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KERR COUNTY COMMISSIONERS COURT
Emergency Session
Wednesday, January 28, 2004
9:00 a.m.
Commissioners' Courtroom
Kerr County Courthouse
Kerrville, Texas
BURN BAN
PRESENT: PAT TINLEY, Kerr County Judge
H.A. "BUSTER" BALDWIN, Commissioner Pct. 1
WILLIAM "BILL" WILLIAMS, Commissioner Pct. 2
JONATHAN LETZ, Commissioner Pct. 3
DAVE NICHOLSON, Commissioner Pct. 4
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On Wednesday, January 28, 2004, at 9:00 a.m., an emergency
meeting of the Kerr County Commissioners Court was held in the
Commissioners' Courtroom, Kerr County Courthouse, Kerrville,
Texas, and the following proceedings were had in open court:
P R O C E E D I N G S
JUDGE TINLEY: Good morning. Let's come to
order. It's a bit after 9 o'clock, the posted time for a
special emergency Commissioners Court meeting for Wednesday,
January 28th at 9 a.m, the year 2004. The item on the
believe you were the one that requested the meeting,
Commissioner Baldwin?
COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yes, sir. Thank you
very much. I've had a couple of phone calls from some
members of my precinct that -- with concerns of the burn
ban, and so I have asked the fire chief of Upper Turtle
Creek, Mr. Tim Ahrens, if he would please come to the court
and just kind of give a report of the fire activity and
what's going on out in his area. Tim, if you'd just step up
here somewhere where we can hear you. Some of these guys
are wearing hearing aids and don't know when to go by
batteries and all that. So --
COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Some of them forgot
to bring them.
MR. AHRENS: Good morning. We've been real
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busy up in Turtle Creek. Right now, the grass is extremely
dead, like it always is about this time of the year. And
even if we get some good rain, yeah, it gets nice and wet,
but as soon as the wind starts up, the sun comes out, the
grass is still dead and just gets real dry, so it's very
prone to getting caught on fire. Sunday, we had 20 acres up
in the top end of Upper Turtle Creek; it was started by a
controlled burn that the guy had lit when it was raining,
and the ne
front came
20 acres.
Mountain.
controlled
on Monday,
xt day the wind came up,
through and caught it.
Monday, we had about 50
It was, again, started
burn the previous day.
it was really too windy
you know, just a dry
So, it was about
acres up on Medina
~y a guy that lit a
Although, since he lit it
to even burn then.
It blew across the -- you know, the real tall
grass is, you know, 2 and a half feet tall or so, and so it
-- if we get some good flames going, it dries it out and
just blows across. It went over into another ranch, and I'd
say it was probably split about 25 acres on each side. And,
on that fire, we had Center Point and Ingram, and Kerrville
came out and helped us as well, so we had, like, 22 guys out
there working for about four or five hours. Yesterday we
had a 5-acre one that was started by a guy doing a
controlled burn. Two of these were lit by people that have
pretty large ranches, and they've been doing burns for a
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while, but they just weren't very careful in making sure
that the grass around the burn was either not there or it
was cut significantly lower. The guy yesterday was just a
landowner, small landowner, that it just got away from him.
I guess the concern is -- is not so much for
folks doing prescribed burns and such, 'cause normally they
have people come out. Like they burned, like, 100 or
125 acres up in Real Ranches here about three weeks ago, I
guess, and they had some professional guys come out doing
it. They had four-wheelers with little pumps and everything
else, and a lot of smoke, real impressive, but it didn't go
anywhere other than where it was supposed to. So, our
concern is -- is not really for those people, 'cause they
know what they're doing. It's for the folks that do burn,
and they think it's out and they go into town and come back,
and, oh my goodness, the whole place is burned up. So, just
some concerns we've got. We're not really, I don't think,
going to see any relief of this until probably starting
early spring when the grass starts to green up, and it'll be
a real nice time then, because everything will be starting
to green and we won't have the issue any more. So, I
thought I'd come and just let you know what our concerns
are. And -- I know a blanket burn ban is real tough to do
from y'ap's perspective, and there is stuff that does need
to be burned out there. Somehow we've got to get the
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message out to these folks to burn responsibly, and -- and
you know, how to do it.
COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: You may want to say
that a little bit louder so the newspaper can pick up those
words.
MR. AHRENS: I don't know if I can go back
and start over again.
COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: It's the "burn
responsibly" part that's the key.
MR. AHRENS: I saw something this morning
that they were pushing for a county fire marshal. So --
COMMISSIONER LETZ: Tim, I guess you -- you
touched on it, and I'm trying to figure out how we do what
we need to do. I mean, obviously, you're aware of -- you're
saying that we need to do agricultural controlled burns, acid
it seems to me that people are calling or saying, as an
excuse, they're doing a controlled burn, but it was not
possible to do a controlled burn under state law on Monday.
I mean, they may say they were doing a controlled burn, but
with 20 mile-an-hour winds, you can't do those.
MR. AHRENS: That's against the rules.
COMMISSIONER LETZ: That's against the rules.
The State has some pretty good rules, you know. But the
other side of it is, it really is a bottleneck when you have
-- when everyone that wants to do a true controlled burn and
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they know what they're doing, to have to go through the
NRCS, because they get bottlenecks; they just don't have the
staff to check every person that wants to do a burn.
MR. AHRENS: Mm-hmm.
COMMISSIONER LETZ: And then you -- and you
did mention, and I agree, that by, you know, March, April. --
you said spring, we'll have green grass and the problem goes
away. Well, the problem is, the controlled burns need to be
done basically by the -- by the first of March. I mean,
after that, they're -- you start doing damage because you
start burning the green grass.
MR. AHRENS: Right.
COMMISSIONER LETZ: And I -- I don't -- you
know, I think the key is -- is to try to educate people.
But, obviously, we're not doing a very good job on that,
because people are starting fires when they shouldn't. I'm
trying -- I don't know what else to do, what we should do.
We can go back to making them go through the NRCS, but
that's really a hardship on that agency, 'cause they don't
have the staff to do it, and it's a hardship on the
ranchers, because they -- you know, the NRCS wants to go
out, look at the site; they can get to one or two a day.
MR. AHRENS: Right.
COMMISSIONER LETZ: So, you know, I mean,
what I wish would happen is that somebody like the guy that
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had 20 -- you know, the 50-acre fire, if that guy would file
a lawsuit against the guy that started it, and maybe get
some damage recovery, and maybe people will quit doing these
things. But I understand that's not a very friendly thing
to do to your neighbor, either. So --
MR. AHRENS: Right.
COMMISSIONER LETZ: So I don't know. You
know, I'm -- I'm rambling, I know. I don't know -- you
probably don't either -- what we should do. How do we
handle it? How do we allow responsible burning?
MR. AHRENS: You know, a lot of these people
don't call anybody. They just go out and do it.
COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. It's --
MR. AHRENS: It would be nice if there was a
requirement to --
Whether they call
so at least we kn
burn that the guy
the smoke. I had
either. But then
fire.
to have them actually, you know, call.
the Sheriff, police department, whatever,
~w where it's going to be. Like, for that
did that turned into the 50-acre, I saw
no clue where it was, and nobody else did
the next day, it turned into the other
COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. That's a good
point. I don't know if we have the authority to do that; we
have -- you know, I mean, we could refer this to the County
Attorney, or maybe one of us knows -- to fine people that
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don't call them in. Because I talked to Danny Morales last
night, and he -- actually, I talked to him three times.
First time, he was trying to find a fire where they saw the
smoke.
MR. AHRENS: Yeah.
COMMISSIONER LETZ: But -- and it turned out
it was in Kendall County. They blamed it on me; they
thought it was me burning. His biggest complaint, if we can
just stress to the public to call it in. I mean, just --
and say, "We are burning here." That helps the fire
department so much, 'cause then, one, if it does get out of
control, they know where it is. And if they get a call,
then they -- you know, they kind of know what's going on
ahead of time. And, you know, burning responsibly -- what
would probably be more important to me is calling in every
fire. Even if you're just lighting one brush pile, call in.
It's a -- it would help a lot, I think.
COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: If they're going to
be irresponsible and start a fire when the winds are
whipping at 35 miles an hour, they're going to be
irresponsible and they're not going to call it in. It's
just not going to happen. I thought the Sheriff stood here
and told us on some prior occasion that, you know, it is --
it is an offense after we've set a burn ban, and they have
the authority to issue a citation. I don't know what that
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-- the class, kind of misdemeanor -- what is it, Judge,
Class C?
