HAYS COUNTY ELECTION
A San Marcos resident might think that the candidates running for Hays County Commissioner Precinct 3 won’t impact them much as the majority of San Marcos is in Precinct 1. However, that would be untrue. Though Precinct 3 may historically be based around Wimberley, with some rural areas of Dripping Springs and a small part of Kyle, it is moving further into the western portion of San MarcosThe most recently drawn commissioners court precinct maps show that Precinct 3 now includes streets like Barnes Drive, Burleson Street, Belvin Street and San Antonio Street to the west of Old Ranch Road. If one lives in San Marcos off of Hunter Road to the west of the Historic District, they are also in Precinct 3 as the map stretches all the way to I-35 in that part of town. There are two candidates up for Hays County Commissioner Precinct 3 — Rebecca Minnick, for the Democratic party, and Morgan Hammer, for the Republican party.
Editor’s Note: This article will focus on Minnick. A future article about Hammer is upcoming.
“I've had jobs. This isn't a job; this really is public service, and I think you have to be aware and considerate and thoughtful in the decisions that you make,” Minnick said. “I think those decisions are decisions that you have to own. And I am willing to do that, and I've done that.”
Minnick was born in Fort Worth at the Carswell Air Force base but moved around a lot, spending the majority of her schooling years in Orange County, California. While in California, her dad built a sailboat, which she sailed with him all the way to Costa Rica. She later moved to Clear Lake then Houston before moving to Seabrook and buying a second home in Wimberley around 20 years ago. She fell in love with Wimberley, and that home became her primary residence approximately 15 years ago. She’s held many different careers, including working in the newspaper business, public relations and real estate. She has been on Wimberley City Council since 2019 and is currently Mayor Pro Tem.
“I've always been involved [in government]. We lived in Bel Air for about five years. I was on the Planning and Zoning Commission there. This has been my way of volunteering. It's the thing I'm most interested in, but I'm not interested in just hanging around it; I want to help solve problems,” Minnick said. “I'm an extrovert. I like to talk to people, and I like to dig into issues. … I think it's a good fit for me.”
Even though she’s lived in many places, the “Hill Country feels like home.” “Hays County has so many of those elements that contribute to a unique quality of life,” Minnick said. “With all of the growth and everything that has happened in the last five years, I want it to continue to have the character and the environmental beauty and all of those things that make it special. But I want it to be comfortable. I want it to be safe, and I want it to be the place that we all can always call home.”
During her five-years on Wimberley City Council, she believes she has developed the relationships needed to be successful in the role of Hays County Commissioner, if elected. “I have relationships with mayors of all of the cities that this county touches, including Buda,” Minnick said. “I understand what an interlocal agreement looks like. I understand how to get from here to there when it comes to a project — what are the steps, the engineering, the contracting, the bidding and all of those kinds of things. Those are critical skill sets. You may be able to develop those, but it does take time. We have needs that are now. I can step in, and I will have a firm grasp on what we're dealing with on day one. My relationships aren't just with cities, but they're also with contractors and with the nonprofits.”
Minnick said there are some things that the city of Wimberley has been doing to protect the water supply, but those same ideas need to be implemented at the county level. Something she said she’d be proud to work to implement, if elected. Wimberley currently has the One Water School, a Welcome Center, a library and a church that use rainwater collection, water reuse and condensate reuse, so that water is not coming out of the aquifers.
“Jacob's Well has not been a destination for two years for swimming. Our economy depends on Blue Hole Park. This is why people come here for tourism. So what we have to do is we have to take a holistic look. We have to adapt to drought. We have to start looking at reuse technologies. And we're doing that. We've started some of that in Wimberley, but we need to include that at the county level. An example might be rainwater collection, but more practically, we need to look at building codes for condensate reuse,” Minnick said. “We need to look at some of our planning processes. And certainly there's some state pressure with that, but there are some creative workarounds that can take us to where we want to be.”
Minnick pointed out some of the things Hays County has done well that she’d like to expand upon.
“They have partnered with Wimberley and Woodcreek on the water coordinator, and I'm very happy about that. One of the issues that we have — water isn't just water, it's drought, and then that also affects fire vulnerability and fire mitigation,” Minnick said. “I think Hays County has been good about some of those smart strategies for fire mitigation in the rural areas. Also, I think they've been careful, and I think that they've been good with the road planning in terms of what we have right now. I'll give you an example; Down 3237 [from Wimberley to Kyle], there are some roads that are planned or some enhancement projects down 3237 that they partnered with TxDOT on. That's really important for safety when you're having to evacuate from fires. … They've kept all of those things on track for safety sake here in this part of the county. That's been great. I think there’s more to do, for sure.”
Minnick said people had recommended that she run for a county seat for years now, but she began to seriously consider it last year.
“My husband's a clinical psychologist. He likes this kind of discussion, and he says that they were talking about candidate recruitment and sort of this idea of how people decide to run. And this expert said that you generally have to ask women seven times to run before they decide to,” Minnick said. “That's because we're super thoughtful about, ‘Can I make a difference? Is this something that I have the skill set for? Do I have the network to do it? How is this a good fit for me?’ The seeds were planted for me probably several years ago, and then last year, early on, I started thinking about it more seriously.”
Learn more about her at joinrebecca.org.
