By Amira Van Leeuwen
HAYS COUNTY — The Hays County Commissioners Court met Aug. 16 to listen to presentations about the county’s broadband and the importance of elevating the Council of Indigenous and Tejano communities of Hays County.
According to Broadband Solutions Manager Pam Waggoner, Connected Nation Texas partnered with the Hays County Broadband Committee to conduct a study designed to determine the availability of broadband infrastructure. Connected Nation Texas approached the broadband study in a holistic way and focused on the quality of life to identify issues necessary to close the digital divide.
The county conducted a comprehensive survey between the months of March and June 2022. The survey collected responses from 1,469 households and found that 465 households do not have 25/3 Mpbs (the current standard of what is considered fast internet.)
The study also found three reasons for broadband dissatisfaction: slow speeds, high prices, and unstable connections.
“People want better service. They need the internet for their quality of life. They need their internet to work; their kids need internet to go to school — people just want more,” Wagner said.
Wagner recommended making the Technology Action Team permanent to ensure the work to improve broadband to date is carried forth and the community stays in tune with state, local and federal broadband happenings. She also recommended continuing to update the Hays County technology portal/website to promote local broadband resources, keep up to date with state and national broadband policies and build relationships with internet service providers.
Commissioner Walt Smith noted that some of the numbers used in the survey were from the 2020 Census and encouraged Wagner to look at the updated numbers.
CITC Chair Gina Alba-Rogers also gave a presentation to request funding from the court to benefit the Tejano and Indigenous communities and help them make a difference in reaching historically excluded residents and taxpayers.
According to the 2021 Hays County Census, where there are more than 255,400 residents, 40.6% are Hispanic/Latino. CITC’s mission is to preserve the county’s rich culture and history of the indigenous community within the county.
“In early 2021, some of us in this courtroom stood before you to ask that you allow us to keep telling the stories, and despite their historical value and educating the community, the stories of our ancestors were not being told nor prioritized among traditional channels,” Rogers said.
Rogers shared several support letters from the community, including Texas historians and a family from Kyle. CITC sought to receive $14,654 for various items in their budget proposal, including video equipment, software, a printer, scanner and copier.
The court was appreciative and supportive of CITC’s mission.
“Thank you for your work, and I really appreciate the work on the previous, untold marker in the Dripping Springs Area,” Smith said.
