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2021
Volume 34, Issue 40
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August 26, 2021 | 50 Cents
LHISD sees increase in COVID cases one week into school year By CHRISTIAN BETANCOURT Staff Writer School district officials are closely monitoring the COVID surge, reporting 65 students and 12 employees testing positive as of press time Wednesday, which represents about 1 percent of the staff and student population. According to case tracking, which is posted on the school district’s website and updated periodically each day, Liberty Hill High School had the most number of cases Wednesday at 18, followed by Liberty Hill Middle School at 15. “We’re still trying to check and see if there’s any connection with the cases,” said Superintendent Steve Snell. “But remember, on Monday, you report cases from Friday, Saturday and Sunday. So, the daily average has been … 12 to 13 cases a day.” New guidelines issued this week by the Texas Education Agency (TEA) require schools to report positive COVID-19 cases to anyone who might have been in contact with the person who tested positive -- a change from a previous recommendation. “Even though TEA previously said we did not have to notify parents, we always want to notify parents,” said Snell. “What we did in the past is if there was a COVID positive case anywhere on campus, we had to let every parent on that campus know. This year we will let those parents know through the Dashboard.”
The community can keep track of LHISD positive cases online at https://sites.google. com/libertyhill.txed.net/lhisdcovid2021-22/home. Snell said parents will receive more targeted notifications from the schools instead of the district if a student with a positive test result comes in contact with their child. “We think that’s a good plan moving forward,” he said. “It helps our parents make decisions regarding their children a little bit better. As a district, I think we have the power to notify and communicate as much as we want to. We don’t want to overburden our parents with communications. But we want them to know the risk, and we want them to know if their child was exposed during the day.” If the school mandates students to isolate themselves, Snell said the district would work with parents to make sure students are safe and able to continue their education and deal with the absences. “The bottom line is we want families to be able to make the best decision for them,” he said. “We want kids who have been exposed or that have symptoms to stay home. So, we don’t want to create rules and regulations that get in the way of that. We’ll do everything we can to work with parents through this process.” TEA stated no guidelines on face masks would be issued until legal challenges to Texas
See COVID, Page 5
Welcome Back!
More than 7,027 students reported for class on the first day of school Aug. 19 in Liberty Hill. Hundreds of families shared their first day photos with The Independent on Facebook. Above left, are the Degutis Boys, posted by Laura Degutis; and at right are children of Melissa Brown Finley - Paityn, third grade; Presley, kindergarten; and their little brother Pierce. (Courtesy Photos)
Barber gives back to Liberty Hill students
By CHRISTIAN BETANCOURT Staff Writer Timothy Fleming’s hand was throbbing after giving more than 70 free haircuts to Liberty Hill students on the day before school started last week. “The first couple of times that I did it out here, I had maybe 20 kids show up,” he said. “This time, I had close to 70 kids from 8-7, nonstop. That was like a typical Friday for me (at my old shop), so it was fun to do it again. My hand was a little sore afterward.” Georgetown resident Vladimir Kartashov came back last weekend to get his and his son’s hair cut since he
EDC incentive programs remain in limbo
By RACHEL MADISON Staff Writer The Economic Development Corporation has yet to get the green light from the City Council on revamping its incentivization programs for businesses. “We are in limbo in terms of our incentive programs,” said Matt Powell, executive director of the EDC, at the EDC Board’s meeting on Aug. 18. “We have programs that exist, but based on direction from this Board, I drafted two new programs to consolidate all the programs into those. After presenting those to the Council, they wanted to have more time to discuss. We did meet in a joint session [in July], which was a highly productive con©2021 The Liberty Hill Independent
versation.” Powell added that the EDC Board remains open to feedback from the Council on any changes they would like to see to the proposed incentive programs. In addition, Powell said he has been looking at adding a third program to the incentivization lineup for businesses, called either a “water wise” or “water smart” program. The Lower Colorado River Authority has an active WaterSmart program that Powell has been involved with in the past, which he said the City of Liberty Hill has not been utilizing. The WaterSmart rebates are available for businesses, industries, schools, hospitals, churches and other institutions in LCRA’s water service area. “Any part of the City receiving water from Leander would be eligible, and any area receiving water from Georgetown would not,” he said. “For example,
See EDC, Page 4
couldn’t do it when Fleming was giving free cuts. “On that day, I stopped by, and it was packed,” he said. “There were kids everywhere. It was crazy. There were a lot of people outside.” Born and raised in Germany, Fleming made Liberty Hill home to his business in 2018 and said he fell in love with the people and the culture. “Germany was getting too political, and I decided to chase the American dream,” he said. “I have a wife and four kids. When I came out here, it was dead. There was nothing here. I just took a big gamble. I went from cutting five people a day to cutting 30
CHRISTIAN BETANCOURT PHOTO
Mark Kartshov, age 5, gets a haircut from Hair Stop owner and See FLEMING, Page 4 barber Tim Fleming on Saturday.
BUSINESS
John Johnston read a prepared statement as he resigned from the EDC Board Aug. 18.
Johnston resigns suddenly from EDC Board
By RACHEL MADISON Staff Writer John Johnston, president of the Liberty Hill Economic Development Corporation, resigned unexpectedly during the Board’s regular meeting on Aug. 18. “I have purchased property and will be living outside of Williamson County and as such will no longer be eligible to be on the board of directors,” Johnston read from a statement during the meeting. “In my 10
See JOHNSTON, Page 4
RACHEL MADISON PHOTO
From left, Amy Gandy, Jessica McGraw, Shanti Odom, Randy Blain and Charlee Cotten on the front porch of the new office of A. Gandy & Co. The home, built in 1910 and purchased by Gandy earlier this year, is undergoing a huge transformation to be restored and used as her company’s headquarters.
Changing Grange
Editor’s Note: This is the second in a series of stories following the process of building a business from the ground up in Liberty Hill. By RACHEL MADISON Staff Writer Amy Gandy has been patiently waiting over the last
few months to get the ball rolling on renovating the two homes she owns on Grange Street. But even in all the waiting, she’s found a way to utilize one of the homes this summer. Gandy, who just started her own real estate brokerage company, A. Gandy & Co., in
May, has started to transform the home at 111 Grange into her company office—and her team has been working on site through it all. The work started in the yard, where everything was covered in about a foot of leaves.
See GRANGE, Page 5