MEADOWLAKES – Hidden Falls Golf Course officials asked the city Dec. 13 to help bail the facility out of debt or it could face closure.

Mayor Don Williams wants to hold a workshop next month to discuss options for the course, which is owned by Meadowlakes and overseen by the volunteers on the Public Facilities Corp.

“We still have to pay for it. We have to make it work,” Williams said.

Course personnel are grappling with a potential financial crisis, Meadowlakes PFC Treasurer Dale Fixsen told the council during their meeting.

The PFC reported about $34,000 to $40,000 in debt in 2010. This year, expenses continue to outpace revenue, he added.

“We have sat down many a night and said, ‘What would we do if we had to shut the doors?’” Fixsen said. “We would love to have an exit plan, but if we close the doors, we’re still not out the door.”

PFC officials say they need about $17,000 a month to cover operations and expenditures that include golf cart and equipment lease contracts.

Every month, the PFC owes money through lease-purchase agreements for golf carts and golfing equipment. Though Meadowlakes owns the course, the PFC pays vendors for equipment and services through the city. The PFC relies on membership dues and equipment rentals and sales to bring in revenue.

“Right now we have a money crunch. December, January and February we don’t get much play,” Williams said. “They have some bills and some commitments they have difficulty meeting right now.”

In 2008, the city approved borrowing $3.2 million to buy the course from a private company. The course has struggled financially even after the city purchased it.

“Right now, they don’t have the revenue to pay for it (the golf course),” Williams said. “It puts the city in a position to have to cover the losses.

“We certainly didn’t budget for that loss,” he added.

The council could hold the workshop in January to focus on the golf course finances.

“We have too much money invested not to make this thing go,” the mayor added. “We’ve got to find a solution. I don’t know what it is, so that’s why I asked the council to get involved.”

connie@thepicayune.com

MARBLE FALLS — A Horseshoe Bay couple donated $1 million to a fundraising campaign for the Wayne & Eileen Hurd Regional Medical Center-Scott & White, now entering its first phase of construction.

Robert and Barbara McFarland want to ensure the complex gets built so people won’t move to other communities because of their health needs, according to a release from Temple-based Scott & White Healthcare.

“We appreciate where we live and would like to continue living here,” Robert McFarland told Scott & White officials. “Many of our friends have had to move away because their health has made it necessary for them to live close to a medical facility.  We live in an area with so many outstanding amenities; the only thing that is missing is a hospital.”

The million-dollar pledge by the couple represents the lead gift in a $23 million campaign for the facility, according to a news release from Scott & White.

A groundbreaking Nov. 16 attended by hundreds marked the start of a multi-purpose clinic at the $183 million facility, which is anticipated to be finished in 2018 when an 80-bed hospital is built.

Private donors and other benefactors also are taking part in a capital campaign for the complex’s ancillary needs.

“Barbara and I hope this gift will keep this project moving and inspire others to contribute as well. We are committing our money to help make this hospital a reality,” McFarland said.

The clinic is the anchor for the medical center campus and could be complete by the end of spring 2013. The complex is on Texas 71 west of U.S. 281.

“A hospital will serve all the residents of the communities in the area, enabling them to stay here for their health care and enjoy rich, full lives,” McFarland said. The couple moved to the area in 1986.

The Wayne & Eileen Hurd Regional Medical Center, a proposed 200,000-square-foot hospital, will include a clinic, surgical suites and a diagnostic center built in three phases.

Barbara McFarland said she supports the Scott & White project because of her own positive experiences with the healthcare nonprofit.

“I had wonderful care,” she said of her time at the Temple facility in 1997. But she had to make a 100-mile trip every three months for her checkups.

“I would love for people not to have to drive that distance to receive quality care,” she said.

“The McFarlands represent the confidence the residents of the Hill Country have in Scott & White. We are so appreciative of their tremendous generosity,” said Nancy Birdwell, chief development officer for Scott & White.

The complex originally was called Lake of the Hills Regional Medical Center. The name was changed to honor the Hurds for their contributions to the community; Wayne Hurd was a cofounder of Horseshoe Bay.

For more, visit lohrmc.org.

MARBLE FALLS — Eight residents from various sports organizations and public groups have formed a committee to rank agencies interested in conducting a feasibility study of a future sports complex.

Parks and Recreation Director Robert Moss handed the list of committee members’ names to the Parks and Recreation Commission during their meeting Dec. 5.

The commissioners unanimously approved the list for the Sports Complex Request For Qualification Response Review Committee.

