Horseshoe Bay City Manager Jeff Koska was monitoring dangerous weather threats early on Tuesday morning as reports vacillated between tornado watch and tornado warning as radar indicated rotation forming over Horseshoe Bay Fortunately, by late morning the threat was past so that Koska and Assistant City Manager Rick Williams could fulfill a noon speaking engagement at the Highland Lakes Kiwanis Club meeting at River City Grille.
Their report about HSB covered a lot of interesting topics from construction updates on the City Center and Fire House #2 building projects, to multiple water issues, high speed internet, traffic patterns and shared transportation paths. One of the messages that came through loud and clear was wise stewardship of tax dollars. Another message was the challenge of managing so many projects that require coordination by the city office.
Koska’s children graduated from MFISD, and his grandchildren represent the seventh generation of Texans in his family He feels deeply invested. He has served HSB in water management since the early days of the Municipal Utility District beginning in 1998 and began service as city manager in 2022. Rick Williams has followed in Koska’s footsteps from director of public works to assistant city manager.
In response to questions, Williams addressed population growth and resident fluctuations in HSB. The permanent resident population is approaching 7,000 residents, but can surge higher than 15,000 people on holidays. These estimates are based on wastewater usage.
Koska presented graphs and charts that clearly confirm that the central Texas region suffers from a history of drought and flood. Despite the nice morning showers, historically the drought has never been worse than at the present time. Koska indicated the current budget response of the Governor and Legislature is but “a drop in the bucket” compared to the growing water needs.
According to Koska, “We are specifically trying to find ways to do better water conservation and looking at alternate sources of water.” He referred to Marble Falls’ development of an $8 million wastewater reclamation plant. The Kiwanis Club had learned about that project from the Marble Falls mayor recently The expensive solution indicates the magnitude of future water problems if unaddressed now.
In response to a question about water usage of the five golf courses in HSB, Koska indicated that about 95% of the 200 million gallons of HSB wastewater is used to irrigate the golf courses. That represents about 90% of the total water the golf courses require.
Koska also reported on the ongoing project to improve high speed internet in the challenging Hill Country topography and granite rock. The project was funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, which funded both municipalities and rural counties. Part of the funds came directly to the City of HSB and $ 1 million came from Llano County, which responded to an HSB request for assistance.
The best solution was determined to be construction of multiple towers providing coverage of the community utilized by two competing wireless internet companies approved by the city The city incentivized a fiber optic cable company which utilized micro-trenching down city streets to connect the towers. This creative coordination of technologies provided a solution in a challenging environment.
In addition to HSB residents, which comprises the majority of Kiwanis Club members, other members come from Marble Falls, Meadowlakes, Granite Shoals, as far north as Park Road 4, as far east as Smithwick, and as far out as Buchanan Dam and Tow. The membership consists of retirees, local business owners, educators and non-profits. The Kiwanis Club clearly reflects the geography and diversity of the Highland Lakes region.
