By Cyndy Slovak-Barton.
This year was truly memorable. Unprecedented growth brought more money into city coffers, but also put more demands on the infrastructure. More students, more drivers, more houses, more businesses. It was a big year.
The Hays Free Press usually recaps the year in words – giving you the top stories of the year. But people are visual these days, so here are our best photos of the year.
Photos tell our stories – from news to sports, from schools to our communities. Our reporters are also the community photographers. They take video and shoot the photos, recording the changes in our once sleepy towns.
There’s nothing sleepy anymore about Buda and Kyle. Hays County is one of the fastest growing counties in the country, with Williamson County north of Austin leading the nation.
This growth brings a lot of changes – both good and bad. Take a look through our news photos. You will see crime, wrecks, thefts, assaults. It is not always a pretty sight.
But that’s the down side of our presentation. Look again through the photos and notice the triumphs.
So what would you consider a triumph? How about the fight for better roads?
Transportation always dominates conversations in Buda and Kyle. 2013 saw a lot of changes – roads being patched, roads needing complete reconstructions (Bonita Vista in Buda), TxDot using creative thinking by suggesting a roundabout to unclog the intersection of FM 1626 and Kohler’s Crossing, the expansion of FM 1626, the potential of SH 45SW being built, the possibility of a loop around Kyle and Buda. You name it, someone has talked about it.
The roads will be built one way or another, as Buda and Kyle turn more and more into commuter towns. With more than 70 percent of local residents holding jobs elsewhere – whether north or south – the number of commuters expands every day.
Growth also means a huge increase in the number of students attending Hays schools. Ten years ago, the Hays CISD student population was 9,064. The student population at the beginning of this school year was 17,135 – an increase of 8,071 students – almost doubling HCISD’s student population in that timeframe.
When considering that an average elementary school contains around 650 students, the increase from last year’s enrollment of 16,524 to 17,135 this year is the equivalent of one new school to contain the new students.
So, what’s the answer? A bond committee. The committee was asked to look at the needs of the district, prioritize those needs and gauge what taxpayers would accept. The outcome? A request for a $59+ million bond for a new middle school, buses, technology upgrades, security, mechanical systems and more.
Who better to lead the charge than a new superintendent. When former superintendent Jeremy Lyon was hired away by Frisco ISD, Hays found Mike McKie at Fort Bend ISD. McKie has led HCISD’s trustees through the process of accessing local needs, with a bond election expected in May 2014.
Hays CISD always dominates the pages of the Hays Free Press, especially when it comes to the glories of local sports teams. 2013 was a year of successes. The Hays High Lady Rebels took their first-ever state championship in softball. Other successes? Both Lehman soccer teams, boys and girls, went into the playoffs, with the boys taking their first ever district championship.
In football, Hays High Rebels took the title of district champions – for the third year in a row.
Both schools also had track stars making it to the state meet – with Hays having two of the top eight female pole vaulters in the state, and Lehman with bragging rights as one girl made state in high jump.
Volleyball, baseball, tennis, cross country, basketball. There are too many successes to name here. Look through the photos and read over the stories online. It’s all worth a gander.
We hope you enjoy the year in photos; we’ll be back next week with local news and more.
