Liberty Hill General Excellence 8-16-18

2018

Volume 31, Issue 37

www.LHIndependent.com

News@LHIndependent.com

August 16, 2018 | 50 Cents

Bringing college to the community

Continuing education courses to be offered at LHHS

By RACHEL MADISON Staff Writer Continuing education courses in both HVAC and plumbing will be offered to area adults through Austin Community College at Liberty Hill High School starting next month.

The 16-week courses, which will be offered beginning Sept. 5, will take place in the evenings and on Saturdays and are specifically geared for adults looking to begin careers in the HVAC and plumbing trades.

The courses are a joint venture between the Liberty Hill Independent

School District, the Liberty Hill Economic Development Corporation and the Continuing Education Division at ACC. One of the areas of the Continuing Education Division at ACC focuses on bringing training to adults by using public facilities in their communities, like churches, schools and community centers.

Don Tracy, director of business operations and marketing for the Continuing Education Division at ACC, said the community partnership with LHISD and the EDC is just that—and will give the Liberty Hill community another way to ac-

cess education. He added that many people don’t see college as an option for them or they don’t know how to access it.

“What we’re interested in doing and why we wanted to do this kind of partnership is it gives us the ability to bring college to the community in a way that’s more accessible than traditional college,” he said.

“These classes are short, affordable and accessible, and allow people to improve their lives significantly in a short amount of time.”

Kristy Kercheville, career and

See COURSES, Page 12

First Day of School fun

The Frank sisters had some fun Wednesday celebrating back to school with some tunes in the front yard. From left, are Rylee Frank, a freshman at LHHS; Avery Frank, 6th Grade at Liberty Hill Intermediate, and Macy Frank, a 4th grader at Rancho Sienna Elementary. (Courtesy Photo) See more First Day photos at Facebook.com/LibertyHillIndependent.

THE INDEPENDENT SPORTS

MIKE EDDLEMAN PHOTO

Sgt. Shane Ray, with his wife, Tessa, shows the emotion of the moment as he is welcomed into his new home in MorningStar last week. The family was assisted through the Wounded Hero Home Program.

Community comes together for Veteran

By MIKE EDDLEMAN Staff Writer A dozen years ago, U.S. Army Sgt. Shane Ray suffered life-altering injuries while serving in Iraq.

Since that time he and his family have struggled with the perils of constant medical procedures, specialized care needs and just finding

a way to get on with their lives.

Friday, the community came together to help ease some of that burden by welcoming the Ray family into their new home in MorningStar.

An emotional Ray, surrounded by his family, thanked those directly involved in the project as well as

the more than 100 members of the community on hand to welcome him.

“I’m not good at speeches, I hate them,” he said. “But thank you for this home. It is going to change my life. I’m going to be able to help out

See VETERAN, Page 4

ESD absorbs new costs at same tax rate

By MIKE EDDLEMAN Staff Writer Thanks to rising property values and steep growth in sales tax revenue, Williamson County Emergency Services District #4 (ESD) is poised ©2018 The Liberty Hill Independent

to absorb a more than $800,000 budget increase without increasing the tax rate for the next fiscal year.

Commissioners first considered a budget based on the maximum tax rate of $0.10 per $100 property value, but following a brief discussion, settled on the current rate in a split vote.

President Dan Clark, Secretary James Crabtree and Treasurer Keith Bright voted in favor of proposing the current rate of $0.09825, while

Vice President James Baker and Assistant Treasurer Jeff Roemer were opposed.

Roemer questioned the benefit or the savings of choosing the lower rate, but Bright believed that there was more to gain in maintaining it than raising it, even slightly.

“I would like to stay at that rate,” Bright said. “It’s my personal opinion. I expect our growth to be

See WCESD, Page 4

ALEX RUBIO PHOTO

Liberty Hill running back Kyle Harrison (center) completes a drill during Saturday’s practice at Panther Stadium as Defensive Coordinator Kent Walker (left) watches. Harrison will be joined by Shane Gonzalez and Jakob Schofield in the backfield on Friday nights.

Season’s first full-pads practice shows promise, room for improvement

By KEITH SPARKS Sports Editor The theme of Saturday’s practice -- this season’s first in full pads -seemed to be keeping energy levels high. Liberty Hill Head Football Coach Jeff Walker said that’s almost always the case on the first day in pads.

“Always the first few days in full pads, it takes them a while to get used to, and it’s never the speed we want it to be right away,” Walker

said. “It takes a while to carry those things around and get used to them again, so that’s the focus is us trying to get faster in our pads.”

Although frustrated with the energy at times on Saturday, Walker said it was about what he expected.

As long as they improve upon it every day between now and their first game, Walker said the Panthers be in good shape.

“It was about what I expected for the first day,” Walker said. “I just

would like it to be faster than the day before as we go along, but it was about what I expected. It does take a while. I’m just not very patient.”

Saturday’s practice featured a little bit of everything, from individual positional drills to game-like scenarios. Even in those game-like scenarios, though, it’s difficult to judge a team’s performance until you put

See PRACTICE, Page 7

Page 2

THE LIBERTY HILL INDEPENDENT

41st Annual Oatmeal Festival set Aug. 31-Sept. 1

BERTRAM -- The quaint Texas Hill Country town of Bertram is preparing itself for this year’s annual Labor Day event -- the 41st Annual Oatmeal Festival. The festival begins Aug. 31 at 5:03 p.m. in the nearby town of Oatmeal with a beauty pageant, artisans, vendors, music and more.

Festival activities continue all day Sept. 1 in Bertram. There will be many free family events to enjoy starting at 8:03 a.m.; ending with a “sundown dance” presenting a live band under the stars at 9:03 p.m.

Some of this year’s activities will include a guided trail ride from Oatmeal to Bertram, a 3.3-mile fun run, oatmeal-themed baking competition, pet parade, and the Oatmeal Grand Parade.

Many arts and crafts and food vendors are expected to participate.

There will be live music during the day, many children’s games and other activities, and street dancing to top off the evening. New this year is a kid-friendly obstacle course and a free 30-foot ferris wheel.

For an expanded schedule of events, or arts and crafts or food vendor registration forms, visit www.oatmealfestival.org.

Runners from across the state are expected to take part in the legendary 3.3 mile Run for Your Oats in downtown Bertram Sept. 1. All runners will receive a complimentary t-shirt commemorating this activity, and winners get prizes.

Reserve your spot on the Start line.

Register online through RunReg:

www.runreg.com/oatmeal-festival There is a BBQ Cookoff for all to enjoy. Get a full barbecue meal of beef brisket, ribs, chicken, potato salad, drink, and beans to eat at the festival for $10. Take home meals are also available. There will be many cooking stations preparing meat. There are also many other food vendors to choose from, offering cold drinks and sweet desserts.

This year, the festival is offering raffle prizes to help support Oatmeal Festival Scholarships and local community programs. See details and photos on these www. oatmealfestival.org/raffle/ for description of BBQ Pit with Trailer and hand-crafted furniture prizes, how to buy or to ask questions.

The 41st Oatmeal Festival will be hosting a street dance; featuring Jarrod Birmingham with opener, Drew Moreland and the Neon Hustle. Come out and support these great artists and have a good time with friends, family and neighbors during this annual celebration.

Cover charge is $10 at the door.

BYOB. No glass. Some fun activities and food vendors from during the day activities will also be there.

Also scheduled is a coed Softball Tournament in Bertram on Saturday, Aug. 18. See details and to register at www.oatmealfestival. org/oatmeal-festival-co-ed-softball-tournament/ Several of Bertram’s downtown streets will be closed to accommodate runners, skits, parades, music,

vendors, games, and other fun and unusual activities. These make up the 41st Annual Oatmeal Festival.

All of this, in addition to a growing number of out of town guests that this event attracts, is expected to fill downtown Bertram. Festival funds raised go to support scholarship opportunities for high school students, and to support other activities that help strengthen our local community. Funds raised have increased annually since program inception.

Additionally, the air-conditioned Historic Globe Theater has a full day of events planned. www.globetheatretx.com/calendar/sept1oatmealfestival41.htm Flanigan’s Texas Distillery & Winery is having their anniversary event and will be open until 7 p.m.

Visit www.flaniganspirits.com.

Check out our special collector Oatmeal Bowls. Buy and take a set home. www.oatmealfestival.org/ keepsake-oatmeal-bowls-sale/.

This long-lasting local tradition could not have carried on successfully over 40 years without continued efforts of a dedicated group of volunteers that put it all together.

They make up a small not-for-profit that works hard all year to make this weekend festival the best that it can possibly be.

Contact the Oatmeal Festival Bowl of Directors online to learn how to volunteer to be a part of each event.

OBITUARIES

Charles N. Avery, III

Charles N. Avery, III died on August 14, 2018 at home after a long battle with cancer, which he fought with grace, dignity and courage.

Charles was born on November 28, 1942 in Austin, Texas to Charles N. (“Buck”) Avery, Jr. and Lucille Sharp Avery. He attended Casis Elementary School, Pease Elementary School, O’Henry Junior High and Austin High School (Class of 1960).

In 1966, Charles graduated from St. Edwards University with a degree in marketing and finance.

On July 2, 1966, Charles married Beth Heller Avery and they had one daughter, Marta Avery.

After graduation, Charles served in the US Army from 1966 to 1969 as an intelligence officer in Germany.

After returning from Germany, Charles began his banking career as a National Bank Examiner from 1970 to 1977, then as an Executive V. P. of United States National Bank from 1977 to 1980, and as President of Sugarland State Bank from 1980 to 1992. After retiring from banking, Charles worked for a construction company in Houston until he and Beth decided to move to Round Rock to help with his family’s real estate business.

Charles’ great-great grandparents emigrated from Sweden to Round Rock in 1854. They were prominent farmers and merchants in Williamson County, Texas. By 1900, his father’s family had accumulated significant amounts of prime farm land in northeast Round Rock and Hutto.

In 2000, Charles, his two brothers, John S. Avery, Sr. and A. Nelson Avery, M.D., and his sister Christina Avery Fell, conceived of a plan for the development of their ancestral

December 9, 2009 - August 13, 2018 They don’t see the cape you wear but I do.

Lyndon came into my life in March of 2010. He was already 3 months old. We bonded immediately. I could already tell that he was going to be the best dog that I would ever know. I won’t say own because you don’t own your friends.

LBJ, as I often called him, made my life better in so many ways. Where I went, he went. We moved countless times and went through many breakups. He made all the stress of moving to a new place and starting a new job melt away. Lyndon was there for all the tears that came with breakups. We had lots of laughs and good times as well. When we lived in apartments, we always lived on the top floor. Lyndon didn’t take the stairs like most dogs. He walked down the stairs on his front two feet.

Everyone loved watching him. I don’t know many chihuahuas that play fetch or that like to go fishing, but this one did. He loved going to the pet store and picking out a new toy. He was so smart I swear he could count. Lyndon would take his toys, line them up in a row, and put his nose on each one.

farms in Round Rock and Hutto as a hub for a medical and educational community. These family farms are now home to Texas State University, Texas A&M Health Science Centre, Austin Community College, Seton Hospital Williamson, Cornerstone Long Term Care Hospital, Medistar Post Acute Rehab Hospital, Texas State Technical College, Temple College and Texas A&M Central College. He was very proud of this accomplishment and its profound effect on the central Texas community.

Charles was very active in the Round Rock community. Charles was very proud of having served as a member of the boards of the Old Settlers Association of Williamson County, Board of Governors of the Round Rock Community Foundation, Capital Idea, Ride on Center for Kids, and Seton Williamson Development Board. In 2007, the City of Round Rock honored Charles and Beth and his siblings with the Citizens of the Year award. In 2016, the Round Rock Chamber honored Charles and Beth and his siblings with the Lifetime Philanthropy Award and the Life Time Achievement Award.

Charles is survived by his loving wife Beth and Marta Lue, his brothers John S. Avery, Sr. and A. Nelson Avery, M.D., and his sister Christina Avery Fell.

The family will receive friends and visitors Thursday, August 16, 2018 from 5:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. at First Baptist Church, 306 Round Rock Ave. Round Rock, TX. Services will be at First Baptist Church, 306 Round Rock Ave, Round Rock, Texas on Friday, August 17, 2018, at

10:00 a.m., with burial and reception at the Palm Valley Lutheran Church, 2500 East Palm Valley Blvd., Round Rock, Texas.

Pallbearers are John Avery, Jr., Brian Fell, Charlie Fell, Eanon Horton, Allen Lue, Mark Buis, Brian Dees, and Mark Baker. Honorary pallbearers are Jon Sloan, George White, Jim Boles, and Jeff Andersen.

In lieu of flowers, the family invites you to send memorial contributions to the Crosswalk Church Building Fund, Ride on Center for Kids, or a charity of your choice.

Charles was a person who believed deeply in the teachings of Jesus Christ. He and Beth practiced their faith by going on mission trips all over the world, sponsoring foreign students, and by believing the tenant that it is always more blessed to give than to receive.

Charles’ favorite saying was “It is going to be alright!” We all loved him very much and we know that his saying is correct—it is going to be alright!

Thursday, August 16, 2018

Shin Oak Ridge Bulletin Board Send news to: News@LHIndependent.com

Public Meetings

The following are standing open meetings that are subject to change within the guidelines set forth by the Texas Open Meetings Act. For the most current meeting postings, and meeting agendas, visit the respective websites.

- Liberty Hill City Council, 6:30 p.m. Monday, Aug. 27, City Council Chamber, 2801 RR 1869. libertyhilltx.gov/agendacenter - Liberty Hill ISD Board of Trustees, 6 p.m. Monday, Aug. 20, LHISD Administration Bldg., 301 Forrest. libertyhill.txed.net - WCESD #4 Board of Commissioners, 6:30 p.m. Monday, Aug. 20, Liberty Hill Fire Station, 301 Loop 332. libertyhillfire.org

Sheriff’s Academy accepting applications

GEORGETOWN – The Williamson County Sheriff’s Citizens Academy is a 20-hour program designed to give the citizens of Williamson County a working knowledge of the Williamson County Sheriff’s Office and the criminal justice system. The primary objective of the academy is to foster community relationships and to build a better understanding between citizens and the sheriff’s office through education. It is further hoped that the Academy will increase public awareness, dispel misconceptions, and increase rapport between the Sheriff’s Office and community. The Sheriff’s Office receives valuable feedback from Academy participants about its presence in the county.

