Commissioners approve agreement with the City of Austin
Hays County approved an agreement that will connect the county with the City of Austin’s fingerprint and palm identification system.
At its Nov. 5 meeting, the Hays County Commissioners Court voted unanimously to execute an Interlocal Agreement for Hays County connectivity to the Austin Police Department’s Automated Palm and Fingerprint Identification System (APFIS).
According to the interlocal agreement, the City of Austin currently employs a Gemalto Cogent Automated Biometric Identification System (CABIS) for identification processes involved in the booking and criminal justice system.
“The City and County have each determined that it would be mutually advantageous for the County to connect to the City's CABIS, to enter its latent finger and palm print records and latent prints into the CABIS database, and to search the database for matches,” states the interlocal agreement.
In other business, commissioners voted to pass a resolution that will cast Hays County's 1,271 votes for Jenifer O'Kane, a candidate for the Hays Central Appraisal District Board of Directors, which governs the Hays Central Appraisal District.
O’Kane has served as the Hays County Tax Assessor/ Collector since March of 2019 when she replaced long-time Tax Assessor-Collector Luanne Caraway after her resignation.
During discussion on the agenda item, County Judge Ruben Becerra asked for more explanation as to why all of the county’s votes should be given to O’Kane.
“I think the strategy behind putting all the votes behind Ms. O’Kane is that you want to make clear that that’s your choice,” General Counsel Mark Kennedy said. “So you don’t want to spread your votes out and dilute your choice with multiple candidates.”
Pct. 2 Commissioner Mark Jones noted that the Hays Central Appraisal District Board of Directors oversees the operation of Hays Central Appraisal District and “their budget is their biggest directive.”
“Our board member is in charge of making sure that the money that the county puts into the board is spent wisely as far as operations go,” Pct. 3 Commissioner Lon Shell said. “But they do not have anything to do with appraisal reviews or deciding on appraisals.”
Additionally, commissioners voted to accept a $53,956 award from the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) for a State Criminal Alien Assistance Grant Program and to authorize the execution of a $30,170.26 victim services grant.