Big changes are in store for your hometown newspaper next month — changes that will help you get the news and information you’re looking for in real time while enjoying a monthly news tabloid delivered to your mailbox.

We launch our new website — LHIndependent.com — on Feb. 1. Updated daily with local news, sports, an event calendar, opinion pieces, classified ads and much more, the new website will keep you updated and engaged in real time. With the launch comes the email newsletter — The Daily Independent — with the latest from the newsroom directed regularly to a growing list of subscribers. The website becomes the community’s daily newspaper — a first for Liberty Hill.

With the launch of our daily web product, we are saying goodbye to our weekly print newspaper on Feb. 10.

After more than 34 years in print every week, it will be a big change for our business, but the decision was driven by the significant movement of readers who prefer digital formats over print, as well as increased costs for paper, printing and postage.

As is the case for newspapers across the nation, these are challenges that your hometown paper has been dealing with for a few years, but the pandemic’s two-year impact on local advertisers escalated the need to make this change now.

For those of us who prefer to get ink on our hands when we read the newspaper, some of the changes in our industry have been hard to watch. But at the heart of our continued drive for excellence is this community’s continued trust in the reporting of our professional team of journalists. An online daily offers us a more effective way to reach you in real time and offers a format to report the news without regard to print page boundaries and word counts.

Our brand new monthly publication — Liberty Hill Independent Monthly — will be delivered to every household and business! While the weekly print edition will stop publication next month, it will be replaced by a monthly tabloid that will mail to every postal customer in our zip code (78642) starting March 4. The publication will include all of the local news and feature stories that you rely on from us every day online, as well as the special lifestyle features and departments typically published in our signature magazine Liberty Hill Living. The Monthly publication will be a hybrid of both publications.

This is a big win for everyone!

For local businesses, the change brings the ability to reach more customers where they are — online where prior to the new website launch more than 28,000 viewers per month were reading our stories, and in print where the circulation of our Monthly tabloid will reach more than 9,000 postal customers! While print advertising rates will be slightly higher because inflation has touched every business, including ours, we are able to offer advertisers increased opportunities to reach customers at rates reflective of our cost savings.

For the first 60 days, access to our online content will be free to readers. And by subscribing to our free email newsletter, you will receive all of the local news of the day directly in your inbox. We want you to enjoy the tools available to you as we report the news of our community. However, after a period of time, users will notice a slight charge for access to help defray a small portion of the costs of reporting the news. Current print subscribers will receive more information in the days ahead.

We value the relationship we’ve had with readers and advertisers through the years, and look forward to taking the next step to improve local journalism by reporting the news of our community in a way you have come to trust.

Please contact us with questions about advertising or subscriptions by calling (512) 778-5577 or send email to news@LHIndependent.com.

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The Liberty Hill Independent School District is closing for the remainder of the week. Superintendent Steve Snell said because the district is experiencing historic temporary staffing shortages due to COVID and COVID-related illnesses, there are essentially not enough teachers to keep things running.

“The decision to close is very tough,” Snell said. “You don’t ever want to close schools, but we are at a point to where the last six days we’ve had over 100 staff out and nine days with over 75 or more out. We are just at a point where we need to shut down and give people four days with the weekend to recover. Out of our staff that is out, 95 percent will be eligible to return on Monday if they are well and symptom free, so we will have school with a full staff.”

He also said the district’s student attendance rate, which is usually 96 percent, is down to 82 percent, according to a press release from the district.

All LHISD campuses will be closed Thursday, Jan. 20, and Friday, Jan. 21, and will reopen on Monday, Jan. 24.

“Our goal in closing for two days into the weekend is to give our staff and students time to recover so that they can return to teaching and learning at an optimal capacity,” Snell said in the press release. “LHISD recognizes the hard work and determination of administration, teachers, staff and volunteers to keep schools open and running, but we can see the toll it’s having on both our personnel and students.”

