A Henly resident has sued Hays County, saying development regulations passed by county commissioners last August compromise his property rights to the extent of being a “taking.”

Hays County will provide free immunizations to Guadalupe County residents at a health fair next week, saying it’s a public health benefit for Hays County residents. A Guadalupe County commissioner said Guadalupe officials were unaware of the initiative.

A county-appointed task force charged with locating a parcel for a shooting sports complex has put forth an open records request to learn of the parcels under consideration for wildlife conservation habitat. The shooting sports task force hopes to co-locate a facility with habitat conservation land, saying no other funds are available for purchasing land.

The Hays County Commissioners Court voted unanimously last week to execute a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Dahlstrom family as a precursor agreement to a 22-year lease for 360 acres of the family’s 2,253-acre ranch near Buda. County officials say the conservation easement will probably be finalized Feb. 4 or 5.

Hays County’s joint acquisition of a $9.9 million conservation easement for 2,275 acres of aquifer recharge land near Buda has been stalled until at least Tuesday. The Hays County Commissioners Court voted unanimously last month to close on the deal by Dec. 31. However, Hays County commissioners say the National Resource Conservation Service (NRCS), a federal agency, still hasn’t finished its paper work to clear federal funds for the Hill Country Conservancy’s part of the purchase.

Hays County is close to finalizing an agreement prohibiting development on 2,275 acres of aquifer recharge land on Dahlstrom Ranch property near Buda, though county residents won’t soon unwrap 350 acres of the land proposed for public access.

The Hays County Commissioners Court hopes to persuade the Texas Commission on Jail Standards (TCJS) to revise an order to shut down the county jail’s kitchen. At the least, the commissioners could make the penalty moot by procedural means.

After a “possible conflict of interest” led San Marcos city officials to turn over delinquent tax collections to Hays County this week, an identical conflict came into play for the city once the county accepted the job. As a result, delinquent tax collections both for the city and the county will be handled by a law firm that contracts with the father of Hays County Tax Assessor-Collector Luanne Caraway (R-Kyle).

Hays County commissioners unanimously chose Balfour Beatty and HDR Tuesday to design and build the largest and most costly structure ever attempted by the county. But the building won’t be as expensive as once thought.

Hays County Commissioners signed off on a program for alternative dispute resolution two weeks ago, giving low-income residents an inexpensive means for resolving civil disputes.