The class will be held on Wednesday nights for 10 weeks and will begin Sept. 12, and end on Nov. 14.

Each class will meet at the Williamson County Sheriff’s Office located at 508 Rock Street in Georgetown from 6:30-8:30 p.m. unless otherwise notified.

Applications must be received

by Aug. 31, and hand-delivered or mailed to: Williamson County Sher-

iff’s Office, Community Outreach Unit-Sheriff’s Citizen Academy, 508 S. Rock Street, Georgetown, TX 78626.

Find application at www.wilco.org/ Elected-Officials/Sheriffs-Office/ Community-Liaison.

Requirements: -Must be 18 years of age or older -Reside or work in Williamson County -Fill out an application and consent to a background check Those with questions can email Deputy Jason Brantley at jbrantley@wilco.org.

Wilco Brush & Forage Management Workshop

Whether you own hundreds of acres or just a few, attending the 2018 Wilco Brush and Forage Workshop will help you understand your brush and forage management options.

The conference registration will begin at 8:30 a.m. on Aug. 29 at the Williamson County Extension office, training room. The registration fee is $15, which includes coffee, refreshments and all materials needed. Please pre-register at: www. williamson.agrlilife.org/programregistration/ to guarantee your spot

by Aug. 24.

Dr. Vanessa Corriher-Olsen, Ph.D – Associate Professor & Extension Forage Specialist will share information on forage selection, establishment and management. This will be beneficial for anyone looking to plant improved forages for the first time, and for those that wish to reestablish or maintain an already functioning piece of land. Forage management is key for both, individuals raising livestock and individuals that simply strive to be good steward of the land.

James Jackson, Extension Program Specialist – Range, will be there to divulge information that is critical to managing invasive brush species.

He will specifically cover the management of yaupon, mesquite, cedar and huisache. However, James will also be happy to answer any specific

questions you may have, related to brush control. Many, if not all, landowners in central Texas have encountered problems with different species of brush on their property. It is important that landowners know their management and control options, in order to keep their land productive in a manner that best suits their operation.

Teen Court Orientation Sept. 8

The Twin Lakes YMCA is hosting the annual Teen Court orientation in the Survivor Lodge on Sept. 8. from 9 AM to 2 PM. Teenagers between the ages of 13 and 18 are invited to attend.

Students will be taught listening skills and etiquette to be used in the role of attorney, judge, juror, and bailiff.

Judge Edna Staudt, founder of the Williamson County YMCA Teen Court and attorney Patricia M. Cofty, JD/MBA, longtime volunteer with the Teen Court program, will lead the orientation. Members of law enforcement will also make a presentation.

Lunch and drinks will be provided by the YMCA. Dress is casual but modest. Parents are required to complete registration forms before they leave the site. Please contact Chloe Cofty, Teen Court Coordinator for Judge Staudt at (512) 2604229 for further details.

Participation in the Teen Court program gives teens an opportunity to realize their roles in the community. It also instills a sense of pride and responsibility, and through the use of positive peer role modeling, helps create a better community for all. As a Teen Court volunteer teens not only get the opportunity to practice law in the courtroom but learn valuable public speaking skills and become leaders among their peers and in their communities.

Further information is available on the Justice Court Pct. 2 website: www.wilco.org/Elected-Officials/ Justice-Courts/Precinct-Two/TeenCourt .

Supplies for Teachers

Special Education teachers at Liberty Hill Junior High received donations on the first day of school Wednesday of special school supplies from SOFT (Supplies for Teachers) and members of the Liberty Hill Garden Club. From left, are Ashley Torres, SOFT Organizer Cheryl Stephens, Angel Noble, Vicci Conway, Savannah Hestand and Annette Jowers. (Courtesy Photo)

The Liberty Hill Independent YOUR AWARD-WINNING HOMETOWN NEWSPAPER SINCE 1987

Lyndon

I’ve often heard that chihuahuas are a one person dog. Lyndon was the exception. He loved my grandpa just as much as me if not more. My grandpa has Parkinson’s Disease.

This causes his hands to shake quite a bit. My grandma had gotten my grandpa a chihuahua around the time that I had gotten Lyndon. He quickly became more my grandma’s dog because he didn’t like when my grandpa would pick him up. The shaking scared him. Lyndon didn’t seem to notice. He loved when we would visit my grandparents. He would go straight to my grandpa and stay in his lap until it was time to leave. They were two peas in a pod.

Fast forward a few years. I’m married and expecting my first child and on the move again. I came to the hard conclusion that my season with Lyndon was over. This was not an easy decision. Lyndon had fulfilled his purpose with me, and it was time for his next purpose. I took Lyndon to my grandparents’ house. I kissed him goodbye and promised to visit.

Lyndon took on his new purpose without missing a beat. Where my grandpa went he went. He seldom would leave his lap. Only to eat, play with his toys, and to go outside would the two be seen separately.

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(512) 778-5577

Send Email: news@lhindependent.com www.LHIndependent.com www.LibertyHillLiving.com P.O. Box 1235 14251 W. SH 29, Suite B Liberty Hill, TX 78642

The way my grandma tells it, Lyndon is a hero. My grandpa also has Diabetes. On several occasions my grandpa’s blood sugar has dropped dangerously low. Each time this would happen, Lyndon would jump down and find my grandma. He would not leave her alone until she would come investigate. If she was sleeping, he would jump on her head and bark at her until she would go check on my grandpa.

Lyndon didn’t wear a cape, but he should have. He was our friend and our hero. Lyndon passed away in my grandma’s arms August 13th at 2:00 in the morning. He will be greatly missed.

The Liberty Hill Independent is published every Thursday except the weeks of Independence Day and Christmas Day at 14251 W. SH 29, Suite B, Liberty Hill, TX 78642.

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Publication #018932 POSTMASTER: Send address changes to The Liberty Hill Independent, P.O. Box 1235, Liberty Hill, TX 78642 Shelly Wilkison - Publisher/Managing Editor Katie Amsler - Advertising Director Keith Sparks - Sports Editor

DEADLINE Noon Tuesday prior to Thursday publication 2018

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Opinions expressed in the articles, letters and columns do not reflect the views of The Liberty Hill Independent or its owners.

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OPINION Shin Oak Ridge Philosopher Strawberry Jam Two

By HOLLIS BAKER Columnist for The Independent Our daught e r - i n - l a w, Vickie Baker, is one busy young lady.

She is the accountant and girl Friday for our son, Greg Baker, at his sign business in Austin. Vickie also volunteers one day a week at Operation Liberty Hill. Vickie’s mother has some health issues so she spends another day a week taking care of her. In addition to all that, Vickie is a model housekeeper, and cook. That is the part I have a special interest in.

Greg is a brave and tenacious gardener. He planted a row of blackberries and they produced fruit that first year in abundance. That gave Vickie the opportunity to exhibit her skills at making the best tasting blackberry jam in the state. Greg and I sure enjoyed that.

The next year, the berry vines did not do so well and that reduced the production of jam. The third year, the vines just about quit. Greg does

not have time to waste with a garden plant that does not produce. He tossed those blackberry plants into the burn pile.

There are plenty of other jam making fruits around, but you have to be ready to harvest their produce when it is ready. We have several wild plum trees on our acres and we have managed, on occasions, to harvest them and make a great wild plum jam. Some years they don’t produce and some years we can’t get to them before the crows, squirrels and birds strip the trees.

We also have mustang grape vines on our place. They usually produce well and make a great grape jam. I have made it a game to see if I can get to them before the crows and deer get them. Some years I win, some years I am a bit late. We have a neighbor who owns an apricot tree that is faithful in its production of fruit and they share with us. Our brave and industrious Vickie did an admiral job of making jam for us on a hit and run basis. As you see, Greg and my breakfast jam is a shaky affair.

However, our industrious Vickie could see we had a serious problem each morning. Hard working men must have a balanced breakfast….

every day. So she stepped up to the plate and knocked the “jam ball plum” out of the park.

One day, Greg came home and there were a dozen jars of something on the kitchen counter. Strawberry, he guessed.

“How did you make that wonderful looking jam?”

“Well, I cleaned two pounds of strawberries, chopped them into small bits, added four cups of sugar, some Sure Jell, and a few pats of butter. I cooked them until they got just the right thickness, then I poured the fruit into those jars,” she said.

“No, no. I mean where did you find fresh strawberries this time of the year?”

Vickie replied, “When I go shopping for our groceries at HEB I always noted that the produce department has strawberries…all year long. I know how much you and Paw like a bit of jam with your breakfast, so that is where I got the fruit.”

Now with a clever girl like Vickie next door, homemade biscuits, thick sliced Kentucky bacon, and a bit of strawberry jam, heaven is right here on earth.

EDITORIAL:

It’s time to be heard

Texans love to voice their displeasure with taxes. It is essentially a requirement to be a resident. Either you were born believing taxes were awful, or you moved to Texas to escape places where taxes were more awful.

Along with that loathing of taxes is the suspicion that the public servants hired and elected to spend those tax dollars are not doing so the right way. We think they spend too much, spend it the wrong way, waste it, and there are even those who like to pull out the old, “they’re just enriching themselves” card.

The reality is, when governments, especially on the local level, set out to craft and establish a budget, there is much hand-wringing, figuring, refiguring, adding here, cutting there to make it work. It is a balanced budget when it is done.

Much of it boils down to priorities and expectations. Those are set by elected officials, assisted by public employees, hopefully based on the wishes of voters. But what if voters didn’t show up to make those wishes known?

Now is the time. There is ample opportunity for taxpayers to get involved in the budget process. There are workshops and public hearings posted for the public to attend.

These meetings are an opportunity to learn how it all works, where the money goes, where it is required to go by law, and how far the money goes.

There’s no denying what we pay in taxes increases some each year.

Most often in Liberty Hill, that’s from increasing property values, although sometimes it is from higher rates. Occasionally, it is from both.

But providing the services everyone demands never gets less expensive.

I can be as efficient as possible, but it is almost never cheaper from one year to the next. So, does the government cut or reduce services, or try and stretch things as far as possible and minimize the increasing financial burden?

It may be very American to hate taxes and complain about them, but before we take to social media or anywhere else to complain, let’s take the concerns and questions to

the heart of the debate and talk it through at a public hearing.

Tax rate hearings are the least attended meetings that taxing entities hold every year. Each elected official and public employee who goes through this exercise year after year will verify this. Some even joke about it, knowing that somewhere down the line complaints will come just the same.

As a taxpayer you have the right to complain, but doing so responsibly, in a constructive way, at the time designated to change such policies is certainly a better approach than lighting Facebook on fire in six months because that’s when someone made time to get angry.

Over the next two weeks, the City of Liberty Hill, Williamson County ESD No. 4, Williamson County and Liberty Hill ISD will be holding multiple public hearings on the tax rates for the upcoming fiscal year.

All of these taxing entities exist to serve the public. If you believe they can better serve the public, you should be at those hearings explaining why.

Letters to the Editor

Send letters to us by email: news@lhindependent.com

Recycle, Liberty Hill

Community contributes school supplies for students

THE LIBERTY HILL INDEPENDENT Thursday, August 16, 2018 Page 3

MIKE EDDLEMAN PHOTOS

Representatives from Liberty Hill ISD collected 110 backpacks full of school supplies, as well as many other items of need, Tuesday at Backpacks for Panthers. The school supply drive, led by Cross Tracks Church and sponsors Prosperity Bank, Margarita’s Restaurant and The Liberty Hill Independent, helped the school district meet the needs of local students as they returned to school Wednesday.

Dear Editor: Our beautiful town of Liberty Hill is growing; growing exponentially faster by the year. With the new growth comes new challenges, and new adaptations our town must make to support the population.

Recycling is just one of these many challenges, but it’s one, I think, that can be easily be facilitated.

I moved to Liberty Hill from a small town outside of Charlotte, North Carolina almost exactly two years ago, after residing there for 10 years. During my childhood, there was no curbside recycling service in our neighborhood either. However, this did not deter my family. Every week, we would take our recyclable items to a small group of bins in the town’s center. This is what life was like before there was the population required to support a curbside service.

Liberty Hill faces a similar issue today. At the moment, there is not a sufficient population to support a citywide curbside recycling service, but that doesn’t mean that we can’t recycle. I propose the idea of creating a public set of bins for the entirety of Liberty Hill to use to make recycling available. These can be placed in a local park such

as Foundation Park, or somewhere downtown, or near a local school; anywhere that many people in the city can have access to recycle easily. This would also only require one pickup location by the waste management company, keeping costs to a minimum.

My family and I are still avid recyclers, currently driving 40 minutes each way to the Al Clawson Disposal Center in Jarrell; our car is so full of recycling that only two people can fit when we make the trip! But the effort is worth it when you realize the amount of recycling material generated by a family in today’s world. Recycling is habit forming, and once you start, you just can’t bring yourself to dispose of your bottles, cans, or paper products in the landfill anymore.

Many newcomers to Liberty Hill, like myself, are already recyclers, while others would be interested in giving it a try. However, because the nearest drop off point is 40 minutes away in Jarrell, it is inconvenient and may be impossible for most people to use. A local drop off point would solve this issue, and encourage participation.

Better yet, the visibility and publicity of a recycling center can have a positive impact on people who

might not consider recycling in other conditions. It might just be the spark needed to ignite a lifelong habit of recycling - triggering curiosity among everyone, but especially among children. This curiosity can then pave the way for recycling systems to be implemented in LHISD schools and beyond. This drop off point is solely a start, just the beginning of series of implementations to make Liberty Hill a more sustainable community.

We all need to be more aware of our impact on our planet. Recycling may seem a small, insignificant step, but is one which can lead to a visual awareness of just how much recyclable waste we all create. This awareness can then in turn, lead to us living a more intentional lifestyle of reducing and reusing whenever possible.

I hope the city of Liberty Hill will consider this proposal to create a centralized recycling facility for the community to use. Creating an aware and engaged sustainable community is a fundamental cornerstone to constructing desirable neighborhoods for people to call home.

Shanti Ramsingh Liberty Hill High School Class of 2020

FOOTBALL SEASON TICKETS ON SALE THRU AUG. 31!

Information can be found on the High School Athletics webpage.

For more information, contact the Athletic Office at (512) 260-5505.

