ATX-RRK: Impact 9/24/2025

Floral designer Tiffany Weinbender opened her downtown Round Rock floral shop, Ida Mayes Floral Design House, in August. 

About the business: Weinbender said the name of her business, Ida Mayes, and her logo, are an homage to her grandmothers and great-grandmother, who were all avid gardens. The latter, she said, was a florist herself.

In their own words: "I attribute all of my love of the garden and floral to them," Weinbender said. "There's significance behind the logo that we have, and I used her mother's name to try to keep it all in the family."

Round Rock City Council will vote on a contract at its Sept. 25 meeting to provide the police department with new drone technology to help relay information across the city.

The gist: The agreement with Unmanned Vehicle Technologies would provide radar-based infrastructure to allow autonomous drone deployment, as well as software, pilot licenses, a drone and its ancillary equipment.

“So the vehicle technologies in this they provide are what are called nodes, so a radar device throughout the city to allow a drone aircraft to launch and respond to calls and feed video information back to the officers and communications,” Assistant Police Chief Willie Richards said.

Texas voters will decide on 17 proposed amendments to the state constitution during the Nov. 4 election.

The overview: The propositions, which were adopted by state lawmakers earlier this year, include measures aimed at reducing property taxes, funding water supply projects and creating a state dementia research institute.

“This is an opportunity to make your voice heard about the governing document of our state,” Secretary of State Jane Nelson said in a June 25 statement.

More details: Texans have until Oct. 6 to register to vote in the upcoming election. Early in-person voting runs from Oct. 20-31, and Election Day is Nov. 4.

Kitchell representative Cameron Glass gave an update on the Justice Center complex project to Williamson County commissioners at a Sept. 16 meeting, including the need for new facilities and the process for site selection.

The construction and real estate company is the manager for the project, which will build a new jail and office space in Georgetown.

The history: The current Justice Center was built in 1990. At that time, Williamson County had a population of about 139,000 residents, according to the United States Census Bureau.

Today, Williamson County is home to almost 730,000 residents.

About the project: Commissioners have discussed building the new Justice Center complex outside of downtown Georgetown. Although the court has not identified a site yet and is still in the preliminary stages of planning, Kitchell anticipates a $1.5 billion project through “phased, strategic investment,” Glass said.