News

Expect slowdowns on Ranch Road 12 for the rest of the week as the Texas Department of Transportation continues resurfacing the roadway.
Ranch Road 12 will be shut down to one lane of traffic from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday from the Blanco River bridge to around County Road 1492. There is a chance that work extends into Friday as the initial Monday start time for the project was delayed due to rain.
The work being done is not the final overlay as it is considered a “level up course.” TxDOT plans to come back in early summer 2018 to finish resurfacing the road from the Blanco River to the Junction.
There have been some complaints about the work done on the road thus far. A TxDOT spokesperson said that the intent has been to extend the life of Ranch Road 12, officially named RM 12.

The hole under a dam in Cypress Creek is beginning to cause problems immediately downstream.
The hole has expanded two feet in size since it originally began draining a section of the creek. The water level immediately above the dam dropped four to five feet. Someone not associated with any of the agencies monitoring the dam tried to fill the hole with rocks and concrete. Now, more holes are being found on the downstream side of the dam.
All of these issues have been compounded by the fact that bacteria levels have spiked.

With Woodcreek citizens clamoring about the condition of roads, the Woodcreek City Council is set to consider two options with an eye on significant repairs.
The council will consider issuing a tax note for around 9 cents per $100 of property value. The note could be for up to seven years. This would allow the city to rebuild Brookhollow Drive. The city will also consider asking voters to approve a bond for 50 cent per $100 valuation that would cover all of the city’s roads.
Woodcreek Mayor Eric Eskelund appointed a committee to look at financing options to rebuild every street in the city.

In a series of contentious votes, the Wimberley City Council moved forward with the city’s proposed wastewater treatment plant.
Almost all of the votes on sewer related items during the meeting were 3-2 with Council members Steve Thurber, Allison Davis and Roberta Holland voting in favor while Craig Fore and Gary Barchfeld voted against. In one vote, Fore abstained.
The votes approved a parkland swap, which will decommission the current plant at Blue Hole Regional Park, give that land to the park and take 1.3 acres from another portion of Blue Hole for the new plant. The council also approved the revenue bonds and a loan forgiveness document for around $250,000 of the plant. They also gave the attorney permission to begin negotiating the terms of an agreement for a $1 million grant from Peter Way for the city’s sewer.

Electro Purification has officially filed an application with the Barton Springs Edwards Aquifer Conservation District to produce 912.5 million gallons of water per year.
The proposed production is about half of the five million gallons per day that Electro Purification originally planned to produce.
The application starts a review process from the Barton Springs Edwards Aquifer Conservation District, which can take up to 180 days. The district has 90 days to bring up any deficiencies in the report and an additional 90 days to make a decision on the application.
“We are in the double check phase now,” Robin Gary, with Barton Springs Edwards Aquifer Conservation District, said. “(Electro Purification) has gone through and said ‘Here is our analysis.’ and we need to go back through from our angle and see if we agree. So we are in the review phase.”

Although there was an opening in Pct. 3 Constable Ray Helm’s office for a deputy, it did not stay open very long. Helm explained, “I keep good reserves and know every person in it. Each one has talents that fit a special spot.” Deputy Constable John Shellhorn filled that position.
Deputy Shellhorn most recently was with Austin Community College (ACC) for five years at the Kyle campus as a part of Campus Police. But before being employed there he did many different jobs. A lot of those jobs were with Constable Helm, who he has known for over 25 years.
While at SWT, now known as Texas State University, he and Helm were friends. Shellhorn worked at Domino’s pizza for seven years while going to college. He then worked with Helm at Breed and Company Hardware and Payton Construction, just name a few.

July is a big month for new pastors and St. Mary’s Church finally has one. Father Jason Bonifazi, recently an associate for St. Anthony Marie de Claret Catholic Church in Kyle has been named the new pastor.
Fr. Jason was born in Houston, the family then moved to Groesbeck, Texas and Waco. He attended Sam Houston State for his Bachelor of Business Administration and his MBA at St. Thomas in Houston. Finally in his 20’s school was out of the way and, he started to ask himself questions.
“How, when you are working can you have a deeper relationship with God? I was unhappy and yearning for something more,” Bonifazi said. Around this time Bonifazi converted to Catholicism from the Mormon Church, in which he was raised.

Even with a spotty shower over the weekend, the ground is still dry across the Wimberley Valley. The lack of rainfall has pushed Wimberley, once again, on to the brink of a drought for the first time since 2015.
The lack of rain and 100-degree days has caused the Hays Trinity Groundwater Conservation District to look into starting a “special drought stage,” even though the normal triggers have not been met.
“I know some on the board are concerned that when we have continuous days of 100 degrees without rain the consideration of this special drought condition should at least be a possibility,” Rick Broun, General Manager of the Hays Trinity Groundwater Conservation District, said.

El Rancho Cima, one of the largest properties in the Wimberley Valley, was decommissioned as a Boy Scout camp over the weekend as the property is set to sell.
The 2,382-acre ranch was purchased for $46 per acre by the Boy Scouts of America in 1953 with campers helping build the camp the next year. The property has nearly a mile of river front access to the Blanco River including owning both sides of the river for about half a mile. It also stretches all the way to the tops of Devil’s Backbone.
The camp took on substantial damage during the Memorial Weekend Floods of 2015 and was unable to recover.

The historic and much loved Cypress Creek Café went up in flames, leaving 54 employees and the owners without visible means of support. Local residents got together and decided to help by throwing a music event on June 17 at Waters Point. The event raised $34,637.08 which was handed to Randy and Trish Uselton on air at KWVH 94.1 Radio. Pictured are: Laura and Marvin Bottera Trish and Randy Uselton (CCC’s owners), John Thomas, Victoria Giles, Susan Sisson (Wimberley View), Carthy Moreman (Chamber of Commerce) (Front) Shannon Monnett and KWVH’s John Brown.