Liberty Hill Chamber News Upcoming Events

Lunch & Learn

11am - 1pm Thursday, August 23

RIBBON CUTTING

RockPointe Church 170 CR 214, Liberty Hill

August 22, 5pm 601 St. David’s Loop Leander

Liberty Hill History as told by Gary Spivey

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Page 4

THE LIBERTY HILL INDEPENDENT

Thursday, August 16, 2018

WCESD

MIKE EDDLEMAN PHOTO

The Liberty Hill High School Marching Band welcomed the Ray family to their new home in MorningStar last week.

VETERAN

Continued from Page 1

around more. It is going to give me a sense of being again, and thank you, everybody that helped with this. It truly means a lot to me and my family.”

The Ray family was assisted through the Wounded Hero Home Program. The program brought the Ray family together with the developers of MorningStar, builder Westin Homes and dozens of other in-kind donors to build the home.

The construction cost of the home includes a minimal loan to the family, grant funding and donations from developers, builders and contractors.

“I’m not sure I have the words to explain how I feel right now,” said John Marlin, President of MA Development Group, representing MorningStar. “We all might not be in the military, but it took an army to do this. That’s what America is about, everybody does their part.

You might not be in the military, but there are things you can do that move America forward and can help other people. As you can tell here today, that’s how a lot of Americans live.”

Matt Roland, Division President of Westin Homes, added how proud Westin was to also be part of such a far-reaching effort to help the Ray family.

“Westin Homes is honored to be a part of this project,” he said. “It takes a lot of people working in concert to pull something like this off.

There are a lot of people behind the scenes making this work.”

Ray first served in the U.S. Marines, then the Washington State National Guard when he was called to active duty in the army. He deployed to Iraq with the 101st Airborne.

On patrol one evening, Ray was

driving a Bradley Fighting Vehicle that ran over two improvised explosive devices. The injuries sustained

by Ray in the blast left him with severe burns over 60 percent of his body and the loss of his right leg.

Ray received a Purple Heart and Bronze Star.

US Sen. Ted Cruz honored Ray at Friday’s event, thanking him for his service on behalf of all Texans.

“We are here gathered today in the presence of heroes,” he said. “We’re here as a state and a community to say thank you. We thank you for your service, we thank you for your sacrifice, we thank you for answering the call.”

Cruz went on to thank Helping a Hero, which runs the charitable home program, and all of the businesses that stepped forward to help Ray. “We’re thankful also to Meredith (Iler’s) tremendous leadership of Helping A Hero, to Westin Homes, to all of the generous donors who have come together to give this tremendous home to heroes in our midst.”

Major General Tony Cucolo focused his remarks on the importance of caring for America’s veterans, taking time first to thank Ray’s wife, Tessa, for her unwavering dedication.

“Tessa is actually 10-feet tall, she’s just wound real tight. She is a velvet hammer,” Cucolo said. “You have to stop and think about it -- it has been 12 years since the horrible wounding. That’s 12 years of in and out of doctors’ offices, hospitals, how long is this hospital stay, what is this diagnosis. Ladies and gentlemen, I want you to think of what Tessa has been through and stood by her soldier. She is representative of the iron

ladies and men who stand by their severely wounded.”

But Cucolo cautioned it would take everyone’s support and resolve to keep the U.S. military strong in the future, adding that without the continued sense of duty among a volunteer force, the force could falter.

“We have an American military defending the republic that are small in number, but incredible resolute because they volunteer, because they want to be in,” he said. “This national treasure is perishable. No one will step up and fill the ranks if they feel as though the sacrifice is not worth it. Part of that is education, part of that is being passed down from family to family, all of that plays a part. But a huge part is how we treat the families of the fallen and how we treat the wounded. If we do not treat them well, will this rising generation step up, will they say this sacrifice is worth it?”

The crowd cheered as Ray received the key to his new home, getting to see it for the first time.

“I’m super excited about the family moving in right after this is over,” Marlin said. “I know it’s been an experience for you and a process, and you guys have been through some things the last 12 years that most of us will never go through, and here you are today.”

The message sent to Ray on Friday is the message Cucolo said must be sent to all American veterans.

“What you’ve done mattered, it is worth it, and we will take care of you,” he said. “And that is a message that contributes to our national survival, let there be no mistake.”

Mike@LHIndependent.com

Continued from Page 1

astronomical. If you go to 10 cents then we’re done forever. If we weren’t in such a high-growth area I’d say yes, we have to do something. But we’re in such a highgrowth area I don’t want to pull that trigger until we have to.”

The difference in tax rates would mean a difference in only $5.25 in taxes annually on a home valued at $300,000.

Crabtree echoed Bright’s sentiment, adding that preventing any increase possible is helpful.

“My reason for it is I think we’re doing everything we can in the district to respond to the growth, make sure that our chief and our firefighters have what they need, but I’m also cognizant of the fact that property taxes keep going up repeatedly, people are worried about that,” he said.

The total proposed budget is $3,889,536, an increase of $802,961 over the current fiscal year.

The budget increased dramatically, primarily due to expenses with the construction and opening of Fire Station No. 2.

“This is the year we’ve been planning for,” said Chief Anthony Lincoln. “We’ve known this was coming, that’s why we’ve been trying to get some money in the bank, trying to get in position where we can absorb this year and next and level out after that.”

Debt service for the upcoming year increased by $396,770 annually to a total of $624,018 next year with the additional payments for the new station and the new engine recently delivered.

“Debt service is a big one,” Lincoln said. “We knew it was coming

and we’ve prepared for it the best we could.”

The debt on Fire Station No. 1 will be paid off after two years, which will then lower the debt service amount as it and other vehicles come off the books.

The other prime area of increase in next year’s budget is personnel expenses, up $642,512 to $2,211,331 of the total budget.

“We added six people in the middle of this year going into that new station,” Lincoln said. “With that comes the cost related to it such as taxes, retirement and everything that goes with it. We took a big jump in salaries going from 18 to 24 people.”

The addition of a full-time fire marshal accounted for some increase as well, bumping the budget by $102,048 for personnel as well as a slight increase in community awareness funding for programs.

“I’ve been visiting with the fire marshal about some of the things I want to do with some community services, putting out some more information, so we saw there would be an increase there,” Lincoln said.

With growth, line items such as apparatus maintenance, fuel, utilities, insurance, training and equipment all saw an increase as well.

“Fuel went up because we have another truck on the road with the fire marshals office,” he said.

“Come April, when we’re running two engines every day, and a squad and battalion, we have a lot of wear and tear on things like tires and stuff like that.”

Lincoln reminded commissioners that there are expenses related to the temporary station on the east side of the district, and that the new

station, once completed will only impact the budget for about half the fiscal year and that those expenses are only estimates currently.

The majority of revenues for the ESD come in the form of property taxes, projected at $3,107,778. It is an increase over last year’s property tax revenues of $775,309.

Sales tax revenues continue to climb, projected at $570,000 next year. The current year’s adopted sales tax revenue projection was $400,629 but has already surpassed that total through August. If approved, the ESD will fund about $115,900 of the next budget with reserves.

The rollback tax rate for the ESD came in at $0.108069, higher than the legal maximum rate of $0.10 for ESDs in Texas.

The effective tax rate, which would have generated the same amount in property tax revenues as the current year, would have been $0.089911 per $100 property value.

Public hearings for the tax rate are scheduled for Aug. 20 and 27 at Fire Station No. 1, 301 Loop 332.

Commissioners will adopt the tax rate and budget Sept. 10.

“We’re growing, there’s no doubt about it. We know every day we have more services on the street than we ever had before,” Lincoln said. “When you look at what’s going on around us it is pretty amazing what these budgets have been able to do for us. I know nobody likes paying taxes, but we’re getting calls now from people who realize that new station is out there and they’re saving a few hundred dollars per year on insurance premiums.”

Liberty Hill Police Blotter Prepared by Liberty Hill Police Department

Week of August 6-12, 2018 The Liberty Hill Police Department responded to or self-initiated a total of 253 incidents resulting in seven cases, 26 citations, 36 warnings and two arrests.

Weekly Highlights: • On Aug. 6 at approximately 1:04 PM, officers responded to Bryson Bend for a Criminal Mischief complaint.

• On Aug. 7 at approximately 10:31 AM, officers responded to the

13000 block of W. SH 29 for a noninjury, two vehicle accident.

• On Aug. 8 at approximately 11:26 AM, officers responded to the intersection of W. SH 29 and CR 200 for a non- injury, three vehicle accident.

• On Aug. 8, at approximately 3:27 PM, officers responded to the 14000 block of W. SH 29 for a Vehicle Theft complaint.

• On Aug. 8, at approximately 4:12 PM, officers responded to a report of an injured animal.

• On Aug. 8, at approximately 9:08 PM, officers arrested a male adult, on an outstanding warrant, as the result of a traffic stop.

• On Aug. 10, at approximately 9:47 PM, officers responded to Continental Ave for an Assault complaint.

• On Aug. 12, at approximately 1:30 PM, officers arrested a male adult on an outstanding warrant, as the result of a traffic stop.

Tractor Supply hosting pet supply drive on Aug. 25 Tractor Supply Company in Liberty Hill is hosting pet adoptions, a pet supplies drive and more on Aug. 25 as part of “Out Here With Animals”, its monthlong event for animals of all kinds and the people who care for them.

On Aug. 25 from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m., community members and their dogs, cats, pigs, goats and more are invited to make their way to the Liberty Hill Tractor Supply

to support local pet adoptions.

“Our team members believe that animals of all kinds are worth celebrating,” said Miguel Estrada, manager of the Liberty Hill Tractor Supply.

Additionally, customers can support the local animal shelter community by participating in Tractor Supply’s pet supplies drive. Happening all month long, the retailer is accepting new sealed food, toys,

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cleaning supplies and other essential pet accessories such as beds, scratching posts, leashes and bowls to be donated to Liberty Hill rescues and shelters.

The Liberty Hill community and their leashed, friendly animals are invited to check out Tractor Supply’s monthlong Out Here With Animals events and deals at 1919 Loop 332. Contact the store at 512778-9041 for more information.

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Thursday, August 16, 2018

THE LIBERTY HILL INDEPENDENT

Page 5

Balancing act

Council hears requests, talks lower tax rate

By MIKE EDDLEMAN Staff Writer The Liberty Hill City Council got its first look at the proposed budget for next fiscal year on Monday, and following a brief overview, two council members – Wendell McLeod and Liz Branigan – said they felt it was time to give taxpayers a break.

“I’ve been wanting to say this for quite some time,” McLeod said.

“I want to lower the tax rate to 48 cents. I think we need to give the citizens a break and I think two cents will do it.”

Mayor Rick Hall was not opposed to the idea of a lower rate, but favored the notion of keeping those funds and making sure they go farther.

“My ultimate goal would be always to lower the tax rate,” he said.

“I think 48 cents would be a good number to hit right now, but the problem is once we lower it, it’s harder to get back. So instead of maybe lowering it this year, we look for outside of the box type ways to spend the money to make sure we are utilizing 100 percent of our money the best way we can.”

To keep options open as the budget is finalized over the next three weeks, the Council voted 3-1 for a proposed rate at the rollback rate of $0.548962 per $100 property value.

McLeod opposed the motion.

“This does not set the final tax rate,” said Finance Director Michel Sorrell. “The motion is just to say we would not go higher than a rollback rate. As we discussed in the budget workshop, I’m going to be bringing back iteration to you with some of the things that you’ve re-

quested and the different tax rates, including 48 cents.”

Holding the line on the current was the preference for City Administrator Greg Boatright.

“I’m happy with the 50 cent rate,” he said. “I think it keeps us right where we need to be. I think we’ve been very consistent about that rate over the last four years, and as far as increases on employees or anything like that, it’s a council decision, but I think the baseline budget is where I’d like to be.”

The tax on a $300,000 home at the current rate of $0.50 per $100 valuation would be $1,500. Lowering the tax rate to $0.48 would drop that

By MIKE EDDLEMAN Staff Writer Efforts to resolve the issues surrounding allegations levied against the city regarding violations at the wastewater treatment plant are moving slowly, but City Administrator Greg Boatright said the city is now waiting on a response from Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ).

The City Council met with legal counsel for nearly an hour Monday in executive session, being updated on the issue.

After the meeting, Boatright said the city has requested information provided to some media outlets from TCEQ the city believes counters the allegations that untreated sewage was put into the South San Gabriel River.

“TCEQ told us when we met with them that they had responded to several different media requests.

We asked if we could see those,” he said. “The reason we’re after that is because there is language that clears up that this was not untreated sewage, or even sewage from our plant, that this was sludge found in the river, with no reference to where it came from, unlike the notification we got that said the treatment plant dumped solids into the river. We want that information.”

He said TCEQ responded that they would have to go through legal counsel before providing that information.

Additionally, the city has requested that new samples be taken.

“We have requested to them that we resample,” Boatright said. “They said they found treated sewage sludge, or our sewage sludge in the river, let’s go test it side by side so we know where you’re getting it.”

It has also been suggested that chlorine be used rather than UV treatment of the effluent as it leaves the plant as a solution to the algae

issue in the river.

“Instead of using the UV to treat the effluent as it exits the plant, which is the final treatment for the bacteria, they said what if we utilized chlorine as the treatment, thereby eliminating the algae in the river,” Boatright said.

Treatment plants can use chlorine rather than UV treatment until they surpass 1 million gallons per day.

Due to that rule, chlorine was not considered because the plant would soon reach that threshold.

“There’s mixed response to that, but I’m in favor of it,” Boatright said. “I’ve been in favor of it for a long time. I wanted us to do it two years ago when this came up before.”

If the TCEQ agrees with the use of chlorine, Boatright believes that would resolve the algae issue for residents.

“That is the main complaint we have,” he said. “The appearance of the river is paramount to those people and I don’t blame them. They bought that property because it’s on the river, and they want to access that river, walk down to it, look at it.

I understand all that.”

An investigative report was issued in July by TCEQ, alleging a number of violations at the wastewater plant. The City countered with a letter dated July 17 denying the allegation that the City failed to properly operate and maintain the facility and that it prevented unauthorized discharge of wastewater sludge into the river.

“This simply did not occur. The City strongly recommends that TCEQ retract in writing their false statement regarding improper operation and dumping of sludge immediately,” the letter stated.

Revenue Each cent on the tax rate generates about $25,000 in revenue for the City, according to Sorrell, so a single employee could cost three to five cents on that rate alone. While all funding doesn’t come from property taxes, Boatright said he’d like to see the balance in how the city is funded shift toward property and sales taxes.

