The Bastrop Advertiser and County News (Bastrop, Tex.), No. 4, Ed. 1 Monday, March 14, 1983 Page: 1 of 10
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By Eric Wltams
Realtors and developers
at an emergency meeting
last week said they can
prove the new subdivi-
sion rules adopted by Bas-
trop County Commission-
ers are illegal and they will
move today to try to get
the changed ordinance re-
scinded or delayed.
"We are not here to
embarrass anybody or call
names but some of the
changes adopted Feb. 28
by the Commissioners
Court were very drastic
changes," said George
Reinfemund, president of
the Bastrop County Board
of Realtors.
Reinemund said District
Attorney NealPfeiffer ad-
vised him that "changes
like this need to be pub-
lished in advance" and
"...you have to haive ad-
vance notice of the meet-
ing" where they will be
adopted.
This was not done,
Reinemund said. In addi-
tion, Texas state law pro-
hibits a county from,pass-
ing ordinances that regu-
late lot sizes, he added.
"In a court of law, they
(the subdivision changes)
probably wouldn't be up-
held anyway, he said, "but
we don't want to go to
court. We think this can be
worked out with the Com-
missioners" if m6re time is
spent on the matter. He
said he would ask Com-
missioners today (Monday)
to delay enforcement of
thi new revised ordinance
until a substitute can be
offered and worked out.
Around 70 landowners,
developers, contractors,
road builders, realtors and
others attended the meet-
ing, called by the Board of
Realtors, at the Bastrop
American Legion Hall
Thursday night.
Citizens Committee
The group authorized
formation of a new, um-
brella organization called
Concerned Citizens for
Bastrop County and
named an 11-member
committee to work with
the Commissioners Court
in drawing a revised sub-
division control ordinance
that meets needs of both
the county and the land
selling industry.
Reinemund and \>thers
at the meeting said parts of
the changes recently
adopted by the Commis-
sioners may be good for
the county and Reine-
mund said he does not
questioa- the intentions or
good f&ith of the Court.
But "it looks like the com-
missioners need a lot of
help" in trying to draw up
the rules, said developer
C.L. Reeves.
Main Objections
The main three ob-
jections voiced at the meet-
ing are these:
♦The ordinance changes
new minimum lot size from
one acre to two acres. The
county has no power to do
this, say the developers.
*The ordinance requires
paved roads in all new
subdivisions with lots less
than five acres.
•The ordinance specifies
what kind of equipment
will be used to build the
roads.
"I venture to say we're
the only county in the state
of Texas that has an ordi-
nance that says what kind
of equipment has to be*
used to build roads," said
developer Bill Hicks. If the
roads meet standards set by
the county what difference
does it make what equip-
ment is used, he asked:*
Hicks and others said
they're not against upgrad-
ing subdivisions.
"The Commissioners are
getting heat because we
have a lot of people in this
county who live on bad
roads," Hicks said.
■ Yet "our tax structure
won't support" a good
road system, he added.
'The Real Hangup'
"The real hangup on all
this isn't the two acre lot
minimum but taking over
the roads. They really
don't have the money to
do that," he said. Paved
roads are much more ex-
pensive to maintain than
gravel or dirt roads,, several
road builders noted.
Austin developer Ken
Gully said, "A deteriorated
gravel road is easier to live
with than a deteriorated
paved road." He added
that it cost him $18 per
linear foot for paved roads
in Travis County and that
the expenses of the roads
will make the lots too
„ , p -m-J
expensive for a number of
potential property buyers.
'KB MobBe Homes'
A.L, Behrens, a road
builder from Round Rock
who has buty a number of,
wads in Bastrop County,
said that the subdivision
requirements "will kill ma-
ny people trying to buy an
acre of land for a mobile
home."
Doyle Tuck said that if
the Commissioners Court
could not restrict subdi-
vision lots to two acres or
larger, then it seems rea-
sonable to assume that
they could not restrict it to
one acre either.
Continued on Page 9
(The l&astroj)
And County News
TEXAS' OLDEST WEEKLY NEWSPAPER
MONDAY EDITION
Kstabliahfd March 1, 1853
Monday, March 14,1983
Number 4
Another arrest
Early bluebonnet was snapped by Kellye Green at the
drive-in bank of First National Bank in Bastrop as warm
days were enjoyed last week.
Humble chief appraiser |in dope case
Roy Humble was named
Chief Appraiser of the
Bastrop County Appraisal
District last week and he
has drafted changes in the
organization of the office
to speed it in getting out the
tax rolls.