MARBLE FALLS — Before the start of the Marble Falls High School boys basketball team’s own McDonald’s Classic, head coach Bruce Etheridge said Waco University would challenge his players in every phase when they met Friday night.

He was right. University defeated the Mustangs (2-10) 58-25.

Still, Etheridge credited his players for their efforts, noting their willingness to get better during pool play of the McDonald’s Classic. He believes this event has served that purpose.

“I actually feel like we came out and competed well,” he said.

University raced to a 7-2 lead before Marble Falls senior post Gayln Griffin dumped a pass to junior post Rey Baltazar. After a Marble Falls timeout, the duo hit three free throws to trim the deficit 11-7 after the first period.

But University showed its depth, speed, experience and chemistry during the second stanza, yielding only a basket to the Mustangs by sophomore forward Ben Stripling.

Waco dropped in 13 points in the second, then another 20 in the third to take a 44-18 lead.

Etheridge substituted during the second half, noting each player earned their minutes based off their practices.

Baltazar led the Mustangs with nine points, followed by Stripling and sophomore guard Aidin Parnell with four each and Griffin finished with three.

While Etheridge showed pride in his players’ efforts, he now wants to see them finish plays.

“We have to hit some shots,” he said. “Rey is always going to demand the double team. (Not finishing plays) is just a lack of experience. Right now they’re just not falling.”

Marble Falls will finish their own tournament 1 p.m. Dec. 3 when it faces Killeen High in Max Copeland Gym, 2101 Mustang Drive.

jfierro@thepicayune.com

MARBLE  FALLS — The city is assembling a committee to offer input on a potential sports complex, including looking for someone to conduct a feasibility study.

The goal is to have a mix of residents from various backgrounds on the committee – two Parks and Recreation Commission members, representatives from youth- and adult-league sports, someone from the Marble Falls Independent School District and a resident without ties to any of the organizations.

“I would like someone as a devil’s advocate,” said Robert Moss, director of the Parks and Recreation Department. “Someone who’s responsive. They’ll look at facts, they’ll look at it from a different standpoint. We’ll select six to eight people.”

In the meantime, Moss on Nov. 29 also told Parks and Rec commissioners he has received numerous phone calls and inquiries from companies that are expressing an interest in a feasibility or economic-impact study for the sports complex.

The city has posted a Request for Qualification, which is often done before the more thorough Request for Proposal. An RFQ is used to gather information on potential vendors or consultants and helps develop a short list for when the RFP is issued, which goes into more details about actual costs and services.

“That’s always a good thing,” he said. “People are looking for it right now.”

That interest is also spurring Moss and City Manager Ralph Hendricks to create a timetable and push for the creation of the committee, which will review each RFQ and interview company representatives.

That committee won’t meet until January.

“The RFQ is strictly for (a) feasibility and economic study,” the parks and recreation director said.

The committee will rate each company with a score for city staff.

“They’re not telling us how much it’s going to cost,” the director said. “We’ll negotiate the cost.”

The company that will be hired has one main objective – to explore whether building a sports complex makes sense. Company representatives will look at the current city parks and examine land that may be used for a complex.

“Do we have a need and a desire to do this?” Moss said. “They will give us some ideas. Ultimately in the end, it’s whether or not we build it and get an idea of what it will cost us. It could be it’s not feasible.”

Moss said staff wants to have a contract with a company complete by the middle of February. The study itself must be complete by Sept. 30.

The deadline to apply is Dec. 21.

Moss and the city manager are working on a list of residents to serve on the committee for the commissioners to approve. City staff will then contact each individual to ask him or her to serve.

Moss and Hendricks will present the list of committee members to the City Council Dec. 20.

jfierro@thepicayune.com

MARBLE FALLS — McCray Jacobs’ hand darted across the screen of a large white board in a Spicewood Elementary School classroom. He tapped a series of numbers that lit up.

Using the screen, Jacobs completed a series of addition problems, ones kindergarten students typically aren’t using three months into the academic year.

Jacobs and several fellow students have been using the board — called a Smart Board — in preparation for the Marble Falls Independent School District’s Technology Showcase Dec. 3 at Colt Elementary School, 2200 Manzano Mile.

“This technology helps students learn much quicker,” said second-grade teacher Cari Orts.

The showcase is 10 a.m.-2 p.m. and is open to the public.

On the same day, the district’s University Interscholastic League academic meet and MFISD food fair are also being held at Colt.

