Meet the Pct. 4 candidates for Hays County Commissioner
The Century News interviewed incumbent Republican Hays County Commissioner Walt Smith, Pct. 4, and his challenger, independent Susan Cook. The following is a transcript of the interview, lightly edited for clarity and concision.
Hays County has been recognized as the fastest growing county in Texas and the U.S. among counties with populations of 100,000 or more, growing over 53% in the past decade. As the Hays County Commissioner for Precinct 4, how would you help facilitate this growth and its impacts on the Dripping Springs community?
SMITH: “I don’t think it’s as much of a question of facilitating growth as it is managing it. People move to our county for our culture and community and have the expectation of a high quality of life. In order to achieve that, the county needs to do its best to ensure the basic functions of public safety, transportation and services are met for each and every resident. As Commissioner, I am proud to work with stakeholders throughout the county, such as cities and school districts, to address these issues proactively. I plan on continuing to use every tool the county has to continue towards this goal.”
COOK: “Growth must pay for itself and be tied to the ability of the land, and water resources, to support that growth.
Growth is big business, and not all growth is progress, and not all land can support dense, urban-style development. While planning for future populations, we must protect our healthy agricultural base, and not bulldoze farms and ranches and replace them with suburbs and shopping centers. Not only does agriculture form an integral part of our cultural heritage, but also this is economic development that is already here, thriving and essential. A society that paves over its farm and ranch lands puts itself at risk of not having enough food or water to sustain itself.
“We must embed into our county subdivision regulations incentives, and mandates, that all buildings in Hays County be designed to withstand the many climate challenges we will continue to face in the coming years. Homes and businesses must be adequately insulated and built with materials and innovative construction techniques that make them resilient, while using less energy, and less water. Building to higher standards must simply become the cost of doing business in Hays County. Our land, our way of life, and our treasured water resources, must not be pushed to the breaking point by unchecked, unwise and unsustainable growth, or seen as some kind of inevitability. Growth and development are just someone’s business plan, and plans change.”
Hays County has experienced at least 16 fentanyl-related deaths this calendar year — four of which were high school students. As the Hays County Commissioner for Precinct 4, how would you prioritize fentanyl awareness or education?
COOK: “As a society, we must face the opiate crisis that has reached epidemic proportions in the larger cities and is now emerging in our small towns and rural areas. There is no drug business without customers, and if people, especially young people, were truly aware of the dangers inherent in using opiates, there would be little demand for these substances.
“Rather than the conventional ways of addressing drug education, we need to get the message to the kids using an honest and comprehensive educational outreach, utilizing peer-to-peer drug education. We cannot rely solely on parents, teachers or law enforcement, who kids often distrust or ignore in such matters. We must stop muddying the waters by telling kids that all drugs are equally dangerous, because that is not true. Kids know this and when you approach a child with a “Just Say No” attitude, you leave out the important distinctions between drugs such as nicotine and opiates such as heroin and fentanyl.
“As we see these dangerous, easy to traffic opiates in pill form show up in our communities and schools, we must make sure that Narcan is readily available and free of charge. Every household should have a dose at the back of their medicine cabinet, just in case. Lives could, and would, be saved if overdoses could be treated quickly enough.
SMITH: “I’m proud to say I have taken the lead in our Commissioner’s Court in addressing the fentanyl issue. Throwing funding at the problem doesn’t solve anything; however, an integrated effort of education and outreach, coupled with assistance to those impacted, has been undertaken. In collaboration with the Hays County Sheriff’s Office, I have instituted an education and outreach program to each of the school districts in Hays County. Additionally, I have worked hard to provide up to $200,000 for each school district for substance abuse counseling and behavioral health funding in order to assist those children and their families in addressing their problems when they come forward with substance issues.
Over the past year, the city of Dripping Springs had to implement a temporary development moratorium due to wastewater concerns. Although the moratorium expired, the city said it is still “very near capacity with providing wastewater to new residents and businesses.” Meanwhile, a severe drought throughout Hays County lowered already-decreasing groundwater levels. As the Hays County Commissioner for Precinct 4, how would you help address or spread awareness for the limited amount of water and wastewater throughout the county?
SMITH: “Water is the most important and limiting factor for the massive growth in our county. Without additional water resources for our area, not only will new growth be either stymied or stopped, but current residents will be severely impacted. Without additional water, new developments and homeowners are incentivized to drill into the aquifer, and our current resources, which are already at risk, are even more stressed. Additionally, ensuring that that water is treated in a way that protects our streams and aquifer once used is equally important.
