Eric Tanner

By Glynis Crawford Smith

The Highlander

In November Granite Shoals will be the first city in the 172-year history of the State of Texas to call an election to re-affirm a bond issue.

That is what citizens heard at the Town Hall Meeting for Road Improvement Bond Update held Saturday, July 29, in Granite Shoals.

“The city attorney (Brand Young) had to go all the way to the secretary of state to see if was allowed,” said Eric Tanner, chairman of the new Arterial Road Bond Committee. “But the city council decided to seek voter re-confirmation before issuing the $3 million in bonds approved last November.”

Tanner's committee was created just because of questions that were bound to arise when a city council hesitated before spending money essentially in hand.

The meeting on road improvements may have drawn only half the crowd that turned out for a recent urban deer update, but they were citizens with plenty of questions.

By Glynis Crawford Smith

The Highlander

The Granite Shoals City Council pursued a brief agenda Tuesday night, Oct. 25, punctuated by a reception for Eric Tanner and an executive session regarding former police chief J.P. Wilson.

Wilson left city employ in May and has since been succeeded by Chief Gary Boshears, however his departure apparently has not been without some disagreement.

Wilson is on the December schedule of the State Office of Administrative Hearings (SOAH) for a hearing he requested regarding his exit rating. A Petition to Correct The Texas Commission on Law Enforcement (TECOLE) Separation of Licensee Report (an F-5 report) will be heard.

By Glynis Crawford Smith

The Highlander

Eric Tanner, first elected to the Granite Shoals City Council in 2011, has resigned with one thing on his mind: the Nov. 8 general election that could fund restoration of the city's major thoroughfares.

With the council set to approve the budget and tax rate tonight, Friday, Sept. 16, the Tuesday session put into motion the process for Tanner's replacement.

The city is seeking a grant for a $6.8 million project to re-work Valley View Lane, Prairie Creek Road and Phillips Ranch Road, not just in part, but from Ranch to Market Road 1431 to end of their lines at Lake LBJ or the city limits. Voters will decide Nov. 8 if they are willing to commit to $3 million in bonds to secure a grant through the U.S. Department of Agriculture for the project. That is what Tanner says he will promote.

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.