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2021
Volume 34, Issue 32
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Independence Day Spectacular returns Liberty Hill’s signature event to feature Stoney Larue
By RACHEL MADISON Staff Writer Thanks to a new location for this year’s Independence Day Spectacular, the City of Liberty Hill is planning on going even bigger for its annual festival with headliner Stoney Larue. The festival, which was started in 2016 by The Liberty Hill Independent, has been a popular event across Liberty Hill since it began. Formerly held at Liberty Hill City Park, this year it’s going to be held at Liberty Hill Junior High School’s grounds on July 3 from 6 to 10
p.m., which means more room to spread out, better parking options and a bigger fireworks show, said Katie Amsler, communications manager for the City of Liberty Hill. “We were running out of space at the old location, and it was getting harder to shuttle in that many people and get everyone out safely,” she said. “At the school there is enough room for parking, and that will make a lot of people really happy. There is more room for everything to be spread out
See FIREWORKS, Page 4
LH INDEPENDENT FILE PHOTO
This year’s Independence Day Spectacular features two beach ball drops -- one for ages 7 and younger and one for ages 8 to 12.
City, Mojo’s planning changes for Brown Bridge Road
By RACHEL MADISON Staff Writer Changes are coming to Brown Bridge Road to make the intersection safer and provide better queuing for the ever-growing line at Mojo’s drive thru. Council member Kathy Canady said the City of Liberty Hill can’t take charge of SH 29 or CR 214, because those roads are under the jurisdiction of TXDot and Williamson County, respectively, but it can take charge of Brown Bridge Road, which is why she brought the item to Council to on June 23. “If it helps a little bit, it helps a lot,” she said. Plans for a proposed solution and opportunities for bettering the intersection have been
drawn up by the City’s engineering firm Steger Bizzell, which included options for delineators and striping. “We came up with really good options for council to consider,” said City Administrator Lacie Hale. “We have also been in discussions with Mojo’s as far as if they are going to make an improvement on their site to help with traffic mitigation, and they are in talks with our planning department to see what they can do. They are mindful of the problem and the cars lining up on Highway 29 and they want to help with the solution for that.” In 2022, TXDot plans to put a light at this intersection,
RACHEL MADISON PHOTO
Cars line up to go through the Mojo’s drive-thru window Wednesday morning. At peak hours, the See ROAD, Page 4 drive-thru line has cars waiting on Brown Bridge Road and out to SH 29.
IT department asks for big ticket items in City budget for new fiscal year
By RACHEL MADISON Staff Writer A workshop to discuss budget requests for the City of Liberty Hill’s general administration and municipal court highlighted a couple of big asks from the City IT department, including a 25,000-watt generator and an attached 100-gallon propane tank. IT Director Randy Hodges said a generator for the IT department is needed because his department is the hub of the City. “We have direct fiber going to every building,” he said. “Everything runs into our building and we control it from there. If
City Hall goes down, then the police department goes down and the court goes down.” The main reason for that is lack of power, Hodges said, so if the IT department can install a 25,000-watt generator with an attached 100-gallon vertical propane tank, the City would be able to function off of that for four to five days. Hodges said the quote for the generator itself is approximately $9,000 and will come with a seven-year replacement warranty. Cost of the propane tank and labor to install the system is estimated to be $4,450, Hodges said, for a total of $13,450. “It will be tied in and will run
if the power goes out,” he said. “I think it’s a big need for the city right now. Battery backups hold us for 20 minutes and then we’re done as of now.” Council member Chris Pezold added that the city could also use the generator to provide a warm space for the community in the case of another event like February’s ice storm, which the rest of the council agreed was a good idea. The rest of the IT department’s budget request totals $23,448 and includes asks for various security software programs as well as hardware backup items. “What I have [in this request]
is typical hardware backups in case something goes down,” Hodges said. “I like to have redundancy around in case something crashes. Then I can replace it right away. I like to have at least three or four extra computers in case something goes down.” Software Hodges is requesting includes a program called Intercept X for every city computer, which prevents ransomware attacks. “If you open an email and it has ransomware in our network, this program literally reverses the process within milliseconds and locks the computer down,” Hodges said.