“In the state of Texas, counties have little control over limiting water usage, but we in Hays County have been at the forefront in promoting rainwater collection and water conservation through our development regulations. Commissioner Mark Jones (Pct. 2) and myself sponsored a watershed study which is currently underway in partnership with the city of Dripping Springs, the city of Buda and Austin/Travis County to do a true analysis of the Onion Creek watershed. Commissioner Lon Shell (Pct. 3) and I also have several initiatives underway with the Hays Trinity Groundwater Conservation District to address groundwater availability models to get a true understanding of what groundwater resources are really available.
“As the Pct. 4 Commissioner, I also serve on the board for the West Travis County Public Utility Agency which, under a Memorandum of Understanding with US Fish and Wildlife, has taken great strides in ensuring water outside our aquifer can be brought in to lower the impact we face on its daily usage. I am also excited that through an effort led by myself and Commissioner Shell, Hays County anticipates being the first county in Texas to adopt a conservation title for our development guidelines which specifically promote water conservation and reuse. After two years of intense research, we recently adopted the final report on this effort and will consider it for adoption in early 2023.”
COOK: “Our water resources are dwindling, and unless we change course and enact strong and enforceable water conservation measures, we face running out of water. We should be moving towards more droughttolerant plants and shrubs. We must change what is considered a good-looking lawn and garden and water wisely, so our gardens thrive with less water.
“Hays County is already The Rainwater Capital of Texas, and we must begin installing rainwater catchment on all homes and businesses, including our large school buildings. All new construction should require it, and retrofitting existing buildings should be made affordable by enabling subsidies and low- to no-costs loans. State and federal funding, along with enhanced development fees, could fund these programs.
“The city of Dripping Springs continues to push to discharge treated wastewater effluent into Onion Creek, a move that would threaten our entire Trinity Aquifer. The Trinity Aquifer and Onion Creek, and all its tributaries, are intimately interconnected, as clearly shown by dye-trace studies. Dripping Springs was right to enact a moratorium, but our water and wastewater situation has not improved; it has gotten worse. The city cannot continue to permit new suburban developments, while they clearly recognize that there is not enough water, nor enough wastewater treatment capacity.
“Conservation is key, and we must begin educating all our citizens, but especially the new folks who move here and really do not understand our water realities. We live here because it is special; it is home to great swimming holes, with springs and creeks that support agriculture, wildlife and a thriving tourism industry. It is up to each of us to do our part to protect, preserve and defend our land, our water and our way of life here in Hays County.”
In November 2016, Hays County voters approved a $131.4M road bond program for over 25 projects on the county and state roadway systems. The FY23 budget includes $58.5M for these continued efforts, including work on the FM 110 Loop, State Highway 21, Dacy Lane, FM 2001, Ranch Road 12, RM 3237, RM 150 and US Highway 290. As the Hays County Commissioner for Precinct 4, how would you address and/or help facilitate these and other transportation projects?
COOK: “Some of these road proposals I am unfamiliar with, but the ones currently in play in our area, like the extension of FM 150 from Ranch Road 12 to Henly (crossing Onion Creek four times and smaller creeks another six to 10 times on the way), the Rutherford Bypass which would essentially be an extension of Escarpment Drive in Austin to FM 150 in Driftwood (crossing the previously protected Austin Water Quality Protection Lands) and the extension of SH-45 to I-35, I know these local projects only too well. None of these helps anyone living here now, and only sets the stage for raising our taxes and causing irreversible harm to the land, the water and our way of life.
“We need to address the traffic in downtown Dripping Springs and building a roundabout at Howard Ranch does nothing to remedy that. We need to make sure our local roads are safe, but those millions for new roads do not do that. Bulldozing working, productive farms and ranches not only degrades our prosperous and historically important agricultural base but will risk our aquifer and our interconnected creeks system. Replacing ranches with suburban sprawl is not economic development, but will destroy thriving, existing economic endeavors and a way of life that has existed here for over a hundred years.
“Dripping Springs has some serious, time-consuming traffic congestion and unsafe road conditions, but none of these multimillion- dollar road projects are designed to address any of that. Instead of widening roads, filling in potholes, adding turn lanes and fixing the ridiculous traffic jams that form around our schools, Hays County is poised to build new, unwanted, unneeded roads. These are roads that nobody asked for, and yet, millions of our tax dollars are being diverted to those projects, with little left to fix our current conditions.”
