On February 20th an election was held to install a new Board of Directors for the Crystal Knoll Terrace Homeowners Association. The final count was announced on February 26th. Our Board of Directors is as follows:

Kathy Gould

William Holland

Christina Barnett

Andrew Karaffa

Gus Kawell

The new Board met for the 1st Quarter Board Meeting on March 13, 2021. Minutes of this meeting can be found here.

Congratulations to our 2021 Board of Directors! We look forward to the amazing things they will accomplish for our community!

Andrew Karaffa – 103 Crystal Knoll Blvd

A message from Andrew:

My name is Andrew Karaffa, and I served previously as the HOA treasurer. And, as the board began to dismantle, I took on various other duties, including the HOA legal liaison, as that is my background. I am a full time firefighter paramedic here in Georgetown. I am involved with our union board as well, working on various union committees. 

When I was on the board, one of our biggest tasks was getting our books and bills back in order. I also helped orchestrate the purchase of the playscape on Crystal Knoll. 

I’ve seen our neighborhood go through lots of changes, good and bad. There are many issues that need to be addressed, but I feel we have a good neighborhood, we have good people that live here, and I want to serve the neighborhood again to help improve it. 

Benjamin Wishert – 201 Wisteria Dr

A message from Ben:

I am a Native Texan and I am currently working for the Texas Commision on Environmental quality in a highly political and heavily regulated division. I have an BS degree from Texas A&M college of engineering and will be getting my Professional Engineering Stamp in a little over a year. I have recently bought a house in this Neighborhood and I am enjoying the area of Georgetown away from the more populated areas of Austin, Round rock and Pflugerville. My wife and I have already made many improvements to the home and still have many more planned as the rent house we bought to live in was outdated and filled with the cheap replacement parts.  

I would like to be a member of the Board to make sure the Neighborhood is one that everyone wants to live in. I will strive to make sure improvements are not interfered with. Improvements to our individual house not only improve our own property but the neighborhood in general. I believe as Austin becomes more attractive to tech companies Georgetown will feel more pressure in the housing market and will hopefully lean to more owners that have a strong vested interest in not just selling with home upgrades but living with the luxuries that the home upgrades afford. As a member of the board I can voice for affected parties of the new business park going in behind oru neighborhood.  There are things I would like to get done to improve our community however I would first and foremost like to make this an affordable place to live and thus will never support an increase in dues. I will stand for No Fees or fines, no expensive rules and no cost-shared projects, No interference with improvements and  No increase in fees.

Gustave “Gus” Kawell – 207 Osage Ct.

A message from Gus:

My wife and I have been homeowners and residents of Crystal Knoll Terrace since March of 2003. We have three children all of which attend GISD schools and have grown up in our town. We like being involved in our community and have enjoyed the relationships we have built with our neighbors over the past 18 years. I spent four years serving our country as a U.S. Marine and am very proud and honored to have had the opportunity to do so. In 1999 I moved to Central Texas from West Texas and have been here ever since. I am currently employed as the Sr. Director of Construction for a national telecommunications company and have worked in the Georgetown office of that company for the better part of 20 years.

I enjoy giving back to the community in which I live. Most recently, I was the president of the Georgetown Youth Football and Cheer Association. I also served on their board of directors as Vice President and Athletic Director over the past 3 years. My youngest son aged-out of the league this year and I have passed the torch to a new board of directors with that great organization. I am a member of the Marine Corps League Williamson County Detachment, a veteran’s organization, and for the last year have answered duty’s call as their Paymaster (Treasurer). I am currently organizing an effort to bring another nonprofit youth organization to the Georgetown/Williamson County area by creating a Young Marines unit to our great Central Texas town.

I aspire to continue to make a positive impact on the lives of the people that live in our community. That is why I would like to volunteer to serve on the HOA board of Crystal Knoll Terrace and have the honor of making our village an enjoyable, safe, beautiful place to raise our families and bring us as neighbors back together as a true community.

Christopher “Ryan” Meyer – 104 Osage Ct

A message from Ryan:

Our family of 5 moved into the neighborhood a little over a year ago. However, we have lived in Georgetown for about 4 years, and I have lived in central Texas for most of my life. Our children are 12, 8 & 6 and we love Georgetown and we definitely enjoy our first home in this great neighborhood. We especially enjoy the blue hole, farmers market Saturday’s, fish city grill, several local fishing holes & holidays where our neighbors fellowship in the cul-de-sac!

I come from a military family and I served in the Air Force as an aircraft mechanic on the C-5 galaxy. I have been appraising real estate since 2014, and in 2016 began appraising commercial real estate. I love to travel and lived in Korea as a kid for 5 years. My travels have taken me to many states and many countries, but I always end up back home. Texas!

I lived here long enough to understand that there are certain things our neighborhood needs to address. I also understand that we all probably enjoy a low hoa fee! I know that most people don’t want to be told their grass is an inch too long, but we also want street lights! One thing is for sure, we can’t do anything if we don’t actually start by reclaiming the board! So here I am!

Steven Woodall – 915 Jasmine Trl

A message from Steven:

My wife and I moved here in August 2019. We have 3 cats and one dog and too many fish to count. We enjoy board games, spending time with family, reality TV shows, and movies. I work in the Engineering field for a company here in Georgetown. I graduated from Georgetown High School in 1997 then went to The University of Texas, were I obtained my civil engineering degree. After graduating from UT I became a commissioned officer in The United States Navy were I served for nine years.

After my service I moved around trying to find my home and after two years moved back to the Austin area.

