Gary Cutler

Hays County Sheriff

Hays County Sheriff’s Office Main Number: 512.393.7800
Hays County Sheriff’s Office Community Outreach: 512.393.7373
Hays County Sheriff’s Office Dispatch (Non Emergency): 512.393.7896
Hays County Sheriff’s Office Facebook: Hays County Sheriff’s Office
Hays County Sheriff’s Office Twitter: @hayssheriff
Hays County Sheriff’s Office Website: http://www.co.hays.tx.us/index.php/law-enforcement/sheriff/

Hays County Courthouse, San Marcos, TX – In response to concerns from the public and to various erroneous emails that are circulating, Hays County Elections Administrator Joyce Cowan is assuring Hays County voters that while ongoing litigation regarding state redistricting plans has delayed the mailing of voter registration certificate renewals, the expiration of voter registration cards on Dec. 31, 2011 will not prevent citizens from voting in upcoming elections.
The Texas Secretary of State’s Office has issued this additional information: As a result of ongoing redistricting litigation, the mailing of new voter registration certificates is delayed. The expiration of your old voter registration certificate on 12/31/2011 does not invalidate your voter registration.

· If you do not have any changes to your voter registration (i.e., you haven’t moved or changed your name), no action is needed at this time.

· If you remain in your county of registration but have changed your residence address or name, you will need to submit your updated information to your county voter registrar and your new voter registration certificate will be mailed to you from your county voter registrar.

· If you have changed your residence address to a new county, you will need to submit a new voter registration application no later than the 30th day before Election Day.

· If you are not sure where you are registered, you can check online here.

Once the court approves interim redistricting maps and counties have the opportunity to finalize precinct lines, the county will issue new voter registration certificates.
In addition, Ms. Cowan reminds voters that they can expect their new yellow cards before the 2012 primary elections, which are not yet set. They will be valid through Dec. 31, 2013.
For questions about the renewal process or to register to vote, contact the Hays County Elections Department at 512-393-7310 or visit www.co.hays.tx.us/elections.

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The Hays County Courthouse is located at 111 E. San Antonio Street, on the square in San Marcos, TX. The new Hays County Government Center, home to many area County offices and the judicial courts, is located at 712 South Stagecoach Trail, San Marcos. See www.co.hays.tx.us for more information and directions.

http://www.natw.org/nno/index.html

http://neighbors.whitepages.com/nno

http://www.nnosuperstore.com/?utm_source=NNO+2012+Reg+Begins&utm_campaign=CC%231+2012&utm_medium=email

http://www.natw.org/nno/nno_party.html

SOCIAL NETWORKING SITES
The Hays County Sheriff’s Office is on Facebook and Twitter. Come and check us out. We will be posting items of interest and photos here. Below are the links:
Facebook Twitter
EMERGENCY NOTIFICATION SYSTEM
This system uses a “reverse dialing” telephone method to notify members of the public of critical emergency information in situations where property or human life is in danger.
Originally, the system would only contact only those persons with regular, land-line telephone service. With the rise in the popularity of cellular telephones, an increasing number of persons no longer maintain traditional telephone service. Instead, they rely exclusively on their cellular telephones as their residence telephone. In response, CAPCOG has added the ability to notify you on your cell phone if there is an emergency near your home, business or other location.

Persons may link their cellular telephone number to one or more locations within the 10-county CAPCOG region, including their homes, businesses and the homes of relatives. If a participating local government activates the system for an area that contains a location that has been registered to a particular cellular telephone number, the system will attempt to send the emergency message to that cellular telephone. PLEASE NOTE: This notification system only works within the Bastrop, Blanco, Burnet, Caldwell, Fayette, Hays, Lee, Llano, Travis and Williamson Counties.

Emergency notification messages are initiated by local public safety agencies as one of several methods of relaying vital information to their citizens.

To register for this service, click here.

If you have previously registered and want to make changes, click here.
COMING SOON!
CITIZEN OBSERVER
Citizen Observer is a web based notification toolset for law enforcement that enables citizens to receive and respond to text, email, and web alerts from our agency.
• Alerts are received by citizens according to their preference of text message, email or both. There is no cost to the public to sign up to receive alerts.
• Alerts are automatically posted to the web and are also published to your social media sites (Facebook, Twitter, etc.) and other web sites (your own website) automatically via RSS feed.
• Automatic publishing of alerts to Google Maps enables Citizens to interact even more with your alerts.
• The system enables the creation of custom public or private target groups, providing your agency with an additional tool to target information to those it’s most relevant to.
• Citizen Observer is the only notification system to offer inbound anonymous communications via text message or email. This technology enables you to engage in a real time two way “chat” with someone who wishes to provide important information to your agency.

This program will be fully operational very soon. Here is the link for Citizen Observer:
Citizen Observer
Again, we want to thank all of you for your support and for helping to keep our communities safe.
Respectfully,
Jeff Jordan
Deputy/HCSO

The Hays County Commissioners Court recently approved a “concurrent ordinance” to create a regional Public Utility Agency (PUA) in collaboration with the City of Bee Cave and the West Travis County Municipal Utility District No. 5.  The new PUA will serve as a vehicle to acquire the LCRA’s West Travis County Water and Wastewater System, which is for sale.  This system is the one that provides water to many of our Sunset Canyon residents.  Several governmental agencies had previously formed a corporation to handle negotiations with the LCRA to buy the utility.  If this sale is successful, the PUA will own and operate the utility.

Hays County has been concerned that the sale of the utility to a private non-local, for profit entity could cause water rates to skyrocket in the future.  The intent of the PUA is to help ensure that water rates are maintained at “market rates” for customers.  It is believed that the PUA will be able to keep future rate increases at a moderate level and will be lower that even what the LCRA had planned.  The PUA should be able to provide less expensive service to our growing area.

The PUA is expected to give ratepayers a voice in the operation of the utility as well as how water service is provided and its cost.  The PUA is expected to issue revenue bonds and set water rates to cover expenses and will be governed by a board of directors.  Commissioner Ray Whisenant, of Precinct 4, will serve as one of Hays County’s appointees to the board.

November 2011 Coffee

Would you like to meet some of your neighbors? Join us at our Ladies Coffee Group on the second Tuesday of the month. Our next meeting is February 14 at 10:00 AM.  If you are interested, email sunsetcanyonladiescoffee@gmail.com. Someone will contact you with the details.

1. Sign up for an account — here’s a video tutorial on how to do that
2. Request publishing rights by sending an email to “michaelwilde AT gmail DOT com” (my email address is deliberately written phonetically so I don’t get spam from this webpage)