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KERR COUNTY COMMISSIONERS COliRT
Special Session
Wednesday, June 2, 2004
9:00 a.m.
Commissioners' Courtroom
Kerr County Courthouse
Kerrville, Texas
PRESENT: PAT TINLEY, Kerr County Judge
H. A. "BUSTER" BALD~/~'IN, Commissioner Pct. 1
U]ILLIAM "BILL" WILLIAMS, Commissioner Pct. 2
JONATHAN LETZ, Commissioner Pct. 3
DAVE NICHOLSON, Commissioner Pct. 4
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I N D E X
June 2, 2004
PAGE
1.1 Consider and discuss adoption of Resolution
to protest excess rate increase by Aqua Texas 3
1.2 Consider and discuss and take appropriate action
on a plan to oppose the rate increase on behalf
of Kerr County constituents 27
--- Adjourned 53
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On Wednesday, June 2, 200, at 9:00 a.m., a special
meeting of the Kerr County Commissioners Court was held in the
Commissioners' Courtroom, Kerr County Courthouse, Kerrville,
Texas, and the follo?wing proceedings were had in open court:
P F. O C E E D I N G S
JUDGE TINLEY: Okay, let me call to order the
special Commissioners Court meeting scheduled for this date
and time, Wednesday, June 2nd, 2004, at 9 a.m. This matter
was posted at the request of Commissioner Williams
concerning the water matters. First item on the agenda is
consider and discuss the adoption of a resolution to protest
excess rate increase by Aqua Texas. I say Commissioner 2;
it actually shows Commissioners 1 and 2.
COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: It does. It shows
both of us. We've been in there collaborating. Inasmuch as
the preponderance of --
COMMISSIONER BP.LDWIN: There you go again.
COMMISSIONER. WILLIAMS: -- the small water
systems in Kerr County are in Precincts 1 and 2, we thought
maybe the Court would like to ~cin with us in fashioning a
strategy to deal with this issue and help people register
their protests to T.C.E.Q. and whatever else might take
place. So, Commissioner Baldwin and I, after talking it
out, believed we had a couple things we needed to do, ar.d
one was the adoption of a stror_g resolution by this Court
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that pretests the rate increase as being substantial and
unjust rate increases. And to go on and to ask other sister
counties who comprise Aqua Texas' designated southwest
region -- that's the only way I can put it, 'cause that's
kind of a gerrymandered term they put together, but it makes
up their scuthwest region, and we would ask the Court to
allow this resolution. t~ be passed on to all these other
counties, and urge them to do the same thing. So, without
any further ado, Judge, if it's appropriate -- Commissioner
Baldwin, you want to add some comments to the opening?
COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: No, other than, to me,
there's two keys to this, to make this thing work. One is
that I'm -- I'm excited that the Commissioners Court's
taking this leadership role in the thing and coordinating
the efforts. That's a good thing. But there's a limited
amount of work that we can do on the thing. The environs
out in the county have to write their letters. I'm going to
say that every time that we're together, because I think
that that is so important that it needs to be said over and
over again. They have to write their letter. We can't
write letters for them. They have to write their letters,
and we can coordinate and do things all day long, but until
the public gets their letters written in protest -- in
opposition, then nothing's gong to happen. So, it's
just super, super important that everyone understands that,
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even though me Court is doing the things that we're doing,
it's -- it won't work until the public writes the letter.
Number two, of us contacting the other counties and
encouraging them to get involved something similar to the
way that we are getting involved, if that doesn't happen,
again, this -- this plan went work at all. Because we have
tc -- you have to have 10 percent of the users in that
region, ar.d Kerr County can have our 10 percent, but if the
rest of the region doesn't come up to their -- rise up to
their 10 percent, it's an automatic increase. So, we Have
to contact these other counties and encourage them to get
involved.
COMMISSIONER. WI~LIAMS: I agree. And one
comment; one of the Com.m:issioners noted that I had placed
the rates in the -- in the proposed resolution, which we'll
read into the record here in just a moment, and the rates as
I ca,~cuiated them on the -- in this booklet run anywhere
from 56 percent for a user of 10,000 gallons, up to a max --
up to a potential of 70 -- 70-some-odd percent. 77 percent,
I believe. And, the reason I did that is because -- putting
in that range of rate increases is because, if you calculate
all the rates that they have asked for, depending on the
size of the pipe that goes into your property, those rates
range all the way up to as high as 133 percent. And they
ask for -- ir_ their ope~iing st~.tement, I believe I read --
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they say they need something like 40 percent to -- to take
care of their capital needs. But the fact of the matter is,
they're asking for 56 percent, and if it's phased in over
the fear-year period of time, it actually becomes 77 percent
compounded. So, I put that in there because -- just to show
the illustration, while asking for 40, they are in reality
trying to raise 56 percent in a one -- in a one-shot
increase. Anyhow, Judge, let me put this in the record and
we'll see if the Court noes with it.
"Whereas, Aqua Utilities, doing business as
Aqua Texas, Incorporated, CCN 1ii57 and 20453, and
AquaSource Development Company, doing business as Aqua
Texas, Inc., CCN 12902 and 20867, have submitted a rate
change application to the Texas Commission on Environmental
Quality, T.C.E.Q., affecting all customers in their
southwest region, including those in 40 separate water
companies in Kerr County; and
"Whereas, the proposed effective date of the
rate increase is July 13, 2004, or the first day of a
customer's billing r_ycle beginr_inq on July 13, 2004; and
"Whereas, Aqua Texas, Incorporated, asserts a
need for a 40 percent rate increase to cover capital
investments, it nonetheless has published rate increases to
Kerr County water customers that are 56 percent unphased,
and a four-year phased schedule that compounds tc
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?? percent, which is a substantial and unjust amount; and
"Whereas Kerr County water customers whose
property and water service is outside a municipal
jurisdictio:~ must ultimately rely on the T.C.E.Q, to act
upon the company's phase-in proposal before July 13, 2004,
cr face an immediate rate increase of 56 percent, leaving
undetermined possible successive rate increases; and
"Whereas, to cause T.C.E.Q. to conduct a
public hearing on the substantial and unjust rate increase
proposal, it is necessary for at least 10 percent of Aqua
Texas' water customers in their southwest region to register
individual protests before the 91st day after the proposed
effective date of July 13, 2004; now therefore be it
"Resolved, that Kerr Cour_ty Commissioners
Court does hereby officially protest the proposed
substantial and unjust rate increases, and urges the
T.C.E.Q. to conduct a public hearing on this matter, at
which time it will receive testimony from affected
customers, and cause Aqua Texas to justify its proposed rate
structure; and be it f~.~rther
"Resolved, that Kerr County will contact
Bandera, Bexar, Burnet, Comal, Hays, Kendall, Live Oak,
Medina, Nueces, Travis, T.n]illiamson, and Wilson Cour_ties, and
provide each with a ,ropy of this resolution, and urge all to
take a similar action on behalf of their customers in the
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Aqua `T'exas southwest. region." r move the resolution.
COMMISSIONER NIC~OLSON: Second.
COMMISSIONER BALDTv~'IN: I second the -- second
the motion.
JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Motion made and
seconded far adoption of the resolution. We have some
members of the public wrio have asked to be heard on this
matter, and I think it's apprcpriate that we hear from them
new. Tne first cne I have here is Mr. Cornelius van Bavel.
Sir, if you would like to come forward and tell us what's on
your mind about this matter?
MR.. ,IAN BAVEL: Thank you, Judge, members of
the Commission. I want to start out with thanking you from
the bottom of my heart for what you are starting to do.
And, as a matter of fact, I have been asked, on behalf of
the homeowners' association, of which I'm not an officer,
but a member -- I have been an officer for several years --
to do more cr less the same thing at our level that. the
Commission is trying to do, hopefully with a great deal of
success in the county, as well as in the neighboring
counties, which might even be more important. So, thank you
very much. bVhat -- I'd like to point out two things. One
is maybe a small matter, but Commissioner Baldwin is
correct., of course, wher_ he says that in the end, only a
customer of Aqua Texas can file a protest. Now, it so
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happens that our -- our homeowners' association -- and I'm
quite sure all homeowners' associations are also customers,
because we have public facilities that are served with
water. We have a water meter, and we also are going to
suffer the consequences of this increase. So -- and I have
started to find out where all and who is running these
homeowners' associations in Kerr County. And something
similar, of course, could be done in the other counties.
Just how that is going to happen, I'm not quite sure: I'm
not even quite sure how I am going to find out who the
officers are of these about 14 or 15 homeowners'
associations in Kerr County. Anyway, that's my problem.
The second thing that I want to point out --
and I point this out as an individual who is a lifelong
proponent cf conservation of u~~ater. In fact, I got paid to
teach this and to research this for many, many years, and I
want to point cut something that perhaps hasn't occurred to
you. That the way -- that. the way this rate structure is
now going to be in place, but already is in place,
discourages consprvar_ion, because tre money mostly comes out
of the connection fee, not out of the water fee. And
Commissioner Williams is quoting the numbers for what they
call an example customer_ who uses 1,000 -- pardon me,
10,000 ga~ions a month, but there are very few individual
homeowners, particularly out in what you call the
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environs -- and that's us, also -- that use that much water.
So, actually, when I'm going to pay my next bill, or the
next -- over the next month; that's the first one that's
going to hit me, I am going to pay twice as much, roughly,
but I don't get any -- no incen--~ve. Even if I didn't use
any water, I still 'nave to pay $46.
And so, even though the unit -- the price of
a unit of water, which is 1,000 gallons, has also increased,
of course, but still, it's -- I shouldn't say "only" -- it
is as little as $2.50. And, Vou know, multiply it with
maybe 3,000 -- maybe three, maybe four; depends on if it's
summer or winter. But the mai_~ -- the main burden is for --
just for being connected. In other words, we're not buying
water; we're buying a water meter. That's all. And, in my
opinion, this kind of a structure is totally wrong. It's
okay to be charged for a connection, but with that, you
should -- and it used to be like that. You should get a
certain amount of water that, by adopted standards,
including the Commission to which we are going to apply, is
sufficient, and that amounts to somewhere between 2,000 and
3,000 gallons per month for an average family, which is
supposed to be 3.8 persons.
So, I protest the nature of this whole rate
structure. I~ is against conservation. That extra couple
of dollars that I will waste bl~~ insufficient water, by
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letting the -- the toilet run when it's not -- when it ought
to be fixed, et cetera, et cetera. We need conservation.
And when people use tcc much, it shculd hurt diem in the
their pocket. This is not going to hurt anybody in his
pocket particularly, when $600, $700 per year goes just for
being connected. Nct -- for example, our homeowners'
association has two or three taps at the lake. I don't
think we use more than 400 gallons a month, but we sti11 are
going to have to pay that $45. So, I thought I'd point it
out to you. Ar.d I am not suggesting that it be part of this
resolution, but if there's gong to be an argument about it
with the company, I think -- and with the Commission, we
should point this out. This is an anti-conservation rate
structure. Thank you for your time.
JLDGE TINLEY: Thank you, sir. The next
individual teat we have who Yeas indicated a desire to speak
is Mr. Don T. Brady representing the Cypress Springs
Property Owners' Association.
MR.. BRADY : Tha_~k you, Judge . And, here
again, I reiterate our thanks fcr y'all participating in
this effort. Apparently, those of us who are outside the
city limits don't have any spokesperson other than the
Commissioners Court. That's about it, just from what I'm
hearing. Also, Commissioner, your calculations pretty well
match what I came up with.
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COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I'm glad. Thank you.
I thought maybe my calculator was screwy.
MR. BRADY: I'm not going to be picky-picky,
but they're pretty wel~ in the ballpark there.
COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Thank you, sir.
MR. BRADY: An onerous rate increase. And,
frankly, the unphased proposal that they have proposed, to
me, is just pure intimidation. You know, if we don't go
along, they're going to stick that in our ear. I also
found, in perusing the information there -- I have a
5/8-inch meter, and I found any number of errors in the
published data for existing rates.. I called AquaSource, and
the young lady confirmed that it was erroneous, and we
agreed on wYiat the figure should have been. And, at the
same time, in discussing with her, I told her, I said,
"Look, my background is in the electric utility business,
and I am not unfamiliar with how rates are done there and
how the system buyouts occur and so forth and so on." And I
said, "Any time we did a rate increase, you know, the paper
had comparable rates. This is what our rates are. This is
what we propose. This is this city. This is Houston
Lighting and Power, whatever they are now, to see what the
comparable rates are." And, tre young lady told me -- said,
"Well, you don't have any other source down there." I said,
"Well, that's my understanding." She said, "Sv that's not
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relevant." G1ell, that -- I'm. sure their management would
not agree to that. I also suspect -- and I'm new here. I
moved here in April of 2002.
COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Welcome.
MR. BRADY: Thank you very much. I've
enjcyed it greatly. I also suspect that their rate basis
calculations need to be perused. It's my understandinq they
put all the purchases of these little systems together over,
what, a three- or four-1~~ear period? Maybe five.
COMMISSIONER WIL~IAMS: Since the last rate
struggle.
MR. BRADY: Okay. I do know, with my
experience where we would make a proposal to buy a municipal
electric system, first thing you do is you go in and you
carefully analyze it and you see how much money you've got
to spend to bring it up to date, and that's factored into
the purchase price. I really ~~londer if this is what they
did here, since they're saying they've had to spend all this
money to bring these things up to date. Well, they didn't
get out-of-date overnight, so it would appear that, in the
perusal, that should be part of it done by the T.C.E.Q. I
think, just -- just as a thought, you know, they've lumped
all these people -- all these little systems together. I
don't know how much comrionality was done in that process,
but I don't think we're going to be very successful in
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attacking that, because the ratemaking people like that.
The people in Austin like that. Now, if we can somehow
deterrr:ine a commonality betweer_ our group and some others,
yes, we can address it in that fashion. But, rest assured,
the T.C.E.Q. would much rather Near four rate cases than 25.
So, some judicious thought needs to go into that.
Gentlemen, I thank you. We appreciate your helping.
COMMISSIONER LETZ: Thank you.
JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you very much, sir. We
appreciate you being here. The next individual that has
indicated a desire to speak is Mr. Charlie Eller.
MR. ELLER: Judge, Commissioners. I've lived
here 20 years in the same spot with the same water company.
