Comal County commissioners are scheduled to decide Sept. 10 whether to hire HHM & Associates to prepare a National Register nomination for Church Hill School.
If approved, the work would move the New Braunfels school from an eligibility finding into a nomination process involving local research, owner and public participation, state review and federal submission.
The contract says the Texas Historical Commission found the property eligible in August 2025 under education and architecture criteria at the local level. The proposed fee is $15,000, invoiced monthly for actual time and expenses. Either party could end the agreement with 30 days’ written notice, with HHM paid for work and expenses incurred through the termination date.
The proposed work covers project initiation, research, a first nomination draft, a revised State Board of Review draft and a final National Park Service submission. HHM would begin with a kickoff involving the Historical Commission, property owner, public and other stakeholders, then research records in Comal County and Austin. The final package would include the nomination file, GIS data and digital images.
The proposed schedule anticipates a Sept. 18 notice to proceed and completion by Sept. 30, 2028, but commissioners have not yet approved the contract. Interim milestones include research by May 28, 2027, a first draft by Sept. 1, 2027, State Board of Review consideration in May 2028 and a final nomination draft in July 2028.
The decision is item 15 on the Commissioners Court agenda. The 8:30 a.m. Thursday meeting will be held in the Commissioners Courtroom at 100 Main Plaza in New Braunfels, where the posted rules allow three minutes per speaker during citizen comments. Comal.News previously examined the grant proposal that preceded this contract and the two-year timetable it contemplated.
Readers can inspect agenda item 15 to verify the scheduled action and read the proposed contract to follow the fee, deliverables and anticipated deadlines. After the meeting, the recorded disposition and any executed agreement will establish whether the project proceeds and whether its scope, price or schedule changed before approval.