Snell said the staff, substitutes and volunteers have been stretched very thin the last week, and with more and more cases rolling in both Tuesday and Wednesday, he felt it was best to close the district for the rest of the week.

“We will take it one day at a time and we plan to stay open after this week, so hopefully this stop-gap measure will help,” he added. “I apologize that we have to close for a couple of days. Closing school is never a good idea, but the return we can get with two days off will greatly help our staff that is down and our staff that is here. They have been worn down day after day, and this will allow them to rest and not get sick.”

Snell said while the campuses will be closed, extracurricular activities will continue at the coaches’ discretion and basketball games planned for Friday night will still happen.

The post LHISD to close for remainder of week appeared first on Liberty Hill Independent.

As COVID cases continue to rise throughout the Liberty Hill Independent School District, Superintendent Steve Snell is concerned the district may be forced to close due to a lack of teaching staff.

Snell said he and his team meet every morning before school and every afternoon after school to assess where the district is and if the schools can continue to be safe and operational based on the number of teachers and staff members absent. While there are no plans to close the schools currently, it could happen.

“We are pretty much at a tipping point,” he said Tuesday. “If a few more staff go out, it’s going to be hard to stay open.”

Employees at the administration office are also assigned to different campuses each morning to help the schools get on their feet for the day.

“My directors start each day at a specific school and do what they can to help out, because we never know if there are going to be any last-minute cancelations of substitutes or teachers, or if they have to be out because their children are out,” he said.

For now, one class at Liberty Hill High School and one class at Bill Burden Elementary have been closed due to not having enough specialized staff to teach those students, Snell said.

With the spike in cases, every day brings the district a new challenge, Snell added, which is why last week, he took over lunch duty at both Bill Burden and Santa Rita elementary schools.

“We are doing what we can just to give the teachers a break,” he said. “If we have any way to adjust our days and meetings so we can help out, then we are happy to do so.”

Snell added that the call from each school’s PTO asking for parent volunteers to step in for things like lunch duty, drop off and pick up has been helpful, and that several new substitute teacher applications have come in within the last week as well.

“I know we’ve had 12 applications submitted, but one problem is it’s not immediate,” he said. “We have to process the paperwork, and the subs have to get fingerprinted and do background checks. However, by end of this week, we should have a handful more subs, which will help tremendously.”

Snell reiterated that the district’s biggest pain point right now is staff having to stay home from work because of COVID and other illnesses.

“The number of people with COVID right now is pretty mind blowing,” he said. “It just breaks my heart that so many kids and staff are sick.”

Currently, the district is only able to provide tests for staff members who are symptomatic, Snell said, and that’s just while supplies last.

“We are down today (Tuesday) to our last few test kits, but we are hoping to get more from the County as soon as today,” he said. “They’ll deliver them as soon as they get them. The more tests we get, the more testing we can do. If we get enough tests to test students as well, we are happy to create a testing center for that. It all depends on the supply chain.”

As of Jan. 19, every home in the United States is eligible to order four free at-home COVID tests through the government. Orders will usually ship in seven to 12 days, and can be placed at www.covidtests.gov.

In Liberty Hill, the only testing site currently available is in the Margarita’s Restaurant parking lot at 12080 SH 29. The testing site is open weekdays from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturdays from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. while tests are available. As of press time, the testing site was closed due to lack of tests but intended to reopen by Friday. Updates on test availability can be found on Facebook in the COVID TESTING – LIBERTY HILL TEXAS public group.

In the school district, 67 students and 14 staff members self-reported testing positive for the virus Tuesday. Since school has been back in session since Jan. 4 following the holiday break, a total of 132 teachers and 541 students have reported testing positive for the virus. Current active cases in the district are sitting at 441 students and 70 staff, according to the LHISD COVID dashboard.

In comparison, as of Jan. 14 — the last day data was updated — Williamson County reported 1,088 new cases that day, according to the County’s COVID dashboard. Overall, Williamson County has had a total of 87,710 confirmed cases of COVID and 764 deaths since the pandemic began.

