One community leader will re-take a seat on a local city council with an eye on capitalizing on future growth as well as advancing a multi-million dollar infrastructure project.
Following his win in the Saturday, May 2, municipal elections, Councilman-elect Dave Rhodes shared insight with The Highlander about his goals when seated.
“I look for ways to turn things around. I think we’re a tax cut or two away from bringing the positive,” he said.
According to unof-
ficial results from the Burnet County Elec - tions Office, Rhodes (54.60%) defeated incumbent Lauren Haltom for the Marble Falls City Council Place 3 position.
Rhodes received 172 votes to Haltom’s 143 votes. Election figures showed that 207 voted early/absentee and 315 people voted on Elec tion Day in that race.
With as many as 5,000 registered voters, the turnout was less than 5% turnout.
“It was a grind just to get people to vote,” he said. Despite the meager turnout, he believes he has a wellspring of support.
“There’s a lot to be done still. Things that I walked away from, so to speak, a few of them are hanging out there,” he added.
Rhodes, who first won a city council seat in 1999, most recently served on the council from 2015-21. He served as mayor May 2023-25.
“I’d like to be involved in the remainder of the wastewater program which I was involved in for many years, up until about a year ago,” he said. “I’ve been asked a lot of ques tions over the last year so I know where they are.”
New Space
Along with spearheading the launch of the multi-million dollar wastewater plant project, he has been a proponent for a new consolidated space for city administrators. Currently, city staff is divided among several buildings including city hall, 800 Third St.; Development Services, 801 Fourth St.; Parks and Recreation, 1802 Second St.; and miscellaneous personnel, 100 Avenue H.
“I’d like to move forward with securing the administrative situation with the city folks. I hesitate to say a new city hall because that’s not where I want to go, but we need to get everyone on the same page,” Rhodes said. “We had some plans, basically pursuing P3. It takes a little bit of creativity.”
P3 stands for private- public partnership, where a government entity works with a private company for development. For example the City of Bee Cave occupies office space within the Hill Country Gallery outdoor mall in the community.
“Many communities have done it. I think it works very well and will work well for us,” he added.
Future Outlook
Another focus involves revenue for the city.
“Obviously, there’s some budget challenges. We really need to get people to understand how important it is to buy local. The sales tax revenue is way down,” he said. “We’ve had to hire new people. It’s hard to make projects go.
“When it goes negative, then it’s even harder to plan,” he added. “We’d like to continue to push property taxes downward, at least the rate to hold everybody stable.”
After infrastructure, garnering support for existing and planned development will take priority.
“The idea is to have new growth, new people on the tax rolls - development commercial as well as residential - every year to add that addition along with sales tax,” Rhodes said. “It’s not only bringing in ad valorem tax on new construction, it’s getting those folks and our own folks acclimated to spend their disposable income here.
“Whether it’s Home Depot or restaurants, just do so local and often as you can.”
Election Update
Following the election, a new face will join the council as well. For the Marble Falls City Council Place 1 seat, Mark Mayfield (71.57%) beat Rhonda M. Brown. May -
field received 219 votes, and Brown garnered 87 votes. A total of 306 people cast ballots in that race. Mayfield is known for his longtime service on the Marble Falls Eco nomic Development Cor- poration Board.
The uncontested race on that ballot was incumbent Richard Westerman for Place 5.