“Every year, I want us to be as conservative as we can with the increases we issue through the budget process because our small amount of property we have to tax against limits us,” Boatright said. “It is a fourth of what underwrites our budget and we need to close that gap. I wish we were at 50 percent of our (property tax) covering our operations and maintenance in our budget.”

The projected total sales tax revenue – including those for the general fund as well as those designated for the Economic Development Corporation (EDC) and street mainte-

nance fund – is just over $1.17 million for next year.

“Our sales tax is doing well, so that’s good,” Boatright said. “With that, we’re probably around 65 to 70 percent of what our total budget is, but we make up the other roughly 30 percent through one-time fees.

That’s not a good position to be in, because if the well runs dry, there are some decisions that have to be made.”

Special requests The budget presentation was broken down into two versions, one with council and department head requests and the other a baseline budget.

While the baseline budget fit into the current tax rate of $0.50 per $100 valuation, the budget that included new requests would push the tax rate seven cents over the rollback rate at $0.61.

In the general fund, where most city expenses fall, the total with new requests is about $464,000 over the baseline budget.

Some shuffling of positions at City Hall would add the code enforcement officer approved earlier this summer by the Council, and would create a position for a permit tech separated from the current permit tech/utility billing coordinator position. The finance assistant would also become an accounting position. Those three changes would add about $186,000 to payroll and another $59,000 in training, equipment and vehicle expenses for the code enforcement position.

Expected new expenses with the swim center when it opens were projected at nearly $54,000 includ-

ing lifeguards, chemicals, insurance and utilities, but would be offset by as much as $25,000 in revenue.

The Police Department, which is just over 40 percent of the general fund, submitted a request for $1.77 million for next year, compared to the baseline budget proposal of $1.36 million. The department is projected to spend just over $1.2 million in the current budget.

Although he didn’t endorse the requests made by Police Chief Maverick Campbell, Hall said educating the public on law enforcement needs is critical.

“The police department is a large portion of our budget, but it’s also not as large as the cities around us,” he said. “Most of the cities are at 51 to 54 percent of their general fund for the police department and we’re still under that. We’re closer to the 40 percent mark for our police department. That’s part of our forward thinking is what do we need to have to protect our citizens?”

A request for new radio equipment is going to be funded from the current year’s budget. Boatright said equipment upgrades are key when needed, but he feels staffing in the department is where it should be.

“My thought is, just like the equipment, when there is a specific need, I’m all for that,” Boatright said.

“But I feel like last year the Council did a real good job addressing what it was (Campbell’s) needs were. I can’t justify by the activity I see, recommending additional officers for that department. Our basic footprint of our city has not changed.

I feel like we have the officers we

See BUDGET, Page 9

TAXING TIMES City of Liberty Hill Proposed rate: $0.548962 per $100 value Current rate: $0.50 Effective rate: $0.488934 Rollback rate: $0.548962 Public hearing: Aug. 20 and Aug. 27 @ 6:30 p.m.

Location: 2801 RR 1869, Liberty Hill Liberty Hill ISD Proposed rate: $1.54 per $100 value Current rate: $1.54 Effective rate: $1.4999850 Rollback rate: $1.540005 Public hearing: Aug. 20 @ 6 p.m.

Location: 301 Forrest Street, Liberty Hill WCESD #4 Proposed rate: Current rate: Effective rate: Rollback rate: Public hearing: Location:

$0.098250 per $100 value $0.098250 $0.089911 $0.108069 Aug. 20 and Aug. 27 @ 6:30 p.m.

301 Loop 332, Liberty Hill

Williamson County Proposed rate: $0.466529 Current rate: $0.466529 Effective rate: $0.446403 Rollback rate: $0.475819 Public hearing: Aug. 21 @ 10 a.m.

Location: Williamson County Courthouse Georgetown Proposed rate: The proposed tax rate has been voted on by the governing body as a rate not to exceed as it finalizes the budget for the next fiscal year. The final tax rate can be lower than, but not higher than the proposed rate.

Effective rate: The effective tax rate is the rate at which a taxing entity will generate the same revenues as the previous year.

Rollback rate: The rollback tax rate is a calculated maximum rate allowed by law without voter approval. If a taxing unit other than a school district adopts a tax rate that exceeds the rollback tax rate, voters in the taxing unit may petition for an election to limit the tax increase.

City waiting for TCEQ response

Swim center Plans to alter the swim center design got a financial boost Monday,

when Council voted 3-1 to approve $7,000 to fund the work being done

by Halff Associates. City Council Member Wendell McLeod was the lone vote against.

The decision to consider a new design came after McLeod raised the question July 9 about adding swim lanes to accommodate high school swimmers.

The funding covers $5,400 in redesign costs to add two swim lanes to the plan, as well as $1,600 for additional survey work.

The survey work will help the City also move ahead with plans for parking at the park, which is dependent on the drainage solution that comes out of Williamson County’s plan for the County Road 200 expansion.

“We’ve been working with the County on that, but we’ve kind of reached an impasse with the County as far as what our expectations are for the crossing and regrading of that drainage area,” Boatright said.

The City is waiting to meet again with county officials to work out a drainage solution, but wants to begin moving forward with the swim center plans.

The new design brings the pool size down from 4,800 square feet to about 4,350 square feet. It will still include the zero-entry and has added a “tanning shelf”, with the lap area on the opposite end.

Plans still include the splash pad, which is roughly 2,000 square feet at an estimated budget of about $150,000.

The pool house is roughly 1,300 square feet and is an open-air facility with restrooms, pavilion area

and changing rooms. There will be no heating or air conditioning. The plan is to have restrooms and a potential vending area accessible year round for park users, even when the pool is closed.

Plans also include fencing, shade structures, landscaping and grass areas surrounding the pool deck.

The original budget for the project was about $1.2 million.

Stubblefield After selecting Doucet & Associates in May to do the engineering work for the Stubblefield realignment, the Council approved the contract Monday for $324,960.

As a cost-saving move, the decision was made to have Doucet & Associates do only part of the work now on phase 2.

“We’ve gone back and forth on the design criteria, specifically costs associated with that and so, what we’ve decided, to try and control costs on Stubblefield was to go through the full design for construction to get phase one implemented, then go and do 30 percent on phase 2,” Boatright said.

Having phase 2 done to 30 percent completion will allow the City to move forward with acquiring right of way before finals plans are completed.

“To help our capital improvement funds go as far as they can, we would want to scale back on full design of phase 2 but have 30 percent plans that would allow us to acquire right of way through platting and make sure the corridor is protected,” Boatright said.

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Sculpture Fest donation While the City Council chose not to fund the Sculpture Festival to the tune of $5,000 from the Parks and Recreation Board budget based on a recommendation from that board, the Council did unanimously contribute $10,000 to this year’s event, matching last year’s contribution.

The Liberty Hill Sculpture Festival committee has made multiple presentations to the Council, Parks and Recreation Board and Economic Development Corporation (EDC) over the last month, but due to lingering questions on how last

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The cost for all of phase 1 engineering, to include services through the bid and construction phase is $223,520.

The preliminary design work for phase 2, which includes survey and design, is $101,440.

The plan is to go from Loop 332, across from Liberty Hill Elementary School southward to eventually intersect with County Road 279. Phase 1 will go from Loop 332 to Fallwell Street, with phase 2 eventually connecting from there to CR 279.

•

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Liberty Hill, TX

Dressing up A facade grant application approved by the EDC and forwarded to the Council was approved Monday for the “Cousins Building” at 923 Loop 332 in downtown Liberty Hill.

The grant is for $5,000 toward the $11,558 total cost of the project. The building is currently vacant.

“What they’ve done so far is they’ve replaced the windows upstairs, and

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year’s revenues were used and how the money would be accounted for caused hesitation.

The EDC has not yet decided whether to contribute the $5,000 requested.

Festival planners project a total revenue of about $45,500 with projected expenses of $25,500, leaving a net income of $20,000 organizers said would be used to clean, renovate and restore the sculptures.

The event is scheduled for Oct. 13, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. in Lions Foundation Park and then downtown from 6-10 p.m.

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SPORTS

THE LIBERTY HILL INDEPENDENT Thursday, August 16, 2018 Page 6

Lady Panthers drop a tight home opener to Hyde Park

ALEX RUBIO PHOTO

Allison Van Klaveren and Emily Huppee make a block on a Hyde Park swing. Van Klaveren and Huppee helped lead the Lady Panthers defensively while playing front row.

By LANCE CATCHINGS Sports Writer The Lady Panther volleyball team hosted Hyde Park in their home opener Tuesday night, but ultimately fell to the Austin team in five sets 23-25, 25-19, 27-25, 25-19 and 1512.

Liberty Hill’s season record moved to 4-7 with the loss, but it took Hyde Park all they had to get the win.

Head Coach Gretchen Peterson said her young team will have to show more intensity early in matches to set the tone.

“I think we were a little flat coming out and I thought we would be more excited with it being the first home game,” Peterson said.

“I feel like that showed in the game one loss because we played lackadaisical. The girls made some adjustments and it got better as things started to click. That is something we will have to work on. We will need to come out of the gate a little bit stronger than we did tonight.”

Although Liberty Hill had some miscues in game one, they rallied

in games two and three. The Lady Panthers faced deficits of seven and five points to come back and win.

Offensively, Liberty Hill showed sparks of greatness, but Peterson said it must be more consistent.

“Hyde Park was extremely scrappy tonight and their defense did not let anything hit the floor,” she said.

“Their setter made good decisions with bad passes and kept the ball in play.

“We struggled to get things going offensively. We are struggling a bit with our identity right now and that shows. We need everyone to believe that they are the go-to player and that’s what will make our team great. We must learn from these situations and that is how we will get better. There is a ton of potential on this team we just must get out of our own way. We are inexperienced, but we will continue to fight. Five game matches are a great mental exercise.

There are some good things we saw tonight and there are things we must work on and we’ll keep rolling,” she said.

Liberty Hill started the 2018 season with a flurry of games. After opening the season with tough losses against Clemens and Canyon Lake, they competed in the Round Rock Westwood tournament last weekend.

“I felt like we hung with Clemens and lost in three sets,” she said.

“That was promising to see how we responded to a faster paced offense.

We played Canyon Lake and we lost to them in five sets. Unfortunately, Kindsee Escamilla and Ella Shipper suffered injuries and were unable to play. That is two components of leadership on the court that we no longer had. I was impressed with how our kids stepped up and stretched it out to five sets against Canyon Lake.”

With two key players sidelined, Peterson has had to shuffle her lineup and rely on some of her younger, less experienced players to step up.

She believes this will only help the team in the long run.

See VOLLEYBALL, Page 7

Cearley takes over as Panthers’ starting quarterback

ALEX RUBIO PHOTO

Liberty Hill’s starting varsity quarterback, junior Jacob Cearley (#11), prepares to throw during the Panthers’ first padded practice of the season on Saturday. Cearley’s role as starting quarterback this season comes in the wake of Brenden Ketchem’s move to linebacker after starting as quarterback last season.

By KEITH SPARKS Sports Editor The Panthers are bringing back quite a few returning varsity players from last year’s team, but there will be a new face in arguably the most important position in football.

Following Brenden Ketchem’s shift to linebacker after starting at quarterback last year, junior Jacob Cearley is the next man up.

Cearley spent last year as the JV football team’s starting quarterback, but was told during the spring that he would likely be starting for the varsity team this fall.

“It was actually last year, after the season, when those seniors left and he said they were looking at Brenden Ketchem to be a ‘Mike’ linebacker, he said I would be the next guy in line to fill that quarterback spot,” Cearley said.

Head Coach Jeff Walker has had nothing but positive things to say about his starting quarterback, saying in one instance that his staff has known for a while that Cearley would eventually take over the starting role. Walker has also said that Cearley was made for the position, considering his stature, ability, confidence, and composure under pressure.

During their first padded practice on Saturday, Walker said he saw exactly what he expected from Cearley.

“He looked about like I thought

he would,” Walker said. “Cearley’s all of this that’s happening, and I a football player, so we expect big thank God every day I’m able to do things out of him and he’ll produce what I love to do.” big things. He’s just that type of kid.

With Cearley’s arrival comes I think he’s even better when the Ketchem’s shift from offense to delights come on. He rises to the occa- fense, but Cearley said Ketchem has sion, so I’m not worried about that been nothing but helpful during the position whatsoever. We can’t get process, often pointing out mistakes him hurt, because his backup is our or giving advice to the first-year middle linebacker, but other than varsity quarterback based on his exthat, on getting the job done, there’s periences last season. no doubt the young man “I’ve been going to Liberty Hill games can get it since they were at the old Panther done.”

Stadium, and I just loved the atmosphere Cearley has had the there and wanted to be on the field so bad. starting varI got it in high school, so I just love all of sity quarterthis that’s happening, and I thank God back position in mind every day I’m able to do what I love to do.” for quite ~ Jacob Cearley some time, Starting Quarterback considering he’s been going to Liberty Hill football games “Ketchem is a great player, and he since he was born. Cearley has spent has helped me kind of learn the new his entire life in Liberty Hill, attend- plays and is kind of teaching me ing a number of games at the old what to do, and if I do something Panther Stadium and dreaming of wrong, he’ll critique me,” Cearley when it would be his turn to stand said. “He’s just an all-around good under center. player and good teammate.”

“It’s going to be amazing,” CearFor a quarterback like Cearley who ley said. “I’ve been going to Lib- loves to throw the football, the Panerty Hill games since they were at thers’ Slot-T offense isn’t a dream the old Panther Stadium, and I just scenario. Per usual for Liberty Hill, loved the atmosphere there and though, their starting quarterback wanted to be on the field so bad. I has expressed a willingness to take got it in high school, so I just love a backseat for the good of the team.

“It is actually kind of hard, because I love throwing the ball,” Cearley said. “I just love it. I want to just throw the ball every single play, but in this offense, we can’t. This offense works really well if we get all 11 guys to do their job. If we can just do our job, I’m fine with running the ball every play if we win games.”

A huge part of Cearley’s role will be handing the ball off to last season’s leading rusher Kyle Harrison, who Cearley is anxious to get on the field with, along with fellow running backs Shane Gonzalez and Jakob Schofield.

“Kyle is a great guy, a great competitor, and a great teammate,” Cearley said. “I’m just happy to be a part of this team and happy to be a part of this backfield. We have three great running backs with Kyle, Shane Gonzalez, and Jakob Schofield, and I think all of them can run the ball very well. Jakob Schofield showed us last year that he can, so I’m just ready to be a part of it.”