The post LHISD at a ‘tipping point’ as COVID cases continue to rise appeared first on Liberty Hill Independent.

Williamson County announced changes to its Corridor I-2 Planning and Right-of-Way Preservation Study on Friday. The County will also revisit existing safety improvements to County Road 200 and County Road 236 and identify opportunities to improve and connect existing roadways in the northwest region, per a press release.

The study was originally planning for a new 7.3-mile expressway that would run east/west between U.S. Highway 183 and the Burnet County line, and a 4.1-mile north/south connector between the new expressway and State Highway 29.

That expressway was expected to start out as three lanes, but right-of-way was planned to be purchased now to accommodate up to six or eight lanes for future build-out.

The County said in a press release the study would, “still consider connections for travel between US 183 and SH 29, but with a narrower ROW footprint and updated alignments.” Specifics were not given. Emails to Precinct 2 Commissioner Cynthia Long’s office requesting details went unanswered by press time this week.

In mid-October the County mailed out 63 letters to property owners in the study area, requesting sit-down meetings to discuss the project. Landowners organized a meeting at Main Street Social on Nov. 3 and nearly 75 residents showed up. The County paused the study on Nov. 11.

“When planning for new roadways, it’s important to listen to the property owners and to take into account the regional needs of the area,” Long said in the press release. “After thorough conversations with the neighbors, discussions with Burnet County, and further technical analysis, we have adjusted the study to better address the current needs of northwest Williamson County as well as the current regional needs.”

The study, funded through the 2019 Road Bond, is part of the County’s Long-Range Transportation Plan, a conceptual plan that identifies future connections to ensure the County can maintain a high level of safety and mobility as growth occurs.

“Growth is a regional concern that must be addressed holistically,” said Long. “As an elected official, it is my responsibility to plan for the future, while listening to current concerns. The growth the county is seeing necessitates long-term and thorough planning, so we can avoid future gridlocked traffic and emergency services that have delayed response times.”

Williamson County is the third fastest-growing county in Texas, and Liberty Hill grew by 277% between 2010 and 2020, according to U.S. Census Bureau statistics in the release. There are more than 6,700 residential and commercial lots currently in development in the Liberty Hill area, according to the release.

The Liberty Hill United Landowner Group, which formed from the Nov. 3 meeting at Main Street Social released the following statement on Monday: “The Liberty Hill United Landowner Group is gratified that the concentrated efforts of so many in the community influenced effective change. The frontline team will ensure the positive dialogue continues. The group will go back to meet with the Williamson County engineering team to help influence this next phase of discovery and maintain involvement in the plans that will shape Liberty Hill for residents now and in the future.”

The post County narrows footprint for Corridor I-2 study appeared first on Liberty Hill Independent.

Liberty Hill City Council member Kathy Canady’s Quick Service Garage in downtown Liberty Hill has been listed for sale at $1.2 million.

This comes after months-long discussions between fellow City Council members and City staff about the validity of Canady’s residency and the proper zoning of her business—as she has been living in her garage for the last three years—as well as potential code violations created by Canady living there. But, according to Canady, the reason she has decided to list her property is because the market is doing well.

“The market is so good right now that it may be the time to relocate my business if the property sells,” Canady told The Independent in an email. “I plan to continue living in Liberty Hill as this is my home.”

The listing agent for the business is Kim Sanders of Keller Williams Realty. According to the listing, it will be “shown by appointment only to prequalified buyers. Zoned C2 Downtown Commercial. Great investment opportunity on the corner of RR 1869 and Loop 332/Main St. in historic downtown Liberty Hill. Land and building for sale without the existing business.”

Zoning Concerns
Canady’s residency was questioned by fellow members of the City Council in October when they asked City Attorney Marianella Joseph to investigate the legality of Canady living in her business. At that time, Joseph said she would examine these concerns for a definite answer, but the issue has not been addressed publicly since then. However, according to Canady, her residency has been verified by Joseph.

