Buyer found for Marble Falls police station

By Glynis Crawford Smith

The Highlander

A prospective new owner for the site that now houses the Marble Falls Police Department (MFPD) was confirmed at the meeting of the Marble Falls City Council Tuesday night, July 18.

Following an executive session, the council voted to authorize City Manager Mike Hodge to accept the offer for the asking price of $740,000 from Diamante Grezzo Properties, LLC.

The Leander-based corporation, that concentrates on housing on its company social media page, describes itself as “a professional, full service real estate solutions firm that buys and sells properties throughout the greater Austin area. A proposed use for the former bank building and parking lot at 209 Main Street was not made public, but Assistant City Manager Caleb Kraenzel, in charge of development services for the city, said initial conversations indicated it would be “downtown compatible.”

Peggy Jones Real Estate of Meadowlakes is broker for the sale.

The new Public Safety Facility is on target for completion in late September. While the transfer of the MFPD operations and Marble Falls Municipal Court may take some time, a ribbon cutting is expected in late October or early November.

Accountable Community Project

The council once again declined to act on a $30,000 proposal for an Accountable Community Project. The Marble Falls Economic Development Corporation (MFEDC) and the Marble Falls Independent School District (MFISD) have agreed to budget $10,000 for the project, if the city will dedicate an equal amount.

Proposed in June was a partnership among the three entities to hire corporate motivational speaker Sam Silverstein of St. Louis, Missouri, to conduct four, live, four-hour facilitated sessions with 25-30 community leaders and 5-10 high school students over a six-month period.

Sliverstein's proposal promises “intense and thought-provoking sessions that will begin conversations around weighty issues that keep communities divided.”

For their part, Hodge and MFEDC Executive Director Christian Fletcher said an outside mediator could facilitate solutions to common community problems like affordable housing and workforce training.

They conceded Marble Falls would be one of the first, if not “the” first, community for this new aspect of Silverstein's business. It was having seen him in action and having used his concepts in staff training that, they said, gave them confidence in his ability to focus on core values and establish communication with less time an effort, and therefore expense, than small staffs could afford.

“It probably doesn't get done (without someone to coordinate the project),” said Fletcher.

But with budget planning fresh on their minds, the council still has reservations.

“I still don't see concrete reasons where we need to go to a consultant,” said new council member Megan Klaeger. “We have a lot of needs in this city and the three of you (Hodge, Fletcher and MFISD Superintendent Chris Allen, PhD) are competent professionals.

“We could easily get a room and decide how to spend $10,000...I am very much opposed. I have talked to people in the community and didn't receive any positive feedback.”

Council member Craig Magerkurth, too, had reservations about the project as presented.

“We have extremely good talent in (the three of you),” said council member Dave Rhodes.

New council member William “Dee” Haddock defended the idea of an outside consultant as something “good for the community.”

“You have three entities with different goals,” he said. “A savvy facilitator can pull them together to find the path...You can't be your own consultant. You need one that comes with a blank slate.”

Since housing was one of the only examples that came up in discussion, that one item almost turned into the kind of forum one might expect of the project.

Fletcher used it as an example of bringing community leader participants to help with expertise in development of MFISD property for housing.

Mayor Pro Tem Richard Westerman, who presided over the meeting in the absence of Mayor John Packer, agreed with the pressure for workforce housing.

“Because of a lack of affordable housing, police officers aren't living here; teachers aren't living here,” he said.

“We already have right here one of the best authorities in the country on affordable housing in Mark Mayfield (President and Chief Executive Officer of the Texas Housing Foundation and a member of the Central Texas Housing Consortium),” countered council member Reed Norman.

County Commissioner Billy Wall interjected with praise for Burnet's private-public Hometown Housing Program, My Town: “They are building homes and have almost run out of land.”

Soon the efforts of Hamilton Valley Management and Hoovers Lowe Incoming Housing had been mentioned.

On a vote to continue consideration of the Accountable Community Project, Westerman asked Hodge and Fletcher to invite Allen to a future meeting and to come back with more information about focus topics, community participants and goals.

Appointments

Three appointments were made by the council. Russell Buster, a former city council member and downtown development and arts supporter, was appointed to the Hotel Motel Tax Advisory Committee; Tony Plumlee of Willis Environmental Engineering, which does work for developing cities all over the state, to the Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone (TIRZ) Board No. 1, and Tom Martin, a retired engineer with broad public utility experience who currently serves on the Capital Improvement Plan Committee, to Place 7 on the Planning & Zoning (P&Z) Commission.

Jeanne Emerson, former Burnet County Commissioners Court coordinator and county tourism director, and Angela Taylor, who works for a utility revenue services company, were new applicants to volunteer service on committees, boards and commissions, They were encouraged to remain candidates.

“We keep applications on file for two years,” said City Secretary Christina McDonald. “We will let you know when other positions become available.”