JUDGE TINLEY: Be either C or possibly a B.
COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: A C or a B, and there
should be some kind of a fine that goes with that. But,
once again, it's -- it's finding the person to take
responsibility.
COMMISSIONER LETZ: I would think the
property owner.
MR. AHRENS: That's also when the burn ban is
in effect. So, like, what we've had the last couple days,
that wouldn't even -- we couldn't touch those folks.
COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I talked to Center
Point fire people who answered that call with you folks, and
he said that thing could have been really bad.
MR. AHRENS: Yeah.
COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: It was bad, but it
could have been a lot worse. Talked to Elm Pass fire chief
this morning, and he said, "My preference is to have it on."
MR. AHRENS: Mm-hmm.
COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Class C misdemeanor.
COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Class C.
COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: I talked to Mountain
Home and Hurt, and they both said that exact same thing that
Mr. Ahrens said. They also said what Commissioner Letz
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said, that it's important that people call them in when
they're going to have a burn. And one of the reasons it's
important is so they don't wind up answering false alarms;
somebody sees smoke and calls 9-1-1.
COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Right.
COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Who knows the law well
enough to -- seemed like to me, in the back of my mind, that
it is illegal to burn in certain amounts of wind anyway. I
mean, you know, there's a time frame; you can't burn 30
minutes after dark and those kinds of things, but something
to do with the wind, and I can't remember what that --
COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'm not sure the amount,
but there is -- I know if it's over 20 miles an hour, you
can't burn. T.C.E.Q. has statewide rules.
COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Statewide. That's
Class C misdemeanor, punishable by fine not to exceed $500.
COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think a few of those
would probably slow it down.
COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: It would slow me down,
I can tell you that.
COMMISSIONER LETZ: Well, you know, and I --
you know, I think I -- Commissioner Baldwin r_alled me and --
about the meeting today, and I'm in favor of doing the
county-wide burn ban again. I'm inclined to suspend it for
my precinct for a short period of time, based on the weather
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forecast I looked at today, and we have some clouds coming
in for -- you know, some drizzle tonight.
MR. AHRENS: Right.
COMMISSIONER LETZ: Tomorrow should be a --
you know, a -- hopefully, should be a fairly safe time to
burn. But I don't have a real problem, if it starts getting
bad at all, to go back to the -- you know, you have to have
it approved by NRCS, either. That doesn't solve all the
problems; you can still have their fires get away, but it's
less likelihood.
COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: One of the problems
about putting a burn ban on today, and then it is supposed
to rain tomorrow.
MR. AHRENS: Right.
COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So, we put it on today
and take it off tomorrow? You know, that's -- that's --
COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: We put it on today
and suspend it by precinct, like we've done before, which I
would do if we put on it today; I'll suspend it for the
balance of this week, wait to see what happens.
COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right.
COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: My fire chiefs are
telling me that the rain gives everybody a false sense of
security; that we get a good rain and then the wind comes
along, dries out the --
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COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: That's what's he's
telling us.
COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: You can be up to
your ankles in mud and get an out-of-control fire.
COMMISSIONER LETZ: But you have to -- I
mean, but those that want to burn, those conditions tend --
I mean, it is potentially better than having dry ground and
dry grass.
COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: That's right.
COMMISSIONER LETZ: People have to look at
the fuel content, the amount of tons per acre estimate. I
mean, there's lots of things that go into burning. And,
unfortunately, most people don't understand that.
COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Common sense. It's
common sense.
COMMISSIONER LETZ: And you can put it in
scientific terms, like tons per acre, or you can say, "If
the grass is high, be careful."
COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: I don't know about
all of the volunteer fire departments, but I think the Hunt
department will come out and -- with a truck and monitor
your fire for a fee. I think it's $200; it's not cheap.
COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. Well, I'll make a
motion --
COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Wait just a second. I
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just wanted to make -- I just wanted to make a sideline note
here. Just -- it's related a little bit here to -- it is
related to fire departments. I wanted to let y'all know
that Mr. Ahrens and I -- and he's the fire chief of Upper
Turtle Creek, but that includes Kerrville South.
COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: And part of Lower
Turtle Creek.
Turtle Creek.
COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: And part of Lower
MR. AHRENS: Right.
COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: And he and I have
begun talks of possibly creating a -- a fire district for
that area.
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COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: That would be very
COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I know. I knew you
would like that. And -- and, of course, the long-term goal
would -- one of the long-term goals would be a new fire
station, new fire department in the Kerrville South area.
Of course, that's way down the road, but anyway, we -- we're
talking about that, and he's way ahead of me. I just called
him and mentioned it to him, and he already has numbers
running and everything else. So, Tim -- Tim is -- handles
that very, very, very well.
COMMISSIONER LETZ: I thought --
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COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I'm glad you brought
that up, because I think that's a point that really ought to
be considered and encouraged. I think it's -- it's probably
high time to do the same thing in at least my part of -- of
eastern Kerr County, and perhaps Jon and I can get together,
figure out a way to have an east Kerr -- east Kerr County
fire district that takes everything from Precinct 2 all the
way to the county line. Makes sense, and I think the sooner
we really move on that, the better we're going to be served
-- our people are going to be served.
COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think, from a funding
standpoint, it really gives them -- they're able to do a lot
more because they have guaranteed funding.
COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Exactly. I think the
time is now to really get into those discussions.
COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right, I agree with that.
COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: They also have a
mechanism for raising private donations.
COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah.
COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Exactly. A better
mechanism.
COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Well, under -- you
know, under the -- where we are today, it -- I just -- it
would be almost impossible to go out into Kerrville South
right now and -- and get a piece of land, build a building,
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put trucks and equipment in there, and getting people to run
it. That would just be really difficult to do.
COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah.
COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: But under a fire
district situation, or whatever we call them these days, it
-- there's a time frame to it, but at least -- I can see --
I can see it's out there a little ways, but you can see
something like that actually developing, working.
COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: You can get real
good help and guidance out of Austin in setting it up. On
the Mountain Home district, a fellow from Austin actually
came out, sat down with us and had his books and took us by
the hand and said -- it was very, very helpful, unlike most
things you get out of Austin.
JUDGE TINLEY: From the Office of Community
Rural Affairs, if I'm not mistaken.
COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: It's a function of
O.R.C.A.
JUDGE TINLEY: Charlie Stone was his name, I
Excellent, excellent job.
COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Great.
COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: It's an O.R.C.A.
function.
COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I move we enact the
90-day county-wide burn ban.
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COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Second.
COMMISSIONER LETZ: And this is the burn ban
that allows the NRCS plan and all that?
COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Got the order here for
the Judge to sign.
COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: We can lift it by
precinct?
COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yes.
COMMISSIONER LETZ: And also, even with the
burn ban, they can do it if it's approved by NRCS.
JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded. Any
further discussion on the motion? All in favor of the
motion, signify by raising your right hand.
(The motion carried by unanimous vote.)
JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign.
(No response.)
JUDGE TINLEY: Motion carries.
COMMISSIONER LETZ: Judge, on this, I don't
know if we -- I don't know if that agenda posting is broad
enough or not to pass an order requesting the County
Attorney to give us enforcement information on the burn ban.
I'd like to know what we can do. I mean, 'cause, you know,
if it is a -- or if we have to do something in addition to
be able to hand out a fine if they're not called in, what we
can actually -- what our authorities are. If we can even --
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without a burn ban in place, can we require people to call
it in?
JUDGE TINLEY: I think enforcement's an
integral part of the burn ban itself, so I think the agenda
item is broad enough to include it.
COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'll make --
COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I think a memorandum
from the Judge to the County Attorney can do that.
COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'd rather get a court
order. That way I know it will get done.
COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Maybe.
COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'll make a motion that
we authorize the County Judge to send a memorandum to the
County Attorney requesting the enforcement authority that
Commissioners Court has regarding ~utd~~r burning.
COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Do you want to get
specific?
COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: How about a written
report to the Court? Would that suffice? A written
response to the Court.
