Council member to resign
By DAVID LOWE Staff Writer

PHOTO BY DAVID LOWE Debbie Fuller will resign in May from Place 3 on the Lampasas City Council to move with her husband, Wayne Hickenbottom, to Cedar Park. Hickenbottom has accepted a position as senior lecturer in the University of Texas economics department.

Lampasas City Council member Debbie Fuller will step down from her Place 3 post in May, as she and her husband, Wayne Hickenbottom, plan to move to Cedar Park.

Hickenbottom recently accepted a position as a senior lecturer in economics at the University of Texas. A math teacher at Lampasas High School, Hickenbottom worked as a senior lecturer at UT until 1999, when he married Ms. Fuller and the couple moved to Lampasas.

Filing ended more than a month ago for the Lampasas City Council election, set for May 10. Ms. Fuller, who has served on the City Council for four years, has notified Mayor Judy Hetherly of her plans to move. The City Council will vote on Ms. Fuller's replacement once she resigns.

Living in Lampasas has allowed her to fulfill her dream, Ms. Fuller said.

Her civic involvement began when neighbor Paul Wilborn convinced her to volunteer on the Lampasas Economic Development Corp. Elected to the City Council in 2004, Ms. Fuller said she has enjoyed working with city staff and her fellow council members.

"This is a really cohesive council," she said. "We may disagree on how to get somewhere, but we all want to get to the same place."

Ms. Fuller said her years on the council have educated her about a variety of city issues, especially water. She considers signing a contract with Kempner Water Supply Corp. one of the City Council's major accomplishments during her time in office. The council also has tried to preserve Lampasas' smalltown charm, she said, while striving to promote growth and job creation.

Ms. Fuller said she would like to see more young residents find jobs in Lampasas and not have to leave their hometown.

Ms. Fuller, who worked in UT administration before her move to Lampasas, visited Lampasas several times a year as a teenager, when she shopped and visited antique stores with friends and family on her way to fishing camp.

Ms. Fuller's sister and her husband lived in Lampasas in the 1990s. In 1998, Ms. Fuller's sister convinced her to visit the Alice Barnes house on Third Street, a Spanish colonial/eclectic home built in 1920, a year after Mrs. Barnes' Victorian home burned. Ms. Fuller signed a contract on the property the first day she saw it, and Cherry Hargrove, now Lampasas city secretary, made the sale.

"I knew I wanted to be in a small town, and with my sister and my dream house it was just perfect," Ms. Fuller said.

Ms. Fuller and her husband spent about a year restoring the house, installing new floors and ceilings and fixing the electricity, plumbing, heating and air-conditioning. The home had been vacant since 1958, when Mrs. Barnes died.

The couple's work often sparked conversations with other residents and helped them make new friends.

"A lot of people take a very personal interest in this house," Hickenbottom said.

Ms. Fuller hates to sell the house, she said, but she and her husband plan to travel back to Lampasas as much as Hickenbottom's teaching schedule allows. The couple hope to move back at some point, she added.

"I hope I've made some contribution," Ms. Fuller said, "and I hope we can come back some day."