LABOR O DAY
10% OFF ON DeLIverY
MINIMUM PURCHASE 6 YARDS Liberty Hill location only. Expires 9/17/20.
2020
Volume 33, Issue 40
www.LHIndependent.com
Elections department gearing up for long ballot, high turnout
By MIKE EDDLEMAN Managing Editor The Williamson County Elections Department is in countdown mode, working feverishly as the days tick by toward what is expected to be one of the most unique and busiest elections in memory. In what County Elections Administrator Chris Davis calls the perfect storm, longer ballots, higher anticipated turnout, a longer voting window and the COVID-19 virus are all expected to have an impact on both voters and election workers come October. But he also believes there is a simple thing every voter can do to help ease the process for everyone. “They should take care of their business early, whether that business is voting by mail, absentee or voting in person,” Davis said. “They’re in control. They can determine how much time they allot themselves to vote.” Davis wants to see early vot-
ing numbers increase to make coping with the higher numbers and challenges that brings more manageable. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott added an additional week to early voting to help ease the strain on polling locations due to COVID-19. “Voters need to take advantage of the 18 days of early voting starting on Oct. 13,” he said. “While we normally see a good 60 percent to two-thirds of in-person voters voting early, I want to see that number be higher. I’d love to see it be 80 percent of all voting in-person to be early voters. “It’s hard for me personally to accept the excuse that ‘Well, I didn’t have time, I work or the kids have school’ if we’re going 18 straight days of 12-hours every day and five on Sundays. That’s a lot of time for everybody, it’s a lot of time to ask our poll workers to work.”
See ELECTION, Page 9
ELECTION CALENDAR Election Day Nov 3 Voter Registration Deadline Oct 5 Early Voting Oct 13-30 Ballot by Mail Request Deadline Oct 23 Voter Registration forms online at www.wilco.org On the Ballot: Federal, state, county, local elections to include City of Liberty Hill and Liberty Hill ISD. Sample ballots available by October.
News@LHIndependent.com
August 27, 2020 | 50 Cents
Key questions still floating in City Council’s pool debate
By MIKE EDDLEMAN Managing Editor Which came first, the project plan or the budget? That’s the issue the City Council is wading into as discussions continue regarding how to pay for and what to build when it comes to a community pool. Last week, the Council had a workshop with the Parks Board, and Monday there was a second lengthy discussion on how to finalize a project that has essentially gone back to the drawing board. The final decision Monday was similar to recent decisions on the issue, with the Council voting unanimously to schedule another workshop for Sept. 28, this time bringing in representatives from Halff Associates – who designed the original plan – to talk about what might be scaled back and what is essential.
In a summary of the workshop for the Council, Parks Board Vice Chair Mike Wilson said a lot of progress was made during the discussion. “We believe that a slightly modified version of the original version, scaled down, hopefully budget-wise, is what I think everybody agreed on,” said Wilson. Mayor Rick Hall reiterated his concern for the increased infrastructure in the pool house and pump equipment required if the project includes a splash pad. “Is the consensus of the meeting to still incorporate the splash pad?” Hall asked. “In speaking with pool builders, if we have a splash pad (the pool and splash pad) have to be on separate pumps in order for water to be shot up in the air so we can’t coordinate that through the circulation of the swimming pool.” Wilson said there could be
other options considered to help pare down that cost. “Since we have a splash pad over at Wetzel there might be some things we can do to give us an area for smaller kids to still be away from the main pool without having the splash pad and extra equipment,” Wilson said. The bottom line for Wilson was that before a decision can be made the Council needed to determine what it was willing to spend. “Maybe we need to have a budget first,” Wilson said. “Call me crazy, but then you know what you have to work with then you can start right-sizing things. I think you need to decide on a budget. Is it one and a half (million), is it two (million)? Whatever the number is then you can right-size to that. I think if we start with a budget
See COUNCIL, Page 5
PANDEMIC PASTIMES
12-year-old student uses time at home to start successful cupcake business
By ANTHONY FLORES Staff Writer While the COVID-19 pandemic restricted many to their homes with what seemed like limited possible activities over the summer, 12-year-old Paige Pringle used her time at home to start a homemade cupcake business. Paige’s Cupcakery is a hit in the Liberty Hill community, and with her mother Holly’s support, Paige embraced her business idea and hit the ground running. “I’ve loved baking since I was little, and I’ve always wanted to start a business,” said Paige. “It’s been keeping us busy during quarantine, and baking is one of my favorite things. I have orders almost every day. Sometimes it’s up to six orders a day.” With multiple orders almost
