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KERR COUNTY COMMISSIONERS COURT
Special Session
Friday, January 28, 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
DAVE NICHOLSON, Commissioner Pct. 4

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I N D E X
January 28, 2005
PAGE
--- Commissioners' Comments 3
1.1 Consider, discuss and take appropriate action/~..~~C~~~
on candidates/applicants for Information
Technology Specialist Position 7
--- Adjourned 18
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On Friday, January 28, 2005, at 9:00 a.m., a special
meeting of the Kerr County Commissioners Court was held in the
Commissioners' Courtroom, Kerr County Courthouse, Kerrville,
Texas, and the following proceedings were had in open court:
P R O C E E D I N G S
JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Let me call to order
the special Commissioners Court meeting scheduled for this
date and time, Friday, January 28, 2005, at 9 a.m., pursuant
to notice properly posted. We've got a limited agenda
today. Before we get started, is there any member of the
Court that has any preliminary comments? Number 1?
COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Judge, I do. I'd like
to make a comment about a -- on Monday's agenda, Agenda Item
2.1, discuss the banking agreement with First National Bank
of Omaha and Kerr County and Mutual of Omaha. I talked with
the Treasurer about that, and the way she explained it to me
was that this is simply an account that she transfers money
into so that they can pay insurance claims. You know,
that's the way she explained to it me. It seemed very
simple. I didn't know we did things like that, but I'm --
it makes sense. She stated that there was a deadline of her
signing the document, so -- but I don't know that deadline;
I apologize for that. So, I don't know if that's important
enough for us to call another meeting Sunday morning at 6:30
or something.
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JUDGE TINLEY: We could -- we could include
that on our next Thursday agenda.
COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay, that's fine with
me.
JUDGE TINLEY: Get in ahead of the -- get in
ahead of the 14th meeting. That would certainly be a
possibility.
COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Do you recall the
deadline for her signing a document?
MR. EMERSON: She didn't say anything about a
deadline.
COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay, that's fine with
me. That's the best I can do.
COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I think what the
Commissioner reports is accurate. My question was then, and
is now, undoubtedly we have an account set up somewhere to
satisfy the claims that worked through E.B.A. in the old
system. Is there any reason why that account had to be
abandoned and a new one set up? Just to make it more
convenient for Mutual of Omaha or what? Just a question.
COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yo no se.
JUDGE TINLEY: My understanding of that
account is that's largely within the control of E.B.A.
And --
COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: In which case --
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JUDGE TINLEY: -- since we changed
COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Okay.
JUDGE TINLEY: -- I'll see if we can't get
that on our next Thursday agenda, which is the 3rd, I
believe.
COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yes, sir.
JUDGE TINLEY: We'll get that then.
COMMISSIONER LETZ: We meet almost daily.
Judge, I have a quick comment, also.
JUDGE TINLEY: Okay.
COMMISSIONER LETZ: Just to update the Court
on an item from last Monday as well. Yesterday afternoon,
the -- I guess we call it the Prescribed Burn Committee met.
Everyone that was brought up at the court meeting has agreed
to serve. I think it's a great idea. I think it's a model
which should be done in most of the counties around here.
And the rain has given us a little bit of breathing room to
get it kind of -- you know, some of the policies and
procedures that are -- a little bit more time to work those
out. But it's going to -- it was very well received by
everybody. I think it's kind of the right way to do it.
And, incidentally, I mis -- I did make one misstatement; I
said that the state certification program, that only one of
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these members was a -- was probably certified. He corrected
me. There is no one in the state of Texas certified,
because the requirements are so absurd.
COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Really?
COMMISSIONER LETZ: You have to have
liability insurance, and the minimum policy that Lloyds will
write is $50,000 worth of policy. So, it's -- obviously,
the law that's there is meaningless from the standpoint of
anyone using it.
JUDGE TINLEY: So the ability to use that
exception in the -- in the Health and Safety Code is
nonexistent because no one qualifies?
COMMISSIONER LETZ: Correct.
JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. All right. You got
anything, Commissioner 4?
COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: No.
JUDGE TINLEY: I didn't mean to pass over
you. I thought you had mentioned what you needed to do,
COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: What did I need to
do?
JUDGE TINLEY: Well, the -- when you followed
up on his comments about the insurance.
COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Oh, I have nothing
else.
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7
JUDGE TINLEY: The item on the agenda today
is to consider, discuss, and take appropriate action on
candidates or applicants for the Information Technology
Specialist position. The matter is posted also as an
executive session item. I'll be guided by the Court.
Obviously, it's a personnel item and, you know, we got a
number of options at the Court's direction. It was
advertised as both a part-time and full-time employee
position, as well as a contract position for -- for
outsourcing type arrangement, or some combination of those,
I suppose. If -- if the Court wants to try and narrow down
the basis upon which we want to handle that information
technology, which of those options or which combination of
those options first, or whether we want to go through the
applications first and then come back and look at the whole
thing in one capsule, you know, whatever you want to do.
COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I think we probably
need to do both. Both of the above. It just kind of ties
together. I mean, you -- you can't really make a decision
on what -- what way we're going to do it without looking at
the people that are involved.
