1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 KERR COUNTY COMMISSIONERS COURT 9 Special Session 10 Monday, May 22, 2000 11 6:30 p.m. 12 Commissioners' Courtroom 13 Kerr County Courthouse 14 Kerrville, Texas 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 PRESENT: FREDERICK L. HENNEKE, Kerr County Judge 22 H. A. "BUSTER" BALDWIN, Commissioner Pct. 1 WILLIAM "BILL" WILLIAMS, Commissioner Pct. 2 23 JONATHAN LETZ, Commissioner Pct. 3 24 ABSENT: LARRY GRIFFIN, Commissioner Pct. 4 25 2 1 I N D E X 2 May 22, 2000 PAGE 3 --- Commissioners' Comments 3 4 1.1 Pay Bills 7 1.2 Budget Amendments 8 5 1.3 Late Bills 19 6 2.1 Discuss revisions to Flood Plain rules, set public hearing 19 7 2.2 Discuss proposed revisions to OSSF Rules, set 8 workshop 26 9 2.3 Discuss OSSF pending citations issued by UGRA 45 10 2.4 Preliminary plat, Turtle Creek Ranches 50 11 2.5 Final plat, Wren Road Estates 54 12 2.6 Final plat, Village West Industrial Park 55 13 2.7 Reclassify position in Sheriff's Department 57 14 2.8 COPS grant for School Resource Officers 60 15 2.9 Resolution opposing proposed changes in TCLEOSE law enforcement officer education requirements 74 16 2.10 Resolution for House Interim Committee on County 17 Affairs 77 18 2.11 Reallocation of space, Collections Department -- 19 2.13 Placement of Civil War cannon, authorize Commissioner Williams to negotiate details 78 20 2.12 County Government Week in April 2001 86 21 --- Addendum - capital expenditure for County 22 Court and Commissioners Court furniture 89 23 4.1 Action taken on Executive Session matters 91 24 --- Adjourned 93 25 3 1 On Monday, May 22, 2000, at 6:30 p.m., a Special Session 2 of the Kerr County 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 HENNEKE: Good evening. It's 6:30 on 7 Monday, May 22nd. We'll call to order this regular special 8 meeting of the Kerr County Commissioners Court. I want to 9 thank you all for attending. It's always gratifying to see 10 people come out and participate in your county government. 11 At this time, if you'd stand and join me in the invocation 12 and the pledge of allegiance. 13 (Prayer and pledge of allegiance.) 14 JUDGE HENNEKE: Thank you. At this time, any 15 citizen wishing to speak on an item which is not listed on 16 the regular agenda may come forward and do so. Are there 17 any citizens in the audience who would like to address the 18 Court on an item which is not listed on the regular agenda? 19 Once again, I'll say are the any citizens who would like to 20 address the Court on an item which is not listed on the 21 regular agenda? Seeing none, we'll move forward into 22 Commissioners' comments. We're going to start tonight with 23 Commissioner Williams. 24 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Thank you, Judge. 25 Kerr County lost one of its most favored native daughters 4 1 this past week, and I speak of Joppy Romero. Many of you 2 know her. She had served this community well for many years 3 and was a very devoted individual, both to her family, her 4 husband, and her community. What strikes me most about 5 Joppy's loss was really our gain through the years, in that 6 she was a firm and passionate believer in the function of 7 government, and she worked hard in her way to make certain 8 that we had good government. She encouraged many, many 9 people throughout the years to place themselves in a 10 position of running for public office, and when she believed 11 in this individual and in the worth of that individual, the 12 service that individual could -- could perform, she 13 supported that person wholeheartedly. We're going to miss 14 her. We have a lot of other folks like that out there, but 15 truly, when God made that mold, that was the singular, 16 one-of-a-kind mold. And I'll just say God rest you. 17 Good-bye. Thank you. 18 JUDGE HENNEKE: Well said. Jonathan? 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Just one comment. Since 20 we have a large audience, I thought I'd announce about 21 issues on water. The regional water planning process, which 22 most of you are familiar with, that first phase of that 23 process is coming to an end in the next couple of months, 24 and there will be some public hearings held in Kerr County, 25 as well as other neighboring counties regarding the regional 5 1 water plan. And, we're in the process right now -- I think 2 we meet this week in Leakey; everyone is invited. What 3 we're doing in that right now is looking at the strategies 4 to solve the future needs for Kerr County and the other five 5 counties in our region. So, just to keep you aware. And I 6 think some of those public hearings and meetings that we 7 hold will be probably in July and August when we do the 8 public hearings on the actual water plan, so if you're 9 interested, I invite everyone to come. And that's all I 10 have. 11 JUDGE HENNEKE: Okay. Buster? 12 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: The only comment I 13 have is to remind the public that we're in the final week of 14 public school, and our kids will be running to-and-fro 15 after -- after the end of this week, and we need to 16 continually -- to pray for them in support of the children 17 of our community. That's all. 18 JUDGE HENNEKE: Very good. One brief comment 19 that I have, I learned over the weekend that our own Glenn 20 McGinnis, the proprietor of the Dove's Nest here in 21 Kerrville, has been chosen as president of the nationwide 22 Christian Book Sellers Association. That speaks highly, not 23 only of Glenn and Krystal, but of their service to the 24 community and the -- the values that we all hold so dear. 25 So, our congratulations to Glenn and to Krystal for that 6 1 honor, which I'm sure they will carry forward with great 2 dignity. Without anything else -- 3 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Judge, then could I -- 4 I do have one other item, if you'd allow it, just for a 5 moment. I'd like to congratulate my colleague, Mr. Letz. 6 He recently has gotten married, a couple of days ago. I 7 don't know if we need to bless him or pray for him; I don't 8 know. Congratulations, Commissioner Letz. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Thank you. 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: We're proud of you. 11 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Are you going to 12 invite us to accompany you on the honeymoon? 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Honeymoon's already over. 14 JUDGE HENNEKE: Ms. Nemec? 15 MS. NEMEC: Judge, I know it's not 16 appropriate at this time for any of to us mention anything, 17 but I was kind of hoping maybe one of the Commissioners 18 would, or if not, if you would, but -- I'm sure that you 19 don't want to brag, but I just would like to say I'm sure 20 everybody read in the paper, congratulations to you and to 21 your son for graduating as valedictorian. I think that is a 22 very important honor. 23 JUDGE HENNEKE: Thank you. 24 (Applause.) 25 JUDGE HENNEKE: I taught him everything he 7 1 knows. Which is why I don't know anything any more. All 2 right, let's pay some bills. Mr. Auditor. Does anyone have 3 any questions or comments about the bills? 4 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: After Tommy chewing us 5 out last time, I'm not about to ask any questions. 6 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: No holsters this 7 time? 8 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: No holsters. 9 JUDGE HENNEKE: Any questions or comments? 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Move we pay the bills. 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. 12 JUDGE HENNEKE: Moved by Commissioner Letz, 13 seconded by Commissioner Baldwin, that we pay the bills as 14 recommended and approved by the Auditor. 15 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Stand by. 16 (Discussion off the record.) 17 JUDGE HENNEKE: Any further discussion? 18 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Same person, isn't it? 19 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: No. 20 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Oh, I see. Sorry. 21 JUDGE HENNEKE: Any further questions or 22 comments? If not, all in favor, raise your right hand. 23 (The motion was carried by unanimous vote.) 24 JUDGE HENNEKE: All opposed, same sign. 25 (No response.) 8 1 JUDGE HENNEKE: Tommy, you ought to chew on 2 us more often. Budget amendments. We have a few. 3 MR. TOMLINSON: We have -- 4 JUDGE HENNEKE: Number one -- 5 MR. TOMLINSON: We have 12 tonight. 6 JUDGE HENNEKE: Number one relates to the 7 County Auditor. 8 MR. TOMLINSON: Near and dear to my heart. 9 This -- I have a request to transfer $240 from Commissioners 10 Court Contingency to Hardware, Computer Hardware line item 11 in my budget. It's to replace a monitor for one of my 12 computers. 13 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Tommy, can you move 14 that mic so it will pick up your voice so people can hear 15 you? 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Is that from 17 Nondepartmental Contingency or Commissioners Court 18 Contingency? 19 MR. TOMLINSON: It's Nondepartmental, that's 20 right. 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So moved. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 23 JUDGE HENNEKE: Moved by Commissioner 24 Baldwin, seconded by Commissioner Letz, that we approve 25 Budget Amendment Request No. 1 relating to the County 9 1 Auditor's department. Any further discussion? If not, all 2 in favor, raise your right hand. 3 (The motion was carried by unanimous vote.) 4 JUDGE HENNEKE: All opposed, same sign. 5 (No response.) 6 JUDGE HENNEKE: Motion carries. Number 2 7 relates to the District Clerk. 8 MR. TOMLINSON: This is also replacement for 9 a computer part. It's for a printer for the District Clerk. 10 The request is for $314.22 to be transferred from 11 Nondepartmental Contingency to Computer Hardware. 12 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: So moved. 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. 14 JUDGE HENNEKE: Moved by Commissioner 15 Williams, seconded by Commissioner Baldwin, that we approve 16 Budget Amendment Request Number 2 for the District Clerk's 17 office. Any further discussion? If not, all in favor, 18 raise your right hand. 19 (The motion was carried by unanimous vote.) 20 JUDGE HENNEKE: All opposed, same sign. 21 (No response.) 22 JUDGE HENNEKE: Motion carries. Number 3 23 relates to the Sheriff's Department. 24 MR. TOMLINSON: Number 3 is a request from -- 25 from the Sheriff to transfer $2,189 from Nondepartmental 10 1 Contingency to Computer Supplies in the Sheriff's Office 2 budget, and it's for licenses for -- it's Ableterm licenses 3 for the conversion of -- of the computer system to Software 4 Group. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So moved. 6 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. 7 JUDGE HENNEKE: Moved by Commissioner Letz, 8 second by Commissioner Baldwin, that we approve Budget 9 Amendment Request Number 3 for the Sheriff's Department. 10 Any further discussion? If not, all in favor, raise your 11 right hand. 12 (The motion was carried by unanimous vote.) 13 JUDGE HENNEKE: All opposed, same sign. 14 (No response.) 15 JUDGE HENNEKE: Number 4 relates to 16 Commissioners Court. 17 MR. TOMLINSON: This is a request to transfer 18 $58.51 from Nondepartmental Contingency to Notices in the 19 Commissioners Court budget. 20 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: So moved. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 22 JUDGE HENNEKE: Moved by Commissioner 23 Williams, seconded by Commissioner Letz, that we approve 24 Budget Amendment Request Number 3 for Commissioners Court. 25 Any further discussion? If not, all in favor, raise your 11 1 right hand. 2 (The motion was carried by unanimous vote.) 3 JUDGE HENNEKE: All opposed, same sign. 4 (No response.) 5 JUDGE HENNEKE: Motion carries. Number 5 6 relates to the 216th District Court. 7 MR. TOMLINSON: This is a request from the 8 court to transfer $5,133.95 from Court-Appointed Attorneys 9 to Special Trials. This is for security in the trial in 10 Bandera, for the Hernandez case, furnished by Bandera 11 County. 12 JUDGE HENNEKE: Is this for our deputies or 13 for -- 14 MR. TOMLINSON: No, this is for theirs. 15 JUDGE HENNEKE: Did we ever get that issue 16 resolved as to -- 17 MR. TOMLINSON: This is the best I could do. 18 JUDGE HENNEKE: So this is down from -- 19 MR. TOMLINSON: I negotiated with the 20 Sheriff's office in Bandera. 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: And this is all of it? 22 MR. TOMLINSON: This is it, right. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So moved. 24 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. 25 JUDGE HENNEKE: Moved by Commissioner Letz, 12 1 seconded by Commissioner Baldwin, that we approve Budget 2 Amendment Request No. 5 for the 216th District Court. 3 MR. TOMLINSON: This bill was approximately 4 $9,000. 5 JUDGE HENNEKE: Yeah, I remember it was 6 substantially higher. All in favor, raise your right hand. 7 (The motion was carried by unanimous vote.) 8 JUDGE HENNEKE: All opposed, same sign. 9 (No response.) 10 JUDGE HENNEKE: Motion carries. Number 6 11 relates, again, to the District Clerk's office. 12 MR. TOMLINSON: This is also a request from 13 Linda Uecker to transfer $390 from Machine Repair to 14 Evidence Storage line item. I think there's a note from her 15 on this budget amendment that explains it. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So moved. 17 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. 18 JUDGE HENNEKE: Moved by Commissioner Letz, 19 second by Commissioner Baldwin, that we approve Budget 20 Amendment Request Number 6 for the District Clerk's Office. 21 Any further discussion? If not, all in favor, raise your 22 right hand. 23 (The motion was carried by unanimous vote.) 24 JUDGE HENNEKE: All opposed, same sign. 25 (No response.) 13 1 JUDGE HENNEKE: Motion carries. Number 7 2 relates to the Rabies and Animal Control Department. 3 MR. TOMLINSON: Okay. This is a request from 4 Marc Allen to transfer $29.35 from his Operating Expense 5 line item to Radio Repairs. We have a bill payable to 6 Advantage Communications for that purpose. 7 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: So moved. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 9 JUDGE HENNEKE: Moved by Commissioner 10 Williams, seconded by Commissioner Letz. Any further 11 discussion? If not, all in favor, raise your right hand. 12 (The motion was carried by unanimous vote.) 13 JUDGE HENNEKE: All opposed, same sign. 14 (No response.) 15 JUDGE HENNEKE: Motion carries. Number 8 16 relates to Jail Maintenance. 17 MR. TOMLINSON: Okay. This request is for 18 general maintenance at the jail. It's to move $943.15 from 19 Nondepartmental Contingency to the Jail Maintenance 20 Department for maintenance. I have -- actually, they have 21 three bills, one for $275, one for $157.35, and one for 22 $671.34. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: There isn't any other 24 place to -- doesn't he have any extra in any of his lime 25 items? 14 1 MR. TOMLINSON: I think Budget Amendment 11 2 will take care of his extra monies. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So moved. 4 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Second. 