It changed names many times. But, having dealt with
hundreds of utility companies in my career, this is the most
ur.respor.sive single company I ever had to deal with. That's
probably not here ncr there. `T'hey bought a broken-down
water system at a broken-down price, but I submit that's a
battle to be fought at the public hearing. What the
Commissioners Court's going to do is pretty well laid'out
here. It's what you can do. You can testify at the public
hearing also. Having dealt with utility companies, I would
make one suggestion on the petition; that you remove any
numbers from it. These things --
COMMISSIONER '~,`ILLIAMS: From the resolution?
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MR.. ELLER.: In the resolution. The reason
being that if you object to me raising it 70 percent, I can
try to convince somebody you won't object to 68. All right?
But if you object to an "excessive" increase and words like
that, then nobody can whoop you ~s~ith it. So, I -- that's my
suggestion. I would like to commend the Court for the
action. they're taking. This is the kind of action I want my
Commissioners and my Judge to take, to try to save money for
the people, try tc let the people keep their own money, and
I appreciate it and I thank you.
JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you, sir.
COMMISSIONER. NICHOLSON: Mr. Eller, one
question, please. I have a list of the water systems -- or
subdivisions in Kerr County, and I don't see Greenwood
Forest on that. Are you part of the city of Ingram system?
MR.. ELLER: Well, it -- it's -- we'r_e not a
part of the city of Ingram. We're outside the city limits.
When Danny Edwards fought the case last time on rates in
Ingram, because Ingram has a rate-making power, he included
Greenwood Forest, and was able to qet the water company to
agree to include us, but I'm not sure that it's legal. You
know, I just don't know.
COMMISSICN~R WILLIAMS: Which water company
would that be? Is it listed as Greenwood Forest?
MR. ELLER: Yeah, its Aqua Tex -- Aqua Texas.
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COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Okay.
MR. ELLER: The same thing.
COMMISSIONER. WILLIAMS: Okay. 'Cause I'm
like Commissioner Nicholson; I didn't see it in here either.
Trying to identify all of them.
MR. ELLER.: It ~s~as AquaSource.
COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Okay.
COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: I think the only
question is, is Greenwocd Forest one of the so-called,
environs, or is it represented by Ingram?
JJDGE TINLEY: Included as part of Ingram,
correctly or not?
COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Yeah. And
probably -- probably Judge Edwards knows the answer to that.
COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: He probably does.
There's another hidden -- there's another hidden element
here, in my view, and what's called it to my attention was
the fact that there was only owe identified in Precinct 4 on
this list, and one identified in Precinct 3. The fact of
the matter is, there are others. Wiedenfeld operates
several around the county, and there may be others like
Charlie whe -- Charlie Wiedenfeld, who operate others as
well.. These folks are layir_g low; they're net doing
anything. They're waiting to see what happens here. But I
would bet a five-dollar bill against a doughnut that once
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this is settled, all the others who are not represented ~,aho
are -- who are served by these other water companies not
identified here, those customers will face the same
increases that this is talking about.
MR. ELLER.: Probably so. I am told by the
city of Ingram to enter my protest with them, and then. I'm
told by other people that I can't enter a protest in Ingram;
that it would have no impact whatsoever. So, I'm -- I've
dust shotqunned them; I protest everywhere.
COMMISSIONER LETZ: Protest both.
MR.. .CLLEF<: Both places. Thank you, sir.
COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Both directions.
JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you. Is there anybody
else here today that wishes tc be heard with respect to this
matter? Irrespective of whether you've signed a
participation form: cr not, we'd welcome you to come forward
and te11 us what's on your mind about this. Yes, sir?
Please come forward. Give your name, if you would, and
address for the reporter.
MR. LAMBERT: Pardon. Yes, my name's Clayson
Lambert, and I'm in Precinct 1, just outside of the city
limits, next door to Horseshoe Oaks, which is served by
formerly AquaSource, and now Texas Aqua, and we are tied
into that system. A number of the things that I wanted to
mention to you today have already been brought up. One is a
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comparison to electrica]. utili~ies. I just can't possibly
see an electrical utility telling its customers that because
it has some expenses in putting in additional transmission
lines, that it's now going to pass those expenses on
immediately, in a 60, 70 percent over four-year term, to its
custcmers. I'm not sure, because I've been out of the
country for many, many years, and I'm not completely up to
speed with -- with some of the legal ramifications of
utility companies, but I'm wcndering if there is some
comparisor_ where you could look at -- you know, they have
certain costs, and they have certain labor costs, and there
are normal factors ghat sometimes increases are tied to;
cost-of-living increases and labor increases in certain
sectors and this sort of thing. lend when you exceed by
several times what are accepted norms like that, that seems
very excessive.
I think one other thing that would be
interesting to do in the way of research is to see if any
ether water utility company similar to this one has -- has
ever approached increases of this magnitude. I'm not sure
who will be available to do that research. I guess that
will occur also in public hearings on this, but it seems
very absurd. And then, I guess, on the last comment -- and
by buying up all of these -- or the majority of the smaller
companies and unifying them under one body, they in effect
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nave a moncpcly en the private water systems here now. And,
since this is a publicly traded company, I would question
why they can't thro~~~ a ~~ittle more stock out there or
something else tc
Obviously, if they
some problems with
mentioned earlier,
think it's -- it's
there and reap the
het the revenues that they need.
bought these companies and there were
them and they needed upgrades, as was
that should have been factored in. And I
not right for their stockholders to sit
benefits of all these increases while
their valued customers that keep the company alive have to
take the brunt of all their additions. Thank you,
gentleman.
JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you, Mr. Lambert. Is
there anyone else that wishes to be heard on this particular
issue? We'd welcome yoL. to ccm:e forward and speak your
mind. Anyone else?
(No response.l
JUDGE TINLEY: I have a couple of thoughts
about the resolution as tendered, and upon which the motion
was made. The use of specific numbers concerns me, specific
amounts, and -- but fcr a 1itt~~e different reasor_ than --
than Mr. Eller indicated. As one gentleman said, I ran the
calculations and mine were about the same as yours. Well,
everybody can run these numbers and come out with a little
different number. I think we should omit any specific
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figures in the resolution ~c a~~-oid two things . Oise is, if
some third-party -- any third-party calculates it
differently, number one, it's doing to cause a focus to be
on the variance in the numbers, and that's not really what
this is all about. Ser_.ondly, if the numbers are calculated
slightly differently, it may cause a loss of credibility to
the resolution as a whole. So, for that reason, I would
suggest that we make more generic references, and I've got
score prcposed language that I'll be glad to -- to suggest
here in a moment.
The other thing that I would like to point
out, in fairness, is that the ~s~hole purpose of the rate
hearing is to determine the propriety and the justness of
the proposed rate increase, ar.d that's what we're seeking to
have acccmplished, is a hearing. And, therefore, both sides
get an opportunity }o be heard. There are a couple of
places in here where it is concluded to be an unjust rate
increase before there's a request for the T.C.E.Q. to hold a
hearing and to cause Aqua Texas to justify its proposed rate
structure, which is the er.d question. So, where we
denominate it as being "unjust," I think we should possibly
say "possibly unjust," to give them at least the benefit of
the doubt until the -- until the hearing is held, because
that's what it's all about. But those are my two thoughts
abaut t~Yie resolution. And when we get to that point, I can
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offer alternate language.
