CUMMISSIUNEkS' GUUkT CONVENED IN A SPECIAL WUHKSHUP S'ESSIUN
WITH ELEC'rEU OFFICIALS ANU DEPA k'I'M ENT HEADS on Monday,
January Li, 1551, at 5:U0 o'clock A. M. with all officers
present, and the Court having duly opened the following
proceedings were had:
o(OOS 7•~ Patricia Uye, County Clerk, was the first to address the
Court with the duties and responsibilities o1 her office.
She told the Court that her office is actually ten (1rD>
offices in one. She has ~.ommassioners' Court, Mental Healti-i
for sixteen (16) counties, Probate, Vital Statistics, of
which she is the local registrar, Alcoholic Beverage
applications, renewals and beer hearings, Bookkeeping
Uepartrnent, County Court at Law, Land kecords, Filming, and
Elections. She also handles passport applications and
posting agendas. Problems in her department include needing
additional file cabinets, but the floor will not support the
additional weight without being Graced, which will cost
approximately 518, 000.rO1r. She also has a proGlem of space at
election tame and would like to see the Court close the
Courthouse on election day. With the new laws going into
effect her office needs updated election machines to handle
the elections more efficiently. In the future Mrs. Dye
anticipates the need o1 an additional County Court at Law to
handle the growing amount oŁ cases.
•2 Tommy Tomlinson, County Auditor, was neat on the agenda. He
told the Court that his off ace was accounting and financial,
primarily to ensure that all revenues due the County are paid
and accounted for. They also make sure the invoices have
proper authority to pay, are on the correct line item fur the
department, there are no mistakes, and that the invoices are
not paid twice. His office is currently preparing a grid on
insurance, showing who the carrier is, the company, the
premium amount and the date due, to ensure that the County is
always protected. They also handle the audits for all State
fees received for Adult ProGation, Juvenile, and the 616th
Task Force. They just completed a report to the State for
the 216th Task Force on funds confiscated. They have also
completed a one (1) week audit on the Justice of the Peace
Precinct #5 office and deposited all the funds. They have
the records in their office to be picked up by the next
person appointed Gy the Court. They ate not sure how many of
the checks will be good, as some are two (2) years old, and
banks have closed and accounts have been closed during that
time period. One of his goals for the coming year is to
utilize the fixed assets on the computer system. They have
the capability, Gut it has not been used thus far. He will
send Mindy Williams to Plainview to school for three (3) days
to learn how to utilize the fixed asset system.
PAGE ll~l
•3 Frances A. Kaiser, Sheriff, told the Coux-t that she currently
has nineteen and one-halt (19 1/2> employees; the one-half
(1/2) is a part-time person. Her office is also in charge of
the two (2) county druy dugs, Zowie and Minnie Pearl. Both
dogs are now fully certified with Minnie Pearl being the
youngest dog to be certified. Her major problem at the time
is office space, which she knows the Court is working on and
will soon resolve. Another problem is the phone system which
is only Eour (4) lines, plus the Center Point line, for the
,jail and the administration offices. AL1 four (4) lines are
constantly busy which makes it hard for .=mergency calls to be
able to get through. She would like to request a phone
system that would allow for at least Five (5) separate lines
to the jail, two (1) for administration, and two (2) for
emergency lines. Sheriff Kaiser thanked the past Court for
allowing her a new position per year, but she is still short
of manpower and needs Eour (4) additional deputies.
Currently she only has four (4) men per shift to cover the
entire County and she has to depend on the DPS or constables
to help Eill the shortage for backup or to take a call when
her deputies are to Ear away to handle it quickly.
Her goals for her office inr_lude getting the Reserve OiEicer
Program underway. The of.fx.cers would not be used on the
street, but in transport, floods or similar s>_tuations. They
.--
would receive no pay or benefits, and must have 14(0 hours of
training. If there are at least fifteen (15) for the school,
the Police Academy in San Antonio will conduct the school in
Kerrville. Neighboring counties have expressed a desire to
attend the school here. Another goal is to implement a
utility crime watch, with the electric companies, the
telephone companies, the cable companies and the surveyors
reporting any suspicious behavior that they observe while out
on assignment or climbing a pole to the Sheriff's l~ffice for
investigation.
At present the St,eriEf is trying to keep the population of
the jail at a minimum so we do not have to build a new one.
The Texas Commission on Jail Standards will be here on the
20th of February for their annual inspection of the Jaii.
She is also having problems with the sally port door and at
the end of this year's t~udget, she will look at her funds and
see if there is a sufficient surplus to have the Sally Port
door replaced.
•'~ Dorothy Hilburn, Treasurer, told the l:ourt that the County
needs a new handbook to hand out to all the new employees.