5 JUDGE HENNEKE: Moved by Commissioner Letz. 6 seconded by Commissioner Williams, that we approve Budget 7 Amendment Request Number 8 relating to Jail Maintenance. 8 Any further discussion? If not, all in favor, raise your 9 right hand. 10 (The motion was carried by unanimous vote.) 11 JUDGE HENNEKE: All opposed, same sign. 12 (No response.) 13 JUDGE HENNEKE: Motion carries. Number 9 14 relates to County Jail. 15 MR. TOMLINSON: This is a request from the 16 Sheriff to transfer $302.10 from Office Supplies to Computer 17 Supplies in the Jail budget. 18 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So moved. 19 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Second. 20 JUDGE HENNEKE: Moved by Commissioner 21 Baldwin, seconded by Commissioner Williams, that we approve 22 Budget Amendment Request Number 9 relating to the County 23 Jail. Any further discussion? If not, all in favor, raise 24 your right hand. 25 (The motion was carried by unanimous vote.) 15 1 JUDGE HENNEKE: All opposed, same sign. 2 (No response.) 3 JUDGE HENNEKE: Motion carries. Number 10 is 4 for Justice of the Peace Number 1. 5 MR. TOMLINSON: This is a request from Judge 6 Elliott to transfer $100 from Miscellaneous to Computer 7 Supplies in his budget. It's to pay a bill to Computer 8 Clinic for the installation of a modem, plus labor, for his 9 computer. 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So moved. 11 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Second. 12 JUDGE HENNEKE: Moved by Commissioner Letz, 13 seconded by Commissioner Williams, that we approve Budget 14 Amendment Request Number 10 for Justice of the Peace Number 15 1. Any further discussion? If not, all in favor, raise 16 your right hand. 17 (The motion was carried by unanimous vote.) 18 JUDGE HENNEKE: All opposed, same sign. 19 (No response.) 20 JUDGE HENNEKE: Motion carries. Number 11 21 relates again to the County Jail. 22 MR. TOMLINSON: This is a request from the 23 Sheriff to transfer $9,000 into Computer Software in the 24 Sheriff's budget, $1,500 from Investigative Expenses, $2,000 25 from Employee Medical Exams, $3,000 from Donation 16 1 Expenditures, and $2,500 from Employee Medical Exams. This 2 -- this budget amendment request is for the purchase of 3 software for the machines for mug shots. 4 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Sorry, I couldn't 5 understand. 6 MR. TOMLINSON: Mug shots. 7 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Question, Tommy. The 8 Employee Medical Exams, that 10-512, what is that 512? 9 MR. TOMLINSON: That's the Jail budget. 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: And the 560 is the -- 11 MR. TOMLINSON: Is the Sheriff's Office. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: What is Donation 13 Expenditures? What's that line item for? 14 MR. TOMLINSON: Over the years, there's been 15 cash donations from individuals in the county for 16 expenditures for equipment or the D.A.R.E. program, or 17 for -- for special purposes. In September of -- of this 18 year, I moved that money from -- from the Sheriff's Office 19 physically to -- to general ledger, and now -- now it's a 20 line item within -- within the ledger. And, so, that's -- 21 there's approximately 19 -- well, no, there's approximately 22 $3,000, $4,000 in that line item. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But what does it -- it 24 kind of sounds more like it's not an expenditure item. It's 25 like a revenue account, almost, sounds like. 17 1 MR. TOMLINSON: Well, that's -- the 2 expenditure is to offset the -- 3 JUDGE HENNEKE: We have to set up a line item 4 in order to spend that money. This expenditure line item 5 offsets the revenue line item. Is that correct, Tommy? 6 MR. TOMLINSON: That's correct. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: When you put the money 8 into the -- well, I guess we are now putting it in computer 9 software. 10 JUDGE HENNEKE: Yes. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. 12 MR. TOMLINSON: I booked the revenue as -- as 13 General Fund revenue. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. 15 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: If I can add one comment 16 on this, that money is not the D.A.R.E. money, though. This 17 $3,000 that we're moving out is from donations from when the 18 Sheriff's Office sold T-shirts and caps. That's just extra 19 money that we have to buy equipment with, and we're using 20 that money. Nothing out of the D.A.R.E. account or anything 21 like that. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: All right. 23 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I move that we approve 24 this one. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 18 1 JUDGE HENNEKE: Moved by Commissioner 2 Baldwin, second by Commissioner Letz, that we approve Budget 3 Amendment Request Number 11 relating to County Jail. Before 4 we vote on it, I'm going to comment that Sheriff Hierholzer 5 is a tough negotiator. When the salesman walked into the 6 office, he asked me to sit in, and the cost for the software 7 alone, not counting installation and the camera, was 8 $16,000. All in favor, raise your right hand. 9 (The motion was carried by unanimous vote.) 10 JUDGE HENNEKE: All opposed, same sign. 11 (No response.) 12 JUDGE HENNEKE: Motion carries. Number 12 13 relates to Nondepartmental. 14 MR. TOMLINSON: Okay. This is my request to 15 reimburse me for out-of-pocket expenses to a 4-day 16 continuing education course in Austin last week. I need a 17 -- I'd also like to request a hand check for that. 18 JUDGE HENNEKE: This was a mainframe 19 maintenance -- 20 MR. TOMLINSON: Right. 21 JUDGE HENNEKE: -- seminar? 22 MR. TOMLINSON: Well, it's -- it was a 23 conference that benefits the County as a whole. That's the 24 reason I didn't charge it to my budget, because it's -- 25 it's -- it's education that's beneficial to the County as a 19 1 -- as a whole. 2 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: So moved. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 4 JUDGE HENNEKE: Moved by Commissioner 5 Williams, seconded by Commissioner Letz, that we approve 6 Budget Amendment Request Number 12 in the amount of 7 $3,702.14 (sic) and authorize issuance of a late -- a hand 8 check to Tommy Tomlinson. Any further discussion? If not, 9 all in favor, raise your right hand. 10 (The motion was carried by unanimous vote.) 11 JUDGE HENNEKE: All opposed, same sign. Do 12 we have any other late bills? 13 MR. TOMLINSON: No. 14 JUDGE HENNEKE: All right. We will turn to 15 the consideration agenda. The first item on the agenda is 16 consider and discuss the approval of Revised Floodplain 17 Rules and set a public hearing for same. As Mr. Brown makes 18 his way to the podium, I'll just preface his comments by 19 saying that these revisions to the Floodplain Ordinance are 20 dictated largely by changes in the Federal Emergency 21 Management Agency requirements. I'd also preface his 22 remarks by saying that, as a result of the bill passed in 23 the last Legislature, all counties must participate in flood 24 insurance in the FEMA program by the end of this year. We 25 were participating prior to the passing of that legislation, 20 1 but in the event we were not, we have no alternative at this 2 stage. Mr. Brown? 3 MR. BROWN: Thank you, Judge, members of the 4 commission. For the record, my name is Jim Brown. I'm 5 General Manager of the Upper Guadalupe River Authority, and 6 with me this evening is Charles Wiedenfeld, who is the 7 recognized manager of the Flood Control Program by the -- by 8 FEMA for Kerr County. If I get any technical questions, I 9 will defer those to Charlie. Otherwise, I'll make a general 10 statement in that the -- the revisions to the rules do not 11 contain any major change from the existing rules. As a 12 matter of fact, the -- the greatest, I guess, energy placed 13 in these rules was to take our existing rules and rewrite 14 them and put them in the format that -- that's suggested by 15 FEMA. There are no -- there is no changes. There is no 16 impact fiscally or physically on the Commissioners Court, 17 your budget, or the -- the folks who live in the floodplain. 18 The most important part of the -- the 19 floodplain rules is, these rules are designed to do two 20 things, and that's, one, to protect the lives of 21 individuals, of our citizens in our community, by 22 understanding various locations in which they desire to 23 develop structures, whether it's the -- the structures in 24 which they reside, structures that they might use for their 25 farm operations, ranch operations, or -- or personal tool 21 1 sheds on their urban residential property. The second 2 concern are the -- the outbuildings we're referring -- or I 3 was referring to. Any kind of construction in the floodway 4 that would alter the hydraulics of the tributary when it was 5 experiencing a rain event is a concern, not only for that 6 particular building on that property, but -- but the 7 characteristics of the hydraulics of the stream under -- 8 under flood conditions and how it would affect the property 9 adjacent to the property where the structure is located, or 10 even across the -- on the other bank of the tributary. 11 And my last, final comment, in order for the 12 citizens of Kerr County to enjoy a flood insurance program 13 of which the federal government subsidizes a great deal of 14 that premium, the county must adopt a floodplain order 15 and -- and establish a program for the administration of the 16 same. So, the issue on the agenda tonight is -- is discuss 17 and approve Revised Floodplain Ordinance and call for a 18 public hearing. And, I would suggest to the Commissioners 19 that -- that you establish a public hearing sometime within 20 the immediate framework, and -- and let's put this item out 21 for the public consumption and for public input. 22 JUDGE HENNEKE: Any questions or comments of 23 Mr. Brown regarding the proposed FEMA Floodplain Order? 24 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I have a couple 25 questions with respect to Page 14, Jim. The -- under 22 1 Article V, Provisions for Flood Hazard Protection, under 2 General Standards, Section A, please satisfy my curiosity, 3 if you will, with regard to Items 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7, all 4 having to do with construction of various items in the 5 floodway or floodplain. And, specifically, my curiosity 6 directs me to ask you about septic O.S.S.F. facilities which 7 may be built in the floodway. Under these provisions, I 8 guess we are adequately covered, in that they would have to 9 be built to certain standards; is that correct? And any 10 variance from those standards would then become a request 11 before Commissioners Court to grant or not grant a variance? 12 That is my understanding. 13 MR. BROWN: That is correct. 14 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Is that correct? 15 MR. BROWN: That is -- your entire statement 16 is correct. 17 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Wonderful. How'd I 18 do that? 19 MR. BROWN: We didn't even pass cheat notes 20 among us. No, your statement is correct. There are -- 21 there are sometimes provisions where certain standards can 22 be imposed on an on-site septic system within a floodplain. 23 Those require a great deal of -- of sophisticated 24 engineering and design. But, even with that, it's -- it's 25 the prerogative of this Court to decide if the granting of a 23 1 variance for that particular project, that particular 2 development, would, in effect, meet the minimum guidelines 3 of your adopted order. 4 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: And one follow-up 5 question to that. Those minimum guidelines for -- for the 6 development of an O.S.S.F. facility in the floodway are 7 promulgated by the T.N.R.C.C.; is that correct? Not 8 specifically Kerr County? 9 MR. BROWN: That's correct. 10 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Am I correct in that 11 assumption? 12 MR. BROWN: Well, yes. And -- and if the 13 construction of that facility in any way changes the 14 hydraulic -- the characteristics of that particular site, 15 that wouldn't affect the hydraulics of the river and stream 16 flow, then -- or the tributary. And a rain event would also 17 be subject to your floodplain determinations. 18 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Thank you. 19 JUDGE HENNEKE: Any other questions or 20 comments regarding the floodplain rules? Mr. Eddie Taylor, 21 did you want to address us on the floodplain or -- 22 MR. TAYLOR: I wanted to be here in case I 23 did. Thank you very much. 24 JUDGE HENNEKE: All right, thank you. At 25 this time, I'd entertain a motion to approve the proposed 24 1 Floodplain Order and set a public hearing for same. Do you 2 want to have the public hearing in conjunction with our next 3 regularly scheduled meeting, which is June the 12th, perhaps 4 at 2 o'clock in the afternoon? 5 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I'd move adoption of 6 the draft of the Floodplain Order and set a public hearing 7 for June 12 -- what time do you want to do it? 8 JUDGE HENNEKE: 2 o'clock. 9 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: At 2 p.m. 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I'll second that. 11 JUDGE HENNEKE: Moved by Commissioner 12 Williams, seconded by Commissioner Baldwin, that we -- the 13 Commissioners Court approve the Draft Revised Flood Damage 14 Prevention Order and set a public hearing for same on 15 June 12th, Year 2000, at 2 o'clock. 16 MS. BAILEY: I'm not sure that's enough time 17 to do the required notice in the paper if it's going to be 18 on the 12th. You might want to do it for the following -- 19 do you know? 20 MS. BARBEE: I don't know what the time limit 21 is. I don't know if we have to advertise it more than once. 22 MS. BAILEY: There are statutory requirements 23 for a lot of notices on public hearings, and I tried to do a 24 comprehensive list for her a couple weeks ago, and realized 25 there are about 400 different ones in the statute about what 25 1 things you have to notice and when. 2 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: That's almost three 3 weeks. 4 MS. BAILEY: But, if it's one of those you 5 have to publish once a week for three weeks, that sort of a 6 thing, then you don't have enough time. And I don't know; I 7 just wanted to make sure that you're aware of that being a 8 consideration. 9 JUDGE HENNEKE: Well, we can step it back 10 till the 26th. 11 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: The 26th is fine. 12 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: 26th is fine. 13 JUDGE HENNEKE: Motion will be a public 14 hearing on June 26th, Year 2000, at 2 o'clock in the 15 afternoon. Mr. Brown, does that timeframe work for you all? 16 MR. BROWN: Yes, sir. 17 JUDGE HENNEKE: Okay. Any further 18 discussion? 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: The comment I had was, I 20 mean, does it make sense to for us to adopt it prior to the 21 public hearing? 22 JUDGE HENNEKE: It's approve it. Approve. 23 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: We're approving the 24 draft form. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Approve the draft. 26 1 JUDGE HENNEKE: Then this will be available 2 in the Clerk's office, and then we have a public hearing and 3 then we adopt it after the public hearing. