Countywide voting, pipeline opposition set for votes
A move toward countywide voting is on the agenda for the Hays County Commissioners Court this morning.
The commissioners will discuss and consider action on a resolution supporting an application for the state’s Countywide Polling Place Program. The program would allow voters to cast ballots at any voting location in the county, not just the one in their stated precinct. Hays County Elections Administrator Jennifer Anderson is planning a public meeting on April 23 and two additional public meetings to gather public input regarding the county’s participation in the program. Anderson also intends to assemble a polling place study committee consisting of stakeholders from local jurisdictions and representatives from local minority organizations and election resource organizations to look at potential polling places.
The Permian Highway Pipeline proposed to run through Hays County also has a spot on the commissioners’ agenda.
The commissioners will consider adopting a resolution opposing the pipeline “on behalf of the citizens of Hays County.” The proposed resolution also requests that legislative and/or administrative changes be made to “create better regulatory processes for oil and gas pipeline routing that enable impacted landowners and local governmental entities to have a voice in the approval process, require environmental and economic impact studies for all oil and gas pipelines, whether they are intrastate or interstate” and “enhance checks and balances against the broad delegation of eminent domain authority to private companies.”
The 42-inch buried natural gas pipeline is being constructed by Kinder Morgan and is slated to run from Coyanosa, Texas, to Sheridan, Texas, through the Hill Country, including a portion of Hays County. There have been numerous public meetings held about plans for the pipeline, including a meeting hosted by Kinder Morgan. The Kyle City Council recently adopted a resolution opposing the pipeline.
In other business, as part of its consent agenda, the commissioners court is slated to adopt a resolution authorizing the submission of a grant application to the state’s First Responder Mental Health Program for the Hays County Peer Network for First Responders Project. The grant program is meant to provide services and assistance to peace officers and first responders dealing with direct and indirect trauma. The grant application will ask for support for salary, benefits, training and supplies to begin the planning process of developing a Hays County Peer Network for First Responders. The commissioners will also consider a resolution authorizing the submission of a grant application to help pay for a Victim Assistance Coordinator in the county district attorney’s office.
The commissioners are also slated to vote on accepting Hays County Tax Assessor-Collector Luanne Caraway’s resignation effective Feb. 28 and appointing a new tax assessor-collector to fill the unexpired term. The court will also vote on transferring responsibility for any and all bank accounts managed by Caraway in her official capacity to the newly appointed tax assessor-collector.