Commissioner Holekamp said they we're working on it. She also
told the Court that her office and the Auditor's office
worked very closely together, and that the Auditor was going
a_„. to take over Workers Compensation. She also requested that
the Court allow her and the Auditor to buy a separate
computer system and be allowed ofi of the mainframe. She
explained that the Software package was forced on her by the
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.-, prior Court and she had to give up the best system in the
world, which was custom made for County Treasurer's. All she
would need would be a ter m.Lnal as :she can still use her
printer. The System would cost 52,334.20 and the annual
maintenance would be 51,350.0 instead o:Y 52,B20.00 for her
and 53,244.00 for the Auditor, which the County is currently
paying Software.
J Betty L. Burney, Justice of the Peace, Precinct #2, explained
to the Court the duties of the JP's Office. They handle
Class C Misdearneanors, Traffic Tickets, Public Intoxication,
Driving While Intoxicated, hot checks, and Civil Cases, witt,
a 52.,500.00 limit, hold inquests, probable cause hear~ir,gs and
juvenile hearings in the absence of the County Judge. She
said all the JP's probably had the same problem - not enough
staff. Commissioner Holekamp ask Mrs. Burney if it would
work if the JP's boundaries were the same as the
Commissioners boundaries when we redistrict. Mrs. Burney
said tt,at was the way it was intended, but it gut lost by the
wayside.
~' David Motley, County Attorney, told the Court his office
handles Juvenile hearings, represents the State Hospital in
mental health hearings, gives advice to Elected Officials and
Commissioners' Court, as well as represents the County in
.-, County Court and County Court at Law. He said they had filed
approximately ninety (90) cases this month and with a couple
mare weeks left in the month it could :reach one hundred and
fifty (150) cases in County Court at Law and approximately
sixty (60) cases in JF' Court. He said it was important that
all the people work together to make a program that will work
for everyone as far as manpower goes. Assistant County
Attorney, Stan Reid, is working on trying to computerise the
office for more efficiency. There are quite a few cases
dating back to 19B0, which even i.t the person were
aprehended, no one would remember after ten (10) years, so
they are closing the cases. Mr. Motley said one of the
problems facing his office is space. They need space to move
file cabinets, as the records are currently piled in boxes
and stacked un the floor against the wall. Stan Reid told
the Court that more space would help the efficiency of the
office.
Paula Rector, Tax Assessor/Collector, reported to the Court
that she handles all the County taxes as well as car titles.
The special computer system that the Highway Department is
installing should be on line by the end of tt,e year, and she
is set up for installation in January 1952. St,e feels one
problem in her office is not handling the public as well as
possiY~le, due to lack of staff in auto registration. The
cicalers 6rir,g in seven (7) or eight (8) title transfers and
...... want their white slip as soon as possible to take to the banl:
so they can get their money.
F'AGE ill
~.. V Nests to address the Court was Linda Decker, District Clerk,
who told the Gourt that most of them already knew what her
office did, so she would tell them her problems. The number
one problem is space. She said she knew the SheriŁŁ was
number one (1) on the space list, but she should be number
two (2). One solution for her problem is to remove the air
conditioning unit and put it on the roof where it belongs, or
better yet get another unit with a heat pump so she can also
remove the steam heaters against the wall. The one unit
cools the entire second floor. IŁ the County could get a big
unit for the courtroom, judges and jury room and a smallex-
unit for her office, then the big unit could be turned off
when Court l.s not in session. She has an estimate oŁ
S25,000.00 to remove the old unit, put in two units, tear
down the wall and redo the area where the old unit is
located, so it will look nice. She is also concerned about
the entrance to her office which is very confined and hard to
get out oŁ because of the way the dour is situated. "the
i_ourt suggested she have Mr. Speakmon look at changing the
way the door opens.
,4 The last person to address the Court was David Litke, Head oŁ
Kerr County Environmental Health. Mt. Litke said the
Department is using UGRA equipment and license, which should
be converted over to lien County. He inherited the
ri department, but did not get much except a little office
equipment and a few papers. "they are still trying to upgrade
their records. Mr. Litke says he needs to address junk
vehicles in the County as the law is there, he just needs to
implement the process. He also says he needs another person
for animal control, as well as a truck outfitted for the
person. Zn the next budget he will be requesting additional
staff and equipment as well as office space. Commissioner
Morgan ask why Kerr County and 1{errville has rules that other
cities and counties do not have. Mr. Litke replied we are
serious about it. We are doing what other:, should be doing.
COMMSSSIUNERS' COURT WURKSHUP AUJUURNEU at 4:05 o'clock P. M.
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