Remarks by Walt Smith
279 remarks on the record, newest first · Page 9 of 12
- Play at 1:35:39
“If you knew Darden Hill Road exists, you know that the extension portion of this project actually removes three dogleg right-hand 90-degree turns at the end of it. It improves Darden Hill Road, and if you'd like, you're more than welcome to look at our road bomb map. But it actually, about 80% of the roadway is existing right now that this would renovate it. would change it from a two-lane undivided or undivided roadway with no shoulders and very little drainage into a four-lane divided with a walking path along it 80 of it there is no way we have looked since 2021 at least to straighten out…”
Commissioners Court · Aug 4, 2026
- Play at 1:37:15
“No, this doesn't. That's a completely different project.”
Commissioners Court · Aug 4, 2026
- Play at 1:37:56
“No. Darden Hill does not touch 12 and 150. I know that. Darden Hill hits 150 and intersects at 150. There is nothing in the agenda item, there is nothing in anything relative to this that even mentions 12 because it's a completely different project. Two miles away from this project. Three miles away. Forgive me. How far is the 150 Darden Hill intersection and the 152?”
Commissioners Court · Aug 4, 2026
- Play at 1:46:10
“That includes the elementary as well as those two.”
Commissioners Court · Aug 4, 2026
- Play at 1:58:29
“Sure, go ahead, sir. I would just say that... Overall, there are commitments that we had, and I'm going to jump ahead a little bit when we talk about the ARPA positions, because I think those are not new positions, but they are full-time positions that we made a commitment whenever we created those that we needed to carry those forward. The other one that I would Well, there's two. One of them is mentioned here. The other one that I know I've had direct conversations with the Hays Consolidated ISD School Board, and they are, in their budget, currently supporting additional SROs for each…”
Commissioners Court · Aug 4, 2026
- Play at 1:59:25
“Countywide, and it was turned down. I know that they're going to carry that funding. It's something that we've always wanted to step up and assist with in the past, and I think I would be supportive of that. The one concern that I have, is that when we created, or the other concern that I have, is that when we created the Parks and Open Space Department last year, we made a strong commitment as to how that department should expand with the opening of Sentinel Peak and with the other duties that they've now taken on. I just want to ensure that whatever we do in the budget, we are looking at We…”
Commissioners Court · Aug 4, 2026
- Play at 2:10:19
“I would agree with you, but I would have one suggestion, and I've been thinking about this quite a while. We get these piecemeal requests for new positions and piecemeal requests for upgrade or regrade. And it's always been the bane of our existence outside the budget process. And so we look at a mid-year budget update that Scott does and Vicki did every, and we do our quarterly updates, those kind of things. As part of the budget process, and I'm not talking any dollar figures here whatsoever, I'm just talking as part of a process. I think it'd be very helpful and it would give good…”
Commissioners Court · Aug 4, 2026
- Play at 2:19:16
“It was 95 in the first contract. I thought it went up to 115. Is that not right?”
Commissioners Court · Aug 4, 2026
- Play at 2:19:55
“I would just add that I know that the Sheriff's Department has been working diligently to try to end that contract. I know there's a timeline during the budget process. Are we going to hear what that current timeline is? I know Chief Bailey's here. I'm just wondering.”
Commissioners Court · Aug 4, 2026
- Play at 2:20:21
“No, I'm looking for when, if we say 50, is that doable in the first year? quarter of the fiscal year is that in the second quarter of the fiscal year is that how many do we have there now you see what I mean I mean we can't really make a good decision I don't think until we have a timeline as to what facilities will have ready here and what what surrounding counties I think the biggest concern I completely agree I'd much rather have those inmates closer the biggest concern that I have is that when we were outsourcing the vast majority of our inmates to those surrounding counties years ago…”
Commissioners Court · Aug 4, 2026
- Play at 2:23:53
“So I, everybody hold your breath. This is something we're going to actually really agree on. I'm not joking. This is a concept that I came up with about two years ago. And I say that because I know many of us have familiarity with the Burke Center, which is located in my precinct. And in dealing with them and with some budget shortfalls they had, they contacted me and said, we're really interested in housing juvenile inmates for Hayes County because we have contracts with, I think at that time, six other outside counties to house juvenile inmates. And we don't have one with Hays County. Why…”
Commissioners Court · Aug 4, 2026
- Play at 2:27:37
“So that's my point. What's the current capacity of the facility?”