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I just want to make it 5 clear we're not adopting it. 6 JUDGE HENNEKE: No, it's -- the motion is to 7 approve the proposed rules and set the public hearing for 8 June 26th. Any further discussion? If not, all in favor, 9 raise your right hand. 10 (The motion was carried by unanimous vote.) 11 JUDGE HENNEKE: All opposed, same sign. 12 (No response.) 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Marriage is good for 14 Jon so far. 15 MR. BROWN: I was just going to ask the 16 Commissioner if the wedding bells are still ringing in his 17 ears. 18 JUDGE HENNEKE: Next item is Item Number 2, 19 which is consider and discuss the proposed revisions to 20 O.S.S.F. rules and set a workshop for the same. Since we do 21 intend to have a public workshop on this, we would ask any 22 public comments to be kept brief. You'll have plenty of 23 opportunity to weigh-in on these at our regularly scheduled 24 workshop. Mr. Brown? 25 MR. BROWN: Thank you, Judge. And if you 27 1 might allow me just a brief personal privilege, Commissioner 2 Baldwin, the Plateau Water Planning Group -- at least some 3 of the members of that group have certainly made 4 Commissioner Letz do his time in hell on earth the last two 5 or three weeks, and particularly when we received a -- a 6 message through our e-mail system that -- that implied that 7 the wedding had already occurred. But, we found out that 8 was just a -- that was a flaw in the e-mail address, but we 9 certainly did not go easy on the Commissioner. 10 The O.S.S.F. rules -- the T.N.R.C.C. has 11 standardized the rule format for all O.S.S.F. rules. 12 Sections 1 through 9 are standard -- standard format with 13 T.N.R.C.C. The -- the change in the rules occurs in Section 14 10, under the title "Amendment." Let me go back and give 15 you just a very, very brief historical background into the 16 T.N.R.C.C.'s -- I started to say thinking, but I'm not sure 17 that's the correct term. But, anyway, whatever they do up 18 there in Austin. They -- they decided it was time to -- to 19 simplify the rules so that -- that a septic tank or septic 20 system designer or installer could work in various counties 21 without having to go back and -- and learn every county's 22 different rules. So, what they've said is Section 1 through 23 9, state boilerplate; that's what we expect of you. So, you 24 know, if I want to go build a septic tank over in Kendall 25 County or Bandera or Bell or Hays County, then all I need to 28 1 do is pick up Section 10 of that county's rules, and that -- 2 that will tell me what I've got to do to perform, to meet 3 those standards. So, the changes that -- that are 4 recommended in this set of rules will occur in Section 10 of 5 the amendments. And there's some changes that we recommend 6 the Court and the community to consider as we adopt the -- 7 the new set of rules. 8 First, let me say that U.G.R.A.'s staff 9 presented these rules to the septic -- the on-site septic 10 system designers and received their input, discussed some of 11 their concerns, and the rules were -- were modified to -- to 12 accept that input. Then our second presentation was with 13 the folks who are in the septic -- on-site septic facility 14 installation part of the industry, and their comments were 15 taken into consideration and incorporated into the rules. 16 The third group that we met with, and -- and at their 17 invitation, was the Kerr County Board of Realtors. And 18 we've had two different meetings with Board of Realtors. 19 The second -- the first meeting there was a 20 challenge as to whether or not the County had the statutory 21 authority to even make rules. So, at the second meeting, 22 that -- that issue was resolved by the County Attorney, and 23 I believe to everyone's satisfaction. The -- the Board of 24 Realtors had indicated that they had some concerns with -- 25 not the rules, specifically, but -- but some of the wording 29 1 in the rules, and they had offered to submit to U.G.R.A. a 2 document suggesting those -- those modifications. We've not 3 received that document as of tonight, although the Board 4 understands that we were going to make a general 5 presentation tonight, and that an in-depth opportunity to 6 discuss the rules would occur at a public hearing. 7 Now, there -- there are a couple of things 8 that -- that -- as a matter of fact, there are -- there are 9 four issues in the rules that I want to very briefly touch 10 on this evening that the U.G.R.A. recommends that the court 11 consider in the adoption of the new rules. And, one is that 12 in our current rules, there is an exemption when any tract 13 is larger than 25 acres. The exemption clearly states 14 that -- that if you're installing a system on a site greater 15 than 25 acres, you are not required to get a permit to build 16 a system, nor are you required to get a license to build a 17 system. While that has not been a major water quality 18 problem that we -- that we recognize at this pass, it has 19 created a couple of other problems, and most of those 20 problems occur when -- when the property owner desires to 21 sell that piece of property. 22 The mortgage companies and the mortgage 23 lenders today are becoming more stringent -- or very 24 stringent on the on-site septic facility systems within 25 their mortgaging package, and so they are often requiring 30 1 that the -- that the buyer and seller prove to them that 2 they have a functioning system in that sale before they will 3 issue -- or before they will close the loan. And what's -- 4 what creates a problem in that case, if that system was 5 never licensed and never inspected, then there is no 6 paperwork or paper trail to show that that is an existing 7 system and that it meets the standards -- minimum standards 8 for public health and safety. 9 Then what occurs is that the owner or the 10 buyer then has to go to the expense of having that entire 11 system uncovered so that it can be inspected, and at that 12 point licensed. It's -- this is an inconvenience to the 13 both the buyer and the seller. It also creates -- it 14 creates a problem in that some of those systems, when we 15 uncover them, we discover they are bootleg systems. A lot 16 of them do not meet current standards. That's an issue -- 17 that's an issue that -- that will raise some concern on the 18 property rights side of the issue, and I think some folks 19 will speak to you on that issue at the public hearing. 20 U.G.R.A. has heard this -- this concern, but we think that 21 with the -- with the transfer of property occurring like it 22 is in Kerr County, this rule -- this rule probably should be 23 given some consideration, or at least this change in the 24 rule. 25 The other issue is that -- not only the 31 1 buying and selling of the piece of property; there are some 2 folks in this area now who would like to take care of -- of 3 reverse-equity mortgage propositions, and before they can 4 close such a loan, again, they are required to -- to get a 5 septic system license. Not all lenders are doing this, but 6 several of the major lenders in this part of the country 7 are -- are requiring that. I know in Hays County, I 8 personally experienced a -- a refinancing of a multi-bedroom 9 unit over there, and the -- the requirements that we're 10 having to go through because our lender operates out of San 11 Antonio is much more critical than -- than what we've 12 experienced near Kerr County. However, the same lender, I 13 believe, does operate a mortgage service company here. 14 The other requirement that we're asking you 15 to look at, which is -- which is a little stronger than -- 16 than what we have had in the past, and that is a requirement 17 to have systems on lots smaller than one acre and produce 18 more than 500 gallons per day be designed by either a 19 registered sanitarian or a Registered Professional Engineer. 20 And the reason for this is -- two reasons. The 500 gallons 21 per day and under is probably a deer lease or weekend camp 22 or something of this nature, and so you don't have a lot of 23 loading. What happens is that -- that in some of our areas 24 in the county, the -- the critical -- or the knowledge of 25 how to deal with the soils and percolation and things of 32 1 this nature are somewhat critical, and we're having 2 problems -- we have several problems in the area where 3 mobile homes have been on -- placed on smaller lots and 4 their failing septics systems are affecting several lots 5 around those. And, you know, we can throw a rock at 6 everything between Ranchero Road and -- and Camp Meeting 7 Creek and probably hit most of the -- the critical issues 8 that we're dealing with. 9 We had some of the other issues down in the 10 Center Point area in the eastern part of the county, where 11 there's been some very high development back up in the hills 12 back there. Another issue we're looking at in this 13 particular problem is that most of the -- most of the soils 14 along the tributaries and the creek banks, the soils -- the 15 alluvials that have been deposited there, most of those 16 areas are developed out. What we're seeing now is we're 17 seeing development pushed back out into the hills, where 18 there's a lot more caliche. And caliche, in most cases, 19 does not have biomat present, and therefore it doesn't even 20 treat the effluent that's discharged into the area. So, 21 that's a critical issue that we would like the opportunity 22 to discuss further with you at the public hearing. 23 The other issue that we would like for the 24 Court to look at is that, in subdivision platting -- and, 25 again, because we're not -- we're no longer platting in the 33 1 alluvials; we're pushing back out in caliche hillsides, 2 that -- and we're not suggesting this become a part of this 3 subdivision platting order, but it be part of the septic 4 tank order, and that is simply that a professional engineer 5 or registered engineer or registered sanitarian look at that 6 subdivision and look at the soils and -- and make some 7 effort to show that that subdivision can handle the kind of 8 loading that -- that will come forth from the development 9 of -- of houses in that particular area. 10 And then the other -- the last item that I'd 11 like to visit with you about is that when a subdivision -- 12 when a tract of land is subdivided and there's an existing 13 facility on that tract, and there is an active on-site 14 septic system on that tract that is not currently licensed, 15 is that the Court consider in the new rules that -- that 16 that original on-site septic system be licensed before the 17 County approves the subdivision plat. And, our reason for 18 that is that we are constantly running into situations 19 where -- where someone goes out and they buy 10 acres of 20 land and they build a home, and then they just start 21 subdividing it out to their children. Well, particularly if 22 it's an older subdivision, we have no idea -- and when I say 23 "older," I mean before the County adopted its order. We 24 have no idea where -- where that septic system -- we know 25 where the tanks are, but we have no idea where the drain 34 1 fields are located, and so what happens is we end up having 2 people subdivide lots, and then as they start building their 3 system, they run into the drain field of the original 4 system, and it may be way over into the -- into the piece of 5 property that they sold. 6 So, those are issues that are creating a lot 7 of problems. U.G.R.A. staff recommends that all of the 8 issues that we have suggested that you consider are issues 9 that relate to water quality and water quality protection, 10 and not for -- not for land values or not to interfere with 11 the person's private use of the land. These issues are all 12 public health and safety issues, and so we would ask that 13 the Court consider those, and we will be prepared to -- to 14 prevent -- present technical information at the -- at the 15 public hearing. And that concludes what I have in my brief 16 summary. 17 JUDGE HENNEKE: Any questions or comments 18 from the Commissioners? 19 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I do. Mr. Brown, on 20 the 25-acre issue -- and I hope that we can address that. I 21 hope some of the real estate people and lending institutions 22 possibly could be there to address that. I didn't quite 23 follow your reasoning -- I just want to make a comment. I 24 didn't follow your reasoning on what U.G.R.A.'s involvement 25 is in banks loaning money to -- you're right, it's a private 35 1 property issue, and I have a great concern about that, but I 2 think that would probably be addressed in the public 3 hearing. 4 MR. BROWN: I think I can give you a real 5 quick answer. Our only involvement in that is when the 6 banks -- when the bank tells the -- the prospective borrower 7 that he has got to bring in a certification on that septic 8 system -- 9 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Absolutely. Then you 10 can go and do that. I understand that. 11 MR. BROWN: That's right, and that's the only 12 time -- that's the only time that we would be involved in 13 that, is -- is if we had to go out and certify that system, 14 and we can't do it without going out and without causing 15 someone to unearth that entire system. 16 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: And my only other 17 concern is -- is that in April, we received -- the 18 Commissioners received a note from Judge Henneke that 19 states, The changes in the enclosed draft arise from 20 revisions mandated from -- by T.N.R.C.C. And, as I go 21 through my packet and look at your letter, I see where he 22 got that. In your letter, it says that these changes were 23 necessitated by changes mandated by T.N.R.C.C. Well, I 24 took -- I've been here a long time doing this stuff, so I 25 get -- I've learned to be nosy. So, back in March, I took 36 1 it -- I'd heard about some possible changes coming down the 2 pike, and I took it on myself to write a letter to 3 T.N.R.C.C., and just being nosy -- really, a nosy 4 question -- and asked -- asked them, Where is this being 5 driven from? Are y'all, State of Texas, driving it, or is 6 U.G.R.A.? And the letter I get back here from my friend, 7 Ken Graber, that's been there a long time, simply says, This 8 office has only responded to proposed amendments submitted 9 by U.G.R.A. It says, the U.G.R.A. submitted proposed 10 changes for both U.G.R.A. and Kerr County rules, although 11 this particular office has not required any changes to the 12 current O.S.S.F. order. So, I'm a little bit confused. Are 13 they mandated or are they not? 14 MR. BROWN: I don't know where Ken Graber is 15 coming from, but -- 16 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I'm not taking sides. 17 MR. BROWN: I understand that. I'm -- 18 JUDGE HENNEKE: Let me jump in here. 19 MR. BROWN: I understand. 