Editor’s Note: Find the debate article between the county judge candidates, incumbent Bryan Walker and challenger Alan Trevino, in the Friday, Feb. 6, edition.
A Burnet County Candidates Forum Jan. 29 allowed Burnet County judge and precinct 2 commissioner candidates seeking the GOP nomination to introduce themselves to the community.
The event, hosted by the Burnet Chamber of Commerce, involved a Meet & Greet at 5 p.m. followed by a forum with debate questions at the Burnet Community Center.
Milton Rister of Georgetown served as the moderator. His experience includes executive director of the Texas Railroad Commission, chief of staff for the Secretary of State’s Office; and in 2004 he was the executive director of the Republican Party of Texas.
Vying for the precinct 2 county commissioner position were Leonard Guenter and incumbent Damon Beierle. There are no Democrats who filed, so the winner of the primary will hold the position.
The candidates started with a two-minute introduction, followed by the questions from the moderator, Rister. The debate format included a two-minute time period to address each question with a oneminute rebuttal.
In his introduction, Guenter described himself as a lifelong member of Burnet County. He and his wife Robin, married for 37 years, have two married sons and three granddaughters.
He has owned a construction company for four years and has operated as a general contractor for 30 years and also deals in commercial and residential investments and real estate.
“You’ll find out I’m not a politician or a polished speaker, but I am dedicated and willing to take on challenges facing this county. I know there’s a lot of issues that people are worried about,” Guenter said.
“Over the years, I’ve seen how our county has changed. We’ve been hit hard … In the past two years, I’ve heard first hand what has been hitting people the most,” he added. “Some are frustrated that our roads and bridges are aging faster than the budget can keep up, yet their taxes keep going up.”
He described the priorities of families in rural areas.
“Others are worried about water running out for the families and their livestock. Landowners want to feel protected from big corporations that are making decisions from far away that can’t threaten their (corporation owners’) property and way of life,” Guenter continued.
He offered insight into the goals of a governing body.
“People want responsible government that’s looking out for them, with responsible budgeting and spending, and adequate funding for public safety,” Guenter said. “My role will not be to create more layers of government or more control; to make sure government works for the people it serves.”
Incumbent Introduction Beierle described how effective he has been as commissioner.
“I’m known locally for making a difference. Since I’m an active and responsive commissioner, I’m also known statewide by my peers. The daily role of a county commissioner is very diverse, and it requires someone who can multi-task, to get things done and lead effectively,” Beierle said. “We’ve had our share of unprecedented growth and national disasters as well as industrial growth. I answer the call, and I stand up to these challenges 100% of the time, boots on the ground.”
Beierle offered details about roadway work in his precinct.
“Precinct 2 has the most miles of road, and since I took office, we have rebuilt and repaved over 30 miles of that road … and your experienced road and bridge crew comes in ready to work each and every day to maximize the resources that we have,” Beierle said. “We aren’t even close to where we need to be, but we’re moving forward every day and that momentum, it will continue.
“When the tornado hit and the historic flood ravaged Burnet County, I stood shoulder-toshoulder with residents, getting roads passable and resources allocated,” Beierle explained. “When the new railroad threatened landowners, I coordinated the town hall, rallied with those affected and did what I could to slow that project down.”
He described issues currently facing the county.
“Navigating the unknown is a massive transmission line proposed to push through the county; we’re hosting town halls, opposing what we can, educating landowners and doing everything we can to protect Burnet County,” Beierle said. “Being connected to each unique community in precinct 2 is what helped me become an effective leader.
“I’m very proud of my transparency and accessibility, and you can find me at most of those gatherings year-round.”
Beierle shared that he was raised in Burnet and he and his wife have two children.
Roadway Issues On questions about prioritizing road repairs considering damage from the 2025 floods, Guenter said: “I would have to take a traffic plan for the county or at least for my precinct, have a list of all roads; how long they are, how many miles of road there is on each one.
“We go out and maybe give them a grade from A to F,” Guenter continued. “Get a cost as to what it’s going to take to fix each one of those and prioritize each road separately and go out and tell the public and tell them this is my plan and this is how we’re going to do it.
“We need to make our main road – the ones that we most go up and down – they need to be our prioritized roads and the rest of the roads we just have to get to them as soon as we can,” Guenter added.
On road maintenance and repair in the aftermath of the flood Beierle said: “When it comes to prioritizing roads, it is one of the most challenging things that we do. When we make a plan, you’ve seen it. We’ve had the tornado. We’ve had the floods. We’ve had to pivot. We’ve had to rotate. We have a minimum budget.
“It’s a cap budget each year. We maximize those funds each year. We just finished doing a traffic count study across the precincts, so we can look at the roads with the most traffic,” Beierle added. “Even though in a lot of cases we do have that data, we have confirmation, so we will be prioritizing those roads.”
Beierle continued with insight about the process for fixing roads.
“Flood roads first because we have 18 months to get those completed before FEMA expires, and we wouldn’t be able to get reimbursement for those roads, and so those roads get put in front of a lot of roads that were supposed to be done. It’s a lot of reactiveness, and we try to be as proactive as possible,” Beierle said.
Water Planning When Beierle was asked about longterm water planning and drought contingency measures in his precinct, he said: “Back in 2019 when I was first elected in three months we adopted as a (commissioners) court water availability studies for platting.
“Before that the minimum size to drill a well over the Trinity was two acres; over the Ellenberger was one acre, so a lot of times when they were doing plats the developers would just cut them up in the most lots that they can. It was economics for them, and there wasn’t a lot of groundwater studies done,” Beierle added.
“Local developers that I met over that time were doing groundwater studies because they live here and they wanted to be able to assure residents. But we had a lot of folks taking advantage,” Beierle continued. “Since 2019 when those water av ailability studies started, we started getting data from developers on water availability and the tract sizes started going up. The water proved that they could have 3 acre tracts or 4 or 5. We were able to increase that number.”
Beierle explained that in 2021, the county utilized COVID grant funds for infrastructure and the county opted to spend $100,000 of that money for a water availability studies and study the Trinity Aquifer.
“The results took some time but if you saw last week the water district (Central Texas Groundwater Conservation District) had enough data and evidence to put a water management zone over a big portion of precinct 2 which is from the south of the San Gabriel (River) north. That’s going to make for a 10acre minimum tract size for any new well,” he continued. “That’s a huge step in the right direction.”
Guenter countered the county should strike a balance with private property owners.
“They created this new water deal (zone) in Oakalla/Briggs. I hope as we go forward and we do this more in other areas that we can do it and maybe not infringe on property rights,” Guenter said. “Like ‘I want to sell my property but I can only sell in 5-acre tracts to make any money. Now I can only sell in 10 (acre tracts).’” Guenter added he would like to hold developers accountable for water availability.
“What I’d like to see on the development side is start making the developers come to the table more – rainwater collections, using the sewer (treated affluent) to water the yards, xeriscaping,” Guenter said. “I’d like to see other things also be added to what they’re doing.”