In an unusual turn of events, Cearley said the Panthers are working on experimenting with some different formations to take advantage of Cearley’s passing ability. Regardless of how often they work on it in practice, though, history tells us it likely won’t be used often on Friday nights.

See CEARLEY, Page 9

LHYFC adds three girls to football roster in 2018

By KEITH SPARKS Sports Editor Every summer, Liberty Hill Youth Football and Cheer (LHYFC) has its annual football and cheer camp that typically doesn’t change much from year to year. This year, however, there was a noticeable difference.

It wasn’t the first time a girl participated in camp, but this year, there were three, each of whom has committed to playing a season with LHYFC, according to President Gerald Lorance.

“We had two sixth-grade girls and one fourth-grade girl that came to camp and liked it so much that they said, ‘We want to try to play tackle football,’” Lorance said.

Fourth-grader Allie Amsler, along with sixth-graders Brooklyn Foster and Bianca Lerma, are mixing it up with the boys on the gridiron, and Lorance said the boys don’t seem to mind at all.

“I don’t think the boys mind,” Lorance said. “Some people were a little skeptical, but me, being from Frisco before I came here, I had a girl playing with me before, so it was no big deal. They’re just football players. They’re athletes, so we’re going to see what happens.”

All three girls said they joined for one simple reason: they like to tackle.

“I played soccer my whole life, and I just wanted a chance to play football because I like tackling,” Lerma said.

“I’m really enjoying it,” Foster said. “I really like to tackle people, so that’s pretty fun.”

“I like hitting,” Amsler said, matter-of-factly. “Me and my dad

always play footwrestling, and ball in the front it’s not really yard and my wrestling, but the brother played, so coaches say I’m we’d always just good at pinning play together and people down,” it was really fun.”

Lerma said.

All three should Although the get plenty of ophitting is pretty portunities to straight forward, tackle this season, all three girls considering their mentioned learnpositions. Foster ing the playbook and Amsler are as one of the most getting most of difficult aspects their reps at lineof the game. backer, and LeThankfully, each rma has bounced of them said the around between boys have been tackle, guard, and supportive for the nose guard. most part, helping Lorance said at them with plays this age, the girls and walking them are typically bigthrough drills. ger than the boys, The girls appreso they should fit ciate the help, no in well at posidoubt, but also tions that require want to make sure size, like defennobody is taking sive line and line- From left, sixth-grader Brooklyn Foster, fourth-grader Allie Amsler, and sixth-grader Bianca Lerma pose for a it easy on them. backer. photo after Tuesday night football practice. All three girls are playing football for LHYFC this season, and each Lerma knows it “The two that girl simply wants to be treated like one of the boys. (Courtesy Photo) may be a tough I have are kind transition, but she of taller girls, so wants the exact past, she’s participated in zero-conLerma, on the other hand, just finthey’re not going to be the running tact sports like volleyball and horse- ished her second year of football same treatment and opportunities back type, they’re probably going back riding and was simply ready camp, so this isn’t her first rodeo. that the boys get. to be more the line and linebacker for something new.

“I don’t want them to go easy on Two years ago, she attended her kind,” Lorance said. “They’re taller me because I’m a girl,” Lerma said.

“I decided to play football because first football camp before decidthan most of the boys. At that age, I just thought it was a cool sport ing to focus on soccer last summer. “They might want to go easy on me, the girls are usually bigger than the to play,” Foster said. “It looked a This year, she’s ready to get back but I’d like the same kind of action boys.” little bit different than what I usu- to hitting, and she’s doing a pretty the boys have for playing football.”

In addition to taking advantage of ally play, because I usually play vol- good job of it, so it seems. One drill “They’re not hitting me as hard as the opportunity to tackle somebody, leyball and horseback riding. It just in particular, she said, called sumo they do to other people,” Foster said, Foster said she just wanted to try seemed a lot different and I wanted wrestling, has been her specialty. adding that she wishes they would. something different this year. In the to try something new.”

Apart from the occasional reduced “We do this one drill called sumo

effort against them during drills, the girls said they’ve been treated just like one of the guys after the initial uncertainty wore off. Amsler said that uncertainty has since turned to encouragement.

“At first, they were kind of like, ‘Eh,’ but now they’re like, ‘Good job,’” Amsler said.

As far as their opponents are concerned, none of the girls want them to know who they’re up against until after the game, which may require some creativity to hide a braid or two.

“I don’t know, I might tuck in my braid so they don’t know, so they’ll actually go hard on me,” Amsler said.

Foster doesn’t think it will be a big deal, even if they do find out beforehand.

“I think they’re just going to be like, ‘Who cares, really?’” Foster said.

Lorance admitted that it might be different having a few girls on the football field, but so far, they’ve competed hard in practice both against and with the boys.

“They were running gassers tonight with the boys, they were learning plays tonight with the boys, and they looked like they were picking it up in camp to the point where they said, ‘Yeah, we want to do this,’” Lorance said.

For game days, Lorance gave them some fairly simple advice to adhere to when they hit the field.

“It’s going to be different having some girls out there, but I told them, ‘Hit hard, hit often, hit quick, and don’t let them know you’re a girl until after the game,’” he said.

Thursday, August 16, 2018

THE LIBERTY HILL INDEPENDENT

Page 7

Goodson enters fourth year as Panther mascot ‘Prowler’

By KEITH SPARKS Sports Editor The Liberty Hill community may have a hard time recognizing Liberty Hill High School senior Erin Goodson’s face, but they’ve probably seen her more times than they realize. Goodson is entering her fourth straight year as Prowler, the Liberty Hill Panther mascot, which is rare in the world of mascots.

Her journey as Prowler began her freshman year after her father recommended that she get more involved in extracurricular activities.

“My dad really pushed me to be more involved in my school,” Goodson said. “I was already in theater in junior high, but I really wanted to do something else. I wanted to be part of the spirit, but I couldn’t really be a cheerleader, and I thought that mascot would be a good way for me to be a part of the school, express myself in a way, and also have fun at the same time.”

As the only mascot at the school with a brand new cheer coach, Goodson quickly realized as a freshman that she’d have little to no training. Although she practices with the cheerleading team, nobody on the coaching staff specializes in mascot training.

“It’s really rare that I meet some-

body that’s been a mascot, because it’s really only one, maybe two people, that can do it in high school, and not many people do it for four years like I have,” Goodson said.

Despite the uncertainty that came with being a first-year mascot with little to no training, Goodson fell in love with it from her very first football game as a freshman.

“My freshman year, we faced La Grange for my first football game, and it was just a very weird experience, because I didn’t know what I was doing,” Goodson said. “The coach I had that year had never really had a mascot before, because she was brand new. She didn’t really know how to instruct me, so I was pretty much improvising the entire thing, but it ended up being so much fun that I just fell in love with it.”

Goodson’s favorite aspect of being a mascot, by far, is getting a reaction out of the kids that approach her at football games and other events that she’s required to attend in her Panther costume.

“My favorite part is if I’m walking around at an event or a football game and there’s a family coming up with a little kid that’s super, super excited to see me and take a picture with me and high-five me,” Goodson said. “Their reaction to seeing

SHANNON HOFMANN FILE PHOTO

Erin Goodson, known on the football field as Prowler, joins the varsity cheerleaders during a Friday night football game. Goodson is entering her senior year and has been the varsity mascot since she was a freshman. me is like they’re going to Disney in their hometown, pretty much. That’s the best part, in my opinion.”

Some of the kids, on the other hand, don’t warm up to her quite as quickly, but Goodson has some

tricks up her sleeve to get even the shyest of kids involved in the Friday night festivities.

“Usually, I make myself seem scared, because if they think that they are scaring me, then maybe they’ll think, ‘Oh, this thing isn’t as scary as I thought it was,’” Goodson said. “If that doesn’t work, I get down on their level. I’m 6’1”, so I’m very intimidating to them if they’re like three feet tall, so I get down on their level and they can see eye-toeye with me.”

While Goodson brings her own unique flair to the Panther costume, she learned quite a few tricks of the trade by researching some of the most popular mascots online. As the only mascot at Liberty Hill, it can be tough to find a community to learn from, so the internet has served as a valuable resource.

“The cheerleaders go to this UCA camp at the high school where they send cheer instructors to teach them dances and all that kind of stuff, but they don’t send a mascot instructor, because there’s only one of me,” Goodson said. “My freshman year, since I didn’t know anything, I researched all the videos I could.

I looked at UCA college mascots, I looked at NFL mascots, I watched highlights of their seasons and how

they interacted, how they pumped up crowds, all their different skits for pep rallies. I did a lot of research my freshman year, because I had no idea what I was doing.”

Eventually, Goodson was able to join other mascots in the area at a UCA camp at the University of Texas’ Frank Erwin Center. There, she was finally able to share her experiences with other mascots and learn from theirs, as well. One of the most important things she learned from attending camp and watching videos on her own was the concentrated effort it takes to make even a normal stroll through the stadium look animated.

“I think I’ve learned to be a little bit more expressive in my motions,” Goodson said. “My freshman year, I didn’t really understand that if you’re walking like a normal person, you’re going to look like a really sad mascot. You have to have bounces in your steps, you have to pick your feet off the ground really high, you have to sway your arms, nod your head a lot to really look like you’re happy and excited.”

As a senior this year, Goodson will focus on enjoying the “lasts” with her teammates on the cheer squad.

See PROWLER, Page 9

Teams prepare to open season at Battle of Wilco Park XC Relays

By LANCE CATCHINGS Sports Writer The Liberty Hill cross country teams begin the long road back to state this Friday with the first meet of the season.

The teams will compete at the Battle of Wilco Park XC Relays hosted

by Leander High School. Head Coach Kim Holt is excited to get her runners back on the course and see what they can do. The first couple of weeks of practice have gone well and cross-country interest is as high as it’s ever been in her time as head coach.

“I feel like the kids have come out and done a good job,” Holt said. “We have lots of kids out participating this year with almost 30 boys and 30 girls. Last year we had

around 45 kids, which is the lowest we had been since they added soccer in. This is the most we have had out and it is a lot of younger kids.

The school is getting bigger and we had a lot of kids come out, which is a great thing for us.”

With more runners out at practice, the competition level has stepped up. Holt will put the best runners on varsity so every day is an opportunity for runners to prove themselves.

“We have lots of competition and they want to earn those spots on varsity, which helps the program be more competitive,” she said.

“We had a time trial last Thursday and we had some newbies up front that weren’t there last year. We did a long run Monday morning and it went well. We had kids running fur-

ther than they did last year at this time.”

The competition ante is also upped by runners who took summer conditioning seriously. The Coach has been happy with some of her returning runners and the shape they came back in from summer break.

“There are a few seniors that we have this year that have come back and I am impressed with them,” she said.

“I talked to them at the end of the year last season and told them they would need to be leaders and they really ran over the summer. I also have a junior that ran over the summer and he has been running in our top five. Many of our girls spent the summer at running camps and they look pretty good right now. I think

ALEX RUBIO PHOTO

Junior High Coach Will Reeder (center) stands in as quarterback for a practice drill. From now until the Panthers’ first official game on Aug. 31, the focus will be on perfecting offensive and defensive schemes while improving the energy level every day.

Practice

Continued from Page 1

another team in front of them.

This Saturday, Aug. 18, the Panthers will get that opportunity as Brownwood visits Liberty Hill for a scrimmage.

“It’d take me a week to name all the things we need to work on and get better at, but we still haven’t gone live,” Walker said. “We go against dummies, so we’ll know a lot more come Saturday against Brownwood.

They’re bringing a pretty good football team here and we’ll let it go then, but typically in practice, it’s really hard for us to see what we’ve got until we get out there and start really flying around and hitting somebody. We typically don’t do that in practice, so I’ll know more Saturday.”

The first Saturday of football season typically features an intrasquad Purple and White scrimmage, but the UIL’s schedule adjustments threw a wrench in things by making Saturday the first day they were allowed to be in pads. With it being their first day, Walker didn’t want to risk injury by hosting a scrimmage so early.

“UIL changed what we were doing this summer, so I just didn’t feel comfortable going on our first day in full pads,” Walker said. “We’ve been in shorts for three days, but

putting the pads on and considering we have a few that are a little beat up, I always struggle with that anyways -- us getting after each other.

You don’t want to get somebody hurt doing some silly stuff, so I’ve always been leery of an intrasquad anyway, so it kind of played into the way I like it to be.”

Saturday was also the first opportunity the Panther coaching staff had to see some players in new positions with pads on. Surprisingly enough, Walker said each of them looked better than anticipated, but he’s tempering expectations until he sees how they perform against outside competition.

“The scary thing is they look pretty dang good early on,” Walker said.

“Once again, we haven’t really run into anybody, so I don’t want to get too excited because it’s a big difference when people start bringing the helmet with them and there are some collisions and stuff where we’ll see if we can stay in one piece. We broke a lot last year, so it’s going to be important to see them take some hits and bounce back up, keep doing it down after down after down. I can look good for 10 plays. It’s that 70th, 80th, 90th where people are tackling you and you’re getting up off the ground. Are you still going

to be able to break tackles and get to your blocks? We’re still really far away, but first impression is I think guys we have in positions right now can get it done. It’s just a matter of them going out and doing it now.”

For football fans, Saturday served as a sort of opening ceremony for football season. While Walker said 20-plus years on the sidelines have numbed some of the excitement, he is looking forward to seeing who steps up and who folds under pressure.

“We’ve seen it all for 20-some-odd years, and it gets to a point where we know what we’re looking for and what to expect,” Walker said.

“Obviously, we still get excited about this time of year. Kids stepping up, and a lot of our young kids and old kids, alike, have their first opportunity to prove they belong on a Friday night football field, so it’s exciting to see if they’re going to rise to the occasion or they’re going to turn it down. That’s always exciting.”

Following a full week of practice, the Panthers will take on Brownwood Saturday at 11 a.m. at Panther Stadium in what will likely be a heavily controlled scrimmage.

Sports@LHIndependent.com

the younger runners coming in and pushing our pace really helps. Some of the older kids that were on varsity last year in the top seven may be running around 10th or 12th now.

They can see the other athletes up there and they really want to be a member of that varsity team once we advance past district. It helps the program, its good for the team and it pushes the kids to do better. Competition helps everyone stay motivated to compete for those spots.”

Friday, the Wilco Park Relays are set up different than a traditional meet. At this meet the teams will be split in pairs and running a twomile relay race. Holt said it is a great audition for the meet to follow the week after.

