1 r- 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 R 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 .-, 25 KERR COUNTY COMMISSIONERS COURT Regular Session Monday, January 10, 2005 9:00 a.m. Commissioners' Courtroom Kerr County Courthouse Kerrville, Texas PRESENT: PAT TINLEY, Kerr County Judge H.A."BUSTER" BALDWIN, Commissioner Pct. 1 WILLIAM "BILL" WILLIAMS, Commissioner Pct. 2 JONATHAN LETZ, Commissioner Pct. 3 ABSENT: DAVE NICHOLSON, Commissioner Pct. 4 ~JI `, , 2 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 I N D E X January 10, 2005 PAGE --- Visitors' Input 3 --- Commissioners' Comments 6 1.1 Set public hearing for revision of plat of Lot 5, Grotto Springs, Pct. 3 9 1.2 Consider Commissioners' Court appointments to various boards, agencies and/or entities 10 1.7 Discuss appointments and/or designations of Commissioners' Court liaison/committee assignments 11 1.3 Consider efficiency and effectiveness of Kerr County Information Technology personnel 15 1.4 Establish procedures that facilitate handling and distribution of Commissioners' Court documents 35 1.5 Consider establishing a policy for authorizing names to be placed on the Kerr County War Memorial 37 1.6 Consider and discuss filling open deputy position 44 1.8 Discussion and consideration on unresolved insurance Issues and whether to continue current contract 51 1.13 Consider authorizing Road & Bridge to advertise for bids to purchase Gradall machine(s) to replace Gradall damaged in accident 65 1.9 Consider extension of temporary Lease and Operating Agreement at Juvenile Detention Facility 67 1.10 Consider authorizing needed repairs/replacements of components at Juvenile Detention Facility 69 1.11 Consider funding requirements for operation of Juvenile Detention Facility 88 1.12 Consider financial data for Kerr County Juvenile Detention Facility, discuss possible authorization for independent audit of 2002, 2003 and 2004 91 ,107 4.1 Pay Bills 91 4.2 Budget Amendments 92 4.3 Late Bills -- 4.4 Read and Approve Minutes 93 4.5 Approve and Accept Monthly Reports 94 5.1 Reports from Commissioners/Liaison Committee Assignments 95 Adjourned 112 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 On Monday, January 10, 2005, at 9:00 a.m., a regular 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: Let me call to order the meeting of the Kerr County Commissioners Court scheduled for this time and date, Monday, January 10th, 2005, at 9 a.m. Commissioner 1, I think today is your day. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Is it really? Okay. All right, let's pray, and then after our prayer we'll have the pledge of allegiance. (Prayer and pledge of allegiance.) COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Thank you. JUDGE TINLEY: At this time, if there's any member of the public that wishes to address the Court on any matter that is not listed on the agenda, they're free to come forward at this time. If it's a listed agenda item, we'd ask that you wait until that item is called, and fill out a participation form. It's not essential, but it's helpful to me, and so that I don't pass you over when it comes to that item. But if there's any member that -- any member of the public that wishes to be heard at this time, they're free to come forward. Yes, sir? MR. ALLEN: I'm not really the public, but I 1-10-05 4 1 . 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 got here a letter of resignation. I'm turning in my resignation; I'm going on to a different chapter in my life as of -- January 31st will be my last day. I have a letter for each one of you. JUDGE TINLEY: All right. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I think I told you last week you could not do that. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Are you taking the dogs with you? MR. ALLEN: I've accepted another job in New Mexico, and I'm pretty excited about moving. If I don't do this move now, I'll probably never do it; I'll be too old. So, I'm young enough. I don't have anything holding me here; all my kids are gone, and I'm just ready to do something different. And I'd like to recommend that Janie Roman have a chance at taking my place as the facility manager. I think she's -- she'd be a good one for us. But, short and sweet. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Well, I regret that you're doing this, Marc, but I understand why you're doing it, and I wish you well. And I want to commend you for the extraordinary job you've done with our Animal Control. It really has been a good job for the people of Kerr County, and I thank you for that. 25 ~ MR. ALLEN: Well, I appreciate that, and I've 1-10-05 1 _ 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 5 really enjoyed it. It's a tough business. I mean, what we do -- a lot of people don't like to hear what we do. But I'm ready to get out of it. It's -- this will be going on my 14th year. And it's been great, and it's been great working here; it's been a blast, but I'm ready to go do something different. JUDGE TINLEY: I wish you the very best where you're going, and we understand that you've got to look out for moving onward and upward, and we -- we wish you the very best in your further pursuits. MR. ALLEN: If you ever get up to New Mexico at the racetrack, look me up, 'cause that's where I'm going to be. 15 coll 16 17 18 sir. 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 wishes to -- COMMISSIONER LETZ: I echo the comments of my MR. ALLEN: Thank you. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Dittos. Thank you, JUDGE TINLEY: Is there anyone else who COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: To resign? JUDGE TINLEY: -- address the Court on any matter that's not listed on the agenda? If not, we'll move on, and Commissioner 1, what do you have for us this morning? 1-10-05 6 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I have a couple items, Judge, that I wanted to lay on you. We have this love letter here from the County Attorney -- I mean, the first rattle out of the box -- telling us we can't meet at the Union Church. So, although I disagree with him, and the -- the last attorney as well, we will comply with the -- with what he wants to do. And so our next meeting that we had scheduled at the Union Church, we're not going to do, so we'll be here under this roof, where we should be. I don't know if that -- that we need to rescind that original court order or not, just to get it off the books, or is it -- does it go off in the deep black hole of court orders? I don't know. We'll take care of that. Somebody tell me, and we'll take care of it. The other item is the Aqua Texas. Remember, months ago we represented the users of Aqua Texas, and -- and put together several things, as a representative government should, and we pushed for -- one of the things we pushed for was to have a public hearing in Kerrville. And, thanks to our State Representative, Harvey Hilderbran, this has been achieved, and on January 24th -- Monday, January 24th, from 7:00 to 10:00 p.m. at Tivy High School, there will be an informal public meeting with, of course, the public and Aqua Texas. The other meetings are in, I understand, Dallas and -- I mean Austin and Houston and 1-10-05 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 ,--. 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 Dallas, so take a look at the -- where they're having those meetings. Houston, Dallas, and Austin, and Kerrville. So, I think that we have done our job. And, you know, if there's anything printed in the press, the message that I'd want to get out to the public is -- is, yes, we're a representative government, but we're not going to go -- or this Commissioner, anyway, is not going to go to this meeting to represent people. I'm going to go to this meeting to represent my family. And people have to go to this meeting, and that's what it's for, and we -- Harvey pulled some strings and beat on some folks up in Austin to get this thing here, so we have to have a major turnout if we want to do something about this issue. That's all, folks. JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you. Commissioner 2? COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: The first item you had, Commissioner, that's really kind of good news and bad news. The bad news was we can't meet at the Union Church. The good news is you got the word about it before we had already done that. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah, that is good. Rex is good. I was going to say how good he was. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Secondly, Commissioner Baldwin and I spent an enlightening day in Austin, Babylon on the Colorado, last Friday, and we had 1-10-05 1 2 3 ' 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 ,,,, 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 8 about a three-hour meeting with the Executive Director and General Counsel and others at the Texas Juvenile Probation Commission. And the reason that's so interesting is that these good folks took three hours out of their day, uninterrupted, to meet with Commissioner Baldwin and myself, worked our way through lunch, and we found that to be quite interesting, and at some point in time I'm sure we'll have to discuss what it is we think we learned. That's it. JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Commissioner 3? COMMISSIONER LETZ: Just glad to announce that the Hermann Sons Bridge is under construction today. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yea. COMMISSIONER LETZ: It started early last week -- or started earlier than the proposed date, which was today, was the original start date. They started last week cleaning out, moving equipment, and clearing some trees out, marking roadway. And so we're -- that's probably -- this is the first solely county-sponsored TexDOT joint project in some time in Kerr County, so glad to kick that off. Hopefully we'll have a few others kicked off this year. And if the press does do a story on this, please tell the people that the temporary bridge will stay open throughout the construction. I already had to deal with phone calls about rumors they were going to close the temporary bridge during the construction, and they're not. It will stay open. And 1-10-05 9 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 ~. 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 the other part of that is, when the temporary bridge gets pulled out, we'll have two railroad cars that I believe Commissioner of Precinct 2 has a use for. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I was going to ask you when could I get my flat cars for Flat Rock Lake Park. I'll wait. this year. COMMISSIONER LETZ: Probably third quarter of 24 Court. ,-~ 25 1-io-o5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So moved. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Very good. COMMISSIONER LETZ: Maybe second quarter. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Then we can build a bridge over Town Creek -- I mean Third Creek. MR. ODOM: We're working on it. COMMISSIONER LETZ: That's it. JUDGE TINLEY: Okay, thank you. Let's move on with our agenda, if we might. Item Number 1 on the agenda is set a public hearing for revision of plat of Lot 5, Grotto Springs, located in Precinct 3. MR. ODOM: What I'd like to do is set a public hearing for revision of plat of Lot 5, Grotto Springs, Precinct 3. What we're doing is combining two lots into one of 25 acres each, and I'd like to set that date for February the 14th, 2005, at 10 a.m., if that's okay with the 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. MR. VOELKEL: Excuse me, just one correction. We're asking to make two lots out of one. MR. ODOM: Okay. MR. VOELKEL: We're taking one lot and dividing into two. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Somebody tell me where Grotto Springs is. COMMISSIONER LETZ: Part of Whiskey Canyon. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Okay. MR. ODOM: Thank you. My notes -- I wrote my notes early this morning. JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded to set a public hearing for the revision of plat, Lot 5, Grotto Springs, for February 14th, '05, at 10 a.m. Any question or discussion? All in favor of that motion, signify by raising your right hand. (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. (No response.) JUDGE TINLEY: That motion does carry. The next item is consider, discuss, and take appropriate action on Commissioners Court appointments to the various boards, agencies, and/or entities. Commissioner Williams. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Judge, I would note 1-10-05 11 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 that you also put one in as Item 7, so I guess we can combine the two items into one and just dispatch with the whole thing. JUDGE TINLEY: I -- I did not read your item as encompassing my item, so -- COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: If you think differently -- JUDGE TINLEY: Well, we can just roll them in together, so I'll go ahead and call Item 7, consider and discuss appointments and/or designations of Commissioners Court liaison and committee assignments. I don't know what else yours was intended to include, but go ahead. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Whatever. It's intended to include all of them, and in addition to the AACOG letter, which has to do specifically -- specifically with one, I believe we included a copy of the order from last year -- court order from last year which listed all the various assignments. I guess, for the record, we can put those in and see where that takes us, see if anybody has any changes they'd like to make. Does everybody have it, Kathy? MS. MITCHELL: I think so. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: The list? You have a copy. Airport Board, last year -- and would be proposed, unless some changes are offered -- Jonathan Letz and Bill Williams. Historical Commission, Commissioner Baldwin. 1-10-05 12 1 -- 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 Library Board, Bill Williams. AACOG, Bill Williams and Buster Baldwin, alternate. E.M.S., Buster Baldwin. 9-1-1, Buster Baldwin and Jonathan Letz. K.E.D.F., County Judge and Dave Nicholsons as alternate. Maintenance and Courthouse Facilities liaison, County Judge. Investment Committee, County Judge, Auditor, and Treasurer. Ag Barn, Bill Williams, Jonathan Letz. Animal Control, Dave Nicholson. Law enforcement/Jail, County Judge. O.S.S.F.1 Environmental Health, Dave Nicholson. So, I think the question is, is that a list that we want to stand with this year? Or, if not, what changes do we make? COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think we need to add one. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: What's that? COMMISSIONER LETZ: Juvenile Detention Facility. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Oh, absolutely. COMMISSIONER LETZ: It's something -- you know, a member from the Court needs to be involved, and this is purely on the operational side of that building. And as I -- as another agenda item relates, we have some problems already, so -- and I would think that Commissioner Williams and Baldwin would be great on that, because y'all have been very involved already. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: If only Leonard will 1-10-05 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 13 let me use the bulldozer. (Laughter.) Being the wily old politician -- JUDGE TINLEY: Leonard's back. You can ask him. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: He's going to come in with a new Gradall. Would that work just as well? MR. ODOM: I'm sorry? COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Take it easy, Leonard. We weren't after you. MR. ODOM: What happens? COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Nothing yet. But being the wily old politician that I am, now would be a good time, if you wanted to dump anything, dump it on Number 4. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Exactly. I'd be willing to give him the Library Board. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay. COMMISSIONER LETZ: He's not here to defend himself; that's fine with me. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I actually kind of like this -- I like my duties; I can tell you that. COMMISSIONER LETZ: Does that mean you like the Juvenile Detention Facility? COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah, that'd be fine. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I'll accept it. I would make a motion that we confirm the liaison/committee 1-10-05 14 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 assignments for Commissioners Court members for the year 2005 as listed, with the addition -- with the change, Library Board from Commissioner Williams to Commissioner Nicholson, and the addition of Juvenile Detention Facility, Commissioners Williams and Baldwin. The Sheriff has his hand up. SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Yes, I do. Each year we've changed the liaison for the law enforcement, just to give the other Commissioners a -- and the County Judge was last year, and I think Buster was year before. Just to give them -- COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I thought Commissioner Baldwin had that, and it says County Judge here. SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Baldwin had it year before. County Judge had it last year. I'd like to recommend maybe Jonathan Letz or one of them have it this year. COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay, I'll take that. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Commissioner Letz. Change law enforcement. JUDGE TINLEY: Do you add that as part of your motion, Commissioner? COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Yes, sir. JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Do I hear a second? 1-10-05 1 .- 2 3 4 5 1 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 ~... 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 15 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for designation of the liaison/committee assignments. Any question or discussion? 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: The motion does carry. Okay. Next item, consider, discuss, and take appropriate action regarding efficiency and effectiveness of Kerr County Information Technology personnel. Commissioner Williams. