Mayor’s Corner
Due to significant public controversy, the Texas Water Development Board has requested a public hearing prior to an amend of the existing Finding of No Significant Impact, dated August 6, 2014. The Town Hall meeting is to discuss the state of the city, finances, developments and any ordinances or zoning changes.
Both meetings are scheduled for the same evening, Tuesday January 8th, 2019. The Public Hearing will commence at 5:30 pm and will conclude no earlier than 7:30 pm after which time the Town Hall meeting will commence. This allocates at least 2 hours for the public hearing of citizen comments/testimony with regards to the proposed project changes of the sewer, potential environmental impacts, alternatives to the proposed changes, and the economic impact on rate payers. If there are any citizens not given the opportunity to speak due to time constraints, they will have 10 business days following the meeting to submit testimony. Please note that only one speaker representative per group or agency will be recognized and as customary the speaker may only address the Governing Body and not the audience. This does not preclude private citizens from speaking individually. Please keep in mind that a Public Hearing is a formal meeting which must adhere to prescribed guidelines. Members of the TWDB, Central Team 5, have been invited to attend; however, they are not expected to be present. A Record of the Public Hearing will be prepared and a verbatim transcript, not just a summary or minutes, of the hearing along with written testimony will be presented to the TWDB for their consideration.
The Bonds which were awarded to the City of Wimberley to fund our “sewer project” remain intact. The collection system is on schedule without delay. The Board simply would like to be assured that the change of scope to eliminate of the sewage treatment plant and to contract with a private enterprise, Aqua Texas, will not adversely affect our ability to repay the bonds. This is a financially justified change of scope. Individual rates are projected to be significantly lower than they would have been with the expense of a sewage treatment plant. Consequently, until the customer base for the sewer connections has grown the city general fund (via the park fund) will have to subsidize the repayment of the bonds. Unfortunately, watering the park will have to wait until we can afford a return line from Aqua Texas’s treatment facility. Per the contract with Aqua Texas they have agreed to upgrade their plant to process the sewage to an enhanced type A reusable water. The upgrade of their plant will be at their own expense and they have agreed per the contract to make available to the City clean reusable water at no additional cost. In the meantime, the water will be applied in accordance with their TCEQ permitted land application which will benefit the entire Wimberley Valley not just the city park.
The Town Hall meeting will have a less formal protocol with open exchange of questions and answers between citizens and the governing body as a whole with respect to any other areas of interest.