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State heads for May 29 primary election
Candidate signup extended to March 9
Monitor Staff Reports
AUSTIN–Federal judges in San Antonio unveiled interim maps for the state’s congressional delegation and for the state Legislature last Tuesday in time for a unified primary election May 29.
The justices also released agreed upon maps for the Senate districts formed in early February.
The court asked political parties to detail the election law waivers they would need in order to hold their primaries then.
Here are the new dates:
• Filing for all offices were to reopen Friday, March 2, and will close Friday, March 9.
• Early voting will begin May 14.
• Any runoff election would be set for July 31.
The new maps split the four new congressional seats as two Republican and two Democratic.
Attorney General Greg Abbott said these maps are much closer to those originally approved by the Texas Legislature last year. “I consider these interim maps to be a substantial improvement over the maps previously issued by the San Antonio court,” he stated in a press release Wednesday. “The court properly rejected demands by some plaintiffs to draw drastic and over-reaching maps.”
Gov. Rick Perry added, “While we believe the original maps drawn by the Texas Legislature were fair and legal, I am pleased we finally have maps that enable us to proceed with our elections.”
The state objected to the court’s first maps because the judges started their drawings from the current political maps instead of starting with the maps approved by the Legislature last year. The U.S. Supreme Court kicked those back, telling the Texas judges to start from the Legislature-approved maps, correcting for violations of the federal Voting Rights Act, based on the strength of legal challenges presented.
According to political analyst Robert Miller, the Republicans will be favored to have 25 seats in the Congressional delegation after the 2012 elections, and the Democrats 11.

Potholes follow rains, city tries to keep up
The story of a country road
By Pearl Cantrell
Monitor Staff Writer
PAYNE SPRINGS–Payne Springs council members were all handed a list of complaints regarding potholes and road repairs needing to be made at the last council meeting, Feb. 21.
The city secretary had been told to document the calls and complaints that come in regarding roads as a check against the work currently being done by the city to fill potholes and make repairs.
With recent rains washing over some of the roads due to inadequate drainage, the secretary handed in a list of 17 complaints.
“Nothing gets done,” Del Mar resident Craig Thurmon told The Monitor following the meeting.
“I dare one of these policemen to give me a ticket for weaving along Leisureland Road to miss the potholes,” he taunted.
Council action on roads taken Feb. 21 included approving the purchase of a four-foot attachment for a leased backhoe to assist in the clearing of ditches alongside city- maintained roadways. Currently, the city is using an 18-inch wide bucket for the same purpose.
Councilman Chris Reed reported finding one that would serve the city’s need for around $900, including shipping, via the Internet.
“It’s something we need real bad to clean out the ditches, councilman Michael Juica agreed.
The next morning, The Monitor, along with the city secretary, toured the trouble spots identified by city residents via the list to see first hand, what Payne Spring residents are driving on.
The city is responsible for maintaining 27 miles of roads in the city limits. These are interspersed with sections of roadway maintained by Henderson County Precinct 2 Commission Wade McKinney.
In May 2011, voters renewed a quarter of 1 percent from the collectible sales tax in the city to be dedicated to road maintenance. However, it was approved by only the barest of margins – 13 approved the dedicated funding, while 12 opposed it.
Sales tax collected in Payne Springs still remains at the lowest rate of any city around the lake, at 8 percent.
Leisureland Road serves residents of Three Harbors, Condo’s Del Mar, Leisureland and Golden Oaks, with the city responsible for the section from State Highway 198 to Cawthorn Road and the county from Cawthorn Road on.
The Monitor found no major potholes on the city section of the roadway. City secretary Karen Juica pointed out a patched repair the city had completed two months before. “And it’s rained at least twice since then and the patch has held,” she said.
Also she showed The Monitor where a giant double culvert had been put in by the county at the city’s request to carry water away from Leisure Land Estates, through Del Mar and into Cedar Creek Lake.
“There’s still the last culvert (in Del Mar) that needs to be enlarged,” she said. “But water flowing from there to the lake doesn’t cross into anyone’s property and seldom spills over any roads.”
Right at the entrance to Del Mar was evidence of older repairs and need for newer ones to be made.
“We worked in Del Mar last year and have other roadways in worse shape that need work before we return here,” she explained.
On Magellan Street, she pointed out a new culvert that had recently been installed on the left side of the street. No culverts were used on the lakeside because water drains into the lake there.
She pointed out her own house, where she had laid out 4-by-4 wooden beams to run water away from the front door and down the driveway and to the lake.
A few minor potholes were noted in Del Mar, where the speed limit is only 20 mph.
Homeowners could help preserve their roads by clearing debris and leaves out of the culverts in front of their properties, Juica noted.
Doubling back to Cawthorn, which the county maintains, and down to Dyer Circle a major school bus route through the neighborhood of Oakwood Shores, we say where Dyer Circle joins Oakwood Shores. Some major potholes were seen at the stop sign, along with signs of earlier repairs needing to be redone, due to water seeping into the pavement and loosening the patch away from the base.
Some of the roads didn’t appear to have a base to it any longer and are in continuous need of patching.
“All these roads could be fixed properly with a road crew and $500,000,” Karen Juica said.
The city is patching with a flex base, a concrete and gravel combination that is used to fill holes and hardens before a cold mix of asphalt blacktop is smoothed over the top, followed by a seal coat to keep water out. “It’s a process that requires time and good weather to complete,” she said.
The city is doing these repairs with volunteers, mainly on weekends and some late afternoons and during business house using contract labor.
At the Feb. 21 meeting it was pointed out that the amount of money spent on contract labor was up due to the recent good weather, which allowed for more work to be done on road patching.
So far, these roads looked like simple fixes, but even easier preventative measures could be taken to preserve the roads.
Currently, an engineer working on a drainage project in Southwood Shores is assisting the city in analyzing some of the city’s roads and suggesting minimum culvert sizes needed in each area.
Councilman Michael Juica has twice tabled the discussion on formulating an ordinance to standardize culvert sizes, until the engineer’s analysis can be completed and an ordinance can be worded for council consideration.
Keeping water from pooling on roadways through cleared drainage channels and adequate culvert sizes is the best way to preserve roadways and save money, Michael Juica told The Monitor.
The city’s current budget sets aside $30,000 for roads, plus the addition of $15,500 of voter mandated funds for repairs, totaling $45,500. Last year, the council adjusted the budget to add $18,000 more to the purchase of road repair material.
In addition, the city sets aside $10,000 to pay for contract labor to work during the week as weather conditions allow on road repairs.
Either a councilman or a police officer checks on their progress daily, The Monitor learned.
Over the past year, the city has also been acquiring its own road repair equipment. After hiring a paving contractor to rebuild the intersection of county roads 2507 and 2529 and a stretch of 2529 for $12,000 in the summer of 2010 and have it return to the same rotten condition less than two years the council decided to do repairs themselves. It has acquired a self-propelled asphalt roller (4,500), a hand-held vibrating slate packer ($1,200), a seal coat machine ($1,800), a chip seal spreader (cheap) and the use of a dump truck and backhoe.
The city also works with the county through interlocal agreements limited to $3,000 each to repair roadway, depending on priorities and weather conditions.
“There is a lot of road repair work needed in the city, and it is being worked on,” councilman Michael Juica said. “But short of collecting a hefty city property tax, the city is doing all it can do to make repairs.”