JUDGE TINLEY: Certainly.
COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: 'Cause it -- you could
go both ways, I think.
COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: We could go both
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ways. We could go also outsourcing, but I'm not convinced
that outsourcing is the way to go, so I'd rather look at the
personnel -- people who've applied and see if we can settle
on some candidates for the full-time, and see where that
takes us.
JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Do you have any
particular druthers?
COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: I agree with both of
you. Makes sense.
COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: My only other question
would be, should we go in executive session for a personnel
matter?
COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: I think we're going
to say some pretty sensitive things about some of these
people.
COMMISSIONER LETZ: I have another thought,
too. I'm just wondering, since the County Auditor is
intricately involved in -- in the equipment that we utilize,
is it not -- would it not be beneficial if he participated
to some extent as well?
COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: We need a picture of
this. This is good.
COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Commissioner in
training.
COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right.
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JUDGE TINLEY: Good observation,
Commissioner. I don't think that -- that the Auditor is --
is available today.
COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Okay.
JUDGE TINLEY: I don't know. Do you know
whether he's available?
MR. ALFORD: No, sir. I can go check, if you
want.
JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Would you be kind
enough to do that? We'd appreciate it.
COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Procedurally, I'm
going to guess what we do today is to winnow this list down
to some people that we want to talk to, so if the Auditor's
not available now, then he can be available when we get down
to brass tacks.
COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Sure.
COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So, are you telling me
that you don't -- you don't see us making an actual decision
today?
COMMISSIONER LETZ: No.
COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: No, yeah.
COMMISSIONER LETZ: The answer to that
question is no.
COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Well, we need to talk
about that. Today's the -- mine says 29th, and I know it's
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around there somewhere. And -- and Shaun's leaving the last
day of the month. How -- how big of a hole are we going to
leave there uncovered? That's kind of important.
COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think -- my first
feeling is that, I mean, I think we have -- between Tommy
and Brad and a few other people, I think the employees in
the county, we can just limp along. I mean, there's got to
be somebody at Software Group or someone else that can help
us. I think this is too important a decision to rush into,
and by my reading of these things, these are basically
meaningless, in my opinion. I mean, there's no way I will
make a decision based on what's on these applications. Some
of them obviously have a lot of experience, have been with
-- I mean, the ones that caught my eye were those that were
able to -- you know, some of the retired individuals,
basically, that have been either at IBM, something like
that, who obviously is a good employee, 'cause it's a big
corporation and they wouldn't keep them that long. But, you
know, we're not talking about having to negotiate salaries.
You get them in here, meet them. Probably not a bad idea to
ask them to write something for us.
COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I think we need to
meet them and talk to them.
COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: If we have to limp
along and we don't have the inside capability to do that,
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there's at least two firms here in town that can help us;
B and B out at Ingram, and Turk over here on Highway 16.
COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Which one here?
COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Turk. I can't
remember the name of his company. He's over there in that
shopping center where the Chinese restaurant is across from
Albertsons.
COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Okay.
MR. EMERSON: Gazelle.
MS. MCELHANNON: Gazelle? Is that it?
COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: He's pretty
impressive, and Benny Brown, B and B, is -- he's a guru when
it comes to computers.
COMMISSIONER LETZ: There's also 5K Laser
that, you know, can do a lot of stuff out towards Ingram.
COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: We can find some
contract help if we needed to.
COMMISSIONER LETZ: That may be a good idea,
because I just think -- I hate to rush into this.
COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Well, it's an
important decision, and I think we need to -- we need to
determine who we want to speak with, who we want to
interview. And my -- in looking through there last night,
studying them, there are two or three that are standing out,
and the rest of them are pretty low, in my opinion -- in my
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view.
COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Well, another part of
the -- part of the picture that we need to -- puzzle that we
need to put together is, what -- where -- are we going to
leave this department under the Auditor, or are we going to
move it under the Commissioners Court? And if we're going
to limp along, let's leave it under the --
COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: With the Auditor.
COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: -- the Auditor until
that point. That's funny, but I'm also serious.
JUDGE TINLEY: Well, you'd have some
continuity, and that's --
COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah, that's what it
is.
JUDGE TINLEY: That's where you're coming
from.
COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That's right,
absolutely.
JUDGE TINLEY: And I didn't mention a little
bit ago when I was talking about our options, we have some
-- we have some folks here in the courthouse; Brad Alford is
one, of course, that is subject to call for, you know,
right-now problems that he's been real cooperative in trying
to help various offices with, and so we've got that
available to us. But we don't want to wear out our welcome
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there. If we're going to utilize that, we may want to think
about some sort of additional staffing. But I -- I think we
need to qo through these folks, and they may give us an idea
which direction we're going, 'cause some -- some are
applying part-time, some are applying full-time, and some of
them even have -- are in the business. I noted one of --
one of the individuals that I think is probably more
qualified, based upon my review, is in the business, and
that could possibly be a contract outsource arrangement.
So, we've got a bunch of options available to us.
COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay.