every day, Paige works hard to find the time to prepare each custom order – more than 85 dozen so far. Leaving the house is rare, and business demands take precedence. “We stay at home. She’s just been staying home and baking,” Holly said. “Even when we have to run errands and do stuff out of the house, she’ll choose to stay home and take care of her business and do her orders.” The young entrepreneur doesn’t just make cupcakes in small batches for individuals but also does more significant events. Cupcakes come in several different flavors with different icing options. Everything is from scratch. An order of a dozen cupcakes is $30, and a larger order of two dozen is $58. “I’ve done cupcakes for wed-
dings, 100 cupcakes, I’ve done cupcakes for birthdays, I’ve done surprise cupcakes in town,” Paige said. “I have all kinds of flavors, chocolate, vanilla, strawberry, and confetti. I use buttercream, cream cheese, and chocolate buttercream icing, homemade from scratch. We go to Sam’s and get big bags of everything, flour, powdered sugar.” Seeing Paige work hard to sustain her business and find more success in her venture, Holly can’t help but feel pride in her daughter’s independence. “We’re super proud of her, she doesn’t ever turn an order down, she wakes up almost every morning with new orders. She’s very independent. She’s had a ton of support from local businesses in Liberty Hill, so she’s been doing cupcakes for
different events like boutiques and doctors offices.” Paige created Paige’s Cupcakery, a Facebook group for orders, with almost 400 members. With profits from her sales, she purchased an iPad to streamline and design her business logo and manage orders. The road to success for Paige was filled with lots of trial and error. The level of success she sees now is a result of plenty of experimentation. “I’ve gotten better and better and learned a lot of things through trial and error,” she said. “I learned new techniques, colors, combos, and things like that.” Providing a varied and unique experience for her customers is Paige’s primary priority.
See CUPCAKES, Page 4
Paige Pringle is offering custom cupcakes for the Liberty Hill community. With a variety of design options and flavors available, her brand new business, Paige’s Cupcakery is a hit. (Courtesy Photo)
County Jail copes Question on Mayor’s management shut down with COVID outbreak
By ANTHONY FLORES Staff Writer GEORGETOWN -- In recent weeks, the Williamson County Jail has seen an outbreak in COVID-19 cases. What started as a small number of cases quickly turned into 19 cases among inmates and 16 among jail staff by mid-August. “We’re taking a lot of measures to fight back. We had 19 inmates that tested positive,” said Williamson County Sheriff Robert Chody. “We post those stats daily to the Texas ©2020 The Liberty Hill Independent
Commission on Jail Standards. (Aug. 18) we’re down to 13 inmates, so we’ve seen a large decrease.” As a way to fight the virus and the outbreak in the jail, a new method of intaking inmates is in place and a strict mandate on safety gear requirements for staff and inmates. Quarantine and disinfecting are also being used. “Some of the things we’re doing is quarantine for new intakes, where they’re required to do 14 days separate from the population. The jail is disinfecting three times a day in the pods,” said Chody. “All inmates are wearing masks in the general population, and all staff
See JAIL, Page 3
By MIKE EDDLEMAN Managing Editor After more than 10 months of silence in response to a variety of City staff terminations, the City Council was backed into addressing the issue. Council member Tony DeYoung pushed to have the Council discuss the issue in open session, and while DeYoung got the item on the agenda – with the help of Council member Kathy Canady – and was able to voice his concerns, there was not much interest across the Council in considering whether there was validity to any of the issues. “The item was raised to review how the authority is being carried out,” DeYoung said. “You asked the City
Council to hold you accountable and that’s the purpose of having the agenda item tonight.” He said he understood that issues like these could arise from unhappy former employees, but said they should not be discounted when coming from a variety of people. “There can be disgruntled employees, no doubt, but when more and more allegations come forward from different people I think gives credibility to some of the allegations,” DeYoung said. He read aloud a number of comments he had heard over time regarding Mayor Hall’s alleged comments about employees or their employment, as well as mentioning what he had heard regarding Hall’s temper and alleged profanity
used with staff. Instead of considering they may be valid complaints, the Council again chalked up the often-repeated complaints to “disgruntled employees”. “So you’re saying we have City employees that are saying these things now, but you’re not saying who they are?” Canady asked, to which DeYoung responded no. “So how do we know whether they’re people that are gone or whether they’re other people? I’m just saying it sounds like the same people that aren’t here anymore.” DeYoung admitted when questioned that no current City employees had come forward to say they were uncomfortable in the current work environment. “I’m just saying it sounds
like the same people that aren’t here anymore,” Canady said. “With that being said, that’s disgruntled employees.” Both Canady, and Council member Gram Lankford questioned why DeYoung brought the issue up during a Council meeting rather than go directly to Hall and ask him about the issue. “Have you thought about coming in and talking to the person you have an issue with?” Canady asked. But DeYoung said while he appreciated Hall’s offer to sit down and discuss the issue it was his intention to make it a public. “We agreed to vote and give the authority over (to the Mayor) I think we should all have a
See CITY, Page 9