M1Y
T J
1
2
3
4
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
19
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
COMMISSIONERS COURT
Special Session
October 26, 1998
9 a.m.
Commissioners Courtroom
Kerr County Courthouse
Kerrville, Texas

PRESENT: ROBERT A. DENSON, County Judge
' H. A. "BUSTER" BALDWIN, Commissioner Pct. 1
T. H. "BUTCH" LACKEY, Commissioner Pct. 2
JONATHAN LETZ, Commissioner Pct. 3
BRUCE OEHLER, Commissioner Pct. 9
Edaq~ ~BILLIET~ M~EE~~E:
CI~C County Court. Kerr County, Texas
gyget ewh
1
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14',
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
	I N D E X	
		PAGE
1.1	Pay Bills	3
1.2	Budget Amendments	9
1.3	Late Bills	6
1.4	Approve and Accept Monthly Reports	8
2.1	Road District - Cub Lane	8
2.2	Renewal of County insurance/ possible Co-op	13
2.3	Environmental Health Dept. - Bids on new truck	28
2.5	Flood Awareness Week	29
2.6	PUBLIC HEARING	
	Replat of Lot 2 - H. Cooper Subdivision	33
2.4	Changes to list of presiding election judges	38
2.7	First Responders contract	40
2.8	Agreement with City of Ingram - new Tax Office	41
2.9	Appointment to Kerr Emergency 911 Network Board	45
2.10	Resolution supporting V.A. Hospital of Kezzville	45
2.11	County-sponsored contracts: CASA, HCCC, K'Star	50
2.12	Volunteer Fire Department contracts	50
2.13	Kerr County Child Care Initiative	52
2.19	Constzuction Bids - Phase III zenovations	61
2.15	Final payment - demolition phase	62
2.16	Introduce new Librarian	63
	Repozter's Certificate	69
2
n ~~
1 On Monday, October 26, 1998, at approximately 9:00 a.m.,
2 a Special Session of Commissioners Court was held in the
3 Commissioners Courtroom, Kerr County Courthouse, and the
4 following proceedings were had in open court:
5			P R O C E E D I N G S
6			JUDGE DENSON: Okay. Good morning. It's Monday,
7		October	the 26th, 1998. It is 9 o'clock. We have a special
8		Commissioners Court meeting today And its accompanying
9		agenda.	We have a pretty interesting and full day ahead of
10		us. We'll have an invocation and pledge of allegiance to the
11		flag to	start things off this morning. I think it's --
12			COMMISSIONER LET2: My time.
13			JUDGE DENSON: Commissioner 3. If you'll please
19		stand?	
15			(Prayer and pledge of allegiance.)
16			JUDGE DENSON: Thank you very much. Okay,
1T
18
19
20
21
22
23
29
25
gentlemen. We need to pay some bills.
COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I make a motion we do so.
COMMISSIONER LACKEY: Second.
JUDGE DENSON: I've got a motion and a second to
pay bills. Any questions? Comments?
COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I would like to make a
comment. Did y'all see the indigent health care?
COMMISSIONER LACKEY: Sure did. You got a thing
here to take care of it, too.
3

11
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12',
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
29
25
COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yes, sir. That's all.
JUDGE DENSON: Okay. All in favor?
(The motion was carried by unanimous vote.)
JUDGE DENSON: Okay, amendments. Number 1's a
handout.
MR. TOMLINSON: Yeah. They're both handouts,
actually.
JUDGE DENSON: And Number 2'S a handout, all right.
Number 1?
MR. TOMLINSON: One is to transfer funds, actually,
from the general fund to the indigent health care fund. And
it's for the amount of this bill. We still have tax dollars
in that fund yet to make payments over and transfer the money
from the general fund into -- into there, and then transfer
it back when theaxes are collected.
COMMISSIONER OEHLER: So moved.
COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second.
JUDGE DENSON: Motion and second. Questions?
Comments? All in favor?
(The motion was carried by unanimous vote.)
COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I would like the Auditor to
tell the public how much that bill is. Just just say it,
Tommy, you can do it.
JUDGE DENSON: Why don't you say it? $92,290.32.
COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That's easy for you to say.
9

11
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13'
19
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
s4z,ooo.
JUDGE DENSON: We can just move right along right
now; the newspaper is not here.
COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Well, our insurance people
is the ones I wanted to know about that.
JUDGE DENSON: Okay. Number 2?
MR. TOMLINSON: Number 2 is fox traffic safety, and
we have some bills that need to be encumbered back to
'97-'98. And, I need to -- well, they total $954.11 and
there's surplus funds in that -- in that fund to pay these,
so what we need to do is -- is approve an amendment to
increase that budget by $959.11.
COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So moved.
COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Second. Go ahead.
JUDGE D~NSON: Questions?
COMMISSIONER LETZ: The instructor salary, who is
that?
MR. TOMLINSON: It's -- this is for the drug -- I
mean alcohol education, D.W.I. course that's --
COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay.
MR. TOMLINSON: -- that's required by --
COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah. Now I know. I lust
couldn't figure out what it was for.
MR. TOMLINSON: And these are the people that are
teaching that course. And it's a self-funded program where
5

11
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14 ~,
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
29
25
they charge -- they charge 565 per -- per person, or
defendant, if they have to take it.
COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay, thank you.
JUDGE DENSON: All right. All in favor?
(The motion was carried by unanimous vote.)
JUDGE DENSON: Any late bills, Tommy?
MR. TOMLINSON: I have several late bills. I have
two from Ackman Pharmacy. They're '97-'98, is what they are.
And, they're -- one is 51,106.25 for prisoner medical, and
these are bills from August 21st through September the 18th.
And I have another one for 5832.29, and they're prisoner
medical bills and they're from July the 21st through August
the 19th. I lust need a hand check to pay this now, so we
can pay it.
COMMISSIONER LETZ: So moved.
COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Second.
JUDGE DENSON: Further questions? Comments? All
1 in favor?
(The motion was carried by unanimous vote.)
MR. TOMLINSON: Now, the next two are to Krauss
Garage or Equipment; they total $10,738.76. And, they're
bills -- I don't have the date on these. They're from
August, August through September.
COMMISSIONER LETZ: What is that for?
MR. TOMLINSON: They're for repairs on the
6
J ~
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
2
2
2
2
2
2
Sheriff's Department vehicles.
COMMISSIONER LETZ: How many vehicles? Do you
know?
MR. TOMLINSON: There's 16 separate invoices. I
don't know -- it doesn't say on here which vehicles these
are; it just gives the invoice number.
COMMISSIONER LETZ: So moved.
COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second.
JUDGE DENSON: Further questions? Comments? All
in favor?
(The motion was carried by unanimous vote.)
	MR. TOMLINSON: Okay. The next two I have	is to
Card	Services, and it's	for training expense for the	jail.
One's for $125.77, and	the other one is for $289.79.	And,
they	're -- they're date	d September, and we need to ge	t them
paid	so we won't incur	a late charge.	
	COMMISSIONER	BALDWIN: I agree.	
	COMMISSIONER	LACKEY: So move.	
	JUDGE DENSON:	You want to second?	
	COMMISSIONER	BALDWIN: I second.	
	JUDGE DENSON:	Okay. Questions? Comments?	All in
favor?
(The motion was carried by unanimous vote.)
MR. TOMLINSON: That's all.
JUDGE DENSON: That's all?
7
,, r
1 COMMI3SIONER BALDWIN: Is there a reason that we
2 couldn't get a second down at that end of the table?
3 JUDGE DENSON: You said, "I agree." I thought that
9 was going to be a first, but then he said he'd make the
5 motion, so I figured you wanted to be in there somewhere.
6 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay.
7 JUDGE DENSON: Okay. Let's see, accept and approve
8 monthly reports.
9 COMMISSIONER LACKEY: Yeah, I'll move that we
10 accept them.
11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second.
12 JUDGE DENSON: Okay. Questions? Comments? All in
13 favor?
19 (The motion was carried by unanimous vote.)
15 JUDGE DF~NSON: Okay, the consideration agenda.
16 2.1, consider and discuss proposal to create a road district
17 for all residents of Cub Lane. Commissioner Baldwin put this
18 on.
19 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yes, sir. I've been
20 approached by some of the citizens out there, at their
21 request, to create a road district on Cub Lane, and it's my
22 understanding of the process that you go through that this
23 would be the first step. And, you have in your agenda packet
29 a list of folks from out in that area that are interested in
25 it and have requested that we do so. It is my understanding
8
1
2
3
9
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16~
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
that, at this stage, that. the Commissioners Court simply kind
of gives a nod and says, Yes, we're interested; let's find
out all the details, and then we go from there. And we get
down to -- the actual evaluations and actual footage and
actual cost and those kind of things come out at a later
time.
It's a -- the road, itself, is a half a mile long.
There's 25 lots, Bear Creek Ranch Estates, 18 frontage road
and 7 homes in there. And the estimated tax valuation is
$508,000-plus, which is adequate. So, if you guys would be
in agreement that -- let's proceed, it doesn't mean that
we're voting today to actually put a road district in place.
It's simply -- my understanding is that -- is that we simply
gust move forward and look at -- get down to the real
numbers. Then well come back and make the decision.
JUDGE DENSON: I think what we need to do is get
Road and Bridge to go out and develop some figures on what it
will take to bring the road into compliance with County
standards.
COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Mm-hmm.
JUDGE DENSON: And, from that, the property owners
out there will have an idea of what kind of tax rate there
will need to be for them to pay off those improvements
through the tax rate via the road district.
COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Mm-hmm. Okay. Well, that's
9
~ I
9
10
11
12
13
19
15'
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
fine.
JUDGE DENSON: So, yeah. This is something that I
-- I don't know, but from where I sit, that the Commissioners
Court should always be in favor of, because it's going to be
100-percent paid by the property owners. It certainly adds a
little burden to the Road and Bridge Department, in that
here's additional roads for them to maintain, but when
taxpayers come before us saying, I want to pay for the
compliance of the road to County standards, and then y'all
take over maintenance of it, I think that's a good plan.
It's certainly showing good faith on the part of the property
owners.
COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Absolutely. And they
actually vote to increase that tax.
JUDGE D~NSON: Yeah, there will have to be a formal
election for that purpose.
COMMISSIONER LETZ: So we need a motion to proceed?
JUDGE DENSON: I think we ought to move to
authorize Road and Bridge --
COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'll make a motion to authorize
Road and Bridge to develop the cost estimates to bring Cub
Lane into compliance. Or do you want to make that motion?
COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Well, I kind of wanted to.
COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. You want to make this
motion?
10