Organizers say the Technology Showcase is a chance for the community to see how students across the district use technology in their classroom.

Most projects and displays won’t be extremely complicated — though last year a high school project revolved around robotics, said Judy Pipes, district instructional technology coordinator.

On Dec. 3, Jacobs and three other Spicewood kindergartners will show how they use the Smart Board while learning math.

“I think people will be amazed at what even kindergarten students do with this technology,” Orts said.

Meanwhile, four of her second-graders are also participating. They created an interactive book using the Smart Board, computers, a camera and a voice recorder.

Technology properly used is a boon to teachers and students, Orts said.

“Students pick up subjects so much quicker,” she added.

On the first day of class, she demonstrated how to use the board for a math lesson.

“On the second day, I basically stepped back and they took over and went from there,” she said.

Now her students are solving math problems with numbers as high as 400.

“That’s beyond where we’d normally be at this point in the year,” she said.

Along with the student projects and demonstrations, Pipes said several teachers will be give programs on how technology is used in the classroom.

“It’s all open to the public,” she said.

Technology not only helps in the education process, it has become a necessity, Orts said.

“For today’s students, this is where their future is — technology,” she said. “So the sooner we can utilize it, the better.”

daniel@thepicayune.com

HORSESHOE BAY — Gordon Wayne Hurd had already left an indelible mark upon the community as one of its co-founders and developers, but on Nov. 29 his widow announced she is adding to that legacy with a donation of 50 acres for city parkland.

Eileen Hurd offered the City Council a stretch of property that officials hope to turn into a trail system.

"I think everyone knows how careful a planner (Wayne Hurd) was," said Hurd friend and Horseshoe Bay Corp. President Sam Tarbet. "He and Eileen talked about this need for additional parkland."

The acreage Eileen Hurd wants to donate is on the west side of the city off Thanksgiving Mountain Road. It is adjacent to property owned by the Horseshoe Bay Property Owners Association and Horseshoe Bay Resort, Mayor Bob Lambert said.

Gordon Wayne Hurd died Sept. 26. He and his cousin Norman Hurd are considered the visionaries who transformed the 2,400-acre "Coke" Ranch in the late 1960s and early 1970s into Horseshoe Bay. The development started as a golfing and lake resort and the city incorporated in 2005.

The city wants to use the Hurd acreage and other land donations to build a system of trails, Lambert said.

"This would be a multi-year process (to develop trails and picnic areas)," Lambert said. "The possibilities are incredible."

Building a trail system with a picnic area and restrooms could cost up to $600,000, according to an estimate from the Lower Colorado River Authority, Lambert said.

"The LCRA identified a lot of grant opportunities," the mayor added, including a $200,000 grant through the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.

The city can apply in a few months, he added.

"(The trail system) is a concept that needs to be developed," Lambert said. "It’s a fabulous piece of property."

In a related move, Scott & White Healthcare of Temple announced during a groundbreaking Nov. 16 that a $183 million medical complex on Texas 71 west of U.S. 281 would be called the Wayne & Eileen Hurd Regional Medical Center-Scott & White.

daniel@thepicayune.com

Steven Todd of Marble Falls (right) asks San Antonio Spurs great David Robinson for his autograph Nov. 28. Robinson was at Max Copeland Gym at Marble Falls High School, 2101 Mustang Drive, to watch the games between San Antonio Christian and the Mustang boys basketball program. Robinson’s son Corey Robinson, a junior, plays for San Antonio Christian. The elder Robinson, who is retired from the Spurs, is an NBA Hall of Famer. Many consider him one of the greatest centers in NBA history.  Staff photo by Jennifer Fierro

MARBLE FALLS — Road crews successfully transported the 22,000-pound Gridiron Bridge near Double Horn Creek to its new home in Johnson Park Nov. 30.

The Depression-era bridge, judged no longer adequate for vehicle traffic but still safe for pedestrians, will be replaced by the state with a new concrete span on CR 404.

Department of Public Safety troopers, Burnet County sheriff’s deputies and Marble Falls police and fire department officials controlled traffic to help the transition from south Burnet County to Marble Falls, a journey of  about 16 miles that took 35 minutes.

IN PHOTO: Burnet County Commissioner Joe Don Dockery (left) and County Maintenance Foreman Homer Will inspect chains and wires attached to the 22,000-pound Gridiron Bridge on a trailer at Johnson Park Nov. 30. The Depression-era bridge, which was hauled on a trailer from south Burnet County, will be attached to new footings later. Staff photo by Raymond V. Whelan