Dripping Springs approves new tree for holidays

DRIPPING SPRINGS  — The city of Dripping Springs is getting a new tree for this year’s Christmas on Mercer celebration.

At its March 5 meeting, Dripping Springs City Council unanimously approved a proposed amendment to the FY 2024 budget for the purchase of holiday decorations. The cost of the Christmas lighting display for Christmas on Mercer has increased by $40,000, from $27,290 to $67,290, for the purchase of a new tree, according to agenda documents.

“This came about as a request from the Lions Club, who had reached out to the city for assistance in replacing the Christmas tree that they put up every year at Christmas on Mercer,” said Deputy City Administrator Shawn Cox. “We have $40,000 budgeted [and] we are still working out if it’s better for us to purchase it first and get reimbursed or for them to provide us the reimbursement upfront. They agreed to pay for half of it and the estimated cost is around $40,000, so this puts that full purchase price in there, but we do anticipate a reimbursement to come from the Lions Club.”

The purchase of the tree will come out of the Hotel Occupancy Tax Fund, and nothing will be coming out of the General Fund, Cox said.

Emergency Management Committee

The council also unanimously approved amending Section 1.02.045 of the Code of Ordinances and the appointment of council member Geoffrey Tahuahua to serve as the chair of the Emergency Management Committee.

This comes after the council approved to change the Emergency Management Commission to a committee on Feb. 20, thus no longer requiring to have a quorum to meet or being required to comply with the Texas Open Meetings Act. Other changes due to the new designation include: the mayor appointing a city council member to the meeting body; elimination of subcommittee; not being tied to a specific meeting place; and reducing membership to nine people.

Section 1.02.045 of the Code of Ordinances is currently written as city council boards and commissions, and to make this section description more accurate for the items therein, city staff advised that the city council amend this to read city council committees. Also, Section 1.02.045(a) states that the mayor shall appoint members of the city council to committees to act as liaisons to those respective committees: “With the Emergency Management Committee, we went ahead and added this to that list,” said City Secretary Andrea Cunningham.

Each year, following the uniform election, the mayor appoints members of the city council to areas of oversight where the council member serves as a liaison to that area, according to agenda documents. Currently, council member Tahuahua is appointed to public health and safety where he attends Emergency Management meetings and acts as the city council liaison to the committee.

“We are also recommending the appointment of the council member whose area of oversight is health and public safety, which is council member Tahuahua,” Cunningham said. “He would be a non-voting member. He would be the chair, though.”

Dripping Springs City Council will meet again on Tuesday, March 19.