COMMISSIONER LETZ: Written report to the
Court concerning outdoor burning. And the reason I say
authority is I just don't know what it is. I don't know if
we can even do a fire code; just editorial, talking about
the fire code. I don't know if we have that authority.
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COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Including -- including
can we require people to notify -- personally, I'd rather
see them notify the fire department. I don't want the
Sheriff's Office sitting there taking 20 calls a day on
something like that.
COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: There won't be
anybody to answer the phone, though, at the -- at the
volunteer fire department.
COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Well, that's a good
point. That is a good point.
COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I'd like to amend
that motion just to include whether or not we have the
authority to establish a fire code -- county-wide fire code.
Just have him research that along with everything else.
COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: I have to tell you,
I really -- really am frustrated about not knowing what our
enforcement authorities are on various things, environmental
things, 'cause it's really foolish not to be able to tell
people how we can handle -- handle problems.
COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. But that's not on
the agenda.
COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: No, that's not on
the agenda. That was an aside.
COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: You accept the
amendment and I'll second the motion.
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COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'll accept your
amendment.
COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I second it.
COMMISSIONER LETZ: Did you get that rambling
motion, Judge?
COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: He's still. writing.
COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: It appears to me -- I
just glanced at this thing here, but what I'm reading, I
understand the question of fire code. What their
recommendation is here is for us to hire someone to do
exactly what we're doing.
COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: That's bottom line.
COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: To me, why spend money
to -- just to shift it over to somebody else? And --
because it -- it would be the same thing; you can burn or,
you know, you can't burn.
COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I'm willing to
concede mine to you.
COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: No thanks.
COMMISSIONER LETZ: You know, and it's -- you
know, I think it's really important that we learn -- or, you
know, get a clear, concise idea what our authority is,
because this problem has increased probably 50-fold since
I've been a Commissioner. I mean, it didn't used to be this
big a problem, and it is becoming a huge problem.
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COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: It's easing up on the
septic tank issue.
COMMISSIONER LETZ: It's worse than septic.
COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Would you say we've
gone from the frying pan to the fire? Would that be
reasonable?
JUDGE TINLEY: I have a motion, as amended,
and a second. Any further question or discussion? All in
favor of tre motion, signify by raising your right hand.
(The motion carried by unanimous vote.)
JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign.
(No response.)
JUDGE TINLEY: Motion does carry.
COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I got two quick
information items for the Court, since everybody's here,
Judge. Well, you were -- you stayed on last night at City
Council till the end?
JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah, I stayed until they went
into executive.
COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Okay. Well, I got a
report back from the Airport Manager this morning early, in
which he said everything was -- the Council did what we did,
and there will be efforts to set up the meetings which we
are attending very soon to set the counter-proposal. So,
that's on track; hopefully we'll get it resolved. Secondly,
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after Commissioner Baldwin made his comment about our
ability to take the workshop out of the courthouse, I
contacted TAC -- TAC's attorneys, and got a response back
from Mr. Bob Bass that it is, in fact, something that we can
do. We can remove this body to -- within the county to
conduct this workshop. The only caveat of caution that he
urged was that if, subsequently, we are dealing with any
issues before the court that might have arisen from that
workshop discussion, that we make reference to that so that
there is public knowledge that that's where the idea or the
thought or the initiative or whatever came from. I was
going to write you a memorandum, but this is an opportunity
to save the paper and the time.
COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Let me see. There
were only the two of you there at the --
COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Pardon?
COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Only the two of you
were there at the City Council meeting?
COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Yes, but we were
watching. We had a guard posted at the door just in case a
third member of the court came busting into City Council
last night.
COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Me and Buster were
out in the hall peeking around the corner.
COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah.
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COMMISSIONER LETZ: I have one other brief
comment, and this is just a -- I didn't do it the last
agenda. We are getting lax, in my opinion, about not having
backup. That makes it very difficult for me to make
decisions. So, even something like this, even -- I mean,
something to look at. To me, we really need to get back to
our own rules and have backup material on all agenda items,
even if it's just a one-page summary as to why it's there.
COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I agree. One other
quick caveat on the workshop. The posting -- obviously,
it's a posted meeting with time, place, and so forth and so
on, and they urge that the notice indicates that no action
will be taken.
JUDGE TINLEY: Any further items? We'll
stand adjourned.
