Dead set against the possibility of more taxes and another layer of government in their lives, the loudest voices in the final report meeting of a committee investigating the possibility of incorporation in Kingsland were not just opposed to the idea they were suspicious of anyone who would favor it.

“I moved here two and a half years ago and my sole purpose was to get the hell out of a taxed area,” said one of the most loquacious voices in the contingent that could see no sense in a City of Kingsland. “I never met a government agency that once started didn’t go like wildfire.”

The committee got it’s start after a local stir over who would maintain one of the last public access points on Lake LBJ.

Land donated by the David Barrow family in the 1960’s was left in the trust of the Kingsland/Lake LBJ Chamber of Commerce, about the only civic organization around at the time.

From the 1980’s the land had been maintained by the Kingsland Lions Club that had a structure for Lions and Boy Scout meetings on the property. When the Lions Club opted to turn maintenance back to the chamber, another beleaguered group of volunteers debated whether it might get more consistent maintenance from the Kingsland Municipal Utility District.

In the end, the chamber opted to keep the park, retire its name for Lion Pat Patterson, and try to improve its facilities and develop its financial potential, but the debate was long and sometimes contentious.

“If Kingsland was incorporated, it would be a city park,” was often heard and discussions among business owners and elected officials often turned to problems such as building standards, zoning and countywide provision of public services often ended with, “Kingsland has grown enough to manage its own growth.”

One person that had seen a lot of duplication of expense, effort and equipment in the community was Bill Fry, the Severn Trent executive who had contracted as interim general manager of both Kingsland utilities--Kingsland Water Supply and Kingsland Municipal Utility District. He belonged to the Lions Club and had become an active member of the chamber.

Fry, although he lives in Hoover Valley, had gotten to love the community and volunteered as he had for so many other jobs to head a committee to investigate the possibility of a city. From the start the endeavor was a can of worms.

The idea was not to make the committee a campaign for incorporation but to answer questions about it and to include the entire community that might feel the effects of city government.

Only a handful of citizens volunteered for subcommittees but they all found that even fact-finding drew out opponents. From their first meetings to report findings to the last on June 3 at the chamber of commerce community center, most were attended by people with an eagle eye to cost and with loud voices. About 100 area residents filled the center.

Surly critics were angered that the method of raising a petition to put incorporation on a ballot even would be discussed. In the end Fry, a mild-mannered voice for a modicum of consensus in so many other forums, raised his hands in surrender.

“This is the last meeting,” he said. “We just looked for information and people can do what they want with it.”

Those interested in results of sub-committee investigations into such topics relating to incorporation such as utilities, law enforcement and fire protection, community services and boundary definitions can email Fry at bfry@stes.com.