1	COMMISSIONER	BALDWIN: Would you second it if I do?
2	JUDGE DENSON:	Okay. Buster made the motion,
3	Commissioner Letz made	the second. I think we have a few
4	people from the -- from	that area. Any questions?
5	MR. MICHALAK:	We appreciate the offer and the
6	opportunity.	
7	JUDGE DENSON:	Well, we appreciate y'all's approach
8	on that.	
9	MR. MICHALAK:	It's going to be a well-worth-it
10	project. The community	is developing by leaps and bounds in
11	that area. We don't wa	nt to be left behind.
12	JUDGE DENSON:	Well, we have to look at a couple
13	things; one, the cost,	and two, the payments of that and what
14	term. Obviously, the s	horter the term, the more taxes you
15	have to pay. ~	
16	MR. MICHALAK:	Exactly.
17	JUDGE DENSON:	And the longer the term, the County
18	has to evaluate that ag	ainst, you know, the benefit received.
19	MR. MICHALAK:	On Road and Bridge and how it will
20	come out and evaluate -	- I guess it will be up to y'all to --
21	and the assessments on	us, you know, as to what -- whether
22	it's long-term, short t	erm. Preferably, you know, somewhere
23	comfortable, depending	on where it comes out.
24	JUDGE DENSON:	Right. Maybe 500 years or
25	something.	
		11

10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
29
2°_
MR. MICHALAK: That would be good. That will work.
COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Where is this?
COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That's what I was going to
tell you. It's right off of Sheppard Rees Road, right in the
middle of all those other subdivisions out there.
MR. MICHALAK: Just before --
JUDGE DENSON: Are you Mr. Michalak?
MR. MICHALAK: Yes, sir.
JUDGE DENSON: It's just before Bear Paw Ranch and
that -- the Highlands Ranch.
COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: The Highlands, right across
the road.
MR. MICHALAK: Exactly.
JUDGE DENSON: And, so, you know, that whole area
out there is upgrading, a lot more traffic in the next few
years, and we're planning -- we have some long-term plans on
Sheppard Rees, et cetera, so this is going to fit right in,
don't you think, Mr. Engineer?
MR. JOHNSTON: Yes.
COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Don't you think it will fit
right in with our plans? I'm excited about it.
JUDGE DENSON: It's Michael Michalak?
MR. MICHALAK: Yes, sir.
JUDGE DENSON: M-i-c-h-a-l-a-k?
MR. MICHALAK: M-i-c-h-a-l-a-k, right.
12

1 JUDGE DENSON: Okay. 107 Cub Lane?
2 MR. MICHALAK: Right.
3 JUDGE DENSON: Okay. Very well. Did we vote on
4 that? All in favor?
5 (The motion was carried by unanimous vote.)
6 JUDGE DENSON: Okay, thank you very much. Okay,
7 2.2, consider and discuss renewal for Kerr County Group
8 Health and Life Benefit Program, and further discuss possible
9 co-op with other local governmental entities. This is an
10 ongoing subject that we've discussed in the past. We have
11 Mr. Bryan Finley and Mr. Ray Rothwell with us this morning.
12 Gentlemen? Do one of y'all want to take the lead?
13 MR. FINLEY: I'd like to ask Mr. Rothwell, since
19 he's been our third-party administrator representative, to
15 comment on the prPposal.
16 JUDGE DENSON: Okay. For purposes of the record,
17 Kathy, that was Mr. Bryan Finley. And now we have Ray
18 Rothwell up at the lectern.
19 MR. ROTHWELL: Right. Well, I'm glad to be here
20 this morning to ask you guys to renew for another year the
21 County's health and life program with Employee Benefit
22 Administrators as the third-party administrator. We are
23 changing underwriters, the reinsurance underwriters this
29 year; we're going to Transamerica Life and Casualty Company.
25 They're an A-plus rated superior with A. M. Best; very
13

1 strong, and very, very strong in the reinsurance business.
2 I think y'all are aware that we went out to about -- not
3 about. We went out to eight different reinsurers for renewal
9 purposes, and we're recommending a couple of inclusions in
5 your program. And, we're renewing the rates on the employee
6 rate not changing, being the same rate as you've had for the
7 last two years, which, as I understand, is a little bit lower
8 than the rate that you were paying three years ago from when
9 -- when E.B.A. started -- through the Finley agency, started
10 working with you. The -- as I said, the employee rate has
11 not changed.
12 We're asking you to add into the Rx card, the
13 prescription card program -- we're asking your permission to
14 put the words "Generic Mandatory When Available" in the
15 program. That prescription cards -- prescription drugs is
16 the fastest rising part -- cost of medicine today. It has
17 been for the last year, two years, and is projected to
18 increase at a much higher rate than the -- than the formal
19 health insurance -- health delivery system is going. So,
20 what we're saying, by putting "Generic Mandatory," we're
21 calling it to the doctors' attention, the pharmacists'
22 attention, that when you prescribe a drug that has a generic
23 brand available, and there's no complications or no problems
29 related to that patient, 'cause there -- occasionally, a
25 patient will have -- or a person will have an allergic
14

reaction to one of the blends in a generic. They're --
generally, they're exactly like the name brand, but
occasionally there's a substitute blend. So, unless there's
a health condition problem of using a generic, we're asking
51 that be put in place.
6 We're also asking to put in a program called Lab One.
7 Lab card is currently in place with KPUB and with U.G.R.A.
8 through League of Cities. It's a program where your employee
9 will have a card; when there's lab work done, they'll use the
10 card. And, if it's used, the cost to the employee is zero.
11 The cost to the employer goes down about 60 percent. That
12 program's not currently real strong in the Kerr County area.
13 It's extremely strong in San Antonio. There's no down side
14 to it. It's a no-cost program, so there's -- so if it's not
15 used when you go ~o a local doctor, there's no penalty to the
16 employee. It's just -- there's no gain, either, of not
17 having to -- to pay an out-of-pocket for the lab work. But
18 those are the two changes we'd like to make in renewing the
19 program. As of now, the program ends November 1st, so we're
20 asking for that to be done today, to where we can move on and
21 get the paperwork done and the new inclusions in the programs
22 that we're wanting to do.
23 The co-op thing that we're talking about and have
29 discussed, we currently have all the City's data in-house.
25 We have all of the school district data in-house. We've had
15
1 continuing meetings with the City staff. We have not yet met
2 with the school district. We hope that's planned for maybe
3 Thursday of this week as an initial discussion. I think Mr.
9 Finley has had some meetings with some of the school district
5 staff, and that's been a very small topic of conversation,
6 but there appears to be a little interest there. I'll be
7 meeting with some of the folks at the school district later
8 in the week, unless that meeting gets changed, to discuss
9 their interest in -- in joining a co-op.
10 The school district is out to bid, has a January
11 effective date, and I'm sure there will be a lot of people
12 looking at it, and as -- as we are looking at it, on an
13 individual basis and on a co-op basis. So, we plan to make a
19 dual presentation to the school district. And the City
15 continues to exprgss a lot of interest. In fact, I hope -- I
16 hope in the real, real near future, within the next 10 to 15
17 days, there can be a group of you fellows meeting with the
18 City -- with some of the City Council or City staff to have
19 some early discussions on the co-op between y'all and the
20 City. But, as of today, we really would appreciate your
21 renewal of the -- of the program where we can get November
22 going forward under a new contract year. Any questions?
23 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah. Mr. Bothwell, would
29 you tell me again, what is the single greatest benefit to the
25 co-op?
16
J ~
1	MR. ROTHWELL:	More bodies to spread the risk
2	across, thereby holding	the rates -- maybe stabilizing the
3	rates through a larger	pool.
9	COMMISSIONER	BALDWIN: Mm-hmm.
5	MR. ROTHWELL:	That's the single greatest advantage
6	to it.	
7	COMMISSIONER	BALDWIN: Okay, cool.
8	MR. ROTHWELL:	The second advantage is to have more
9	bodies in the delivery	system in Kerrville, to have a little
10	more impact, maybe, on	the cost of delivery in Kerrville.
11	COMMISSIONER	LETZ: The policy -- I mean, the
12	renewal date's November	1. I was thinking it was the first
13	of the year or somethin	g.
19	MR. ROTHWELL:	It's November.
15	COMMISSIONER	LETZ: The only reason I bring it up,
16	since I've been on the	Court we have not looked at health
17	insurance.	
18	MR. ROTHWELL:	Yeah.
19	COMMISSIONER	LETZ: I mean, I know y'all have
20	provided excellent serv	ice. Barbara's very happy, especially
21	with the administrator;	the County works with y'all.
22	MR. ROTHWELL:	Thank you.
23	COMMISSIONER	LETZ: But I know I -- it's getting
24	close to the time that	we need to go out for bids again,
25	either this year or cer	tainly next year. I think, generally,
		17

1 we try to do it every couple of years on most of our larger
2 insurance policies, and --
3 MS. NEMEC: We had put this on the agenda in July
9 and then in September, and that's -- I guess that was one of
5 the reasons we had put it on so early, to see if we were
6 going to go out for bids. But then we started talking about
7 the local co-op; I thought we were headed in that direction.
8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I don't recall these other
9 discussions talking about renewal or talking about the co-op.
10 I mean --
11 MR. ROTHWELL: So I guess I really shouldn't ask
12 you to approve a 3-year contract at this time?
13 JUDGE DENSON: And I agree with what you're saying,
14 Commissioner Letz. Next year you probably will need to --
15 just to maintain ~he integrity of -- of spending the tax
16 dollars and the -- they need to go out for bids. We went
17 through a thorough bidding process, I think, two years ago.
18 MR. ROTHWELL: You know, we also -- for the major
19 cost of this program -- I mean, the fixed cost of $54 an
20 employee is made up of $90 -- of $38 of reinsurance cost.
21 It's made up of some utilization review cost and some PPO
22 cost. The major cost, the reinsurance specific and
23 aggregate, we bid with eight companies. I mean, we routinely
24 do that every year, we go out to get the competitive bids.
25 Last year this program was with Best Assurance Company out of
18

