HAYS COUNTY ELECTIONS
The March Primary Election will see two democratic candidates and two republican candidates on the ballot for Hays County Commissioner Pct. 4: Laurie Brown (Democrat), Travis Crow (Republican), Rob McClelland (Republican) and Angie Unger (Democrat). This seat represents Drippings Springs on the Commissioners Court.
LAURIE BROWN (DEMOCRAT)
Brown decided to run when she began to feel that the State and Federal governments were heading in the “wrong direction,” and since the current Pct. 4 Commissioner is a Republican, she said people in the eastern part of the district have felt underserved.
Brown has lived in Hays County for five years and has been involved with promoting Democratic candidates, block walking and working the polls. She has a Master’s Degree in Accounting and has been teaching Accounting at Texas State for 13 years. Prior to that, she worked in banking and in real estate.
“I feel like I’ve got the relevant business background to be a successful County Commissioner and to be the taxpayers’ budget watchdog,” Brown said.
Brown wants to be a good steward of Hays County taxes by promoting affordability for resi- dents, while ensuring tax dollars are spent wisely on the priorities that are most important to the community.
Brown said the population is growing rapidly in Hays County, where the three-year drought has already made water scarce, particularly groundwater. If elected, Brown plans to balance growth with protecting the county’s natural resources, both land and water.
She supports rainwater harvesting and a property tax exemption for those who utilize it. She would like to see landscaping restrictions for subdivisions requiring the use of native and drought-resistant plants and One Water concepts for commercial buildings, which involves recycling and reusing water.
Brown said there are data center developments being discussed in the county, and she wants to make sure the county is not providing any tax incentives or abatements to bring them here since they “use up a significant amount of water and electricity.”
“Whatever happens, we need to make sure that data centers are not impacting the regular individual’s utility rates,” Brown said. “I certainly believe in development agreements that would make the developers, and in this case, data center developers, have to prove that they can satisfy the water requirements at full buildout, not at groundbreaking.”
Brown also said she would like to focus on improving traffic congestion, road safety and road planning.
“We just need to make sure that when we’re building roads, we’re building them and taking care of the traffic congestion in the right way,” Brown said.
Brown wants to promote transparency and accountability by hosting frequent open meetings and town halls in order to receive input from both rural and urban residents.
Learn more at lauriebrownforhays. com.
TRAVIS CROW (REPUBLICAN)
Crow was born and raised in Hays County and works as a concrete contractor throughout Central Texas. He has served on the Dripping Springs City Council for eight years, where he said they’ve been able to maintain the lowest tax rate of all the cities in the county.
“I think we have water issues. We have transportation issues; the roads need to be improved, but there are excessive road bonds going on,” Crow said. “I wasn’t too pleased with the way the county was heading, so I decided to put my hat in the ring.”
If elected, Crow plans to focus on affordability for all families by eliminating unnecessary bonds and other additional tax burdens. He said he is committed to using taxes and bonds responsibly and only when necessary with real benefits to the community.
Crow said he believes that the community’s strength comes from its local businesses and residents, not from large corporations, so he plans to protect and empower them.
Crow has served on the Dripping Springs Water Supply Corporation Board of Directors for nine years, two to three years of which were spent as the vice president, where he has negotiated with the West Travis County Public Utility Agency and the Hays Trinity Groundwater Conservation District for more water for Dripping Springs.
“I think we need to get more water in the Central Texas area for Hays County,” Crow said.
Crow was the chair/head for the City of Dripping Springs Transportation Committee, working with the county, TxDOT and the school district on traffic issues in the area.
“I’ve spent four years building relationships with TxDOT and the county and seeing what is projected in the future and what’s going on right now, so on traffic, I spent four years very involved in it on the local level,” Crow said. “Traffic is always going to be an issue. We need to improve roads and bridges and work with TxDOT and local entities to try to keep the road infrastructure up.”
Crow said he wants to be a voice for the community.
“I will always be accessible. I’ve got an open door policy. They can call me anytime, and I’ll tell them the truth. I’d be glad to meet anybody anywhere,” Crow said. “I have devoted the last 10 years of my life to public service for the citizens of Hays County, and I want to continue to do that, to be a voice for the citizens.”
