During its Feb. 11 meeting, the Hays County Commissioners Court recognized February as Sarah Brandon Dating Violence Awareness and Prevention Month.
According to the proclamation, one in three teens is a victim of physical, sexual, emotional or verbal abuse from a dating partner, and the effect of dating violence cuts across all barriers
Before the proclamation passed, Commissioner Walt Smith brought up a Hays Caldwell Women’s Center board member and founder of the dating violence mock trial program, Sarah Brandon, for her two decades of service. Smith honored Brandon by adding her name to the title.
“[Brandon] is passionate about our county and she’s passionate about the issues, but there is nothing that she’s more passionate about than [the dating violence mock trials program],” Smith said.
Brandon founded the program where Dripping Springs High School students conduct a trial on a mock dating violence case. The students serve as lawyers and jury, with attorneys who volunteer to help them.
Smith said the dating violence mock trial program was paused after Brandon left but has since been revived by the Hays Caldwell Women’s Center.
“Sarah ran that for literally years and years, we actually have participants who went through [the dating violence mock trials program], who chose to go to college to get a law degree and come back and be family attorneys here in Hays County,” Smith said.
Commissioner Michelle Cohen thanked Hays Caldwell Women’s Center for bringing back the dating violence mock trial program due to her mother having experience with domestic violence.
“The more we delve into [dating violence] the more we understand that we’re all human, we’re all struggling,” Hays County Judge Ruben Becerra said.
The court also presented the Hays County Clerk’s Office initiative for historical preservation.
Chief of Staff at Hays County Clerk’s Office Cynthia Millonzi said a big part of what the clerk’s office is working on is preservation and digitization. Millonzi said they’ve been required to preserve documents since before 1950.
According to Millonzi, the Hays County Clerk’s Office budgets around $500,000 a year for preservation and digitization. The commissioners approved the FY 25 county budget on Sept. 17, 2024.
“The most expensive part of [preservation and digitization] are the actual documents. We have a book in our vault right now that probably by itself, is $10,000 to preserve that book,” Millonzi said.
Millonzi said the clerk’s office has a designated room to protect some records to protect them in the event of a fire.
According to Millonzi, preserving and digitalizing documents is one of the main priorities for the Hays County Clerk’s Office. Millonzi said the benefit of digitalizing documents would improve customer service, faster research, and quicker document lookup.
The Hays County Commissioners Court 9 a.m. on select Tuesdays each month. For more information, visit its website.
