ROTARY CLUB OF SAN MARCOS
The Rotary Club of San Marcos hosted Hays County Commissioner Pct. 2 Michelle Cohen to discuss what is going on in the Hays County government. Cohen has been the precinct two commissioner for two years and has lived in the county for over 40, so she is deeply invested in the community. She shared with the group some statistics on the rapid growth in the county and initiatives the government has created to address it.
Cohen’s precinct is composed of portions of Buda and Kyle. Hays Consolidated Independent School District resides within her precinct, and there are 15 schools in Precinct 2, with more to come. And it goes without saying that the businesses in that area are springing up like weeds, as are the housing developments and the general population.
“I’m a big advocate of just working together in partnerships, not just with the district but with the cities too,” Cohen said. “None of us could do this by ourselves. We cannot. We have to work together strategically to build these relationships. So I’m really proud that I’ve been able to do that with the district, with the city, with the municipality, to try and all just find common solutions in this growing county that we have.”
Cohen said the population of Hays County when she moved here in the 80s was around 40,000, grew to around 200,000 in 2020 and is almost 300,000 now. She said it is projected to be around 400,000 by 2040. She said with that growing population comes increased traffic, adding that the recent passing of the road bond was a positive step in addressing infrastructure.
“My number one job as a commissioner is roads,” Cohen said, noting that another focus must be the growth of schools and hospitals to meet the increased need. “We really need to build a strategic vision and a plan moving forward for the county, which is something that I’m really focused on.”
Cohen said 60% of the Hays County budget goes toward law enforcement, but they are still in need of more funding and staff in that area, which is another focus of the county judge and commissioners.
“That’s one of the main reasons why we have 200 inmates in Haskell County, five hours away, because we don’t have the number of correction officers needed to staff it; because of the ratio required,” Cohen said. “It’s a very competitive area, so that’s why it’s hard for us to retain law enforcement.”
She said a healthy community is a thriving community, and we have a great Hays County Health Department.
“Unfortunately, that department is 98% grant funding, which means they are always just trying to find more money, trying to find opportunities to get more funding, so they can expand their services,” Cohen said. “A lot of people depend on our health department for basic immunizations. So I’m a big proponent of the health department.”
The county recently hired a Behavioral Health Professional that is in charge of all of the mental health resources and can point anyone in need in the direction of assistance.
“Last year, we bought the county’s first mobile vaccine unit. This was a partnership between Saint David and ARPA funding from my precinct and Commissioner [Debbie Gonzales] Ingalsbe’s precinct to buy this county’s first mobile van, so now it drives around the county to reach those rural neighbors that can’t get to facilities and provides immunization and checkups and those kinds of things,” Cohen said. “This has been a really great achievement for the county.”
The county government is creating new positions to meet its growing needs. An entirely new position coming to Hays County, which Cohen initiated herself, is called a County Administrator.
“A County Administrator is a go-between between the court and the departments. Because right now, if you are a director in Hays County, you have five bosses. So any initiative that you are working on or trying to get to your department, you have to talk to every commissioner and a judge,” Cohen said. “I put that in the budget for this past year … I researched this for about a year. I talked to other county administrators and city managers to see the work that they did for their Commissioners Court. To me, it just makes sense. So I was able to sell this to the court, and they approved it in the budget.”
Cohen pointed to various other leadership changes within the county: a new Transportation Director, a new Budget Director, a new position — Health Department Director, a new HR Director, a new Precinct 3 commissioner and a new Sheriff.
“There is a lot of changing going on within Hays County, and some of it makes people nervous,” Cohen said. “I get that no one likes change, but we are changing as a Hays County community, so we need new perspectives; we need a new vision. We need new ideas for our government, and I think we’re headed in the right direction for that.”
