Hearing, seeing the call of caution
Tiger LAX unbeaten in district
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Lady Tigers stomp Lions 4-0
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News-Dispatch Volume XXXVIII No. 22
Serving Western Hays County, Texas since 1982
75¢ Thursday, March 8, 2018
City cleared of violating Open Meetings Act BY EXSAR ARGUELLO
After a two-week investigation, Dripping Springs city officials are standing by their decision that the city council did not violate the Open Meetings Act during the Feb. 20 meeting, despite a resident’s claim that the city council illegally
went into executive session to discuss the site development permit for the Mark Black Wedding Venue. The Open Meetings Act (OMA) sets requirements for state and local government entities to hold meetings with accessibility to the public. According to the Attor-
During the Feb. 20 meeting, Deputy City Administrator Ginger Faught recommended to Mayor Todd Purcell to discuss Item B, which dealt with the wedding venue, in executive session.
ney General of Texas Ken Paxton, the Open Meetings Act ensures Texas
government to be accessible and transparent to all its citizens.
However, government entities have the authority to adjourn into executive session at anytime during the course of a meeting, where the public does not have access to council’s discussion. Under the act, a governing body may deliberate in executive session only if it falls under nine
Aquifer district seeks new GM
AQUIFER DISTRICT GM, 2
OPEN MEETINGS ACT, 2
Election Day spending ratchets upward
BY EXSAR ARGUELLO John Dupnik, the former general manager for the Barton Springs Edwards Aquifer Conservation District (BSEACD) has accepted a new position at the Texas Water Development Board. Dupnik, who has worked with the conservation district since 2005, announced his resignation at the Jan. 11 board meeting after more than a decade of service. Initially, Dupnik was not looking to apply for the position of Deputy Executive Administrator of the Office of Water, Science and Conservation. The posting for the position was open for over a month before Dupnik applied. “My colleagues warmed me up to the idea of applying,” Dupnik said. “I was extremely happy where I was and it was an amazing job. This was the only position that could have enticed me to move elsewhere.” Dupnik was hired as a Regulatory Compliance Team member at the BSEACD in 2005 before accepting the general manager position in 2013. The BSEACD was created in 1987 with a directive to conserve, protect, and enhance the groundwater resources in its jurisdictional area. Dupnik was part of
criteria. During the Feb. 20 meeting, Deputy City Administrator Ginger Faught recommended to Mayor Todd Purcell to discuss Item B, which dealt with the wedding venue, in executive session. “I’ll entertain the mo-
BY MOSES LEOS III
PHOTO COURTESY OF KYLE FIRE DEPARTMENT
Pets survive house fire near Driftwood
A North Hays County Fire Rescue firefighter watches as other first responders tackle the remnants of a fire that caused extensive damage to a home in the Sierra West neighborhood near Driftwood March 2. No one was injured in the blaze, which was believed to have started on the back porch of the home. Fire officials said the homeowners were not at the home at the time of the fire, and fire crews were able to safely rescue pets inside the home. An official cause has not yet been determined in the fire, and it is unknown how much damage was caused.
New flood warning information available to county residents STAFF REPORT
Residents and visitors to Hays County now have access to new information and an enhanced website that shares the status of low-water crossings and rain gauge levels. Assistant Emergency Management Coordinator Justin McInnis said Feb. 27 Hays Informed, Hays County’s emergency information website, now includes the status of 22 low-water crossings on an interactive map and ten precipitation gauges, which is now available to the public. “The county began a concerted effort to add more reliable and robust flood warning and precipitation monitors throughout the county following the floods in 2015,” McInnis said in a statement. “Thanks to a grant from the Texas Water Development Board (TWDB), and the technology expertise of Water and Earth Technology, we now have a stateof-the-art warning system that will be an asset to public safety going forward.” McInnis, who has an extensive background in hydrologic data collection and dissemination, said development of the systems took about a
Hays County’s emergency information website, now includes the status of 22low-water crossings on an interactive map and ten precipitation gauges, which is now available to the public. year. In addition to the information for public review, authorities will have access to video feeds from several sites as well as information from five dam monitors and gauges that were installed along the Blanco River in 2016 as a joint project by Hays County, U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), Lower Colorado River Authority (LCRA), TWDB and National Weather Service (NWS).
“The monitors will allow authorities to determine the height of water across the roads and behind dams and show potential damage to the roads, which will allow responding agencies to pre-plan rescue operations,” McInnis said. Monitors at five additional low-water crossings are expected to be added this year, and soon drought data will also be a part of the website as well
as LCRA river monitoring data. The city of Austin’s ATXFloods map, which covers road closures in several counties in Central Texas including Hays County, will also be incorporated into the Hays County map. ATXFloods is currently a separate link accessible from the HaysInformed website. Hays County emergency managers recommend signing up on Twitter @hays_oem to receive gauge status updates and other flood warning information, as well as at www.warncentraltexas.org to allow emergency notifications by phone, text or email about public safety events in your local area. TWDB contributed $500,000 to the project, which is budgeted for $2.2 million.
Close to $40,000 in combined political expenses were expended in the past month by two candidates vying for the Republican nomination in Hays County’s Pct. 4 Commissioner’s race. As a result, both Jimmy Skipton and Walt Smith dipped deep into their war chests as the March 6 primaries draw near. Smith, the creator of the Mallard Group, LLC, a lobbying firm, spent $23,355 on his campaign from Feb. 5 to Feb. 26, according to a campaign finance report filed a week before Election Day. The majority of the expenses, roughly $23,100, went toward consulting, advertising and printing purchases from Patterson and Company in Dripping Springs. Smith also brought in more than $9,800 in political contributions, with $2,500 coming from Ross Gunnels of College Station and $2,500 from Dick Scott of Wimberley. Smith has $5,742.90 remaining in his war chest. Not to be outdone, Skipton, a Dripping Springs native who is a wedding venue manager and water district board member, spent just over $15,500 on his campaign from Jan. 26 to Feb. 24, according to campaign finance records. Roughly $12,800 of Skipton’s expenditures went to KC Strategies, an Austin-based consulting firm that assisted with consulting and printing mailers. Skipton received more than $5,000 in contributions toward his
ELECTION SPENDING, 2
LAGNIAPPE Fancy Feathers is back Expect a clucking good time Saturday as the 11th annual Fancy Feathers Open Chicken Show wobbles into Dripping Springs Ranch Park. The event is free to all and runs from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Events include the Chicken Poop Bingo, a raffle, silent auction and all the birds you can peck.