NETWORKING

The “Leo Wood” Steak Fry

Story

Georgetown continues to enjoy the kind of explosive growth and development that would make Steak Fry founders proud. We’re still building it, and they’re still coming.

Former mayor, former city manager, and Mr. Georgetown Leo Wood has always believed in networking and he founded the Steak Fry to bring passionate and capable players together to become closer friends, work together with creative ideas, and execute the same.

LITTLE DID THEY KNOW HOW LONG THIS MONTHLY STEAK DINNER NETWORK WOULD LAST, OR HOW LARGE AND HOW INFLUENTIAL IT WOULD BECOME.

WHAT IS STEAK FRY?

Leo moved to Georgetown in 1969 to take over as city manager. A born strategist, he wasted no time building a network and strategy, and held the first Steak Fry the following November at the Community Center in San Gabriel Park. Two members caught and fried some fish and another cooked elk steaks provided by Y.W. Kimbro, who killed the elk in Colorado. About 15 people attended. At Steak Fry #2, and in the years since, the menu shifted to sirloins, sides, and beer.

The tradition carried on for years— not fancy or catered—rotating through members’ back yards. It was just the guys, cooking steaks on their own grills, sharing a few beers, all paid for by each host.

Leo says attendance remained constant at 20 or so members until the mid1990s when Sun City began to grow. Pete Bouffard, John Doerfler, Joe Saegert, Ken Olson, Stanley Bland, Luther Lubach, Gene Jacobs, Joe McMaster, and a few others grew the crowd—some business owners, some elected to office, but all loved Georgetown, especially Leo. While still invitation-only, the group grew to about 50 and their gatherings were then formally set for the third Thursday of each month except during the hottest and coldest months.

SOMETHING SPECIAL

While none can quite put a finger on how or why it works so well, Steak Fry members recognize what they have is special and rare. Leaders in other cities have tried it, but without the same success.

Most would agree the consummate team of Leo and his wife, Vivian (above)—always cheerleading and strategizing how to help Georgetown— were the major factor in the group’s endurance. As such, the theme of Steak Fry has been and will always be Leo’s commission: What can we do to help Georgetown?

With Judge Bill Gravell • May 18th, 2021 “Mr. and Mrs. Williamson County Day”

It is also worth noting that Leo always insisted, “No politics!” Members may chat about related topics; e.g., the group has a history of successfully supporting school and municipal bonds, but no candidate campaigning is allowed.

DIRECT GIVING

One of the group’s few procedural changes occurred in 2011 when members began bringing donations, which were later directed according to the host’s passion among non-profits. Funds raised were always in support of the needs and concerns of the people of Georgetown and as of May 2022 donations have totaled $367,247.

Attendance is still by invitation only, but boasts around100 influencers every month and, as they have for more than 50 years, Leo’s Steak Fry brothers continue to live out his philosophy. The only recent change is the name—it is now ”The Leo Wood Steak Fry.”

His charge remains; “Maintain its stability. It has done wonders to help Georgetown move forward. Keep supporting municipal and school bonds.”

Facing Page: With Judge Bill Gravell for the proclamation of Mr. and Mrs. Williamson County Day in 2020. Above Left: Leo and Vivian circa 1978 & 2020. • Vivian Wood was also dedicated to serving Georgetown and Williamson County. She worked for the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce from 1970-1987. In 1994, she was elected Williamson County Treasurer and served in that capacity for 20 years. Above: Georgetown Mayor Leo Wood, 1992

Left: Leo with Tim Harris and SportClips CEO Gordon Logan at the March 2022 Steak Fry.

Leo currently resides at Wesleyan Skilled Nursing in Georgetown. His health is marginal, but his mental capacity is at 100 percent and he is always in great spirits. He loves visitors, and remains current on community issues as Ambassador Emeritus for Georgetown. He is never without a handshake (or two or three) and a smile for everyone, and he never tires of asking, “Isn’t it a great day in Georgetown, Texas!”

NEW PARADIGMS

by Taylor Rogers

Pricing Transparency

However bad you think U.S. healthcare is, it’s much worse.

Last week a close friend—who happens to have more than a decade of healthcare and insurance experience—messaged me, fuming about his hospital experience. His wife had just gone into labor, and upon arriving at the hospital, she was ushered into a private room where an administrative worker demanded several thousand dollars of upfront payment for her delivery.

After months of check-ups, completing pre-registration for intake, and paying a global delivery charge ahead of time, how is this the beginning of what should otherwise be a joyful day?

I shared this story on LinkedIn, and received a response from another friend voicing frustrations with her own delivery experience; “Why is it so complicated for me to find out NOW what it will cost me if I have to undergo an emergency C-section? How can I get a reasonable cost estimate for an epidural? These seem like rational things to prepare for.”

WHY IS IT SO HARD TO GET A FAIR ESTIMATE?

Much has been made of the Hospital Pricing Transparency Rule, which went into effect on January 1, 2021, but according to a recent study by the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), less than 6 percent of hospitals are fully compliant with the regulation. As of early 2022, no hospital within HCA—which owns and operates St. David’s Hospitals locally—was compliant with the mandate.

