Government
BY ANNA MANESS
WilCo approves ChatGPT agreement Williamson County commissioners approved a $70,560 12-month agreement for 150 ChatGPT enterprise licenses July 15—an effort aimed at supporting county operations. The why By purchasing enterprise licenses, the data county employees enter into ChatGPT will remain property of Williamson County, said Richard Semple, Williamson County chief information officer. Additionally, county employees will receive training on how to safely use the large language model.
County weighs $7M site for future jail complex On July 15, Williamson County Commissioners were split on moving forward with a contract to explore purchasing 481 acres of land in Florence for $7 million, which could be used for the county’s Jail and Justice Center relocation. The overview Precinct 3 Commissioner Valerie Covey said approving the contract would allow county officials to take a “detailed dive” into the prop- erty’s viability as a future Jail and Justice Center site, and determine if the county should move forward with purchasing the land. Approving the contract failed in a 2-2 vote. The discussion County Judge Steven Snell said officials with law enforcement, the Sheriff’s Office and the jail have concerns with the site. “I don’t understand why we would move forward on a contract for a piece of land if we’re not 100% certain this is where we want the jail to go,” Snell said before voting against the motion. Covey argued officials won’t know the site’s viability until due diligence is done, which in this Officials explore new spaceport partner Williamson County is no longer partnering with Burnet County to create a Central Texas Spaceport Development Corporation and is instead exploring a partnership with the city of Cedar Park, an official said. Cedar Park is home to Firefly Aerospace, the first commercial company to success- fully land on the moon. How we got here Officials originally presented the Cen- tral Texas SDC in March as a partnership between Williamson and Burnet counties. In a July 23 email to Community Impact, Burnet County Judge Bryan Wilson said commis- sioners passed on the agenda item and it has not been brought back up. If created, the Central Texas SDC would be the sixth SDC in Texas.
Prospective site
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case would involve the county determining if the property meets its needs. The backstory On Dec. 17, county commissioners agreed to begin surveying possible sites to relocate the cur- rent Jail and Justice Center from its location in downtown Georgetown due to space constraints. Covey previously said she believes the county can build a new Jail and Justice Center by 2030. A new complex could range between $600 mil- lion-$800 million, Community Impact previously reported. “Finding a location for a jail is quite compli- cated,” Covey said July 15. “I’m really disap- pointed that this didn’t happen.” New companies to bring tax revenue to county Over the next decade, local taxing units and school districts in Williamson County are expected to receive $144.1 million and $78.1 million, respectively, in additional tax rev- enue as a result of new development, said Dave Porter, Williamson County Economic Develop- ment Partnership executive director. This comes as WilCo EDP’s partners have announced 25 projects since 2023, which will total about $10 billion in new capital investments, Porter said. Zooming out Since 2023, the Williamson County Economic Development Partnership team has attracted 12 companies to the county, representing a $920 million capital investment, Porter said. These dozen companies will result in $24.2 million in new tax revenue for the county
“People are using [AI] a lot of times without even knowing it, and so we want to give county folks a safe path who need these tools to be productive.” RICHARD SEMPLE, WILLIAMSON COUNTY CHIEF INFORMATION OFFICER
Coming to the county
Together they will generate 34,700 jobs $4.9B in annual gross product 4 projects coming to Hwy. 79 Samsung in Taylor Soulbrain in Taylor Skybox Datacenter in Hutto The Titan Hutto Megasite
SOURCE: THE PERRYMAN GROUP/COMMUNITY IMPACT
over the next 10 years. What they’re saying
“The whole [Hwy.] 79 corridor going toward Texas A&M is going to be a talent pipeline and advanced manufacturing pipeline going forward for decades to come,” Porter said.
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