The Hays County Commissioners Court unanimously voted today to let its membership in the Greater Austin-San Antonio Corridor Council expire.

The corridor council aims to “foster infrastructure development that improves the safety and efficiency of mobility” throughout the I-35 corridor from Austin to San Antonio, according to the organization’s website.

Precinct 3 Commissioner Will Conley brought the item to the court after he became aware the organization was asking for an annual membership fee of $10,000 from the county. Conley questioned the value of the county’s membership in the organization.

“I think there is a much better use for $10,000 of Hays County citizens’ money that could be put to greater use here at home and a more positive and greater value across the region than continuing to support his organization that is currently in our region,” he said.

County Judge Bert Cobb, the court’s official representative on the council, said he has been to one of the organization’s meetings in the past six years.

Conley said the corridor council has mostly focused its efforts on pushing the Lone Star Rail project, a planned commuter rail project that would have spanned San Antonio to Georgetown. The Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization, an Austin-based regional transportation planning group for which Conley serves as chairman of its policy board, voted to discontinue federal funding to the Lone Star Rail project Oct. 17.

“As of late the only thing this regional institution has done has been a literal mouthpiece for the failed and, starting this morning, deceased, Lone Star Rail organization,” Conley said.

Ross Milloy, the executive director of the Lone Star Rail District, is also the president of the Greater Austin-San Antonio Corridor Council.

Conley said much of the data that was collected since the Lone Star Rail District was created in 1997 will be of use to future corridor studies and projects aimed at relieving congestion. A study examining the environmental effects the project could have, which the district estimated could be complete by late 2017 or 2018, will likely not be of use for future projects, Conley said.

“We’ve given up on Lone Star Rail’s plan,” Cobb said. “But we have not given up on finding plans to make the corridor better. That’s important [for the public] to know. We’re trying to get a different plan and move forward.”