20 JUDGE HENNEKE: We had -- T.N.R.C.C. came out 21 last fall, I believe it was, and did an audit of Kerr 22 County's O.S.S.F. rules and provided us with a letter which 23 said, here are the following deficiencies in the O.S.S.F. 24 rules, to which we responded. And, part of the way we 25 responded was, the ones that they directed, we said we will 37 1 address these, because we intend to do a revision of the 2 O.S.S.F. rules. Now, my -- my note to the Commissioners 3 Court is actually somewhat misleading, in that not all of 4 the changes are mandated by T.N.R.C.C. The ones that Mr. 5 Brown has just described really are ones that -- that he 6 felt is in the best interests of the citizens of Kerr County 7 under the optional provisions. But, the overwhelming 8 majority of the changes which are presented are ones which 9 are required by T.N.R.C.C. as a result of new legislation or 10 the audit which they did last summer. And, I think I 11 circulated to all the Commissioners in January the response 12 which we sent to the T.N.R.C.C. So, my -- I apologize for 13 being partly misleading. 14 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: No apology necessary. 15 No, I see where you got your comments, is from Mr. Brown's 16 letter. And -- and I just wanted to clarify that in my mind 17 how this thing -- how this thing works. And, the only other 18 thing that I wanted to say, Mr. Brown, in your letter, is 19 you're requesting that we set up -- and I think the Judge is 20 going to speak to this a little bit later -- is I'm 21 certainly in favor of setting up a -- a workshop with the 22 Board of Realtors and the County Attorney's office, if they 23 would, I guess inside this courtroom, and so that we can 24 really get down and -- and look at some of these issues, and 25 everybody, the general public, and particularly these 38 1 realtor people, have the opportunity to look at and dot all 2 the I's and cross all the T's. It would be helpful to us 3 and you and all of us in the community. I'm certainly in 4 favor of your request, is what I'm saying. 5 MR. BROWN: We've had two very healthy 6 workshops with the Board of Realtors. Great exchange. And 7 we've identified differences. And -- and I anticipate that 8 there will be members from that group that will participate 9 in your public hearing. 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Great. 11 MR. BROWN: And, you know, I -- I'm very 12 disappointed in Ken Graber, but anyway -- 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Well, I'm not. I 14 think we use that word "mandate" a little bit loosely around 15 here. 16 JUDGE HENNEKE: Does anyone else have any -- 17 any other Commissioners have any comments at this time? 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I just -- my only comment 19 will be -- and it will be addressed at the public hearing, I 20 think. Some of the changes, I see a reason for them, but I 21 think they are an infringement on property rights. And I 22 think that, you know, we're kind of broad-brushing it, in my 23 mind, in that there are a few areas with problems, so we're 24 making everyone have to do a lot more licensing, a lot more 25 work, and I've got a problem with that approach. I think if 39 1 we have a specific problem with how lenders are going to be 2 transferring the property, that's up to them to deal with it 3 at that point, and they are extra expenditures. If they 4 want to do a second mortgage or sell a property, they should 5 bear that if they don't have the proper system. But, just 6 to go out and say that -- you know, if someone out on 1,000 7 acres wants to do a little bit of work on a septic system, 8 they have to get a licensed person to do that, I really 9 don't think that is a -- necessary for us to make that 10 change on the basis of water quality. That's just -- but, 11 anyway, that's something we can get more into, I think, at 12 the public hearing. Just a basic philosophy. 13 MR. BROWN: Well, I think I told the Judge 14 that I wasn't going to come over here and get in a fight 15 over that particular issue. That was an issue that was 16 brought to us; it's a convenience issue. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I understand it is, 18 'cause you're the ones that have to go out and do these 19 inspections when they're required by mortgage companies. 20 And, maybe we can figure out a way to address that type of 21 problem for when property gets transferred. But, anyway, we 22 can discuss that more at the public hearing or at the 23 workshop. 24 JUDGE HENNEKE: Commissioner Williams, any 25 comments? 40 1 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I have no comments 2 right now; I'll save them for the public hearing. 3 JUDGE HENNEKE: We had three individuals who 4 asked us to address us today. I'll ask them -- if they 5 still wish to address us, ask them to keep their comments 6 brief. Mr. Taylor, do you have anything you wish to say at 7 this time? Eddie Taylor? Bob Buffington? Bob, do you want 8 to say anything at this time? Come forward, please. 9 MR. BUFFINGTON: Thank you, Judge. I'm 10 curious about the workshop that will be -- it says, "set 11 workshop for the same." When that will workshop be? Who 12 will be invited? Like Commissioner Baldwin said, he'd like 13 to see the realtors there. Well -- 14 JUDGE HENNEKE: It will -- 15 MR. BUFFINGTON: -- I'm aware of two or three 16 that would definitely be there. 17 JUDGE HENNEKE: It will be open to the 18 public. One of the questions I was going to have for you, 19 and I appreciate your bringing that up, would it be more 20 convenient for you, speaking kind of for the realtors, to 21 have it in the afternoon or in the evening? 22 MR. BUFFINGTON: Probably the afternoon. 23 JUDGE HENNEKE: Okay. We're going to set 24 that date, I think, here today. Probably sooner rather than 25 later. I think -- I don't know if they will -- we'll have 41 1 it next week or the week after next, but if we propose a 2 date and, you know, that's just a horrible date, well, raise 3 your hand and I'll certainly recognize you. 4 MR. BUFFINGTON: There's hardly an impossible 5 day. I mean, we're -- we never know when that million- 6 dollar sale's coming, okay? I would like to suggest this: 7 The title companies are very helpful in this. I -- I have 8 talked to them. They have an affidavit -- and, of course, 9 Section 10 is the one we're concerned about, because it 10 addresses putting the total responsibility on the seller. 11 Many times we have a sale where the buyer is willing to 12 assume the responsibility for upgrading the septic or having 13 it licensed, and that doesn't -- that's not addressed here, 14 and so we were planning on getting the County Attorney 15 discussing a way to reword that so it would be fair to both 16 the buyer and the seller in many of our negotiated sales, so 17 that -- at that time, we would certainly do that. But the 18 title companies could have good input, because they're a 19 very essential part of that. 20 I have a -- I got an Affidavit of 21 Responsibility from one of them today that they use, so at 22 any time they have a closing and the septic has not been 23 addressed, they have them -- they have them sign this, that 24 the buyer is willing to accept responsibility and will 25 upgrade the system in 90 days. And, I think we need to work 42 1 with the County and the U.G.R.A. and have that accepted so 2 we got a set system to handle those situations. And, that 3 was really our main concern. 4 We had a meeting ourselves today, among 5 several of our realtors, and that came out of that, but 6 certainly the installers have been in other meetings, but 7 I'd like to see us all get together. The bankers were 8 mentioned. I'm not running into that problem personally, 9 but I'm sure there are some lenders that are concerned about 10 that. But, I think maybe have a rep from the -- you know, 11 someone from the banking industry, certainly, and County 12 Attorney. So, that's what our concern was, that we'd have 13 another opportunity to really sit down and fine-tune the way 14 this document is written at this time. 15 JUDGE HENNEKE: Thank you, Mr. Buffington. 16 Gordon Morgan. Sir, do you have anything you want to say at 17 this time? 18 MR. MORGAN: Your Honor, Commissioners, if I 19 walk with a limp and have knots on my head, it's because I 20 at one time sat on that side. Most of those occurred over 21 septic tanks and on-site waste systems. Mr. Brown is to be 22 commended for discovering -- for coming up with ideas that 23 are possibly needed by the county. However, those same 24 issues were brought up in 1988 and in 1990, and there was a 25 definite reason why those were never incorporated into the 43 1 rules and regulations. I would hope that the public and 2 those that are knowledgeable of the problems with these sort 3 of things would have the opportunity to go over those rules 4 and, as Mr. Baldwin said, fine-tune them, dot the T's -- or 5 I's and cross the T's. I would hope that they would have 6 that opportunity. And, it's working pretty well, and you 7 can only -- can only imagine how much problems there were in 8 acceptance in the very beginning. As long as the people are 9 cooperating and as long as we're accomplishing the real 10 goal, which is to clean up the septic systems and protect 11 the health, I would question messing with a system that's 12 working. Sometimes it's the little, bitty straw that breaks 13 the camel's back. And right now things are calm, people are 14 cooperating, and it seems like the system's working, and 15 everyone doing that should be complimented. But, I sure 16 would hate to see those warpath experiences that we had in 17 the '90's again. And I would just hope that the Court would 18 have the wisdom to consider some of those things before they 19 make any changes. Thank you. 20 JUDGE HENNEKE: Thank you, sir. 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Thank you, Mr. Morgan. 22 MR. BROWN: Judge, may I make a brief 23 statement? 24 JUDGE HENNEKE: Yes. 25 MR. BROWN: Thank you. We were aware of the 44 1 comments that -- that Mr. Buffington brought to you just 2 now, and we endorse those. We think they're good comments. 3 We think they're issues that -- that we would hope that the 4 Board would -- the Commissioners would consider. 5 JUDGE HENNEKE: Thank you. Do we have any 6 suggestions for a workshop? Assuming that's what's we would 7 like to do. Any dates? 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: How about the afternoon 9 of our first June meeting, which is the 12th? 10 JUDGE HENNEKE: June 12th? Comments? 11 Suggestions? 12 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: 2 o'clock? 13 JUDGE HENNEKE: 2 o'clock? 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: That's fine. 15 JUDGE HENNEKE: All right. Do I have a 16 motion to that effect? 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So moved. 18 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. 19 JUDGE HENNEKE: Moved by Commissioner Letz, 20 seconded by Commissioner Baldwin, that we set a workshop on 21 the proposed revisions to the Kerr County O.S.S.F. Rules for 22 Monday, June 12th, at 2 o'clock p.m., here in the courtroom. 23 Mr. Buffington, I see you nodding your head in assent. 24 MR. BUFFINGTON: Good. 25 JUDGE HENNEKE: Okay. Do I have any dissent 45 1 among the interested parties? We'll ask you all to 2 encourage everyone who has an interest to attend. Any 3 further discussion? If not, all in favor, raise your right 4 hand. 5 (The motion was carried by unanimous vote.) 6 JUDGE HENNEKE: All opposed, same sign. 7 (No response.) 8 JUDGE HENNEKE: Motion carries. Thank you 9 all for your interest. We'll now move on to agenda Item 10 Number 3, which is -- 11 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: That was just a 12 workshop. We still have to do a public hearing, do we not? 13 JUDGE HENNEKE: No, we do a -- we'll set a 14 public hearing after we have a workshop and we have a chance 15 to get some public input. 16 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Okay. 17 JUDGE HENNEKE: Number 3, consider and 18 discuss the numbers and status of O.S.S.F. citations issued 19 by U.G.R.A. which are currently pending in the County 20 Attorney's office. Commissioner Williams. 21 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I do agree to a large 22 extent with what Mr. Morgan said just a moment ago about the 23 fact that there is a good bit of compliance out there, and 24 that's good. That's favorable. But there's also a 25 significant amount of noncompliance, and it comes about on 46 1 those times when property's transferred. Sometimes it comes 2 about when property is transferred outside the realm of a 3 real estate broker being involved. But, of late here, I 4 have had a number of calls about failing septic systems that 5 are contaminating neighboring or adjoining property owners' 6 property. That poses health and safety issues -- concerns. 7 And, so, one of the things I thought might be helpful for 8 the Court to know would be to find out firsthand from the 9 County Attorney -- and the County Attorney and have I talked 10 about this -- what is the status of those citations that 11 have been issued by U.G.R.A. for failing septic systems? 12 How many are out there? How many are being prosecuted? How 13 many remain to be prosecuted? And just bring us up to date. 14 I think it would be enlightening for everybody. 15 MS. BAILEY: Thank you, Commissioner 16 Williams. This is a good opportunity, and I'm glad to be 17 able to address this issue in front of this particular 18 group, because these are all people who are very concerned 19 with those very issues. Just for a little bit of historical 20 perspective, before U.G.R.A. took over the O.S.S.F. 21 enforcement, of course, we had our own Environmental Health 22 Department, and when I was in the County Attorney's office 23 at that point, we were very active in pursuing those -- 24 those enforcements. I was gone from the County for about 10 25 months, and I think during that time or shortly before that 47 1 time, U.G.R.A. took over, and there was no one in the County 2 Attorney's office that was actively pursuing those kind of 3 enforcements. And I think, also, there was some hesitation 4 on the part of the U.G.R.A. people to come over and -- and 5 try to ask our office -- or they didn't know, really, the 6 process, who to ask and whether or not we were going to be 7 receptive to it. 8 Shortly after I came back to work for the 9 County, Mr. Wiedenfeld called me and asked how we would go 10 about pursuing some of these enforcements, because, of 11 course, when there hadn't been enforcement very strenuous 12 for a while, some cases had gotten really pretty dramatic. 13 I expressed to him that I was very interested in pursuing 14 any and all enforcement actions that needed to be done. So, 15 that was about six months ago, and since that time there has 16 been a -- a pretty regular flow of cases from that office, 17 steadily increasing as we get the system sort of well-tuned. 18 I was told by Mr. Wiedenfeld last week, I 19 believe, that he had sent over 19 cases to be prosecuted. I 20 know that all of the ones that have come over are either 21 filed and in the court system, or in the process of being 22 filed. I believe we actually have 12 active cases, which 23 means that, if -- if my numbers are correct, that means that 24 7 are in the process of being filed. We also have some 25 more -- those are Justice of the Peace courts, Class C 48 1 misdemeanor, failure to comply with O.S.S.F. regulations. 2 That's an ongoing situation, and, as I say, the -- we're 3 getting more and more into the system, and those are being 4 enforced as we go along. 