Boerne City Council on Nov. 18 approved a resolution increasing the compensation for elected officials. These changes will not take effect for any sitting elected official; instead, they will be implemented after the next election for that position. 

The cost: This resolution will double the pay of the mayor and City Council, increasing the mayor's salary from $200 to $400 each month, and City Council's pay from $150 to $300 each month.

Since 1925, the compensation scale for elected officials has changed numerous times, including the following notable changes:

• 1925: $25 per month set by ordinance
• 1977: compensation abolished
• 1980: council “fees” set per meeting
• 2008: mayor's stipend set to $200 per month, council stipend set to $150 per month

A new family-oriented dental practice is slated to open soon in a new development just south of Boerne.

A sneak peek: Lemon Creek Smiles Dentistry is planning to open its new practice to the public on Dec. 16, Manager Sharice Gonzalez told Community Impact.

It’s located at 10049 Lemon Creek Blvd., Ste. 109-110, at the Lemon Creek Ranch development, across from the H-E-B.

Check it out: The new practice will specialize in both adult and pediatric services.

Lemon Creek Smiles Dentistry will serve older patients, while Lemon Creek Kids’ Dentistry will see patients from infants to age 18, according to Gonzalez.

Treatments include general teeth cleanings, periodontics, veneers, wisdom teeth consultations, fillings, crowns and more.

There’s also an orthodontics branch of the practice for patients of all ages, offering braces and more, according to their website.

Additionally, Gonzalez said the practice will open on one Saturday per month to serve patients with dental emergencies.

• 10049 Lemon Creek Blvd., Ste. 109-110, Boerne

Thanksgiving week is expected to be one of the busiest U.S. travel periods in history, according to projections from AAA. A record 5.8 million Texans are projected to travel at least 50 miles from home Nov. 25-Dec. 1.

Zooming in: About 5.3 million Texans are expected to drive to their Thanksgiving destinations, according to a Nov. 17 news release, while about 328,000 people will fly and 140,000 will use other forms of transportation.

The impact: Texans should give themselves extra time to reach their destinations during Thanksgiving week, with the most congestion expected Nov. 25-26. Traffic is also expected to be heavy as Texans return home Nov. 30, according to INRIX, a transportation data company.

Minimal traffic is expected on Thanksgiving Day.

More details: Texas drivers will pay about the same for gas as they did last Thanksgiving, according to AAA Texas. One gallon of regular unleaded gas cost about $2.65 in Texas as of Nov. 13, down from $2.69 last year.

Google is targeting Texas for future investments in data and artificial infrastructure, with $40 billion expected to be spent on adding three new data centers.

Federal, state and local leaders announced the new centers to be constructed in Armstrong and Haskell counties at a Nov. 14 event at the first Texas Google Data Center in Midlothian, near the Dallas-Fort Worth area.

The gist: One new data center will be constructed in Armstrong County near Amarillo, and two new data centers will be constructed in Haskell County near Abilene. One center in Haskell County will also use a new solar and battery energy storage plant.

“They say that everything is bigger in Texas—and that certainly applies to the golden opportunity with AI,” Google and Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai said.

Also of note: The driverless car company Waymo is expanding to North Texas in 2026, Pichai said.