It is suggested that the cost of compliance, via negative PR and subsequent reimbursement drawdowns, far outweighs the cost of non-compliance, which is currently $2 million per year in potential penalties.

IS THERE A SOLUTION?

In all walks of life, we determine value and make decisions using a cost-benefit analysis. While it can be difficult to find healthcare cost info, it is time that we vote with our wallets—as individual consumers, and as employers, to force positive change in healthcare. As an incentive, the current price-gouging tactics embedded in the healthcare system have created tremendous arbitrage opportunities for the thoughtful purchaser.

As individual consumers, this means choosing facilities willing to have an upfront conversation about price and range of outcomes. As an employer, this means designing a healthcare strategy that walks your employees through a range of physical and financial outcomes, incentivizing the highest-value decision by waiving member out-of-pocket costs.

WHERE TO START?

There is an entire network of individuals and employers who are not waiting for government intervention or a change of heart by the current healthcare and health insurance ecosystem. They are making healthcare affordable and accessible by forming direct relationships with primary care, specialty care, and hospital systems. To find out more, or get connected with other like minded business leaders, email info@cadvisors.us.

TAYLOR ROGERS, CO-FOUNDER/PRINCIPAL CAIRN ADVISORS, MITIGATE PARTNERS MEMBER TAYLOR@CADVISORS.US • (512) 422-9269 • WWW.MITIGATEPARTNERS.COM

As co-founder and Principal of Cairn Advisors, Taylor Rogers began his career with an insurance carrier, before moving to a large national consulting firm, where he discovered his greatest expertise was in designing self-funded benefits strategies. Taylor and the team at Cairn Advisors combine the strict purchasing fundamentals used by leading manufacturers with an unmatched employee experience to improve the cost and quality of healthcare and employee benefits for their clients. He partnered with the executive team of an independent mortgage bank to specifically craft a program for lenders and financial institutions, and Cairn Advisors was selected as the exclusive employee benefits partner for The Mortgage Collaborative – a group of more than 250 independent mortgage lenders across the United States.

Keeping Bartlett Bartlett

Straddling Bell and Williamson counties, Bartlett was a booming town in the early 20th century. It was a main shipping point for cotton until the Depression and cotton industry decline turned it into a ghost town.

When Jennifer Tucker arrived in Bartlett a few years ago, she saw beyond the weeds and boarded-up buildings to a place in need of revitalization with a treasure trove of stories waiting to be told.

Tucker is a Austin real estate broker and history buff always on the lookout for the next building to restore. She was initially drawn to a Victorian home in Bartlett but it was the 120-year-old church across the street that kept her awake at night, with its dilapidated exterior and original bell tower and windows.

She wrote the owner a long, heartfelt letter asking to buy the property, certain he must be overwhelmed with offers and wouldn’t sell to her. “Everybody writes me letters, but I liked yours,” was his response. After two years of dealing with life circumstances, the city’s permitting process, and a painstaking renovation journey, she transformed the building into a destination guest house that now attracts guests from around the world.

Standing inside the newly opened guest house, she suddenly realized it was no longer a rickety old building. “I had changed the church from an abandoned building to a revived one. I knew in that moment it was never going to be the same again. I cried that day,” she says, her voice breaking. “Sometimes it still hits me.”

A Historian’s History

An Alabama native and real estate and architecture enthusiast, Tucker was drawn to Austin in 2005 by its “great weather, friendly people, and strong housing market. I got the added bonus of awesome old historic towns surrounding Austin and I chose Bartlett as the place to focus my historic renovations.”

She later opened a brokerage, Amazing Realty, as part of the growth of her real estate and investing work. While her day job involves flipping houses and helping people find their dream home, her historic preservation projects are her pride and joy, all of which is evident as she describes the Presbyterian church built in 1899 and remembers what it took to bring it back to life. “My banker said to me, ‘Jennifer, that’s a risk. I’ll loan you the money, but if you can’t get any bookings, you have to exit.’ My family was like, ‘We support you, but it’s Bartlett.’ Everybody had patted me on the head and said, ‘Oh that’s cute to do an abandoned church project, real cute Jenn.’ ”

Within 20 minutes after launching her guest house on Airbnb, she had eight bookings. Today, people from around the world make it their gathering place for Christmas celebrations and family reunions. “Nobody questions me now,” she says. “Everyone keeps saying, ‘Wow, what are you going to do next?’ ”

Revitalizing Bartlett

Constantly stumbling on new historic renovation ventures has become a problem for Tucker. “I keep saying just one more and I’ll be done. And then one more comes.”

