U.S. Rep. August Pfluger will hold a town hall meeting at 12:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 23, in Llano at American Legion Post 370, located at 200 Legion Drive. Pfluger’s District 11 covers a large swath of Central Texas, including Llano, San Saba, Mason, and Lampasas counties.
The 47-year-old San Angelo resident is currently serving his third term in office, having first been elected in November 2020. His seat is up for reelection in 2026, and his current term ends on Jan. 3, 2027.
District 11 consists of 20 counties total, stretching from the cities of Odessa in the west to Killeen in the east. Pfluger represents approximately 768,000 Texas residents.
He last visited Llano County in June 2023, when he held a town hall in Llano and a meeting with constituents in Horseshoe Bay. That trip focused on border security, energy independence, and support for Ukraine in its ongoing war with Russia.
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Burnet County residents with property along certain flood-impacted waterways have until Oct. 31 to apply for state and federal aid to help with removing debris left behind by the Fourth of July weekend flood.
Applications to the Private Property Debris Removal Program can be submitted online at this link. If an application is approved, a state contractor will remove debris within the high-water mark of five creeks that were particularly impacted by flooding, all free of charge to the landowner.
The program specifically applies to properties along Oatmeal Creek, Spring Creek, and the Russell, North, and South forks of the San Gabriel River.
“These waterways that we have identified were hit hard by the flood,” Burnet County Emergency Management Coordinator Derek Marchio told DailyTrib.com. “Getting rid of this debris will help mitigate future impacts.”
The debris must be directly related to the July flood and located within Burnet County to be eligible for the program. The removal of the debris also must be for the greater public good, meaning it will eliminate immediate threats to life, public health, safety, and mitigate future damage to improved public and private property.
The debris must fit within the following categories to be eligible for removal:
• vegetative debris
• construction and demolition debris
• household appliances
• household hazardous waste
For more information or questions on the program, contact TexasDebris@tetratech.com or 737-252-0575.
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Lower temperatures and rain are in the Highland Lakes forecast starting Friday, Oct. 24. While fall officially began Sept. 22, the area has seen unseasonably warm weather so far this season.
According to a National Weather Service forecast for the Marble Falls area on Tuesday, the expected high for Friday is 88 degrees and the low is 63. There is also a 40 percent chance of showers that day, which rises to 70 percent in the evening with possible thunderstorms.
Mild temperatures are expected to continue into the weekend, with a high of 82 on Saturday and 84 on Sunday.
Data collected by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in the Burnet area shows temperatures in October hovering around the high 80s to low 90s. October 2024 had 14 days with highs in the 90s. On average, the Burnet area sees daily highs in the 70s by mid-October and very few days breaking 90 degrees for the month.
The latest available data from NOAA shows six total days with temperatures over 90 degrees in October 2025, as of Oct. 19. Below are historical comparisons of days over 90 degrees in the Burnet area in October in the past 15 years.
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Granite Shoals residents can help tidy their city during a cleanup event Nov. 15. Bring unwanted household trash and debris for free disposal to Quarry Park, 2221 N. Phillips Ranch Road, starting at 8 a.m. and going until collection containers are full.
The event is open to all Granite Shoals residents. Bring a current water bill for address verification.
Items that will be collected include yard waste, furniture, appliances without Freon, and other scrap materials.
Not accepted are construction debris, cement, cinder blocks, rocks, dirt, batteries, chemicals, paint, oil, antifreeze, and animal carcasses.
Tire disposal is offered for a fee, with 4T Tire accepting passenger tires at $5 each and 18-wheeler and skid steer tires, with or without rims, for $20 each.
Condor Document Services will be on site from 8-10 a.m. for secure document shredding.
“Our citywide cleanup event is a great opportunity for residents to come together and help keep Granite Shoals beautiful,” Mayor Ron Munos told DailyTrib.com. “Events like this not only make a visible difference in our community, but they also show the pride our residents have in maintaining a clean, safe, and welcoming city. We appreciate the partnership of Waste Management, 4T Tire, and Condor Document Services for helping make this effort possible, and we encourage Granite Shoals residents to take advantage of the free disposal and shredding opportunities.”
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An estimated 400-500 people attended a “No Kings” protest Oct. 18 in Marble Falls on the U.S. 281 bridge.
The demonstration took place from 9:30-11 a.m. Saturday. Participants held banners, flags, and signs condemning the perceived “authoritarian” actions of the federal and state governments. There were no reports of violence, injury, agitation, or property damage, according to the Marble Falls Police Department.
The stated purpose of the protest in the local party’s media release was “resistance to the authoritarian movement of the current administration at the state and national levels.”
The Marble Falls protest was part of a larger, nationwide protest under the No Kings movement, which reported about 7 million participants at over 2,700 events across the country Saturday. This was the second nationwide protest; the first was held June 14 earlier this year.
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Granite Shoals is moving most roadway maintenance in-house to reduce long-term costs and accelerate repairs to city streets.
The City Council on Oct. 14 approved the purchase of over $350,000 in road repair equipment, including milling, grading, and leveling machinery. Officials say the move, made possible through a combination of cooperative purchasing discounts and government pricing, will lessen the city’s reliance on contractors.