1C
11
12
13
19
1_
lE
li
lE
15
2C
2I
2:
2.
29
2_
California on Continental paper. This year it's -- it's with
Transamerica. So we did -- we did get -- in fact, we got
three rates better than the current carrier's rates. So, we
-- you know, from our side of it, running your program for
you, we do watch the major cost items, and the major cost is
the specific and aggregate stop loss insurance, and keeping
that at a specific level. Now, we could raise the specific
from 25 to 50 or something, but in the size group -- or the
claims experience we've had, that's a dangerous thing to do,
so we kept that specific rate at 25,000, and did -- did shop
it. So, we do that for you from that side of it.
COMMISSIONER LETZ: From your side.
MR. ROTHWELL: From our side. That's our
responsibility, to get the best price available with the best
carrier we can.
JUDGE DENSON: Ray, the generic mandatory concept
is obviously self-explanatory. But, the Lab One -- I mean, I
don't -- I was curious about what's behind these things.
There's no -- there's not going to be an increased cost?
MR. ROTHWELL: No.
JUDGE DENSON: But -- so, on the other hand, where
is the savings?
MR. ROTHWELL: Okay. The savings, let me just give
you about a two-minute shot on how Lab One works, and then
you can -- then maybe we can clarify it with questions. Lab
19

1
2
3
9
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
19''.
15'
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
One is a national company that just does laboratory work;
blood, urine, any kind of tissue, things of that kind. All
of their work is done in Kansas City. If a doctor here in
town draws blood, it's -- they call Airborne Express. It's
picked up at no charge to the doctor or patients by Airborne,
taken to Kansas City by 6:00 the next morning. On a simple
analysis -- blood, urine kind of things -- by 10:00 that
morning, the doctor usually has the results back from Lab
One. Lab One is accredited by all of the laboratory
accrediting agencies, CAP's being the largest one. They have
not had a single deficiency in their last five reviews; they
have two a year. So -- so, that's the way it works. Lab
work's done in Kansas City, so they do it on a volume at much
less cost.
If I walk into a doctor's office and he's going to do
lab blood work and I have a Lab One card, they'll take my
card. They do not charge me anything for the lab work; it's
paid totally, 100 percent, by the employer, at an average
discount of about 60 percent. The lab cost is about 40
percent, often greater than some of the -- some of the
agencies we've done. In looking at the program in Kerr
County, using actual lab costs that we've paid for your
program or for the Hunt School program or for Junction --
those tend to use the Kerr County system a lot -- there was
a range of cost decrease from a S25 cost down to a 54.10
20

10
11
12
1.
19
1°_
lfi
li
18
15
2C
2]
22
2?
29
2_°
payment, if it had been a lab cost. A S52 cost down to $21.
Those were the most dramatic. Most of them are in the range
of 30 to 95 percent less. But, there's no cost to the
employee, and the employer pays it at somewhere between 35
and 60 percent less than that lab work costs in any lab or --
or medical complex that you have the work done in. But, as I
said, it's not -- it's in place here in town, but it's not
used a lot. We're hoping to have more bodies into it, maybe
get the card system used a little more by the local medical
community.
JUDGE DENSON:
MR. ROTHWELL:
JUDGE DENSON:
done -- and usually that
MR. ROT~IWELL:
JUDGE DENSON:
MR. ROTHWELL:
JUDGE DENSON:
blood, but they do the -
MR. ROTHWELL:
JUDGE DENSON:
MR. ROTHWELL:
JUDGE DENSON:
Okay. Right now, for example --
Mm-hmm?
If I want to have some blood work
order comes through your doctor?
Right.
And he'll send to you a lab.
Right.
And they will not only extract the
Analysis.
-- yeah, the lab work, itself.
And bill you for it.
Correct. Separate and apart from
the doctor.
MR. ROTHWELL: That's right.
21
1 JUDGE DENSON: Under this concept, who's going to
2 actually pull the blood?
3 MR. ROTHWELL: The blood generally is drawn in the
9 doctor's office and picked up at the doctor's office from
5 Airborne, and the results are faxed back to the doctor around
6 10:00 the next morning.
7 JUDGE DENSON: Interesting. Okay.
8 MR. ROTHWELL: It's a program, Bob, that has a -- I
9 mean, it's very, very widely used by some extremely large
10 companies, and small companies.
11 JUDGE DENSON: And it obviously doesn't work an
12 inconvenience on the --
13 MR. ROTHWELL No, there's no inconvenience. No
19 inconvenience and no cost, either way. I mean, if you don't
15 use it, your regu~ar -- you're paying your regular health
16 system the 20 percent or whatever your -- however your
17 program's designed.
18 MS. NEMEC: So the employee has a choice on which
19 way they go.
20 MR. ROTHWELL: That's right.
21 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: So you just present the card
22 to the doctor when you go in to --
23 MR. ROTHWELL: And the doctor may or may not use
29 it. The doctor may say, "No," you know, "my lab's down the
25 hall."
22

1
21
3,
9
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
19
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
COMMISSIONER OEHLER: That's probably what's going
to happen in most cases.
MR. ROTHWELL: It could.
JUDGE DENSON: If the doctor has any interest at
all in the lab.
COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Especially a doctor who has a
lab in the building.
MR. ROTHWELL: That very well could be.
JUDGE DENSON: But there is another way that,
actually, the employer's cost can be reduced?
MR. ROTHWELL: Yes. Lab One estimates 2 to 3
percent of the medical cost is -- is reduced. Two percent of
the total medical cost is reduced. Now, the Rx card, on the
other hand, has a much -- much stronger demand. About 28
percent of the Kerr County health insurance dollars are
prescriptions. That's lower than some of the other groups we
have in this area, but nationally the average is around 11 to
15 percent. And so, hopefully, with the generic only, most
people -- most doctors and most pharmacists do prescribe --
do fill with generics when they're available. But the few
that don't -- or the few doctors that don't really change the
-- change the cost dramatically.
JUDGE DENSON: Okay. I make a motion that we renew
with Employee Benefit Administrators.
COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second.
23

1 JUDGE DENSON: Second. Further questions?
2 Comments on this? All right. All in favor?
3 (The motion was carried by unanimous vote.)
9 MR. ROTHWELL: Thank you.
5 JUDGE DENSON: Ray, let me ask one other question.
6 MR. ROTHWELL: Okay.
7 JUDGE DENSON: And I'm sorry.
8 MR. ROTHWELL: That's all right.
9 JUDGE DENSON: I've always been a proponent -- and
10 I think when we went through the bid process a couple years
11 ago and wanted to -- ultimately chose to go with y'all, I
12 expressed a couple of personal feelings, and I think it was
13 misread by -- by or misinterpreted by a lot of people in the
14 County government. I said that I wanted the employees to
15 start paying parttof -- in some way become a partner --
16 MR. ROTHWELL: Mm-hmm.
17 JUDGE DENSON: -- in the -- with the County on
18 paying for medical expenses. And also, I think I said -- or
19 I would have been in favor of even giving the employees a
20 raise to offset that initial premium cost. And I'm asking
21 you to confirm whether or not my philosophy is valid or nat.
22 It seems like their cost of medical expenses are obviously
23 going up, and it's going to continue to go up, and it's
24 probably one of the greater costs that individuals have in
25 their household budgets, ongoing cost, particularly when you
24
.
1 have children or if you're in older age where you have a lot
2 of medical expenses. When an employee doesn't pay a cent, I
3 think that gives the employee the -- the room to, either
4 consciously or unconsciously, abuse insurance plans.
5 Next year, when y'all start looking into these things --
6 and that's one of the things that I like about the co-op
7 plan, too, is they'll give you plans that are tailor-made for
8 individuals, and individuals can choose those based on the --
9 the cost or the bells and whistles that you may want. Every
10 individual is different. A person that's 20 years old
11 obviously doesn't have the medical expenses of a person
12 that's 50 years old. And, some people have families, some
13 people don't. I think that a co-op really gives you a lot of
19 flexibility, and I -- and I think that employees should be
15 brought into a partnership with the government. Can you
16 comment on that at all?
17 MR. ROTHWELL: Yeah, Bob. I also share your
18 feelings very -- very definitely, that the employee or the
19 insured person needs to share in the cost of the system. You
20 know, one of the -- one of the real huge problems today in
21 the HMO's -- and it's a problem that they're all facing. You
22 see articles in the paper constantly about gatekeepers and
23 you can't get referred and those kind of things, and now
29 you're starting to see cost increases. There was an article
25 in the San Antonio paper last week or week before, where
25

