HAYS COUNTY COMMISSIONERS
Hays County Commissioners court held a discussion following a presentation from Broaddus and Associates Inc. regarding the Pet Resource Center Professional Services Agreement. The commissioners expressed a desire to partner with cities and nonprofits to provide additional shelter space and services.
James Maron, with Broaddus and Associates, said Hays County ap- proved a Facility Workshop and Needs Assessment report by Team Shelter USA in 2022 and that research served as the initial foundation for their work. He added that this project is in the preplanning phase as they have not hired a designer or contractors. The recommendations included two options: a county standalone facility to supplement the satellite locations through potential partners throughout the county or a municipality- led partnership with the cities of San Marcos, Buda and Kyle for a primary Pet Resource Center with county involvement and strategic satellite locations throughout the county.
“One of the primary differences between these two is cost,” Maron said. “Both of these options would be related to suiting the counties needs; but the first one would be a stand-alone facility as a primary location, and the second option would be partnering with municipalities.”
Maron said the munic-ipalityled option would follow a cost-share model for the facility, which would be determined by future negotiations with those cities. For the satellite locations, there could be partnerships with nonprofits such as Prevent- A-Litter of Central Texas and PAWS shelter of Central Texas, which Maron said would save on cost compared to a traditional brick and mortar shelter.
“We did meet with PAWS and PALS and other potential partners in the county, outlining the respective roles and responsibilities and structures of what those preliminary efforts may look like,” he said.
Hays County Commissioner Debbie Gonzales Ingalsbe pointed out that the court previously unanimously voted to move forward with a partnership with the city of Kyle and some nonprofit organizations, and she stands by that decision.
Sharri Boyett, Hays County animal advocacy advisor, said if plans to utilize the city of Kyle move forward, that will not be completed until 2027 or 2028.
Boyett punctuated the need for additional shelter space as she said the facility in San Marcos is outdated and well over capacity.
“San Marcos has informed us we have to find an alternative to the San Marcos shelter,” she said.
Hays County Commissioner Michelle Cohen said that the second option, which was munic-ipalityled, addresses the short-term goals that are needed.
“Not to say that, maybe in the future, a satellite office may make sense in the areas where you may not have those resources,” she said.
Hays County Commissioner Morgan Hammer agreed that option two was preferable as there were many more drawbacks listed in the presentation for the county-led option.
“I do think not only Kyle but we are talking about PALS has that brand new facility off of Ranch Road 12, and that would be a great area as well as Kyle to expand in if we were able to partner with them,” Hammer said.
Boyett said the plan is to implement a phased system.
“We need to manage the county by public/private partnership for animal control with the Sheriff’s Department,” she said. “We need to consider life saving programs — placement, return to owners, adoptions, rescue and, of course, community cat programs to keep those unowned cats out of the shelter in the first place.”