“This past Fall was the second time in the past 2 years that the issue has been raised,” Canady wrote to The Independent in response to the newspaper’s questions she requested in writing. “There were no changes in where I lived, so this time it can be for no other purpose than to make a political attack on me and call into question an issue which was already resolved. The City incurred legal expenses again by asking Marianella Joseph to ‘investigate’ and she reached the same conclusion, I qualify as a resident of Liberty Hill to serve on the council.”

The zoning for Canady’s garage is C2, which has listed uses of both residential and commercial based on the City’s Unified Development Code (UDC). According to the UDC, the C2 zoning category does allow for both business and residential use, but the property must be designated a business or residence and may not serve as both. The City’s UDC, which is posted on the City website, also contains a list of prohibited home occupations including “Automobile or mechanical paint or repair shops.”

“Since 1994 I have never lived anywhere other than inside the city limits of Liberty Hill,” Canady told The Independent. “There is no zoning issues with my living in the shop, regardless of what some people might claim. In April of 2021, I went so far as to request a zoning verification letter.”

The letter Canady requested came from Pamela Mundo of Mundo & Associates, 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.

In the letter, which was provided to The Independent by Canady, Mundo wrote, “the present use of the buildings are lawful nonconforming uses which are a mix of residential and commercial use which is typical within an historic downtown area. The residential use, on this property, which is part of the mixed use was in place in this building prior to City Council establishing the Uniform Development Code (UDC) in 2005.”

The letter goes on to say, “As per the UDC, the residential use and the commercial use on this property are legal nonconforming use since they were in existence prior to the adoption of the UDC. The UDC controls uses adopted after it was adopted in 2005. Uses before the UDC code was adopted are legal.”

Mundo then referenced the UDC’s definition of nonconforming use in section 8.02, which states that nonconforming use is “Any use of land, buildings, or structures, lawfully existing at the time of the enactment of this Code, or of any amendment hereto, governing use for the zoning district in which such use is located, which does not comply with all regulations of this its [sic] amendments.”

Potential Code Violations
In November 2021, the Council voted unanimously—with Canady recusing herself—to also make a formal inquiry into code compliance at Quick Service Garage. Canady said this request, which was made by Council member Chris Pezold, was “merely an attempt to harass and cause expense to me because I frequently vote differently than he does. If the city council has the power to do this to me, it can be done to anyone who stands in their way.”

In December, The Independent submitted a public information request asking for all documentation of code inspections done at Quick Service Garage from January 2019 to December 2021. City secretary consultant Michelle Perez responded and said the City did not have any such documents.

“The City of Liberty Hill does not have any documents to provide for any code inspections conducted for Quick Service Garage,” she told The Independent. “The document provided by [Code Enforcement Officer Jerry] Wray was basic information on Quick Service Garage, but no code inspections were performed.”

However, the newspaper also confirmed that an open code inspection was being conducted in mid-December 2021 at the garage by Wray and Building Official Elias Carrasco.

“We did have a conversation with [Canady],” Carrasco said in December. “We just want to make sure that what we noticed and what we saw at her location is indeed a violation. We are still in the process of trying to figure out what all the violations are at the property. We are still investigating all aspects of the building code, UDC, city ordinances, and looking to make sure we are addressing all the violations. We need to make sure everything is lined up before we issue anything.”

A public information request was submitted asking for a copy of the completed inspection, but as of press time Wednesday, that document was not provided.

Wray said when he inspects an automobile garage, the main things he looks at include liquid accumulation, such as used oil and antifreeze, tires stacked without any cover, as well as old car parts and motors.

“If you get eight to 10 motor blocks stacked up outside, that gets hideous looking,” he said. “The amount of items that can be accumulated and methods of storage becomes important at those type of facilities.”

