Becerra Hundred Days in Hays meeting

Hays County Judge Ruben Becerra hosted a public meeting at Dripping Springs City Hall on Jul. 2. The event was part of his “Hundred Days in Hays” meet-and-greets, which he has been holding around the county.

During the meetings, Becerra shares what he has done in his first 100 days in office and asks members of the public what they would like to see happen in the next 100 days. He was joined at the Dripping Springs meeting by Pct. 4 Commissioner Walt Smith. Also present at the meeting were City of Dripping Springs Emergency Management Commission Chair Bonnie Humphrey and candidate for state representative, District 45, Carrie Isaac.

“I’m holding this meeting because some people don’t do Facebook, don’t do digital messaging at all,” Becerra said in opening. “So I’m hitting all communication avenues to inform people. Tonight is not ‘our show,’ but your meeting. You tell us what is important to you. I’m also glad your representative on Commissioners Court, [Pct. 4 Commissioner] Walt Smith, could join us. He and I have to work closely together. He and I don’t always agree- and that’s all right—but we do have to work together to accomplish what’s important to the citizens of Hays County.”

Becerra said that one of the first things he wanted to do initially was to change the tone and perception of the Hays County Commissioners Court. “I’m trying to create reasons for having people come downtown [San Marcos] and not perceive our court building as an embassy,” Becerra said. “The lawn is everybody’s lawn, so we’re holding Easter egg hunts, Cinco de Mayo celebrations, and we have future events planned. When the bailiff asked me what kind of court I wanted to hold, I told him I didn’t want to go through the ‘all rise’ stuff—out of respect for the court I did ask that hats be removed—but I did ask for the blinds to be open. Its symbolic for my intention to bring light to what we’re doing.”

On the Kinder Morgan pipeline, Becerra said he did not believe the process in place to secure land for the pipeline was adequate. “The pipeline passes through each commissioner’s precinct. We unanimously opposed the process in place to certify the pipeline,” Becerra said. “If any of us in county government wanted to take property to build a road, or similar, there would be a massive, very public process. Unfortunately that’s not the case for a pipeline and eminent domain. I’m very much a private property guy.”

Becerra and Smith then spoke about their concern about a “revolving door policy”  and potential conflict of interest with former public officials and county employees working for companies that bid for county business. Becerra originally favored a policy that would exclude any company hiring a former employee or county public official from bidding on county business for four years. He allowed, however, that after discussion with other commissioners, a solution of ‘public disclosure,’ or a grievance process, might serve the need for resolving conflict of interest. “I don’t want to put companies at a disadvantage for hiring some of the good people that worked for the county. I don’t want to penalize that. My concern is that I didn’t want former elected officials strong arming their way into a company. Saying, ‘Hire me, and I’ll represent you with the county.’”

Smith said, “I think that a grievance process would work. If with a disclosure document, someone thinks something is wrong, a company can file a grievance with the county on what they perceive to be unfair.”

Both Becerra and Smith spoke about being good stewards of public funds and the need to communicate with the public what is being obtained or purchased by the county. “At a county meeting we were discussing purchasing Hazmat suits, and someone was complaining that the suits are toys that nobody uses, and that the county shouldn’t spend the money,” Becerra said. “All of us (on commissioners court) were trying to listen politely and not interrupt him by saying that at that very moment we had people in hazmat suits responding to a pipe leak in Kyle.”

Smith also told the story of the Pct. 4 Constable’s Office obtaining a military vehicle at no cost from military surplus, and how someone spoke at commissioners court opposing the move. “They were asking why [Pct. 4 Constable] Ron Hood wanted military automatic weapons,” Smith said. “I explained we were talking about a troop vehicle that was able to perform water rescue operations during a flood. During our last flood we had people stuck in their flooded apartments, and we had no way of getting them out. That vehicle would solve that problem. I said that this is a discussion I would have with anyone, anywhere.”

Pivoting to criminal justice, Becerra expressed concern about the cost of keeping jail prisoners. “I think criminal justice reform is a big deal. As a chronic fiscal conservative, it disturbs me to see us spending ten to fifteen thousand a day outsourcing prisoners,” Becerra said. “It’s important to see how the money is spent, desk by desk. I’m not saying we shouldn’t’ be tough on crime.”

Becerra said that he believed some of the alternatives to jail were misrepresented. “Cite and release is often mis-portrayed as ‘catch and release’ fishing. That’s not the case,” Becerra said. “The person cited still gets a court date and has to appear in court, and we don’t go through expense of jail time.”

Becerra’s larger debate with Smith was when Becerra explained his support of “cite and diversion.” 

“In cite and diversion, we get the police to work with social services,” Becerra said. “OK, we caught you stealing at the local store--- why should the police officer only have the choice of arrest? Why not ask, ‘why are you stealing?’ Is it a drug habit, is it that you don’t have food, or are you a klepto? Find out why the person is stealing and put them in contact with people that can help them. If we arrest them, and don’t solve the underlying problem, they’ll just do it again when they get out because we didn’t solve things. My chief of staff is a former police officer, so I get reports on how cite and release and cite and diversion are doing in other counties. I want to check it out, so that we can do something useful with the money.”

Smith countered that law enforcement was a limited resource and that “justice is expensive.”

“We have limited law enforcement resources when you compare us with a much more urbanized county like Travis,” Smith said. “How many rural officers do you think we have a time in a particular precinct, at a particular time? Maybe two. Then when an officer gets a call about someone at HEB, they will get a back-up officer. Now you’re down to zero. The next question is how long will two officers going to be tied up with that call before returning to normal patrol or availability for another call? Do we want to convert them into social workers and tie them up for the rest of afternoon or day?”

The other thing is that justice is expensive,” Smith said. “If we say it costs us $167 a day for us to hold a prisoner for a day, yes it can add up. So for me, if it was just about the money, we wouldn’t have a jail. We would simply ship out all the prisoners. I’m very fiscally conservative. But it’s not just about the money. It’s about justice. Sitting in a San Marcos jail, I can meet with my attorney three times a week easily. If you ship me out to another county, how easy is it for my attorney to come and see me? Not that easy. The other thing is that I don’t want the police to become the judiciary.”

Becerra replied that he wanted to give the three components of justice, the police, the district attorney, and judges,  more discretion so that they could become more efficient..

“I do have to complement the judge on bringing justice reform to the county,” Smith said. “I’m also exceedingly impressed with our judiciary and their willingness to make change.”

Both Becerra and Smith spoke about case assignment remaining with one assistant DA and one court. “It simplifies the logistics of justice,” Smith said. “A plaintiff knows what days that court works on, who their attorney is dealing, both DA and judge, and how to plan my days.”

For the remainder of the meeting, both Becerra and Smith, listened and responded to attendees’ concerns ranging from taxes, to roads, to safety concerns about pipelines. After the meeting, both Becerra and Smith stayed to speak to meeting attendees one-on-one, and handed out their business cards.