Beautifying the business environment around the downtown square and Key Avenue are at the top of the priority list for new Lampasas City Manager Troy Hill.
The former Leander mayor’s first day as city manager came Sept. 2, as he has taken the role after the resignation of Erin Corbell.
Hill said he looks forward to meeting key stakeholders in the community and making it known the city will be responsive to residents’ needs.
“Letting them know we care about their business, we care about them, and we want to be responsive to their needs,” Hill said of his focus. “We are not a private company, but I want our customer service interactions to be better than any private company out there.”
Hill is no stranger to Lampasas. While growing up in Temple, Hill said he spent significant time in Lampasas with his father who had a deer lease in the area.
“I’m very familiar with the city,” Hill said. “I think the bones are here to create something really nice, really special. So many cities develop the same exact way -- you can sometimes never tell the difference when you leave one city and go into another one. I’d like to do something better and help the council and community really achieve that and make this a one-of-a-kind city.”
Before taking his new position in Lampasas, Hill served as the city administrator in Glen Rose for nearly two years.
His involvement in city government started in Leander, where he served on the Leander City Council for three years before serving as mayor from 2018-2021.
Hill believes the biggest lesson he learned in Leander was the need to grow responsibly.
“In Leander, I saw massive growth,” he said. “Just in the time I got sworn in as mayor till the time that I left, 18,000 new people moved there -- three times the city of Lampasas -- just major growth.
“There are things you can do to manage growth, so I think I have learned about how to avoid some of the pitfalls that cities like Leander, Georgetown or Kyle, a lot of areas around Austin, have seen.”
Hill doesn’t foresee Lampasas experiencing the amount of growth that Austin-area suburbs have, however the city could be like one of its Hill Country neighbors.
“I hate to use comparisons,” Hill said. “Maybe it’s never going to be Fredericksburg, and people probably wouldn’t want that, but maybe it is Fredericksburg 30 years ago. I think Lampasas could be that.”
As city manager, Hill also will serve as the director for the Lampasas Economic Development Corp.
In January, EDC board members agreed to seek appraisals on Lot 4 of the Lampasas Business Park to help pay off debt. A joint meeting between the EDC and Lampasas City Council to discuss appraisals on the 80-plus acres was put on hold in August after the EDC board was unable to secure a quorum.
Some Lampasas residents and EDC board members have expressed the thought that the EDC’s focus should be more on what the city already has. Hill agrees with those sentiments.
“If we get the downtown and the businesses along [U.S. Highway] 183 really going, I bet that business park starts to get some nibbles,” the new city manager said. “It could be a mixed-use development; it could be a housing development. I think it’s to be determined.”
To ensure the city is successful, Hill said increasing sales tax revenues from new business is a must.
“If you don’t have that, then the alternative is higher property taxes,” he said. “We don’t necessarily want to do that. Sales tax is something if you are really successful at it, you can keep your property taxes low. That is something I would want to focus on first.”
Nonetheless, Hill asserts it is important what type of businesses the city attracts. He would like to entice businesses that could activate the downtown area or fill empty lots on Key Avenue and make it a destination for tourism and residents.
“To me, it is more selective,” Hill said of business recruitment possibilities. “Like, we don’t have a steakhouse, maybe a steakhouse would be great. It wouldn’t be a direct competitor with some of the more established businesses, but it is something the community would like. Or maybe another entertainment option, maybe some wineries in the downtown area.”
Along with having been a former mayor and city administrator, Hill spent a little over two years with Aqua Texas, a water and wastewater utility. He believes unlike some Austinarea suburbs, Lampasas is in a better situation waterwise than it appears. Hill said sufficient water quantity is a must for attracting new businesses.
He acknowledged residents’ concerns about the quality of the water Lampasas receives, which is purchased from Central Texas Water Supply Corp. but travels through Kempner Water Supply Corp. infrastructure. Hill said he looks forward to meeting with water suppliers to learn more about how to improve the situation.
“I know companies are hesitant sometimes to spend the money, but if you want to be a regional water supplier, then infrastructure needs are at the top of the list,” Hill said. “You have to invest like anything else. Those are going to be conversations we will be having.”
The city will host a meet-and-greet reception Thursday at the City Administration building from 2-4 p.m. to allow residents the opportunity to meet the new city manager. Hill said he looks forward to being engaged with the community.
“I plan on being a handson, out-in-the-community type person,” he said. “I’m not going to be chained to a desk. I’m not going to be on an island and not get to know people in the community.”