virtually all the HMO's in that article -- big, bold
headlines, "Health Insurance to Increase." Everybody
referred to in the article -- everybody referenced in the
article was an HMO. And a whole bunch of that is, when you
go to the doctor and it costs you 5 bucks --
JUDGE DENSON: Right.
1C
11
12
1.
19
1_
lE
li
lE
15
2C
2]
2:
2?
29
2F
MR. ROTHWELL: -- it's real easy to go to the
doctor when it costs 5 bucks.
JUDGE DENSON: It's S10 right now here.
MR. ROTHWELL: Yeah, or whatever. Hut -- but if an
employee is not participating in the cost, then the -- I
think some of the federal government programs show you the
utilization of the federal government of the FEP program is
extremely high. Supervisors, directors of departments, if
they'll be honest with you, will tell you in the federal
government that they have employees absent very often because
they're at the doctor's office and probably really shouldn't
be. Utilization is much higher when you're not sharing in
the cost. Y'all's program -- you share very nominally,
though. There's a $300 deductible, and then it's an 80/20 to
52,000. So, the cost to your employee is not tremendous.
But, other than that $10 office visit -- you know, if there's
lab work done and those kind of things, they're going to
share in that cost. So, I think -- I think it was a wise
decision that was made when the program was designed the way
26
1 it is. And I think that design doesn't -- you know, it's not
2 like the Hodges television deal; if it's not broke, let's
3 break it. I don't think you need to -- I don't think you
9 need to do that with your program. I think it's very well
5 designed to -- and I think the Rx card and the Lab One card
6 -- the Rx change and the Lab One card will strengthen it a
7 little bit, potentially.
8 JUDGE DENSON: Well, we, of course, are interested
9 in the bottom line, the cheapest cost weighed against the
10 best coverage that we can get. And --
11 MR. ROTHWELL: Well, your coverage, in my opinion,
12 is very good for your employees. The administrator y'all
13 have working with you is par excellent. I mean, boy, there
14 is no problem with it.
15 JUDGE DENSON: I thought the coverage was
16 excellent, and the third-party administrator was fair.
17 MR. ROTHWELL: Yeah, fair. I think it's both those
18 together, Bob.
19 JUDGE DENSON: Barbara thinks highly of you,
20 though, and that's a good recommendation.
21 MR. ROTHWELL: We try and keep y'all's employees
22 out of her office with problems.
23 JUDGE DENSON: Thank you very much.
29 MR. ROTHWELL: Thank you.
25 MR. FINLEY: Thank you, Judge.
27
1 JUDGE DENSON: Okay. 2.3, consider and discuss
2 authorizing Environmental Health Department, Solid Waste, to
3 go out for bids for a new truck.
q COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So moved.
5 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Second.
6 JUDGE DENSON: I was going to ask Glenn Holekamp if
7 he had anything to say about that.
g COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Well, did you see his
9 request? Thirty seconds.
10 JUDGE DENSON: Oh, okay.
11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Which is stretching it, in
12 my opinion.
13 JUDGE DENSON: A11 right. Any questions?
19 Comments? All in favor?
15 (The motion was carried by unanimous vote.)
16 JUDGE DENSON: Okay. 2.4, consider and discuss
17 recommended changes for the list of presiding election judges
18 for the general election on November 3d, '98. Gloria
19 Anderson put this on. Do you know anything?
20 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I talked with her on the
21 phone last night and told her that I thought it looked like
22 about 10 o'clock. Usually y'all spend so much time on bills
23 that it`s 10 o'clock in the morning.
2q JUDGE DENSON: Y'all don't want to say anything
25 about that, do you?
28
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
19'
15'
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
COMMISSIONER LETZ: No.
COMMISSIONER LACKEY: You usually ask the
questions.
JUDGE DENSON: Okay, we'll pass on that. Now, a
timely subject matter. 2.5, consider and discuss proclaiming
November the 29th through December the 5th, 1998, as Flood
Awareness Week. This was put on the agenda by Mary Virginia
Holekamp. I think this is the second year in a row we've had
this, and she certainly has a worthwhile subject matter.
But, as I began, it's a very, very timely one, considering
all the -- all the tragedy and damages incurred in the last
couple of weeks. Mrs. Holekamp?
MRS. HOLEKAMP: Well, thank you for being
interested, even interested before the floods all happened.
You know, last year when this started, the newscasts had come
out and said E1 Nino is going to bring on more floods than
usual, so in the River Corridor Committee, we thought it
would be a good idea to get some publicity in the paper about
flood safety, especially for newcomers who may not be aware
of just what happens when it floods. Now, this year, I think
people -- people are aware, so it will be a different sort of
thing. I think it will start to be a flood safety thing this
time. I wanted to just report on the project last year. We
were pleased with it. We appreciated your help, and it was
-- we think it was a success. You have it in your packet,
29
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
19'
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
don't you? Do you have the newspaper articles? There were
COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: No.
MRS. HOLEKAMP: There were eight newspaper articles
last year. An editorial, a positive one; another editorial,
something about the fire department, something about the
police. Susan Sander did a nice column, Joe Herring did a
column. And we were -- were we pleased. The television
station, on the 29-hour calendar, they ran a "Be Safe" phone
with my number. Nobody phoned. But, anyway, you know, it
was mentioned on there. So, we'd like to do it again this
year. We'd like your -- we'd like any -- any guidance on
what we might do differently this year, or the same, and we'd
be glad to have volunteers on the committee. Even people in
the audience that would like to volunteer for the committee,
we'd be glad to have.
JUDGE DENSON:
the Kerrville Daily Tim
representative from the
but I'll make sure that
MRS. HOLKAMP:
JUDGE DENSON:
Let's see. We have Ms. Stone with
es with us, and I think the
Sun lust stepped out for a moment,
she gets a copy of the proclamation.
Great.
Would you like to read the
proclamation or would you like me to?
MRS. HOLEKAMP: I don't have it. I would like for
you to.
30

1 JUDGE DENSON: Okay.
2 MRS. HOLEKAMP: And, incidentally, we'd like some
3 time to get a picture of you signing it if we could work it
4 out with the papers, but that -- would that be appropriate?
5 JUDGE DENSON: I think this is the same one we used
6 last year. Maybe we made some changes. And it does say,
7 Whereas, a flood is a natural and expected condition on the
8 Guadalupe River; Whereas, a flood is likely to occur when
9 very heavy rain falls for an extended length of time;
10 Whereas, slow rains that continue for many hours can also
11 bring on floods; Whereas, most flooding in Kerr County in and
12 along the Guadalupe River has occurred between the months of
13 December and August" -- I don't know whether we need to
14 change that or not. Of course, we're talking about Kerr
15 County. a
16 "Whereas, thunder, intense lightening, and black clouds
17 are flood warnings that nature provides; Whereas, at times of
18 heavy rainfall, the Guadalupe River and adjacent creeks flow
19 very full and fast, and a wall of water called a crest is
20 sometimes created, causing a rise of several feet in a matter
21 of minutes; and Whereas, the river and creeks can then spread
22 out of their banks to great widths and cause severe
23 destruction; Now, therefore, I, Robert A. Denson, County
29 Judge, Kerr County, Texas, in cooperation with the Guadalupe
25 River Corridor Committee, do hereby proclaim November the
31

10
11
12
13
19
1~
16
17
18
15
2C
2]
22
2.
29
2°
29th through December the. 5th, 1998, as Flood Awareness Week
for Kerr County, Texas, and call upon all citizens of Kerr
County to be highly aware and sensitive to the possibility
and criticality of flooding." Signed by myself. How does
that sound to you?
MRS. HOLEKAMP: Oh, it's great. I like it.
JUDGE DENSON: I think you're the author of the
language. And, you're doing a tremendous job.
MRS. HOLEKAMP: Let me ask you something. Would it
be appropriate to give copies of that to the cities of
Kerrville, Ingram, and Center Point if they wanted to do a
proclamation?
JUDGE DENSON: Sure.
MRS. HOLEKAMP: Okay, I'll get copies. Thank you.
JUDGE DENSON: Okay. Mrs. Holeklamp, thank you
i
very, very much. Gentlemen, I think what we need to do is
have a motion --
COMMISSIONER LETZ: So moved.
COMMISSIONER LACKEY: Second.
JUDGE DENSON: I've got a motion and second. And
that's authorizing Judge to sign the proclamation and declare
Flood Awareness Week November the 29th through December the
5th, 1998, for Kerr County. Any further questions?
Comments? All in favor?
(The motion was carried by unanimous vote.)
32

1		JUDGE DENSON:	All right. I have -- Mary Virginia,
2	while you	were out, we	were talking about -- Mary Kate --
3		COMMISSIONER	OEHLER: Mary Elizabeth.
9		JUDGE DENSON:	Mary Elizabeth. I have too many
5	Marys in	my life. Mary	Elizabeth, I have a proclamation that
6	I'll give	you. We'd re	ally appreciate it very much that you
7	-- y'all	run or address	it in your paper.
10
11
12
13
19
1 5'
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
29
25
MS. DAVIS: Okay.
JUDGE DENSON: About Flood Awareness Week.
{Off-the-record discussion.)
JUDGE DENSON: I've been requested to take our
morning break before we take up our 10 o'clock timed matter.
And, it is quarter to 10:00, and we will take a break until
10 o'clock.
(Whereupon a brief recess was taken.)
JUDGE DENSON: It is 10 o'clock, and it's October
the 28th, 1998. Commissioners Court is back in session, and
we're going to take up 2.6, which is a public hearing for
replat of Lot 2 in H. Cooper Addition, Precincts 4. And
we'll recess our Commissioners' Court meeting and go into a
public hearing on that subject matter.
(Whereupon the Commissioners Court session was
closed at 10:00 a.m., and a Public Hearing was held
in open court, as follows:)
P U B L I C H E A R I N G
JUDGE DENSON: And, it's 10:01 at this time, so we
33
w
lC
11
li
1.
19
1°_
lE
li
if
15
2C
2]
2:
2:
2!
2'_
are in a public hearing. And, is there anyone that has a
question or comment as to the public hearing on that subject
matter?
(Na response.)
JUDGE DENSON: It doesn't appear that there's
anyone present that wants to speak on that, from the public
standpoint. Therefore, we'll go back into our Commissioners
Court meeting at 10:02 and address same.
(Whereupon the public hearing was closed at 10:02
a.m., and the Commissioners Court meeting resumed
in open court, as follows:)
JUDGE DENSON: Now, who wants to speak on this?
Mr. Bushong?
MR. BUSHONG:
MR. VOELKEL:
JUDGE DENSON:
Lee Voelkel.
Sure, I'll be glad to.
Lee?
MR. VOELKEL: Lee Voelkel, for the record. Judge,
when we were here before on the preliminary plat, we
presented the Court with the replat, which had the three
tracts on it. We had Commissioner Oehler out there prior to
that meeting to advise us on what type of road standards we
need to build the road to. If I remember right, I think it
was classified as a country lane, which would be a private
road, which is also paved, because the tracts are not 10
acres or greater. Mr. Bushong has hired a road builder, and
they're in the process of building the road. As of this
34

