Discussions on two countywide issues led off the Hays County Commissioners Court meeting on Tuesday.
First, the commissioners heard from Hays County Judge Ruben Becerra’s chief of staff, Alex Villalobos, on the progress the judge’s criminal justice reform task force had made. (Later in the same meeting, the task force would be dubbed a commission with the full backing of the commissioners court).
Villalobos said that work was underway regarding changes to the case assignment process. Several elected officials were looking at ways to streamline it.
“They are close to that process,” he said, adding that soon there will be an agenda item by District Attorney Wes Mau for the commissioners on costs associated with implementing a case assignment system and a direct file system.
Villalobos also said that task force members had identified spaces in the government center that were not being used to their full potential: conference rooms leading into the courts. Those rooms will be configured so that attorneys wishing to have a private word with their clients before court can do so in the conference rooms.
Finally, Villalobos shared the task force’s mission statement with the commissioners.
“The task force works collectively to manage systemic challenges facing the Hays County Criminal Justice System,” Villalobos said, to improve public safety, efficiency, accountability and equity.
Among the commission’s goals are the promotion of fairness, accountability and rule of law; the assessment of local criminal justice data; the pursuit of efforts to reduce recidivism; and the discovery of ways to recapture money back into the criminal justice system. Specific initiatives the task force has been looking at include pretrial services, such as the creation of a public defender’s office.
In other business, commissioners held a brief discussion of the creation of a revolving door prohibition in the county’s ethics policy.
“There’s nothing in place right now to address this issue, as far as I understand,” Becerra said. “... Our taxpayer dollars can go right back out to former elected officials and department heads who just left.”
Villalobos suggested a workshop on the issue with a discussion of current trends and policies and of what would work best in Hays County.
“I can come with the most current research,” Villalobos told the commissioners.