“The first meet is a little differ-

ent because it is set up like a relay race,” she said.

“I will be looking at individual times this week because next week at Vista Ridge will be a regular meet. They are competing this meet for a spot on that varsity team at the Vista Ridge meet. Based on the time trials they will move up or down.”

Junior cross country runner Gabe Diaz said he has been excited about the pace of practice and the younger runners pushing the returners to work harder. At the meet in Leander, he is looking forward to pushing himself against great competition.

“I feel like this team will be even stronger than last year’s team,” he said.

“We have quite a few seniors and

Volleyball

Continued from Page 6

“You never want starters out, but it is phenomenal for our younger girls because they are getting way more swings than I had originally penciled in terms of game time,” she said.

“Some of our younger girls are having to grow up a little faster than we thought they would. In hindsight, this may be one of the best things that could happen for our young kids.”

At the Westwood tournament the Lady Panthers went 4-4, but the overall record does concern Peterson. She is more focused on her players gelling and working together as they move on the court.

“We are making some inconsistent plays so we are a little error prone right now, but there is a lot of fight in this team,” she said.

We are making the right decisions. We just need to fine tune it a little bit. At one point we had a freshman, three sophomores and two juniors on the court. For them to not freak-out when they are down 21-7 and make a run makes me proud of them. That was the theme of the Westwood tournament for us. We were down and came back in the games we won, or we were down and made late runs in the games we lost. All in all, we are moving in the right direction.”

This weekend, the team will compete at the Bastrop ISD Tournament where they will see a host of teams, some familiar and some new.

“We will see some larger schools at the Bastrop Tournament,” Peterson said. “We will also see some potentially playoff opponents now that we are in Region IV. We know the caliber of programs those schools represent. It will be a great tournament for scouting purposes this weekend. It will be nice to see how we measure up and how far we must go.

I am really pleased with how hard they are working and the focus they have on improving.”

The Lady Panthers have their next home game Tuesday, Aug. 21, when they host Bastrop. Varsity will play at 6 p.m. and sub-varsity teams will play at 5 p.m.

juniors this year as well as some new freshmen that are helping push the pack. Practices have gone well, and everyone wants to improve and do better.

“The Leander course is very flat, but they always have plenty of fast runners. They are in a higher division so there will be a lot of 6A and 5A schools there,” Diaz said. “We will be going against some tough competition for our first meet. I want to push with the fast groups in these higher divisions. I want to see who on our team will step up and this meet is an opportunity to see who wants it. The goal is to get to state so we need the mentality to work harder every day to reach that goal.”

Lance@LHIndependent.com

ALEX RUBIO PHOTOS

(ABOVE) Behind the serving of Kindsee Escamilla, Liberty Hill started game two on a 6-0 run in route to a 25-19 victory. (BELOW) Lady Panthers celebrate after scoring a hard-earned point during the home opener against Hyde Park Tuesday. After dropping game one Liberty Hill pushed the game to five sets with their fighting spirit.

Page 8

THE LIBERTY HILL INDEPENDENT

Student athletic trainers hit the ground running in 2018

By LANCE CATCHINGS Sports Writer The Liberty Hill student athletic trainers are a dedicated group.

Through long hours, various weather conditions and without much recognition they are constantly working. They show up before practices and are often the last ones to leave.

Even with all that, it remains one of the most popular and fastest growing student organizations at Liberty Hill High School.

For the 2018 season, most policy and procedures have remained intact, but the program has added a new concussion protocol to help keep athletes safe.

“For our student athletic trainers, we have not really changed anything, but for our athletic program we have added online concussion baselines,” said Head Athletic Trainer Melissa Harrington.

“When a student athlete does get a concussion, we have a baseline to go on. Every student-athlete will take a test beforehand and if they get a concussion they will retake that test. Before they can return to play they have to return to their baseline, so we can make sure they have properly healed.”

Seniors are always an important part of what the student athletic training program does, and Harrington believes she has two of the best leading the charge this season.

“We have two seniors, Jacqui Perry and Blaine Richardson, with us this

year and we pretty much let them run the program outside of taking care of injuries, diagnosing and that type of stuff,” she said.

“They have a list of jobs to do every day and they make sure that those things get done. That makes all our lives a lot easier because it frees us up to take care of kids.

They take care of a lot of our daily work and every now and then we get an injury where we can teach them some good stuff. We have such a great group of kids this year and they are all amazing.”

The program has been a constant draw for students who want to get involved once they reach the high school level and Harrington is proud of that.

“We have 23 student athletic trainers right now at the high school level and our junior high program has seven right now,” she said.

“We are hoping to get a few more for this year at the junior high level.

We are one of the only places that has a junior high program and we are proud of that.”

Student athletic trainers get started on their fall duties just as the athletes are heading back to practice for two-a-days. There is training that must be completed before they can get out on the field or court for their respective sports.

“We got started August 1 because we went through deep cleaning of the athletic training room,” she said.

“We got all their clothes issued and

then we did two days of training.

We teach them what we expect at football practice, how to make Gatorade, fill up water towels, etc. We go over the basic first aid and make sure they know the hands only CPR. They learn basic rehab and how to assist on splinting. We have a whole curriculum we go through prior to the athletes coming in because those are things they need to know. We can’t have kids out there that don’t know what to do in some capacity.

We go over our emergency action plans. We also give them the rules about confidentiality and social media. We go through a pretty comprehensive program before we get the year started.”

This is Harrington’s second year as the head of the program and it is important to her that she builds a rapport with every trainer.

“Most of the kids have seen me for three years or they are kids that have come in under me,” she said.

“Doc did a fantastic job with the program before me, but they were still his kids. Now they our becoming our staff’s kids and they are funny, fun and amazing human beings.

Our former student trainers were great as well, but this is a class that is funny and loves to laugh. They just want to come in work hard and have a few laughs.”

In Liberty Hill, excellence is the standard across the board and Harrington expects her trainers to uphold that. She is proud of the work

ALEX RUBIO FILE PHOTOS

Ashley Nelson makes a diving save last season in a game against La Grange. Nelson is proving herself to be a leader on and off the court in 2018.

Nelson proving to be volleyball leader “We had two of our starters out and it showed that we have ability we just need to get back and work on some things. I am the only returner that is playing right now because of some injuries and we also have some players that are new to our school. Last year we had girls that would take the leadership roles for us because they were seniors and now we are stepping up and taking on those roles, so I am excited for this year.”

Filling roles is something that all teams are working to do this early in the season and Nelson is proud to have her teammates depend on her.

“This year we are learning a lot more because we are a much younger team,” she said.

“I believe the more we play we will overcome obstacles that come our way and have a great season. Coach Peterson is leaning on me a little bit more right now. I was young last year but I have learned a lot since then. Being a leader means being there for other people and trying to be there for your teammates on the court.”

Nelson is cherishing every moment she gets on the court. She grew up watching the Lady Panthers and one day wanting to be in this position.

“I started attending coach Peterson’s volleyball camps when I was in sixth grade, but I feel like I have known her my whole life,” she said.

“She coached my older sister, so I grew up around this program.”

She is looking forward to gelling with her teammates as they continue to build on the court relationships.

Thursday, August 16, 2018

ALEX RUBIO PHOTO

Student athletic trainers help hydrate football players during their first full pad practice last Saturday at Panther Stadium. they do and holds each one dedicat- that is our fault. It is very humbling letic season. ing their time and effort in high re- to see the kids rise to your expecta“We really worked hard this sumgard. They know that what they do tions. We give them as set of rules mer to do some good things,” she can affect the performance of their and they will rise to it almost every said. classmates on the field, so it is not a time. I feel like I have the best kids “We have fantastic coaches that job they take lightly. in our school because they often get work well with us. In some places “We expect our student trainers no recognition. The fact that people coaches can give you a hard time, to be the best in the district and of are starting to recognize us makes but at Liberty Hill they respect us anyone we are across the sideline me so proud of our kids and how and make our jobs easy. We are from,” she said. hard they work. They present them- blessed to be where we are, and “Our job is to help coaches win selves professionally and that will we look forward to the ride wherand they can’t do that if players are translate into their lives after high ever our athletic programs take us overheated or dehydrated. If we lose school.” in 2018.” because we lose a player to dehyEveryone on the training staff is Lance@LHIndependent.com dration or cramps, then we believe looking forward to the 2018 fall ath-

Time management on and off the court keeps Kennedy Coleman on top

PANTHER OF THE WEEK

By LANCE CATCHINGS Sports Writer After back-to-back appearances at the state volleyball tournament Ashley Nelson knew her junior year would be an exciting one. She just didn’t know when or where the surprises would come from. Last year as a rotational player she knew she had some experience headed into the season but there was no way she could have predicted how much her team would rely on her this early in the season.

After losing two starters to injury last weekend Nelson found herself as one of the most experienced players on the court. Head coach Gretchen Peterson has known Nelson for many years and said she could not have picked a better time to step up to the challenge of leading a young team.

“Ashley was a role player last year that came in and ended up being a starter all the way around as a sophomore,” Peterson said.

“She and Emily Huppee both have had to take over leadership on the court with Ella (Shipper) being out.

Her attitude and approach to that has been very mature and she has matured a lot as an athlete and player.

It has been nice to have her on the court and they have done a good job being vocal in a positive way.”

Despite her team getting off to a little slower start than past seasons Nelson is excited and upbeat about the team’s progress.

“The Round Rock Westwood Tournament was a great learning experience for our team,” Nelson said.

“It is better for us to do the learning we need to early in the season rather than later,” she said.

“We are still learning and improving on running sets. We are still working on chemistry with our setters because they are new. There are things we need to work on and then everything will be fine.”

Nelson enjoys playing on the outside and being a vocal leader on the court.

“Playing outside on the front row is one of my favorite things but I also enjoy playing on the back row,” she said.

“Playing back row gives me the opportunity to communicate on where to hit and things like that. Our communication could be better, and it will be the more we play with each other. We are learning how each other plays right now and what works best for this team. What is important is that we are having fun out there on the court.”

At the end of the day what is most important to her is playing the game she loves with her friends.

“I love playing volleyball because you make such good friendships with your teammates,” she said.

“On and off the court you get to have fun and hang out with people who love what you love.”

Nelson and her teammates travel to Bastrop this weekend for a tournament and are sure to gain more experience on the court while bonding through it all.

Lance@LHIndependent.com

By LANCE CATCHINGS Sports Writer Kennedy Coleman has been a multi-sport student-athlete almost all her life. She enters her senior fall tennis season as one of the most decorated players on the team and in Liberty Hill High School history. She is a 4A regional semifinalist two times over and a quarter-finalist three times over in various tennis events.

What is even more impressive is that she has accomplished this with multiple head coaching changes. In her final season, she will be looking to put an exclamation point on her tennis career with a new head coach, but Coleman takes it all in stride.

“Senior year comes fast, and I just want to have fun and play well,” Coleman said.

“Everything that Coach (Phillip) Dodd has brought in and said sounds good. I think it is the kind of stuff that helps build programs.

We have always been used to just getting by with tennis, so this will be a stressful change, but I think it is much needed.”

Fall tennis is team tennis and with the new coach things will be different than they have been in the past. Coleman is looking forward to the change even though it means she may not be playing mixed doubles this fall.

“I will play singles and I do not know if I will playing mixed doubles this year,” she said.

“Coach Dodd is putting everyone in the best places for us to win the most, so we will have to wait and see. Usually during the fall, teams do not put their best players in mixed doubles so we may not be needed to play there. I have always had to focus on girls’ singles in the fall because during fall tennis we usually play both. I am excited and there is nothing wrong with trying something new, especially if it helps us win. I thought I would hate doubles before I tried it and I ended up liking it.”

Along with balancing athletics, Coleman is also winning in another area -- the classroom. Heading into her senior year she is ranked first in her class and would love to be named valedictorian when it is all said and done.

“Academics is the most important thing to me because I never planned or wanted to play sports in college,” she said.

“My plan was always to go to college for academics and try to advance in possibly the medical field or something similar. That was always something that has been more important to me than sports. Even now, no matter how much I enjoy playing sports my grades are more important. The way I see it sports are for fun and my grades are for my future.”

When asked how she handles all her responsibilities she simply said time management is the key to success.

“So far for me it has not been a major struggle balancing sports

ALEX RUBIO PHOTO

Senior Kennedy Coleman goes through tennis practice drills. Coleman is currently ranked number one in her class, serves as the president of the National Honor Society and is an accomplished tennis player for LHHS. and everything else,” she said.

“Even in junior high school I stayed active and was in all the sports. This year I will be president of the National Honor Society as well as the other things on my plate. You can handle everything if you can be a good planner and that is what most people don’t realize. It is not that hard, you just have to make time for it and that your steps are planned out.”

It’s hard to believe that someone that is so on top of time management didn’t plan to be in this position, but Coleman said it just sort of happened.

“I never had the mentality starting high school that I want to be the valedictorian or anything like that,” she said.

“I just want to make sure that I keep my grades up. I hope that I get it, but it is not something I strive for daily.

I try to make sure that I am keeping good grades and doing as well as I can in my classes because I need to. Freshman year it was a surprise when I found out I was tied for first in my class. It wasn’t something that I expected.”

Although sports take a back burner to her academics she admits it would be special to her to be named top of

her class as well as being a studentathlete. There is an unpopular stereotype that student-athletes don’t always work hard in the classroom and Liberty Hill High School athletics has put that misconception to bed.

“It would mean a lot to me to have these accomplishments and be a student-athlete,” she said.

“I think that is a stereotype that happens for no reason. Most of the kids at Liberty Hill that are at the head of the class are involved in sports.

Of my classmates ranked right behind me one runs cross country and the other has been in the band and NHS all four years. It is one of those things that we have all done together so it was never just me balancing these responsibilities, other kids here are doing it as well.”

Coleman and her teammates open the tennis season against San Marcos Thursday and she is excited to get underway.

“I am excited about our first tennis tournament this season,” she said.

“I don’t know that we have ever played San Marcos, so it will be neat to go down there. It will be exciting to see how Coach Dodd organizes and handles everything.”

Lance@LHIndependent.com

Thursday, August 16, 2018

THE LIBERTY HILL INDEPENDENT

CEARLEY

Agility training

Ryley Rosenbusch (#59) works on his agility during the Panthers’ first padded practice of the season last Saturday. The annual Purple and White Scrimmage had originally been scheduled for Saturday, but changes to the UIL’s schedule led Head Coach Jeff Walker to skip it this season. The Panthers scrimmage against Brownwood at 11 a.m.