Humble said Friday that
in his proposed
reorganization of the of-
fice, he will hire two per-
sons to work in the office,
one as a bookkeeper and
data entry clerk and
another as a secretary and
data entry clerk. The
reorganization and minor
budget amendments still
must be approved by the
appraisal district board of
directors.
The two new positions
will have a small impact on
the budget, since it does
not call for the hiring of a
new Assistant Chief Ap-
praiser, the position that
Humble held prior to
James Archer accepting a
job as Chief Appraiser for
Travis County. The new
positions will be created on
April 1 and are thus not
budgeted for a full year.
Computers
Humble has also called
for the expenditure of an
additional $10,000 on data
processing equipment and
software. The bulk of the
money would go toward
purchasing additional
computer programming.
He explains that much
of the work at the appraisal
district office could be
handled more efficiently if
the computers were
programmed to handle
duties like accounting
along with holding the
complete record of the ap-
praisals and property rolls.
The district had
arranged to purchase the
software earlier but the
company that was to
deliver it went bankrupt.
The appraisal district has
prepared to file a lawsuit
against two solvent com-
puter firms that were the
parent company of the
now-bankrupt firm.
Humble said the district
must go ahead and pur-
chase a new software
system because it is needed
so the district can efficien-
tly update the tax rolls and
provide data for property
owners and taxing entities.
Property T ransfers
Merit pay likely at Smithville
By Ellen Moore
Smithville City Coun-
cilmen last week appeared
to favor a system of merit
pay raises for city workers.
The Council discussed
merit „ increase pay
schedules for city em-
ployees similar to federal
guidelines, in which an
employee would know "if
he really worked, what and
when, his nexr pay raise
would be." Most coun-
cilmembers Thursday
night seemed to favor the
idea, if fair guidelines
could be worked out.
Mayor James Reeder,
who opposed a suggested
"step" and "grade" in-
crease believes the year-to-
year orderly increases
would give an employee
the incentive to work har-
der and would reduce em-
ployee turn-over.
The council agreed that
while details would have to
be worked out, the plan
merits the council's atten-
tion, and agreed to discuss
the matter further.
The mayor's plan,
basically, would entail a
yearly set increase for an
employee, subject to his or
her supervisor's approval
and recommendation. "If
they're not good enough,"
he added, "they don't get
anything."
Councilman Charles
I ' - •
Diltz suggested that the
mayor present the council
with the proposed
guidelines, and actual list
of jobs for the council's
study.
"We're working on it,"
Mayor Reeder said, while
pointing out he could not
complete the plan by the
next scheduled meeting
(March 14). He added,
"we'll probably have
another special called
meeting before April."
Pill knocks out child
A Bastrop elementary
school student suffered a
severe reaction last week
after taking the prescrip-
tion medicine of another
student.
Rebecca Smith, Elemen-
tary School Principal said
that one third grader was
feeling badly and another
Voss asks Spring
Street extension
James Voss plans to ask
the Bastrop City Council
tonight (Monday) to open
Spring Street from the city
warehouse yard to the
Colorado River so that
police protection can be
given an area Voss wants to
develop for recreational
use.
Voss has told, the city he^
would consider paying the
cost of the street work him-
self in order to get it done.
He - said Saturday he
. believes the street is shown
jgoing through on city maps
but probably in fact it
never was more "than a
trail." The street right-of-
way is now overgrown with
brush.
Voss, a retired oil com-
pany president who lives in
Cedar Creek and owns
property in Bastrdp, said.
"It's just the first step in
trying to develop something
meaningful in the area"
that would help the Bastrop
economy.
Water Sports
Ken Perkins, operator
of River Country Sports,
told. The Advertiser last
Continued on Page 10
third grader offered him an
antibiotic pill from a
prescription he was taking.
The child given the
medicine was younger, and
smaller than the other
child, which apparently
caused the reaction, Mrs.
Smith explained.
She added. that
youngsters taking
medicine at school are in-
structed to give that
medicine to the school nur-
se at the beginning of the
day. Had the rules not been
violated, there would have
been no problems, she
said.
The incident was made
public at the Bastrop In-
dependent School. Board
meeting last week in order
to dispel rumors that illicit
drugs, like pink hearts, had
somehow made their way
into the elementary school.
The child with the reac-
tion apparently passed out
getting off the school bus
and required medical
treatment.
The appraisal district is
approximately 10 months
behind on entering the
transfer of property bet-
ween owrtiers and several
taxing entities have ex-
pressed apprehension
about getting the tax rolls
out on time.
