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Attorney tapped for 3rd County Court-at-law

New Position
Wednesday, October 31, 2018

Hays County has a judge for its newest court-at-law after the county commissioners court made their selection official Tuesday morning.

Tacie Marie Zelhart, a San Marcos attorney and vice president of the Hays County Bar Association, will take the helm at the County Court-at-Law No. 3 when it begins operations. According to the State Bar, Zelhart earned her doctor of jurisprudence degree at Texas Tech University in 2002 and received her license to practice later that same year.

The county’s general counsel, Mark Kennedy, said that his office received nine applications for the judicial position. The court narrowed the field of candidates to three, who were then interviewed by two sets of two commissioners. The final three candidates were Katie McVaney, Daniel O’Brien and Zelhart. 

“That brings us to today,” Kennedy said, “where the court has the opportunity to provide some open court commentary individually and on the entire pool of applicants if you wish.”

“We had a lot of good candidates,” said Precinct 2 Commissioner Mark Jones. “I think the three we interviewed — all three did very well. … I don’t think we could make a bad choice.”

“I agree with Commissioner Jones,” Precinct 3 Commissioner Lon Shell said. “All of the applicants, I believe, were more than qualified.”

Shell explained that during the selection process, each of the commissioners made a list of the applicants they preferred, and all three of the finalists were on each commissioner’s list. 

Shell also urged the court to make a decision.

“I think we need to get this judge selected as soon as possible,” he said.

Precinct 4 Commissioner Ray Whisenant also praised the pool of applicants.

“I think that we as a county were very lucky to receive applications from a number of well qualified people,” he said, adding that of the three finalists, “I think any of them would do honor and service to this county.”

Precinct 1 Commissioner Debbie Gonzales Ingalsbe had kind words for all of the applicants.

“My colleagues have expressed everything that I feel,” she said. “I really want to thank all the applicants also that submitted their applications. We did not get one that would not be qualified to serve. … I really appreciate the opportunity to choose someone from that pool.”

Whisenant made a motion to appoint O’Brien to the County Court-at-Law No. 3 position but the motion did not receive a second. Jones then moved to appoint Zelhart, and the motion passed. 

Kennedy noted that because of the way the legislation creating the new court-at-law was drafted, the appointment is essentially for an unexpired term that will extend until the next general election. 

The third county court-at-law was created last year, along with a new district court, to accommodate the increasing caseloads in Hays County. The legislation creating the new county court-at-law stipulated that it would be created as of Oct. 1, 2018. 

San Marcos Record

(512) 392-2458
P.O. Box 1109, San Marcos, TX 78666