At their regular meeting on November 8, County Commissioners voted to extend the burn ban in Blanco County until December 13. Commissioner Chris Liesmann made a motion to take no action which would have effectively done away with the ban. His motion failed for lack of a second. Commissioner John Wood countered with a motion to extend the burn ban until December 13 at 9:00 a.m. which is when the Court will convene once again. His motion carried, with Mr. Liesmann voting no.

Commissioners authorized County Judge Bill Guthrie to sign a proclamation declaring November 15 as Texas Recycles Day. Commissioner Paul Granberg said that last year the Blanco Middle School participated in a very productive activity on Recycle Day and that this year the school plans to send some students to the Transfer Station to see how household garbage is recycled and/or disposed of.

The Recycling Alliance of Texas and Keep Texas Beautiful encourage state and community leaders to spread the word about programs that involve citizens in environmentally-conscious behaviors. Using recycled materials for the manufacturing of new products requires less energy than extracting and refining virgin materials, thereby reducing the combustion of fossil fuels for energy and resulting air emissions and conserving our natural resources.

In signing the proclamation, Judge Guthrie called upon the citizens of Blanco County to join in activities that promote responsible environmental stewardship.

In other actions, Commissioners approved vacating the existing plat for Round Mountain Ranches. Commissioner Liesmann reported that the subdivision had been platted into 25-acre tracts years ago but that development did not occur. The property now has new owners who want to redesign the development.

Commissioners also approved a preliminary plat for the proposed 500-acre Stone Ridge Mountain subdivision which will be located one mile off County Road 305 about eight miles from Marble Falls. According to Davy Roberts, the Stone Ridge Mountain development will be a gated community with concrete ribbon curbs and asphalt streets, and fifty-one five to ten acre wooded lots with mountain-top views. He indicated that land will go on sale beginning December 10.

Commissioner James Sultemeier asked about the availability of water for the development. Judge Guthrie indicated that Ron Fieseler of the Blanco County Groundwater Commission ran a check on test wells with surprisingly positive results. The vote was unanimous to approve the preliminary plat.

Also approved was the replat of Lots 629, 630 and 631, combining them into one lot as 629R in Unit 4 of the Rocking J. Ranch subdivision. The owners of record are General Aaron and Tanisha Clifford.

Upon Judge Guthrie’s recommendation, County Commissioners cast 1004 votes on the Official Ballot in order for Brenda Adair to remain on the Blanco County Appraisal Board of Directors. There were 1164 votes to distribute between five candidates. It takes 1001 votes in order to elect. The remaining votes were divided equally between the remaining candidates who were David Behrends, Lynn Boyd, Will Marasek and Will Shelton, each of whom received 40 votes.

Commissioners acknowledged the continuing education hours for Commissioners John Wood (20.5 hours) and James Sultemeier (33 hours).

Judge Guthrie reported that the occupancy of the new Jail and Law Enforcement Center is temporarily delayed while Verizon installs a paging channel for Blanco. It could be another month before a move takes place.