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I believe this has been rendered moot, Judge, in light of a memorandum that Mr. Tomlinson gave us this morning, which I'll read into the record. Memorandum dated Friday, January 7, 2005, to Tommy Tomlinson, Kerr County Auditor: "In the four years since I came into employment with Kerr County, I've had a chance to meet some wonderful and extraordinary people, including those inside the Auditor's office. I learned much and have gained a new-found level of respect for all government workers, both elected and non-elected. However, there comes a time, as with all good things, when one must move on, and that time has come for myself. A new opportunity has arisen which brings me closer to completing my education and moving 1-10-05 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 16 towards my first true love, quantum physics. Therefore, I am issuing this resignation effective the last working day of January the 31st of 2005. It causes me sadness to leave such a wonderful work environment, but at the same time excites me about the journey that lies ahead. It's been an honor and a privilege to serve the County's technological needs and interests." Signed, "Sincerely, Shaun M. Branham, Department of Information Technology." So, that renders moot the need for a particular discussion on 1.3. It does, however, open up the question of how we're going to defer the future. COMMISSIONER LETZ: My thoughts would be that we, I would say, advertise immediately for that position, and at the same time -- and while we're advertising, we need to discuss the whole relationship, how it's going to work in the county. And I would probably -- and I've got -- I think I'd rather have this come under Commissioners Court rather than the Auditor, because we seem to get a lot of the complaints, and I think it's a better system. I think -- I don't know. It's unclear to me really how Shaun -- I know he worked -- he worked for Tommy; we put him under the Auditor, I guess, under the last budget, and I think it'd be better to have it under Commissioners Court. And I'd also like to figure out, if possible, a way to get the administrative assistant of the Court more involved in this i-io-os 17 1 1 ~ process. 2 3 4 5 6 7 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Well, that was part of the reason why I had it on, because we had -- we had expressed that desire to have Ms. Mitchell involved in our website particularly, and that hasn't happened over the course of the last nine months. And so that's -- I, too, would like to see that happen in the future, and any other things she can do technologically. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: If my memory serves me, we allocated some funds for an assistant for him. What I would like to see is that we hire someone new as early as possible and bring that person on board as early as possible, and those funds are there to pay a new person in a training period, whatever. COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think -- COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: But I really would like to see these items that Ms. Rector -- and I can't remember who else. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Road and Bridge, I 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 ~., 2 4 25 believe, had a memo. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Road and Bridge. And -- and then I got a phone call just the end of last week, and it's one of several that I've received from the 216th District Attorney's office, and y'all should thank me for taking that phone call, 'cause it was ugly. They are -- 1-10-05 i 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 18 they are -- they're in need of help with their computers. They cannot function. It's a district attorney's office. They cannot function, and just -- it needs to be -- these things need to be taken care of. COMMISSIONER LETZ: And I think it's a good time to look at -- you know, we -- hiring somebody. I think we need to have somebody on staff to do some of the work, but I also think that the time is a good time possibly to look at going out for contract on some of it. I think -- you know, I don't think you can contract everything. I think that would not work; there's too many things that are just -- I don't know. You need to have someone around that can do it, but I think that we need to have a -- a backup, because the delays -- you know, we just can't have them, and there has to be an alternative way. And maybe the -- to take the funds for the -- the second person, put it -- rather than just having one person, and then use it -- you know, having a budget item for a -- under contract for someone to come in and fix some of the other things. And I'd like to really get input from both the Auditor and Brad Alford as to kind of everything we've said so far. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I would too. I'd like to have my memory refreshed as to what is the salary level held by the current occupant of the job, and how much money did we put in for a second person? I think the 1-10-05 19 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 Auditor probably knows that as well as Barbara. Also, there's a question that arises -- Tommy, if you could, could you help us out here, please? The question arises in terms of routine computer work of the kind that -- of work that goes through the server and computers on everybody's desk, versus the mainframe that handles the financial. I don't ever -- I've never had a clear understanding of that distinction in my head as to what that's all about. You know, I need some help from the Auditor on that. MR. TOMLINSON: We11, which question do you want me to answer first? COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Well, I can't hear you back there, so -- whichever one comes to mind. COMMISSIONER LETZ: All of the above. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: All of the above. MR. TOMLINSON: Well, I'll answer the one about the budget first. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Okay. MR. TOMLINSON: The -- I'm recalling that we have around 85 -- I think it's $8,500 for a part-time person in the budget. Shaun has told me that -- that he has -- he has done some interviews for -- for some part-time people. He just hasn't found one that he thought was -- was qualified. And one of the problems -- one of the problems that I can see with -- with contracting with -- with an 1-10-05 _.` !~ 1 ~-. 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 20 outside firm is, unless that contractor can tell us definitively who's going to be here -- and I think the Sheriff can tell -- can verify what I'm going to say -- is that I think D.P.S. has regulations that prohibit anybody with -- with an offense greater than a Class C misdemeanor to have any access to online data that goes to D.P.S. So, if you've -- unless your contractor can tell us who that person's going to be, I mean, I -- I think the Sheriff will agree with me that that -- we have to do a criminal background check on -- on whoever touches the system. And so I -- in my mind, that's a problem. So -- so I think -- I think it's better to have a staff that's large enough, you know, body-wise to handle all of our needs -- you know, all the issues. I mean, I -- you know, I can tell you from experience that prior to four years ago, that -- that, you know, it's very -- it's very time-consuming. As an example, we -- we have grown so much data-wise -- data volume-wise in the last, you know, three or four years that when -- when I was -- when I was doing the backup for the system on a regular basis, I could do it with one tape, and I -- you know, I could put a tape in, go off, and the next day come back and take it out, or do the same thing on the weekend. Now it takes four tapes, so in order to do a full backup of the system that -- that you could use to reproduce everything that's on there, it takes at least six hours. It 1-10-05 ~ r. _ ~ d 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 21 takes four tapes, so you have to put one tape in, let it run for an hour, hour and a half, come back, replace that tape with a different one until you finally finish. So, what -- what happens is that you're committing -- that person, whoever it is, commits, you know, six hours of their time on a weekend. And so, I mean -- I mean, that's almost a whole day of work. And, you know, that was my plan in asking the Court for a part-time person for -- you know, for this budget, for this budget year, so as to have here -- you know, have someone on staff that could do those -- you know, do those duties. Because, I mean, if you -- if you have a one-man show, regardless of who it is, you have -- you have times -- unproductive times that -- that you don't have to be able to do some of the -- you know, some of the emergency-type repairs that you might need to do. And so I -- I just -- I've always said that -- that there's more there to do than -- than one individual could ever possibly imagine doing. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: How many computers do we have in our entire system over which somebody has to look them over? MR. TOMLINSON: I would -- 7 don't know for sure Commissioner, but I would -- I would estimate that we probably have 100 to 130. When I was doing the backup in '96, I think we only had 24 computers. Now the Sheriff's 1-10-05 1 2 3 4 5 6 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 22 Department alone has twice that many. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Are your financials separate on the mainframe? You have a separate mainframe for your financials versus a server for everything else? MR. TOMLINSON: No. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Everything's all 7 MR. TOMLINSON: All the -- all the courthouse products are on -- are on the mainframe. And, you know, financials, all the criminal justice system, the J.P.'s, the tax collection, both clerks, child support, jury, I think Adult Probation. I think there -- in all, there's 17 to 20 different processes that are on that system. And the way -- the connection to -- to a personal computer on your desk in that system is -- is accomplished through some software called Ableterm. And what -- what it -- what that software does is it converts a computer or a personal computer into a terminal. Because a personal computer has a Windows -- all of our computers has a Windows operating system, Microsoft operating system. That Microsoft operating system will not operate our mainframe, so we -- there has to be a bridge between the computer -- or the personal computer that sits on your desk and the mainframe, so that software is that bridge. And that software communicates from the mainframe to -- to your computer, and there's -- there's maintenance 1-io-os _ _ f ~~` ~ ~ 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 23 issues on both ends of that bridge. There's issues with -- with the PC side that have to do with -- with Internet, e-mail, printers that are attached to -- to that computer. On the other end is an entirely different world. It's -- that -- all those products are written in -- in an operating package called Uniplex or Unix. It's -- it's totally foreign to -- to PC language as we -- as you and I know it. And so to make -- to make it work, you know, you have to have somebody with knowledge on both ends of that bridge. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Is that the case with the current information technology specialist? He can provide it on both sides of the spectrum? MR. TOMLINSON: Exactly. And, I mean, you -- to do a good job on -- on the mainframe side, you have to know -- have some basic knowledge of -- of how that works. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Can a rank-and-file person off one of the computer services in town come in and take care of the problem? MR. TOMLINSON: I doubt it. I mean, I had a -- I had a man -- gentleman come into my office not long ago asking whether or not there was -- we had any openings. He used -- he ran -- he had his own business here at one time. And I -- I explained to him just what I explained to you, and he had no knowledge of -- of the other side, of the mainframe side. When -- I think I'm recalling that when -- 1-10-05 ~ ~ 1 ~-.. 2 3 ' 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 24 during the interview process, when the current person was -- was hired, we had -- I think Commissioner Griffin and the County Judge conducted the -- the interviews, and I think actually Commissioner Griffin published the advertisement for -- for applicants, because Commissioner Griffin had -- had a computer background; he was a systems analyst for NASA. So, I mean, that fell right into his expertise. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: He forgot more than most people know. MR. TOMLINSON: So, what I remember is that -- I think we had 18 or 20 applicants, and he was the only -- this person that we have now is the only person that had any idea about the other side. So, they're very -- you know, this is a very specialized field, and so you don't find many folks out there that have that knowledge. COMMISSIONER LETZ: My view would be that the person that works with the mainframe, I'd rather have an employee, and it maybe could be just a -- I don't know how much time that takes, but it seems to me that the -- the PC side could be contracted out fairly easy, because that's -- and that's where we -- you know, it seems to be most of the complaints come in. You know, there -- the PC's not working right. MR. TOMLINSON: Well, you're right. Yeah, that's exactly right. Because, I mean, the other side of 1-10-05 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 .., 2 4 25 25 the issue, there's hardly ever any problems. If there are, they're software problems generally, and -- and our software vendor will fix those. COMMISSIONER LETZ: So, to me -- and it may be possible to put a part-time person on that side that comes in and does the backup, works weekends, and kind of just coordinates the rest of it. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: For our purposes, though, wouldn't it -- wouldn't it be beneficial if we authorized going out, advertising for an individual to replace the current individual based on specifications that are drawn up for the job, and once that person has been selected, then make the determination how we'd either use the part-time money or whether we go out, let that person have some input into it after he gets on board and sees exactly what the complexities are, rather than our trying to make that decision today? That's in the form of a question. COMMISSIONER LETZ: I mean, I have no problem with that approach, but I think that we need to -- I don't know that we're going to have a replacement by the end of the month. I mean, hopefully we can, but that's a challenge, and I think we need to have a -- a backup, someone to -- someone that we can at least get the PCs working, 'cause I think Tommy could probably work nights again and -- and keep the mainframe going, you know, in a 1-10-05 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 bridge situation till we get, you know, a replacement. But I think we do need to at least have a backup of a local company or individual that can work on the PC problems. JUDGE TINLEY: And my understanding that you said a moment ago, that looking more on -- on the mainframe side is possibly have a part-time there, and then contract the other out, or vice versa. COMMISSIONER LETZ: I mean, I think I'd defer to Shaun or Tommy, and I think Brad worked with all this quite a bit, as to how much time the mainframe work takes. I mean, what I'm hearing Tommy say, you know, when you have a problem, it's probably a big problem, but it takes the backup and working with the system to make sure it's all operating. If that can be done on a part-time basis, I would rather have that on a part-time, and I think we probably have a better chance of getting a qualified person on a part-time basis to do that. MR. TOMLINSON: I don't know that. So far, we -- we haven't had a lot of luck finding anybody. Most of the people that -- that are qualified, you know, have full-time jobs. I mean, that's -- that skill is really, you know, high in demand. So, I mean, I -- I think it may be difficult to find somebody. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Can you craft an advertisement for us very quickly so that we can advertise 1-10-05 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 27 and get that moving? MR. TOMLINSON: I don't see any reason why we can't use the one we used the first time. It's open -- COMMISSIONER LETZ: I would think the -- the skills would be under that original advertisement. Whether or not we have all those skills, you know, dedicated to this person, you know, we can decide later. JUDGE TINLEY: Could we use the same technical requirements for a contract basis also? COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah. JUDGE TINLEY: We could advertise it both ways. COMMISSIONER LETZ: Both ways, either contract or in-house, and then, you know, see what we get. And I have a question. I've mentioned Brad several times. I know he's in here. Brad? MR. ALFORD: Sir? COMMISSIONER LETZ: He's looking the other way, trying to avoid my question. MR. ALFORD: Yes, sir, I was. COMMISSIONER LETZ: Is -- Brad, are you familiar with the Unix system? MR. ALFORD: No, sir. COMMISSIONER LETZ: You're a PC person? MR. ALFORD: Yes, sir. I agreed to help 1-10-05 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 28 Shaun on strictly the backup, the PC side of it. COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay, that was my question. Thank you. MR. ALFORD: Yes, sir. SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: The problem with the contract, like Tommy said, is it's not only our office. We have state computers, D.P.S. computers that are hooked up in other offices here that feed information to ours, so getting contract -- I know it took a while to even get Shaun approved through the State to be able to work on that stuff. It's going to cause some -- some serious problems as far as who is allowed to come in. If somebody contracts, you're going to have to do individual backgrounds; we'll have to know who it is every time they come, and that's even to work on the PC part of that system. See, we have -- Tommy was a little bit short. We have approximately 50 computers. Six of them are emergency computers, either hooked to domestic terrorism or Amber Alert or crime victim stuff that are all separate, but all have to keep up and all have to have clearance to be able to work on those. COMMISSIONER LETZ: I mean, I don't see any reason why you can't get a contract person cleared to work on them, 'cause I can guarantee you that D.P.S. doesn't have 100 percent of their computer work done by employees. At D.P.S., I guarantee you, they have contract people in Austin 1-10-05 29 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 doing a lot of this work. You may -- the contractor may have to designate employees A, C, and D are going to be the ones that are going to work on it, and they're all approved. I mean, I don't see that's a problem, 'cause contract people in the computer world are -- have to work on -- COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: A lot of confidential stuff. COMMISSIONER LETZ: As secure as D.P.S., and probably a lot more secure than D.P.S. computers. JUDGE TINLEY: Just include that as part of the requirements, that any personnel would have to pass a required criminal background. COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think part of the negotiations with the contractor can be, you know, you have to designate exactly who's going to be here. You can't just call up anybody. We need to have the same people come all the time; you know, two or three, I mean, or one. So, I think that can be worked out through the contract side. But I agree with Commissioner -- I think Williams, or Judge, whichever one said it, as to contract -- advertise both ways to give us the flexibility, 'cause we have 21 days to do something. MR. TOMLINSON: As a reminder, you know, we did do this -- what was it? Last -- COMMISSIONER LETZ: Last year. 1-10-05 30 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 MR. TOMLINSON: Last year or year before last, before the budget process. I think that's when it was. COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. MR. TOMLINSON: We bid out numerous things. And -- JUDGE TINLEY: Did we actually advertise for proposals on the same -- on the information technology? COMMISSIONER LETZ: We didn't get any solicitations. MR. TOMLINSON: We didn't get any back. So, you know, I -- we may have to, you know, go out and ask people to -- COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I think there's somebody out there. MR. TOMLINSON: -- apply. But -- COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Barbara, what is the salary level that we're currently paying? MS. NEMEC: Well, what we're currently paying is 34,649, but if you bring that to an entry level, it would be 32,640. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I guess the difference there would be predicated on experience and -- MS. NEMEC: Yes, longevity. 1-10-05 31 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Okay, thank you very much. Thank you, Tommy. COMMISSIONER LETZ: The other discussion -- COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Do we need a motion, Judge? COMMISSIONER LETZ: Probably, yes. JUDGE TINLEY: To authorize the advertisement, both for in-house employees and contract basis. I -- COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I move it. COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded to advertise for information technology services for in-house employees and contract services. Fair statement? COMMISSIONER LETZ: The -- I have a comment before we vote. The I think we -- do we put in the advertisement the salary? I think we do. I question whether that's enough money. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: So do I. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That's probably the problem. COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think it's going to be a -- you know, it is a problem. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Do we have to put in the salary in the advertisement? 1-10-05 32 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Can we -- MS. NEMEC: We don't have to. JUDGE TINLEY: No. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Can we say, "salary negotiable"? MS. NEMEC: Yes. JUDGE TINLEY: Depending on -- MS. NEMEC: On experience. JUDGE TINLEY: -- experience and qualifications. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: See if we can get them for less? (Laughter.) COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think I'd rather do that. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: So would I. COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think we really need to look at this, because -- COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I agree with you. JUDGE TINLEY: And advertise the in-house employee on both a part-time and full-time basis. COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yes. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: We're really seeking two employees, one part and one full, right? COMMISSIONER LETZ: Well, I'm not sure how it needs to go. I mean, I would rather -- 1-10-05 -~--- ___..« Jr. 33 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 ..... 25 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I'd rather see the part-time be -- the specs for the part-time be developed after we settle on the full-time. COMMISSIONER LETZ: See, I'd rather see us pay a bunch -- pay more on an hourly basis for a part-time to oversee it, and to contract out the rest of it. I believe we have a better chance of getting a very qualified person on a, you know, part-time basis if we pay him enough. JUDGE TINLEY: I tend to think like you do, Commissioner Letz. The ones that really have the qualifications are going to be in a full-time job, and might be more willing to take on a part-time basis for the right money. And on the routine, mundane things, possibly do that on a contract basis, but I think we ought to leave all of our options open when we advertise it for both in-house, part-time and/or full-time, and also on a contract basis. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Okay. Let's see what we get. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Also, I think another option, just to be safe, is to ask Shaun if he would consider staying on another -- an extra month, if needed. I mean, if -- you know, Tommy's right; it's difficult to find people out there, and if you remember, we got zero people to apply last time, and just -- just a safety net. Not hire him on for another month, but just ask him to -- if he'd 1-10-05 34 1 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 consider sticking around with us for a little while. Just a safety net. COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. JUDGE TINLEY: I'm sure the Auditor can explore -- I don't know what Shaun's next station is, but certainly the Auditor can discuss that with him and see where we a re. I think that's -- COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: What did he say he was moving on to do? COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Physics. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Quantum physics. MR. TOMLINSON: He's finishing his degree. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Quantum physics. Very, very interesting. MR. TOMLINSON: I think he's -- he lacks two semesters finishing up getting his master's, so that's his plans, and I think he's probably already applied. And so I don't -- I don't -- I didn't think about that issue when I talked to him, but I doubt that -- that he could do that. JUDGE TINLEY: Won't hurt to discuss it. MR. TOMLINSON: Won't hurt to discuss it. JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. COMMISSIONER LETZ: Was there a second to that motion? JUDGE TINLEY: Yes, there was. i-io-as 35 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 ,--, 2 4 25 MS. ALFORD: Yes. JUDGE TINLEY: I thought there was. Any further question or 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: That motion does carry. Next item is consider, discuss, and take appropriate action to establish procedures that facilitate handling and distribution of Commissioners Court documents that satisfy the requirements of both the County Clerk and the office of the Commissioners Court. Commissioner Williams? COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: What was that award you wanted to give me? The golden can opener award? JUDGE TINLEY: Golden can opener award, yes. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Well, it is not my purpose to stir up a lot of -- but I would like for us to be able to establish a procedure with the clerk's office so that when a document originates from Commissioners Court or off this dais, be it a resolution, a contract, or whatever -- whatever, that the administrative assistant has the ability to take that document and send it out with appropriate cover correspondence, if required, and then provide the County Clerk's office with whatever it needs to 1-10-05 36 1 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 satisfy its requirements under law. It's just a simple procedure. I'm not looking to stir Pandora's box up here, but I think there have been situations in the past where documents went to the clerk's office and probably got dispatched at some point in time, but we didn't know it, and we didn't know if a cover letter went out on it, and I think those things are appropriate to handle it. That's the purpose. Any suggestions from the clerk's office? MS. McELHANNON: That's fine. COMMISSIONER LETZ: So, what do we -- JUDGE TINLEY: My thought would be to allow the clerk and the Court's administrative assistant to try and develop a protocol that will work with them, bring it back to us, and we can take a look at it, and if it makes good sense and solves the requirements of everybody, why -- COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Makes sense to me, Judge. I like that idea. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Judge, you're so wise. You're a wise man. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: That's why he's in the middle chair. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That's why he's in the big bucks, I agree. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Gets the big bucks sitting in the middle. 1-10-05 37 1 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JUDGE TINLEY: Daddy, daddy. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Uh-oh. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: So, we'll move on. JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Do you think that suggestion is enough to handle that item? COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Yeah, I think so. JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I think these ladies can work it out. JUDGE TINLEY: All right. Let's move on to the next item, consider and discuss establishing a policy for authorizing names to be placed on the Kerr County war memorial. Commissioner Baldwin. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Thank you, sir. Like so many other things around here, we don't have a firm policy set in place, and I could just see -- I've had a couple people approach me about what is the policy of getting a name on the war memorial out in the yard? And I got to thinking about it, and, you know, what would happen 10 years down the road when none of us are around, or those folks that established the -- the memorial were gone, and this question arose, you know. What -- what is the policy? So, I have tried to put together some thoughts -- the Judge and I worked together and put together some thoughts here, and I wanted to read them to you. And, I mean, they're open 1-10-05 38 1 2 1 3 I 4 ~ 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 for change, deletions, additions, et cetera. But one person that has approached me is a family member of a very decorated officer, but he did not pass away during the wartime; he passed away of natural causes right here in Kerrville, Texas. And I think the word "memorial," to me, not only you have memory of someone, but it seems a war memorial would be someone that was deceased during -- during a wartime and during combat, maybe in a -- even in a theater of war. So, you know, I just think that we need to establish something in writing for future reference. So, anyway, Page 2 of your -- in your agenda, there's two items there. 1) is, "Circumstances of death resulting from: (a) Injuries directly related to hostile actions or activities." That's pretty explanatory there. "(b) Death resulting from activities of service members received within the theater of war or conflict." You have -- as an example, 10 miles from the front line, you have a mail carrier, and his truck turns over and he dies from -- as a result from the automobile accident. Number 2), "Citizenship or residency requirements." And we've talked in here before about being the home of record. Not -- the Judge tells me that's military talk. And -- and I think -- I'm thinking that that means that a person -- his home of record is where he resided at the time he went into the military. That would -- that would eliminate the young 1-10-05 39 1 .--- 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 man from Comfort being on the war memorial, because his home of record was probably Kendall County. So, I like these words, myself, and unless you guys don't jump on them and start changing things or adding or deleting, I'm going to make a motion to approve this. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I would second the motion. I just want to ask a question. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Well, I don't know if questions are appropriate here. (Laughter.) Okay, go ahead. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I guess, is there -- there is no policy in place now? COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: None that we can find, no, sir. COMMISSIONER LETZ: I don't -- I have a question. I don't know; maybe I just don't understand -- oh, I see. I was reading the first one. You wanted to give -- under the (a) -- 1(a), you're not proposing that you get added if you get injured? You have to die from an injury. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That's correct. COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That's correct. If you go by, there's not a whole lot of room on that -- that piece of rock out there. There's -- on the ends, there's a 1-10-05 { 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 40 little bit, and a little bit on this side, but the front -- the face of it is full, even as we speak. COMMISSIONER LETZ: Why do you need the (a)? Why can't you just have (b)? What's the difference? COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I wondered about that. JUDGE TINLEY: If I might interject, I think (b) got there in case you just wanted to have (a). COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Mm-hmm. JUDGE TINLEY: Obviously, (b) would include (a), though. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That's correct. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Well, you could -- JUDGE TINLEY: If you -- if you wanted to strictly limit it to death from injuries from hostile action, you'd select (a) only, but that would obviously be included within (b). COMMISSIONER LETZ: Well, I would recommend deleting (a), then, because I think you should include, to use Commissioner 1's example, you know, the person 10 miles behind the front lines, as well as the person on the front lines. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I think you can do a combination of -- take (b) and just add, "death resulting from injuries or activities of service," and combine the 1-10-05 41 1 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 best of both. COMMISSIONER LETZ: That's fine. And the other question I have, you know, any way you da the residency, there's -- or I understand there's situations that you are going to leave off people that probably should be included, or have a good argument to be included. But "home of record," is that -- that's a -- that is determined based on some military document? MR. ODOM: That's right. COMMISSIONER LETZ: It says -- MR. ODOM: You have to file your DD-214 at your home of record at the courthouse, and it's -- COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Does that mean the place this individual lived when he or she went into the service? MR. ODOM: It means the one that you declare at the time you file the DD-214. COMMISSIONER LETZ: Can you change that 19 1 document? 20 21 22 23 24 25 MR. ODOM: Sometimes your residence may change; your parents may move. And there in College Station, you could make it College Station. But where I was born in Corsicana, that's where I went in, and my records came from Corsicana. COMMISSIONER LETZ: So, that's -- I mean, 1-10-05 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 42 it's the -- MR. ODOM: When he files -- COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- the person enlisting, or the serviceman or woman decides what that location is? JUDGE TINLEY: Yes. It's a service member's option to designate that service member's home of record. MR. ODOM: Home of record. At the time of separation, they have to declare home of record, and then they go file it at the courthouse. JUDGE TINLEY: And it's -- it is something that's in place on your military record at any point in time in your military service. It's there. MR. ODOM: It's there. COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think it's a -- it's a definable, you know, location determined -- decided on by the serviceman. I think it's as good as any that you can come up with, even though there's going to be lots of, you know, questions as to what other people should be included. But I think it's good to stick with it. Is there a second to your motion? Yeah, you seconded. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Well, no, we have -- we changed the verbiage a little bit in one there. What did you -- did you move the word "injuries" from (a) down to (b) ? COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Yeah. It would read, 1-10-05 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 43 "death resulting from injuries or activities of service." COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Mm-hmm. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Okay. "Member received within the theater of war or conflict." And then that's all we need. That would become (a). COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay. Just have one under 1 and one under 2. JUDGE TINLEY: And that's your motion, Commissioner? COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah, that's my motion, sir. JUDGE TINLEY: And that's your second? COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Yes, sir. JUDGE TINLEY: All right. We got a motion and a second. Any further questions or discussion on the motion? COMMISSIONER LETZ: No more questions. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: You just want to make sure you have your DD-214's with you. COMMISSIONER LETZ: My question -- and someone said that's filed in the County Clerk's office? MS. McELHANNON: Right. COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. When -- when is it filed? When they -- MS. ALFORD: Separate. 1-10-05 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 44 JUDGE TINLEY: When they separate. COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. I'm ready. JUDGE TINLEY: 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: All opposed, same sign. (No response.) COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Thank you very much. JUDGE TINLEY: That motion does carry. Next item, consider and discuss filling open deputy position. Sheriff, what do you have for us this morning? SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: What this is, it's a formality, but I feel I needed to come to the Court and let you know what the plans were and where we were. A little over -- right at two years ago, we had an employee that was injured in the line of duty. He has not ever been able to work, get clearance from his doctor since that time, over a year and a half ago. He'd run out of family medical leave and sick leave and vacation, used all that up; he was still on worker's comp. The position right after he was injured was -- or right after all that was used up, he was let go from the department per the laws at the time, and the position was filled. Under the Texas Constitution, he had a right to be paid full salary, because he was a deputy, until 1-10-05 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 45 my term of office was up. My term of office in that was up midnight, the 31st. That position has been funded for the entire time, for the last two years. He's been paid full salary by the County for the last two years. And since that funding is in the budget and has been for a couple of years now, I would like to go ahead and have that position so that I can hire -- promote up in the department from a deputy spot to an investigator, and put another investigator on the -- in the Investigations. The reason I'm saying that is we currently have, counting my warrant -- or not warrant -- our evidence officer, who deals 99 percent of his time in just dealing with evidence, that in Investigations, counting the lieutenant, I have six people. Okay. That's the lieutenant herself and the evidence officer, so it actually leaves four people that are doing the bulk of the investigations. Those people are carrying an average right now of 50 active cases. That's ones that they're all working on, not closed ones. That's just the active ones. In 2004, so -- or during 2004, they were assigned an average of 220 cases. We're averaging about 13,000 calls a year, and anything that's a felony or a complicated misdemeanor does go to Investigations. This also includes -- where we're really getting -- getting hit hard is child protective cases, and those that come in, those all automatically go to Investigations. 1-10-05 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 ,,.. 25 46 And I think, as you've seen over the last couple of years, the investigators are extremely busy. Some cases -- we had burglaries last week that took two investigators a full week on one case, because they were going all over pawn shops in San Antonio recovering property. You may have an aggravated sexual assault case that may take three months to work, where their whole time is spent on that one case. Then you've got trials, and y'all have seen some of our latest trials that have been up here, where you may have two or three investigators that are stuck at the courthouse during that time, because they're all subpoenaed for the trial. Now, they have little laptops; they can try and do paperwork while they're not in there testifying, but it just -- it ruins the ability to continue with the investigations that they have. So, what I'm asking is the -- the permission for that position that's already budgeted to be filled, to give us another investigator. COMMISSIONER LETZ: I guess I don't understand why we have to. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah. Do we have to? SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: The reason you have to do it is, back when the -- the previous person was let go from the department -- I believe this was under Judge Henneke -- that position was filled at that time. 1-10-05 47 1 .-- 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 .-. 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 ,,.~ 2 4 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Mm-hmm. SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Okay? So, technically, it is a new position. It's an added person, even though it's already in the budget and been being paid, 'cause this person hasn't been an employee. It's a formality. I mean, the money's there and it's budgeted, but when you look at number of positions, it actually increases, because we haven't had him for two years, and he hasn't been considered an employee for two years. Okay? Even though he was still getting paid. It's one of those old Texas Constitution deals. He wasn't an employee. COMMISSIONER LETZ: Is he on the -- is -- Barbara, can you enlighten me? MS. NEMEC: Okay. When this employee got hurt and he was no longer able to work, the Sheriff was given the authority to fill that position with another employee. So, that -- his position has been filled. But on top of that, we also had to budget to pay this employee while he's -- while he was out of work. So, now what the Sheriff is wanting to do is take that money that was budgeted and add another -- add that position. COMMISSIONER LETZ: So, he wants us to add a position? SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: That's what -- although the money's in the budget, and has been for two years for 1-LO-05 48 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 it. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: So, your table of organization will increase by one. SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: It will. It will give me one more investigator after we promote up, because that's where I'm really hurting is Investigations. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Does it impact future budgets in any way? MS. NEMEC: It won't impact them, because we've always had to budget for his salary anyway, even though he wasn't an employee. In the position schedule, he's on there. It has "W.C." off to the side to let us know that it's a worker's comp and that it's not actually filled, but that person has been on the position schedule, and his salary has been included in the budget along with benefits and everything. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Do we self-fund worker's comp? MS. NEMEC: Sorry? COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Do we self-fund workman's comp? MS. NEMEC: We have worker's comp through TAC. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: That's what I thought. 1-10-05 49 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: But his full salary was paid by the County, and benefits and everything. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: So, we -- we were paying the difference in his salary between workman's comp and -- SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: We were paying his full salary. JUDGE TINLEY: In essence, the additional position was authorized several years ago when he got hurt. SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Correct. JUDGE TINLEY: Because you didn't have the officer actually doing the work. SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Correct. JUDGE TINLEY: So, an additional position was created then, but we've had that position budgeted for, because we had to continue paying him. SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Correct. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: But it was created as a temporary slot only. SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: It was never created as temporary. It was just created and allowed me to fill that position. It's just now, if the Court wanted to take that money back, they could. I'm saying I need that -- that budgeted money for the Investigation Division, and would like to keep it. 1-10-05 1 ,.., 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 50 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I think it was created for a temporary -- as a temporary position. SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: No, the one -- COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Until this other issue is clarified, set up one way or the other -- SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: That one that was created as a temporary position is the one that is on military leave right now, and has been for right at two years also. That position was created so that when he comes back off military leave, I will be able, of course, to hire him back. But the last conversation I had with Judge Tinley was when I have an opening at that time, after he's back, I may not be able to fill that opening. That would be another one where we come back to you. COMMISSIONER LETZ: Are you -- do you want to basically, I mean, take someone -- a deputy and make him an investigator? Or do you want to take a deputy, make him an investigator, and hire a deputy? SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Yes, the second one, because that's what it would be. I wouldn't hire somebody outside the department straight into Investigations. That -- to me, that is a promotion inside the department, and should be given to the officers that deserve it. But it would give me the position officially to hire a patrolman. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Now that we're almost 1-10-05 51 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 at parity, are you hiring any city policemen? SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Not yet. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I move for approval. SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: But I also -- yes, the second part of that, Commissioner, I have nobody that I know of that is trying to go to work for the City, either. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Wonderful. SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Our turnover rate has just about dropped to nothing, except for just either retirement or comp things. COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'll second Commissioner 1's motion, and -- and tell the Sheriff, remember this during budget time. SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Yes. JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded to approve the agenda item. 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: All opposed, same sign. (No response.) JUDGE TINLEY: Next item is -- SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Thank you, gentlemen. JUDGE TINLEY: -- discussion and consideration on unresolved insurance issues and whether to 1-10-05 _ ~ .~ i 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 52 continue current contract for county health insurance. Commissioner Letz? COMMISSIONER LETZ: I put this on the agenda after our emergency meeting last week to find out where we are, and I'll ask the County Treasurer. Is it working, to your knowledge? Are we still receiving complaints, or is it up and working now? MS. NEMEC: I haven't received any this morning. We were still receiving some Friday. But, from what I understand, everything was supposed to be worked out by Saturday morning, I believe. You know, that's about all I can say. COMMISSIONER LETZ: I see representatives from Wallace and Associates and Mutual of Omaha are in the audience. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Three representatives back there. COMMISSIONER LETZ: There's three, yeah. Is everything working? MR. OCHOA: Yes, everything's working. COMMISSIONER LETZ: No more -- I mean, every employee, we're in the system, both prescriptions and regular, and -- MR. OCHOA: Yes. SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: I will say to Mr. Ochoa, i-sa-o5 53 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 ~.-. 25 1-10-05 MR. OCHOA: Yes. MR. WALLACE: Yes. I did have an employee that tried to get prescriptions and there was a mixup, and I think it ended up being -- co-pay paid 80 cents and she had to pay $70. But she made a phone call to him at the cell phone number, and within about five minutes, it was straightened out and she was very satisfied. And this would have been about Thursday of last weak. I spoke to her directly, and it did get worked out, and they were very complimentary of Mr. Ochoa. MR. WALLACE: Can I answer your -- she sent the fax over to my office, and Michelle at my office called the pharmacy, a.n.d what happened, the pharmacy never did file it. So we, in turn, went back and told her and called the pharmacy. They refilled it, and everything was fine. I had -- I had one page over the weekend, a pharmacy problem. I made the call yesterday morning after church. When I called the pharmacy, gave her the numbers and the lady's name and all the information, she said, "Oh, she's in the system." So I called the lady and I said, "You can go get your drugs; you're in the system." I said, "If you have a problem, call me back." I never did hear back from her. JUDGE TINLEY: And y'all stand ready, willing, and able -- any concerns, questions, all they got to do is give you a call. We got the numbers. 54 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 ~--. 25 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I have a comment and a couple questions. I want to thank Mr. Ochoa for intervening on behalf of some of our employees and getting them in on an emergency basis, and -- excuse me -- and also taking care of one in the clerk's office that was experiencing difficulties as well. I want to thank you for doing that. Appreciate that very much. My question is the status of the permanent ID cards and the status of the debit cards. Where are we? MR. OCHOA: Thank you for inviting me up here again, Commissioners, Judge. The status on the ID cards, I made a phone call this morning, and they didn't give me an exact date, but it will be this week. The permanent ID cards will be in the mail. The debit cards, the lady in that department was not in this morning, and those -- I believe they said it would be mid-January before those went out because of the vendor that creates those credit cards or debit cards. So they had given us, on January lst, an update that the approximate time to have those would be about two weeks. JUDGE TINLEY: So, that's kind of on target, I guess? MR. OCHOA: Mm-hmm. That's the target. COMMISSIONER LETZ: Two weeks from now, or two weeks from -- 1-1G-05 t 1 ,,.-. 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 ,,,.., 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 ... 2 4 25 55 MR. OCHOA: January 1st. COMMISSIONER LETZ: This week, they should be MR. OCHOA: From January lst, is what the -- COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: We're almost there. MR. OCHOA: We're almost there, yes, sir. COMMISSIONER LETZ: This week. And up to this -- you know, between now and receiving those debit cards, those employees that would be receiving them, they just have to pay out-of-pocket? MR. OCHOA: No. As a matter of fact, they can either -- if it's something they wanted to use that debit card for, they can file a claim. If it's something that they had to use, like, for an out-of-pocket expense, then they would use their out-of-pocket money, but they would get reimbursed once those cards are in place. COMMISSIONER LETZ: Is there -- I guess my next question, what is Mutual of Omaha or Wallace and Associates going to do to, I guess, explain all of this to the employees? Because I know -- I mean, there's a lot of confusion. I mean, even at the last meeting, it was still unclear whether Lab One was included or not included. You know, there's been a -- there was confusion about employees not knowing what the Texas True Choice was, you know, versus -- you know. So, there's lots of things out there 1-10-05 56 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 that, evidently, there's still confusion amongst our employees about. How are y'all going to explain this and explain how the debit cards work, especially, since they're the people who weren't able to start out the year using them? MR. OCHOA: Well, the first thing is, I know that from Don Wallace's office, they -- they have offered to come -- on a monthly basis? MR. WALLACE: We've set up with Barbara to be here -- I don't remember when it is, second or third Thursday, first Thursday of every month. We're going to be, I think, in the Law Library, so any employee that has a question, if you want to -- we might suggest that we have a meeting for all employees that want to come for the next couple of months. If you want to set a certain time and date for that, we can do that, to go over and explain in more detail. But from this month forward, starting in February, we're going to be here every month from 11:00 to 1:00, unless we need to change those hours, in the Law Library, to -- and I guess Barbara will send out something in the paychecks letting everybody know about this meeting. If you have any questions on how things work, if they have any claim problems or whatever, we're going to be here to answer their questions. 25 { COMMISSIONER LETZ: Can we set one up, I 1-io-o5 57 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 don't know, at a date we have paychecks come out, like this Friday? Maybe next week, have a meeting? And then go on to your schedule for the next -- you know, for the first, I guess, at least two months, to give our employees an opportunity to come and meet and know that you're going to be here, you know, half a day, all day, whatever. MR. WALLACE: Right. We -- we can do that. If -- if y'all want to do that, get that set up, just let us know where and when. JUDGE TINLEY: Work with Barbara on that. MR. WALLACE: Sure. JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. COMMISSIONER LETZ: I guess my -- go ahead. MR. WALLACE: Before they get their permanent ID cards, they should have or can get this from us or Barbara, this temporary ID card, and it has all the numbers that they should need. Just like yesterday, when I called the pharmacy, I gave her these group numbers on the prescription card and all that information. She said, "Oh, that's what I need." She keyed it in and said the lady was in the system. So, if there's any employees that don't have one of these, we'll be able to fax it to them. They can get it from Barbara's office. This should get them through till they get the permanent ID cards. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: What about the 1-10-05 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 58 beneficiary designation issue? MR. OCHOA: We are working to get that resolved. As a matter of fact, what I did was I did a little bit of research in reference to how we normally do it with other groups, and we're -- we're going to come up with something so we can get everybody in there, the most -- I guess the fastest way we can to get that information, whether it's sending out a form -- 'cause we do have just a life form that we can use for all those people to fill out. But we're going to -- I wanted to talk to Barbara first as far as what would be the best way to get that done. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Wouldn't that be best handled between Barbara and Mr. Wallace when Mr. Wallace's agency is here working with our people? MR. OCHOA: Mm-hmm. MR. WALLACE: We'll work with Barbara. And, of course, we'll need to coordinate with Mutual of Omaha too, but -- MR. OCHOA: And we'll provide the form on whatever they need in order to do that. MR. WALLACE: We work with a lot of independent life carriers. You know, we -- just so happened we were able to put the life insurance and health insurance together with Mutual of Omaha. We do a lot of individual -- not individual, but group life, separate from the health 1-10-05 59 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 insurance. We do it with Met Life, Sun Life, some of those carriers. And most of those carriers, all they want is a list of the employees that have the life insurance. Some of them want to go back and get copies, if they can, of the previous carrier's application, just for the beneficiary forms. So, there's any number of different ways carriers do that. I think we originally thought we'd just get a copy of the application here and get the beneficiaries, and then maybe send out a memo, if somebody wanted to change a beneficiary. So that's -- that's the answer to the question on the life insurance, and we'll coordinate that with Barbara and -- and Mutual of Omaha. COMMISSIONER LETZ: My last comment is -- is just a public comment. I've received some calls related to the term of this contract. And, you know, I'll stand corrected by the Court, but I believe this is a one-year contract. You know, I think my disappointment with the initial start-up has been well-voiced. I hope y'all can do a much better job the rest of the year. And I appreciate the work y'all have done to get things up and running in the past week. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: My only comment, Judge, I just had a phone call this morning, and I really didn't have time to have the full conversation, so I'm a little lax on information here, but the phone call said to 1-10-05 .. -- - 60 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 me that in regards to the $600 savings account, that when we agreed to the contract, that it -- this thing was going to cost us "X" amount of dollars. Somehow, in the last week or two, that number has changed. It's going to cost us a lot more dollars. Now, I apologize again for not having all the information. Does anyone know anything about that? MR. MALEK: No idea what they're talking about. COMMISSIONER LETZ: My only comment on that is that was -- I mean, when Mr. Looney prepared the proposals, I mean, we went out fairly certain with a contract, and the $600 card, the health maintenance -- whatever you call the account was part of the bid. So, all the bids should have been the same. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Should have been predicated on what is in those specs. COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. So, I mean, you know, it may -- you know, I don't know how the mechanics of it all works, but the -- all of the proposals received were the same. And I think what you're -- if I'm reading between the lines of what you're saying is that the -- we pay a flat -- a premium of 1.3 million, something like that, whatever it was. And the question is whether the $600 is in addition to that. MR. MALEK: That was included. 1-10-OS - -- - 61 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 _. 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But it's included. It's included in it. But either way, the way I look at it is, it was in the original specification of the proposal. So, I mean, it's included. And I was under the impression it was included in it. MR. MALEK: Carey Malek, Mutual of Omaha. That number -- the dollars that are allocated for the $600 or $1,800, depending on whether you picked family or employee, is included in -- in where the comparison was done. They actually included more dollars in there, assuming that most of the employees would take the HRA program. And, of course, you don't know how many will take it until the very end, so actually, that number is going to come in a little less than what he probably estimated, and so your dollar savings will probably end up being more than what was estimated at the time that they gave you those figures. COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right, because that amount -- MR. MALEK: He's looking at the worst-case scenario. COMMISSIONER LETZ: That amount's included, basically, in the 40,000 for each employee. The first 40,000 we pay for anyway, and that's -- that $600 account -- yes, we're paying far it, but it's in that 40,000. 1-10-05 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 62 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: It's built into the whole premium. COMMISSIONER LETZ: Built in. MS. NEMEC: But it's not built into the 505; is that correct? The premium that I send for each employee, we're going to have to add the -- I called Mr. Wallace last week, 'cause I had to do some accounting on that myself, and I was told you were going to get me that figure. MR. MALEK: The 505 is the amount that the County -- that the County is providing to the employee benefit program; is that correct? MS. NEMEC: Right. JUDGE TINLEY: That's the budgeted amount. MS. NEMEC: So, the 600 is over and above that. MR. MALEK: I'm -- my understanding it was included as the total contribution. If you probably calculate that out, you'll -- again, I have to look at it, but I think it is part of the whole program. MS. NEMEC: Didn't -- Mr. Wallace, I thought you told me last week that you talked to Mr. Malek, and he said he was going to send me that figure, 'cause it was over and above. MR. MALEK: That's not something that we set. That was something that your consultant set. I didn't set 1-10-05 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 .r... 2 4 25 63 the rates. All I set was the COBRA rates, which is 102 percent of whatever the rates that were set by the consultant. So, your consultant would have given you that information on how much dollars came out from the budgeted amount that the County put -- which I guess, in this instance, is $505? I'm assuming that was the amount. MS. NEMEC: That is the amount. MR. MALEK: I don't know what the County budgeted for it. All I know is what the rates that were set by the consultant for charging dependents and COBRA's and retirees. Those are the -- those are the figures that I have. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: So, in other words, it's your position that everything that the consultant put in the specifications for a bid package have been met -- excuse me -- have been met by the bid that we accepted, and are included in the total amount of dollars we budgeted? MR. MALEK: That's correct. The comparison that I saw that he did included it for not only ourselves, but any other vendor that would have submitted a proposal. So it's the same for everyone, and I believe that number was included in that total. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Okay. JUDGE TINLEY: Okay, thank you. Anything else? 1-10-05 64 1 ,_ 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: No, sir. Thank you. JUDGE TINLEY: Why don't we take -- I'm MR. WALLACE: As I discussed with you last week, the plan document is about 114 pages. And that plan document -- you know, we handed out a little book to everybody that described the benefits in small detail. The plan document is, you know, 114 pages. We have to get somebody to sign off on that, that everything is in there that's supposed to be in there, and I would like to ask the Court who they want to sign off on that. My suggestion would be your consultant, since he's the one that put the plan together. But sometimes it -- if the County doesn't have a consultant, then the Judge or Auditor or Treasurer, somebody signs off on it. So, I'd just like some direction on that, if you would. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Go to San Antonio. JUDGE TINLEY: The consultant, I think. He designed the plan at our direction, and he -- he would be the one that would confirm that it does, in fact, conform to that plan. MR. WALLACE: Right. Well, that's my suggestion about it, but I just wanted y'all's -- COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Judge, why don't we take care of 1.13 so Mr. Odom can get out and take care of 1-10-05 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 65 some roads? And then we can have fun with the others later. JUDGE TINLEY: Good suggestion. I guess we're through with Number 8? Let's move on to 13. Thank you. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Before we take a break. JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah. Consider and discuss authorizing Road and Bridge to advertise for bids to purchase Gradall machine or machines to replace Gradall damaged in accident. Mr. Odom. MR. ODOM: Yes. Thank you, Judge. Last time I was before the Court, I didn't have the specific wording I should have, so we just came back to clarify that I could ask permission to go out for purchase of a Gradall. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So moved. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Second. JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for approval of the agenda item. Any question or discussion? COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Yeah. Dollar figure? COMMISSIONER LETZ: Question. MR. ODOM: Sir? COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Dollar figure, the amount? MR. ODOM: The amount could go anywhere from -- let me think -- 35, maybe, to 44,000. 1-10-05 66 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Question and a comment. The question I have is, the -- this is for you to go out for bid for two -- one or two, And then -- MR. ODOM: One or two. COMMISSIONER LETZ: But there's only approval to buy one. MR. ODOM: One. COMMISSIONER LETZ: Unless you come back to us. MR. ODOM: That`s right, and let the Court make that decision. I do not have an affirmative answer of what the insurance is, but offhand, it was -- was a higher number, but I hate to commit that to the Court. I'm going to bid it as one, and see if the dollars are not there. COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. MR. ODOM: And I'll come to court and let you make a decision. COMMISSIONER LETZ: All right. JUDGE TINLEY: But you're thinking that by soliciting bids on more than one machine, you'll be able to get a materially better price per machine? MR. ODOM: Yes, sir. JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded. Any further question or discussion? All in favor of the motion, signify by raising your right hand. 1-10-05 67 ,.~- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. (No response.) JUDGE TINLEY: That motion does carry. Why don't we take about a 15-minute recess. (Recess taken from 10:23 a.m. to 10:37 a.m.) JUDGE TINLEY: Okay, let's come back to order. We went into recess approximately 15 minutes ago, and we'll resume the Commissioners Court meeting scheduled for this time and date. Next item on the agenda is to consider and discuss extension of temporary lease and operating agreement at Juvenile Detention Facility. I put this on the agenda because of the 15-day notice window. I'm -- I have stressed to our financial adviser and bond attorney that I want to try and get this transaction finalized by February 15th, but it looks as though it may go into February, and because of the 15-day notice window that we're required to give to the trustee, I put this on the agenda. COMMISSIONER LETZ: When's the 15-day period currently up that we're currently operating under? JUDGE TINLEY: That would be 16 January for the -- for the notice for February. We've got to give 15 days notice prior -- 1-10-05 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 68 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. JUDGE TINLEY: -- to the period into which we're going to extend. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Notice of an intention not to renew -- not to extend? Is that right? JUDGE TINLEY: Yes -- well, notice that we will extend for an additional month, or some -- some portion of it. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Okay. I would move the extension. COMMISSIONER LETZ: For how long? COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: 30 days. COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded to extend the temporary lease and operating agreement through the end of February '05. Is that correct, Commissioner? COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Yes, sir. JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Any question or discussion? COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Do you think we will be near completion of this whole turnover and transaction by then? Or do you see additional delays? JUDGE TINLEY: Me, personally? COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Yes, sir. By reason of what you know from the financial people. 1-10-05 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 69 JUDGE TINLEY: I am hopeful that we can get the whole thing finalized by February 15th, and that's what I have the financial advisers and the bond attorneys shooting for. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Good. JUDGE TINLEY: Any further question or discussion? All in favor of the motion, signify by raising your right hand. (Commissioners Williams and Letz voted in favor of the motion.) JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Nay. (Commissioner Baldwin voted against the motion.) JUDGE TINLEY: That motion does carry. Next item on the agenda is consider and discuss authorizing needed repairs-slash-replacements of components at the Juvenile Detention Facility, including inoperative A/C and heating units, failing walk-in freezer compressor and lift station pumps and electrical controls and components. I put this on the agenda at the request of Ms. Harris. She' s got some issues that involve the facility, and -- COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: The lift pumps are not working, huh? MS. HARRIS: Not properly, no, sir. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: That's bad. 1-10-05 i 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 70 MS. HARRIS: Yes, sir, especially when you have a nearby creek that runs in close proximity. This has been an ongoing issue. The -- I guess we'll tackle the air conditioning unit. The air conditioning unit is a unit that is on the -- what we call Dorm 3. That's the dorm that has the dry cells that I believe that y'all are familiar with. That has been unoccupied for most of the summer. Therefore, we didn't repair or replace that air conditioning unit. We kind of babied it along to try to get as much life out of it that we possibly could. It has given up the ghost. We've gotten all that we can out of it. We recently had to put residents on there because just prior to the Christmas holidays, our preadjudication population exceeded the capacity by which we could put them on the dorm with the post-adjudication kids. We are allowed to do that. We are allowed to put pre's on the same dorm with the post, as long as we have separate officers to -- to supervise the two separate populations. But just before the Christmas holidays, our pre population exceeded that ability to do that, so we did have to put some kids on Dorm 3 with an officer. We were very fortunate that the weather cooperated for a short period of time; that it was a comfortable temperature in there, even though the unit does not work. Then, when we had those really cold, 17-degree days, that didn't work, and so we did some creative shuffling around by 1-10-05 71 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 which we could get those kids on a dorm where the temperature was comfortable. Therefore, that's why I'm coming to you today to let you know that we need to replace that unit. And I gave you some -- we had Hardin Heating and Cooling come in and give us an estimate on how much that was going to cost, and that was in that paperwork that I gave you last week. COMMISSIONER LETZ: Ms. Harris, this is a unit that was in the original -- MR. HARRIS: Yes. COMMISSIONER LETZ: This is about a 15-year-old unit, plus or minus? MR. HARRIS: '94, if I'm not mistaken. COMMISSIONER LETZ: Eleven years. MR. HARRIS: Yes, sir. Yes, sir. COMMISSIONER LETZ: Ten years old. MR. HARRIS: Yes, sir. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Are these strictly A/C units, or heat pumps? MR. HARRIS: They're air conditioning and heating units. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Okay, combination. MR. HARRIS: Yes. Combination of the two, yes. COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. 1-10-05 72 1 „~.. 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 ,--. 