However, there is
another concern. County
Judge Lloyd Ketha told the
Directors of the appraisal
District that the county
had budgeted $36,526 for
the operation of the ap-
praisal district. Yet already
the entity has billed it for
approximately $24,000 for
only the first two quarters
of 1983.
No More Money
Ketha said there is no
money to pay an increased
cost for the appraisal
district and no place to
transfer money from to
make the payments.
'' I see no way we can pay
what you billed us for,"
Ketha said.
If the district can win its
lawsuit or receive compen-
sation from the computer
companies it says owes it
for software, the appraisal
district can finish the year
without asking for ad-
ditional money from local
taxing entities beyond
those already budgeted
for, according to Humble.
He added, however, that
appraisal district cannot
allocate the money from
Continued on Page 10
Bastrop County Sheriff
Tommy Moseley said that
one more of the persons
indicted March 1 on drug
charges was taken into
custody. Officers arrested
10 suspects March 3 and
all but two have been
released on bond.
Mario Zorate, 24, of
Alice was arrestecknear his
home. Moseley said he will
not be brought back to
Bastrop County because he
has already posted the
$25,000 bond set by the
grand jury. He was indic-
tedx- on delivery of
marijuana charges.
Moseley said that some
of the remaining suspects
are still not in custody. He
said that messages have
been sent to the home town
of suspects from outside
Bastrop and said he expec-
ts them to be picked up
shortly. The names of
suspects who are apparen-
tly fleeing prior to their
arrests here have been fed
into the Department of
Public Safety computer
and are available to law-
enforcement officials
around the state, Moseley
said.
Walter Hamilton is the
only person arrested on the
21 indictments who remains in
custody as the others have
posted bond. Hamilton
must post $10,000 bond on
the delivery of controlled
substance charges in order
to be released.
Cecil Long, banker and rancher (second from left)
named Bastrop's Worthy Citizen of 1982 by Cham-
ber of Commerce Friday night, admires plaque with
(from left) State Senator John Sharp, Chamber
President Clara Maynard and Mrs. Long.
Community honors Cecil Long
Cecil Long, "the best
ambassador Bastrop could
possibly have," was named
the Bastrop Worthy Citi-
zen of 1982 Friday night at
the Bastrop Chamber of
Commerce's 45th annual
banquet.
It was the first such
award given in many years
by the Chamber and sig-
naled the start of such
awards on an annual basis.
Yoakum Lads
Long came to Bastrop in
1935 (his brothers Adren
and C.A. came shortly
thereafter) from Yoakum,
Chamber President Clara
Maynard related in making
the award.
Long arrived to run the
Elkins variety store (now
The Old Dime) and was
also a dairy farmer and
cattle rancher. In time he
bought out the Elkins store
and ran it into the 1960's.
In 1972 he was named
president of First National
Bank, the county's pioneer
financial institution. He
has been a member of the
bank's board of directors
for over 30 years and is also
chairman and one of its
largest stockholders.
Long served on the
Lower Colorado River Au-
thority board and helped
obtain Lake Bastrop and
the Sim Gideon Steam
Plant, Mrs. Maynard said,
and he was also president
of the Chamber twice.
'Friend To AD'
But more important that
his business achievements,
she said: "He is an inspira-
tion and friend to all."
The crowd of more than
250 persons at the dinner
sang "For He's a Jolly
Good Fellow" as Long
accepted the plaque from
Mrs. Maynard.
"You are a beautiful
crowd. I love you all," ne
said. "If I can borrow
Sugar's horse tomorrow,
I'll ride down Main
Stfeet," said Bastrop's
Grand Old Man.
Chamber Projects
As incoming Chamber
directors Steve Best, Dr.
Harvey Worchel, Kay
Jackson, §ue Gurka and
George Reinemund were
welcomed and outgoing di-
rectors Allen Eskew, Tony
Jackson, Howard Ebner,
Robert Miller and Jack
Fraser were thanked,
Chamber Vice President
Joe Emmert cited recent
work of the organization
and allied groups.
A sign directing tourists
will be erected this week on
Highway 71, he said.
"Out of the setback of
getting turned down > for
; Continued on Page 10
'tj
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Williams, Eric. The Bastrop Advertiser and County News (Bastrop, Tex.), No. 4, Ed. 1 Monday, March 14, 1983, newspaper, March 14, 1983; Bastrop, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth601980/m1/1/?q=Lamar+University: accessed June 9, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Bastrop Public Library.