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Liberty Hill will hire its first city engineer and supporting staff after City Council approved funding at its March 25 meeting.
The details
City Council approved an amendment to the fiscal year 2026 budget that would allow the new staff to be brought on board before fiscal year 2027.
The city engineer will lead the engineering department and oversee the design, construction and maintenance of city infrastructure.
Deputy City Manager Brandon Pritchett said the city currently contracts with a third-party engineer to handle most of the duties of the city engineer, but the city is currently lacking certain services that the city engineer would provide, such as reviewing capital improvement projects during construction.
Five positions will be added, including
What else?
City Council also approved funding to hire a dedicated information technology specialist. According to documents provided by staff to City Council, the city also contracts with a private third-party company for the city’s IT services.
“The city’s technology needs—including cybersecurity, infrastructure planning, digital services and data management—continue to grow in complexity,” a staff memo states.
Pritchett said the new staff IT specialist would manage that third-party contract, provide support to other staff members and handle cybersecurity.
The cost
Pritchett said the city currently spends about $1.5 million per year in third-party engineering costs for project review and geographic information system management.
The amended 2026 budget includes about $100,000 in one-time equipment costs and $275,000 total for an estimated four months of compensation across the six new positions.
City documents indicate the city anticipates spending about $680,000 annually for the new positions going forward, saving roughly $900,000 per year in engineering costs.
One more thing
In addition, City Council members approved a $270,000 contract with engineering firm Freese and Nichols for the development of the city’s first engineering design manual.
The engineering design manual will set standards and technical specifications for infrastructure projects, including streets, water, wastewater, drainage and other public projects.
“We’re finally to the point in our growth pattern where I think this is the time that it makes sense for us to go ahead and do this. It does promote consistent infrastructure. Today, it’s a bit disjointed,” Director of Planning and Development Robyn Claridy-Miga said. “It also provides a clear expectation for our engineering community.”
Liberty Hill currently uses Round Rock’s engineering design manual, which Claridy-Miga said is an imperfect fit.
“The city of Round Rock has a different terrain than we do,” Claridy-Miga said. “Applying apples-to-apples, Round Rock standards ... is not in our best interest.”
Claridy-Miga said the engineering design manual is expected to be completed by spring 2027.