SMITH: “While this bond was passed several years prior to me taking office, I’m happy to say that as commissioner, I have been able to complete a number of these projects and anticipate the rest within Precinct 4 reaching completion over the next 12 to 24 months.
“Only those located in Precinct 4 are managed by this Commissioner position, so I will address those with which fall into that jurisdiction. Some great examples of those I’ve been able to complete since taking office are the multi-use paths connecting the Belterra, High Pointe and surrounding neighborhoods to Sycamore Springs Elementary and Middle Schools. Additionally, intersection improvements on US Highway 290 at Martin Lane, Holder Lane and Henly Loop have also been completed, significantly improving safety with Trautwein Road next in line and going to construction in 2023. Also located in Pct 4 were improvements to FM 967 and FM 1626, and I’m happy to share they are scheduled for completion this coming week with a ribbon cutting planned in the next few days.
“In the Dripping Springs area, planning is well underway to improve Darden Hill from Sawyer Ranch Rd to FM 1826, and it is anticipated the county will begin public engagement prior to the end of the year. Other completed projects include the new Creek Road Bridge at Fellers Crossing, whose replacement was mandated by the Texas Department of Transportation. Also in the near future are the Robert S. Light extension project and the Buda Truck Bypass.”
A recent press release from Hays County stated that “Our Commissioner’s Court is dedicated to maintaining a low county tax rate while providing superior services to the citizens of Hays County. This includes law enforcement to support public safety in communities and schools... parks and open space, support for the judicial system, reliable record keeping for deeds and public documents, elections administration, emergency planning... health and human services and much more.” Which areas or services would be a focus for you as Hays County Commissioner, and how would you address them?
SMITH: “The areas I will continue to focus on are specific to ensuring a greater quality of life for our residents while keeping county taxes as low as possible to meet those needs. Since joining the Court, my fellow Commissioners and I have continued to drop the county tax rate with the current level actually on par to what was in place in 1988. This decline in the tax rate has come at the same time as an ever-increasing demand for services with the explosion of population.
“I’ve worked hard to protect those who protect us and fund our law enforcement and first responders in the face of continued budgetary threats from our County Judge. In the three years Judge Ruben Becerra proposed a budget for the county, he proposed cutting funding for law enforcement each year. These cuts included everything from staff for the jail to bulletproof vests. Our citizens have a right to feel safe and know someone will get there as soon as possible in their greatest time of need, and I will work to ensure that call is answered.
“Likewise, the need to know they will have clean water and the ability to earn a living and live affordably in our area are just as important. I moved my family here a decade ago because I wanted to settle in an area where my children would want to return and make their homes and where there would be opportunities to do just that. By protecting both water quality and quantity we preserve the ability for economic growth and the culture and community we all want to ensure will last well into the future.”
COOK: “Taking a hard look at some of our county expenditures is necessary to make sure we can continue to fund needed obligations, while not raising the cost to taxpayers. It is hard to stop funding something that has depended on county funding, but some enterprises might need to become privately-funded.
“Hays County is proposing to spend millions on roads in the Dripping Springs area that could fix our county roads. Much-needed new roads in the Corridor precincts, where roads are needed, are not fully funded. A misguided, but apparently “traditional” method of putting together road bond packages, same as with our parks bonds, is to allocate roughly equal expenditures for each of the four precincts. This tends to force projects to be included in these bond proposals that are not necessarily those most desired, or needed, by the people who live there.
“Our county jail is so full of people being held in pre-trial detention that we are having to contract with other counties, some as far away as five hours drive, to house them. This is partly due to the fact that many people arrested cannot afford bail, and/or lack competent legal help to get them out while awaiting trial. There are many people in our county jail who are there for non-violent crimes, or who really need, not jail, but mental health help, and for whom imprisonment is neither helpful to them, nor to the community who must pay for their care, and often for the care of family members left behind.
“As for our recent parks bond: acquisition of the old Boy Scout Camp, El Rancho Cima, which was on the market for $24 million should have been purchased in its entirety, not just a part of it, and Hays County would have been the owner of probably the most beautiful county park in the state, if not the country. We could have spent $24 million, not $75 million, and outright owned a natural treasure all our Hays County citizens could enjoy for one-third the cost.”
Early voting for the Nov. 8 election begins Monday, Oct. 24.