Wake Up Llano, Texas!

You Can Make a Difference!

The academic mentoring program at Llano Elementary School is starting it’s 3rd year. This is an excellent program whereby each and every one of us can make a difference. You and I have the opportunity to have a positive impact on the life of a young person - at a very important time in their lives.

The time requirement is 30 to 60 minutes once a week with the student assigned.

Don’t be shy! This is your chance to make a difference in a very meaningful way with the most import resource we have - our young people!

The program coordinator is Shelly Schuessler. She can be reached via phone at 248-2234 or email at sschuessler@llano.k12.tx.us.

Llano Softball now has 2 representatives on the Llano Little League board. Mary Faircloth and Ann Haddaway were elected at the Board Meeting on Sept. 18 held at the Llano Library.

In addition, all officers were re-elected from the previous year in the same positions.

After a year’s hiatus, Play to Win by Mikel Virdell has returned to cyber space.

Mikel has been report on Llano Yellow Jacket Football since 1973. In addition to reporting on the games, Mikel maintains an every growing list of records for Llano Yellow Jacket Football.

If you are interested in Llano Yellow Jacket Football, be sure to visit Play to Win.

I thought I would attend the public meeting on the wastewater treatment plant because I hadn’t yet formed an opinion on what would be the best direction for Llano to go in. I thought the meeting would be a good opportunity to get the best information on the available options.

Shortly after arriving, I was greeted by Mayor Roger Pinckney with the statement “I thought we had this settled. This plant costs a lot less than a membrane plant.”

The meeting was opened with remarks from Mayor Pinckney and comments or questions from the floor were asked for. I asked a three part question to determine relative operating costs and maintenance issues of the two different plants. To their credit, the City Manager and one of the Engineers attempted to provide the best possible answers to my questions.

From that point, the meeting quickly degenerated into anything but the pursuit of accurate factual information.

One gentlemen stood and expounded on problems of medical waste, bacteria and chemicals being discharged into the Llano River - speak in against the membrane plant. These are legitimate concerns in this day and time. However, the membrane plant is the only solution to many of these problems. The process used in the now approved plan for the city will not deal with heavy metals, many chemicals and bacteria.

Treatment of medical waste with biological processes is not fully developed and would still require an extruder and other processing equipment. For more information on treatment of medical waste via biological processes, you can go here.

One lady spoke out about the cost of the membrane filters - without any information on the life expectancy of the filters or comparative maintenance and operating costs between the systems.

Mayor Pinckney responded to a question by stating that no other membrane plants are operating in the state of Texas. Later, a very quick check on line showed that statement to be false. I fail to understand the importance of whether any plants are operating in Texas or not.

Mayor Pinckney cited concern about loss of engineering costs already spent on the plans if the city switched to the membrane plant. Again, a very quick check later determined there would be very little loss of the engineering costs. The membrane plant is a package plant - the engineering costs are already contained in the purchase price.

Mayor Pinckney cited concerns about discharging the output of the membrane plant into the Llano River, also citing potential permitting problems, etc. Again, a very minimal amount research on my part determined that a. discharge doesn’t necessarily have to go into the Llano River; b. the state sees no problem with permitting the membrane plant or discharge into the Llano River, if that were determined to be the optimum method of disposal. The discharge of the membrane plant into the Llano River would be probably be less problematic than running a hose from your home’s water system into the River, given the current condition of Llano’s water distribution system.

And, most incomprehensible of all, Mayor Pickney, the city Manager, John Montgomery, and the City Council members could not agree on the impact of the new plant on the utility bills. Mayor Pinckney stated that the impact would only be about $12.50. John Montgomery spoke up and informed the Mayor his figure was wrong. The Mayor responded the difference could come out of the General Fund. The majority of the monies in the General Fund come from the utility bills. The citizens of Llano can expect an increase in their utility bill of somewhere between $25.00 and $40.00 - but it will be a complete surprise to them.

A number of people at this meeting began shouting down any opposition to Mayor Pinckney’s plan. Like children, that volume would make up for facts and critical analysis. I am curious to see the reaction of these same people once the truth is known and the utility bill costs increase far above Mr. Pinckney’s estimate.

I went to the meeting not knowing which would be the best solution for Llano. I left the meeting without knowing which system would be best for Llano. However, it was readily apparent the mayor and city council didn’t know either. A comparative evaluation of initial costs, operating costs, maintenance issues and environmental impact had not been done. There had been only a reaction to the very inaccurate comparison of initial costs.

If the approved plan was really the best option for Llano, why use scare tactics, half truths and blatant falsehoods? If this plan is actually the best for Llano now and for years to come, the plan should be able to withstand the most rigorous analysis and emerge as the optimum solution to the problem.

You may read the minutes of the meeting, such as they are, here.

Our leaders made one of the most important decisions facing the city in a quarter century without :

a. knowing the financial impact of the decision on the citizens,

b. without even a minimum level of analysis between alternatives and

c. without providing the citizens complete, accurate information on the various systems and the impact of each.

It’s time to Wake Up, Llano! Is this really the level of leadership Llano needs to lead it into the future?