Brittany Kelley
SAN MARCOS— The Hays County Commissioners Court listened to a presentation regarding the Animal Welfare Services Division at its Dec. 16 meeting.
According to Matthew Gonzales, Hays County Health Department director, the purpose of the update is to reflect on the year’s work of the division since its conception in April, as well as the work the county had been completing prior.
The timeline, he continued, is as follows:
June 2022: The county was presented with information from Team Shelter USA on the animal shelter and Animal Services Feasibility Study.
September 2024: The city of San Marcos informed partners that the partnership for its shelter will come to an end in September 2026.
April 2025: The Animal Welfare Services Division was created to be responsible for animal sheltering and animal services.
September 2025: Hays County signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the city of Kyle for animal services.
“We started the division in April and we were able to get the first employee in June and start operations,” said Gonzales. “We held 17 different events focused on the community services that really helped with the safety net of individuals and their households and pets. So, adoption events, low-cost service clinics, microchip clinics [and] trap, neuter and return (TNR).”
Furthermore, the division began creating community partnerships, such as Prevent A Litter (PALS). Within this partnership, they have started a pilot TNR program in the Saddlebrook community, where there are approximately 150 cats living on the premises. There have been 16 cats spayed, 11 neutered and 27 vaccinated.
Gonzales also shared that there have been 1,663 pounds of dry dog food and 1,465 pounds of wet dog food distributed in the past four months to community members, with the greatest need falling within the older adults and Spanish-speaking demographics in the greater Kyle area.
Other programs pending implementation include procuring scanners and partner sites for community-led owner returns, foster programs and adoption events.
“Austin Pets Alive! was previously doing this work, so what we’re having to do is learn how to scale down what was being done to right-size it for the current division and continue to make it a scalable approach moving forward,” said the director.
Touching on the animal shelter partnership with the city of Kyle, Gonzales stated that the facility and operations programming would be provided by the city, with the next step being construction, following the signing of the interlocal agreement, which has been delayed by both the county and Kyle City Council until their respective meetings Jan. 6.
Sharri Boyett, the county judge’s advisor for animal welfare, shared that although there has been praise for the facility partnership with Kyle, she has concerns.
“I would like to see more conversations about what those dollars will mean as we are talking about the east side with Kyle. I would like to see more than the percentages [of the animal intake],” she stressed. “I would like to ask where are the award-winning programs, the experts from the consulting firm … I [also] haven’t seen a commitment for no-kill programming from the presentation from Kyle."
She also recommended creating a coalition for the organizations that represent the animal welfare groups, the need to see the total cost and plan from Kyle and creating a liaison, perhaps from the Hays County Sheriff’s Office.
Additionally, the Kyle shelter does not encompass the west side of the county, he said, as the partnership only includes Kyle, Buda and Hays County; therefore, animals from Wimberley and Dripping Springs will not be housed there. To combat this, Gonzales revealed that the county is currently looking at a satellite location in Dripping springs.
“The rationale for that is that the intake volume from the San Marcos Regional Animal Shelter reflects that a larger share of animals from the west side originate within the greater area [of Dripping Springs]. We think that is associated with the population growth that is occurring in that area,” he said.
The director stated that limitations include finding property that is for sale, affordable and improved, but that the county is under a due-diligence period for property that is viable for the development of a shelter.
“I’m a real advocate for this satellite location on the west side. We have the availability and the space to have a satellite campus and the one thing I mentioned the other day, when we had our debate and discussion regarding the MOU, my real question is how are we going to ensure a facility that is maintained by the county with the exact same standards, programming, those sorts of things,” asked commissioner Walt Smith.
In response, Gonzales stated that there will be a lot of partnership meetings, especially at the programming and operational level to ensure consistency. He also said that the facility wouldn’t be county managed, but rather county contracted, similar to Kyle. So, they can look at the contract with the Kyle facility and mirror these standards.
Smith added that, in addition to these locations, he would like to see planning being done for the far east of the county, since it is rapidly growing.
Commissioner Morgan Hammer urged that Wimberley would also be a possible spot in the future, since PALS is now located closer to the city.
“We need to get ready and I feel that we are laying the foundation. We are planting the seeds. We are going to be building out our departments and providing more services to the entire county. It is going to take everyone working together to be able to do that, the municipalities, maybe even neighboring counties; we’re all in this together,” emphasized commissioner Michelle Cohen.
Next steps for the division include developing a road map for the delivery of services for the next three to five years, a west side animal services facility, continued partnership for the Kyle animal facility and implementation of programs.
The Hays County Commissioners Court will meet next Jan. 6.
