Stansberry wins aquifer district seat

Civil engineer Blaine Stansberry has won a seat on the Barton Springs Edwards Aquifer Conservation District board. Stansberry, a 40-year resident of Manchaca, won the Precinct 2 seat with 51.37 percent of the vote. Terry Newton, a professor at St. Edwards University, came in second with just shy of 26 percent of the vote and retired veterinarian Ronald Stried got about 23 percent. Stansberry founded a local engineering company in 2004, and through that has worked on a wide range of infrastructure, commercial, residential and public projects. She cited the main issues in the race as dealing with growth over the aquifer, the construction of State Highway 45 Southwest, and dealing with the drought. “Whether you are for or against the growth and construction in our area, the pressure to grow is here and we have to deal with it,” Stansberry told the Monitor via email. “Any projects built in our community should use the best development practices to ensure our drinking water stays clean and available.”