With the opening of the Hays County Government Center in December, however, residents can now complete their county business at one location.
“We’ve colocated a lot of different services,” Hays County Communications Specialist Laureen Chernow said. “I hope that once people understand that all these offices have moved, it’ll be less confusing.”
Chernow explained how business was often done on the Square in San Marcos, where the majority of the county’s offices were located.
“Just on the little diagonal between the Records Building, which was the county clerk, the Courthouse [and] the Courthouse Annex, where the tax assessor was, people were constantly back and forth asking, ‘Which building did they point to?’ You can’t see one building from the other, so it was very confusing to people.”
Precinct 1 Commissioner Debbie Gonzales Ingalsbe has been at the center of the effort to consolidate government services since she took office in 1997.
“Committing to a plan took much longer than we anticipated,” Ingalsbe said. “It’s been 16 years ago that we told our department heads and elected officials that the old H-E-B building … was only a temporary facility.”
The $64 million, 232,000-square-foot facility came in under budget and was completed on time, she said.
“Even though this has been a very long—and, at times painful, process—it turns out that we’ve had some really good savings financially,” she said. “Because of the economy, we’ve been able to come in with lower construction costs and material costs.”
Many construction materials were locally sourced, reducing transportation emissions. The builders also used recycled content when possible.
Ingalsbe highlighted the fact that the county did not have to raise taxes to pay for the facility. Instead, commissioners set aside money in each budget for the building’s construction.
“We have been in very inadequate facilities, both for our employees and the public regarding meeting and storage space, our parking and just the overall safety of our facilities,” she said. “I’m really honored that I had the opportunity to lead this process, and I really believe that this facility is going to be one that we can all be proud of.”
Moving days
All told, 390 people moved into the new center, with the district attorney’s office moving the largest number, 43.
“The DA’s office, we literally had boxes and filing cabinets stacked in the hallways,” Hays County District Attorney Sherri Tibbe said. “There were a couple of hallways where only one person could walk down the hallway because of all the stuff we had stacked in the hallways.”
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