water hose over there to try and get (the flames),” he said.
Raley realized the fire had reached the historic structure’s cedar shake shingles and swiftly scaled a ladder to reach it while calling 911.
“There was this really thick smoke that encircled me,” he said. “I was on the top of the roof and tried to take cover behind the chimney, but I just remember not being able to see a thing up there and feeling all the smoke. At that point, I was fearful for my life since it was so strong and hot and I couldn’t see my way down.”
Raley believes sudden gusts of wind blew the embers onto the roof.
“The wind picked up a couple of times,” he said. “It must have carried it up to the roof of the porch.”
Winds during the time of the fire were about 7-9 mph, a figure inside the range permitted by the Horseshoe Bay Fire Department for outdoor burning.
The cedar shake roof was next on Raley’s list of improvements. He had planned to replace it with a modern, composite shingle to boost fire security. Materials for the project lay in the front yard, untouched by the fire.
“It’s a composite shingle that looks like a cedar shake,” he said of the new roof. “It was going to look like it belonged on an old house.”
Raley filed the roofing permit on Feb. 14, just 11 days before the fire.
“We’ve been preparing to do the roof for a minute,” he said. “We were just waiting for it to be authorized by the city.”
Raley said the roof replacement holdup was on a long list of “red tape” issues he has encountered since purchasing the home in March 2020.
“It was just a struggle to figure out what we need to do to move this forward,” he said. “It wasn’t easy.”
The city and Historical Preservation Advisory Committee members also had a problem with a proposed detached garage, Raley said.
“We didn’t want to change the look of the house because it’s a big rock structure, so adding a connected part for a garage wouldn’t have worked,” he said. “We were trying to put it back behind the property and off to the right so it was detached and wasn’t in conflict with the theme of the rock house, but that was definitely an issue for them.”
After the renovations were completed, Raley hoped to one day open the home to the public so people could learn more about Highland Lakes history. Conrad Fuchs was an early Burnet County settler who built the timber home in the late 1870s or early 1880s as a post office. It also served as one of the first schools in the area.
“It was going to be a tribute to the long-lasting beauty of the Fuchs house, but you have to be able to get through permitting to be allowed to do these kinds of things,” Raley said. “We lived for this remodel.”
The burned-out home’s future remains unclear.
“I’m hoping we can find a way to save a portion or a corner of the facade and utilize that somehow as a tribute in a new home or reusing the rock in a new house next to it and leaving the actual footprint, possibly,” Raley said. “We have to figure out what we are allowed to do and then what can we do.”
A GoFundMe webpage has been set up for donations to Raley and his family as they navigate the loss of their historic home. Over $6,700 had been donated as of the afternoon of Feb. 29.
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A Burnet County jury on Feb. 21 sentenced Christopher Broadus of Kingsland to life without parole for aggravated sexual assault of a child.
Judge Evan Stubbs of the 424th Judicial Court pronounced the sentence. The case was prosecuted by assistant district attorneys Bill Price and Tiffany Clark. Nathan Kight and Sean Rogers represented the defendant.
Broadus received the maximum sentence because of a prior sexual assault conviction, according to a media release from District Attorney Wiley “Sonny” McAfee.
The victim, then 8 years old, reported the assault, which took place in Burnet County, to their family in 2020. In their testimony, the child told jurors they had originally hoped to keep the assault a secret because they were afraid no one would believe them due to Broadus being a close friend of the family. The victim’s older sibling testified that the defendant had also victimized them when they were in high school.
Jurors also heard from community partners at the Advocacy Center in Bryan as well as an expert from the local Hill Country Children’s Advocacy Center, who educated them on the dynamics of grooming and its impact on delayed reporting from sexual abuse victims.
A former Arlington police department investigator testified about Broadus’ prior convention, which happened in the early 1990s.
In closing arguments, Assistant DA Clark reminded the jury that protecting children is a community effort and jurors had the opportunity to protect the victim in this case as well as any other child in the community from coming in contact with the defendant ever again.