Access control equipment and server protection software were also included in the budget request, which Hodges said is necessary to keep things running smoothly. There was $6,000 worth of access control equipment damaged in a lightning surge earlier this year, which insurance will be covering and will reduce the budget ask. “This really is under a normal IT budget,” Hodges said. “About a year ago we replaced every computer. Everything we have is new. What we are looking at is add ons. It’s a
See CITY, Page 3
Weather wreaks havoc with local crops Farmers find themselves in a predicament
By SCOTT AKANEWICH Staff Writer As if the winter freeze, which hit central Texas back in February, wasn’t bad enough for Williamson County farmers and their crops, the heavy rain that pounded the local area recently, followed by the customary early summer heat has created quite a conundrum for those who make their living from the soil. During a two-and-a-half week period ending June 4, the county received approximately 1012 inches of precipitation, well ©2021 The Liberty Hill Independent
above the normal amount of rainfall. As a result, the usual crop cycle farmers depend on for maximum yield from their fields was seriously disrupted – an issue that has continued to linger as summer arrives. Crops such as corn, wheat and cotton have been most affected, with the quality of the potential product suffering as a result, said Gary Pastushok, county extension agent for agriculture and natural resources with Texas A&M AgriLife. “We’ve been out at the farms checking the quality of the wheat,” said Pastushok. “What we’re finding is it’s been degraded, which affects the harvest because now the buyers are being patient.”
Dr. Ronnie Schnell (left), Agronomist with Texas A&M at the Stiles Farm Field Day speaking to growers about issues with corn and sorghum in Williamson County. (Courtesy Photo) A phenomenon known as to germinate when exposed to damaged to the point where it “pre-harvest sprouting” has moisture and temperature as is no longer suitable for things been the primary culprit af- opposed to being starch-stor- such being used to make flicting local crops – a process ing grain. See WEATHER, Page 7 by which wheat kernels begin As a result, the wheat can be
July 1, 2021 | 50 Cents
Council tries to define duties, roles of boards
By RACHEL MADISON Staff Writer The underlying theme of the Liberty Hill City Council’s regular meeting on June 23 focused on the best practices, duties and roles of boards and commissions, but not everyone on the council agreed on what those should be. At Council’s last meeting on June 9, a motion initiated by Council member Kathy Canady was passed to authorize Mundo & Associates to present to the Council on best practices, duties and roles of boards and commissions at a cost of $2,500. Mundo & Associates is a Texas-based consulting firm that helps cities with civil engineering, planning and development processes. The firm has been working with the City of Liberty Hill since March, assisting the planning and development department on planning and zoning issues. Pam Mundo, president of Mundo & Associates, gave a presentation on what types of boards and commissions cities the same size as Liberty Hill have. She also highlighted the types of boards and commissions that cities surrounding Liberty Hill have, including Bertram, Burnet, Jarrell, Hutto, Leander, Georgetown and Round Rock. In her presentation, she spoke of the need for councils to set requirements for what each of the various boards’ responsibilities are, and the importance of each board having a yearly plan of action to report to the council. Munro also discussed board membership, which includes the residency of board members. For example, currently in Liberty Hill, the Planning & Zoning Commission must have five members, one of which must live within city limits. Cities surrounding Liberty Hill vary between requiring all of their members to live within city limits and only requiring a majority of members to be city residents. Mundo added that there are roles on boards for both residents and non-residents, but that most cities favor having most of their members living within city limits because of the decisions they are making. She also said having a broad representation on the boards, through age, gender and occupations, is important. Council member Chris Pezold said he knows Canady has been campaigning to clean all of Liberty Hill’s boards of anyone who lives outside the city limits, but he doesn’t agree with her. “I know Kathy campaigned to have [Mundo] come in, and I hate to say it, but I see why,” he said. “Everything about this is a campaign that everybody else on this council made a bad decision in wanting to put on our boards the most qualified people that would come in.” Pezold added that he believes the growth in Liberty Hill has been slowed in the past, and that decisions
See COUNCIL, Page 7