Hays County Commissioners approves funding, position conversion, more

HAYS COUTY — At its Oct. 10 meeting, the Hays County Commissioners Court approved  higher funding for two positions in the local health department, the conversion of vacant deputy slots to deputy/cadet slots and declared a name for the new Hays County pet resource center.

According to Tammy Crumley, director of countywide operations, there are two registered nurse positions, one for tuberculosis (TB) and one for immunizations, that require more funding.

“We have tried everything to make it work within our budget,” said Crumley. “It’s just not going to happen. We’ve looked at every other county and we have spoken to the state. Everyone is having the same problem with filling nursing positions.”

Not only is the health department struggling to fill the positions to fulfill the county's needs, but it is also at risk of losing funding from the state if the positions are left vacant. This is due to the county being labeled as noncompliant to state requirements without these nurses.

Commissioner Walt Smith stated that he recognizes that this is a serious issue that needs to be dealt with. Despite initially proposing that salary changes should wait to be implemented all at once in February 2024, he noted that “this is a clear exception to this rule.”

The Hays County Sheriff’s Office is also facing staffing issues. To ease this, it has have requested that the open deputy slots, and all future vacancies, be converted to deputy/cadet slots.

“Right now, for our recruiting all we can do is recruit licensed peace officers. By making this change, we will be able to recruit civilians to send them to the academy, which will open up a very broad net for recruiting,” said Captain Mike Davenport.

Smith suggested creating part-time positions to add to the possibilities of recruiting, citing veterans who are retired, but would still like to serve the community. This would, in theory, add more officers. If there are two individuals who can only work 20 hours per week, this would be better than having an empty full-time slot for months. Davenport did state that this was a possibility and that they could look more into it.

Commissioners also approved the following for the upcoming pet resource center:

• Name: Hays County Pet Resource, Education and Research Center

• Mission: The Hays County Pet Resource, Education and Research Center will provide a temporary safe haven for pets in need, keep pets and families together, protect animals in Hays County and work collaboratively with pet owners, the public, animal rescue and welfare organizations, human social services agencies and others with a shared vision to benefit pets and people.

• Vision: A strong, healthy community for all pets and people through lifesaving programming, an embrace of progressive best practices in animal services, inclusively honoring the human-animal bond, respecting community values and conversations, education and applied research at a first-of-its-kind campus serving a growing region for now and future generations.

The commissioners court will meet again at 9 a.m. on Oct. 24.