1C
11
12
1.
19
1°_
lE
li
1~
15
2C
2]
2i
2.
29
2_
meeting today, the roads are not complete. So, what we're
looking for -- of course, we've had the public hearing to see
if there were any objections to the plat. Then, either we
come back when the roads are complete, or get the plat
approved contingent upon the completion of the roads, either
way. But the roads, probably because of the weather, will
need a couple more weeks before they will be complete. Mr.
Bushong is here if you have any questions of him, or of
myself, if I can answer any questions. We're both here to
discuss it if we need to.
JUDGE DENSON: Well, there was -- as you know,
there was no objections or comments in the public hearing. I
think you're absolutely right. What we need to do is just
reset final approval of the -- of the replat until the roads
are completed. Otherwise, we need to enter into some kind of
guarantee arrangement that the roads will be completed to
County standards. I'd hate to bring up, you know,
formalities, but I think --
MR. VOELKEL: Sure.
JUDGE DENSON: -- that the easiest way to do it is
just put it off for a couple weeks.
MR. VOELKEL: I think it was Mr. Bushong's intent
-- and correct me if I'm wrong, Perry -- to go ahead and have
the roads completed before we come back for the final plat.
MR. BUSHONG: I think that's -- yes, it it was
35

1C
11
is
1.
19
1°_
lE
li
lE
1~
2C
2]
2:
2:
29
2°
weather delayed and we were running on a short fuse anyway
and got behind, and -- so, yes. If we get the comment period
out of the way, when we get the road finished, we will notify
whoever we're supposed to notify and go from there.
JUDGE DENSON: Do any of the Commissioners have any
kind of questions, comments, critiques, whatever?
COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Only comment I'd have is I
think he's doing a really fine job with making some larger
lots, and it takes -- I think it's in excess of what's
already been platted in Chalico Estates. I think it -- you
know, it's a really nice area, really fine building sites up
there.
COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: The way I look at it, you
have Perry Hushong's name on it and Lee Voelkel's name on it;
it can't go wrong.
MR. LEE VOELKEL: What a guy.
MR. BUSHONG: Can I get your name if I need a --
something on down the road?
MR. VOELKEL: We will have a good road when it's
built.
JUDGE DENSON: Mr. Bushong, you hold that for the
future.
COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Are you going to name a road
after me? Is that what you're saying? I'm not going to
comment about both of y'all's shiny heads, then.
36
1C
11
12
1.
19
1°_
lE
17
lE
15
2C
21
2:
2.
2S
2°
MR. VOELKEL: Thank you.
COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I'm thinking more about the
ditch being named after you.
COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I see, the ditch. The
memorial ditch.
JUDGE DENSON: Okay. Let's see, what's our next
meeting? What's that?
MS. MARQUART: The 9th.
JUDGE DENSON: The 9th, okay. We'll put it on the
agenda for November the 9th. Is that too quick?
MR. VOELKEL: I think that will be fine. In the
meantime, I'll get Mr. Johnston as far as getting
inspections, making sure the road is built the way the County
needs the road built, so that if everything's in order, we
should be ready for that meeting.
JUDGE DENSON: Very well. Thank you very much.
MR. VOELKEL: Thank you, sir.
MR. JOHNSTON: As far as the agenda, I think it's
up to them to request when they're done, Judge. I think we
could put it on in advance, but maybe ask them to --
JUDGE DENSON: Okay. Just --
MR. VOELKEL: I'll make sure we get that through
Frank. Thank you, sir.
JUDGE DENSON: Thank you.
COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Judge, could we go to 2.4,
37
please?
2 JUDGE DENSON: Yes, sir. 2.4 is consider and
3 discuss recommended changes to the list of presiding election
9 judges for general election on November the 3d, '98. Gloria
5 Anderson is here to speak with us on that. Ms. Anderson?
6 MS. ANDERSON: Well, I wish I hadn't had to come
7 again, but as things happen, sometimes that does. I
8 respectfully submit the following names and changes to the
9 list of the presiding judges to serve during the general
10 election in Kerr County on Tuesday, November the 3d, 1998.
11 For Precinct 319, we'd like to name Delores Posey, who lives
12 on West McFarland in Kerrville, as the presiding judge. She
13 has been presiding judge before and is experienced and lives,
19 of course, in that precinct. In Precinct 916, we do have
15~ someone new, Robert Avery. He lives at 207 Candace Drive in
16 Kerrville. He has received his kit and has received his
17 training, and we would like to have him named as presiding
18 judge.
19 You'll note that I have other changes. In Precinct No.
20 409, we had embrio -- New Zealand's emmbrio study cut into
21 both our presiding judge and our alternate judge -- both of
22 them will be busy that day and are not going to be able to
23 take it. So, we looked everywhere, and that's a very small
29 precinct now; that's out there in Divide. It's a very small
25 precinct, the turnout is very low, and we just could not find
38
anyone to serve as presiding judge. So, we contacted the
Secretary of State's office, and under an emergency
situation, it is allowed that we name someone else that is
not in the -- in that precinct, and I would like to recommend
Lucy Dubuisson, who lives in the Hunt area. However, she has
worked the Divide election before as a clerk, and has worked
as an election clerk also in other precincts, so she, too, is
well-experienced.
9 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Judge, I move that we adopt
10 these changes recommended by the Republican party chair.
11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second.
12 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Second.
13 JUDGE DENSON: We have a motion and a second to
14 approve. However, let's see if -- I hear, just in courthouse
15 talk in the last week or two, that the Democrats are using
16 some Republican judges for the election, and then maybe -- I
17 don't know whether the Republican party is is all
18 Republicans?
19 MS. ANDERSON: We like to think that we have all
20 Republicans. I'm not sure that Delores is a Republican.
21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I think you're seeing a
22 Democrat right here.
23 MS. ANDERSON: I think there's a Democrat right
24 there. We just never really talked about that; frankly, we
25 were happy to have someone take that spot. She's experienced
39
1
2
3
9
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
29
25
and has done it before when it was a Republican election,
primary or otherwise.
JUDGE DENSON: It's getting those volunteers to
help.
MS. ANDERSON: Yes.
JUDGE DENSON: Bottom line, and that's what we're
thankful for.
MS. ANDERSON: Yes.
JUDGE DENSON: Okay. All in favor?
(The motion was carried by unanimous vote.)
JUDGE DENSON: Okay. Thank you very much, Gloria.
MS. ANDERSON: You're welcome.
COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I was wondering, is this Mr.
Avery -- is he the guy that does the running?
MS. ANDERSON: Yes.
COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Does his wife?
MS. ANDERSON: Husband and wife, yeah.
JUDGE DENSON: Okay. We'll take -- at this time,
we'll take up 2.7, consider and discuss approving contract
for public health services between Texas Department of Health
and Kerr County for grant money for 1st Responders, and
authorize County Judge to sign same.
COMMISSIONER OEHLER: So moved.
COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second.
JUDGE DENSON: Further questions? Comments? All
40
in favor?
1C
11
12
13
19
1F
lE
17
18
19
2C
2]
22
23
29
2°
(The motion was carried by unanimous vote.)
JUDGE DENSON: Okay. 2.8, consider and discuss
agreement with City of Ingram to lease space for Tax Office.
I put this on the agenda as a result of receiving a response
letter back from the mayor of Ingram, who agreed with the
provisions that I had set out in my letter that came from our
previous discussion of this. In other words, they'll provide
us with that space if we'll go in there and pay for the cost
of putting it in the condition that we want to use it for, as
well as a separate electrical meter. I think it's for two
years, and then it can be renegotiated at that time. It's
been a while since I've read the letter; I think that's what
it says.
COMMISSIONER OEHLER: That's what it says. I think
it's a good idea to go forward with this deal. I think it
would be a real convenience for all the people that live in
that area, and some of them that don't, that would prefer to
go that way; it would be more convenient than coming down to
the courthouse. I think, as far as doing the actual
renovation to the building to make it worthy, or useful -- or
usable for office space, that we probably, to not go through
what I have been through in the past with the Ag Barn, that
we should get our architect involved in this and let him put
together a bid package and bid it. Because if we go out and
91
get just somebody to do the work, you know -- and it's not
going to be over the amount that the law specifies, I don't
think, any way in the world, but it's a safeguard so that
this Court will not be in trouble for getting -- just hiring
anybody's preference to do the job to get it done. Either
that, or we need to advertise for proposals and have people
come in here, show them what needs to be done and let them
8 bid.
9
10 guess.
1]
1:
1;
1S
1'_
lE
1;
lE
1~
2C
2]
2:
2:
2~
2'_
COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I'll go long with that, I
COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think that -- I mean, trying
to get -- I presume you mean Mike Walker involved, I'd rather
not go that route. Can't we just, you know, turn it over to
the Maintenance Department and direct them to -- to solicit,
you know, severalfcontractors?
COMMISSIONER OEHLER: That would be fine, as long
as we get several bids on it.
COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I hear what you're saying.
COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I don't want to through what
I've been through in the past on doing a simple renovation to
a building that -- to make it usable.
COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That's great wisdom, Bruce.
I appreciate you doing that; that's good.
JUDGE DENSON: Well, Mr. Edwards, who is the City
Attorney for the City of Ingram, told me that this work out
92
lC
17
li
1:
19
1_
1E
15
lE
15
2C
2]
2i
2;
2S
2_
there could be done far probably $2,000 or $3,000. He said
if they were doing it, they would get some volunteer help to
get in there and do the work. So, you know, you're probably
right as far as the cost. We're certainly not anywhere near
the bid -- the $15,000 requiring bidding. But --
COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Well, I'll tell you what, if
Mr. Edwards thinks it can be done for $2,000 or $3,000, I
think we should ask that he get the work done for us. I
don't think you can even get the meter -- a meter set in
there, a separate meter, and do the electrical work that has
to be done for what he's talking about. And there's going to
have to be permanent walls built and a heating and
air-conditioning unit put in and some floor covering of some
kind, and I don't believe you can get that done for that.
But, if he can do+ it, I'd appreciate him doing it.
COMMISSIONER LETZ: How about -- that would be
great if he would, but that's not going to happen.
COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I know it.
COMMISSIONER LETZ: Why don't we -- if we get our
Maintenance Department to go out, come up with an amount,
because -- and the reason I'm -- if this thing is going to
cost, you know, 56,000, $7,000, I'm not against doing it, but
I'm a little concerned about this two-year time period if
it's going to be that amount of money. Really, I mean, you
know, I think there's -- we need to find out about what we're
43
1C
1]
li
1.
19
1_
lE
1.
1E
1~
2C
2]
2i
2;
29
2_
talking about in dollars, and if it's, you know, $2,000,
$3,000, sure, two years is fine to negotiate a lease. But, I
don't want to us do $10,000 worth of renovations and then in
two years have to start paying rent on it. I think that's a
little bit steep.
JUDGE DENSON: Oh, yeah. Yeah, we --
COMMISSIONER OEHLER: It could be that we could
utilize some community service workers on the -- through our
program over here to do some of that work and just buy
materials.
COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right.
COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I know that we do have people
on -- on the work program periodically that can do carpentry
work and that can lay -- lay floors and that sort of thing,
and so that would. be -- but I think Maintenance would be a
good place to do it, and then Glenn would be in charge of it.
JUDGE DENSON: Okay. And when we get to the point
where we are going to actually enter a contract, we need to
have Mr. Pollard draw up a contract.
COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right.
JUDGE DENSON: Okay. I need a motion.
COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: To authorize the Maintenance
Supervisor to just come up with a cost for now? Is that what
we're talking about?
COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think find out what it is,
49
and then look at the contract. Get back -- you know, a
1(
1]
1:
1.
14
1°_
lE
li
if
15
2[
2]
2:
2:
2~
ZF
couple weeks, however long it takes him to get some, you
know, reasonably good numbers would be my preference.
COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I'll second the motion.
JUDGE DENSON: Okay. I've got a motion and second.
Further questions? Comments? All in favor?
(The motion was carried by unanimous vote.)
JUDGE DENSON: Okay. 2.9, consider and discuss
appointment of Kerr Emergency 911 Network Board.
Commissioner, Precinct 4. Do you have anything to bring us
up-to-date on this?
COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Not me.
COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I'd like to comment on it.
We'd like to put this off to the next meeting, please.
JUDGE DENSON: Okay, we'll pass on that subject.
i
COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Can we automatically have it
on the next agenda? What do we do about that?
JUDGE DENSON: Automatic if I give that to Thea,
that note.
COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Thank you.
JUDGE DENSON: Are we getting some good names?
COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: We're getting some names.
COMMISSIONER LETZ: We hope they're good. That's
why we're waiting.
JUDGE DENSON: 2.10, consider and discuss
95
11 resolution supporting Veterans Hospital of Kerrville, Kerr
2 County, Texas. Commissioner Letz?
COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yes, I put this on the agenda.
You know, I think every one is well aware that there have
been a lot of cutbacks out at the V.A. Hospital, and there's
6 been a lot of -- well, not just -- actually, proposed
7 additional cutbacks coming up in the next couple of weeks.
8 Quite a few people in the community, certainly some veterans
9 -- I know the E.D.F. Board and others are pretty involved in
10 talking to Congressman Smith's office, primarily about this,
11 and hopefully we might get some relief.
12 But, I think it would be a good idea to pass a reso-
13 lution where the Court formally asks, you know, Congressman
14 Smith, Senator Graham, Senator Hutchison to, you know, assist
I5 us in this effort, because we get a lot of finger-pointing
16 when we talk to people in Kerrville -- actually, not
17 Kerrville as much as Dr. Coronado and Dr. Chong in both San
18 Antonio and Dallas, respectively. They say the problem's in
19 Washington; they're directed from Dr. Kaiser, who heads the
20 V.A. system -- or headed this portion of the the V.A. system.
21 You talk to them in Washington and they say no, you
22 know, all the discretion is down here in Kerrville and San
23 Antonio and Dallas. So, each one is pointing a different
29 direction. I think that it's certainly not going to hurt for
25 us to get our politicians that represent us in Washington,
96
let them know that we expect them to be looking after this
situation, because it's possibly very detrimental to,
certainly, the veterans in this area and to the economy in
this area. So, anyway, I'll just read the resolution that I
make a motion that we adopt.
Whereas, the South Texas Veterans Health Care System,
1C
11
12
13
19
19
18
17
18
19
2C
21
22
23
29
2~
Kerrville Division, was started in November 1919 by a group
of Kerr County citizens, with the aid of the Benevolent War
Risk Society, American Legion State Commander Claude
Birkhead, and Texas State Health Officer Dr. Collins, and
they launched a drive to raise one-half million dollars to
construct a hospital in Kerrville for the care of World War I
veterans;
Whereas, the U. S. Veterans Hureau took over operations
of the hospital, started accepting patients oğ July 1, 1923;
Whereas, the Kerrville V.A. Medical Center has been
dedicated to the health care of veterans, and this facility
has consistently been rated as one of the top providers of
outstanding health care in the Veterans Administration
system, and the hospital has become an integral part of the
Kerr County community;
Whereas, the Kerrville V. A. Medical Center has become
an integral part of the community of Kerr County and south
Texas -- a little repetitious there. We might take out one
of those whereas's.
97
Whereas, since 1995 ,the Kerrville V.A. Hospital has seen
severe cuts in staff and services provided to veterans and
has caused a great inconvenience to the numerous veterans in
Kerr County and throughout the Hill Country and south Texas;
Now, therefore, be it resolved this 26th day of October,
1998, that the Kerr County Commissioners Court requests
Senator Phil Graham, Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison, and
Congressman Lamar Smith assist Kerr County in our efforts to
ensure the continued operation of the Kerrville V.A. Medical
10
11
12
13
19
1°
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
29
2°_
Center as a primary provider of outstanding health care for
veterans in our community and throughout south Texas.
COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I second that motion.
COMMISSIONER OEHLER: And authorize Judge to sign.
JUDGE DENSON: All of us will sign.
COMMISSIONER LETZ: I would also think that, you
know, either the Judge -- if you would send this to the, you
know, other counties that surround us, potentially Kendall
and Bandera, and ask them to do a similar resolution and sign
it, and City of Kerrville, it certainly would not hurt to get
more people asking their help in Washington.
JUDGE DENSON: Yeah. And I've noticed, there seems
to be an interest -- a movement where people are writing
letters to the editor and have a real concern, which well
they should be. I know I would -- I've attended several
meetings, and likewise with yourself on this. And, just far
48

