The Open
Morning, Georgetown. 👋
Long weekend ahead, and the chlorine rinse finally ends tomorrow, so your tap water gets its personality back just in time for company.
This week we are talking about the jail site fight out on the Inner Loop, a city budget that grew by $300 million, and four teenagers who just did something genuinely impressive. Let's go.
The Big Thing: The county wants to hear from you about the jail. Residents say that is not the same as listening.
The fight over where Williamson County puts its new Jail and Justice Center Complex has been running since spring, and it reached a new phase in the last two weeks.
The background. In March, the county moved to buy roughly 253 acres in southeast Georgetown for about $76 million, bordered by SE Inner Loop, County Road 110, and Maple Street, with Sam Houston Avenue running through it. The plan is a new jail, sheriff's office, and district and county courts, replacing a downtown facility the county says is overcrowded and structurally failing. Sheriff Matt Lindemann has described maintenance problems that include sewage leaking from the jail into offices below.
The objection. Neighbors are not primarily arguing the county needs no new jail. They are arguing about this particular site, which sits near recently built neighborhoods and roughly a mile from Mitchell Elementary and Wagner Middle. Residents have raised concerns about daily inmate releases near homes and school walking routes. One frequently repeated complaint at Commissioners Court has been that none of the commissioners live near the proposed complex. Other residents have spoken in favor, arguing the location is central, near existing county buildings, and sized for a county that keeps growing.
What just happened. After three months of pushback, the county held community engagement meetings on Aug. 22 and Aug. 27 at the Williamson County EMS North Campus, with project team members on hand to collect feedback. The Sun's account of the first meeting is blunt: residents came away unsatisfied with the outreach, and many did not answer the questions the county actually asked, choosing instead to give general feedback about the project itself. Back in July, Precinct 4 Commissioner Russ Boles said commissioners were pushing to slow the process down to rebuild public trust.
The part most people miss, and it matters. The county owns the land, but it cannot simply build. The project still has to clear the City of Georgetown's zoning process. That means a city public hearing, city council votes, and a completely separate set of elected officials answering to Georgetown residents specifically. If you have an opinion on this, that is your highest leverage moment, and it has not happened yet.
We will flag it here when the rezoning hits a city agenda.
The Week Ahead
Thu 9/3 · the annual chlorine rinse ends. One month, done. Fish tank owners, you can relax.
Fri 9/4 · First Friday Music on the Square, courthouse lawn, 6 to 8 p.m. Free. Hosted by the Downtown Georgetown Association, running the first Friday of the month through November. Bring a chair or a blanket.
Fri 9/4 · First Friday ghost tour from the Williamson Museum, downtown, 8 p.m. Haunted and historic buildings around the Square. Around $20, less for members and students.
Sat 9/5 · Wolf Ranch Farmers Market, morning. The reliable Saturday move.
Mon 9/7 · Labor Day. Expect city and county offices closed and trash pickup shifted. Check the city site before you drag the bin out.
Friday nights · high school football is in full swing. Check gisdathletics.org for this week's matchups and kickoff times.
Something we missed? Hit reply. The tip line is always open.
Eat and Drink: What is coming next
The Junction is two weeks old and still drawing crowds, but the pipeline behind it has not slowed down. A few things worth knowing about:
Texas Roadhouse has been under ground up construction at 2209 North I-35, with a target of late September. Schoepf's BBQ, the second location for the well known Belton pit, gives Georgetown a serious barbecue destination that does not require driving out of town. And downtown, Sanctuary Holistic Kitchen has moved its retail into Lark and Owl Booksellers while it works through permitting on the former Alouette Bistro space.
One goodbye still on the calendar: the Frozen Flamingo is closing this fall. If frozen custard has been part of your family's summer, this long weekend is a good excuse.
Local Spotlight: Troop 4050's first four Eagle Scouts
Here is the best local story of the week. Georgetown Scouts BSA Troop 4050 just watched four of its founding members reach the rank of Eagle Scout: Arnia Venkatesan, Claire Sugamele, Damien DeLeon, and Savannah Heron.
The detail that makes it: the troop formed in 2019, right after Boy Scouts of America began welcoming girls as members. So these are not just the troop's first Eagle Scouts. They are the kids who joined a brand new troop with no history, no older scouts to follow, and no one ahead of them to show how it was done, and they went all the way to the top of the program anyway.
Eagle Scout takes years, a stack of merit badges, and a service project you plan and lead yourself. Four of them, from a troop that did not exist seven years ago. Congratulations to all four, and to the adults who drove them to a lot of meetings.
Know someone in Georgetown worth featuring? Hit reply and nominate them. These are my favorite emails to get.
The Roundup
The city budget grew by $300 million. Council unanimously approved Georgetown's $1.65 billion FY27 budget on first reading on Aug. 25, with a proposed tax rate of $0.363167 per $100 of valuation. For scale, the FY26 budget was $1.3 billion. Second reading and adoption come in September, so there is still a public window.
Water from Circleville: council also approved financing agreements on Aug. 25 with the Texas Water Development Board for a new transmission pipeline connecting the Circleville area to northern Georgetown, part of the Georgetown Regional Water Initiative. Growing city, more pipe.
New judge on the bench: Gov. Greg Abbott appointed Jason Bramow as judge of the 425th Judicial District Court, effective Sept. 1. He fills the seat of Judge Betsy Lambeth, who retired after a trailblazing career and was honored at a ceremony Aug. 21. Her mother made her judicial robe for her 2013 swearing in.
Bigger hospital next door: Ascension Seton Williamson in Round Rock opened a new six story tower on Aug. 21, adding two operating rooms, more MRI capacity, an expanded emergency room, an observation unit and a new cath lab. Relevant to plenty of Georgetown families.
Post 174: American Legion Abe Harrison Post 174 installed officers and recognized members at an Aug. 13 ceremony, with Amery Vasso as post commander.
A Little Good News
We complain about growth around here, so it is worth noting what people actually say when asked. A community survey by the ETC Institute, presented to Commissioners Court on Aug. 25, found that 85 percent of Williamson County residents rate the county as a good or excellent place to live. Residents scored the county above both state and national averages in 16 separate categories.
Traffic on Williams Drive notwithstanding, most of us apparently think this is a pretty good place to be. Feels about right.
Your Turn
Last week I asked about Proposition A and got a genuinely useful range of answers. That explainer is in the works.
Two quick ones this week. On the jail site: if the rezoning comes to city council, would you show up? And the lighter one, since we are heading into a long weekend and the first hint of fall: what are you most looking forward to in Georgetown this fall? Football, the Poppy Festival planning, sweater weather that arrives in November, something else? Hit reply.
The Sign-off
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See you on the Square, Armand
GTown Buzz, your weekly buzz on Georgetown, TX Got a tip? Just hit reply.