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2021
Volume 34, Issue 42
www.LHIndependent.com
Improper surveillance? Cameras, equipment used to secure City buildings, monitor staff
By RACHEL MADISON & SHELLY WILKISON Staff Writers A discussion about the need to hire an IT company for the City of Liberty Hill, which employed a full-time IT director until his resignation Aug. 29, led to the recent public revelation that City offices and employees may have been under improper surveillance for an unknown period of time. City Administrator Lacie Hale asked Council Aug. 25 to ratify an agreement she made with UniVista, an Austin-based IT company, to provide support to City IT Director Randy Hodges. When asked whether Hodges was still working for the City, Hale said, “There’s not been a clear demonstration of professional behavior from our IT director, so with that, I made the decision to bring UniVista on board because I wanted to secure IT operations for the City of Liberty Hill.” At that time, Hale said that Hodges was still employed by the City and was working alongside UniVista. “Our IT department needs support,” she said in the meeting. “I executed this agreement
to get their services here immediately. This will be a longterm solution for the city. I made the decision; this item is to ratify the decision.” Council member Chris Pezold asked Larry Whelan, president of UniVista, if his company “could do a sweep for bugs and surveillance that were not appropriate or possibly are inappropriate?” Whelan responded that his company does not provide those services. “So we think we have bugs?” asked Council member Kathy Canady. “I’m pretty sure we have bugs, based on what I’ve seen and what I’ve encountered, yes,” Pezold replied. UniVista does not offer surveillance or phone services, but the company does partner with Pflugerville-based SCTi. An agreement between SCTi and the City has not been executed. “There are still a few pieces we need to find support for, like surveillance and audio-visual support,” Hale said. “They are not supported
See SURVEILLANCE, Page 4
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September 9, 2021 | 50 Cents
Council gives green light to downtown roundabout, again
By RACHEL MADISON Staff Writer The City Council voted Sept. 1 to move forward with plans to construct a roundabout on Loop 332 and CR 279, directly in front of Wetzel Park and the Water Tower parking lot. Plans to construct a roundabout in this location aren’t new—past city councils have voted to construct a roundabout here and later voted to cancel the same project due to its low priority—but current council says it is needed more than ever due to the ever-increasing traffic in the area. Mike O’Neal, of the City’s engineering firm Steger Bizzell, provided two options for what the future of that intersection could be. In addition to the roundabout, he also showed council what a “tee intersection” would look like. While the “tee intersection” option was more affordable, coming in at an estimated $895,704, compared to a cost estimate of $1.75 mil- This rendering shows what the roadway in front of Wetzel Park will look like in the near future. lion for the roundabout, The City Council voted earlier this month to move forward with the construction of a roundabout Council agreed it didn’t at Loop 332 and CR 279 to improve traffic flow in the area. (Courtesy Graphic) seem like a long-term solu- the difficulties a standard in- downtown Liberty Hill’s onetion, especially because of tersection would cause with way streets, such as Monroe. See COUNCIL, Page 9
About 1,000 LHISD students learning from home this week
By CHRISTIAN BETANCOURT Staff Writer District officials say about 1,000 of the 6,800 students enrolled in Liberty Hill schools are currently learning through remote conferencing. Most are from Liberty Hill Middle School, as the campus was closed due to a surge in COVID cases. On Wednesday, Liberty Hill ISD Superintendent Steve Snell said three more classrooms transitioned this week into remote conferencing from Bill Burden Elementary, Louine Noble Elementary, and Rancho Sienna Elementary. District protocol calls for remote conferencing to be im-
plemented when 10 percent of a classroom in the higher grade levels test positive or when four positive cases are found in elementary classrooms. “Remote conferencing has been going well,” Snell said. “Obviously, it’s not as good as in-person learning, but the teachers have adjusted. We’re doing everything we can to not have the students’ learning interrupted. Hopefully, with the holiday weekend and the students that we have quarantined, we can see a break in the COVID spike.” According to the district’s website, which tracks cases in the schools, there were 453
See COVID, Page 3
CHRISTIAN BETANCOURT PHOTO
Oatmeal Festival delights visitors
The 44th Annual Oatmeal Festival entertained thousands of visitors last Saturday in Bertram who enjoyed a parade, a pet parade, a fun run, concerts, baking competition, food trucks, arts and crafts vendors, and more. Oatmeal Pageant participants were in the parade, including Miss Oatmeal Princess Helena Hawthorne (center), Miss Itsy Bitsy Oatmeal Lydia Hamilton (left). Also on the float were Miss Oatmeal Queen Abby Smith, Miss Oatmeal Cookie Heidi Meredith, Miss Oatmeal Muffin Gracie Robison, and Miss Little Bit of Oatmeal Heidi Meredith. For more festival coverage, visit www.LHIndependent.com.