Saturday in Panther Stadium.

ALEX RUBIO PHOTO

BUDGET

Continued from Page 5

need.”

Campbell’s request was for two additional patrol officers and an operations lieutenant, a request of $416,899 total.

Two School Resource Officers (SRO) are included in both the requested and baseline budgets at a cost of $180,904.

Sorrell said she budgeted both officers because it was unclear how much the school district would be funding on the program if an agreement is reached.

The Council decided in July to send members Ron Rhea and Rundzieher to the next school board meeting, which is Monday, to discuss the SRO issue further, but it is unknown yet if the issue will be on the school board agenda.

Capital plans Debt service is anticipated to be

PROWLER

Page 9

$462,034 in next year’s budget, if the Council issues $3 million in bonds to help cover planned projects for the coming year. In July, the Council approved a public notice for publication making it possible for the council to issue tax and water system surplus revenue certificates of obligation.

The list of possible projects mentioned includes the work on the Fowler Building and other buildings set for renovation, park improvements, the Stubblefield realignment and extension, the roundabout, drainage projects and wastewater plant expansion.

The City has issued bonds twice in the last three years, once for the Bagdad water line for $2.5 million and the $10 million for the wastewater plant.

Hall said there may be funding help available on some of the capi-

tal projects in the works, following recent discussions with representatives from the Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization (CAMPO).

“CAMPO will actually work with cities and provide funds for transportation and a lot of capital improvement projects,” he said. “I met with them a couple of weeks ago, me and Wendell (McLeod) and Liz Rundzieher, and they are all about wanting to help. They came back and said they have some money left over out of the fund this year that didn’t get spent that they potentially could – after they review all our transportation plans – have money available for us as soon as this year.”

Hall said he is working to get representatives from CAMPO to the next budget meeting Aug. 20.

Utilities

The water and sewer funds are expected to generate more revenue – just over $2 million – than expenses – $1.8 million – and the regional wastewater fund should also create a surplus of nearly $80,000. Revenue from these funds comes from fees, not from property tax levies.

The budget for the street maintenance fund is projected at $169,875.

It is funded through allocated sales tax and can only be used for street maintenance projects.

Economic Development The EDC has yet to vote on its budget, tabling the discussion last week with the intention of taking it up at a special meeting Aug. 17 at 5 p.m.

There was no reason given for the delay.

The proposed budget for the EDC is $552,895, with $335,353 coming from its allotted sales tax revenue

Continued from Page 6

“We are putting in sort of a spread right now,” Cearley said. “We’re trying to see how that works in some different types of formations. We’re just trying to see how that works before we start rockin’ and rollin’ and getting in the groove of things.”

Whether or not he gets the opportunity to throw the ball as much as he’d like, Cearley’s role as a leader won’t change. Part of that leadership role, he said, is making sure he’s held accountable for his own actions along with his teammates.

“I’m just trying to motivate my guys to keep pushing and keep going 100 miles an hour like Coach Walker wants us to,” Cearley said.

“All in all, I’m just trying not to let them down and making sure I’m doing my part and they’re doing their parts, so it all kind of ties together.”

At 11 a.m. Saturday at Panther Stadium, Panther fans will get an opportunity to see 2018’s QB1 during Liberty Hill’s first scrimmage of the season against Brownwood.

and $214,532 from fund balance.

It includes increased funding for strategic planning, from $15,000 to $50,000 and slight increases in personnel expenses due to higher salary and benefits costs for Executive Director Lance Dean.

It also includes funds that would be contributed to city capital projects, but the amounts have not been voted on by the EDC. The Council has the final approval on the EDC budget.

and what it’s going to take in their department to maintain that growth and stay one step ahead.”

The Council will hold a pair of public hearings on the proposed tax rate at 6:30 p.m. on Monday and Aug. 27 and will adopt the budget and final tax rate on Sept. 10.

Hall said there is a lot of work to be done between now and then to match revenues and needed expenses.

“There’s what you want to fund, what you need to fund, and what you can fund,” Hall said. “I think we’re in the bind between those three right now trying to figure it out. Over the next few meetings we are hopefully going to get that all nailed down.”

Mike@LHIndependent.com

Moving forward Hall wants to see city departments look ahead and begin asking for future needs to ensure the City is prepared for growth.

“A couple of them came back with wants for next year, a couple of them really didn’t. I want them to come back with wants every year.

That way I know they’re forward thinking about the growth of the city

Continued from Page 7

“One thing that I guess everyone kind of does is just try to appreciate all of the lasts that you’re going to have,” Goodson said. “Like, I had my last kinder round up before my junior year, I had my last UCA camp, I’m going to have my last senior night, I’m going to have my last home game, eventually. I just need to be able to appreciate all those moments that I’ve had and that I will have.”

Those who are excited to see what Goodson brings during her final season as Prowler should look no further than the last pep rally of the season, where she plans on performing a special skit for her final ap-

pearance.

It’s not clear as of right now whether or not Goodson will continue her days as a mascot through college, but she knows she’d like to. As of right now, her top choice is Texas A&M, which doesn’t have a mascot, but she knows academics will take priority over being a mascot.

That’s not to say, however, that she wouldn’t push for a mascot program if she decides to head to College Station next year for bioenvironmental studies.

If that doesn’t work out, you may very well see her as Raider Red at Texas Tech football games.

Sports@LHIndependent.com

COURTESY PHOTOS

(ABOVE LEFT) Erin Goodson poses for a photo with Hook ‘Em, the University of Texas’ official mascot. (ABOVE RIGHT) Prowler interacts with two young Panther fans during a varsity football game. Goodson said her favorite part of the job, by far, is getting reactions out of young Panther fans.

Liberty Hill Lions Club

FISH FRY Old VFW Hall

Friday Aug. 17

4-7pm

$10 per plate $7 child's plate under 12 Proceeds from this fundraiser will go towards scholarships for LHHS graduating seniors.

IF IT'S HAPPENING, YOU'LL FIND IT HERE.

THE INDEPENDENT SUBSCRIBE TODAY! $25 in Williamson County $29 in Texas (outside Williamson County)

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Page 10

THE LIBERTY HILL INDEPENDENT

Thursday, August 16, 2018

WILLIAMSON COUNTY

County enters final budget push

By MIKE EDDLEMAN Staff Writer GEORGETOWN -- Following months of planning and number crunching, the Williamson County Budget Office and Tax Assessor Collector’s Office presented the proposed budget for next year, along with tax rate information Aug. 7 to commissioners.

On the revenue side, there was no sign of slowing growth due to the continued climb of property values.

The county saw a taxable value increase of $6.98 billion over last year to $63.9 billion.

Commissioners voted to propose the same tax rate as the current year, $0.466529 per $100 property value, for the upcoming year, but said it was possible for that number to shrink some before final budget and tax rate adoption Aug. 28. By adopting the proposed rate, the court has locked itself into a rate equal to or lower than the current rate, and can’t go higher.

“There’s a good chance that when we end up adopting it, it will be a little bit less,” said County Judge Dan Gattis. “We’re doing the same thing we’ve done for several years.”

The effective rate is $0.446403 and the rollback rate is $0.475819.

At the proposed rate, the county tax on a home valued at $300,000 would be $1,399.59. The effective rate would reduce that total tax by $60 annually.

The revenues generated by the county will fund a proposed budget that comes in at just over $329 million combined, including the general, road and bridge and debt service funds. The recommended total was $23 million less than requested by department heads through the general fund and road and bridge, but was a 9 percent increase for road and bridge and 6.7 percent increase in the general fund over the current fiscal year.

While the budget planning filtered through many department requests that are still under consideration by commissioners, some mandated increases upped the total immediately, in areas such as retirement and insurance.

“You will see a retirement rate increase,” said County Budget Of-

ficer Ashlie Koenig. “Every year, if you have salaries of $1 million countywide, there’s a percentage increase that the county must fund to sustain that plan. That rate is currently 13.94 percent, and there is an increase to 14.03 percent. This will cost the county $84,000.”

The employee insurance increase is an additional $279,580.

In the general fund, there are 113 new full-time employees requested through the various departments at an estimated cost of just over $10 million, but the recommended budget included only 15 of those at $1.1 million.

Recommended facilities and infrastructure work includes $250,000 for shower redesign at the Central Texas Treatment Center.

“We are being very aggressive with our maintenance program,” Koenig said. “We have repaired and remodeled so many times I can’t count, so hopefully this money will do a complete overhaul.”

Another $435,000 is included for parking lot and HVAC work at the Jester Annex in Round Rock, as well as funds for fire system upgrades at the justice center.

“The Justice Center Addressable Fire System, we have the original panel in place which tells us there is a fire, but it does not tell us where that fire is,” Koenig said. “We would like to upgrade that. That would cost $170,000.”

On the technology side, the county is in year two of a three-year project to purchase body cameras and replace in-car cameras, funded at $920,000 in the upcoming budget.

A similar program to replace Toughbook computers is budgeted for $302,000 in its first year.

Discussions on how the four Justices of the Peace can better manage the growing case load as well as other duties to include death investigations have led to a newly funded pilot program in Precinct 1.

“I’m very excited to talk about JP 1,” Koenig said. “We included $55,000 in the professional services budget to basically contract with the Travis County Medical Examiners Office to go out on death investigations. Judge (Dain) Johnson has been working with Travis County

MIKE EDDLEMAN PHOTO

County Judge Dan Gattis (right) and Pct. 2 Commissioner Cynthia Long (left) spent the day Aug. 7 considering the proposed county budget for next year and hearing requests from department heads for budget increases. and he will be our Guinea pig to say the least, so we will monitor that program and see how that works out.”

Public assistance contracts were recommended to increase a total of $530,000, with the bulk of that going to Bluebonnet Trails.

“This will be the first full year of funding $513,000 to increase the bed capacity from four to 12 for mental health beds,” Koenig said.

The Road and Bridge Department, which has its own fund, requested nine new employees with four recommended at $185,632.

The proposed budget includes $1 million for long-range transportation planning, and $5.1 million for bridge and road repair, including projects at San Gabriel River Ranch, on Chandler Road, Teravista Parkway, Sonterra Commercial and Walburg Heights.

Debt service, which is locked in, is $107,366,640 for the next fiscal year.

Seven departments made their case for additional funding and resources at a budget workshop Aug. 7, including Sheriff Robert Chody who said his department needed a sizable bump in staffing.

“On the law enforcement side we’re asking for an additional 16 deputies,” Chody said. “I just want to remind the court that we have 1,100 square miles of coverage and remind you about the national aver-

NOTICE OF 2018 TAX YEAR PROPOSED PROPERTY TAX RATE FOR CITY OF LIBERTY HILL A tax rate of #0.548962 per $100 valuation has been proposed by the governing body of City of Liberty Hill. This rate exceeds the lower of the effective or rollback tax rate, and state law requires that two public hearings be held by the governing body before adopting the proposed tax rate.

The governing body of City of Liberty Hill proposes to use revenue attributable to the tax rate increase for the purpose of financing tax notes for projects including transportation, drainage improvements, park and recreation improvements, and facility improvements.

PROPOSED TAX RATE PRECEDING YEAR’S TAX RATE EFFECTIVE TAX RATE ROLLBACK TAX RATE

$0.548962 per $100 $0.500000 per $100 $0.488934 per $100 $0.548962 per $100

The effective tax rate is the total tax rate needed to raise the same amount of property tax revenue for City of Liberty Hill from the same properties in both the 2017 tax year and the 2018 tax year.

The rollback tax rate is the highest tax rate that City of Liberty Hill may adopt before voters are entitled to petition for an election to limit the rate that may be approved to the rollback rate.

YOUR TAXES OWED UNDER ANY OF THE ABOVE RATES CAN BE CALCULATED AS FOLLOWS: property tax amount = (rate) x (taxable value of your property) / 100 For assistance or detailed information about tax calculations, please contact: Larry Gaddes Williamson County Tax Assessor - Collector 904 South Main Street Georgetown, TX 78628 512-943-1603 proptax@wilco.org www.wilco.org You are urged to attend and express your views at the following public hearings on proposed tax rate: First Hearing: 08/20/2018 6:30PM at City Council Chambers, 2801 RR 1869, Liberty Hill, TX 78642 Second Hearing: 08/27/2018 6:30PM at City Council Chambers, 2801 RR 1869, Liberty Hill, TX 78642

age of response times for law enforcement. We’re talking about nine minutes as the national average and you’ll see there that the priority calls we are responding to now is at 24 minutes.”

Chody added that lagging growth in past years has caused the need for so many new hires now.

“It is a big ask, it’s a huge ask, it’s an expensive ask,” he said. “I hate that I have to ask for that, but I have that duty if I feel like the response time is too large and the safety of my deputies is at issue.”

Commissioners pledged to make the Sheriff’s Department budget issues the focus of the Aug. 16 budget meeting.

“One of these issues, obviously, is that in requesting 64 people, you got seven, and none on law enforcement,” Pct. 3 Commissioner Valerie Covey said. “That’s the elephant in the room, really. I’m trying to get there, but let me just say, I don’t make decisions from emotion, and PowerPoints are not impressive to me other than factual information.

So I am just wanting to know facts so we can defend you and give you the help that you need that will really matter.”

Commissioners will hold a public hearing on the proposed tax rate Aug. 21 and will adopt a tax rate on Aug. 28, the same day they adopt the new budget.

Mike@LHIndependent.com

Fuel shortage stretches patience

Court spars with Sheriff over budgetary needs

By MIKE EDDLEMAN Staff Writer Under a cloud of budget tension regarding the upcoming fiscal year, a dilemma has unfolded that has further strained communications and the relationship between the Williamson County Commissioners Court and the Sheriff’s Office.

In consecutive county meetings, commissioners debated with Sheriff’s Office leaders over a depleted line item for fuel in the current budget.

The issue came to a head when a budget amendment was requested at the July 31 meeting because all of the Sheriff’s Office budgeted funds for fuel and vehicle repairs and maintenance had been expended. The request was for a combined $150,537 to cover costs for the remainder of the fiscal year, which ends Sept. 31.

Precinct 3 Commissioner Valerie Covey and County Judge Dan Gattis questioned how the department ran out of funding and why the Court had not heard about the issue earlier.

