Jewelry Trunk Show

Marble Falls, Texas
Habitat
from page 1
Caulking gun in hand, Milligan said her father was a carpenter so she “grew up in this
environment.”
However, she added that
she has gained a few new
skills. “Framing was new to
EMILY HILLEY-SIERZCHULA
/THE HIGHLANDER
Highland
Lakes
Habitat
for Humanity welcomes
volunteers of all skill levels.
Tuesday, January 20, 2015 Page 3
The Highlander
News
me,” she said. “You wing it in
the beginning.”
Progression on the Vila
house has depended on the
strength of the volunteer
base and coordination with
contractors.
“We lost three weeks on
this house waiting for the roof
to go on, but that just gives us
a better idea about how to go
about the next houses,” said
Willie Reinders, volunteer
and Habitat for Humanity
board member from Sunrise
Beach.
Another volunteer, Joe
Vandegriff, a retired electrical
engineer, travels from Lago
Vista to lend a hand. Just last
week, Vandegriff said he volunteers because he enjoys the
work and helping people. He
also considers it a “work of
justice.”
“It’s about making housing for people who haven’t
been able to have a home,” he
said, adding the future homeowners “have to help, and get
with a program that lifts them
out of a mentality of poverty.”
Homeowners invest time
and labor on construction
(“sweat equity”,) and pay an
interest-free mortgage to Hab-
“We’re always looking for volunteers
of all skill levels.”
– Willie Reinders, volunteer/board member
Habitat for Humanity of Sunrise Beach
To volunteer, donate or
become a partner family...
• Visit – www.hlhabitat.com
• Email – [email protected]
• Call – 830-693-0700
itat for Humanity. Mortgage
payments are often less than
what families have been paying for rent, according to Habitat for Humanity.
Reinders added that paying a mortgage is important.
“Some people are surprised
homeowners have to pay a
mortgage, but that’s how our
society works: This isn’t a free
handout,” he said.
Land is negotiated and
purchased at favorable prices,
and families pay mainly the
cost of materials.
Highland Lakes Habitat
for Humanity, an affiliate of
Habitat for Humanity International, was founded in 1993
and has completed 17 homes
in the region so far.
Plenty of work is ahead
for the organization, with construction on at least one of the
two houses next door to the
Vila’s set to begin in March.
The concrete slabs have
been poured and utility connections installed.
Reinders said they decided
to “get ahead” and pour several foundations while the concrete contractor was on site.
“I’m not sure if [construction on the next two homes]
will be simultaneous; we
would need a lot of volunteers for that,” Reinders said.
“Materials can’t be exposed to
EMILY HILLEY-SIERZCHULA/THE HIGHLANDER
Future Habitat homeowner Jennifer Milligan helps future
neighbor Estella Vila on the Vila’s home that is set for
completion at the end of February.
weather, so it would be risky.”
The organization, which
has also built homes in Cottonwood Shores, is looking at
purchasing property in Granite
Shoals for two more residences, Reinders said.
In the meantime, crews
work every Wednesday and
Saturday, from 8 a.m.-3 p.m.
“We’re always looking for
volunteers of all skill levels,”
Reinders said.
Lunch is provided by Mission Marble Falls at St. Fredericks Baptist Church and
water is provided by Highland
Lakes Habitat for Humanity.
“There’s really no excuse
to come out to volunteer,”
Estella said. Volunteers must
be 17 or older for liability
reasons.
Cottonwood Shores to join ‘Dark Sky,’ discusses grant spending
By Emily
Hilley-Sierzchula
The Highlander
At the Cottonwood Shores
City Council meeting on
Thursday, Jan. 15, officials
discussed just how the city
will spend a $275,000 grant,
decided to join the International Dark-Sky Association, dealt
with fire department issues
and accepted the resignation
of the head of its parks and
recreation commission.
Toward the beginning of
the meeting, Mayor Donald
Orr displayed the January
check allotted for the Cottonwood Shores Volunteer Fire
Department (CSVFD.) “The
check is written, they’ll get
the check as soon as we have
the balance sheet” running
through Sept. 30, 2014, he
said. “It’s not that we don’t
want to pay them, we just need
some financial information.”
Travis Hockensmith, fire
chief for the department, said
Jan. 6 at the CSVFD board
meeting that the city will receive a full financial audit for
2014 in mid-February, and
continued to assert the city
does not have a contractual
right to withhold funds.
CDBG grant update
In other action at the meeting, the council and Joey
Krueger, public works director, discussed the allotment
of a $275,000 Community
Development Block Grant, offered by the Texas Department
of Agriculture’s Office of Rural Affairs.
The grant process will
be completed by Feb. 27,
said Karrie Cummings, grant
administrator.