Commissioners Court · Aug 4, 2026
- Play at 2:28:07
“So my question was the capacity that they have right now that is extra capacity in there that we're having these outsourced juveniles in. I think the numbers that I looked at, and Judge, you may have better numbers than I, because these have been a couple of years old that I saw, is that we would completely fill that facility ourselves within five to seven years, I want to say what the estimates were. And so if we know that we're going to fill that facility in five to seven years and we're going to have to start outsourcing and we are going to or we're going to have to expand the facility, if…”
Commissioners Court · Aug 4, 2026
- Play at 2:32:17
“No, I know that we're going to be in a situation in five to seven years where we're going to have to expand it. Just because after speaking with our county court law judges and others over the last two to three years, we are getting a much, much larger number of juvenile cases. And so that being in serious cases, not... Not the cases we saw 10 years ago. And they do require some type of detainment. So that being the case, we know if we can see that that's coming on the horizon, then preparing for that I think is the best thing to do. And at a bare minimum, I'd like to see us look at at least…”
Commissioners Court · Aug 4, 2026
- Play at 2:46:12
“Correct. And the reason I put this on the agenda and the reason that I wanted to pull it out of exec for a conversation is there are certain questions that... If we attempted to have those in EXACT, it would be attorney-client privilege. And I wanted to make sure to hear straight from NDS some of the answers to those questions, and they would not be allowed in our executive session. And so I know there's representatives from NDS here, and I know that we also have some representatives from both our district courts and the district attorney's office. It's I intend for this to be an open…”
Commissioners Court · Aug 4, 2026
- Play at 2:50:35
“No, I think that's fine. Just a couple of things, and you answered a couple of my questions. So you feel like the coverage for the clients was unimpacted?”
Commissioners Court · Aug 4, 2026
- Play at 2:51:36
“Have you completed your negotiations, or are you still in negotiations?”
Commissioners Court · Aug 4, 2026
- Play at 2:51:42
“Okay. When we signed this contract, y'all were not a unionized facility. Is that correct?”
Commissioners Court · Aug 4, 2026
- Play at 2:51:50
“So given the fact that I assume that those negotiations ended with various increases in different costs. Correct. We have a contract, and for people who want to ask legal, when is the termination date on the contract? Do you know?”
Commissioners Court · Aug 4, 2026
- Play at 2:52:12
“Okay, so we have an additional year on the contract. Correct. There's not any anticipation that the cost for the services provided to the county would be increased?”
Commissioners Court · Aug 4, 2026
- Play at 2:52:28
“Okay. Okay. And then really my last question is, are there any concerns or were there any concerns expressed by either the judges or the DA's office relative to, and I'm just going to say these attorneys walking out on their clients. I mean, are there not bar concerns there relative to the service and standard of service that they have agreed to on taking on those clients for representation?”
Commissioners Court · Aug 4, 2026
- Play at 2:53:32
“How was that received by those that you were negotiating with?”
Commissioners Court · Aug 4, 2026
- Play at 3:00:22
“Judge, before that, there's just one more follow-up before you sit down. I think the concerns that I have, we work with other groups that are unionized. I mean, all of our law enforcement is unionized. And I think my largest concern is how many months ago or years ago did you know that this contract was going to expire? When you signed the initial contract at unionization, you knew this contract had an expiration or a renegotiation period. Did you not?”
Commissioners Court · Aug 4, 2026
- Play at 3:00:56
“Exactly. When did you actually start negotiating?”
Commissioners Court · Aug 4, 2026
- Play at 3:01:01
“So from April until the walkout, what notifications did you provide the county or anyone who works with us to notify us that we could have had an interruption in service?”
Commissioners Court · Aug 4, 2026