1G
11
12
1?
19
1°
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
2.
29
2f
y'all's information, it seems to be a change in approach by
the Veterans Administration. They're going to continue to
provide services to the veterans around here, but what they
want to do is start moving toward outpatient treatment. And
then, of course, a lot of the inpatient is going to be
provided in San Antonio. Seems like they want to specialize
a lot of their services that direct, in the future, a lot of
the services being on an outpatient basis.
COMMISSIONER LETZ: And they keep, on the Veterans
-- you know, Dr. Chong, Dr. Coronado keep saying yes, they're
going to keep a presence -- they use the words "a presence"
in Kerrville. Well, "presence" looks like it means no
doctors. It looks like it means a laundry and a nursing
home, which, you know, we welcome those from an economic
standpoint. Hut, really, we need the primary health care
just -- so at least the veterans of the area have a doctor to
go see at the hospital. And then if they need a certain --
you know, I can understand not having a surgical unit here,
necessarily, but certainly we can have some specialists in
some various fields where veterans can get, you know, health
care here. Right now, they pretty much go and they're
referred to San Antonio and end up with a tremendous wait at
Audie Murphy. And, you know, I just don't think it's the
right way it's been handled.
COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: A lot of veterans that
49

retire here use the hospital as part of the criteria for
retirement. That is a huge deal for them to put down roots
in Kerr County, because of the facility.
JUDGE DENSON: Okay. Enough said on that. All in
favor?
(The motion was carried by unanimous vote.)
COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'll get Thea to take that one
1C
11
1:
1.
1~
1_
lE
li
if
15
2(
2l
2:
2;
2!
2_
repetition of a line out, and we'll sign.
JUDGE DENSON: Good.
JUDGE DENSON: Okay. 2.11, consider and discuss
approving County-sponsored contract between Kerr County and
the following, authorize County Judge to sign the same. I
think these are lust the contracts for the new year -- new
budget year on these entities we've had contracts with in the
past. One is Hill Country Court-Appointed Special Advocates,
otherwise known as CASA, Hill Country Crisis Council, and
K'Star.
COMMISSIONER OEHLER: So moved.
COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second.
JUDGE DENSON: Motion and second. Further
questions? Comments? All in favor?
(The motion was carried by unanimous vote.)
JUDGE DENSON: Okay. 2.12, consider and discuss
approving volunteer fire department contracts between Kerr
County, and the following, and authorize County Judge to sign
50

same. Likewise, these are contracts that we've traditionally
had with these different entities. There shouldn't be any
changes in the contracts, anything different; just simply a
renewal of same.
COMMISSIONER LACKEY: With the thousand dollar
increase?
JUDGE DENSON: You're right. The dollars change,
10
Il
12
1.
19
1_
lb
15
lE
15
2C
2]
2'<
2;
2!
2°
but the --
COMMISSIONER LETZ: So moved.
COMMISSIONER LACKEY: Second.
JUDGE DENSON: We've got a motion and second.
Further questions? Comments? All in favor?
(The motion was carried by unanimous vote.)
JUDGE DENSON: Looks like we're so efficient with
our time today, gentlemen, we've --
COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: We're certainly ahead of
where I thought we were supposed to be.
JUDGE DENSON: We're out of work. We have an
11 o'clock matter, an 11:30 matter, and then some -- a
couple matters to discuss with our architect, who isn't
present. I know of nothing else to do other than recess
until 11 o'clock.
COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'll have Thea call Mike, see
if he can get down here.
COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I'm going to call these
51

other folks, too. Let's see if we can get everyone here.
JUDGE DENSON: Okay, super. We're in recess until
3 we come back in.
9 (Whereupon a brief recess was taken.)
5 JUDGE DENSON: Okay, it's 11 o'clock on the 26th of
6 October, 1998. Commissioners Court's back in session.
COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: We have two 11 o'clock items
here.
9~ JUDGE DENSON: Yes. And we'll take up, first,
10 consider and discuss Kerr County Child Care Initiative, and
11 consider resolution in support. Commissioner Baldwin?
12 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yes, sir. I'm going to turn
13 this over to Sharon Wade in just a moment, but I wanted to
19 kind of give a brief description of what's going on here.
15 And this is basically a local control issue, in my mind, for
16 child care. What triggers this whole thing is this -- what I
17 call "from welfare to work program" that the State is trying
18 to put into place. Well, that causes some things, and what
19 that causes is when these mothers get off of welfare and go
20 back to work, somebody's got to take care of the kids, and
21 there are programs in place to do that.
22 And, Ms. Wade, a couple of years ago, a year and a half
23 ago, came up with an innovative way of funding these things,
29 and -- and doing the auditing. And, instead of the State
25 doing it all, we -- y'all remember that we brought it into
52