“With more than 80 miles of roadway, outsourcing alone isn’t sustainable,” City Manager Sarah Novo told DailyTrib.com. “By developing in-house capability, we’re taking a solutions-focused approach that saves time, saves money, and is expected to deliver longer-lasting results for our community.”
The high cost of contracting for street work was best exemplified when the city paid over $300,000 to pave and repair just one mile of Kings Circle Drive in 2022, wiping out 89 percent of its street maintenance budget at the time.
The in-house maintenance initiative is a central part of the city’s newly adopted budget, which took effect Oct. 1 and places a strong emphasis on infrastructure. As part of that shift, the former Streets and Parks Department has been reorganized into two divisions: a Streets Division that will dedicate staff, resources, and equipment solely to road maintenance and a Parks Division that will focus on city parks.
Some of the funding for the road machinery comes from the city’s Street Maintenance Sales Tax Fund, which currently totals $414,155. Of Granite Shoals’ 8.25 percent sales tax, 2 percent goes to the city, which is evenly split between the General Fund and the Street Maintenance Fund.
In addition to new equipment, the city is also utilizing advanced street-assessment technology that will allow staff to evaluate and rank the condition of every road. The goal is to create a data-driven system that prioritizes repairs based on objective need.
In recent months, several residents have called for urgent action on deteriorating streets during Granite Shoals City Council meetings, citing issues like potholes and erosion.
“Given the skyrocketing tax evaluations and tax payments, the citizens of Granite Shoals are contributing to the city for critical services like infrastructure,” residents Penny Layton and Lisa Carr wrote in a letter submitted for the Oct. 14 meeting. “It is unacceptable that the streets in our area have basically washed away, leaving uneven surfaces, eroding yards, and dangerous holes and ruts.”
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Work should begin soon on major improvements to a roughly 5-mile stretch of Texas 29 just east of Burnet. No exact dates are in place, but the project should start in November.
The project includes the addition of a 12-foot center turn lane and 5-foot shoulders to Texas 29 between Algerita Hill and Lehne roads.
This map shows the general location of a 5-mile stretch of Texas 29 due for major improvements starting in November 2025. The work could go on until early 2028. Google Maps image
“The project will widen the roadway … to improve safety, traffic flow, and accessibility,” wrote Burnet City Manager David Vaughn in a recent media release.
This is a Texas Department of Transportation project with an estimated $9.4 million price tag and part of the department’s Highway Safety Improvement Program.
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Agendas for Highland Lakes governments are posted 72 hours before a meeting so are not always ready by the time this story is published. Check the links for more information.
Monday, Oct. 20
Burnet Consolidated Independent School District Board of Trustees
6 p.m. regular meeting
Library at Bertram Elementary School, 315 Main St.
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The city of Granite Shoals has imposed new restrictions on its relaunched deer management program, less than a month after it began, due to concerns from residents about public safety and unrecovered deer.
The Granite Shoals City Council approved the changes Oct. 14. The new rules limit harvesting to weekdays only and completely ban it when school is not in session and kids aren’t safely in the classroom. Monthly requalifications are also now required for harvesters, who must hit a 2-inch inner target with one shot and a 4-inch outer target with the other from a 20-yard elevated position with 100 percent accuracy. Those who fail can retest the following month.
The population management program is years in the making, with the city’s Wildlife Advisory Committee conducting state-mandated population surveys of the antlered animals and creating an archery-only hunting program that takes place at specific sites across Granite Shoals.
The stricter accuracy qualifications were prompted in part by problems tracking wounded deer. Wildlife Advisory Committee member Jeffrey Kersler said eight deer were initially reported lost, with five later recovered but spoiled due to heat. The other three were never found.
“Of the three that were not found, the gentleman involved in that was removed from the program,” Kersler said.
Originally, council members proposed requiring both shots land within the 2-inch target but scaled back after feedback from harvesters at the Tuesday council meeting.
“I’ve hunted for a long time, and a two-inch circle … is it possible? Yes. Two out of two? It’s pretty difficult,” one harvester said.
A second harvester added: “If the wind’s blowing, you’re wiggling, you’re moving around. Can it be done? Sure, one out of a thousand probably.”
Changes to harvesting times were also driven by safety concerns from residents, including veteran hunter Danny Alfrey, who said one harvesting location was dangerously close to a public road and posed a risk to children.
“It’s a liability to Granite Shoals,” Alfrey said at the meeting. “They are shooting directly at a public street where kids ride their bicycles. You’ve got school buses riding up and down there. There’s a lot of ‘what ifs’.”
The deer management program began Sept. 27, and 77 deer were harvested in the following two weeks, yielding approximately 3,700 pounds of meat. Of those 77 deer, 33 were processed specifically for donation.
Among the 96 registered harvesters, only 54 have completed the police-approved qualifications required to actually shoot.
Despite these early results, Granite Shoals Police Chief John Ortis emphasized it is still too soon to evaluate the program’s overall effectiveness.
“Given that the harvesting initiative has only been operational for three weeks, it is premature to determine its success,” he told DailyTrib.com. “After the season ends, we will have data to make an informed decision.”
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