The Bastrop Advertiser (Bastrop, Tex.), Vol. 142, No. 61, Ed. 1 Thursday, September 28, 1995 Page: 1 of 71
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Texas' Oldest Weekly Newspaper
Since March l, 1859
500
Vol. 142, No. 61
m
Bastrop, Texas
Thursday, September 28,1995
— —1
LU
Smith ville
hires new
city manager
Robert Miller
lands the job
Smithville Mayor Vernon
Richards welcomed Robert A.
Miller, 52, and his wife, Sandy,
at the 4 p.m. city council
meeting.
Miller will take over the city
manager’s job Oct. 2 from act-
ing City Manager Joe Michie.
Miller said he is looking for-
ward to his new position.
“Mainly because I wanted to get
back into city management and
be a city manager. I enjoy doing
that and think I do it very well,”
he said.
Miller has worked for a
federal or local government all
his life, except for his current
job as municipal consultant for
Longhorn Community Disposal
of Austin, where he called on 56
dttes, 14 counties and 56 school
districts to talk about solving
their solid waste and recycling
problems.
Miller said he would need a
month or so to determine what
the city's priorities are before he
sets any goals.
Miller's resume includes ex-
perience as a consultant in pub-
lic administration for Wharton
from Aug. 1993 to Oct 1993,
and city manager there from
May 1991 to Aug. 1993.
He was city administrator at
Devine from Feb. 1986 to May
1991.
Retired from 23 years in the
Air Force, Miller said he has
lived in England, Vietnam,
Washington D.C., California,
Texas, Alabama and Ohio.
Miller said he was a person-
nel officer for most of his years
in the Air Force, except for his
four years at Kelly where he
was Deputy and Base Comman-
der from July 1982 to Feb.
1986.
La Vista looks
elsewhere for
site to build
By Davis McAuley
Editor
Interest in radio-controlled aircraft is soaring.
Smithville’s fun fly draws crowd
Twenty-eight radio con-
trolled aircraft pilots partici-
pated in a fun fly Saturday at
Smithville Airport, with only
one crash, said Mark Rogers,
president of the Lost Pines Ra-
dio Control Aircraft Club.
“I was hoping for 40
(participants),” said Rogers.
A man from Lockhart
crashed his plane, evidently be-
cause of radio interference, said
Rogers.
An estimated 80 cars drove
through the gate as spectators,
he said.
“Everything went fine. The
people who participated enjoyed
it because we don't put a lot of
pressure on people,” said
Rogers.
A drawing for kids or adults
to fly a radio control plane on a
buddy system with another pilot
turned out well, said Rogers.
“Everybody got to fly who
bought a ticket,” he said, esti-
mating 12 people flew a plane
with a buddy.
Radio controlled aircraft have
a gasoline engine and controls
inside that allow a person to
control it with two joysticks on
the ground by remote control
radio. One joystick handles air-
lerons used for rolls and banks,
and elevators used for longitu-
dinal inclination. The other joy-
stick controls the throttle or
speed, and the rudder which is
used for turning.
The controls are the same as
in a real airplane which is why a
lot of retired airline pilots par-
ticipate in the hobby, said
Rogers, who calls the sport one
of the biggest in the country.
Wingspans on the planes
vary from 60 to 120 inches.
Rogers said the Lost Pines
Radio Control Aircraft Club
meets once a month at the air-
port and at least some of its 12-
13 members try to fly every
Saturday.
Backers of La Vista, a
proposed retirement community
for the deaf and hearing
impaired, are looking outside
Bastrop for a new site,
according to key officials.
After a ground breaking
ceremony on July 2, plans to
build the $30 million project in
Bastrop hit a snag September 15
when the American Foundation
for the Elderly Deaf missed a
deadline for completing the
purchase of a 272-acres site on
Bastrop's southern border.
Doug Harris, who is acting as
developer for La Vista, said
alternative sites in Round Rock,
Cedar Park and San Marcos are
now being studied. Local
officials in those towns may be
more helpful than he found
Bastrop leaders, he said.
Harris cited three factors
which sent La Vista looking
• The city council's refusal to
consider some combination of
tax abatements, utility line
extensions and/or special utility
rates to help offset the estimated
$900,000 cost of extending
utility service to the tract south
of Bastrop
County jail on Jackson Street
• The property owner’s
refusal to release part of the
property so the initial phase of
construction could begin before
the entire tract was purchased.
• Refusal by local financial
institutions to offer loan backing
for parts of the project.
“We finally came to the
conclusion that the mayor and
council were really not behind
this financially,” said Harris.
“The City of Bastrop has done
nothing to help this project.”
When the La Vista plan first
surfaced in Bastrop more than a
year ago, backers indicated they
expected no special treatment
from the city.
outside of Bastrop.
