Five Lampasas City Council candidates discussed water, Hostess House renovations, economic development and other topics at Thursday’s candidate forum hosted by Forward Lampasas.
Approximately 30 residents were on hand as Place 1 candidates Dorothy Person and Danielle Tucker Shepard, Place 3 candidates Edward Gold and Myles Haider, and Place 6 candidate Alexis Thompson offered their plans for Lampasas.
OPENING STATEMENTS
Lampasas resident Matt Janacek served as the forum moderator. He allowed each candidate to provide an opening statement.
Person highlighted her career as a city and county manager, which also included 10 years as Lampasas County’s elections administrator. In addition, she said her work in human resources has helped her develop administrative experience in balancing budgets and connecting with others.
“It is really important to me to help our city because of my service inclination I have been gifted with,” Person said. “I want to help the City Council and the city as a whole. My background does allow for me to have a good understanding of working with people and trying to get to the bottom of solving issues and solving problems.”
Shepard, a 1989 Lampasas High School graduate, emphasized her connection to the community through involvement with The ’36 Club and Lampasas County Higher Education Center. She said her experience as the owner of a local real estate company makes her a good fit for the council.
“In a short time, I have been able to grow it from one agent to 40, one office to four, and I’m able to manage the budget that is just slightly smaller than the city’s,” Shepard said. “I have a huge background in business. And being able to take that and adapt that to the city’s needs is something I’m more than able to do.”
Person and Shepard are vying for the Place 1 seat currently held by Zac Morris, who did not seek re-election.
Thompson is the owner of Bar T Realty and Bar T Excavation, alongside her husband. Her community involvement includes stints as president of the Lampasas Chamber of Commerce and Lampasas Lions Club.
Although not a Lampasas native, Thompson said she has focused on the connection she has built to the city over the last eight years.
Thompson is challenging incumbent Place 6 council member Charlie Pratus, who was unable to attend Thursday’s gathering.
“Watching the town be successful and being an intricate part to continuing that success is huge because we love this place,” Thompson said. “We planted our roots here, and I want to make sure my kids – if they leave, they can come back loving the town they grew up in.”
Haider is serving an unexpired term for the Place 3 position after the death last year of councilman Chuck Williamson. A U.S. Army combat veteran and regional sales manager for an equipment manufacturer, Haider spent most of his opening statement addressing water quantity.
“We need to be fiscally conservative with our money to make sure we have drinking water for the future for our residents,” Haider said. “We must take responsibility for all projects in and around Lampasas to ensure the water future for generations to come. Investing heavily in projects that do not provide a significant return is not a way forward for Lampasas.”
Gold, the owner of Gold’s Garage, noted his support for Lampasas youth when he headed the automotive program at Lampasas High School and with the Young Life ministry. A Fredericksburg native, Gold believes the city could do more to attract outsiders.
“I’m eighth-generation Fredericksburgian,” he said.
“I’ve seen it from all Germans to when my grandpa started the first vineyard in Fredericksburg to what it is now,” Gold said. “I can see good growth in economics, and I can see how you can grow that in a very eloquent manner.”
Gold is challenging Haider for the Place 3 unexpired term.
WATER
Water quality and quantity was one of the hottest topics at Thursday’s forum. Haider and Gold both were asked how the city should supply water for the future.
Haider cited drilling as the city’s best solution.
“I think the easiest and cheapest would be the drilling, as opposed to reverse osmosis, and I don’t have a clue what it would take to decontaminate wastewater,” Haider said. “I think drilling and being able to get into the Trinity Aquifer would be our best bet going forward.”
Gold agreed with Haider, noting a concern with the numerous boil water notices he said residents have received over the years. He said the city’s water supply should come from other sources rather than Stillhouse Hollow Lake, where the city receives its water provided through Kempner Water Supply Corp. lines.
“There is in an aquifer we tap into, and I don’t see any reason why we have to rely on our resource coming from the Kempner Water Supply when we can supply our own,” Gold said.
Person and Shepard were asked a question that focused on the city’s wastewater treatment plant, which some have said is near capacity.
Person said she has talked with engineers who say treating wastewater for drinking water is a possibility. As for water quantity, she believes Lampasas should get into the Central Texas Water Alliance, a new entity that is awaiting approval from the Texas Legislature.
