Commissioners declare May 9 Fentanyl Awareness Day

The Hays County Commissioners Court in its Tuesday meeting highlighted the work of first responders by proclamation and brought attention to a drug crisis facing many Texas communities: fentanyl.

The court proclaimed May 9 as National Fentanyl Awareness Day in the county, just a day before a press conference Wednesday was called to highlight an arrest made in the most recent death of a young resident from an overdose of the drug on April 11.

According to Hays County Commissioner Precinct-2 Michelle Cohen, the commissioners recently sponsored a Fentanyl Seminar at the Gemstone Palace in Kyle to help disseminate information on the deadly substance.

“Fentanyl has touched every corner of this county. It knows no demographic,” Hays County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Anthony Hipolito said, during the meeting. “We lose 150 people a day to this epidemic. It’s a national crisis.” The county has created a resource page for residents that provides specific information about the drug’s presence here and what families can do. To access this page, go to https://hayscountytx.com/ hays-county-fentanyl-resource- page/.

In a day that featured several other proclamations, the court approved naming May 15 as Peace Officers Memorial Day and the week of May 14 to 21, Police Week. To honor the fallen law enforcement officers of Texas, including Hays County and San Marcos, there will be a public gathering at 12 p.m. on May 18 at the Hays County Government Center.

The court proclaimed May as Mental Health Awareness Month. SMTX Mental Health Coalition Youth Services Director Cristal Lopez came before the court to invite the public to attend the Mental Health and Wellness Fair at 10 a.m. on May 20 at 170 Charles Austin Drive. The event will offer mental health resources, art activities, a bouncy house, games, giveaways and mindfulness activities.

Later in the meeting, the court moved on to set necessary groundwork for changes in the amount of information it will require to approve preliminary development plans for county projects.

A proposed subdivision, the Hays Commons, was not approved by the court by a narrow vote of three to two. The location of the subdivision is off of FM 1626 and Carpenter Lane in the city of Hays in Precinct-4. The vote likely created a court precedent for the amount and caliber of information that will now be required for any future prospective developments to be considered, officials said. It was also suggested that there is a great need for an internal and transparent process to be in place to deal with new proposals of this kind.

The public has been vocal in expressing concerns for what is perceived to be a lack of information concerning this development.

“We have a set of rules in need of updating and we all agree on that front,” Hays County Commissioners Court Judge Ruben Becerra said. “I’m pro-development. I’ll say it right here right now, but it should be in a way that's most clear, most concise and most accurately depicted, portrayed and roadmapped.”

Becerra pointed out some inconsistencies across documents related to the proposed subdivision and asked that the court vote no to the proposal.

“It just seems like there are some missing pieces here,” Cohen said.

Hays County Commissioner Precinct-3 Lon Shell thought it would be prudent to give further direction to the staff so that this would not be an issue in the future.

“That’s kind of how I’m seeing this process as we move forward, is to find out how we can clearly tell our staff to operate in this in-between period,” Shell said.

He said information should be included when someone is submitting their preliminary plat application that states, “Here’s the things you are going to need to do at a minimum to comply with county regulations.”

Shell said he thought that some adjustments were needed, but the preliminary phase is important.

“What I wouldn’t want to happen to us is to eliminate preliminary plans or the idea of this phase altogether, because we can’t fit it within a box in the statute. Because I think that it’s a good thing. We just need to tweak how we administer it,” Shell said.