5 We have recently now begun to also increase 6 our attention toward some of the really egregious cases 7 which haven't been able to be addressed by the Justice of 8 the Peace court system, and we're in the process of 9 developing some cases that will need to be filed in District 10 Court to address those particular cases. I have three 11 drafted since you and I spoke about a week and a half ago, 12 and, because they involve specific situations, I don't think 13 it's appropriate to discuss them here, but we can do that in 14 closed session. One is a -- is a particularly egregious 15 case, and two may or may not need to be filed. I just need 16 to go over those cases with you. There are two additional 17 cases which are floodplain encroachment cases and not 18 O.S.S.F. cases, but they also need to be addressed, and I'll 19 be asking the Court for guidance on those. 20 Now, what the Court needs to keep in mind 21 when we talk about revising the rules and adding 22 requirements to the rules is that we need to make sure that 23 we have the wherewithal to enforce the rules, because if 24 we -- if we pass a lot of really stringent rules and we 25 aren't able, either through attention or personnel or 49 1 whatever, to enforce them, then we're really in the same 2 position as though we didn't have the -- the rules at all. 3 So, if -- if we're going to pursue the cases, we need to all 4 be on the same page so that -- that we don't get in a 5 situation that I've been in in the past, where one -- one 6 part of the County government is saying enforce these rules, 7 and the other part is saying don't -- don't enforce them 8 against this person or that person because -- you know, 9 various considerations. Excuse me, there's a bug up here. 10 So, when we think about making the changes, 11 and also when we think about the enforcement, recognize that 12 one enforcement begets 17 enforcements, because one person 13 will say, "Well, why are you coming after me and you're not 14 going after that person, that person, this person, and this 15 person?" And, if we have the District Court cases and 16 injunctions, that's going to take a lot of time and -- and 17 effort and energy. Is there anything else that I can answer 18 with respect to those cases? 19 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: No, you've addressed 20 the issue I wanted to hear about. 21 MS. BAILEY: All right. Thank you. 22 JUDGE HENNEKE: When would you anticipate 23 filing the District Court case? 24 MS. BAILEY: Tuesday, if the Court orders 25 that after closed session, or whenever the Court directs. 50 1 JUDGE HENNEKE: I didn't know we needed to 2 direct you to file an enforcement action. 3 MS. BAILEY: Yes, in order for us to be able 4 to file civil injunctions, it requires a Commissioners Court 5 order and permission, unlike the criminal cases that are 6 filed in J.P. court. So, each one has to be brought before 7 the Court for specific permission to -- 8 JUDGE HENNEKE: Is that under the current 9 rules, or what's -- 10 MR. BROWN: Its under the statutes. It's 11 under Chapter 366 and Chapter 341 of the Health and Safety 12 Code. 13 JUDGE HENNEKE: Are we scheduled for a -- 14 MS. BAILEY: We are. We are scheduled for a 15 closed session to discuss pending and possible litigation, 16 which this is certainly potential, not pending litigation. 17 JUDGE HENNEKE: Okay. 18 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Thank you, 19 Ms. Bailey. 20 JUDGE HENNEKE: Anything further on that one? 21 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: No. 22 JUDGE HENNEKE: Okay. Let's move on to Item 23 Number 4, consider the preliminary plat of Tract Number 24, 24 Turtle Creek Ranches, Precinct Number 1. Commissioner 25 Baldwin. 51 1 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Just briefly, do you 2 all have this? Briefly, what this is, is there's a 3 gentleman that owns this property all the way here, lives 4 here, wants to sell this to one person and this to another 5 person, and leave town. We're required -- 6 (Laughter.) 7 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: It's true. 8 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: After the sale? 9 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: After the sale. It's 10 true. We require 200 foot footage -- 200 foot frontage on 11 the public road here, and can't quite get to that, so the 12 County Engineer has come up with the idea of actually 13 putting a cul-de-sac here, which comes under the -- let's 14 see, what's the requirement of a cul-de-sac, 100 feet? 15 Whatever. 16 MR. JOHNSTON: Sixty foot -- well, depends on 17 lot size. 18 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: We have 102 feet here 19 to play with. Now -- and this is the first time I've seen 20 this is today, but I visited with Mr. Voelkel about it, and 21 he's been visiting with the County Engineer and out there 22 looking at it on the ground. He feels like that there's a 23 considerable slope when you pull off this county road onto 24 the cul-de-sac, that it slopes pretty definite. And, it 25 just -- his thinking is that it -- in the long haul, the 52 1 long run, that it would just create, really, more 2 maintenance for the County in the future to do it that way. 3 And I want you to comment on that in just a moment. I just 4 want to get all my comments out of the way and then turn you 5 loose. But, another way to do this thing is to grant a 6 variance from the 200-foot frontage, and probably that's the 7 way that I think would be a cleaner way to do it, is to 8 grant a variance from that. But, County Engineer, take it 9 away. 10 MR. JOHNSTON: Well, I guess that's the 11 opposite. We have kind of come up with that little 12 elongated cul-de-sac, just for a turnaround and an entrance 13 to both those lots. With a variance, I could extend that 14 up. Looks like a flag lot, but that would take a formal 15 variance to do that. 16 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: That was going to be 17 my comment. Looks like a big, long, flag lot. 18 MR. JOHNSTON: We try to get away from that 19 with cul-de-sacs and roads. So, it's your pleasure. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: My preference is the 21 cul-de-sac route. 22 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That's fine, we'll 23 take it. 24 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: What kind of 25 maintenance problem would that create? Tell us about that. 53 1 MR. JOHNSTON: Well, I haven't -- I don't 2 actually know what the actual slope is; he didn't give me 3 that information, but no more than what's shown on here. 4 Looks like probably a slope -- the whole lot slopes. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I don't see how the 6 cul-de-sac's going to be any more difficult from a 7 maintenance standpoint than two driveways on the same slope. 8 MR. JOHNSTON: If they put a road in, it's 9 going to be the same problem. 10 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: It's not going to be 11 our maintenance problem anyhow. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Well, wherever it hits 13 this county road, there's going to be a -- 14 MR. JOHNSTON: About 100 foot wide, paved 15 area coming off. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So, to me, it would be 17 easier still, I mean, to have -- the intent of the rule -- 18 Subdivision Rules is to not have driveways every, you know, 19 100 feet or so -- or less. And if it's, you know, workable 20 to put in one driveway, essentially, with two -- 21 MR. JOHNSTON: This could be configured that 22 way so they both use the same entrance. 23 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Is there -- there is 24 a driveway on the 2.50 -- proposed 2.50 acre lot now? 25 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yes. 54 1 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Would that driveway 2 be abandoned in favor of the cul-de-sac to serve both? 3 MR. JOHNSTON: That would be the ideal way to 4 do that. We've done that in the past, configured two lots 5 into one driveway so that they don't have so many driveways. 6 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: And abandon the 7 existing -- close it off. Okay. 8 MR. JOHNSTON: That's the way I'd prefer it, 9 but I -- 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Sounds good to me. 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I move we approve the 12 preliminary plat of Tract Number 204 of Turtle Creek 13 Ranches. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 15 JUDGE HENNEKE: Moved by Commissioner 16 Baldwin, seconded by Commissioner Letz, that we approve the 17 preliminary plat of Tract Number 204, Turtle Creek Ranches, 18 Precinct 1. Any further discussion? If not, all in favor, 19 raise your right hand. 20 (The motion was carried by unanimous vote.) 21 JUDGE HENNEKE: All opposed, same sign. 22 (No response.) 23 JUDGE HENNEKE: Motion carries. Item Number 24 5, consider the final plat of Wren Road Estates, Precinct 4. 25 You all note in your packet that Commissioner Griffin has 55 1 indicated his approval of this plat and recommends its 2 approval. 3 MR. JOHNSTON: This plat requires no roads or 4 infrastructure on it. It all faces Wren Road with adequate 5 frontage. And it's in the E.T.J. City's signed off on it. 6 So, recommend approval. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So moved. 8 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Second. 9 JUDGE HENNEKE: Moved by Commissioner Letz, 10 seconded by Commissioner Williams, that we approve the final 11 plat of Wren Road Estates in Precinct 4. Any further 12 discussion? If not, all in favor, raise your right hand. 13 (The motion was carried by unanimous vote.) 14 JUDGE HENNEKE: All opposed, same sign. 15 (No response.) 16 JUDGE HENNEKE: Motion carries. Number 6, 17 consider final plat of Village West Industrial Park. Again, 18 Commissioner Griffin has indicated his approval of this 19 item. 20 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: So moved. 21 MR. JOHNSTON: Again, this is an E.T.J. plat. 22 The City has signed off on it. They actually signed the 23 document; they don't have -- they exempt their rules from 24 it, because the lot's over 5 acres, and -- except for the 25 one little Lot 4, which is 1 1/2, but they created that 56 1 because they put a road through. So, the only 2 infrastructure on there is building a new cul-de-sac between 3 Lot 3 and 4 for access, and a drainage way. The owner 4 was -- was providing the County a Letter of Credit to cover 5 the cost of those items. I think it was sent yesterday from 6 your bank? I haven't seen it at the office. I don't know 7 if it comes to the courthouse or if they address it out at 8 Road and Bridge. 9 MS. BARBEE: I have it. 10 MR. JOHNSTON: She has it. It's all there. 11 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I'd move approval of 12 the -- 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. 14 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: -- final plat of 15 Village West Industrial Park. 16 JUDGE HENNEKE: Moved by Commissioner 17 Williams, seconded by Commissioner Baldwin, that the Court 18 approve the final plat the of Village West Industrial Park. 19 Any further discussion? If not, all in favor, raise your 20 right hand. 21 (The motion was carried by unanimous vote.) 22 JUDGE HENNEKE: All opposed, same sign. 23 (No response.) 24 JUDGE HENNEKE: Motion carries. At this 25 time, I'm going to ask the Court if -- if they wish to take 57 1 a brief recess or drive on. 2 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Let's make the Sheriff 3 sit there for a while. 4 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Yeah. 5 (Laughter.) 6 JUDGE HENNEKE: We'll take a brief recess. 7 Let's be back at five minutes to 8:00. 8 (Recess taken from 7:40 p.m. to 7:55 p.m.) 9 - - - - - - - - - 10 JUDGE HENNEKE: Okay, let's start up again, 11 folks. Next item of consideration is Item Number 7, the 12 reclassification of one position on the position schedule at 13 the Sheriff's Department. Sheriff Hierholzer. 14 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: This is the one final 15 position that I found that's a little bit out of line that I 16 mentioned during the last meeting. What it is, the 17 Sheriff's Office has a receptionist up front that meets and 18 greets the people coming into the Sheriff's Office and 19 guides them, and also answers all the incoming phone calls, 20 which are not your emergency phone calls handled by 21 dispatch. That person is -- we consider is a receptionist. 22 In going through all the budgeted items in that, I find that 23 her salary is actually being paid out of the Jail budget as 24 a jail secretary. We haven't had a jail secretary in a 25 number of years. We have a jail clerk, but that's it. So, 58 1 what I'm asking is just to move from the Jail budget to the 2 Sheriff's Office budget, for the remainder of this year, 3 that amount for that jail secretary, and put it in as a 4 receptionist, where it should be. 5 JUDGE HENNEKE: So you're asking us to create 6 a position of receptionist in the Sheriff's Department? 7 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Officially, on paper, 8 you're creating that position, because there hasn't been 9 one. 10 JUDGE HENNEKE: And take money from what has 11 been shown as the jail secretary to the Sheriff's Department 12 receptionist; is that right? 13 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: That's correct. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And you want to delete 15 permanently the jail secretary position? 16 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: We have a jail clerk 17 that's already a budget -- another budgeted position. In 18 two or three years, when -- when I take some of the warrant 19 officer paperwork back away from the warrant officer and put 20 it on the jail, such as T.D.C. packs and -- and pen packs, 21 where I think that paperwork ought to be done, and I may at 22 that point have to come back and ask for a jail secretary. 23 But that's down the line. 24 JUDGE HENNEKE: Any questions or comments? 25 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I move the Sheriff's 59 1 request be approved, reclassification of one position, jail 2 secretary to receptionist. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Only question I have, 4 before I second it -- I don't have a problem with it, but 5 since Barbara is here, is there a -- are those equal levels 6 they just -- I mean, the secretary and receptionist? Are 7 you going to go -- whatever, their grade and rank is the 8 same? That's not a problem? 9 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: It is the same at this 10 time. 11 MS. NEMEC: I don't know. I mean, I would 12 think he'd leave them at the same level. And, you know, 13 this is a problem that not only this department is having, 14 and that's why we're going through this reclassification 15 study. I can tell you three other departments -- and I know 16 there were some comments made at the last meeting that I 17 felt were inappropriate. I wasn't here to be able to 18 explain to y'all, but there's at least three other elected 19 officials who have told me that they have employees that are 20 in a position -- and it's a budgeted position. They're in a 21 position and they have a job description and they're not 22 doing anything that that job description says, because those 23 job descriptions are 10 years old. So, this is not just a 24 problem in this department. I just wanted to make y'all 25 aware of that, that -- you know, and that's why it was time 60 1 to do what we're doing with Nash and Company. 