Two separate votes were
taken regarding the CDBG
grant, which will require a five
percent match by the city.
The funding will be used
partially for new water meters
in the entire city, and for a water line expansion in western
sections of the city.
A six-inch expansion line
is planned to start at Willow
and Aspen, extending to Dogwood, turning down Maple,
and eventually tying into the
line on Lakeview, Krueger
explained.
Four fire hydrants will be
added along Maple, which met
the approval of Richard Frazier, the fire department representative at the meeting. “This
sounds really, really good; We
can deal with fire hydrants every 1,000 feet,” Frazier said.
The expansion will create
more flow paths for water in
the western part of the city,
“where there is poor water circulation,” Orr said.
Council members voted unanimously to allow the
city to continue with the grant
process.
In a separate vote related
to the CDBG grant, the council agreed to allow the city to
make a “good faith” $3,200
purchase of RG3 smart meters, which will be added to
the purchase of more water
meters once the grant process
is complete, Orr stated.
Only Councilman Roger Wayson voted no on the
motion made by Councilman
Cheri Trinidad to continue
negotiations about smart meters. Negotiations include a
non-disclosure agreement that
was discussed extensively.
The water meters are needed because of a high failure
rate of the old smart meters,
explained Orr after the last
council meeting Dec. 18.
“The company that the city
originally purchased water
meters from sold that product
line, and the company that
bought it agreed to replace any
failures at no cost,” Orr said.
“However, they’ve since decided they can’t continue to do
that so they made an offer to
replace all of them at a fixed
price.” It would cost the city
around $40,000 to replace the
water meters, Orr said. Manufacturing issues created fissures in electrical components,
leading to a 5 percent failure
rate.
Parks and Recreation
Commission change
Parks and Recreation
Commissioner Susan Montgomery announced she will
resign from her role as chairman, a seat she has held since
May 2014 after serving on the
commission since January.
Taking over for her will be
existing member Ray Whitis.
Montgomery thanked the
council for the opportunity to
serve the city. “It was an honor
and I’ll continue to stay active
as a member,” she said.
In her resignation speech
to the council, Montgomery
said the commission’s lack of
authority was “a problem,” but
that neither she nor other commissioners thought becoming
a committee would be helpful.
“I don’t want to go into details in the interest of the peace
and prosperity of Cottonwood
Shores, but there has been a
complicated relationship between the council and the parks
and recreation commission,”
she said. “To do what needs to
be done, Ray [Whitis] needs to
be given authority to do what
he needs to do; otherwise, making decisions at meetings that
mean nothing are just a waste
of time.”
Both Wayson and Trinidad asserted they think the
current arrangement, of considering parks and recreation
recommendations before voting on items, is the most ideal
arrangement.
Both Orr and Sheila Moore,
city secretary and administrator, complemented the commission on a job well-done.
Joining ‘Dark Sky’
Three months after Wayson
first brought membership in the
International Dark-Sky Association (IDA) up for council
discussion, city leaders unanimously approved adoption of
Ordinance No. 8009, which
seeks to reduce “light pollution” by changing outdoor
lighting regulations for new development or significant reconstruction on present buildings.
“We’ve lost about 20 percent of our ability to see the
stars,” Wayson said. Several
council members commented
on the orange-hued dome over
Marble Falls at night that interferes with the ability to see the
night sky.
Wayson made clear that
current lighting systems are
“grandfathered in.” A full text
of the ordinance, which was
modeled after one in Dripping
Springs, is available on the city
website:
www.cottonwoodshores.org/documents.
Correction
You’re invited!
WESTERN VINTAGE revival
Jewelry Trunk Show
January 29, 30 & 31, 2015
We will be open late
Friday January 30th
EMILY HILLEY-SIERZCHULA/
THE HIGHLANDER
Cottonwood
Shores
volunteer
firefighter
Bobby Amick secures his
self-contained
breathing
apparatus
(SCBA)
prior
to ascending a ladder to
complete skills required
for a SFFMA ladder test on
Tuesday, Jan. 13. Amick’s
actions were incorrectly
ascribed to a photo in last
Friday’s Jan. 16 edition of
The Highlander in which
Assistant
Chief
Mark
Pederson was depicted
demonstrating to fellow
firefighters how to tie a
complicated knot.
Complimentary Dinner
with the Designers
Limited seating call for reservations
Reserve now!
830.997.5507
Bring in your broken china
to design a custom piece
of your own
The Secret Garden
102 E. Main (corner Main and Adams)
Fredericksburg
Mon.-Thurs. 10am-5:30pm
Fri. & Sat. 10am-6pm • Sun 11am-5pm
830.997.5507
www.thesecretgardentexas.com