He added that when he’s conducting an investigation, regardless of what the initial complaint was, he looks at the entire property and writes down any and every violation he sees, as well as information on how to bring those violations into compliance.

Different violations have different time frames for compliance, Carrasco said. For example, when it comes to home-based occupations, he said violators are typically given 30 days to vacate and find somewhere else to run their business. Standard compliance violations, like junk accumulation or grass that needs to be mowed are given seven days.

“The public knows we are doing a job, and we are doing it according to black and white ordinances,” Wray added. “We do not add or subtract to anything the language says. We are very clear about it. We stay that path of what we’re supposed to do. It doesn’t matter whose case it is.”

Legal Matters
In November, Canady hired Georgetown attorney Jana McCown to represent her in the zoning and code inspection matters. Correspondence between Joseph and McCown began Nov. 3, according to emails received by The Independent through a public information request and has been ongoing as topics surrounding Canady’s residency have been on the Council’s executive and regular session agendas a few times since then.

In an email sent to Joseph in early December, McKown wrote, “The discord among council members is distressing at best, and downright harassment when taken in total. Is there nothing you can do to control this situation?”

Joseph did not respond to that email but did respond to a follow-up email from McKown asking her if Canady would be on the Council’s agenda for discussion anytime soon.

According to that email, Joseph wrote, “This item is scheduled for discussion during executive session and regular session. Members of the Liberty Hill City Council have two concerns with Councilmember Canady’s abode: (1) Does Canady’s living arrangement satisfy state law residency requirements for an elected office holder? (2) Is Canady’s abode in compliance with the Liberty Hill Code of Ordinances?

“These are both reasonable, legitimate questions the City Council has chosen to evaluate. In regards to the possible Code Enforcement concern, if the inquiry moves forward I anticipate Ms. Canady will be treated neither better nor worse than any other Liberty Hill citizen.”

Canady was appointed to the Council in 2019 to fill a vacancy in Place 2 created with the resignation of Ron Rhea. She ran unopposed in May 2020, and her term expires in May 2022. She said she will file for reelection.

“I do intend to run for reelection and the timing of all these ‘issues’ being publicized should call into question the motivation behind it,” Canady said.

Canady’s loan document
Another facet of Canady’s questioned residency is a loan document that she signed on May 29, 2019, for a “Designation of Homestead and Affidavit of Nonhomestead.” On the affidavit, Canady claims 402 S. Boundary Street in Burnet as her homestead property. The address is a triplex near downtown Burnet.

In signing that document, Canady swore that “(She) does not now and does not intend ever to reside on, use in any manner, or claim (her) Nonhomestead Property as a business or residence homestead.” The document also states that “the above-described Homestead Property is designated as the homestead of (her) family,” and “(she) now owns and resides on, uses, claims, and designates (her) Homestead Property as (her) only legal homestead, exempt from forced sale under the Constitution and laws of Texas.”

“I have never lived in Burnet,” Canady said during an October council meeting. “[This affidavit] was required by the title company to be signed to close the loan I needed with my investor. It protects my investor. When we started to close, I said I live here (in Liberty Hill), and they said, ‘You can’t live here; you have to say you live somewhere else to dispel the homestead issue.’ I had to close because I had a very short window of time. I was told people do it all the time, and ‘When you walk out of here, you’re done,’ so I did. But I don’t live there, I live here.”

The post Canady’s garage up for sale amid zoning, code compliance concerns appeared first on Liberty Hill Independent.

Less than a year after voters approved a $481.7 bond, what those new schools and renovations will look like is starting to take shape.

The Liberty Hill Independent School District Board of Trustees voted on Tuesday to approve the schematic design of two new schools and the renovations of two existing LHISD campuses. The schematic design helps determine the footprint of the campus and brings the projects one step closer to getting shovels in the ground.