25 MR. HARRIS: And I've given my -- my copy of the invoice, I had given that to Mr. Valverde; I don't have it right here in front of me. I know that one of them talks about only a one-year warranty on the compressor for $2,645 and then, for $400 more, we could get a compressor or a unit that has a five-year warranty on the compressor. That's the one I'm recommending for -- 'cause in my estimation, for another four additional years warranty on a compressor for $400, that's $100 a year. That would be the most efficient way to go on that. COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: What was the total? MR. HARRIS: The total for the five-year compressor warranty was $3,048.85. COMMISSIONER LETZ: And do you want to deal with these one at a time? Or -- MR. HARRIS: Whichever you prefer. COMMISSIONER LETZ: The freezer. MR. HARRIS: Yes. COMMISSIONER LETZ: Why don't you go over that? COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Freezer is also a Hardin bid; is that correct? MR. HARRIS: That's correct, yes. The freezer compressor is a Hardin Heating and Cooling bid as 1-10-05 73 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 well. Once again, this compressor has been acting up for quite some time. Once again, we have babied it along. It's to the point that we can't baby it along any longer; we're going to lose the compressor, and then consequently, we would lose food in that freezer. COMMISSIONER LETZ: This is -- MR. HARRIS: So we need to replace it. COMMISSIONER LETZ: This is also one of the original compressors, or original -- maybe not. MR. HARRIS: I believe it's -- it's older. My understanding is I believe that this compressor and this walk-in freezer has been replaced, but that was before, but I believe that was some time ago. COMMISSIONER LETZ: Do you have any idea -- I guess you don't have a budget, so you don't have any funds in your budget to fix this. Or do you have a budget? COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Don't have a budget. MR. HARRIS: I don't have a budget. I do have a line item, you know, for equipment and building maintenance. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Would this have been in -- in your annual budget things for -- of this nature? MR. HARRIS: Those two proposals that I gave you earlier in the -- in the fall, I had both of these individual items on that budget proposal. 1-10-05 74 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I see. COMMISSIONER LETZ: I mean, I think you -- MR. HARRIS: 'Cause I knew about them back then. COMMISSIONER LETZ: Either way, these need to be replaced. It's where the money comes from, is the question. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: How much is the freezer? MR. HARRIS: The freezer is $1,848. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: And is there any -- well, that, again, is a one-year warranty? MR. HARRIS: Yes, sir. On the compressor on the walk-in, yes, sir. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: And he's not giving you a quote for a multiple-year warranty on that? MS. HARRIS: No, he didn't. They probably don't have multiple-year warranties. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Probably right. COMMISSIONER LETZ: I move approval to replace the heating/air conditioning unit with the one specified for $3,048.85, and the compressor for the walk-in freezer for $1,848. To do so, we'll have to declare an emergency, and those funds will come from reserves. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I second the motion. 1-1Q-05 75 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 _„ 2 4 25 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for approval to declare an emergency and authorize the expenditure as indicated. Any question or discussion? All in favor of that motion, signify by raising your right hand. (Commissioners Williams and Letz voted in favor of the motion.) JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed? COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Nay. (Commissioner Baldwin voted against the motion.) JUDGE TINLEY: Motion carried. Do you have another item, Ms. Harris? MS. HARRIS: Yes. As I indicated in my summary of the agenda items that I gave you, since the new building has been open -- we had our grand opening in mid-August -- we have had difficulty with the sewer system. And that's a brand-new sewer system, brand-new pumps, brand-new motors, and we have had difficulty. In the course of having the former superintendent of the contracting company come out and look at it, plus one of his subordinates come out and look at it more than one time -- and those two individuals, by the way, no longer work for the contracting -- the -- COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Who was the contractor? Do you know? JUDGE TINLEY: S.T.R., I believe was the 1-10-05 76 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 name. MR. TOMLINSON: S.T.R. Contractors. MR. HARRIS: S.T.R. MR. TOMLINSON: S.T.R. Contractors. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Local or out-of-town? MR. TOMLINSON: No, they're out of San Antonio. MS. HARRIS: Those two individuals no longer work for S.T.R. MR. TOMLINSON: That's right. MR. HARRIS: Right, okay. They came out and looked at the situation. Of course, the difficulty is in getting somebody to claim responsibility for either poor design, poor construction, whatever the case may be. Did discover that the grinders that are in that lift station, they were wired backwards. Therefore, anything that would come up to those grinders was getting pushed back out; they weren't going through. Discovered that problem. They rewired those. In the process of also looking at this, the electrical engineers are saying that they followed the schematics, My understanding is that the general contractor is saying no, you designed it -- the electrical engineers designed it. It's a finger-pointing issue at this point in time, somebody trying to take responsibility. I finally decided to get an outside 1-10-05 ~~ 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 electrician to come and look at the electrical problem. Our control panel has never worked correctly in that building as well. That -- the subcontractor for that is the CCC Group out of San Antonio. A repairman that came to the facility shortly after we opened in August, he made, like, three trips out there to work on that control panel. He no longer works for CCC Group, so we've had another individual to come out and look at that control panel, and he doesn't understand what's wrong with it. It seems to be pointing fingers at the main electrical room and the breaker box, that -- that things are not running properly at the breaker box. This independent contractor, by the name of Mr. Parks -- I gave you copies of his credentials. He is a retired individual, extremely knowledgeable. He has extensive experience in punch lists, electrical engineering, schematics, building electrical components in large facilities, so he's very knowledgeable of all electrical components. He did a voltage drop calculation from the breaker box to the lift station motors. There is a breaker box at the lift station itself. The way it's supposed to be designed is, if we have any problem at the lift station, the breakers are supposed to trip at the main -- excuse me -- at the breaker box at the lift station, which would send an alarm to the main breaker box at the building. Well, the 1-1fl-05 - r 78 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 apposite is occurring. The breakers at the main breaker box are tripping because they're 20-amp breakers, and the amps at the breaker box at the lift station are 25. So, yes, consequently, there's -- if there's a problem at the lift station, those main breakers are going to break -- are going to trip first. Therefore, the alarm system doesn't work. Therefore, we don't know when there's a problem at the lift station until the motors are burned up. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Becky, are you -- I'm glad you know all that stuff, but are you telling us that you don't know who's accountable? MS. HARRIS: I can't get anybody to admit accountability. COMMISSIONER LETZ: And I'm probably going to have to look at -- turn and look at hopefully the -- you, Judge. JUDGE TINLEY: Warranty. COMMISSIONER LETZ: Well, warranty -- COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Punch list. Who read the punch list out there? JUDGE TINLEY: Should have been the architect. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: All right. There's JUDGE TINLEY: And superintendent. the lasso. 1-10-05 -._ .. ~ 79 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Is that Mr. Gondeck? MR. HARRIS: That's Mr. Gondeck that I've tried to contact, and I have not received any return phone calls. JUDGE TINLEY: Maybe the County Judge can get him down here. MR. HARRIS: I know that Tommy's contacted him. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: The County Attorney. COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think the County Attorney's who I'd refer it to. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: County Attorney can get him down here. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Sic 'em, Rex. COMMISSIONER LETZ: My other question is, when was this building completed? MS. HARRIS: It was completed the first of August, is when the construction was completed. COMMISSIONER LETZ: Was there -- and it was all working fine? First of August, when we took over possession of it and we went through, and there's a retainage or something that's customary in contracting -- MR. HARRIS: We didn't know if it was working or not, because there was no occupancy in that building. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Was this building 1-1U-05 80 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 ,--~ 25 built to City codes? MR. HARRIS: The sewer -- yes, the sewer system -- as a matter of fact, my understanding is, in the middle of the construction of the sewer system, the City came forth and said, oh, we've changed some of our ordinance requirements. You need to stop what you're doing and change gears and -- and follow our new City ordinance codes. And so I believe, if I'm correct, that was an additional cost, because they did have to do some additional construction on the sewer system according to the City. The City came out and inspected it, but it wasn't running. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Yet we're confronted with substandard wiring, and it's supposed to be built to City code? MR. HARRIS: pumps -- the wiring is 230. COMMISSIONER COMMISSIONER the other way around, isn't COMMISSIONER MS. HARRIS: Yes. And not only that, the The pumps are 208. LETZ: What's -- WILLIAMS: That's better than it? LETZ: It's the same. Maybe I am mistaken; maybe it is the other way around. COMMISSIONER LETZ: Either way, that's all right. MR. HARRIS: They're recommending that we put 1-10-05 81 1 ..._, 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 in 200-volt pumps. COMMISSIONER LETZ: Well, I think -- I mean, I'm with the Judge. It's a warranty issue. If there's no retainage and we signed off on it, then it -- it's beyond the contractors with the warranty of the work. If the work was substandard, it should have never been accepted. But -- MS. HARRIS: The urgency -- the urgency of it is, we're only working on one pump. The other pump's gone. COMMISSIONER LETZ: But the -- well, that's -- I mean, that's going to be a warranty issue. MR. HARRIS: Right. COMMISSIONER LETZ: I -- I guess, ask the County Attorney to get involved. The problem we get into once we -- generally, if we start fixing things, we're going to void any warranty. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That's true. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: That's part of the problem. COMMISSIONER LETZ: But we don't have much time. We're going to burn up more -- so, I mean -- MS. HARRIS: Right. COMMISSIONER LETZ: We're not using that facility, are we? MS. HARRIS: But it's tied into the old building, same sewer system. They tied it into the old i-io-os 82 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 building, so yes, it's -- that's why it's kind of urgent. And if they put 30-amp breakers in that main breaker box, those 30-amp breakers are about $400 apiece, and we need two of them. COMMISSIONER Attorney, if there's a heal we not -- could not we take under warranties? MR. EMERSON: documents, I mean, I really another issue. Who has the COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Well, Mr. County th and safety issue here, could care of it and then still recoup Without looking at the can't say on that. Which raises documents? WILLIAMS: Bet we could find them. MR. EMERSON: Where are the contracts and warranties on individual parts? Or -- COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I don't know who has them, but let's start looking. MS. HARRIS: We -- we had to pump out that lift station. We have caught it in the nick of time on more than three occasions, and we've had to pump that lift station out. And we can continue to do that, but that's coming -- understand, that's coming out of my budget every time we have to have that lift station pumped out. COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think I would start with Mr. Gondeck. He -- 1-10-05 83 ~-> 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 MR. HARRIS: I've tried. COMMISSIONER LETZ: That's the person that was hired to oversee the construction. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I don't think you should try. COMMISSIONER LETZ: No, I mean the County Attorney. County Attorney -- MR. HARRIS: Okay. COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- can call Mr. Gondeck. MR. HARRIS: That's basically why I'm here. I'm not getting any response out of Mr. Gondeck. COMMISSIONER LETZ: And pretty much do what you need to do from the County Attorney spot to get it fixed, get him to respond. And if we have to -- if we have to -- you know, I don't know if there's any kind of notice we have to do to him. Whatever we have to do so we can fix it and not void warranties. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Right. There is a sense of urgency, obviously. MS. HARRIS: And in that same context, they need to address -- they need to address the drainage issue. That, they are very well aware of, and they're supposed to have repaired that. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Who's "they"? MS. HARRIS: The general contractor. 1-10-05 84 1 ,..... 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 E 11 12 13 f ,_-. 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 Mr. Gondeck is aware of this, and Mr. Gondeck is also aware of the fact that when we were inspected by the A.D.A. inspector, all of the A.D.A. equipment in that new building is installed incorrectly. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Oops. MR. HARRIS: And it has to be reinstalled to specifications. The drainage system is when the rainwater runs out of that old building, it runs right down into the sallyport and underneath the intake door and into the building itself. We've been flooded three times. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I suggest, Ms. Harris, that you get with the County Attorney and make certain he clearly understands all of these issues so that he can be in touch with Mr. Gondeck. COMMISSIONER LETZ: What was the -- MS. HARRIS: Okay. COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'll ask the County Judge. What was the -- what type of contract was awarded to build that building? I mean, was it a -- was Mr. Gondeck the architect and that's it? Or was he responsible in addition to -- paid to oversee construction, a construction management contract? What was the relationship between -- JUDGE TINLEY: There was some oversight by the -- by the architect that was required, if my memory serves me correct. The contract was let ahead of me, but if 1-10-05 85 1 ,,,.o. 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 my memory serves me correct, there was some oversight required, was there not, Tommy? MR. TOMLINSON: I think that was -- I think I recall that the architect was the construction over -- oversaw the construction. JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah. MR. TOMLINSON: It's the same -- the same relationship as we had with the remodeling of the old jail. COMMISSIONER LETZ: Building the new jail? MR. TOMLINSON: Yeah -- not the new jail, but the redo of the -- of the courthouse here. And that -- I think it's the same relationship. The architect's responsible. COMMISSIONER LETZ: But with that -- I mean, but then, in that process, at some point it came to the Commissioners Court for us to certify that it was done, and the architect did that. JUDGE TINLEY: The architect has certified -- MR. TOMLINSON: They did. JUDGE TINLEY: -- that it was completed. COMMISSIONER LETZ: Substantial compliance, whatever that -- SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: I can say, when I met with Mr. Gondeck when we were first looking at turning that new facility into a female facility, he did, in our meeting, i-io-o5 ~ ~ ~ ` r. ~. _._ r _.. Irr`.r~_ _. 86 r 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 even mention the drainage problem and the lift station problem, and it was my feeling from him that he felt that both of those had been corrected. But I think -- Judge, do you have the full set of blueprints he brought up to us? JUDGE TINLEY: I've got them here. That should also help, and I'd just recommend getting with him over it. COMMISSIONER LETZ: That should be enough to get the County Attorney off and running. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: And I hope the County Attorney understands that he has the authority to gather up what documents that we don't have as well. I mean, I just heard the Judge say he had blueprints. JUDGE TINLEY: Mm-hmm. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: And I don't know what else. MR. EMERSON: Okay. COMMISSIONER LETZ: Buster, doesn't this sound like a deja vu when we built that jail? COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah, it -- COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: All over again. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Deja vu all over again. We're -- JUDGE TINLEY: Is that -- is that all you can bring to us today? 1-10-05 - i 1_ ~ 87 l 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 MS. HARRIS: That's all I brought to you today. JUDGE TINLEY; Well, thank you. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Can you give us some good news about your census being up or something? MS. HARRIS: Census is 22 today. We brought on two new counties Friday that -- for contract basis to place long-term kids that have not been at the facility before, Upshur County and -- and I cannot remember -- Lamesa. The county that Lamesa's in. JUDGE TINLEY: Dawson. MR. HARRIS: Dawson County, thank you. Dawson County and Upshur County are coming on board, and we're getting another Lubbock County kid. That will make three kids from Lubbock County. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Very good. MR. HARRIS: So, you want me to -- do you not want me to do anything about the pumps? JUDGE TINLEY: You probably need to do what you've been doing. If it gets to a critical point and you've got to pump that thing in order to remain operational, you may have to do that. MS. HARRIS: And you don't want me to put 30-amp breakers -- 25 I COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Let the County 1-10-05 88 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 Attorney research whether or not, if we took any remedial action, we're not voiding warranties and so forth. MR. HARRIS: Got you. No problem. JUDGE TINLEY: I suspect he's going to put them on a real short fuse, in view of the circumstances. MS. HARRIS: Thank you. JUDGE TINLEY: Let's move on to the next number, consider and discuss funding requirements for operation of Juvenile Detention Facility. Ms. Harris has no budget. I put this on not knowing whether there was any requirements here or not. Mr. Auditor? MR. TOMLINSON: I think the -- from the funding requirements, the report that you have for the -- for consideration agenda, we had bills totaling $2,200 or $2,300. I checked with the Treasurer's office this morning. We have -- we have a payment in that -- close to that amount that will cover that. We have to deal with -- only thing we have to deal with, I think, at this time is the payroll for -- for the 15th. I don't -- I'm not sure of what -- right now, what our -- our receivables are. I know the receivables that the facility gave me -- MR. HARRIS: On the 4th. MR. TOMLINSON: Yeah, on the 4th for November was around $67,000, I think. MR. HARRIS: Was that the December or the 1-10-05 89 1 ,~-.,, 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 November receivables? 'Cause you -- MR. TOMLINSON: I think it was November. MS. HARRIS: 'Cause you received the December receivables on the 4th. MR. TOMLINSON: Okay, that's right. I don't -- do you recall the amount of that? MS. HARRIS: Not off the top of my head, no. MR. TOMLINSON: I don't either. I think it's around that amount also. So -- COMMISSIONER LETZ: But receivables don't pay bills. MR. TOMLINSON: Right. So, I mean, it's -- the only thing that I'm for sure of is -- is payroll for -- COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Is what? MR. TOMLINSON: Is the payroll for the 15th. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: And that amount would be? MR. TOMLINSON: I think the last -- the last payroll was, like, $48,000. You know, I can -- I can go -- I can research that, get the exact amount, but -- do you know of any reason it should be more than that? MS. HARRIS: Hmm-mm. No, because we're even one less staff member, so it should be just a tad less. MR. TOMLINSON: Now, I could go look at the payroll records and find out exactly what that amount is. 1-10-05 90 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 .-~ 1 3 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So, between now and the -- our meeting on the 24th, you need basically $50,000? MR. TOMLINSON: I need enough to cover that payroll. COMMISSIONER LETZ: But the balances you have cover the current other bills? MR. TOMLINSON: Well, with -- with the amount of money that's in the hands of the Treasurer right now, it will be positive. COMMISSIONER take care of it so we don't emergency meeting. COMMISSIONER emergency, take $50,000 out expenses at the Juvenile De COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Okay. Might as well have to come back in an LETZ: I move we declare an of reserves to cover operating tention Facility. WILLIAMS: Second. JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded to declare an emergency and authorize the use of $50,000 to cover operational requirements at the Juvenile Detention Facility. Any question or discussion? All in favor of the motion, signify by raising your right hand. (Commissioners Williams and Letz voted in favor of the motion.) JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed? COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Nay. 1-10-05 91 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 1 2 (Commissioner Baldwin voted against the motion.) JUDGE TINLEY: Motion carries. Next item is consider, discuss, and take appropriate action regarding financial data provided by the County Auditor for the Kerr County Juvenile Detention Facility, including authorization for an independent audit of calendar years 2002, 2003, and 2004. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Judge, I'm going to ask that we defer that for just a few moments, and take up and pay the bills and all that kind of stuff that needs to be done, and I'm going to ask the Court to take that issue into exec, 'cause it affects personnel matters and so forth. JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Any other members of the Court have any questions or concerns or comments on that particular request? COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: No, sir. JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. We'll defer further action on Item 12, and -- COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Come back to it. JUDGE TINLEY: -- move now to the approval agenda. Payment of the bills. Mr. Auditor? MR. TOMLINSON: Any questions? COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I move we pay the ..-- 25 bills. 1-10-05 92 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded to pay the bills. Any question or comment? 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: That motion does carry. Next item is budget amendments. Budget Amendment Request Number 1. MR. TOMLINSON: I only have one today, for the 216th District Court to transfer $40,000 (sic) from Court-Appointed Attorney line item to Court Transcripts. COMMISSIONER LETZ: So moved. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Second. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: How much did you say? MR. TOMLINSON: 540. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: $40? MR. TOMLINSON: Yeah. JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. I thought I heard "thousand" too. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I did. MR. TOMLINSON: Maybe I did. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: You were talking about the detention center; you threw the zeros on. 1-10-05 93 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 MR. TOMLINSON: I still had that on my mind, I guess. JUDGE TINLEY: He was breathless there for a moment. Weren't you, Commissioner? COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah. JUDGE TINLEY: Do I hear a motion? COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: You got a motion and a second. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I seconded. JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Motion made and seconded for approval of Budget Amendment Request Number 1. Any discussion or questions? 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: No more budget amendments? MR. TOMLINSON: That's it. JUDGE TINLEY: Any late bills? MR. TOMLINSON: No. JUDGE TINLEY: I have before me the transcripts of the Commissioners Court meeting Tuesday, December 28th, 2004; Friday, December 17th, 2004; Monday, December 13th, 2004; and Wednesday, December 1st, 2004. Do I hear a motion that those transcripts be approved as 1-10-05 94 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 presented? COMMISSIONER LETZ: So moved. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Second. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for approval. Any questions or discussion? 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: That motion does carry. I also have before me monthly reports from the Sheriff, County Clerk, Justice of the Peace, Precinct 2, Justice of the Peace, Precinct 3, justice of the Peace, Precinct 1, District Clerk, and Constable, Precinct 3. Do I hear a motion that those reports be approved as presented? COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: So moved. COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for approval. Any question or discussion? All in favor, raise your right hand. (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. (No response.) JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. Do we 1-10-05 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 A-. 25 95 have any reports from any of the Commissioners on their liaison assignments? Commissioner Baldwin -- COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Nay. JUDGE TINLEY: -- do you have anything? Williams? COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: No, sir. JUDGE TINLEY: Letz? COMMISSIONER LETZ: Couple things. Anyone from the Court, I guess, certainly can attend on the 18th. There is an all-day workshop at the airport. If any one or more members of the Court want to attend that, we can, I guess, post that as a workshop for the Court. It should be a very -- parts of it will be very educational, I think. And there's going to be a tour of the airport to get -- make sure all the board members are up to speed as to exactly who's where and what land's used for what and all that stuff, go over some plans, long-term plans and all that type of stuff as well. And then we're going to get into a long, I think, discussion on operations out there, which will certainly be very interesting to Commissioner Williams and myself, and I think rest of the board, because I think after operating for a while, there's some areas that do need to be tweaked a little bit. But, certainly, the Court is welcome to attend, but it would have to be posted if anyone else does want to attend any or all of that meeting. 1-10-05 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 96 JUDGE TINLEY: What time does that begin? COMMISSIONER LETZ: 10 o'clock -- 9 o'clock. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I think 9:00, but Kathy can doublecheck it. COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah, you can check. JUDGE TINLEY: Probably ought to post that, just in the off chance that it's -- COMMISSIONER LETZ: Anybody drops in. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Especially if there's a catered meal, I may wander in. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I suspect that the City Council will post it. COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think that should be a -- hopefully, the weather will be -- and I think the forecast is for it to be reasonably good that day, temperature-wise, anyway. The other thing -- this is more from a -- I guess, a report item. It seems to me that as we continue to get more and more buildings and facilities, that the scope and overall possible operation of our Maintenance Department really needs to take a real, hard look before our next budget process. The current framework we have was really set up before we had the jail. Under the -- you know, the way it's operated, it's kind of done its own little bailiwick over there. Now we've added the Juvenile Detention Facility, which we are aware has a whole lot -- 1-10-05 97 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 it's old; part of it's a very old building, and part of the new building may have more problems than the old building. So, we have a lot of things out there, and I just think we really need to think about setting up a workshop, maybe in early February after the stack show is beyond, and -- and look at maintenance operations and how things go, philosophies. And those are general things, so I just put that on the table to see what everyone else thinks, but I think we need to discuss that. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: That's a good idea. JUDGE TINLEY: Appreciate that. Anyone else? Any elected officials or department heads have any reports or comments they'd like to make to the Court? Yes, sir? MR. EMERSON: If I may, Commissioners, having newly stepped into the position, there's a couple things that I think the citizens, through Commissioners Court, need to be advised of, and they have to do with operations, and not necessarily deliberations on your part, but advisory, the first being the Hot Check fund, which operates under the sole discretion of the County Attorney's office. Historically, that has always been maintained as a separate account. We have taken steps -- Tommy, Barbara, and I -- to move that into the County treasury, as a subdivision of the County treasury, so that the proper audit reports and oversight can take place pursuant to the statutes. 1-10-05 r.-...w.. ~j .t I~ ___ _ _ _ _ _ 98 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 .-,. 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 Another part of that is that the interest that's accrued on that account, by statute, is supposed to escheat to the County to the general revenue fund. I can't find where that's ever occurred. Having reviewed the last three years' worth of income to that account, I've instructed, basically, Tommy and Barbara, once the accounts are finished being set up, to transfer $1,000 from that account to the County's general revenue fund. The best I can tell, that should be a reasonable number that's pretty close to what the actual amount would be. You know, I think everybody understands that that fund is there to work with Commissioners Court, not against Commissioners Court, and to work as a team for the benefit of the citizens of the county, and we plan on doing that. Having said that, we've also changed the office hours in the office. We're open 8:00 to 5:00; we're not closed at lunch, so if the Commissioners receive any questions to that effect, we'd appreciate a response there. Commissioners have been very kind as far as forwarding written requests for opinions. The logistics of stepping in and -- and finding old requests or old paperwork are a little bit difficult at times, and if you have any old opinions that you need that are out there, we would greatly appreciate it if you would forward another copy to us. And the only other issue we have is that -- 1-10-05 ~ ~. r - - - - 99 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 and this kind of goes in with your discussion with Tommy earlier. The County Attorney's office is actually on a separate server, and it is our intention to save the taxpayers' money and to incorporate that office into the County's server and do away with that second server, thereby reducing costs. So, at some point, when, I guess, our new personnel is brought on board, we'll need to do that. In the meantime, because it's on a separate server -- from the Hot Check fund, so that it doesn't affect the County's budget -- I've authorized an expenditure that's going to run approximately $1,200 for a backup system on that server. There is not a backup system in place, and once it's installed, we'll be able to back up nightly and store the disk in one of the two fire safes in the county courthouse. And that's all I have. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Thank you very much. JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Thank you, Rex. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: What's your name again? JUDGE TINLEY: Any other reports? COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Let me ask you something right quick. Once you get the -- completely get the -- that fund transferred to the -- into the county system, will you still be in total control of it? 1-10-05 100 1 ~,, 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 MR. EMERSON: Yes, sir. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay. MR. EMERSON: Yeah, by statute, it falls under the sole discretion -- COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That's what I thought. MR. EMERSON: -- of the County Attorney's office. JUDGE TINLEY: Any other questions? Any other reports to be rendered? On the -- because of the change in the place of the meeting for the 24th, and having previously given notice of publication -- by publication of the issuance of the certificates of obligation, of intent to issue those, the bond attorney has prepared and forwarded to us a new Notice of Intention -- corrected Notice of Intent, and we'll have to republish that, and we've cleared that with the newspaper. It will be published this Wednesday, I believe, and then again the following Wednesday, with an action date on it of the 27th, which will be accomplished by recess of the regular meeting of the 24th and a reconvening on the 27th. Those -- those were suggestions of -- of our bond attorney to handle it that way, so that's where that's proceeding. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Judge, are you -- excuse me just for a moment. Are you saying that you recess the regular court meeting and bring us back in on Thursday, i-io-o5 101 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 the 27th? Is that what you're saying? JUDGE TINLEY: Yes, sir. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: To vote on the bonds? JUDGE TINLEY: To vote on the issuance of the C.O.'s, that's correct, mm-hmm. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: We have to republish the -- JUDGE TINLEY: And the reason for the recess is because of the timing; we can't get the two publications done in an adequate time to go ahead and consider it on the 24th. That's why we've got to do the recess and have it brought up on the 27th. COMMISSIONER LETZ: Judge -- JUDGE TINLEY: That was at the suggestion of the -- COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: We can recess three days? JUDGE TINLEY: Yes. COMMISSIONER LETZ: Hmm-mm. I thought we had to -- COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I've always said that, but you always said you couldn't. COMMISSIONER LETZ: I thought we had an opinion that we could only -- I believe an Attorney General opinion that said we can only recess for 24 hours. 1-10-05 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 102 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I've always thought it was three days. