Granite Shoals fire auxiliary receives $300,000, no strings attached

By Glynis Crawford Smith

The Highlander

The big news out of the Granite Shoals City Council meeting Tuesday, Feb. 28, was an anonymous donation to the Granite Shoals Fire/ Rescue Auxiliary in the amount of $300,000.

The stated purpose of the volunteer auxiliary is “to provide emotional, financial, practical, and social support to the City of Granite Shoals Fire Department and its members. Most of those members are volunteers themselves. Frequently the fundraising efforts of the auxiliary have supplemented training expenses and equipment needs of the department.

The group has time to plan the best way to use the windfall. Its anonymous donor placed no time limit on the use of the funds and no on restrictions to which of those goals the funds would be applied and they are entirely within the management of the auxiliary, not part of the department's city budget.

Despite the sudden financial inflow, the currency most needed by Granite Shoals Fire Rescue (GSFR) is the human sort—volunteers. Like so many in the Highland Lakes, the GSFR protects the homes and property of absent owners and workaday commuters and the members need backup to do the job without threatening their own livelihoods.

Fire Chief Austin Stanphill has noted that the volunteer base is organized around professional training that includes firefighting but includes other essential work. He welcomes inquiries from residents that want to learning more about the work of the department that serves the cities of Granite Shoals and Highland Haven as well as Burnet County Emergency Service District 3.

The fire hall, 830-598-8110 is located at 8410 West Ranch to Market Road 1431.

City Manager Ken Nickel noted that volunteers of another sort are needed for an Airport Advisor Group workday Saturday, March 4.

“Everyone will meet at the airport at 9 a.m.,” he said.

The municipal airport is bounded by Mystic, Forest Hills, Green Forest and Granitecastle drives.

The council continued to grapple with the recent discovery that grant money for a proposed roads project will not be forthcoming. But they moved on at this meeting to discuss the best avenue for complaint to the U.S. Department of Agriculture about a grant potential they feel was misrepresented.

A few General Fee Schedule items were amended, including solid waste collection fees and water customer deposits.

“Our solid waste fees will increase 3.8 percent across the board,” said Nickel. “This is due rising costs to our provider, Republic Services.”

New water customers deposits will increase from $150 to $200.

“We had to write off about $4,000 last year,” Nickel said, noting that about $2,000 of water department write-offs were due to deposit shortfall.

Following a discussion of property adjoining that of Mr. and Mrs. Randy Spivey, whose new retaining wall is now considered an encroachment on parkland, Council Member Todd Holland agreed to perform a new survey of the area. The issue is another of the complications created by the requirement of deeds without warranty required in the sale of waterfront property created by fill in.

The issue is equally complicated for Mr. and Mrs. James Kyle of 700 Woodland Hills who have complained of an isolated lake inlet property, designated as park land, but a backwash for lake debris.

Both discussions are to continue.

The sale of six parcels of land for taxes by the Burnet Central Appraisal District was approved by the council: a bid of $1,750 from Reynol Gray for two lots in the Granite Castle Section of Sherwood Shores; a bid of $1,200 from Lilia Vanessa Yanez for three lots in the Woodland Hills Section of Sherwood Shores II, and a bid of $1,400 from Mario Alberto Fonesca for two lots in Section IV of Sherwood Shores II. Also three tracts to Granite Shoals Properties, LLC--$700 for one lot in the Greenbriar Section of Sherwood Shores and $725 for two lots in the Greenbriar Section, and $1,300 for three lots in the Forest Hills Section of Sherwood Shores II.

County Judge James Oakley was welcomed to address the council and Commissioner Jim Luther was again in the audience. Michael Steenbergen again appeared before the council to discuss the road grant situation and to again request the creation of a study committee for an item that was not on last year's priority list, but which he considers feasible—a city solar power project.