10
11
12
13
19
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
the Kexr County's string and the Auditor was kind enough to
audit and see that not only the federal funds, but the local
contributions came through on our system. Well, it looks as
though that the State kind of wants to put their claws back
into this thing, and before I step out there and say
something I shouldn't, I'll turn it over to Ms. Wade and let
her make a -- have an explanation. 15 minutes.
MS. WADE: Okay.
COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: And actually 10; Z've used 5
of them.
MS. WADE: Do you want me to get close to you, or
am I close enough?
JUDGE DENSON: Sharon, whichever is more convenient
for you. But if you'd like to stand up here at the lectern?
MS. WADE: Okay, I can do that. I can preach.
Thank you for having us today. I'm Sharon Wade, I'm the
Executive Director of Sunshine Inn; and Brenda Chapman, the
Executive Director of Kerr County, is with me. And these two
agencies have collaborated in this local initiative, as
Commissioner Baldwin stated, since we started negotiations in
late 1996, had our first contract with Texas Workforce
Commission out of Austin in early 1997, recontracted with
them in September of 1997, and during that contract year, the
authorities.for contracting shifted from the Texas Workforce
Commission out of Austin to a local workforce board, Alamo
53

1 Workforce Development Board, A.W.D.B. You probably see that
2 more than you see the full name. And when our contract was
3 to be renewed, it was going to be with that local workforce
9 board, versus Austin, the Texas Workforce Commission. So,
5 that gives you a little bit of history -- just cut-and-dried
6 history of the contract, itself.
7 What we have done in the last couple of years, we feel
8 like, has been phenomenal for Kerr County. The monies -- the
9 funders, the private donations that traditionally trickled
10 into her facility and into my agency used to take care of
11 approximately, at the very most a year, 20 children, doing
12 scholarships in a private way. And when we discovered that
13 we could take those dollars that our centers shared and run a
14 federal match through this -- through this government seat,
15 we then have grown now to over 65-plus children, which
16 represents approximately 95 or so working parents who, prior
17 to this, were on a subsidized system; either welfare, food
18 stamps, and unable to work or have a very long track record
19 at working. Now they've been working far almost close to two
20 years, and this has been what I consider one of the most
21 successful programs that we could have brought to our
22 community.
23 The issue at hand, and what we're coming to you and
24 seeking your assistance in, is because we're now contracting
25 with a new entity, who -- who, from what I've been explained
59
.. ~~
1C
1]
1S
1:
1!
1~
lE
1'
lF
1~
2(
2]
2:
2:
2~
2!
to me, views the federal-regulations in a little different
way than what T.W.C. Austin did. They would like to take the
administration component of this project away and give it to
the Child Care Management Service System, which is housed in
the -- with the City of San Antonio. We have told them --
explained that we felt like, to the best of our ability, that
if that were to happen, because of the delicate nature of the
funding we receive from foundations and charitable
organizations, that we would, in essence, lose our funding
and would have -- funding for the project and would have to
go back to the old system of maybe funding 20 children, if we
were lucky, a year, versus the 65-plus that we are currently
serving.
Now, the bigger picture of this is, for six to seven
years, we should have been receiving X amount of dollars, or
a certain amount of dollars from the Child Care Management
Service System. Because the wait list is very unfair to the
rural client, as it stands, we have not been getting our fair
share of those CCMS dollars. So, by developing this project,
nurturing these clients for a year to a year and a half, they
have become viable on that CCMS wait list. They roll off of
our local project and become part of the overall State-funded
project, and all of a sudden, we get more of our fair share
in Kerr County than we ever have of those State and federal
dollars. So, there's -- it's an incubation period. We take
55
!.
them in, we take care of them, then they roll aver and then
we're free to take in new clients that we can serve that have
been unexplored in our population here in Kerr County.
The issues that they have raised that they have told me
10
11
12
13
19
1~
16
17
18
19
2G
21
22
23
29
2°
are obstacles to the signing of the contract, we have
researched those diligently for two -- the contract was due
to be signed on 8-31-98, and I've been researching this since
July, the obstacles that they say are there. Austin -- and
the people who read the federal regs in Austin and who still
have oversight over this project, even though they don't
contract any more, are telling me that those are non-issues;
that we should still be able to sign this contract the way we
have in the past, that Kerr County should be able to continue
to look over and have the oversight, and that they should be
able to subcontract the eligibility process -- the
administration process of this to Kerr County Day Care Center
and Sunshine Inn as it's been done in the past. And, so, we
are at that point now with A.W.D.B.
They left here the other day from the meeting with Judge
Denson stating that they were going to seek clarification of
-- from Austin about whether ox not they could, in truth,
sign this contract the way we need it signed. And, so, we
have looked for local support, phone calls, and we're looking
for support from you, stating that it is your desire also to
keep the autonomy of this program and the integrity of this
56

1
2
3
9
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19~
20I
21
22
23
24
25
project here in this town the way that it was developed.
Did I catch it all?
MS. CHAPMAN: You got it.
MS. WADE: Good. Okay.
JUDGE DENSON: Ms. Wade, of course, at that meeting
the other day, Ms. Valdez from the Workforce Development
mentioned that she was not at all encouraged that the State
would allow us to continue as we have in the past. While
that question seems to be open, as you've mentioned in your
presentation today, she said that the superiors, I think, to
some of the people that you have been talking to with
Workforce Development Commission were not encouraging her at
all. They were more or less -- she more or less said that it
was -- it was a requirement that the Workforce Development
Board, through its contract with the City of San Antonio, had
to maintain oversight. What do you think's going to happen?
MS. WADE: Well, I know the driving force of this
is the federal regs. I mean, at least that's what I'm being
told. And, even though the source that she cited, who is a
brand-new director of the child care project out of T.W.C.
Austin -- I mean, she's been on-board maybe a month to two
months. My source has been doing local -- Kathy Payne, from
T.W.C., has been doing local initiatives for over ten years,
and she has told me that the federal regs have not changed in
a -- in a way that would adversely affect our contract. She
57

10
11
12
1.
19
1°_
lE
li
18
15
2C
2I
22
2;
29
2°
said what you may have is a conservative way of reading those
federal regs versus a -- the T.W.C. Austin's way of reading
the federal regs, which they wanted to bring in those
unmatched federal dollars into the state of Texas before they
went away to another state.
You have to understand, these federal dollars have been
sitting on a table. The State could only legislate so much
match to draw down those federal dollars, and then some
unanswered federal dollars stayed on the table. We took
these donor dollars, went up and directly routed to them and
brought those back to our community, and it was what Austin
wanted. They wanted those dollars, because if they stay on
the table past a certain time of your fiscal year, they then
can be routed to New York, to California, wherever the need
is great and where the match can be established. So, I think
what we have here, from what I'm hearing my source tell me,
is a different way of interpreting those federal regs. And,
Austin wanted the dollars to come into the state, so they
took care of it that way, signed our contract.
And, A.W.D.B. is newer to the need to process those
federal regs, and seem to be more concerned in the areas of
liability. We've tried to address those areas with them
about -- about that. The liability is pretty simple, the way
that they do these contracts; whereas, if mistakes are made
in the eligibility process, direct repayment to the feds is
58
l
2~
3
9
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
19
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
all that is required under those contracts. And we've tried
to explain that to them, that we feel like its pretty clean
and simple, that we can take care of it. But it does seem to
be left at the feet of those who are interpreting the regs
now, and I have not enough expertise in that area to go much
beyond that. I mean, I'm not a lawyer, so -- so I can't go
in there and read those and determine them fox myself. I
have read them, and I see that there's no appreciable changes
since we signed our contract the first two years.
JUDGE DENSON: Thank you.
COMMISSIONER LETZ: Is there a resolution, or is
there anything we -- what do we need to do to support --
COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: We attempted to put together
a resolution, but couldn't seem to come up with the proper
verbiage.
JUDGE DENSON: Do you want to draft a resolution
for us?
MS. WADE: If you can give me some kind of, you
know, bare-bones kind of copy or show me the appropriate --
yes. If Thea can show me the appropriate way to do that, I
can have it done pretty quickly for you.
COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: And I view this thing as --
you know, as I said in my opening remarks, as a local control
issue. You have -- you have the federal and State people
telling -- trying to tell us how to run our business down
59

11
here, and I lust think that that is inappropriate, and I'm --
and I want to, as a Kerr County Commissioners Court, take a
stand and say no. This is -- this is the way we choose to
run our program down here, and we're going to it this way.
JUDGE DENSON: Well, and I agree, that's bottom
line what's being done, but what Sharon is saying is that
Alamo Workforce Board is the one that's saying that is what
the regs say.
COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I understand.
10	JUDGE	DENSON: And	it depends on one's	
11	interpretation	of the regs.	And the regs have n	ot changed to
12	any extent over	the years, and we've already had	this process
13	in place. But	the Alamo Workforce Board is new.	We have a
19	member of that	board present	with us today.	
15	COMMI	SSIONER LETZ:	Why don't you get	with Mrs.
16~ Sovil and she can give you an outline?
17u MS. WADE: Okay.
18
19
20
21
22
23
29
25
JUDGE DENSON: And you can plug in the appropriate
language.
MS. WADE: Okay.
JUDGE DENSON: And I'll make a motion that we
authorize the County Judge to sign the resolution in support
of Child Care Initiative on a local basis.
COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I'll second that.
JUDGE DENSON: Any further questions? Comments?
60
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
29
25
Anyone? All in favor?
(The motion was carried by unanimous vote.)
JUDGE DENSON: Okay.
MS. WADE: Thank you very much.
JUDGE DENSON: Thank you, Ms. Wade. Thanks for
coming down, and Ms. Chapman, likewise.
MS. CHAPMAN: Thank you.
JUDGE DENSON: Okay. 2.14, consider and discuss
advertising for bids for construction fox Phase III
renovations to be opened on December 7, '98, at 10 a.m. Bids
will be accepted until 9 a.m. December 7th, 1998. Mr.
Walker?
MR. WALKER: Thank you, Judge. You see before you
plans and specs to go out for bids. As you say, we're going
to take them on December 7th, which gives them a good, long
period to peruse them. I'd like your permission to go out
for bids.
COMMISSIONER LETZ: So moved.
COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second.
JUDGE DENSON: Further questions? Comments? All
in favor?
(The motion was carried by unanimous vote.)
JUDGE DENSON: Unanimous, 5-0. All right, sir.
MR. WALKER: Am I the next one?
JUDGE DENSON: Sir?
61