Here’s a look at the renderings and some details about the project:

Elementary School #6
This new elementary school, designed by Pfluger Architects, will be located in a grove of oak trees in the Bar W neighborhood. The approximately 120,000- square-foot footprint of the building is designed to highlight and utilize oak trees, while also providing the same high-quality learning experience found at the recently opened Santa Rita Ranch campuses.

With the campus technically in the Leander ETJ, the district will have to work with the City of Leander on the project. The neighborhood is currently under construction—including critical road and infrastructure needed for construction—and with an expected open date of August 2023, this project has the least room for shifts in timeline.

Middle School #3
This will be a brand new approximately 194,500-square-foot middle school designed by PBK Architects that sits on a large lot at the corner of U.S. Highway 183 and State Highway 29. The school will have capacity for 1,200 students, but is set up to use collaborative space as flex classrooms to hold up to 1,300 students if needed.

The two-story building uses a compact but efficient design with a focus on natural light and collaborative spaces. PBK designed the building to have the library at the heart of the campus. Both the gym and cafeteria are designed with dedicated entrances so access to after-school events don’t require access to the entire school. The school is expected to open in June 2024.

The lot is big enough to build another elementary school adjacent to the new middle school. Plans and funding for that project have not yet been discussed.

Santa Rita Middle School Expansion
SRMS opened in August, but with a capacity of only 900 students and growth projections far exceeding what was anticipated when it was designed in 2019, the district will expand the building. A two-story addition on the back side of the school will allow the campus to hold 1,200 students.

The renovation, which was designed by Huckabee, will also include adding bleachers to the football field, a press box to the stadium and exterior doors to the locker rooms for better access to the fields. The expansion is expected to be finished in May 2023.
Liberty Hill Middle School Renovations

One of the district’s oldest campuses is set for a face lift. VLK Architects designed the renovations, which will include an approximately 38,000-square-foot addition, upgraded outdoor lunch seating, new turf for the football field and HVAC improvements.

The outside and front of the building, which is at the heart of downtown Liberty Hill, will also get a makeover with a canopy design and front plaza. While the school will get fresh paint and new art in the hallways, the panther mural in the gym will be saved to ensure the history of the school is preserved and honored. The renovations are expected to be complete by August 2023.

The post 2021 bond projects starting to take shape appeared first on Liberty Hill Independent.

It took nearly a year longer than it should have, but the City of Liberty Hill’s financial audit is finally finished after months of struggles with missing invoices and other documents, as well as the termination of the City’s finance director in August 2021.

Under best practices, the previous year’s financial audit should be completed by the end of March. Interim Finance Director Misti Hancock told the City Council for months starting in September that the audit would be completed the following month, but various hurdles kept the audit from being completed until now.

Hancock told the Council during that time frame that she was spending time reconciling accounts that didn’t add up, searching for documents that were missing, and spending a lot of her time on the day-to-day financial operations of the City, which caused more delays.

Lupe Garcia of Whitley Penn, the firm that conducted the audit, said the audit could have ended much sooner than it did, but it wouldn’t have received a clean, or unmodified, opinion.

“Until we gathered all the information and corrected all the balances in the general ledger, we could not support that unmodified opinion,” he said. “I’m happy to report that’s the opinion we are issuing on the City’s 2020 financial statements.”

Garcia added that the clean opinion means the report can be relied upon as being materially correct, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t things in the City that can be improved.

“We know there’s been challenges working through the audit for fiscal year 2020,” Garcia said. “We’ve documented those challenges in the form of a management letter that contains material weaknesses, significant deficiencies and some instances of noncompliance that we noted as a result of the procedures that we perform. Management can address those concerns going forward, so the City can issue timely financial statements.”

The management letter provided to City staff, which The Independent obtained as part of the Open Records Act, noted several deficiencies in the City’s internal control, including bank reconciliation. During the audit, Whitley Penn noted that bank statements for various accounts were not reconciled to the general ledger; new accounts were opened during the year that were not recorded in the general ledger; and certain existing bank accounts had activity that was not recorded in the general ledger.