Assistant DA Price reminded the jury that the victim’s trust had been broken by people closest to them. He asked the jurors to show the victim that they could trust the community and the criminal justice system to protect people and hold sex offenders accountable.
DA McAfee praised the collaborative effort of law enforcement and community partners across Texas.
“Thanks to the diligence of the Burnet County Sheriff’s Office, Milam County Sheriff’s Office, Scotty’s House in Bryan, and our local Hill Country Children’s Advocacy Center, this defendant will never again be able to put his hands on another child,” McAfee said. “Our community is a safer place because of their commitment to this work.”
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“I’ve never been more proud to be associated with a group of people than I am with the team that we have here,” MFPD Chief Glenn Hanson told DailyTrib.com. “The support we get from this community is unrivaled.”
The accreditation program is a voluntary process for Texas police agencies to prove compliance with 173 best practices in law enforcement.
TPCA Accreditation Program Director Max Westbrook presented a certificate commemorating the MFPD’s work to the department’s top brass during the Marble Falls City Council’s Feb. 20 meeting.
“This program has become the new gold standard for professional law enforcement in the state,” Westbrook said at the meeting.
Practices cover written directives for a variety of situations, including the use of deadly force, pursuing vehicles, and being truthful in all official verbal and written communications and reports.
“These standards address the full range of law enforcement operations,” Westbrook said.
Only 206 of 2,800 law enforcement agencies statewide have received the coveted certification.
“The Marble Falls Police Department is a leader in law enforcement, and you should be very proud of their accomplishment,” Westbrook told those in attendance at the council meeting.
The department received its first accreditation from the TPCA in 2020.
“It was not easy to do,” Westbrook said. “The agency had to conduct a complete audit of its policies, procedures, and operations in order to meet these standards.”
The MFPD has been reaccredited each year since.
“Since that time, the agency has submitted annual reports that were reviewed to ensure their compliance has continued with the program,” Westbrook said.
Chief Hanson said the re-accreditation demonstrates the department’s hardworking nature.
“It means a lot to us,” he said. “In doing so, we’re showing our community that we strive for excellence every day.”
Hanson, who has served as Marble Falls police chief since June 2021, continued, saying the honor wouldn’t be possible without the outpouring of support the department receives from residents.
“Across this nation, there has been a lot of disparaging of our profession in the last few years,” he said. “These people that we live with and serve are absolutely the best.”
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Music on Main returns for a second year in downtown Marble Falls with 20 artists and groups already scheduled to play. The free outdoor shows at Old Oak Square are Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays from March 1 through June 15.
Performances are from 5-8 p.m. each evening as well as noon to 3 p.m. on Saturdays.
“It’s free music that’s open to everyone,” said Music on Main organizer Mitch McManus, who owns Old Oak Square. “It’s fun.”
Top changes this year are a split schedule to avoid the brutal Texas heat in the summer and a revised number of acts to ensure patrons remain entertained.
“I kind of figured it out a little bit,” McManus said about the event’s second year.
Last year’s historic summer heat left its mark on the inaugural series.
“Who could have predicted 108-degree weather?” McManus said. “It was so miserably hot, but I couldn’t cancel because then I’d lose all credibility.”
The 2024 series will end on June 15 and pick up again in September for a fall encore to avoid the hottest temperatures.
“By doing it in the spring and fall, it’s actually more exciting because it’s not a marathon,” McManus said.
He also cut the list of hired talent from over 30 acts to around 20 to make sure Music on Main meets his standards.
“I wanted to raise the quality,” he said.
The specially curated list of musicians, all picked by McManus, includes 10 local groups and another 10 acts out of Austin.
“It’s about half country and the rest is like Americana,” McManus said.
He said he learned a lot since booking acts for the first time in 2023.
“I thought I was going to be dealing with egomaniacs,” he said of the artists. “It’s actually the total opposite. It’s really fun. They’re hardworking and very humble. There’s just so much talent out here.”
Every net dollar generated by the Music on Main series will go toward marketing to hopefully bolster the local economy, McManus said.
“Everything is designed to promote Main Street and downtown Marble Falls,” he said.
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