2 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. 3 JUDGE HENNEKE: Moved by Commissioner 4 Williams, seconded by Commissioner Baldwin, that we approve 5 the Sheriff's request to reclassify the jail secretary 6 position to that of Sheriff's Department receptionist. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Well -- nevermind. 8 JUDGE HENNEKE: Any further questions? 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It's not really this 10 agenda item. 11 JUDGE HENNEKE: All in favor, raise your 12 right hand. 13 (The motion was carried by unanimous vote.) 14 JUDGE HENNEKE: All opposed, same sign. 15 (No response.) 16 JUDGE HENNEKE: Motion carries. Next item is 17 Item Number 8, which is consider and discuss COPS grant, 18 School Resource Officer application. 19 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: This is an application a 20 little -- I know Judge Henneke and I had spoke a little bit 21 about it. I'm in agreement. I feel it's time, and it could 22 definitely benefit our office and benefit the schools in 23 this area if we can apply for and receive under this 24 resource grant -- COPS resource grant three full-time 25 officers that are school resource officers. My plans are to 61 1 put these officers at each of the high schools. I've gotten 2 good response from Tivy High School and from Ingram. And 3 these officers' duties under these grants -- Ingram -- or 4 Center Point High School has suggested they'd like to see 5 it. They don't know if they want an officer there every 6 day, all the time. But, what these officers' duties 7 encompass is they patrol around the schools, where kids are 8 leaving the schools, or anything associated with the 9 schools. They can be our D.A.R.E. officers that teach the 10 D.A.R.E. programs at the schools, and they can also -- such 11 as at Tivy High School, we teach a regular law enforcement 12 class that one of our deputies instructs, and they can be 13 that officer, and be your truant officer or assist with the 14 school's truant officer in truancy and in handling that 15 problem. And I think it would just be very beneficial to 16 the kids of this community to see an officer, whether we put 17 them in uniform or out of uniform, but a law enforcement 18 official that they can get more of a one-on-one contact with 19 through the schools, and help curb some of our school 20 problems and get us a little bit better security at the 21 schools. 22 In this grant, we have figured their salary 23 at a starting deputy salary, with a 2.5 increase per year 24 for the next three years. This is the best estimate I could 25 come up with. That would be a total of the -- for the three 62 1 years, per officer, of $67,608.39. What that would amount 2 to is, for the first three years, Kerr County does not have 3 to put any matching funds in on this grant. If the grant is 4 under $125,000 per officer, the County does not have to 5 match it. The things that the County does have to do is, we 6 have to guarantee or pretty well guarantee a retention plan; 7 that after the three years is up, we will retain these 8 officers. The grant guidelines require that we submit to 9 them one of those plans, such as an approval of 10 Commissioners Court that we will retain those officers after 11 three years, or documentation, transcripts from a governing 12 body meeting or anything of that order, but before we 13 actually go in and apply for the grant. Plus, this grant 14 would also require, I feel, the Judge's signature and a 15 letter, you know, endorsing the grant from a County 16 official. 17 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Rusty, after three 18 years, the County will retain the officers in this capacity, 19 to work in the school system? Or just as County employees? 20 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: The grant guidelines 21 just say to retain the positions. Okay. I really feel they 22 probably do mean in the schools, and I think three years 23 from now, we're probably going to need the officers in the 24 schools a lot more, and I -- it's taking away duties that we 25 are currently having to do with other employees, so it's 63 1 really going to free up a part of the Sheriff's Department, 2 in that right now two deputies are teaching D.A.R.E. and 3 things like that. This could put those in there full-time, 4 working with the schools and teaching those problems -- or 5 teaching those courses. 6 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I have two questions. 7 I misunderstood you, I think. You said you'd start them out 8 at a starting salary as a regular deputy? 9 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Right. 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: And then what 11 happened? 12 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Well, what we're -- we 13 have to project what their salary would be for the next 14 three years, and so all that I know of to do, you know, in 15 trying to project it, is -- is guess or project an estimated 16 2.5 increase. Because if the County goes above that, and 17 say their salary increases by 7 percent or something, and I 18 would feel -- and it doesn't specifically say that in here, 19 but I would almost feel, once the grant is awarded, that the 20 County's going to have to make up that other percentage of 21 the increase in the annual salary. 22 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I'm sure they would. 23 They'd be the County's employees, basically. 24 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Right. Right. So, what 25 we're trying to cover in the grant is, under our best 64 1 estimate, start them out at a starting deputy salary, with 2 an estimated increase of 2.5 percent each year for the three 3 years. 4 JUDGE HENNEKE: I'm sure we'd point out to 5 you that last year all the employees got a 3.5 percent 6 cost-of-living increase, so you may want to consider a 7 higher annual increase -- 8 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: We can. 9 JUDGE HENNEKE: -- than 2.5. 10 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: We can do that, and I 11 would be more than happy to project a higher increase than 12 that. 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: You build that into 14 the grant? 15 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: It's built into the 16 grant, because the amounts right now that we have that one 17 officer would require, with the 2.5 increase per year, the 18 total amount for the officer would be $67,608. Until we get 19 to the $125,000 mark, the County does not have to match any 20 of that grant, so we can build in a higher increase. 21 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Sheriff, this is the 22 program you and I talked about a couple weeks ago; is that 23 correct? 24 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: You and I talked about 25 it, and the County Judge and I talked about it awhile back. 65 1 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Okay. I'm just still 2 not clear about -- about the letter -- retention letter that 3 you have to give. Are you saying -- or are the requirements 4 such that you have to pledge that these three individuals 5 will be retained, or that you will retain three additional 6 roster positions? What are you telling me? 7 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Okay. Under their grant 8 monitoring paragraph, it says -- let's see. Employment 9 grant programs requiring official or formal documentation of 10 retention planning. This may consist of documents 11 indicating your intent to retain the COPS-funded officer 12 and/or civilian positions at the conclusion of the grant 13 period. The documentation may include relevant sections of 14 the official transcripts from governing body meetings, 15 internal memoranda, or official budget documents. You must 16 submit these documents, along with a written assurance from 17 the governmental authority, that positions will be retained 18 at the conclusion of the grant period. 19 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Positions, not 20 individuals? 21 THE WITNESS: It says "position." 22 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Okay. Are there 23 provisions in there to address the -- what if a particular 24 individual doesn't make it or is not progressing 25 satisfactorily? I assume that that individual can be 66 1 released and you can pick up a new individual into the 2 program at that point? 3 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Yes. There is -- in 4 fact, there's a lot of reporting that we would have to do 5 once the grant is -- is awarded, such as if the officers 6 have disciplinary problems, where we have to, as a 7 department, discipline them in any way, that's got to be 8 reported to the -- to the COPS deal on this, and any 9 corrective action that must be taken by the department to 10 correct it, whether replacing that officer, terminating him 11 or whatever. One of my personal concerns and one of my 12 personal things that I was wondering about is, with this 13 area having schools that are not year-round schools, I 14 wanted Chief Deputy James Graham -- I have him working on 15 this. I asked him to ask them, when he talked to them, what 16 can we do with officers during the summertime? Can we use 17 them as regular patrol officers? And the response we got 18 from them is, we can use them as patrol officers in or 19 around the school districts. Now, I don't know how to take 20 that answer at this time. That's something we're going to 21 have to check into more. 22 JUDGE HENNEKE: I'd say we could take a broad 23 view of what constitutes "around a school district." 24 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Around the county. 25 JUDGE HENNEKE: Question. Can we get 67 1 equipment through the grant? 2 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: This does not cover any 3 equipment. It covers officers' salaries, so you're still 4 looking at cars and you're looking at, you know, any other 5 equipment, which is not much that the County actually 6 issues. 7 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Salaries and 8 benefits, or just salaries? 9 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: We're including benefits 10 in this. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think -- I don't have 12 any problem with, you know, pursuing the grant, but I think 13 the grant -- I mean, this needs to be incorporated into your 14 budget plan for the next five years, and looking down to, 15 you know, after three years. These are going to be 16 three-year employees. I mean, it's -- we can't just look at 17 it -- I don't like looking at it, really, right now; I think 18 it's a budget issue. 19 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Well, the problem we had 20 with looking at it now is I have until January the 15th to 21 get this grant filed. 22 JUDGE HENNEKE: June 15th. 23 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: I mean June the 15th to 24 file it, or we won't get it. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But is it -- we can 68 1 always turn it down if we get it, based on -- but I doubt 2 you'd probably want to do that. But, I mean, to me, if we 3 need cars for these, I don't know how you're going to plan 4 to handle your car situation. If we need to get three cars 5 for this, that means three other deputies probably aren't 6 going to get cars, you know, or may not get cars. I mean, 7 it's got -- we can't just add without looking at your 8 overall picture of your Sheriff's Department. 9 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Right. 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So I don't mind looking 11 at it at this point and proceeding, but this has to be 12 considered in your budget. 13 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Right. One thing -- 14 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: June 15th application 15 for possible funding when? 16 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: I'm not sure when the 17 actual response would be. We have to get it in, it has to 18 go through the governor's here first, and then it goes on to 19 the federal people on the approval. One thing, for 20 budgetary, you know, purposes. In this year's budget -- I 21 can't say what's going to happen yet in next years budget. 22 In this year's budget, the only other, as far as additional 23 staff I'm asking for, is one more deputy. But that deputy, 24 if that gets approved in this coming budget, is going to be 25 our work release deputy, where I can take him out of that 69 1 jail and use him at County facilities, Ag Barn, courthouse, 2 doing maintenance work, and I'll need a deputy to be guard 3 for those inmates. 4 JUDGE HENNEKE: There are a couple comments 5 from the audience. Before we get to those, part of the 6 genesis of this is a -- a broad meeting that Judge Ables had 7 about a month ago on the issue of truancy. And KISD was 8 really -- this was Ingram School District, and they were 9 very supportive of the idea of the Sheriff's Department or 10 the police department having officers who were more or less 11 designated as juvenile officers throughout the county. So, 12 this is a -- a way for the Sheriff's Department to address 13 an issue that's becoming more and more critical to our 14 school districts. And I'm sure we can help out with the 15 Comfort schools, too, as far as that's county-wide, so -- 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. 17 JUDGE HENNEKE: Tommy, have you got a 18 comment, sir? 19 MR. TOMLINSON: I -- it was just a question. 20 I might not have understood, but the limit -- the $125,000 21 limit, is that an annual limit or a total? 22 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: That's -- the $125,000 23 limit is per officer for the three-year period. Can't go 24 over that. 25 MR. TOMLINSON: All right, per officer. I 70 1 was -- I was hearing that it was per year for all three. 2 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: No. No, it's per 3 officer for a three-year period. 4 JUDGE HENNEKE: Mr. Siemers, do you have a 5 comment? 6 MR. SIEMERS: Yes, sir. Can I do it from 7 here? 8 JUDGE HENNEKE: No, you need to come up here. 9 MR. SIEMERS: Paul Siemers, I live in Hunt. 10 I have -- I think this is a wonderful program. I have a son 11 in law enforcement in Florida. But, my question is, will 12 these officers be given the special training to deal with 13 this kind of environment that they're going to be working 14 in, and who is responsible for that training? 15 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: My response to him would 16 be, I guess I'm responsible for it. But, any type of 17 training that we can get within our budget guidelines in 18 that, especially involving school. I have one officer at 19 this time that will graduate from the D.A.R.E. program at 20 the end of this week, for teaching kids the D.A.R.E. 21 program. 22 MR. SIEMERS: I think these officers have to 23 be special officers to deal with this environment. 