Another deficiency included capital assets, of which records were not maintained by the City. Whitley Penn recommended the City maintain detailed capital asset records and reconcile these records to the general ledger on a timely basis to ensure accurate accounting for assets, according to the management letter.

The audit procedure also discovered that certain capital assets were purchased through financing arrangements that were not recorded on the date of purchase; expenses were not recorded in the proper period; and numerous adjustments had to be made to the general ledger in areas such as cash, accounts receivable, accounts payable, debt, pension, revenues and expenses.

In addition, Whitley Penn noted that the City had difficulty locating certain records that were requested as a part of the audit process, and at the time of the audit, the City’s accounting records, supporting schedules, documents and other files, if they existed, were not in order.

When it comes to the audit itself, the first set of financial statements audited were the City’s capital assets and total liabilities. The City’s total assets and deferred outflows, as of Sept. 30, 2020, totaled $76.1 million, while the City’s total liabilities and deferred inflows totaled $38.9 million. This left the City with a net worth of $37.2 million as of Sept. 30, 2020, Garcia said.

The second set of financial reports in the audit include the general fund, debt service fund, capital improvements and public improvement districts. Garcia said the overall fund balance of the City started fiscal year 2020 with $10.7 million and ended with $8.2 million.

The report also showed that the City’s actual revenues of $6.3 million exceeded the budgeted amount by $2.1 million, and expenditures of $4.8 million exceeded the budgeted amount by $600,000.

“There was an increase of fund balance in the general fund of $300,000 to $5.6 million,” Garcia said. “That $5.6 million breaks down into two categories. You have a portion of it that is referred to as unassigned fund balance and that’s what’s available for spending for any lawful purpose.”

Over the last few years, the City has been adding to that unassigned fund balance, moving from $4 million in 2016 to $5.6 million in 2020.

“This is a good thing in a growing city,” Garcia said. “In the financial reporting for a governmental entity, that’s a very healthy position to be in, because your expenditures for one year in the general fund are only $4.8 million, but you have $5.5 million in your unassigned fund balance.”

The City has retained Whitley Penn to conduct its 2021 fiscal year audit, which Garcia said needs to begin immediately if there is a chance of getting it completed by the end of March.

“We will have to work very hard and very fast,” he said.

The post CITY’S 2020 AUDIT FINALLY COMPLETE appeared first on Liberty Hill Independent.

Bever said all students were evacuated safely from the building.

The Williamson County ESD#4 responded to the call and determined that a geothermal pump had shorted out. This incident did not result in a fire, according to a Facebook post by the district.

Once the all clear was given by the fire department, students and staff were instructed to reenter the building and return to class for a normal dismissal.

As of this time no injuries have been reported. This story will be updated if more information becomes available.

The post Smoke alarm causes evacuation at LHHS appeared first on Liberty Hill Independent.

What’s that big, concrete building behind the QuikTrip gas station on County Road 214? That’s been the question on a lot of residents’ minds in recent weeks as the walls have gone vertical at the new location for Austin-based Golf Cart King.

Golf Cart King is a family-owned business that started in Austin in 2010. The company was launched for golf cart owners who wanted more personalization options and access to a variety of parts to perform their own maintenance on their golf carts.

Aaron Gouldie, founder and CEO, told The Independent he decided to relocate and build Golf Cart King’s new facility in Liberty Hill because geographically it worked well for him.

“We didn’t have a footprint in the area of Sun City in Georgetown, and I lived in [Leander],” he said. “I was looking at somewhere in between my house and Sun City to open up a new headquarters. When I met with the staff with the City of Liberty Hill, it seemed like a good fit and everyone was welcoming.”

The project broke ground in fall 2021 and is anticipated to be completed by April 2022, Gouldie said. Golf Cart King will bring 23 new jobs to the community and anticipates that amount moving up to as many as 41 within the next decade.

While for now the 12,000-square-foot, two-story building looks intimidating as it looms just off State Highway 29, Gouldie said the finished product will be beautiful.