(Commissioners Court adjourned at 9:25 a.m.)
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STATE OF TEXAS
COUNTY OF KERB I
The above and foregoing is a true and complete
transcription of my stenotype notes taken in my capacity as
County Clerk of the Commissioners Court of Kerr County,
Texas, at the time and place heretofore set forth.
DATED at Kerrville, Texas, this 28th day of January,
2004.
JANNETT PIEPER, Kerr County Clerk
--- - -1-~~#-~---------
Kathy Ban`~'k, Deputy County Clerk
Certified Shorthand Reporter
i-~~-o4
Order No. 28514
Burn Ban
Came to be heard this the 28th day of January 2004 with a motion made by Commissioner
Baldwin, Seconded by Commissioner Williams, the Court unanimously approved by a
vote of 4-0-0, to enact the 90-day burn ban.
STATE OF TEXAS § ORDER 2 8 514
COUNTY OF KERR §
ORDER RESTRICTING OUTDOOR BURNING
WHEREAS the Commissioners Court of Kerr County finds that circumstances present in
the unincorporated area of the county create a public safety hazard that would be exacerbated by
outdoor burning,
IT IS HEREBY ORDERED by the Commissioners Court of Kerr County that outdoor
burning is banned in the unincorporated area of the county for 90 days from the date of adoption
of this Order, unless the ban is terminated earlier based on a determination by the Commissioners
Court that the circumstances described above no longer exist. This Order is adopted pursuant to
Local Government Code Section 352.081, and other applicable statutes. This Order does not
prohibit outdoor burning activities (a) related to public health and safety that are authorized by
the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality for (1) firefighter training; (2) public utility,
natural gas pipeline or mining operations; (3) harvesting of agricultural crops or 4) prescribed
bum plans approved by the Department of Agriculture; or (b) in enclosures such as trash barrels
and charcoal grills which are designed to contain all flames and embers.
.~ IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that if the circumstances leading to this order are
modified by transitory conditions, the Commissioners Court authorizes each Commissioner to
suspend this order for a specified period in their precinct after consultation with the fire
departments in their precinct. Such temporary suspension(s) of the ban may be terminated at any
time before expiration of the specified period by the appropriate County Commissioner(s).
In accordance with Local Government Code Section 352.081(h), a violation of this Order
is a Class C misdemeanor, punishable by a fine not to exceed $500.00
ADOPTED this 28th day of Janes, 2004 by a vote of
ayes and mays.
l PA TINL ,COUNTY JUDGE
Attest:
C LINTY CLERK

Jonathan Letz
Kerr County, Texas
Commissioner, Precinct 3

January 28, 2004
RE: Burn Ban
Commissioners Court
Kerr County Courthouse
700 Main Street
Kerrville, Texas 78028
Based on evaluation of current and forecast weather in the precinct I hereby declare a
suspension of the current county-wide ban on outdoor burning in Precinct 3 until
Mondav. February 2"d ~ 8:OOAM.
~ Letz
inty Commissioner
3
To the Commissioners' Court
Ken County Courthouse
700 Main Street
Kerrville, Texas 78028
Re: Burn Ban
Based on evaluation of current and forecast circumstances in Precinct
suspension of the current countywide ban on outdoor burning in Precinct #2 until
2004.
#2, I hereby declare a
:00 A.M. February 2,
S' cerely,
William H. Williams
Commissioner Pct. #2
Date: 1/28/04 9:24 AM
January 29, 2004
To the Commissioners' Court
Ken County Courthouse
700 Main Street
Kemille, Texas 78028
Re: Burn Ban
Based on evaluation of current and forecast circumstances in Precinct #l, I hereby declare a
--- suspension of the current countywide ban on outdoor burning in Precinct # 1 until 8:00 A.M., February 2,
2004
F~I.A. "Buster'' Baldwin
Commissioner Pct. # 1
Order No. 28515
Request for Burn Ban Enforcement
Came to be heard this the 28`h day of January 2004 with a motion made by Letz,
Seconded by Commissioner Williams, the Court unanimously approved by a vote of 4-
0-0, authorize the County Judge to request a written response from the County Attorney
on what enforcement authority does the Commissioners Court have on out door burning
and can a county wide fire code be initiated.