County prepares for new rental assistance program

The Hays County Commissioners Court will vote Tuesday on specifications for a Request For Proposal for administrative services for a new Emergency Rental Assistance Program. 

After receiving funding from the U.S. Department of the Treasury to provide financial rent and utility assistance, the county will be soliciting proposals for a firm to manage the program. The program will provide financial assistance to income eligible households that have been negatively impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic including loss of employment. 

In other business, the county will discuss potentially covering lunches and dinners for volunteers who worked at the county’s COVID-19 vaccination clinics. The total expenses would amount to around $20,000 for 65 volunteers over the course of three to six weeks depending on the number of clinics and locations each week. 

There will also be a presentation from the Hays County Child Protective Board about the opening of the Remme Rainbow Room in December 2020. The room was opened to address the special emergency needs of CPS children and families and gives out supplies to help families provide a safe home for children. 

The Hays County Jail has an item requesting to use funds from grant savings from a Coronavirus Grant from the Governor’s Office to purchase PPE supplies.

The commissioners will also vote on ratifying the submission of a $100,000 grant application to the St. David's Foundation's COVID-19 Recovery Fund for vaccine distribution and administration support. 

If awarded, the funding would be used to support personnel costs associated with vaccine distribution and administration support. 

The commissioners will vote on submitting another grant application, this one to the U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Assistance for the Fiscal Year 2020 funding under the State Criminal Alien Assistance Program (SCAAP).

For this program, the Office of Justice Programs (OJP) of the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) makes payments to eligible states and units of local government that incur certain types of costs due to incarceration of “undocumented criminal aliens” from July 1, 2018, through June 30, 2019. 

The commissioners court meeting will be held at 9 a.m. on Tuesday at the Hays County Courthouse, Room 301 in San Marcos. Those wishing to participate in public comment can submit a public participation/witness form to the county clerk before the start of the meeting.