1 MR. WALKER: Am I the next item?
2 JUDGE DENSON: Yes, you are. You're 2.15.
3 MR. WALKER: Yes, sir. He -- Mr. Gable, of Mart/
9 Absolute Demolition --
5 JUDGE DENSON: Oh, excuse me, let me read it into
6 the record. Consider and discuss approving a final payment
7 for demolition phase.
8 MR. WALKER: Yes, sir. He has not met all the --
9 satisfied all the requirements. He called me last week and
10 said he was working on them, that's Mr. Gable of Mart and
11 Absolute Demolition. And, so, I guess just hold onto his
12 retainage until he's done doing it. He's got, really, a
13 handful of paperwork things to do, but one of them is getting
14 the signed releases, lien releases. So, unless you're
15 willing to waiverithat, I think I would recommend that you
16 just stay the course and wait. I mean, he's not demanding
17 his money or anything, so I guess he's not impatient.
18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Wait till the next agenda.
19 JUDGE DENSON: Okay.
20 MR. WALKER: Okay.
21 JUDGE DENSON: That was short and sweet.
22 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Unbelievable, wasn't it? I
23 couldn't believe you tackled that at this time of the day.
24 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Last time we were late for
25 lunch.
62
1
2
3
4I
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
191,
15'
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
29
25
JUDGE DENSON: Okay. Thank you, Mr. Walker.
MR. WALKER: Thank you.
COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: 2.16, we're ready to go.
JUDGE DENSON: Okay. This is just a little early,
but I don't think, from a legal standpoint, there's any
problem with moving this up. This is one of our subject
matters which all those present would be interested in. It's
consider and discuss and introduce the new Librarian for the
Butt-Holdsworth Memorial Library, Mr. Antonio Martinez. And
Commissioner Baldwin, being the liaison with the Court for
the Library, put this on the agenda, and let me turn it over
to him.
COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay. Thank you, sir. As
we all know, Vicky Mosty Roberts resigned -- retired, excuse
me, last year. And, the -- as you know, the City, through
their administrative force over there, has gone through the
process and hired Mr. Martinez, and I have asked him to come
over to the Commissioners Court and just kind of introduce
himself to all of us and to the County staff, and -- come on
up, Mr. Martinez -- and kind of give us a briefing on his
background. And we want to welcome you.
MR. MARTINEZ: Well, it's a pleasure to be here.
I've been in the library business about 25 years now. The
Kerrville Library is certainly going to be a pleasure to work
at. There are quite a few challenges, but I'm looking
63

3
9
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
19
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
29
25
forward to it. I'm coming from Victoria; that was my most
recent place of employment. Worked for Victoria Public
Library for 15 years. Some of the projects I just completed
there we're going to be starting here, so it's like redoing a
lot of things, but it will be interesting and challenging.
I'm looking forward to it, and looking forward to meeting
each one of you individually. And I invite you to come over
and visit, let me show you around what we're doing, what
we're planning. We've got a lot of big projects ahead of us.
One is the History Center next door, and the other is the
Internet access that we're working on. Those are two really
big projects we're working on, and hoping to get completed
sometime next year. Any questions I could answer for any of
you? Or --
COMMISSIONER LETZ: Welcome to Kerrville.
MR. MARTINEZ: Thank you.
JUDGE DENSON: Looks like you got out of Victoria
just in time.
MR. MARTINEZ: Yeah, sure did. The flooding there
has been something else. And, you know, my heart goes out to
these people I left behind who are being hurt really badly
right now. They've lost quite a bit there. They had a
really wonderful zoo that's been destroyed; they had to
release or kill the animals at the zoo, so that was really
painful to hear.
69
,.
JUDGE DENSON: Mr. Martinez, how long were you in
1C
11
12
13
19
15
lE
17
18
19
2C
21
22
23
29
2°
Victoria?
MR. MARTINEZ: Fifteen years.
JUDGE DENSON: And prior to that?
MR. MARTINEZ: Prior to that, Corpus Christi
Library for about eight years, and before that, Kingsville
Library, and some college library work also, Texas A ~ M
University, Delmar Junior College in Corpus. I've done a
variety of --
JUDGE DENSON: What is your educational background?
MR. MARTINEZ: I have a Bachelors in English and
Journalism, and a Masters in Library and Information Science
from University of Texas at Austin.
JUDGE DENSON: Well --
COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Very good.
r
JUDGE DENSON: My name's Bob Denson; I'm the County
Judge for the next couple of months. But, pleasure to meet
you. Victoria was -- she left some awfully large shoes to
fill, as you know, and I'm sure with your background and all,
you've certainly embraced education and community involvement
in libraries and all. Butt-Holdsworth is just an outstanding
facility, not only for the city people, but the county as a
whole. And I think what you'll find over there is you'll
have people outside the county area, from Fredericksburg --
MR. MARTINEZ: We're serving quite an big region
65
..
outside the county.
JUDGE DENSON: So it's really a regional-type
library.
MR. MARTINEZ: Yes, it is.
IC
11
1:
1.
1~
1°_
lE
li
if
1S
2C
2]
2:
2.
2!
2F
JUDGE DENSON: You have a -- quite a large task in
front of you, which I'm sure that you can handle. But,
welcome.
MR. MARTINEZ: Thank you.
JUDGE DENSON: We'll be seeing you. And we have a
-- mechanically speaking, the County signs a contract each
year. The library is owned by the City of Kerrville, but we
pay for one-half of the operational cost of that -- that
facility through contract negotiations with the City, and I
think that demonstrates what the Commissioners Court and the
County feels about the library and the services that y'all
render for everyone.
MR. MARTINEZ: And it's a pleasure to work under
that arrangement. It's something that I'm familiar with. I
worked under a similar arrangement in Victoria, with the
County providing half the cost, and --
JUDGE DENSON: Okay, good.
MR. MARTINEZ: So, that's familiar to me, and I
like that sort of arrangement. I think it shows a lot of
commitment from the County and the City.
JUDGE DENSON: Well, Commissioner Baldwin, we're
66
.,
1 fortunate to have him on -- he's our liaison with this Court
2 that works directly with the Library and with the City on
3 Library issues. But, I want to extend an open invitation to
9 you. Any problem that you might encounter at all, that --
5 that Commissioner Baldwin can help you with, or anyone on the
6 Court, don't ever hesitate to come over. We'd love to see
7 you, and certainly support you.
8 MR. MARTINEZ: Thank you so much.
9 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Thank you, Antonio.
10 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Thank you.
11 JUDGE DENSON: Am I overlooking something?
12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: 11 o'clock Executive Session.
13 COMMISSIONER LACKEY: You have an 11 o'clock
14 Executive Session.
15 JUDGE DENSON: Oh, sure is. That's why the County
16 Attorney is here. That's why I asked if I'm overlooking
17 something. Okay. At this time, we will be in recess from
18 the Commissioners Court meeting. We're going to move into
19 Executive Session, which will require that only those
20 individuals interested will be invited to stay around. It's
21 11:20, so we'll close our Commissioners Court meeting for
22 purposes of Executive Session.
23 (The open session was closed at 11:20 a.m., and an
Executive Session was held, the transcript of which
29 is contained in a separate document.}
25 - - - - - - - - - -
67
^_
(Luncheon recess was taken at 11:40 a.m.)
lC
11
12
1.
19
1_°
lE
li
IE
1~
2C
2]
2:
2;
2~
2_°
JUDGE DENSON: Okay. It is 1:30. It's October the
26th, 1998. We are back in Commissioners Court meeting, ağd
we'll take up our Executive Session matters, which we did not
conclude this morning. We'll go into Executive Session and
take up with our civil counsel all pending and possible
litigation. So, at this time, I will adjourn the
Commissioners Court meeting so we can -- open meeting so we
can move into Executive Session.
(The open session was closed at 1:31 p.m., and an
Executive Session was held, the transcript of which
is contained in a separate document.)
JUDGE DENSON: We're now -- it's 10 minutes to
2:00, 10-26-98 --t. out of Executive Session. And what
Buster's talking about is an A.G.'s opinion that came down --
I believe I sent y'all a copy. We could -- we can recess and
take up something that was on the agenda the next day, but
that's it. If it's anything that's --
COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Used to be five days.
JUDGE DENSON: Right. You could recess all the way
through to Friday. But I've got a clear Attorney General's
opinion. Anything that you recess fox more than one day,
more than 29 hours, you have to repost. So, you know, we
could take up something tomorrow, but we certainly couldn't
68
_ ,~.
Wednesday or later.
(Off-the-record discussion.)
JUDGE DENSON: We are in recess.
(Commissioners Court was adjourned at 1:52 p.m.)
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
2
z
2
2
2
C E R T I F I C A T E
The above and foregoing is a true and complete
transcription of my stenotype notes taken in my capacity as
Official Reporter of the Commissioners Court of Kerr County,
Texas, at the time and place heretofore set forth.
DATED at Kerrville, Texas, this 29th day of October,
1998.
~p1-1 u!~
Kathy B ik
Certifi Shorthand Reporter
69