Starting Tuesday, February 25, the Williamson County Parks & Recreation Department will be closing a portion of the Brushy Creek Regional Trail at Great Oaks Drive for a utility relocation project. Water lines for Brushy Creek MUD and Fern Bluff MUD are being relocated prior to the start of the Great Oaks Drive bridge replacement over Brushy Creek. For safety in and around the construction area, the Brushy Creek Regional Trail will be closed at the boardwalk at Creekside Park to just east of the Great Oaks Drive and Hairy Man Road intersection. The work will take approximately two months, weather permitting. Following the relocation of the water lines, Williamson County will begin work on replacing the Great Oaks Drive bridge over Brushy Creek in spring 2020. Look for updates on the project website. We apologize for any inconvenience this causes our residents. 

Early voting for the March 3 primaries starts February 18, and it will last until February 28. The Ballot by Mail deadline is February 21. Please keep in mind the applications have to be received by that day, they cannot just be postmarked. If you are planning to visit a polling location to cast your vote, be sure to bring a photo ID or other supporting documentation. Remember you can review a sample ballot before arriving at the polling site to help you with the process. For details on early voting, polling locations, sample ballots and more click here.

In March, U.S. Census postcards will be mailed to most homes over the course of a few days. Self-response will begin mid-March and ends July 31. The U.S. Census goes to great lengths to protect the information it receives. Some people have reported receiving mail, emails or phone calls that appear to be from the census, but are phishing schemes. You may be the victim of a scam if someone claiming to be from the Census Bureau asks you for certain information. The Census Bureau never asks for:
•    Your full social security number
•    Money or donations
•    Anything on behalf of a political party
•    Your full bank or credit card account numbers
•    Your mother’s maiden name. 

Should you suspect fraudulent activity, the Census Bureau has several suggestions on how to handle the situation on their website. If you have any questions about the 2020 Census, please visit 2020census.gov. 

On January 22, Williamson County sold approximately $348 million in bonds for road and park improvements. Voters approved the sale of $412 million in bonds for roads and $35 million for parks in the November 2019 election. Fitch Ratings and Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services once again affirmed their AAA rating for Williamson County bonds. Williamson County is one of only 8 counties in the State of Texas and 101 counties in the US to receive a AAA rating, the highest possible. “The interest rates we were able to obtain with our AAA bond rating averaged 2.32% for road bonds. According to Bloomberg, the last time the interest rate was this low was in 1956 when Dwight D. Eisenhower was president and Elvis Presley released his second studio album. It also was the year that Congress approved the Highway Act, which allowed the U.S. interstate highway system to be constructed. This seems very fitting since the majority of the bonds sold today will be used to increase safety and mobility on our Williamson County roads,” said County Judge Bill Gravell.

Williamson County District Clerk Lisa David wants to warn residents in Williamson and surrounding counties about a phone scam that was reported to her office.  People have been receiving calls from someone who claims to be a county official or law enforcement officer telling the victim that he or she has failed to appear for jury duty and is threatening arrest by failure to appear. District Clerk Lisa David wants to assure the public that this is not a practice that is used in Williamson County for jurors who do not appear for jury service, and she has not requested that any calls like these be made in her name.  Anyone who wishes to file a report about receiving a scam call should contact the Williamson County Sheriff’s Office at 512-943-1300.