Buddy Whitley named April Employee of the Month

Buddy Whitley of the San Saba Parks Department was honored with Employee of the Month award for April, 2024. Buddy has been with this department for about two years. His supervisor, Eugene Bessent, stated Buddy has done a really good job and has really improved the flower beds. He noted the flowers and everything in the park look really good.

Gale Ivy addressed the City Council and read the Keep San Saba Beautiful/Keep America Beautiful President’s Recognition Award. She stated the award is for making public places into beautiful places. Our very own KSSB won the award.

Mayor Jordan then presented a Certificate of Recognition for Outstanding Recycling Efforts in 2023 to Juan Montoya, Sanitation Supervisor, and the City of San Saba.

The City Council unanimously passed all Consent Agenda Items which included: Minutes from March meeting, Payment of presented bills, approval of Resolution No. 2024-09 to waive a noise ordinance for April 27, 2024 at Mill Pond Park Gazebo for Melinda Vantress, and approval of Resolution No. 2024-10 to waive a noise ordinance for April 27, 2024, at Risien Park for Catkins Ball.

The only Discussion/Action Item on the agenda was Resolution No. 202-11 approving a Municipal Maintenance Agreement between the State of TxDOT and the City of San Saba for Maintenance, Control, Supervision and Regulation of Certain State Highways within the Corporate limits of the City of San Saba, Texas, and Providing for Execution of said Agreement.

City Manager Scott Edmonson stated the last time this was done was October of 2013. There were a few minor changes made, which were for things we are already doing. This was approved unanimously.

City Manager's Report

The following report was given by City Manager Scott Edmonson.

Over the last two weeks, we have primarily been concentrating on two things: the Splash Pad and the Eclipse.

Splash Pad - ready and operational. Waiting on a few things to do such as filling in sand and finishing sidewalks to be ADA compliant. He guessed it should be ready the first to the second of May.

The rock sign is being made. The wording has to be done with particular language to be compliant with the grant money. Also putting a sign up with the rules. Rock was put on the outside of the pump house to resemble the other rock.

Eclipse - many meetings have taken place. People were scared because of the weather forecast. The clouds opened up, and we were glad to see the sun. We made plans but then had to be flexible.

Mill Pond Park was initially blocked off to divert traffic to the Civic Center. However, the traffic was such that the decision was made to open up Mill Pond Park. That tremendously helped the situation.

People coming to town were very courteous, very thankful, very appreciative. When it was over, many of them left in an orderly fashion. Some of them stayed and visited around town.

Because of the weather forecast, the numbers were not quite what we expected. You plan for the worst and hope for the best. Many kudos go to all the staff.

Downtown Revitalization Project - moving forward.

City Manager Edmonson then asked if there were any other reports from the other City leaders.

Other Reports Public Words Director Scott Glaze talked about the excitement for the eclipse and all the people showing up. It was a surprising thing for us; we had a completely different result than expected. When they started coming in, it was enjoyable to meet the people and talk to them. They were very respectful. There was no trash left. They were very courteous and very happy to be here. They were very surprised we were not charging them to come here. I talked to people from all over the world - Switzerland, Scotland, and states from all over the US.

Police Chief John Bauer said he also saw people from Ireland, Norway, and from San Francisco to Pennsylvania.

He wanted to thank City Manager Edmonson for all the time and planning he put into the eclipse event. He also gave kudos to the Keep San Saba Beautiful team and stated people absolutely loved Mill Pond Park and the Nature Park. So many people said when they come back to Texas, they are coming back to San Saba. He said he talked to hundreds, if not thousands, of people, and they loved it here!

Mayor Ken Jordan reported San Saba got a very good report on KXAN. One of their newscasters chose to come to San Saba’s Mill Park to experience the Total Solar Eclipse. The newscaster talked about how beautiful the community was, how nice and friendly everyone was.

City Manager Edmonson noted the planning had been taking place for 18 months to two years, and then it was over almost instantly. The biggest fear was when people would leave after the eclipse, but there was no problem.

There were nine planes that landed at the airport. He stated it is hard to estimate how many came, maybe anywhere from 2,000 to 4,000 came to San Saba for the event.

Even though the eclipse event did not bring the feared large number of visitors to our community, it did help San Saba be better prepared in case of a real emergency such as a horrible weather event.