by BRAD ROLLINS
Hays County will lose a board seat on the high-profile Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization, but officials say it still has proportionally more representation than its population justifies.
Under the new makeup, State Sen. Kirk Watson and two Austin-area state representatives lost their seats on CAMPO’s Transportation Policy Board to make room for representatives from Caldwell and Bastrop counties, which recently joined.
Total board membership dropped from 20 members to 19 with the elimination of small city representatives and the addition of another board seat for Travis County and one each for Pflugerville and Georgetown, both which in the past year reached the 50,000 population threshold for naming their own representatives.
CAMPO allocates tens of millions of dollars in federal and state funding for new and widened roads and other transportation projects.
The Hays County Commissioners court voted 3-2 to accept the new board configuration last week, rejecting County Judge Elizabeth Sumter’s call to hold out for a better deal. She was joined in that position by Pct. 4 Commissioner Karen Ford who said, “I don’t understand why we’re so willing to give up a vote.”
Hays County’s small city seat on CAMPO was held by Wimberley Mayor Bob Flocke, who was appointed last year after Kyle Mayor Mike Gonzalez resigned his position to run for county commissioner.
Fielding questions from Hays commissioners on Feb. 23, CAMPO executive director Joe Cantalupo said Hays County makes up 9 percent of the CAMPO area’s five-county population but, with two of 19 board seats, comprises 11 percent of the board.
The three commissioners court members who supported the 19-member board suggested Hays County might end up with a worse deal if the proposal goes back to CAMPO members for consideration.
“I am loathe to blowing up the regional consensus. … If that happens, we lose every single time whether we have two seats or three. We can’t get the projects done that are important to Hays County,” Pct. 2 Commissioner Jeff Barton said on Feb. 23.
When the issue came to a vote this month, Pct. 3 Commissioner Will Conley moved immediately to accept the 19-seat proposal. The motion was seconded by Pct. 1 Commissioner Debbie Gonzales Ingalsbe.