JUDGE TINLEY: I -- the sense I get is that
we go into executive session, we look at the individuals,
and then, depending on how that gets winnowed down, we move
from there. Is that --
COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS:
" JUDGE TINLEY: -- what
will -- we will close the open public
COMMISSIONER BALDWIN:
personally don't have any problem wit
staying.
of trouble.
I think --
I'm hearing? Well, we
session at -- at 9:13.
Judge, I don't --
h the County Attorney
COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Not at all.
COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: He might keep us out
COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I don't know.
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COMMISSIONER LETZ: Rex goes, "Oh, boy, just
what I wanted to do this morning."
COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I think he's decided
that's becoming a bigger task all the time.
COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Let me suggest a
process. Why don't we take turns indicating three or four
or five that we've -- we like the best and get that recorded
up there, and then see -- see if there's two or three or
four that stand out.
COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I'm ready.
COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: I'm thinking that
ought to eliminate about half of them.
JUDGE TINLEY: You're going to be the scribe?
Okay.
COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I've got three.
JUDGE TINLEY: Just a minute. Let me get us
into executive session.
COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I'm sorry.
(The open session was closed at 9:14 a.m.,
and an Executive Session was held, the
transcript of which is contained in a
separate document.)
JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. We will reconvene in
open session. It is about 10:18. Does any member of the
Court have anything they wish to offer in connection with
what we did in closed session?
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COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I guess -- what, move
to invite certain individuals?
JUDGE TINLEY: For interview before the
Court?
COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I move we invite
Mr. Trolinger, Mr. Swartz -- it's Ms. Artlip, is it not?
COMMISSIONER LETZ: Correct.
COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: And Ms. Itz in for
interviews to begin at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, February 1.
JUDGE TINLEY: Okay.
COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I second that.
JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded. Any
question or discussion?
COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I have a question. I
don't know if it's the proper time to do that or not, but on
that agenda, would you all be opposed to taking care of this
banking -- insurance banking thing at that day, while we're
here?
JUDGE TINLEY: No.
COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Would you be opposed
to Road and Bridge coming in with one agenda item?
JUDGE TINLEY: I've got those both for
Thursday, but now that we're doing this one, we can -- we
can post it for Tuesday, two days sooner.
COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay.
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JUDGE TINLEY: I'll take care of it. Any
further question or discussion on the motion? All in
favor --
MR. EMERSON: Can I ask one question? As
long as you're adding things to the agenda --
COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Here we go.
MR. EMERSON: -- can I shift my line item
from February 14th to this coming one about the remodeling
downstairs? So that we're not sitting on hold for three
weeks?
COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I have no problem with
it, myself.
COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Sure.
COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: When I got this job,
I didn't know I was going to have to work five days a week.
(Laughter.)
COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I think it's a good
idea. Let's get it done.
COMMISSIONER LETZ: Do we want to tell the
people to show up at 10:30, then? We're going to have some
agenda items to -- or they can show up at 10:00; they can
wait.
COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah.
COMMISSIONER LETZ: Get used to waiting
around here.
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COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Or she could stagger
them.
COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That's probably a good
idea, to stagger them 10 minutes at least.
COMMISSIONER LETZ: 10:30? Starting at
10:30?
COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Take care of our
in-house business so they can get back to work, and then get
to the interviews.
JUDGE TINLEY: Starting at -- well, it's not
going to take too long with the first two items. The -- his
item may take a little bit longer. I don't know how
involved we're going to get with that. If it's just going
to be looking at preliminary stuff, maybe.
COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: And Road and Bridge is
just purchasing the Gradall, and --
JUDGE TINLEY: The other's going to be --
COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: This thing here is
just a --
COMMISSIONER LETZ: 10:15, probably.
COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: 10:16.
COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: 10:30, 10:45, 11:00.
JUDGE TINLEY: Let's do it at 10:00,
15-minute intervals.
COMMISSIONER LETZ: Probably 10.
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COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I think 10 minutes. I
really do.
JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Any further discussion
on the motion? All in favor of the motion, signify by
raising your right hand.
(The motion carried by unanimous vote.)
JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign.
(No response.}
JUDGE TINLEY: Is there any further business?
If not, this meeting will be adjourned.
(Commissioners Court adjourned at 10:20 a.m.)
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STATE OF TEXAS I
COUNTY OF KERR I
The above and foregoing is a true and complete
transcription of my stenotype notes taken in my capacity as
County Clerk of the Commissioners Court of Kerr County,
Texas, at the time and place heretofore set forth.
DATED at Kerrville, Texas, this lst day of February,
2005.
JANNETT PIEPER, Kerr County Clerk
--- / a
BY:
Kathy Ba ik, Deputy County Clerk
Certified Shorthand Reporter
1-28-05
ORDER NO. 29015
CANIDATES/APPLICANTS FOR INFORMATION
TECHNOLOGY SPECIALIST POSITION.
Came to be heard this the 28th day of January 2005 with the motion made by
Commissioner Williams seconded by Commissioner Baldwin. The Court unanimously
approved by a vote of 4-0-0 to discuss applications for the Information Technology
Specialist Position. The following applicants will be called for interviews..
Mr. Trolinger, Mr. Swartz, Ms. Artlip, Ms. Itz.