COMMISSIONER BALD6VIN: Judge, I agree with
you a hundred percent on the number issue. And, to put it
in terms of us old country bcys, what ycu just said was some
lawyer could get ahold of that and make us look stupid.
And --
JUDGE TINLEY: Although we know we're not.
COMMISSIONER BALDt~~IN: That's what you said.
Although we're not.
JUDGE TINLEY: Ot course.
COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Absolutely.
COMMISSIONER LETZ: Pretty much -- I had two
things I wrote. I think we need something to the effect of,
"far exceed 40 percent," as opposed to specific numbers, for
the same reasons that were stated by the Judge and
Mr. Eller. The other thing that -- I think a word that I
didn't see in here that I think needs to be added in some
places is "inequitable." Because the problem that I have
is, I know -- and I've talked -- you know, there's only one
listed in my precinct, being Falling Water. I've talked to
that association, and they're really bent out of shape.
It's a brand-new, exce~~ent system, as is Cypress Springs,
another one that's in Precinct 4, and they're -- they don't
need any upgrades, and they're being forced to pay for
upgrades in systems that, you know, Aqua Tex bought at one
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point or ancther that does need some upgrades, and that
really bothers them. So, I think that the inequitable
nature of the increase, the way it's proposed, needs to be
added in. And it could probably be added wherever we say
the word "unjust." I think could you add --
COMMISSIONER vVILLIAMS: That's just where I
put it down.
COMMISSIONER LETZ: And possibly unjust.
COMMISSIONER ~~1ILLIAMS: Substantial,
inequitable, and unjust.
CCMMISSIONER LETZ: Scmething to that effect.
Those are the comments that I had.
COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: I don't have any
specific comments. I'm really impressed and appreciate the
good work, and done in such a timely way, that Commissioners
1 and 2 have done. It's, i~~ my view, a really good reaction
to an important need of our constituents, so I`m very
pleased with it. I'll have some more comments when we get
to the action plan.
COMMISSIONER,~~VILLIAMS: What -- what are your
thoughts, Judge, so we can clean it up here and amend it?
JUDGE TTNLEY: In Paragraph 3, beginning at
the end of the secor:d line, "...increases to Kerr County
water customers that appear to be inequitable and
substantially in excess of that amount," semicolon. 'And
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then, coming down to the fourth paragraph, in the third
line, "... July 13, 2004, or face an immediate significant
double-digit rate increase, comma, leaving undetermined..."
In the next paragraph, the first line, "...conduct a public
hearing on this substantial, comma, inequitable, anal
possibly unjust rate increase..." As a matter of form,
after the semicolon at the end of that paragraph, move the
"now, therefore" over to the far left, and in all caps, "NOW
THEREFORE, BE IT" and then the Resolved. In the first
Resolved paragraph, have that read, beginning at the end of
the first line, "...protest the proposed rate increases,"
'cause that's what they're considering, and line nut the
"substantial and unjust" there.
COMMISSIONER wILLIAMS: Take out the
descriptive adjectives?
~7~1DGE TINLEY: Uh-huh. "...hereby officially
protest the proposed rate increases...," where it reads that
way. And then, of course, as a matter of clean-up at the
very bottom, "Resolution," there's a "1" in there that needs
to be kicked out. That may have --
COMMISSIONER in7I~,LIAMS: That's out.
JUDGE TINLEY: That's beer. taken out of the
final? Okay.
COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: That's out of there.
COMMISSIONER. LETZ: The -- what computer is
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this -- is this on Kathy's?
COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS:
COMMISSIC~iER LETZ: I'd
Kathy clean that up and go to the next
way, we can come back and look at the
COMMISSIONER t~~ILLIAMS:
Kathy?
Kathy's got it, yeah.
recommend that we let
agenda item. That
exact form.
You get it all,
{Ms. Mitchell shook her head negatively.)
JUDGE TINLEY: I -- I did a little word
jockeying as I went, so it's not in here exactly like I
brought it out, but I can --
COMMISSIUNER LETZ: Maybe we can take a
five-minute recess, ar.d -- 'cause I think it would be
helpful. I'd like to see the exact form.
COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I agree.
JUDGE TINLEY: I would too.
COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Yeah.
COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Yeah, we'd like to
sign it before we leave here.
JUDGE TINLEY: dean.
COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Absolutely.
MR. ELLE;R: Judge? i don't -- I don't know
if this draft letter is going `o be distributed or published
or cahat, but if it is, let's -- let`s try to outrun the
lawyers. Texas Commission "in" Environmental Quality should
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be --
COMMISSIONER GviLLIAMS:
revised -- yeah, that should be Texas
JUDGE TINLEY: There's
Mr. Eller, since that original draft
MR. ELLER: Okay.
COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS:
changed.
We've kind of
commission "on." On.
been some cleanup,
came cut.
But this needs to be
JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah. Yeah.
COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: It's "of," I believe
isn't it? Or "on." T.C.E.Q., Texas Commission --
JUDGE TINLEY: I think it's "on."
COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: -- on Environmental
Quality.
JUDGE TINLEY: On or of.
MR. ELLER: We11, it's "on" in the resolution
and the petition, but it's "in" on the letter.
JUDGE TINLEY: in7e'11 get that cleaned up.
COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Yeah.
JUDGE TIPILEY: Okay. Why don`t we stand in
recess for about five minutes, and I'll get me a clean one
and I'll gc to wcrk here.
{R.ecess taken from 9:39 a.m. to 9:51 a.m.)
JliDGE TINLEY: Ukay. Let's come back to
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order.. We took a short recess to try and work on this
resolution a little bit. Copies are being distributed now.
Okay, thank you.
COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Thank you, ma'am.
JUDGE TINLEY: I think it's important that we
got tree "inequitable" in there, Commissioner Letz, and it
addresses the issue that one of the gentlemen mentioned
about the brand-new system and they're having to bear the
cost of some of the older, more antiquated systems. And
that, I think, is a needed issue.
COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Judge, while not
reading the entire thing, maybe those in the audience would
like to hear at least the two paragraphs that have the
substantial changes that we made. Paragraphs 1 and 2 remain
basically the same. Paragraph 3 changes to read, "While
Aqua Texas, Inc., asserts a need for a 40 percent rate
increase to recover capital investments, it nonetheless has
published rate increases to Kerr County water customers that
appear to be inequitable and substantially in excess of that
amount." And then the next paragraph, "Whereas, Kerr County
water customers whose property and water service is outside
a municipal jurisdiction must ultimately rely on T.C.E.Q. to
act upon the company's phase-in proposal before July 13,
2004, or face an immediate, significant, double-digit rate
increase, leavinq undetermined possible successive rate
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increases." And I think the rest is substantially the same.
Is that correct?
JUDGE TINLEY: U1e did a slight deletion in
the first Resolved paragraph, just referring to proposed
rate increases, and we deleted the adjectives, but other
than that, it's the same.
COMMISSIONER. WILLIAMS: I accept the
amendments, Judge.
JUDGE TINLEY: And move adoption as
redrafted?
COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Yes, sir.
COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second.
JUDGE TINLEY: A11 right. Any further
question or discussion? All in favor of the motion, please
signify by raising your right hand.
(The motion carried by unanimous vote.)
JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign.
(N~ response.)
JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. The
next item on the agenda is consider and discuss and take
appropriate action cn a plan to oppose the rate increase on
behalf of Kerr County constituents.
COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Do you want to do it?
COMMISSIONER BAL,DWIN: No, go ahead. You're
doing fine.
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COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS; In brainstorming how
best to move this along, Commissioner Baldwin and I came up
with some thoughts that would constitute a sort of a
strategy that the Court can -- can be involved in from the
get-go to the end. And, for the benefit of those of you in
the audience, let me go through those. Number one is to
adopt a resolution strongly pretesting. We have just done
that. Authorize the County Judge to correspond with the 12
other counties identified. That's embodied in the
resolution; that will take place. The third one, then, is
authorize a Town Hall-style meeting at the Hill Country
Youth Exhibit Center June 14th at 7 p.m., inviting all
interested customers of the 4C individual water companies
owned by Aqua Texas to attend for the purpose of mobilizing
a county-wide protest effort. Number 4 says what we need
to -- it just says that this will be a posted meeting so all
members of the Court can participate.
Number 5, then, would be to prepare
information as to how best to voice opposition and seek a
public rate hearing, and -- and distribute or have available
for people -- excuse me -- a model letter to be made
available to those in attendance, with instructions on how
best to assure delivery to its appropriate destination, and
to prepare and have available and distribute an appropriate
petition -- we have that ready today; we'll talk about it --
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with a heading on it that -- that says what it needs to say
to get the attention of those it needs to get, and -- and so
forth. vur thought in all of this was to, at the meeting,
let folks in attendance have the model letter. But, as
Commissioner Baldwin said, they must do it in their own
handwriting. The model is only to -- to give them the
pertinent information they need, with a suggested format.
That suggested format on both the model letter and the
petition heading came from our working with Mr. Edwards,
who's been down this road before, se these are his thoughts
as to what we need to properly get the job done.
We went on to think about how best to do this
and give it some impact, or give it some -- the force of
Commissioners Court, and the thought was to ask folks -- and
this may be something you want to debate and not do it this
way; I don`t know. But ask folks to mail them back to us,
at which time our administrative assistant will make a copy
so we have a permanent record, and then we will bundle them
all up, and every so often, when we qet a big stack, the
Judge will write a cover letter and send them off to
T.C.E.Q., say, "Here's another batch." That's one thought.
You may not like that thought. Judge may not like that
thought, but that's a thought, nonetheless. And, secondly,
the same with the petitions. We'll be asking, if we get
a -- an attendance worthy of this effort, to ask people from

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the various water companies to take the petition, circulate
it among those of their fellow customers in their
subdivisions or wherever and get those petitions signed, and
then bring those back, and we, in turn, wi11 send them to
T.C.E.Q. with appropriate covering letter. So, that`s kind
of the basis of the eight-paint plan. It's open for you
guys to discuss, kick around, do away with, whatever.
COMMISSIONER BALLWIN: One of the reasons for
us to receive the letters anal make a copy of them and put
them in the file -- and our good friend Kathy, I think, is
brainstorming behind all that -- is our understanding is
that somehow, sometimes these things get lost. The letters
get lost between here and Austin, or after they -- even
after they arrive in Austin. So this, to me, is a sure way
of eliminating that problem, just in case they accidentally
get lost over triere, we wi11 have a copy of everything. So,
I just think that that's a -- that's a good way to go about
doing .this thing.
COMMISSIONER LE`I'Z: I think everything looks
good, and I think the idea of having letters come back here
is good. I think the thing that I would add -- it kind
of -- I think there's time to do it before the June 14th
date, is to ask the homeowners' associations to try to have
as many -- you know, I agree that they shouldn't use the
form letter exactly as we've done it, but I don't know why
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each subdivision and each homeowners' association couldn't
have their own form, letter, and then basically each
individual sign it, and if we could have those letters
present at the public hearing, you can get them signed and
to us immediately.
COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: You mean the Town Hall
meeting?
COMMISSIONER LETZ: The Town Hall meeting,
G1hat did I say, public hearing?
COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Public hearing.
COMMISSIONER LETZ: Town Hall meeting.
Because a lot of times -- you know, people are busy, and if
you have it ready, they can just sign it on the spot while
it's on their mind. I think we have a far better chance of
getting a larger participation than waiting on, you know,
things to get mailed back to us. If we can get them in-hand
at that date, I think it would work even better.
COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: One of the things
that the model letter -- we worked this out, again, with
Mr. Edwards. OnP of the things the model letter does is, it
standardizes the basic information that's necessary to be oii
record as being opposed to the rate increases, as opposed to
some letters I've seen, which the -- the water customer,
trying to make his or her point, goes off on an emotional
bent. And I don't think the folks in Austin particularly
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want to hear the emotional side of it, They just want to
know they got 10 percent, so they're going to either conduct
a water hearing or not going to conduct a water hearing.
And so, all of -- all this does is gives -- being a
ratepayer of Aqua Texas, or whatever I am currently, I
protest it. I'm a current resident, signature, print your
name, .address, state, and the name of your water company,
And that's really all that's necessary to get that done.
The petition, however, is another matter, and
Mr. Edwards helped us in drafting this. He believes that
this heading on the petition -- as opposed to just some
heading that someone might think is reasonably good and
start circulating petitions, he believes that this would be
the appropriate way to go. And it reads, "As indicated by
my signature below, I am a ratepayer affected by an
Application for Rate Increase filed by" -- so forth and so
on, with the numbers. And, "If the application is approved
as requested, my rates will be substantially and unjustly
increased. By my signature below, as a customer of (blank)
Water Company, I request that T.C.E.Q. conduct a public
hearing as required by law. At such hearing, I request that
T.C.E.Q, deny such rate increase, ~r in the alternative,
that it f~x a fair and just rate for the system from which I
receive service, and nit a rate coverinq multiple systems
that have little or nc common financial and/or operational
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needs." th~hich is the point the gentleman from west Kerr
made a while ago. And, so, I think this is important, that
all these are structured in a way that makes the same point
from all the various water companies.
COMMISSIONER LETZ: I mean, if it's possible
for us to just to get rid of the "draft" letter and have
this identical Letter available --
COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: We can do that.
COMP~IISSIONER LETZ: Not even worry about
the -- I mean, get the same identical one.
COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Yeah, it is. We only
had "draft" on it so -- it's fcr your benefit here today, in
case you wanted to make some other changes. And I thought
that if we agree with this, we'd ask Kathy to print off a
ream of them, have them available for people.
JUDGE TINLEY: I don't think there's any need
to have individualized language. What we're trying to do is
satisfy a technical, legal requirement to meet that
10 percent.
COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Exactly.
JUDGE TINLEY: And when you place a burden on
people to translate this into their own handwriting, even in
the exact same language, that creates more work for them;
the likelihood they're going to do it goes down. If they
can take that -- that very same Lhing and just fill it out,
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sign it, all we're trying do is accomplish that one
technical, legal requirement to meet the 10 percent.
COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: And knowing the state
agency, which is the other side that receives it, I agree
with you 100 percent. `'hat's all they're interested in,
is --
JUDGE TINLEY: Mm-hmm.
COMMISSIONER BALDWIN; -- getting that.
COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: That's fine. We can
make that available.
COMMISSIONER LETZ: Mr. van Bavel has a
comment.
JUDGE TINLEY: Yes, sir? You had a comment,
Dr. van Bave1? Come forward, please, sir.
MR. VAN BAVEL: I think this letter is
excellent, and we need to fill that whole form out, Now, if
you are going to depend on this town meeting, you will get
some signatures, but not very many. What I am going to do,
and that has to be done in every water district, I am
personally going to go from house to house with this form
and have them fill it out, and I'll bet you that I get every
single one of the 3(~ ratepayers to sign it. But how are you
going to get this done in the other districts? That is
something that I have been worrying about, and I'm going to
try to find out. I was thinking to myself, putting an ad in
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the paper and saying that all these subdivisions, or water
districts and/cr homeowner associations, because they're
also customers, send in their name and address, telephone
number so that we can send them a copy of this thing --
which nobody knows it exists -- and ask them to appoint
someone to go from house to house and collect these.
COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think we have -- I
mean, I think that -- I don't }.now about an ad to go in the
paper or not, but we nave three representatives, possibly --
possibly more, in the audience. We can give them draft
copies right now, and they can, you know, get it to the
subdivisions. I'm just saying I think we should have them
available at the town meeting so we can get those that come,
but that's not going to be a hundred percent; you're right.
We need to get --
MR. VAN BAVEL: There's 36 more than the four
that are here.
JUDGE TINLEY: It's going to be incumbent
upon the ratepayers to --
MR. JAN BAVEL: Yes.
JUDGE TINLEY: -- try and ascertain a core
group within each of the areas affected to assume a
leadership rcle and to circulate these petitions, distribute
these -- these letter formats to the residents and
ratepayers, so that we can get this accomplished. But the
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key is going to be that, within each of these served areas,
each of these subdivisions or whatever they may be, multiple
subdivision areas, that someone in that area assume a
leadership role, and it's going to be necessary for those
that are involved to organize that -- that movement, the way
I see it.
COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: That's exactly right,
Judge. And I asked -- when I spoke with the representative
of the Kerrville Daily Times yesterday, I asked if, when
develcping the story, the Times would be good enough to list
all of these water companies in the story somehow. List
therm all, so that -- and I would go even further than that,
Glenda. Not only in the Kerrville Daily Times, but in
whatever it is ycu're doing with the Mountain Sun these days
as well, wherever it goes. Put them in both newspapers so
that it gets as broad a coverage as it can by -- in
identifying each and every one of these water companies.
COMMISSIONER LETZ: One final thing before I
forget to mention it. We need to remember to authorize the
County Judge to tiign a letter and sign the petition, because
we are a member -- a ratepayer due to being in Center Point,
which is part of this.
COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: That's right, we are.
COMMISSIONER LETZ: So, I mean, we`re --
COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: We are. We're part
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of the Center Point system.
COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So -- wait a minute.
Say that again? That the -- the actual county government --
COMMISSIONER LETZ: We're a ratepayer.
COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: We're an affected --
COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Yeah.
COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Affected --
COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Yeah.
COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: -- county with a
water --
COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: The water in my
office in Center Point is AquaSource.
COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: And the information
that the County Attorney's been e-mailing us that says
affected county -- so that we -- we are an affected county,
then?
JUDGE TINLEY: Well, it -- that particular
affected county I'm not sure is going to qualify.
COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: But we are a
ratepayer.
JUDGE TINLEY: We're a ratepayer.
COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: We're a customer. We
are a customer.
COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Wow, this really makes
us mad now, huh?
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COMMISSIOTv~ER WILLIAMS: Now we're getting
down to it.
COMMISSIONER BALDW?N; I wanted to point out,
I have already received five cr six letters. I can't
remember the -- Kathy's already started our little file in
there. These are copies of letters that -- from people in
my precinct that have already mailed them on to Austin and
sent me a copy. Some of them are very interesting. Most of
them, if -- if we didn't adopt this particular letter here
that Judge Edwards has written, I can highly recommend some
out of these here, 'cause they're very well-written. One --
I wanted to point out, one is from a realtor that puts the
slant on, what does it do to the real estate possibility?
What does it do to real estate? I thought that was very
interesting. And I have one here that does not oppose the
rate increase that you can't have, and it is not going to
Austin. It's all mine.
COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Okay.
COMMISSIONER. BALDWIN: So, the letters are
already pouring in to me.
COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Couple questions. I
think I understand that people like the Ingram City Attorney
are going to do some preparation and -- and represent cities
at the T.C.E.Q. hearing. How are the environs going to get
their preparation organized and presented at the T.C.E.Q.

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hearings?
COMMISSIONER GdILLIAMS: You know -- I'm
sorry. Go ahead, Buster.
COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Well, I just wanted to
make a real quick comment. We had talked about this
Court -- I can te11 you what I think is the best route to
go. I don't think that it's a good idea for this
Commissioners Court to spend taxpayers' money on this
particular issue, because of several reasons. But I do
think that it has been mentioned in this courtroom that
there's a couple of subdivisions that possibly have some
extra change laying around. Go down to the bank and open up
an account, and let's start getting everybody to pour into
there, and then, when we get to that point, somebody has to
go out and hire a lawyer with it to represent the environs
of Kerr County.
COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Still leaves
unanswered, I think, part of what you were talking about,
Commissioner. Mr. Edwards dealt with that, as I recall. He
was talking abut whether or not the Court would authorize
money for that. But if the other counties -- and this may
be better handled ir. the Judge's cover letter to the other
counties than what it says in the resolution, suggesting
there's a way to get together -- for us to get together to
do more than what we're doing. I don't know.
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COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: If that would make a
difference, I would be interested in pursuing that kind of
course of action.
COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think one other
comment, and this is probably more to Glenda than anybody
else. In any article written, we need to remember that
there's -- we hat,=e a lot of subdivisions and water systems
that are not on this lrst of 40. We need to make sure that
we don't exclude them. I know I have, I know, two besides
the one that is listed that are -- are not on here. I don't
know why.
COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Are they AquaSource?
COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah. And -- but
they're -- they don't have active homeowners' associations
at a11. They're just -- you know, it's a subdivision that's
platted, and they have a water system that's owned by Aqua
Texas. But I think that these people certainly need to be
encouraged, and, you know, by the -- reaching them through
the press, to do the same. Ana if they could actually
publish the form of this -- the, you know, one little
paragraph in the paper that's cn this letter, I think that
would be real helpful.
COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: The -- I'm thinking
again. about the T.C.E.Q. hearing. Is -- is it important
that ratepayers -- a large number of ratepayers show up?
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And is the T.C.E.Q. influenced by -- by a lot of noise?
COMMISSIONER LETZ: I would say -- I've never
been to T.C.E.Q., but I do go to a lot of T.W.D.B. board
meetings in Austin, and yes, they are.
