Carl Brugger

Granite Shoals City Manager Ken Nickel resigned during Tuesday night's regular city council meeting, ending a nearly five-year tenure as the city's administrative head.

Nickel's resignation was accepted by the council, effective at the end of business Wednesday, Feb. 28. Mayor Carl Brugger announced the resignation in a press release Wednesday morning.

Nickel joined the city of Granite Shoals in the fall of 2010 as the city's finance director. He was promoted to city manager in July 2013, succeeding Marvin Townsend and guiding the city to several benchmark accomplishments.

Council members will now begin the search for the city's sixth city manager since 2006, when John Gayle first took the position. Others who have served in that position include John Hatchel and Judy Miller.

In the print edition of The Highlander Tuesday, May 9, space did not allow for the full text of comments from winners in city elections in south Burnet County. A couple of candidates who came in behind their opponents had comments following the elections Saturday, May 6. The following here on HighlanderNews.Com are the thoughts they all shared.

Granite Shoals Mayor Carl Brugger

"I would like to thank Granite Shoals voters for electing me to a second term as mayor,”said Carl Brugger, who will return as mayor of Granite Shoals. “These results were only possible by the effort of my friends who supported my reelection efforts. I look forward to my next two years leading the council and working for the betterment of our community."

Two candidates for mayor of Granite Shoals will face off Saturday, May 6, in the General Election. They are incumbent Mayor Carl Brugger and challenger Mike Steenbergen.

Filing unopposed for re-election were businesswoman Anita Hisey and Jim Davant, a retiree who has served on the Planning & Zoning Commission and Street and Water Advisory Group, and local surveyor Todd Holland, for Places 1, 3 and 5, respectively.

The Highlander asked the two mayorial candidates five questions about their qualifications and ideas for being the city's chief municipal leader and their responses appear below. In the interest of fairness, we have alternated which candidate's answer appears first.

Granite Shoals City Hall will be filled with history at the 50th Year Bash festival on Saturday, April 23—art by its youngest citizens, students of Highland Lakes Elementary School, and historical accounts of its oldest.
It is all part of the plan to look to the future, while remembering the past. Those accounts of the past have been developed with the leadership of former mayor Dennis Maier.
Granite Shoals is a growing city with a population of now estimated at 5,025 citizens.
It is home to Highland Lakes Elementary School, with an enrollment of about 623 students who take an active part in city activities. In fact their art will decorate the 50th Year Bash.

The elected officials of Granite Shoals include a council of six led by Mayor Carl Brugger and they follow a long line of unpaid citizens that have guided the city through its 50-year history.
They are Mayor Pro Tem Shirley King, Eric Tanner, Tom Dillard, Mark Morren and Anita Hisey.
Five of the citizens who have held the title of Mayor of Granite Shoals live in the city today.
They are the current mayor, Carl Brugger, elected in 2015; Dennis Maier, elected in 2011 and 2013; Frank Reilly, elected in  2005, 2007 and 2009 and Pat Crochet, elected in 1999 and appointed in 2004. Crochet did not finish that last term and  King served as mayor in the interim.
First to last, they came to serve the city first through volunteer service on committees, commissions or advisory groups.