Sheriff’s Office Chief Deputy Tim Ryle centered his explanation on how the requested budget total was not fully funded at budget time last summer, but Covey and Gattis disagreed.

“Sometimes there are line items that just don’t get budgeted to the levels requested,” Covey said. “If that department just says, ‘Well, we’re just going to spend it anyway’ and then come to the Court and ask for more, that’s not the way a budget works. There’s got to be ways of somebody monitoring this as we’re going through.”

Gattis added that other departments in the county ran large numbers of vehicles and managed fuel accounts and, to his knowledge, none of them had exhausted their budgets.

In the end, commissioners tabled the issue until the next meeting in hopes of finding a solution and getting more questions answered.

Covey met with Sheriff Robert Chody between the meetings to

discuss the issue and try to identify areas in the department’s budget where the funds could be taken from, but at the Aug. 7 meeting, the impasse between the Court and Sheriff remained.

“We looked at the budget to see how we could accommodate meeting halfway, and we’re just too tight on the budget,” Chody said.

“We truly don’t have the funds to do what she’s requesting.”

He said the depletion of the budget could be traced primarily to having more officers on patrol.

“We believe the theory is that we have more staffing on patrol due to moves we have made in the past to accommodate some of the shortfalls that we’re trying to address,” Chody said. “So we have more officers, more deputies out on the streets, which makes sense. When you do that you are using more fuel and that’s something we couldn’t foresee.”

Citing lengthy call response times, Chody said the increased presence is critical.

“We’re being more proactive than ever in the community, and some on the Court themselves have called on the Sheriff’s Office to provide services in the community to make it safer and we’ve answered every call we got in that aspect,” he said. “We brought the response time down a little compared to other Sheriff’s Office response times, but mainly due to the staffing issue that we’ve fixed.”

Chody wanted the funds to come from contingency, but Covey balked at that suggestion, saying those funds are for unexpected items and requirements.

“That’s really where we look to contingency and say that’s a unique item and wasn’t something planned for. These are budgetary items,” she said. “We all have to keep up with our budgets, we can’t overspend our budgets, and when we do, we need to look within our budgets to find those amounts.”

Pointing at being funded at

See SHERIFF, Page 12

CITY OF LIBERTY HILL, TEXAS BUDGET HEARING NOTICE The City of Liberty Hill, Texas, will hold Public Hearings on the following days, time and place for the purpose of receiving written or oral comments concerning the proposed budget for Fiscal Year 2018-2019: Public Hearing #1 August 20, 2018 Public Hearing #2 August 27, 2018 Time: 6:30 PM Location: City Council Chambers 2801 Ranch Road 1869 Liberty Hill, TX 78642 This budget will raise more total property taxes than last year’s budget by $253,009 or 22.59% and of that amount $123,634 is tax revenue to be raised from new property added to the tax roll this year.

All interested citizens are encouraged to attend and/or submit written comments. A copy of the proposed budget in its entirety is available for public inspection between the hours of 8:30 AM and 4:30 PM in the office of the City Secretary at 926 Loop 332 in Liberty Hill, Texas, and on the City’s website at www.libertyhilltx. gov.

Thursday, August 16, 2018

THE LIBERTY HILL INDEPENDENT

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PUBLIC NOTICES DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY FEDERAL EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AGENCY Proposed Flood Hazard Determinations for Williamson County, Texas and Incorporated Areas The Department of Homeland Security’s Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has issued a preliminary Flood Insurance Rate Map (FIRM), and where applicable, Flood Insurance Study (FIS) report, reflecting proposed flood hazard determinations within the Cities of Georgetown, Granger, Taylor, Thrall, Weir, and the unincorporated areas of Williamson County. These flood hazard determinations may include the addition or modification of Base Flood Elevations, base flood depths, Special Flood Hazard Area boundaries or zone designations, or the regulatory floodway. Technical information or comments are solicited on the proposed flood hazard determinations shown on the preliminary FIRM and/or FIS report for the aforementioned communities.

These flood hazard determinations are the basis for the floodplain management measures that your community is required to either adopt or show evidence of being already in effect in order to qualify or remain qualified for participation in the National Flood Insurance Program.

However, before these determinations are effective for floodplain management purposes, you will be provided an opportunity to appeal the proposed information. This appeal period will commence on the second publication date of this notice scheduled on or about August 15, 2018. For information on the statutory 90-day period provided for appeals, as well as a complete listing of the communities affected and the locations where copies of the FIRM are available for review, please visit FEMA’s website at www.fema.gov/ plan/prevent/fhm/bfe, or call the FEMA Map Information eXchange toll free at 1-877-FEMA MAP (1877-336-2627).

Although no changes have occurred in the flood hazard information for the Cities of Bartlett, Coupland, Jarrell, Leander, and Liberty

Hill a 90-day comment period is being provided to these communities to allow for comments and concerns found within the new/updated FIRM panels and FIS report released on March 16, 2018. This comment period will commence on the second publication date of this notice scheduled on or about August 15, 2018.

The Preliminary FIRM and FIS report have been mailed to the local Floodplain Administrators. In addition, the FIRM and FIS report are available for review at www. riskmap6.com.

(8/23p)

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Application has been made with the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission for a Wine and Beer Retailer’s Permit by Jarrell Bakery & Cafe, LLC dba Schlotzsky’s Austin Eatery, to be located at 11840 N. IH 35, Jarrell, Williamson County, Texas.

Officers of said corporation are John D. Bowen, Owner/ Manager, and Michael McCorkle, General Manager.

LEGAL NOTICE Application has been made with the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission for a Wine and Beer Retailer’s Permit by Ellen Tippie McGinty dba Agape Java, Inc., to be located at 3610 RR 1869, Liberty Hill, Williamson County, Texas. Officers of said corporation are Ellen Tippie McGinty, President and Director, and Joshua McGinty, Manager.

ESTATE SALE - LOG HOMES PAY THE BALANCE OWED ONLY!!!

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Page 11

THE ARMADILLOS HAVE EMERGED IN NASHVILLE

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Page 12

THE LIBERTY HILL INDEPENDENT

Thursday, August 16, 2018

Mobile training units make HVAC and plumbing courses through Austin Community College’s Continuing Education Division completely hands-on as students are able to use real air conditioning units, toilets, sinks and more to learn how equipment works and how it’s repaired. ACC will begin offering both HVAC and plumbing continuing education courses in September at Liberty Hill High School. (Courtesy Photos)

COURSES

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SHERIFF

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technical education director at LHHS, said the school district, EDC and ACC first met in May 2017.

“Slowly but surely, we had a meeting with district administration and got everybody on board,” she said.

“We also talked to local employers about what they are lacking. There are so many people who live here but don’t work here. We also want our graduates to stay here instead of going elsewhere. Everybody put their piece of the pie together and slowly but surely we’ve been able to get this thing going.”

Kercheville said LHISD employees and LHHS graduates will be guaranteed a percentage of the seats in each class—depending on how many students sign up—as an incentive for the ACC using a LHHS classroom to host the courses.

Kercheville said she expects each course to have approximately 16 to 18 students enrolled.

“This is a great use of our facilities and great community outreach,” she added. “People can continue their education right here in our own backyard. One thing I love about our school district is we’re always looking for new opportunities to

$653,150 when the Sheriff requested $840,000, Chody said not receiving the requested amount was critical.

“At that point is where you have to have management in there and use management skills and so forth, and say ‘I don’t have what I requested, but I’ve got to get through this year’. I’m not getting any answers that you’ve done that at all,” Gattis replied.

Communication breakdown The issue of communication also came up as both sides pled their case on who was and wasn’t communicating well, displaying lingering tensions from previous weeks.

“My disappointment is that we are

COUNCIL

help not just our kids, but also the community.”

The Continuing Education Division at ACC has been running plumbing and HVAC courses at Round Rock High School, as well as HVAC courses at the Georgetown Housing Authority, for over a year. Since their inception, over 100 students have gone through those programs, and all but two have received jobs, Tracy said. The Liberty Hill courses will be modeled after these courses.

“We’ve had a very high success rate because we have engaged with employers who are interested in hiring these adults at the beginning of the program,” he said. “Those businesses are making presentations to the students and getting to know them. It’s interesting to see a company pitching itself to a student rather than the other way around.

So far, we’ve had 27 HVAC and 13 plumbing companies who have engaged with us in Round Rock and Georgetown. They are begging for more students. Here in Liberty Hill we’re looking to engage companies that are local to Liberty Hill as well as regional.”

finding out about this only two or three weeks ago,” Gattis said. “We were elected for this budget. You’re elected to do your job and we respect that, but your office needs to be telling us. In years past, I can tell you they’d have been screaming way back that we would have to have a budget amendment. With all due respect, every time we ask, ‘Well, you just didn’t give us enough money’, is not the right answer.”

Chody countered that his office had been in touch with the County Budget Office and advised them that the funds were running out, and accused the court of not coming to him with issues.

“You were making comments last week that weren’t accurate,”

Tracy added that ACC can tweak curriculum based on employers’ needs, meaning if they have specific things they need their students to learn, that can be easily done.

“This model of taking college to the community is based on a simple premise,” Tracy said. “We build a course around a specific topic and a specific need.”

Lance Dean, executive director of the Liberty Hill EDC, said one of the most appealing parts of the partnership is the fact that employers will be able to come in and talk to students during the course.

“They’ll be able to keep up with them as they go through the class, and once they complete the classes, hopefully they’ll already have positions lined up for them,” he said.

“We’re looking for employers who want to get involved.”

Dean added that in feedback he has received, many companies are looking to move to Liberty Hill but are hesitant because finding a workforce in the area has been a challenge.

“Through these classes, we’re going to create a workforce,” he said.

“We want to help local people find

positions here in town. And we want to help local companies find employees here in town. We have more of a bedroom community— people drive to Austin or other areas for work—and this is a good start to building a workforce locally.”

The plan is to keep these courses ongoing at LHHS, and eventually add more. Tracy said welding may be an option in the future. Kercheville added that she’d like to see courses in engineering, IT and other tech-centric areas added as well.

“People who work in that industry, in order to stay in that industry, have to be competitive in it,” she said.

“So we want to bring those types of courses here.”

Plumbing and HVAC were chosen for Liberty Hill because there’s significant demand in the workplace, Tracy said, adding that people who take these courses can essentially double their incomes if they’re currently working a minimum wage job.

“These jobs start at $15 to $18 an hour and it just goes up from there,” he said. “We want to start with things we really know there is a huge demand for and as we see suc-

cess and interest from the community, we want to expand. The courses we offer are based on what people in the community and what businesses in the community want.”

Both courses are completely made up of hands-on training, Tracy said.

“We’ve built a set of mobile training units we can move into the classroom and provide hands-on training,” he said. “With these mobile training units, students are able to do a full HVAC class. They work on real units, learning how to repair them and how they work. It’s the same with plumbing. They are using real toilets and sinks on these mobile training units. They can be rolled inside a standard size door and we can take them anywhere with us to do training. At [Liberty Hill High School] we’ll roll them into the classroom.”

The plumbing course begins Sept. 5 and will be held Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 6-9:30 p.m.

The HVAC course begins Sept.

6 and will be held Tuesdays and Thursdays from 6-9:30 p.m. and Saturdays from 8 a.m. to 2:45 p.m.

Those interested in signing up for either course can contact Corbin

Jenkins, ACC workforce projects coordinator, at jcorbin.jenkins@ austincc.edu or (512) 223-7140.

Tuition for each course is approximately $2,800. Through Workforce Solutions Rural Capital Area, a community partnership providing no cost recruitment and employment services to businesses and job seekers in the nine-county region surrounding Travis County, many students can receive tuition assistance. Tracy said when students call ACC to sign up, they can request to be walked through the process to see if they qualify for tuition assistance.

Overall, the three entities involved are excited about this partnership and future opportunities it may bring to Liberty Hill, Kercheville said.

“This is the first time [the school district has] aligned with ACC and EDC in this aspect,” she said. “It’s a step in the right direction for all of us when it comes to long-term planning for our community.”

Rachel@LHIndependent.com

Chody said. “I answered the questions and no matter what graphs we show, they don’t seem to satisfy the thoughts and concerns. You hear information outside from my office, or even from within my office, that I don’t know about and you take it and run and you don’t come to me, you don’t communicate with me.”

At one point, Gattis brought up a pair of questions he had asked Ryle in the prior week, hoping to get an answer to regarding the number of vehicles in the department and how many of those were take-home vehicles. He expressed dismay that he had not received an answer to either question.

Chody responded that he was waiting for some information from

legal counsel before providing the answers.

“The court has a right to know that before we budget for it,” Gattis said.

“You’re telling me there’s information the Court can’t have or the public can’t have? It is not our job to manage the sheriff’s department.

We have no constitutional right to do that. But it is our job to approve those budgets, and it is the Sheriff’s job, and statutory requirement, that we be given the information that we can do that with.”

The Sheriff reiterated he’d prefer to answer the questions after consulting legal counsel.

Ryle reemphasized that the Sheriff’s Office did communicate the problem to other county officials.

“We did give advanced notification. We do track the budget. We did know we were running out of money in advance,” Ryle said. “The direction we got was to let it happen and when we get there, we get there.”

An email was sent to the County Budget Office in June, according to Budget Officer Ashlie Koenig, that led to a brief discussion of the issue, but no conclusion.

“His response was that they were underfunded, and we had a short discussion about the word underfunded,” she said. “In the end he did say that they were doing some things differently from previous administrations. I said ‘that’s great information, can you help us un-

derstand what those things are’ and that’s kind of where the e-mail ended.”

There was no resolution to the issue as it was tabled once again.

Commissioners urged the Sheriff to find the funds somewhere in his budget.

“My hope was that we could toss it back to you and as you manage your budget, find some money to cover the overage in your budget,” Covey said. “That was the only reason we were having this discussion.”

The fuel bills are continuing to be paid, according to the County Auditor’s Office.

Mike@LHIndependent.com

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Continued from Page 5

they’ve taken it down to the studs on the first floor on the interior,” said EDC Executive Director Lance Dean at the Board’s Aug. 9 meeting.

“What they’d like to do is add an awning out front, replace the front door hardware, and replace the lower story windows.”

The top floor will be residential and the first floor commercial. The grant

is funded as a reimbursement and will not be paid until the owner has a certificate of occupancy.

“They’d just like to go ahead and start the project so they can dress it up a bit so they can go ahead and market it and get it filled quicker,” Dean said.

Mike@LHIndependent.com

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