JUDGE TINLEY: Treat would be my supposition,
also. Mr. Eller, vcu had a comment that you wanted to make?
vIR. ELLER: I'd like to make a couple of
comments. Number -- number one, I like the petition and I
like the letter. People are so concerned that you might get
10 percent of them to sign a letter and put a stamp cr. it,
put it in an envelope and mail it, right? So, we might get
50 or 60 percent to sign this petition if it's put in.front
of their face. So, I -- you know, we need to go with both
of them; certainly need to gc with this one. At the town
hall meeting, this thing ought to be made up and there ought
to be a table with each one of these water companies, so
each person can go over and sign. I think we can get a lot
of signatures. If these are out at the -- if the letter has
"return to" or "c.c." to the Commissioners Court, this one
ought to have it too, because people are going to forget
where to send it, and -- you know. Okay? And it doesn't
cost much ink to put it down there. at the bottom. And for
the noise in Austin, there's nothing wrong with chartering
some buses, and it's so much a head, just like going to
Louisiana to gamble. Let people pay 25 bucks, and we'll
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ride some buses up there. Thank you.
JJDGE TINLEY: Thank you. Mr. Lambert, you
had a comment?
MR. LAMBERT: Actually, I had a question as
to -- it appears that AquaSource or Aqua Texas has omitted
some of the actual water districts. It is "Aqua Texas"
you're saying?
COMMISSIONER LETZ: I don't know that there's
a difference; I think they're the same entity. Just --
MR. LAMBERT: So, everything that once was
AquaSaurce is now absorbed into Aqua Texas, to your
knowledge?
COMMISSIONER LETZ: As I understand it, yes.
MR. LAMBERT: Okay. Was that an omission?
Do you suspect that they just left some of those off?
COMMISSIONER LETZ: I don't -- I think that
the -- the one that I'm thinking of is -- you know, they
don't have any kind of an association, so it's not -- even
though it's a platted subdivision, there's no body for them
to list.
MR. LAMBERT: Because somewhere there
exists --
COMMISSIONER. WILLIAMS: If you look at the
heading, Clay, on -- on -- in this booklet --
MR. LAMBERT: Right.
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COMI~IISSICNER WILLIAMS: -- it identifies
who's making the -- filing the petition for rate increases,
and the first one is Aqua Utilities, Inc., that does
business in Texas as Aqua Texas, in parentheses, "formerly
AquaScurce Utility," so they've reorganized the whole thing.
And then the second petitioner is AquaSource Development
Company, doing business as Aqua Texas. So, you know, it's
alphabet soup here.
MR. LAMBERT: I guess what I'm trying to get
to is, do we really have identified, to our knowledge, every
subdivision or every water system that's included in there?
COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: We've identified
what's in their book.
COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right.
MR. LAMBERT: What I've heard today is that
there's some others that were not included in the book.
COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I heard it too.
MR.. LAMBERT: You know, if it's time for a
hearing and someone goes in and says, "We've got 12 percent
of the customers' signatures," and all of a sudden they say,
"Well, no, you don't, because there's these other areas that
you didn't look at," there could be an issue there. So, we
ought to be shooting for some number of signatures, is what
I'm coming around to, to make sure that we exceed that
number.
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JUDGE TINLEY: ~^~ell, I think you should
certainly try and exceed it in any case, get yourself a good
cushion. The observation I would make is that if you're
going to give fair notice tc someone of a rate increase, and
-- and you don't include a subdivision as part of that rate
increase, I think you might be hard-pressed getting that
rate increase to be applicable to somethinq that you haven't
identified, because you're not giving those people fair
notice. And I -- and I think, under the administrative ]aw
process, they very well may have to face that. Now, whether
cr pct they are able to show that, for example, Greenwood
Forest is, in fact, included within some other umbrella or
some other system, rather than specifically Greenwood Forest
Subdivision water supply or whatever, you know, that --
that, of course, is a whole 'pother issue. I'm not sure how
they came up with their -- with their designations. But if
they've not given fair notice to these people -- Mr. Eller,
did everybody in Greenwood Forest get one ~f those? One of
these --
COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Look at --
JUDGE TINLEY: -- these booklets that came
from T.C.E.Q.?
MR. ELLER: I did not.
JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. That's very
interesting, because that's a significant number of
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customers.
COMMISSIONER PdILLIAMS: How about -- how
about in Pecan Valley, Professor? Did everybody get one?
MR. VAN BAVEL: Yeah, everyone that I have
talked to. And, for what it's worth, I got a list from
Headwaters of all the well permits that have been issued to
AquaSource, ber_ause they bought a bunch of systems that
never did have a permit in the first place, but that's --
that's only 13 districts. And the ones that they bought
that had permitted -- properly permitted wells, they have
no -- we don't know who they are, because that is somewhere
in the files in Aust~n. But that -- I've always come to the
conclusion that the whole registration of wells is a total
mess. Nobody knows how many wells there are, where they
are, and who owns them. But on those 13, I have not only
the location, but also the number of connections and the
size of the area. So, somewhere -- but that's only 13 out
of 40. Ncw, I have another idea that I might be using --
that I could use to find out what -- where the others are,
but one of them wo~ild be doing some kind of publicity in the
newspaper that says, you know, hold up your hand where you
are a ratepayer and so forth and so on. Give the address.
But that is a real problem.
JUDGE TINLEY: Trunk you. But your point is
well-made, Mr. Lambert, that -- that you shouldn't try and
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just reach the target of 10 percent and sit back. You need
to exceed it as much as you can. Number one, to have a
cushion, and number two, you got to consider that we are
looking at what's called a southwest region.
COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: That's what they call
it.
~7UDGE TINLEY: And they're going to calculate
that as one entity. So, if -- it, off down in Dimmitt
County or some other county that's within that same region,
they have a low, low level of participation, we may have to
absorb some of their 10 percent, or other counties, and as
well as other counties participating also. And that's what
we're goinq to need to try and impress upon the other --
COMMISSIONER BALDWIN; Judge, let me give you
an example of that. One of those counties is Bexar County.
It would surprise me if the Commissioners Court in Bexar
County will participate. I don't know how many water
systems Aqua Texas has in Bexar County, but it would
surprise me if Bexar County Commissioners Court
participated. And the same thing in Corpus Christi; Corpus
is also in this area. It would surprise me if that county
commissioners court participated in this program. So, we
need to hit 700 percent Here and hope that the Banderas and
the rest of them will help carry the load a little bit,
25 ~ 'cause I don't think that those two -- what about Hays
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County? You know, they're pretty big.
COMMISSIONER LETZ: Travis.
COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: In that connection,
Commissioner, you and I talked. I will take this same
resolution that we adopted to the Rural County Judges
meeting, which is in advance of the next AACOG Board
meeting, and ask the rural county judges to adopt it as --
as their own as well. So, we'll try to cover our bases that
way.
MR. LAMBERT: I had one other question.
JUDGE TINLEY: Yes, sir?
MR. LAMBERT: Is there a readily available
list of homeowners -- or identification of homeowners
associations for each of these water systems? How can that
best be put together
COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Let me try to deflect
your question, 'cause Kathy did the research. When you did
the research on the list that's contained in this booklet,
which is a two-page list, did we finally agree that all of
them are homeowners' associations, or some of them are not?
MS. MITCHELL: Some of them are not.
COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Okay, I thought that
was the case. And they're just identified as little water
companies out someplace. Pine Grove or something, for
example. I don't know.
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MR. LAMBERT: ~°deli, if you have the list, if
you`d share that with me --
COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: It's in the book.
MR. LAMBERT: -- I'd take the responsibility
of contacting the homeowners' associations listed.
COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: No, what we have is
in this bcok, the list of water companies that are applying
for a rate increase. There's two pages of them; a bunch of
them, water and sewer. There are two pages here of those
who are identified throughout the southwest region, and we
went down and checked all the Kerr County ones. Now, this
takes care of all of them, all of the 14 counties.
MR. LAMBERT: I understand that,
Commissioner, but what i wanted to do is to mate up
homeowners' associations with those that have them.
COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I understand that,
but I don't know that we have that information.
MS. MITCHELL: No.
MR. LAMBERT: I'm sorry. I thought you said
that we --
MS. MITCHELL: j~]e don't have the homeowners.
MR. LAMBERT: My question is, where could
that best be found?
COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: That`d be good, if
you want to do it.
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MR. LAMBERT: Where would I go to?
MS. PIEFER: Most homeowners' associations
are not filed for record; therefore, there is no record of
such.
COMMISSIONER LETZ: You almost have to find
someone in a subdivision. Now, the one in my precinct, I
can tell you exactly who to contact, which is Falling
Waters.
COMMISSIONER BALDG~'IN: And the same here.
COMMISSIONER. LETZ: 1 mean --
COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I have -- I mean --
COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think probably the, you
know, Commissioners -- we probably know as much as anyone,
you know, for our area, as to who the best contact is in
each of these subdivisions, but there's no master list of
the associations.
MR. LAMBERT: Okay.
COMMISSIONER. LETZ: Actually two in my
precinct.
MR. LAMBERT:
going .to take that on?
COMMISSIONER
MR . LP_MBERT
COMMISSIONER
the public hearing or the p
So, did I hear that you're
LETZ: I already talked to them.
You have?
LETZ: I haven`t told them about
ablic meeting -- Town Hall
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meeting, whatever, but we didn't know the day. They met
last night~n Falling t~'ater.
MR. LAMBERT: And, Commissioner Baldwin, do
you trink you could attach a name or a homeowners'
association or something to each of these different systems
in Precinct 1?
COMMISSIONER BALDWTN: I don't know about
100 percent of them, but most cf hem, yes, absolutely.
MR. LAMBERT: Well, if you can get me that
list, I'll take -- or I'll assist you in contacting people
to --
COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Did you get that down,
Kathy? I'll take care of you.
MR. BRADY: Would it be applicable or proper
for someone to ask AquaSource -- you know, they have a
database with all these customers in it, and they can sort
it ar.y way. It seems like I heard somewhere that there's
1,200 customers in the county. I don't know about that, but
I heard that. But I know that none of us could call
AquaSource and ask them for a sorted list of the customers
in Kerr County. Could the County Judge do that?
JUDGE TINLEY: Good point.
T~1R. BRAD`_': Under the Freedom of Information
Act?
JUDGE TINLEY: The worst they can do is say
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no, right?
MR. BP,ADY: That's right. That's how I view
the thing.
JUDGE TINLEY: I think I've got the telephone
number to the head honcho in Texas.
COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I think you do too,
sir.
COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Pflugerville.
COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: I don't think
they're covered by Open Reccrds Act. That's just a
government entity.
COMMISSIONER LETZ: Utility.
COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Not a corporation.
MR. BRADY: I'm sure they can shuck and jive
for you too, but certainly, you have a lot more weight than
any of us.
COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I don't know if --
JUDGE TINLE`r: G1e're fixing to find out just
how much weight they perceive I have.
COMMISSIONER. BAT~DTn]IN: The Judcte and I met
with the president of the company in private one day, and
I'm not sure if the guy's going to respond back to the
County Judge or not. It wasn't a pleasant experience.
MR. BRADY: I have heard that about the
gentleman.
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COMMISSIONER BALDWT~1: About this gentleman?
MR. BRADY: No, the one that you talked with
up there.
COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Oh, he was very nice.
This one here was a little bit rough, though.
MR. BRADY: Oh, okay.
COMMTSSIONER BALDWIN: I want to point out
this -- talk again about this Number 3 item, that we're
going t~ have a town hall meeting. Where?
COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Hill Country Youth
Exhibit Center.
COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Very good, Bill. On
June the 14th at 7 p.m.. I think that's important, that
everybody get that down and start -- when you go -- when you
talk to -- go back and talk to these subdivisions, let them
know this date. They need to be there. It's important.
COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: And I will follow up
on your suggestion. We'll make the letter available so they
can just pick it up, take the word "draft" off the top, and
whatever adjustments -- any] the petition as well. They can
sign that there, and maybe we can find out who will
represent the various water companies and give them some
extra copies to take with them.
MR. ELLER: If we want a large crowd out
there June 14th in Kerr County, what kind of barbecue and
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beer are you serving?
COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Hot Pearl.
COMMISSIONER LET?: Whatever the homeowners'
associations can contribute.
MR. BRADY: Good answer.
MR. ELLER: Free food will draw a crowd.
COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Judge, I would move
our strategy to assist Kerr County constituents' protest of
AquaSeurce proposed tax rate increases.
COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second.
JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded to
adopt the strategy to assist Kerr County constituents'
protest of the proposed rate increases by Aqua Texas. Any
further question or discussion? All in favor of the motion,
signify by raising your right hand.
(The motion carried by unanimous vote.)
JUDGE TINLEY: Ali opposed, same sign.
(No response.)
JUDGE TINLEY: Motion does carry. Do we have
ar.y other business to take up under these two agenda items?
Seeing none being raised, I'll declare the meeting
adjourned.
(Commissioners Ceurt adjourned at 10:25 a.m.}
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STATE OF TEXAS
COUNTY OF KERR ~
The abcve and foregoing is a true and complete
transcription. of my stenotype notes taken in my capacity as
Ccunty Clerk of the Commissioners Court of Kerr County,
Texas, at the time ar,d place heretofore set forth.
DATED at Kerrville, Texas, this 4th day of June, 2004.
JATQNETT PIEPE-R~ ,~jKerr County Clerk
BY . ___r / ,~~~~ _______
Kath~ik, De ut Count Clerk
Y p Y Y
Certified Shorthand Reporter
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ORDER N0.28665
RESOLUTION
AQUA TEXAS, INC.
Came to be heard this the 2°d day of June 2004 with a motion made by Commissioner
Williams, Seconded by Commissioner Baldwin, the Court unanimously approved by a
vote of 4-0-0, adopt a Resolution to protest the inequitable and possibly unjust rate
increase by Aqua Utilities, dba Aqua Texas, Inc.
ORDER NO. 28b66
AQUA TEXAS, INC.
PLAN TO OPPOSE RATE INCREASE
Came to be heard this the 2nd day of June 2004 with a motion made by Commissioner
Williams, Seconded by Commissioner Letz, the Court unanimously approved by a vote
of 4-4-0, adopt the strategy plan to oppose the rate increase on behalf of Kerr County
Constituents.