Her fingerprints can be seen all over Bartlett, from the historic Bartlett Presbyterian Church, two farmhouses from the early 1900s, the Bartlett Bank (now a guest house), and several revitalized historic murals. Currently on her radar are the Tribune Building, which is set to become a coffee shop and retail store, and the lumber yard compound apartment complex that will be converted into a family destination with

a playground and food trailer park. She is in talks with the city to coordinate a public private partnership to restore the utility building, which could become a restaurant and shortterm rental. She also operates the Bartlett Mercantile that will reopen in the fall with T-shirts, postcards, candles, candy—“all the cutest little things you would find in a small-town mercantile.”

With each building Tucker resurrects, she unearths a new story that reveals another piece of Bartlett’s saga. Stories like the town being the first recipient of a $33,000 rural electrification grant from President Roosevelt’s New Deal program that lit up Bartlett in the 1930s. Or the Bartlett Bank, where The Newton Boys starring Matthew McConaughey was filmed. The bank opened in 1904 and was run by Mary Bartlett after her husband and bank owner John Bartlett died. Another Bartlett legend, Mary Cronin, ran the town’s first railroad and painted governors’ portraits, which are still on display at the Capitol building. “When you think back to the 1900s, women rarely had jobs, much less ran companies,” Tucker says. “Those kinds of things were happening in Bartlett.”

Determined to preserve those stories, she has penned two books on Bartlett’s history, leads a monthly historic walking tour, and creates YouTube videos on Bartlett tales. “I didn’t want to be just hearing these stories and holding on to them. I felt they needed to be told.”

It’s Personal

For all the civic-mindedness that drives her to restore historic buildings, she still runs into people who think she’s just doing it for the money. “I don’t think people realize how much heart and soul go into this. You can’t do this for money. If it’s for money, it would be marketed and advertised and have three stories and a parking lot. This is not where the money is. This is where the heart is.”

And while she’s starting to see her goal of bringing Bartlett back to life accomplished, Tucker never wants to change her favorite Texas town. “One of the things that makes Bartlett Bartlett is it’s still the same,” she says. “Bartlett’s evolving but it’s still that town on the railroad tracks with a story to tell. Bartlett is still Bartlett and that’s the beauty of it.”

WILCO BUSINESS REVIEW

PROTECTING YOUR CREDIT

by Ben Lake

This month I am going to veer away from purely technical topics to discuss the related and equally-important subject of credit protection. You may be wise in the ways of computers by not clicking on phony links in emails, but have you done your due diligence to protect your own individual credit?

Identity Theft Alert

Last year I received a letter in the mail thanking me for applying for a Target credit card. A few weeks later I received a similar letter from Dell, then another from Tiffany & Co and a fourth from a department store. I had not applied for any of these cards (although I still have my suspicions that my wife was involved in the Tiffany one), but thankfully each letter ended by saying that they could not approve my application because I had a credit freeze in place.

Be Proactive

A credit freeze is a method by which consumers can prevent companies from accessing their credit history. As you are probably aware, there are three major for-profit credit bureaus that collect enormous amounts of financial data on you and me and resell it to other companies. These bureaus—Equifax, Experian, and Transunion—have immense power over how and when we can apply for things like car loans and credit cards. Thankfully, legislation over the past decade or so has given some control back to consumers, and the credit freeze is an excellent example.

Unless you are planning to apply for some sort of loan in the very near future, you should place a credit freeze on your account immediately. This is fairly simple to do but must be done separately with each of the three bureaus. These three links will walk you through the process, which may involve creating a free account. If you see any offer to pay for extra monitoring or services, decline them; there is no cost to apply for a freeze. If you do end up needing a loan, you can temporarily lift or ‘thaw’ your freeze for a day or two using the same links.  Transunion.com/credit-freeze  Equifax.com/personal/credit-report-services/credit-freeze  Experian.com/freeze

Free Credit Report

Another wise choice is to regularly check your credit report. These reports show all financial data associated with your social security number such as loans opened and closed, late payments, and who has accessed your credit. Consumers should review these reports for erroneous information and loans not applied for. In the past you could only get one free report from each credit bureau every 12 months, and by staggering your requests you could get a report every four months. (If you’re a nerd like me you can set a calendar reminder to do this like clockwork.) Now, in response to a rise in identity theft cases during the pandemic, you can actually pull your credit report every week. It is unclear how long this benefit will last, so don’t delay in checking your reports. This website is the only authorized online portal to request your credit reports:  Annualcreditreport.com

After I received the first credit denial letter from Target I called up their customer service department. They were very helpful and made a note in their records that it was a fraudulent application and even provided me some of the details the thief had used such as an email address and a driver’s license number (neither of which were mine). I next called up a law enforcement friend who specializes in financial crimes to see what he recommended. He said the thief almost certainly used phony contact details and since I had not actually suffered any financial loss no police department would take up the case.

So, take 15 minutes out of your day and apply for a credit freeze for all the adults in your household. While you’re at it, pull your credit reports and review those as well. The day may come you will be very glad you did!

BEN LAKE

Ben is the owner of Open Road Network Services, a Georgetown-based business providing honest, reliable, and affordable technology support to individuals and small businesses. He is particularly passionate about educating and empowering his clients to become more comfortable with technology. • 512-942-7623 • OpenRoad.network