Learn more at traviscrow. com.
ROB MCCLELLAND (REPUBLICAN) McClelland moved to Hays County in 2017 when his time serving as a U.S. Army Officer in Washington D.C. was complete. McClelland currently works as the Director of Business Development for a construction firm that works out of the Central Texas area.
McClelland has served on the school board since 2022. He said that in that time, he has met people all over the county and learned that there are issues with taxes, water, wastewater, drainage, infrastructure and transportation.
“I’m here to move the needle on all those issues that people care about, that affect their daily lives,” McClelland said.
He has been appointed by Governor Greg Abbott to the Texas School Safety Center Board of Directors, which oversees public school safety for the entire state. He also works with Hays County Sheriff Anthony Hipolito on the Hays County Advisory Board, where he oversees training for the Sheriff’s Office.
If elected, McClelland would focus on infrastructure challenges. He said, due to the rapid county expansion, there is a need to be smart about that growth.
“The infrastructure needs to meet the demands of the growth,” McClelland said. “Not the other way around.”
McClelland wants to address infrastructure challenges without overburdening existing taxpayers “to where they are paying for new growth, instead of the other way around.”
“I say that because it’s doable. I’ve done it as a school board trustee,” McClelland said. “Property taxes are a problem all over the state of Texas. ... So if we aren’t fiscally responsible, and in my case, fiscally conservative, with the tax rate, citizens are going to get overburdened, and they already are. So that’s a huge challenge.”
McClelland said that as the county grows, so do the public safety requirements.
“We need to resource the sheriff’s office, our constables and the county jail adequately to ensure that Hays County does not become Travis County, from a public safety perspective,” McClelland said.
McClelland referenced the recent declaration by the Governor that water infrastructure has now reached a critical stage as the aquifers are not recharging fast enough to meet demand. He said the key to addressing this issue is cooperation with federal, state and local governments for a “solution that will solve this problem once and for all.”
In addition to his military service and tenure on the school board, McClelland is an active church member and volunteer for local nonprofits.
Learn more at robfortexas. com.
ANGIE UNGER (DEMOCRAT)
Unger is a real estate agent who has been involved in the community for more than a decade, creating bipartisan clubs, Democratic clubs, and book clubs, as well as volunteering in the Parent Teacher Association. She has also done outreach for the library, the Hill Country Senior Center and her church.
“Over the years, I built trust, I’ve been vocal about school board candidates, about political candidates, about getting voters to go vote,” Unger said. “I didn’t want to run, but I had moms and neighbors throughout the years, they would say, ‘You’re bold, and you’re a leader. And you should step up to run.’” Unger believes her experience in real estate would lend itself to the Commissioner seat, as she said she works with land, infrastructure and water related issues, and she has to budget on a weekly, if not daily, basis.
Unger said she felt attention needs to be given to rural and other existing roads, rather than just prioritizing new roads, for safety reasons, among others.
“It feels like a lot of these roads and people have been forgotten,” she said. State and federal funding should be used for roads to avoid raising taxes for residents, according to Unger.
Unger said she is committed to water conservation, which she plans to achieve through public outreach and bilingual education, as well as through responsible development.
“Most people are going to want to do the right thing,” Unger said. “They care about the environment.”
Unger criticized irresponsible growth that she said is outpacing water resources and proposed solutions like Citizen Advisory Committees composed of both rural and suburban residents and experts. She also supports incentives for water conservation, such as rainwater harvesting and the use of One Water systems, which recycle water, in Municipal buildings.
“You create these layers of solutions, and that is how we get to our goal of preserving our water, preserving our natural resources,” Unger said.
Unger stressed the importance of affordability, advocating for state and federal funding to avoid tax burdens on residents.
“They cannot afford to live where they work, and many people are not even aware that we have state funds and these programs,” Unger said.
Unger’s campaign emphasizes unity among all Hays County residents.
“I want to be known as the Commissioner who made it so that all people, all families can afford to live here,” Unger said. “I want to be known as a Commissioner that included all voices.”
Learn more at ungerforhays. com.
