Georgetown hires new legislative liaison, asks community members to join upcoming legislative task force

By ISIS AIDE REYES

The next Texas legislative session is still a year away, but the City of Georgetown is already  seeking community members to join its legislative task force, which will help develop official city priorities for proposed legislation. 

A new face will be leading the effort this year. Jacob Reagan will serve as Georgetown’s intergovernmental relations manager. The position acts as a liaison between the city and Legislature, communicating the city's needs along with being an advocate alongside the Georgetown City Council. 

Mr. Reagan joined the city three weeks ago and replaces former manager Leah Clark, who took a job with the Brazos River Authority. 

Originally from Kerrville, Mr. Reagan earned a bachelor’s in political science from Baylor University, and has 10 years experience working at the Texas Capitol. Before taking on his new role in Georgetown, he spent time serving as chief of staff for both Texas State Rep. Angelia Orr and former Rep. John Cyrier. He was also a legislative aide for the Texas Senate.  

Mr. Reagan’s wife and kids all reside in Georgetown and have been in the city for about a year and a half. 

“My family is part of this community. We love the Georgetown area,” Mr. Reagan said. “I want to be able to use my relationships I’ve cultivated over the years to advance the city’s agenda and defend what makes everybody love Georgetown.”

Although he has previous experience working within government, he said he hopes to get a better understanding on how the government runs, especially at the city level, including other working areas and their policies such as water, transportation and electric utilities. 

Mr. Reagan will work with Georgetown’s legislative task force, made up of nine Georgetown residents who help develop the legislative agenda that gets adopted by the city prior to every legislative session. The task force members meet every other week from May through August to develop priorities. They also meet as needed through the legislative session. 

“The reason we want a citizen body doing this, we want to make sure the needs and interests of our community are the ones driving our legislative agenda,” Georgetown City Manager David Morgan said. 

During the previous legislative session, city council members and the task force collaborated to go against a bill that would have allowed for a significant number of apartments to be built in Georgetown, leading to possible zoning changes. The bill passed, but their work kept it from affecting Georgetown, Mr. Morgan said. 

“What happens at the Texas Legislature affects everything we do here in Georgetown,” Mr. Morgan said in a January 13 press release. “In order to be the best advocates for our community, we need an agenda informed by Georgetown residents. We sincerely hope many Georgetown residents will apply, so we can have a diverse task force that truly reflects our city.”

While there are no specific qualifications to apply, the City Council looks for residents with some experience in following Texas or city government. 

“Ideally, we’re looking at people who have experience with the Texas Legislature, tracking bills and advocating on various issues,” Mr. Morgan said 

Applications to be part of the legislative task force are open until February 13. Those seeking to apply can find the application on Georgetown’s website at https://tinyurl.com/2nkuden2. Members will be picked by the city in March.

Isis Aide Reyes is a reporting intern enrolled at the University of Texas who will be working with the Sun this semester.