“[The alliance is] something we need to seriously think about as a backup system or as a primary system,” Person said. “It will take years to develop this, and it will be very expensive, but I think we learned this year that water is basic and required.”
Shepard said she believes the city should get in touch with the Saratoga Underground Water Conservation District for more supply.
“All of Lampasas County is part of that,” Shepard said. “If they are being able to collect water and have that in that aquifer, then that needs to be available for us to explore as well.”
As for the wastewater treatment plant, Shepard admitted it will take significant investment if that facility is full.
CITY GROWTH
Thompson addressed questions relating to city growth. She said responsible development and infrastructure improvements as the two keys.
“We are going to have to be stricter on how we do the developments, uphold the developer to a higher standard, whether that’s planning and zoning, up to their engineering plans, to make sure everything works accordingly,” she said.
On the topic of how the city should use hotel occupancy tax funds, Thompson noted the city working with non-profits to maximize tourism growth in Lampasas.
“We only have so many volunteers and so many places to utilize,” Thompson said. “That is where the city and the non-profits can join together to utilize those funds to bring people into town.”
HOSTESS HOUSE
The city of Lampasas has spent more than $2.2 million on renovations at the Hostess House in recent years. In the council’s most recent meeting, members approved an additional $5,950 for a structural review.
Haider and Gold offered responses on how they would tackle the work at that historic structure.
Gold said the venue could be popular to attract weddings and potentially increase hotel occupancy funds. But first, the city must verify that the building is deemed safe for use.
“I think we’ve run into lots of issues as we’ve been trying to restore this thing, and it’s becoming kind of a money pit,” Gold said. “We just keep dumping more and dumping more. I think it needs to be reassessed a little bit about where we go from here to make it a safe, functional building we can use.”
Haider was not ready to comment on the future of the Hostess House until a structural review can be completed.
“Obviously, if they come back and say the structure is not safe, we as the City Council have to think of alternate ways to use that building,” Haider said. “If they come back and say it is 100% safe, then of course the renovation will continue.”
CIVIC CENTER
Person and Shepard touched on the potential need for a civic center managed by the city. Although such a facility would be beneficial, Person believes the focus should be more on how to gather large groups of people and where.
“We have a gathering place issue,” Person said. “To me, the question is how we can gather large groups of people. It is not necessarily a civic center. It may be another discussion than that.”
To have a successful civic center, Shepard said infrastructure to support such a facility is needed.
“There are always people asking, ‘Where can we go to have this?’ ” Shepard said. “If we want to bring true economic development to Lampasas, we have to have a place to have those [events]. You cannot have a conference if you don’t have hotels to put them in. You cannot have a big event if you don’t have restaurants to go to.”
THE EDC BUSINESS PARK
Candidates had an opportunity to address what they see as the role of the Lampasas Economic Development Corp. In recent years, the EDC has concentrated on development of a business park. Those expenditures were reported at $6,928,440, with approximately $703,000 due in future interest payments.
In January, the City Council agreed to seek appraisals on Lot 4 of the business park. Selling off that portion could help pay the EDC’s $2.2 million debt.
Haider said he sees the business park investment as a waste.
“We tried for 20 years; we put $7.5 million into that piece of property south of town, and we have gotten nowhere,” Haider said. “My position is we should sell it and sell it as fast as we can and get as much money as we can.”
Haider’s challenger, Gold, sees the potential for homes to be built on the acreage rather than businesses.
“The property is not making Lampasas any money just sitting there, so either we have to make it affordable to businesses to build a business there or divide it up where we can put residents and homes there,” Gold said.
Thompson said she thinks it would be better to focus attention on small business firms throughout the city.
“What I would like to see with the EDC is the give-back to the businesses, helping the businesses,” she said.
Shepard said the business park is a mustsell, sell fast property.
“I don’t care if it’s commercial, residential, developer, builder -- no one is going to pay that,” Shepard said. “If we are going to sell off those things, whether we are selling it to residential or commercial, you are going to have to price it in line with what those developers would be willing to pay.”
Unlike the other candidates, Person offered a different perspective. She cautioned against selling the business park land before a backup solution is uncovered.
“I do caution against getting of it completely or having no replacement,” Person said. “I talked to some developers already. They want to have a place to bring a building into. they want a big-box building to be able to develop.”
*** Early voting for the Lampasas City Council races runs from April 21-29.
The election will take place May 3.