Bastrop council to consider
changing law for non-profits
Tuesday the Bastrop City under conditional use permits in
Council ordered the city some cases,
manager to begin work on The move comes as a
possible revision of the local controversial rezoning case
zoning code which would allow heads to the council next week
non-profit organizations to
operate in residential areas See PERMITS, Page 3
Drawing the line
Rising enrollment prompts officials to crack down on out-of-district students
Other experience includes
being a volunteer leader in the
Boy Scouts of America, Eco-
nomic Development chairman
for a County Extension Program
Committee, and Lead Co-chair
for the Texas Rural Develop-
ment Council.
Bastrop school officials are
scouting the district's borders
looking for students who may
be improperly enrolled.
In some cases parents are
being asked to provide some
proof of residence as a condition
of their children remaining
enrolled in Bastrop schools.
As part of a long range
planning process last year, the
school district paid consultants
to conduct a detailed survey of
the district's population,
including exact locations where
each students lived. That survey
suggested that as many as 100
enrolled pupils might not in fact
reside in the district, said Van
Pryor, assistant to the
superintendent.
So school officials are now
taking a closer look at where
students live this fall, asking
teachers, bus drivers and others
to point out possible problems.
In some cases drivers have
learned that district boundaries
lie further along some roads
than previously believed, said
Pryor.
Another motive for the effort
this fall is the expectation that
state officials will soon require
school districts to document
residence within the district as a
requirement for receiving state
money for each pupil, according
to Pryor.
If as many as 100 students
are enrolled from outside the
district, the difference in state
aid could prove significant, he
suggested.
The district has also prepared
letters to send in some problem
cases warning parents that if
adequate proof of residence in
the district is not presented,
students may be withdrawn
from school, Pryor said.
County commissioners buckle on proposal to pave rural roads
An apparent agreement to
borrow up to $1 million to pave
some of Bastrop County's
busiest rural roads collapsed
Monday when two
commissioners said they cannot
support die effort.
Commissioner G.L. Hanna
said he will not “put my name
on a $1 million bond.”
Commissioner Charlie
McKeown said road
commissioners must find some
other way to pay for road
improvements.
“We just have to tighten our
belts,” he said.
Both commissioners
indicated interest in the proposal
when it was first put forward
Thursday by Commissioner Lee
Dildy during a budget
workshop. Dildy said borrowing
to pay for seal coating makes
good use of tax money because
the topping will preserve
improved base materials which
commissioners* are putting in
place with the help of a fleet of
heavy trucks purchased over the
past year.
Failure to seal coat recently
repaired roads means the new
base will erode far faster and
require far more maintenance
expense, said Dildy.
The suggestion drew support
from Commissioner Johnny
Sanders, but both he and Dildy
said the plan makes no sense for
just two of the county's four
road precincts.
Dildy's suggestion was to
issue certificates of obligation
which would be repaid over the
years from county property tax
collections. Unless Hanna and
McKeown take part, tax payers
across the county would be
paying for roads in only two
precincts, he said.
Sanders said turning down a
capital improvements effort is
short sighted. “The roads are
worn out now, and we're not
doing anything to fix them,” he
said. “Now I wish we hadn't
bought the paving equipment.”
County Judge Peggy Walicek
said for her to support Dildy's
suggestion, she would need
more detailed information about
how much of which roads could
be improved.
Once it was clear the Dildy
plan was dead, Sanders pressed
for budget changes to restore
previous tentative cuts to
precinct operating budgets.
During an earlier round of
spending cuts, commissioners
agreed to pay their own salaries
with precinct funds instead of
tapping the county's general
operatic^ fund. Sanders said his
road brraget couldn't afford what
amounted to a $40,000 cut.
In the end commissioners
agreed to return the salaries to
the general fund by raising their
psrimate of how much traffic
fine revenue the county’s four
justice courts will turn in over
the coming 12 months.
On a 3-2 vote commissioners
also agreed to restore some
$13,000 to the sheriffs budget
to allow continued participation
in a special traffic enforcement
program largely funded with
state money. The funds go to
pay deputies for overtime to
work traffic patrols. Dildy and/4>
Sanders voted against restoring'
the local funds.
But the court united to adopt
a budget for the fiscal year
which begins October 1. They
also set the 1995 property tax
rate at 60.42 cents per $100 ,
value. The rate includes 8.7$
cents to repay debt and 14.14
cents to finance precinct
operations.
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McAuley, Davis. The Bastrop Advertiser (Bastrop, Tex.), Vol. 142, No. 61, Ed. 1 Thursday, September 28, 1995, newspaper, September 28, 1995; Bastrop, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth735464/m1/1/?q=Lamar+University: accessed June 10, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Bastrop Public Library.