“I am putting $250,000 into the landscaping alone,” he said. “I will be planting over 50 trees there. There will be a glass façade in the front, and the building will be painted multiple colors and have lighting on it. It’s going to be really nice. My intention was never to build an eyesore—it will be a very nice facility when it’s done.”

Upon completion, the building will include a 6,000-square-foot retail store front and showroom, 6,000 square feet of offices, storage space for golf carts, and areas for custom upholstery projects.

Gouldie said he has put everything he’s made into his business and is excited to bring his family-based company to Liberty Hill.

“Golf Cart King is not a corporation,” he said. “We’re just a bunch of small-town people bringing our building to a small town to help it grow. I promise the building won’t be an eyesore—it’s going to be really nice.”

Golf Cart King comes to Liberty Hill through an incentive agreement between the City of Liberty Hill and the Economic Development Corporation, which includes both employment incentives and sales tax reimbursements. According to the agreement, Golf Cart King will receive $2,000 per full-time equivalent position at the end of 2023, 2025 and 2027, up to $230,000 total with an annual cap of $50,000.

In addition, the EDC will pay Golf Cart King 60 percent of the EDC’s portion of the sales tax generated by the company over 10 years. The EDC earns one-eighth of a cent in sales tax for every dollar. The City will reimburse 50 percent of its one-cent sales tax revenues generated by golf Cart King for three years, then 33 percent for three years, and 25 percent in the final three years of the agreement. The sales tax incentive to Golf Cart King is capped at $300,000.

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 When students and teachers left campus for their winter break on Dec. 17, COVID cases were low in the district. There were class parties and parents on campus for a variety of holiday events. 

 Williamson County was holding steady with an average of 75-100 new cases per day, according figures from the County’s COVID dashboard. 

 What a difference two weeks makes.

 A combination of holiday interactions, travel and the omicron variant have led to a widely different COVID picture as students headed back to Liberty Hill ISD schools on Tuesday. 

 On Monday, 20 students self-reported testing positive for the virus, bringing the total to 25 since New Year’s Eve, according to the LHISD COVID Dashboard. Twelve teachers self-reported on Monday, brining the total to 24 since New Year’s Eve.

  On Sunday, Williamson County reported 1,864 new cases, smashing a previous pandemic record, according to the County’s COVID dashboard. The County reported over 1,000 cases in the first two days of the year, the last day data is available.  

 Nationwide testing shortages have not helped. At-home tests sold out of many local pharmacies and large-scale retailers like Amazon and Walmart were not expected to be restocked until the first few weeks of January. 

 LHISD did not send students home with test kits prior to the break and does not have kits to send home now, according to Superintendent Steven Snell. 

 “One of the challenges for our community is with the spike in cases, testing options for our staff and community are limited,” Snell said Tuesday. “We are hoping to partner with the City of LH [Liberty Hill] to bring a testing site back to our area.”

 Curative, one of the largest free COVID testing companies in the country, does not operate any sites in Liberty Hill. They do, however, have sites in Leander, Cedar Park, two in Georgetown and one in Round Rock. As of Tuesday morning the earliest available appointment was Saturday, with nearby Leander and Cedar Park having no appointments available until Jan. 10. 

  As students and staff return to campus, the district is asking everyone to self-evaluate their symptoms and stay home if they feel ill.

 “The number one way to prevent the spread of COVID or any transmissible illness is to stay home if you have any symptoms,” Snell said. “We ask that families evaluate their child’s health and keep them home if they have any symptoms. We will also continue with our protocols to keep our schools and buses clean.”

 In early November when the COVID numbers were low, the district relaxed its COVID policies and began allowing parents to eat on campus and for schools to host larger events and activities. Snell said for now, that policy will remain in place.  

  “If actual data shows the need to restrict access to the campus, close classrooms, or even schools, we will evaluate that data and make decisions based on the data,” Snell said. 

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