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Well, why don't we ask the County Attorney? COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: What was his name? COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Emerson. MR. EMERSON: I'l1 let you know this afternoon. COMMISSIONER LETZ: That's a pretty simple one. And if we can't recess, we just have to post a second meeting. JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That's maybe what you ought to do anyway. COMMISSIONER LETZ: What time is it? JUDGE TINLEY: It'll be at 9:00 or 10:00. On the new notice? MS. MITCHELL: What? COMMISSIONER LETZ: The 27th. MS. MITCHELL: 11:00. JUDGE TINLEY: 11:00? Okay. Okay, yeah. It's neither; it's at 11:00. COMMISSIONER LETZ: 11:00, okay. And, Judge, if you're finished, I have another comment. JUDGE TINLEY: Go ahead. i-lo-o5 103 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Two things. Everyone needs to remember that next Thursday, stock show begins. We'll be out there, and hopefully we'll have good weather to go with the big event. And we were all out there for that, and I might note that I'm -- nevermind. I won't say that; it would be tacky to say something derogatory about the City. The other comment -- oh, I appreciate the editorial, and also appreciate the City of Kerrville's donation of the trees. I don't know -- COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: The trees, that was good. COMMISSIONER LETZ: Really dressed up the River Star -- River Star -- COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: River Star Park. COMMISSIONER LETZ: River Star Park. Anyone who's not driven by -- and these aren't little trees. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: They're giant. COMMISSIONER LETZ: These -- we're talking big trees. I forgot where the funding came from to move those trees. Someone did it. City had the trees. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: They had money, and they had Maldonado move them. They were done professionally. COMMISSIONER LETZ: Anyway, it looks very, very nice, and appreciate the City donating -- I presume off 1-10-05 104 1 ~.,, 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 their old tree farm. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: That's correct. COMMISSIONER LETZ: But, anyway, it's a big addition to that facility. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: And all those flowering hedges along the roadside, so it should be pretty. COMMISSIONER LETZ: That's it. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I have one -- are we going to be talking about the burn ban here pretty soon? Is that something we need to be thinking about? COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think on the 24th would be a good time to talk about it. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Are you going to put that on? COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yes. JUDGE TINLEY: I might mention also, the stock show reference. This Friday beginning at 6 a.m., for all the early risers, we got a little cowboy breakfast right downtown here, and that's an event that I think is sponsored in part by Main Street, and I think the stock show people are involved in it. I think there's several others. I don't want to leave anybody out. But there'll be some fun and games there, participation by some member of this Court. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Are you going to -- JUDGE TINLEY: Other than myself. 1-10-05 105 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: You're not going to? JUDGE TINLEY: I don't want to hog all the fun, and I did it last year. And -- and so the -- SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Is Buster going to milk the goat this year? COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Been practicing, buddy. SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Okay. COMMISSIONER LETZ: While we're mentioning burn ban, another question for the County Attorney. Do you prefer written requests? Or -- can I just give you a request right now, or do you -- does it make any difference to you? MR. EMERSON: Written request would be wonderful. COMMISSIONER LETZ: You'll get one in writing, but let me go ahead and tell you now so you understand what is it as well. Every time we get into the burn ban this time of year, we get into this prescribed and agricultural burning. And, by the 24th, it would be helpful if you could enlighten us as to exactly what we have authority to control through burn bans. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: In regards to the agricultural -- COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. I mean, can we i-lo-os 106 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 say you can't burn, period? Or can we say, well, you can't burn, but, you know, if you're doing a prescribed burn according to state law, under the agricultural and all that stuff, then you can do that regardless of burn ban. Because we get into a lot of communication, and we probably don't -- don't talk about, sometimes, all that from the actual law standpoint. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Good idea, Jon. JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: But he won't do it unless you write it down. COMMISSIONER LETZ: Kathy is going to remind me to write it. JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Anything else? If not, we will go out of open session at 11:23, and we'll next go into executive or closed session to cover items that are listed there. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: So moved. Do we need a motion? Or just JUDGE TINLEY: No, we're just doing it. (The open session was closed at 11:23 a.m., and an Executive Session was held, the transcript of which is contained in a separate document.) JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. We'll come back into open session. It is now 11:52 or -3, one or the other; I 1-10-05 107 1 ,~-. 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 can't tell. We're back in open session. Is there anything to be offered as a result of discussion in closed session? COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think there -- we referred to some audit information or request and stuff of that nature, and the -- I believe the County Auditor was going to give an update on Pressler Thompson's current audit, and what they're doing, and work they're doing that may be additional this year because of the circumstances at the Juvenile Detention Facility. MR. TOMLINSON: The memo relative to the -- to the agenda item from my office to the Court, I -- I furnished Pressler Thompson copies of that, so -- to make them aware of -- of the questions before us. They -- they don't have Commissioner Williams' specific questions. If -- you know, if the Court desires, we -- we can furnish them with -- with either the questions and the answers to his questions for them to review, or -- or we could have -- have them develop some of the -- of the answers to the questions. I think -- from an economic standpoint, I think -- I think it's best to use them, because they've already done a lot of the background work that someone else would have to do. So, I think it's -- I mean, I'm sure that they -- if we asked them to extend their scope, then -- then they can -- then they can estimate, you know, how much additionally they would charge us for that. 1-10-05 108 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: You have no feel for that yet? MR. TOMLINSON: No, I haven't -- I haven't had a conversation with them about that, because I wanted to make sure that -- that -- you know, the -- I have some grasp as to -- as to how much we want them extended. So, if -- you know, if the Court desires, I can give them, you know, copies of the questions, and let -- you know, let them come back at us with -- with an estimate. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Tommy, I've always felt like -- or I don't know why I think this, is that an audit like we -- the audit they do for the juvenile facility now -- MR. TOMLINSON: Mm-hmm. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: -- would be a -- just for the lack of verbiage here, that would be a Level 1; they do a basic Level 1 audit, and auditors work in that realm. Like, you can request that they do a Level 1 or do a Level 2, or -- MR. TOMLINSON: Sure. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: -- or a Level 3, you know, whatever the highest one. "Please look for some criminal activity," and those kinds of things. Is that -- is that how they work? Or am I just -- MR. TOMLINSON: Well, if -- if there -- if 1-10-05 109 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 there are no circumstances in operations of any entity that they know of, or is not visible, then they -- for governmental auditing, there's a set of standards that are set out by the Governmental Accounting Standards Board, similar to the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. It's -- they're similar in nature. But they -- the Governmental Accounting Standards Board issues auditing standards that -- that auditing firms use to -- to audit municipalities, whether it be a school, city, or a county. And they -- they typically use those standards for what I would term standard auditing. If -- to go beyond that, they would have to be aware of -- of circumstances that would require them to do that. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Particular issues. MR. TOMLINSON: Yes. And so, I mean -- I mean, it would take hours to -- to explain what those standards are and how they go about that. So, I think the best approach is just -- just to ask them to give us some estimate of what -- of how much it would cost for them to extend their scope to include, you know, anything you want it to include. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I want to ask the County Judge for a little input here in terms of whether or not the Auditor should proceed with that document that we talked about in executive session. Prior to your meeting -- 1-10-05 i 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 110 your subsequent meeting coming up. JUDGE TINLEY: I'm not following you, Commissioner, I'm sorry. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: The list of questions. He talked about giving the list of the questions. JUDGE TINLEY: Mm-hmm. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: That you're willing to discuss at a subsequent meeting -- JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: -- with the auditors. JUDGE TINLEY: Okay, I finally came to the party. We may want to defer, but rather make just a general inquiry about looking at some specific aspects out there initially, and see if we can get a range -- COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Range of costs for -- JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah. Yeah, a range. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: -- for a more in-depth audit. MR. TOMLINSON: I -- you know, I suspect that -- that they will extend their scope anyway, whether -- COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I guess they would if we asked them to, wouldn't they? MR. TOMLINSON: I mean, even without us asking. 1-10-05 111 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JUDGE TINLEY: I think, under the circumstances, they're probably going to focus more attention -- MR. TOMLINSON: Right. JUDGE TINLEY: -- in any event, even if they got no further direction from us. COMMISSIONER LETZ: It seems -- I mean, from your comments in closed session, and my little bit of knowledge of audits, I mean, I think that we should ask them to -- hey, let's focus on this. Let's focus out there, and see if you find anything. But I really don't anticipate anything on the financial side to show up. The problems were more -- COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Management. COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- policy/management type. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Policy, management, systemic. COMMISSIONER LETZ: You know, I think they need to be looked into, so I think that -- you know, I think we should ask them to look -- you know, look -- hey, look at this closely. And if they find anything, you know, to report one way or the other. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Probably right. JUDGE TINLEY: So, insofar as giving specific 1-10-05 112 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 directions to the Auditor when he interfaces with the outside audit people, just a confirmation that they, in fact, are going to direct more attention to that probably is the only thing we want to do at this point? COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: And some assessment of additional costs if we were to expand the scope of additional engagement. JUDGE TINLEY: Okay, yeah. Okay. Anything else to be offered? COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I don't know what it would be. COMMISSIONER LETZ: Lunchtime. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Lunchtime. JUDGE TINLEY: If not, being nothing further, we'll stand adjourned. (Commissioners Court adjourned at 12 p.m.) 1-10-05 113 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 STATE OF TEXAS ~ COUNTY OF KERR ~ 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 13th day of January, 2005. JANNETT PIEPER, Kerr County Clerk B Y : _G~__ fi_~__ Kathy B ik, Deputy County Clerk Certified Shorthand Reporter i-io-o5 ORDER N0.28974 SET PUBLIC HEARINGS FOR GROTTO SPRINGS. Came to be heard this the 10th day of January 2005 with a motion made by Commissioner Letz seconded by Commissioner Baldwin. The Court unanimously approved to set a public hearing for Grotto Springs Precinct 3 on February 14, 2005 at 10:00 A.M. ORDER N0.28975 COMMISSIONERS' COURT APPOINTMENTS TO VARIOUS BOARDS, AGENCIES AND/OR ENTITIES FOR 2005. Came to be heard this the 10th day of January 2005 with a motion made by Commissioner Williams seconded by Commissioner Baldwin. The Court unanimously approved by vote of 3-0-0 Liaison/Committee Assignments of Commissioners Court Members for 2005, with the addition as follows: Airport Board Jonathan Letz and Bill Williams Historical Commission Buster Baldwin Library Board Bill Williams AACOG Bill Williams & Buster Baldwin as alternate EMS Board Buster Baldwin 9-1-1 Buster Baldwin & Jonathan Letz K.E.D.F. County Judge & Dave Nicholson as alternate Maintenance & Courthouse County Judge Facilities Liaison Investment Committee Ag-Barn Animal Control Law Enforcement/Jail OSSF/Environmental Health Juvenile Detention Facility County Judge, Auditor, Treasurer Bill Williams & Jonathan Letz Dave Nicholson County Judge Dave Nicholson Buster Baldwin & Bill Williams ORDER N0.28976 KERR COUNTY INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY PERSONNEL. Came to be heard this the 10th day of January 2005 with a motion made by Commissioner Williams seconded by Commissioner Letz. The Court unanimously approved by a vote of 3-0-0 to accept the resignation of Shaun Branham and to advertise for part time personnel and for a contract for the personal computers. ORDER N0.2$977 POLICY FOR KERR COUNTY WAR MEMORIAL. Came to be heard this the 10th day of January 2005 with a motion made by Commissioner Baldwin seconded by Commissioner Williams. The Court unanimously approved by a vote of 3-0-0 to adopt the following policy. 1.) Circumstances of Death resulting from: a. Death resulting from injuries or activities of Service received within the theater of war or conflict. 2.) Citizenship or residency requirements: a. Home of Record. (Service personnel determines place of residency.) ORDER N0.28978 DEPUTY SHERIFF POSITION. Came to be heard this the 10th day of January 2005 with a motion made by Commissioner Baldwin seconded by Commissioner Letz. The Court unanimously approved by a vote of 3-0-0 to add a deputy to the Sheriffs' Office. ORDER N0.28979 ADVERTISE FOR REPLACEMENT OF GRADALLS. Came to be heard this the 10th day of January 2005 with a motion made by Commissioner Baldwin seconded by Commissioner Williams. The Court unanimously approved by a vote of 3-0-0 to authorize Road and Bridge to advertise for bids to purchase Gradall machine to replace Gradall damaged in accident. ORDER N0.28980 TEMPORARY LEASE AND OPERATING AGREEMENT AT JUVENILE DETENTION FACILITY. Came to be heard this the 10th day of January 2005 with a motion made by Commissioner Williams seconded by Commissioner Letz. The Court approved by a vote of 2-1-0 to temporarily extend the lease on the Juvenile Detention Facility until the end of February 2005. ORDER N0.28981 REPAIRS/REPLACEMENTS OF COMPONENTS AT JUVENILE DETENTION FACILITY. Came to be heard this the 10th day of January 2005 with a motion made by Commissioner Letz seconded by Commissioner Williams. The Court approved by a vote of 2-1-0 declare an emergency to replace Airconditioner/Heater unit $3,048.85 with a 5 year warranty, and the walk-in Freezer compressor $1,848.00 with 1 year warranty. Repairs/replacements to be done by Hardin Heating & Cooling. ORDER N0.28982 " FUNDING REQUIREMENTS FOR OPERATION OF JUVENILE DETENTION FACILITY. Came to be heard this the loth day of January 2005 with a motion made by Commissioner Letz seconded by Commissioner Williams. The Court approved by a vote of 2-1-0 to transfer $50,000.00 out of the reserve to cover the operational requirements at the Juvenile Detention Facility. ORDER NO. 28983 CLAIMS AND ACCOUNTS. Came to be heard this the 10th day of January 2005, came to be c onsidered by the Court various Commissioners Precincts, which said Claims and Accounts are: Expenses Amount 10-General $100,325.31 14-Fire Protection 10,416.66 15-Road & Bridge 7,728.11 18-County Law Library 2,341.67 19-Public Library 107,776.36 --- 26-JP Technology 1,985.00 62-1994 Jail Bond 375.00 76-Juvenile 2,283.50 Total Cash Required for all funds: $233,031.69 Upon motion made by Commissioner Baldwin seconded by Commissioner Letz. The Court unanimously approved by a vote of 3-0-0 to transfer funds. ORDER N0.28984 BUDGET AMENDMENT 216TH DISTRICT COURT Came to be heard this the 10th day of January 2005 with a motion made by Commissioner Letz seconded by Commissioner Williams. The Court unanimously approved by vote of 3-0-0 to transfer the following funds: Expense Code Description Requested +() 10-435-497 Court transcripts $40.00 10-435-402 Court appointed attorney (40.00) ORDER N0.28985 READ AND APPROVE MINUTES Came to be heard this the 10th day of January 2005 with a motion made by Commissioner Letz seconded by Commissioner Williams. The Court unanimously approved by a vote of 3-0-0 the minutes from the following: Special session--December 1, 2004 Regular session--December 13, 2004 Special session--December 17, 2004 Special session--December 28, 2004 ORDER NO. 28986 APPROVE AND ACCEPT MONTHLY REPORTS. Came to be heard this the 10th day of January 2005 with a motion made by Commissioner Williams seconded by Commissioner Letz. The Court unanimously approved by vote of 3-0-0 the following Monthly Reports: Sheriff s Report County Clerk J.P. # 2 J.P. #3 J.P. #1 District Clerk Constable Precinct #3