Water restrictions to continue into fall; LUEs dwindling
By RACHEL MADISON Staff Writer The City of Liberty Hill’s water woes might get worse before they get better, due to a shrinking supply of water coming from the City of Leander. According to a statement released by the City of Liberty Hill, a breaker at the Leander treatment plant malfunctioned on July 28, causing a depletion in the water tanks. Although the equipment was repaired, water demand due to seasonal irrigation kept the tanks from fully refilling. That’s when the City of Liberty Hill moved to Stage 2 restrictions. Later, on Aug. 23, Leander asked Liberty Hill to reduce its daily flow rate from 300 to ©2021 The Liberty Hill Independent
500 gallons per minute down to 200 gallons per minute, to reduce the rate of water drawn from Leander’s elevated storage tank. That flow reduction helped Leander to replenish its daily supply and maintain ample pressure for all the customers served from that tank, according to the statement. Liberty Hill is anticipated to remain in Stage 2 until at least November, but things can change quickly, said Public Works Manager Jay Holmes. “Leander has us cut down to 200 gallons a minute,” he said. “[On Sept. 1,] we started the clock to move into Stage 3, which means no outdoor watering, period. We are over 90 percent production versus use.” In Stage 2, outside watering using landscape irrigation systems, automatic sprinkler systems, and hose-end sprinklers is prohibited. Customers are
allowed to use hand-held hoses, a bucket or watering can of five gallons or less, or drip irrigation system, only during designated days between 8 p.m. and 10 a.m. Customers with a street address ending in an even number may water on Mondays, while those with a street address ending in an odd number may water on Thursdays. In Stage 3, all water use is prohibited except for a livestock or other exemption or variance. It’s not just current water customers that could be affected by this shortage. Council member Chris Pezold told The Independent Wednesday what he previously presented to the Economic Development Corp. on Aug. 18 that he learned about one month after he joined the council that city staff and engineers realized that former Mayor Rick Hall had not secured a contract
with Leander for an additional 600-acre feet on Lake Travis, which the two cities had agreed upon while he was in office. However, because Hall did not secure the contract, Liberty Hill never received that water, which comes in at about 1,500 Living Unit Equivalents (LUEs). Hall did not respond by press time to a request from The Independent for an interview. “Rick didn’t close the deal with Leander, so he put everybody into a state of not having enough water,” Pezold said. “We’ve got giant developments at our door wanting to come in. We need to get this taken care of quickly. The prior administration and council did not look to the future, and they did not make the decisions necessary to go after the resources we need. Right now we’re uncovering their neglect.”
Each home built is the equivalent of one LUE at 200 gallons per day, and after discovering there are less than 500 LUEs left for the area that the City provides water to, Pezold is concerned that developments will be negatively impacted. “We’ve got to be a good neighbor with builders,” he said. “There may be some serious conversations that come up, because if you look where we are at right now, we have less than 500 LUEs available to our entire area we supply water to. If you subtract out the number of LUEs that have been requested by projects but haven’t purchased yet, that takes us down to under 200 LUEs that are available. That’s frightening.” Pezold attributed the information to City Administrator Lacie Hale and City Engineer Curtis Steger, whose calculations were based on standards
set by Texas Commission on Environmental Quality regarding the amount of water that can be provided. “That’s where I came up with this number we are so deficient on,” Pezold said. “This is all a result of former administration not doing the proper planning and taking proper courses of action to close contracts.” At the most recent City Council meeting Sept. 1, officials discussed what steps could be taken to prevent the City from moving into Stage 3 water restrictions. “What do we need to do as a council to get with Leander and figure out why they are receiving more water than us?” asked Council member Angela Jones. “Why do we have to move into Stage 3 if [Leander] isn’t suffering the same amount as
See WATER, Page 3