24 JUDGE HENNEKE: I think we might -- you know, 25 I'm certainly open to the concept of approaching the school 71 1 districts for a little assistance if we need to send them to 2 any specialized training, but we can work this out. I think 3 at this time, what might be a good approach is, I sense 4 there's a consensus in favor of looking at this. The 5 application's due by June 15th. We have another Court 6 session on June the 12th. I think what we might do is work 7 up the application, get everything ready, maybe answer a 8 couple of questions that have been raised here, and bring it 9 back to court on June 12th, which would give us sufficient 10 time to submit it within the deadline. Does that work for 11 you, Sheriff? 12 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: That will work fine. 13 JUDGE HENNEKE: Any -- 14 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: No problem. 15 JUDGE HENNEKE: Any comments -- further 16 comments? Buster? 17 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Just one other 18 question that has to do -- follow-up to what Paul asked. 19 Are there any -- any of those grant monies available for 20 special training within the framework of the grant now? 21 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: One thing that I'm just 22 getting started in is this grant process. There are 23 hundreds of grants out there for law enforcement, whether it 24 be for training, whether it be for equipment or whatever, 25 and we are currently trying to explore a whole lot of those 72 1 ideas. And if we can find grants that will specifically 2 help us with training, we're going to definitely come back 3 to this Court and ask for their approval. 4 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: All right. 5 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: My only comment, 6 Rusty, is that I just can't see, in my mind, anyway, why we 7 need to provide vehicles for these people. If they're going 8 to be assigned to Tivy High School, let him drive his 9 private car to work, just like I do, just like you do, just 10 like everybody else does. 11 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Well, some of this stuff 12 will be if they have to make an arrest at the school, if 13 they are patrolling the areas of the school. Some of the 14 things that I've seen over the years is these underground 15 culverts and things like that where the kids all go and 16 congregate during lunch. Or -- 17 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Buy them a bicycle. 18 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Well, a bicycle program 19 is -- is a possibility, okay? I won't say that we won't 20 explore any of those avenues. One avenue may be some of the 21 vehicles each year that we are turning over, okay, that are 22 being replaced. You know, I don't -- I agree with you that 23 I don't see these officers needing one of our new patrol 24 vehicles that should be on the street, you know, patrolling 25 the entire county. It may be one of our older vehicles in 73 1 the fleet that, instead of just going ahead and getting rid 2 of it, we be keep it for that person, that they're going to 3 need some -- 4 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Only other comment 5 that I have is that I'm a high school daddy, and I just -- 6 it just sends shivers up and down my back to know that we 7 have Wyatt Earps walking up and down the hallways of our 8 high school. That's just -- that bothers me. And -- it 9 truly does. 10 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Well -- 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: And it bothers me to 12 know that Kerrville has come to that point where we have 13 armed guards in our hallways. That bothers me. 14 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: I'm looking at this 15 program in a little bit different light than you are. I'm 16 looking at this program as an officer in those schools, 17 whether we put them in uniform or whether we keep them in 18 plain clothes, but an officer that these kids can start 19 getting a relationship and building a relationship with, and 20 changing the attitude of a lot of your high school kids 21 towards law enforcement or towards officers. I want this 22 person to be somebody that works with the kids, you know, 23 maybe in some way guide them. But I think, also, you need 24 that safety precaution in those schools, because, as we've 25 all seen over the past several years, you never know when or 74 1 what school something's going to happen with. And if we've 2 got an officer right there, it's going to help out, I 3 believe. 4 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: He's a good 5 negotiator. That's what you said earlier. Give him what he 6 wants. 7 JUDGE HENNEKE: Thank you, Sheriff. 8 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: No, don't get carried 9 away here. 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: It's easier than 11 sitting here listening to all that. 12 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Okay. 13 JUDGE HENNEKE: Next item for consideration 14 is Item Number 9, which is consider and discuss resolution 15 opposing the proposed changes in the current TCLEOSE law 16 enforcement officer standards and education requirements. 17 Y'all have been provided with a copy of the letter from 18 Harvey Hilderbran, and I believe I copied you with my 19 response, as well as the proposed standards. I've discussed 20 this with the Sheriff. I'll ask him to speak for himself as 21 to the impact of the proposed changes on, one, his budget, 22 and two, his ability to engage jailers as well as police 23 officers in Kerr County. 24 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Well, if those rules are 25 adopted and I have to come back to this Commissioners Court 75 1 and ask for salaries to employ deputies and jailers under 2 those rules by the year 2010, I'm sure that all the citizens 3 of this county are going to run me out of the county, for 4 number one. Under those rules, by 2010, all jailers and 5 peace officers are going to be required to have Bachelor's 6 degrees. I don't believe that this county or any other 7 county our size or smaller would be able to afford the 8 salaries that would -- it would take to attract those kind 9 of people or keep those people employed in county jails. I 10 think it's -- it's almost way past that point. 11 If the State were to take the position that 12 they're going to do law enforcement like they do teachers, 13 with funding, and help us fund for all those positions and 14 will allocate money for all that, then I would be very much 15 in favor of it, but they're going to have to allocate a lot 16 of money. Until that time, there's no way I would want to 17 even consider supporting something like that. Our current 18 peace officers have to have a minimum amount of education, 19 500-and-something hours at this time. Jailers, they just 20 increase their hours of training to 80 hours. And the 21 training they're getting now is all specific to their job. 22 It's 80 hours of jail training; it's not just different 23 courses they can take in college. Peace officers is the 24 same way. It's 500-something hours of specific peace 25 officer training. So, unless the State wants to come in and 76 1 help us fund it, I'm against it. I got a letter from 2 Representative Hilderbran also, and I did not bring a copy 3 of the one I sent back to him, but it was the same way. 4 Unless the State wants to help fund this type of stuff, I 5 don't see any way the County's going to afford it. 6 JUDGE HENNEKE: I drafted a Resolution which 7 y'all have seen. The Sheriff has read it, and I believe 8 approved it? 9 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Yes. 10 JUDGE HENNEKE: Do I have a motion to adopt 11 the Resolution? 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So moved. 13 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Second. 14 JUDGE HENNEKE: Moved by Commissioner Letz, 15 seconded by Commissioner Williams, that the Court adopt the 16 Resolution opposing proposed changes to current TCLEOSE 17 officer standards and education requirements. Any further 18 discussion? 19 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I'd like to make a 20 comment that we will take that Resolution to the South Texas 21 Judges' and Commissioners' Association convention next 22 month, and send to it their Resolutions Committee and ask 23 for adoption by the full committee of 71 counties, and then 24 send it on to the statewide Texas Association of Counties 25 for adoption and let them present it to the Legislature. 77 1 So, we're participating in the process. 2 JUDGE HENNEKE: All in favor, raise your 3 right hand. 4 (The motion was carried by unanimous vote.) 5 JUDGE HENNEKE: All opposed, same sign. 6 (No response.) 7 JUDGE HENNEKE: Motion carries. In the event 8 any of you run into Harvey before I do, please give him our 9 thanks for calling this to our attention. This is not 10 legislation, this is bureaucrat-ese. And, we appreciate his 11 attention; otherwise, these kind of things would go 12 unnoticed until the impact fell down around our ears. Next 13 item is Item Number 10, which is from the District Clerk, 14 which is consider and discuss a Resolution regarding 15 reimbursement for child support services. We've been 16 presented with a Resolution from Ms. Uecker. Does anyone 17 have any questions or comments? 18 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Can you explain it a 19 little bit further? The way I understand it is that -- no, 20 I don't have any questions. I certainly approve of it, 21 though. And it's another one that we will take to the South 22 Texas convention. 23 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I move adoption 24 of the Resolution for House Interim Committee on County 25 Affairs -- 78 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 2 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: -- as proposed. 3 JUDGE HENNEKE: Moved by Commissioner 4 Williams, second by Commissioner Letz, that we adopt the 5 Resolution for House Interim Committee on County Affairs 6 relating to reimbursement for costs for issuing and serving 7 child support process. Any further discussion? If not, all 8 in favor, raise your right hand. 9 (The motion was carried by unanimous vote.) 10 JUDGE HENNEKE: All opposed, same sign. 11 (No response.) 12 JUDGE HENNEKE: Motion carries. Item Number 13 13 is related to office space. 14 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Eleven. 15 JUDGE HENNEKE: I'll let you know that 16 Mr. Duncan has asked that we defer that discussion until 17 another time -- Item 11, I'm sorry. Let's go to Item Number 18 13, if we can, which is consider and discuss the placement 19 on the courthouse square of the Civil War cannon. 20 Commissioner Williams. 21 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Thank you, Judge. 22 It's something that we have to make some decisions on, or at 23 least think about where we would like to place the gift that 24 we accepted from Mr. Bocock. I asked General Walter 25 Schellhase, who is also chairman of our Historical 79 1 Commission, to give us some thoughts as to where that might 2 be appropriate, where this iron piece would be appropriately 3 put. 4 I have here three suggestions that General 5 Schellhase has put together. Item or Suggestion Number 1 -- 6 and they're in the order that I will tick them off -- was to 7 construct a matching flagpole walk to the east of the main 8 sidewalk and place the cannon on that. As you see, I 9 highlighted it in yellow on each of these as to where the 10 various differences are. Item Number 2 is to construct a 11 circle in the main walk and place the cannon in the circle, 12 and everybody -- everybody would be directed around it, into 13 the main -- going into the main entrance of the courthouse. 14 And, Illustration Number 3 would be to have constructed a 15 duplication of -- not the war memorial, as such, but a pad 16 the size of and so forth, something similar in nature on the 17 eastern side of the courthouse opposite the war memorial, as 18 we know and recognize it on the western front, and with the 19 proper markings and the county and so forth on the eastern 20 part of the courthouse. 21 There have been some expressions from some 22 folks that they would hope that we did not place this in the 23 general area of the existing war memorial, and I heartily 24 concur with that, that we not do that. And so these three 25 suggestions are -- are brought forward for your comment 80 1 and -- as to where or if -- if or where we might do so. 2 And, these three suggestions, we can either -- the Court can 3 either strike out what it doesn't like, or we can prioritize 4 those which we like in any particular order. 5 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Each one of these 6 costs money. I mean, not much; I understand that. Concrete 7 pads of some sort. Was -- did Mr. Bocock agree to pay for 8 that also? 9 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Well, I think he did, 10 Commissioner, and part of the -- part of the item on the 11 agenda would be for you to authorize me to negotiate those 12 details with him. He had indicated that he would bear those 13 costs, and so it would be my position that we would -- 14 JUDGE HENNEKE: It's my distinct recollection 15 from our discussion with him that he intended to pay for the 16 cost of moving the cannon and permanently locating it at the 17 courthouse. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I concur that it should 19 not be next to the current war memorial. I'm glad that none 20 of the options are there. I think that my preference, just 21 to get something going -- I don't like Option 1; that's the 22 one I don't like. 23 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I do. That's that 24 newlywed stuff again. Absolutely no taste whatsoever. 25 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: So that would be your 81 1 third choice? 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah, Option 1 is my 3 third choice. 4 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Okay. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And I think the -- my 6 preference is -- is probably Option 3. But my concern with 7 that is that's a very -- that's adding a big -- or a 8 structure in an area that we don't have anything right now, 9 over here. And it's kind of like, long-term, is that what 10 we want to put over there? Because it's kind of locking in 11 that portion of the courthouse yard. So, that's just a -- 12 it's more permanent than -- 13 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I need to ask Walter 14 a question. Walter, can you take the podium, let me direct 15 a question to you? Particularly the -- particularly to Item 16 3 or Illustration Number 3, was it your thought that, in 17 building something over here on the eastern side, that it 18 would be just the size of the -- it was your intent to the 19 size being the same as the current war memorial, if not 20 necessarily the entire structure? 21 MR. SCHELLHASE: No, it won't. I don't think 22 it would be the same size, 'cause the cannon would probably 23 look lost sitting in that size of a slab, but I think the 24 same general motif, where you have the benches, the -- we 25 talked about a marker designating what it is so it can be 82 1 placed to do that. I think what I looked at -- you know, 2 Number 1 is the cheapest, Number 2 is the next expensive, 3 and Number 3 is the most expensive. 