Thomas becomes new Cottonwood Shores City Council member
By Glynis Crawford Smith
The Highlander
The Cottonwood Shores City Council gained a new member Thursday, Jan. 18. Brigitte Thomas was sworn in to fill the unexpired term of Marley Porter in Place 2 on the council.
Porter's resignation was accepted during the same meeting.
Porter, an architect and developer, has been involved in many projects in Cottonwood Shores and surrounding cities, including Marble Falls and Granite Shoals, but primarily by donating his time for design and grant work.
"Mayor Donald Orr and I sat down just after the first of the year and talked about all the decisions coming up before the Council on our CastleRock Development,” said Porter. “As architect and partner in the development, I would be constantly abstaining from voting to avoid any potential perceived conflict of interest.
“My term is up in May anyway and we both agreed that getting the council to appoint another person to my seat now would prepare him or her better for running for office in May. And, this move would afford me more time to focus on the many complexities of final planning, design and construction."
"In our last council meeting I stood as a citizen of Cottonwood Shores and read a short letter stating my intent to resign and thanking Donald, our mayor; Shelia (Moore), our city administrator; our council members, Stephen (Sherry), Tony (Satsky), Cheryl (Trinidad) and Roger (Wayson) for a wonderful three and a half year ride, that we had together come far in fixing our little city, of grounding solid our financial future, of improving the spirit of the place and in short, making Cottonwood Shores an incredible place to live, work and play."
"It has been a distinct pleasure working with the city,” Porter added. “I look forward to continuing my efforts to make this place everything it might be. For this time, at least, I'll be working from the other side of the same great table."
CastleRock is a 100-acre development that eventually is planned to include a wedding chapel and reception hall, a world class spa, "glaming" (glamorous camping) along the Cottonwood Shores Wilderness Preserve, with canoing and kayaking. Tiny homes on tiny lots will be encouraged. Duplexes and apartments will finish out the housing. Additional retail space will be constructed along Farm to Market Road 2147 and finally, a boutique hotel with the commanding view of Lake LBJ.
