The Mason Jr. High Robotics has qualified six teams to compete in Area 15 Competition. There are three teams competing in the arena event. This requires students to have a 30-second programmed robot that will complete tasks set ahead of competition time. The teams will have to work with other teams to achieve the maximum score.
With 2021 ending soon, the Mason County News decided to take a look back at 2021 in the City of Mason and a peek toward planned city projects for 2022.
Looking back at some 2021 highlights
“Some of these projects began before 2021, but progress on the HMO (Hydrous Manganese Oxide filtration) system is one of the highlights of this year,” said City Administrator, John Palacio, on Tuesday.
Fentapills. Have you ever heard of these? They are the millions of fake prescription pills that have flooded the market since about 2014. Drug dealers are business people, and they follow the money. As long as there is a demand for Xanax, Oxycodone, Percocet and the like, they will find the easiest, most profitable way to supply them.
Hundreds of people already have donated tens of thousands of dollars to be used toward rebuilding the historic Mason County Courthouse, which was destroyed by an alleged arsonist earlier this year, but the monumental fundraising effort is just beginning.
“I’ll always remember how proud I felt of our courthouse, of how beautiful it was,” said Bobbie McMillan, president of Friends of the Mason County Courthouse board of directors.
It will cost an estimated $19.6 million to rebuild the ...
MISD board members approved redistricting criteria and voted in an increased incentive pay for teachers this year at their Monday night meeting.
Attorney Sara Leon of Austin presented the board with her redrawn district criteria, which meets the required 10% population deviation numbers. The board approved the criteria, and will post the map on its website.
Mason County Commissioners’ focus was on the county’s Road and Bridge department Monday, as they approved a salary adjustment for members of the department, hired a new full time employee, and held a workshop discussion of the department’s needs.
Workers in the department will see a $2.70 per hour increase in their pay beginning on Jan.1, with the Assistant Road and Bridge Administrator getting a raise of $3.70 per hour.
The City’s Planning and Zoning Committee began their Nov. 16 meeting with a discussion of two important ordinances they are crafting.
Animal control in the city is the first area the committee is working to better regulate. Animal Control officer, Johnny Castillo, presented an updated packet to the committee, which they will begin to review at their next meeting.
Last week’s decision by the City Commissioners to return $284,000 in federal funding drew a large crowd to the Monday night meeting, mostly in support of the action. Twenty or more citizens who attended were in favor of giving back the funding, but at least five there opposed it. Individuals from each group were given an opportunity to express their views.
The returned funds were available to the City of Mason through the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) as part of the Coronavirus Local Fi ...
Some voters in Mason County will have a new polling location next year after the county commissioners court realigned half of its precinct boundaries during a redistricting process.
“We had to align two of our four commissioners court precincts to within 10% of the population on the voter rolls, so that the numbers are evened out,” said Mason County Judge Jerry Bearden, on Monday.
Mason County’s voting district lines have been redrawn per a state-mandated redistricting and were approved by County Commissioners Monday. Population numbers determined by the last census called for changes in voting districts two and four. The new districts are “effective immediately,” said Judge Jerry Bearden, and new polling places will be assigned before the next election.