4 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Go with Number 3. 5 MR. SCHELLHASE: And I kind of looked at, you 6 know, keeping it to the east side, because we have 7 everything on the west already. And we have adequate space 8 on the east side. And I don't know what Commissioner Letz 9 is thinking about for the future on the east side, but that 10 could be a start. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I don't have any 12 thoughts, but I'm just -- I think as long as I've been on 13 the court, I've been very concerned about us adding things 14 to the courthouse yard, from birdhouses to anything else, on 15 the -- 16 MR. SCHELLHASE: I think one thing you have 17 to keep in mind, wherever you put it is -- we must have a 18 walkway to it, or we don't need it. Or we must think in 19 terms of a path through the grass going to it. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. 21 MR. SCHELLHASE: 'Cause, obviously, it's 22 going to be an attraction for people to look at. And that 23 was the thought, being in the center walk, which -- where 24 everyone would see it coming in, coming down the center. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. 83 1 MR. SCHELLHASE: The flagpole is just from a 2 standpoint of balancing out in front of the courthouse, with 3 one on one side and one on the other side, with similar 4 sidewalks. I don't think anyone walks down that sidewalk to 5 the flagpole, but they would walk down the sidewalk to the 6 cannon location. We have a sidewalk on the east side that 7 comes out of the courthouse next to the drive that we have 8 there now, so it would tie on very adequate to make it 9 attractive. 10 JUDGE HENNEKE: I like the Number 3 idea, 11 because it leaves the front of the courthouse open. 12 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yes. 13 JUDGE HENNEKE: And at least twice a year, 14 for the National Prayer Day and also at Christmastime, the 15 lighting of the courthouse, we have a need for large 16 gatherings of people in the front of the courthouse. And 17 this, to me, preserves that vista as a place where we can 18 put a large number of people safely. 19 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: And by putting it over 20 here, to me, it kind of balances with the war memorial, kind 21 of balancing that out. 22 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: That was the intent, 23 yes. So you kind of favor Number 3? 24 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Oh, yeah, it's the 25 most expensive. We're not paying for it, so let's do it. 84 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think what this does -- 2 I mean, at some point we need to, no matter how nice the 3 gift is, be concerned about accepting more things for the 4 courthouse yard. I mean, I don't know how you do that. 5 It's difficult; people are generous, and they're, you know, 6 worthy items, but we'll end up with a pretty cluttered 7 courthouse. But we've already accepted this one, so now we 8 have to put it somewhere, so three is my vote. 9 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Three, okay. Three? 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Three. 11 JUDGE HENNEKE: Okay. Looks like we go with 12 three. All right. 13 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Thank you, Walter. 14 Appreciate your efforts in this regard. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Thank you. 16 JUDGE HENNEKE: All right. Let's go back to 17 Item Number -- 18 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: We haven't approved 19 this yet. 20 JUDGE HENNEKE: Okay, make a motion. 21 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I make a motion that 22 we approve the -- 2.13, which is identifying the preferred 23 location for the placement of the cannon Mr. Bocock gave, 24 and authorize me to negotiate the details relating to that 25 permanent placement. 85 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: The placement's going to 2 be on the east side of the courthouse? 3 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Yeah. The one we 4 just thought about, yeah, that everybody identified. I 5 don't hear a second. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I don't like things on 7 the courthouse yard. 8 JUDGE HENNEKE: Somebody come over. 9 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I'm trying to work up 10 a trade here. Okay, I'll second it. 11 JUDGE HENNEKE: Moved by Commissioner 12 Williams, seconded by Commissioner Baldwin, that we approve 13 the proposed location for the Civil War cannon, as detailed 14 in Proposal Number 3 from General Schellhase, and authorize 15 Commissioner Williams to negotiate the details with 16 Mr. Bocock. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Those details meaning he 18 pays for everything. 19 JUDGE HENNEKE: Yes, that's the details we'd 20 like to hear. 21 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Yes, sir. 22 JUDGE HENNEKE: Any further discussion? If 23 not, all in favor, raise your right hand. 24 (The motion was carried by unanimous vote.) 25 JUDGE HENNEKE: All opposed, same sign. 86 1 (No response.) 2 JUDGE HENNEKE: Motion carried. Okay, back 3 to Number 12, consider and discuss County Government Week 4 events for April 2001. Ms. Sovil. 5 MS. SOVIL: This wasn't in the deal. I'm 6 proposing that we -- 7 JUDGE HENNEKE: What was your name, again, 8 please? 9 MS. SOVIL: My name is Thea Sovil. I would 10 like to reinstate the County Government Week. We have done 11 it twice before. In your packet you will find some 12 suggestions that we got from the National County Association 13 for County Government Week. Last year and this year, we 14 didn't really honor the Government Week. What I would like 15 to see us do is kind of have a heritage week. My thought 16 is -- the reason we're bringing it now is that we want to 17 involve the schools and have an essay through the Texas 18 History class, which is normally the 7th grade, and in order 19 to get that on their lesson plan, we need to ask them to 20 participate now. What we'd like to do is have them write an 21 essay about county government, and then select a judge for a 22 day, a commissioner for a day, Sheriff for a day, et cetera, 23 and let them go with the elected officials for the day and 24 see just exactly what is entailed in county government. 25 Maybe you can be busy that day. 87 1 (Laughter.) 2 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Good possibility. 3 MS. SOVIL: The other thing I'd like to do is 4 a heritage day. And since Kerr County was established in 5 the sheep and goat industry, shingle-making, we have many, 6 many old-time crafts, and I would like to set up displays. 7 I already know someone that's willing to bring sheep and 8 shear sheep for a day, and we can have kids come by and see. 9 A lot of our kids have never seen a sheep being shorn -- is 10 that the correct word? 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Sheared. 12 MS. SOVIL: Whatever. You know, clip his 13 hair. 14 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: If they're sheared, 15 they become shorn. 16 MS. SOVIL: Well, clip his hair. And then 17 next to it, maybe we could have a spinning wheel with a lady 18 spinning wool, you know. And it's just for a day. 19 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: We're going to do all 20 this on the courthouse lawn? 21 MS. SOVIL: Yes, sir, to bring it around 22 the -- 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: This is temporary stuff, 24 though, except for the sheep droppings. 25 MS. SOVIL: Look at the fertilizer you get 88 1 from it. Think about the fertilizer. But, to involve the 2 whole county is what I'd like to do, and bring everyone's 3 attention to county government. 4 JUDGE HENNEKE: What we need to do today is 5 to concur in the week and the concept so that we can, as 6 Thea says, address a letter to the school districts and ask 7 them to participate in their Texas History classes in this 8 week, which is why we bring it to your attention now, 9 because we need to get that in to the school districts 10 before they do their lesson planning for next year. I see 11 Ms. Lavender nodding her head out there. So -- 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think it's a good idea. 13 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: You have a kind of 14 suggestion of a suggested time in your mind? 15 MS. SOVIL: When we get the new calendars, it 16 will be County Government Week. It's normally either the 17 first or second week in April. 18 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: If I remember, it 19 really takes some commitment from the elected officials. 20 MS. SOVIL: It does. 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Everybody needs to 22 really participate. 23 MS. SOVIL: Everybody has to really get into 24 it. 25 JUDGE HENNEKE: You've had some discussions 89 1 with other elected officials? 2 MS. SOVIL: Yes. 3 JUDGE HENNEKE: And they would support that? 4 MS. SOVIL: Isn't that correct? 5 MS. PIEPER: Yes. 6 JUDGE HENNEKE: I think what I'd like to hear 7 is a motion -- a motion that we -- we participate in County 8 Government Week during the appropriate week in April of the 9 Year 2001, and authorize Ms. Sovil to head up a committee to 10 coordinate the activities. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So moved. 12 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Second. 13 JUDGE HENNEKE: Moved by Commissioner Letz, 14 seconded by Commissioner Williams, that we -- the Court 15 agree to participate in County Government Week during the 16 appropriate week in April, Year 2001, and appoint Ms. Sovil 17 to head up a committee to coordinate the activities for that 18 week. Any further discussion? If not, all in favor, raise 19 your right hand. 20 (The motion was carried by unanimous vote.) 21 JUDGE HENNEKE: All opposed, same sign. 22 (No response.) 23 MS. SOVIL: Thank you. 24 JUDGE HENNEKE: Might as well stay there, 25 Thea. Next item on the agenda is an addendum, which is 90 1 consider and discuss approving capital expenditure for the 2 following items. Item Number one is all furniture which is 3 sorely needed for our court reporter, Kathy Banik, and 4 number two is basically attorneys tables for use in the 5 juvenile and probate court proceedings. This is all -- 6 these are items that are within the budget that is currently 7 established. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Question. Is -- on the 9 Item 2, the two tables, is that price correct for each one, 10 $77.99? 11 MS. SOVIL: That's cheap. 12 AUDIENCE: Very cheap. 13 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: So moved. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 15 MS. SOVIL: That's in place of the desk that 16 we had, since we're not going to utilize the desk. I'm 17 saying could we please buy these tables to put in this 18 courtroom. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I just didn't think you 20 could find tables for $77. 21 MS. SOVIL: Well, they're kind of like our 22 little table that we have -- that table we have in the break 23 room back there. It's on that order. It's a small table; 24 it can be moved in and out easier than the big one. 25 JUDGE HENNEKE: We had a 9-hour hearing in 91 1 here the past three weeks, and it becomes very awkward to 2 have attorneys and parties all sitting at the same long 3 table, so this is kind of the answer for that. I believe I 4 heard a motion by Commissioner Williams, second by 5 Commissioner Letz, that we approve the capital items as 6 outlined. Any further discussion? If not, all in favor, 7 raise your right hand. 8 (The motion was carried by unanimous vote.) 9 JUDGE HENNEKE: All opposed, same sign. 10 MS. SOVIL: Thank you. 11 JUDGE HENNEKE: Thank you. At this time, the 12 Court will go into Executive Session, which is consider 13 pending, possible, or threatened litigation. At the 14 conclusion of the Executive Session, we will return to open 15 session and take action on any items requiring action at 16 that time. 17 (The open session was closed at approximately 8:55 p.m., and an Executive Session was 18 held, the transcript of which is contained in a separate document.) 19 - - - - - - - - - - 20 JUDGE HENNEKE: Kerr County Commissioners 21 Court will now move -- return to open session. Do we have 22 any action to take as a result of discussions during our 23 closed session? 24 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I think we have a 25 couple, Judge. I would move that we authorize the County 92 1 Attorney to drop the lawsuit and release the lien in the 2 action of Gene and Wilma Andrews -- Kerr County vs. Gene and 3 Wilma Andrews. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 5 JUDGE HENNEKE: Moved by Commissioner 6 Williams, seconded by Commissioner Letz, that the 7 Commissioners Court authorize the County Attorney to dismiss 8 the lawsuit entitled Kerr County vs. Gene and Wilma Andrews, 9 and release the lien filed against that property. Any 10 further discussion? If not, all in favor, raise your right 11 hand. 12 (The motion was carried by unanimous vote.) 13 JUDGE HENNEKE: All opposed, same sign. 14 (No response.) 15 JUDGE HENNEKE: Motion carries. Do we have 16 any further action to take? 17 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I think we have one 18 additional one. I'd like to offer up that we authorize the 19 County Attorney's office to file a cause of action in the 20 District Court against Inez Barton Monsees for a failing 21 septic system on property owned by her on Ranchero Road. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 23 JUDGE HENNEKE: Moved by Commissioner 24 Williams, second by Commissioner Letz, that the 25 Commissioners Court authorize the Kerr County Attorney to 93 1 file an action in District Court against Inez Barton Monsees 2 relating to alleged failed septic system on property located 3 on Ranchero Road. 4 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Should we give a 5 specific address? 6 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: We can, yes. 7 Probably should. 104-A, B, C, and D, Ranchero Road. 8 JUDGE HENNEKE: Properties located at 104 9 Ranchero Road, Units A through D. Any further discussion? 10 If not, all in favor, raise your right hand. 11 (The motion was carried by unanimous vote.) 12 JUDGE HENNEKE: All opposed, same sign. 13 (No response.) 14 JUDGE HENNEKE: Motion carried. At this 15 time, if there's no other business to come before this 16 Court, we stand adjourned. 17 (Commissioners Court adjourned at 9:12 p.m.) 18 - - - - - - - - - - 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 94 1 STATE OF TEXAS | 2 COUNTY OF KERR | 3 The above and foregoing is a true and complete 4 transcription of my stenotype notes taken in my capacity as 5 County Clerk of the Commissioners Court of Kerr County, 6 Texas, at the time and place heretofore set forth. 7 DATED at Kerrville, Texas, this 25th day of May, 2000. 8 9 10 JANNETT PIEPER, Kerr County Clerk 11 BY: _________________________________ Kathy Banik, Deputy County Clerk 12 Certified Shorthand Reporter 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25