I love giving back to my community and would love to see this great community become better than what it already is.

I see lots of things that could be improved on, and hope that I can bring these ideas to the table and work hard to make this community better for all of us.

William “Bill” Holland – 15 Azalea Dr

A little about Bill:

*Married with 3 children, 4 grandchildren*CKT Resident since 2005

*Georgetown resident since 1989

*Member St. Johns UMC Georgetown

*Finance committee Chair St. Johns

*Volunteer with ROCK Equine Therapy

*Special Olympics Texas coach/volunteer 20 years

*Overseen rework of original CKTHOA website

*Managed website for approximately 2 years

*Section 3 Board member

*Assisted in consolidation of units 1, 3, 4 into integrated HOA

*Board member of consolidated HOA

*Maintained neighborhood park last 2 years

*Crossing guard Montessori school 2019/2020

*Worked for Wal-Mart for 21 years, store management

*Retired from Best Buy after 13 years

Neighborhood vision: Committed to maintaining the appeal and livability of our neighborhood as a functioning community. HOA should be a friendly open entity that listens to and assists with members concerns. A return to neighborhood events around some holidays to foster a sense of community and  understanding. CKT is a great neighborhood for families and it is up to the members to ensure it continues to be a place of preference for like minded people. We all deserve a safe friendly environment where our families can grow and prosper.

Chris Walker – 111 Mahogany Ln

A message from Chris:

My name is Chris Walker. My wife and I with our children live at 111 Mahogany Lane. We just moved here in August of 2020. I am the area manager for ABC Home and Commercial Services in Georgetown and an active member of the Georgetown Rotary Club and an Ambassador for the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce. I also founded a non-profit called Music for Wilco to raise funds for Williamson County Children’s Advocacy Center. My wife came home from a teaching job when Covid struck which has turned out to be a blessing. She got pregnant shortly afterwards and we welcomed our second child on January 25th, 2021. She is also a helper with our daughter’s Girl Scout troop.

We love our new neighborhood and have enjoyed making new friends here. We have enjoyed the community spirit for the most part especially during Halloween and Christmas. We are concerned about what will happen if just a few neighbors don’t make any effort to keep our neighborhood safe and beautiful. Not being a fan of micromanagement and nosey neighbors, I have always loathed the idea of an HOA. We didn’t have one in the neighborhood I grew up in, but then the city filled the roll of enforcing the kind of policies that kept it nice or at least, not unpleasant. With this in mind, we would like to help keep our community a wonderful place for other people and families to live and want to move to.

I am willing to serve our Crystal Knoll Terrace community in whatever capacity I am able to.

Christina Barnett – 118 Orange Tree Ln

A message from Christina:

We just moved here in December to 118 Orange Tree Ln. We, being myself, a husband, two kids and 4 animals.  Both my children attend GISD and look forward to making new friendships in the neighborhood . 

I used to volunteer with  my old Girl scout Council of North Texas.  Working with so many diverse girls really gave me and my daughter a sense of belonging.  I used to put together our council events for fundraising and also was responsible for the Adult Recognition program for our service unit. Which has really given me a sense of respect for the many volunteers that are in Girl scouts. They really are the backbone of the organization. Showing the new generation so many traditions and guiding them to new ones.

I currently work from home for a healthcare company.  My main focus at work is financial analytics, with a dash of contract reading. I really enjoy pulling up a good data set and organizing it into  readable data for those who need the information to make informed choices.  

As I am new to this neighborhood I can appreciate the value of transparency and being honest with your fellows.  I look forward to getting to know each one of you and building a community we can be proud of together.

Kathy (Katharine) Gould – 22 Azalea

A message from Kathy:

I have lived in Section 3 of the Crystal Knoll Terrace neighborhood since 2001.  I was one of many to purchase a home in Section 3 during the buildout of the neighborhood.  I am originally from Virginia and my father was in the military so we traveled quite a lot.  I have one daughter and a teenage grandson.  I worked for AAFES for approximately 8 years then with the Texas Health and Human Services for 30 years and retired in 2015.  

During my time here I have had the pleasure to experience the positive outcomes in having an active constructive board and unfortunately what happens when we don’t.

I believe my background of over 30+ years of experience in customer service and relation roles, having been a team leader and bringing structure back to a dismantled organization can provide a positive contribution to a new HOA board.  My work and life experiences (having traveled within and outside of the USA) has attributed to my ability to communicate with all types of personalities with tact and diplomacy.  During my work life I participated and attended many training sessions that focused on team building, essentials of communication, communicating with tact and finesse, dealing with difficult people, managing diversity and the like. 

While I am well aware of some of the business issues that need to be addressed, I would also like to focus on activities/events that can bring our neighbors within the neighborhood closer.  I would like to have committees organized to work on needs within our neighborhood and work with outreach programs within the city of Georgetown and Williamson county and I believe we have the talent within our small community to do that.

I know some may be thinking that we are doing fine and may even enjoy not having to adhere to some of the Bylaws and rules but there are many things that individuals have been taking care of such as maintaining the grass in the common areas and park; however we cannot and should not expect them to continue maintaining those areas at their individual expense as these are the responsibility of the HOA Board.  

With all the unknowns of the previous board I can assure you that if I am elected to serve on our board I will work with whomever is on the board and those within our community and bring transparency back into the foil. The first step in doing this is to ensure the board communicates with homeowners so the only thing in the dark are our streets; until we can get the lights back on.

Thank you in advance for your consideration to serve on the Board to serve YOU.