County to establish new commission for veterans

Hays County Commissioners Court voted unanimously to create a Veterans Commission to support and promote veterans needs at their regularly scheduled meeting Tuesday. The court heard a presentation on the veterans commission from Hays County Veterans Services Officer Jude Prather in which he discussed the need to facilitate better communication among various veteran groups and formalize the process by which roads are named after fallen soldiers.

Prather said the commission would help provide advice and coordinate the efforts of all of the different veterans service organizations throughout the county.

“What we imagine is each commissioner would appoint a person from your precinct or veteran organization in your precinct,” Prather said, adding that he’s hoping to incorporate people involved in the veteran community but not involved in a veteran organization as well to provide a more formal process by which each of the people in the veteran community exchange information and resources.

Hays County Judge Ruben Becerra was in agreement for the mission of the commission.

“What we hope to accomplish is to have that harmonizing of all information county-wide throughout all of the different organizations,” Becerra said. “And in return it also helps Jude to have a most robustly supported and engaged department.” Becerra added that the intent is for each of the commissioners to appoint one person to the commission.

Hays County Commissioner Precinct-4 Walt Smith said he would like to have a longer conversation with Prather later about commission structure to ensure that each of the veterans organizations are well represented.

Prather said he would also like to formalize the process by which the roads are named after fallen Veterans.

Hays County Commissioner Precinct-1 Debbie Ingalsbe requested a list that could be given to the commissioner appointed member that shows what is expected of them.

Prather said he thought the initial focus could be commission creation and the “road-naming effort.” He said the roads would be a good starting point– additional duties could be added later.