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 KERR COUNTY COMMISSIONERS COURT Special Session Monday, March 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 UI 2 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 I N D E X March 28, 2005 PAGE --- Visitors' Input 3 --- Commissioners' Comments 5 1.1 Request by Hill Country ADR Center to renew mediation services contract and funding g 1.2 Discuss policies and procedures for utilization of the HCYEC and related property, consider options for improving management of these facilities 16 1.3 Consider resolution in support of M.H.M.R. local authority and provider roles 47 1.4 Letter to Kerrville City Manager requesting trees for Kerr County Courthouse parking area 57 1.18 Resolution authorizing acceptance of donation of approximately 3.025 acres of property from KEDF 61 1.19 Consider approving Airport Code, including Rules and Regulations and Minimum Operating Standards 64 1.5 Consider list of road changes, set public hearing 67 1.6 Final Replat of Y.O. Ranchlands, Tract 31, Pct. 4 73 1.7 Award bids for Road & Bridge materials/equipment 76 1.8 Consider road name changes for privately maintained roads in accordance with 9-1-1 guidelines 78 1.9 Approve proclamation declaring April 2005 Child Abuse Prevention Month in Kerr County 81 1.10 Consider appointing Amber Freeman and Pam Peter to Kerr County Child Welfare Board g3 1.11 Consider Joint Community Service Program Proposal 86 1.12 Consider and approve contracts for psychological & medical services performed at juvenile facility 96 1.13 Discuss hiring LPC/LCDC to replace facility counselor resigning in April 98 1.14 Consider purchase of video recorder used to monitor and record secured areas within juvenile facility 117 1.15 Consider policy with respect to pauper's remains 120 1.16 Discuss Master Road Plan for Kerr County 123 1.17 Discuss Subdivision Rules and Regulations and Water Availability Requirements 130 4.1 Pay Bills 138 4.2 Budget Amendments 145 4.3 Late Bills --- 4.4 Approve and Accept Monthly Reports 152 5.1 Reports from Commissioners/Liaison Committee Assignments 153 25 ~ --- Adjourned 155 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, March 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: Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Let me call to order this regularly scheduled meeting of the Kerr County Commissioners Court posted for this time and date, Monday, March the 28th, 2005, at 9 a.m. It appears to be that time now. Commissioner Baldwin -- COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yes, sir? JUDGE TINLEY: -- the floor is yours. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: If you'll stand and join me in a word of prayer, and after the prayer, we'll do the pledge of allegiance. (Prayer and pledge of allegiance.) JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Thank you. JUDGE TINLEY: At this time, if there's any member of the audience or the public that wishes to address the Court or mention some items that are not listed items on the agenda, you're free to come forward at this time. If you want to speak on an agenda item, an item that's listed on the agenda, we would ask that you fill out a participation form. They're at the back of the room. It's 3-28-05 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 25 not essential that you do so, but it helps me to make sure that I get everybody that wants to speak on a given issue. But if you want to speak on an item that is not a listed agenda item, we'd ask that you come forward at this time. Mr. Eller? If you'd give your name and address so that the court reporter can have it, please. MR. ELLER: My name's Charlie Eller, 108 Wild Timber, Kerrville, Texas. I've spent most of the last nine months fighting City Hall, and I would like the Court to know that while we've had disagreements in the past, by comparison, this is a responsive, civil, caring group of people. Thank you. JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you, sir. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Thank you. COMMISSIONER LETZ: Thank you. COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: We've really missed you the last nine months, Charlie. (Laughter.) COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Judge, could you get the reporter to read that back, please? (Laughter.) JUDGE TINLEY: How many times, Commissioner? COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Three or four times. JUDGE TINLEY: Is there anyone else that wishes to be heard on any matter that is not a listed agenda item? Seeing no one else coming forward, we will move on. Commissioner Baldwin, what do you have for us this morning? 3-28-05 5 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 BALDWIN: I want to announce that, you know, this Court, on three different occasions, has gone to the West Texas County Judges and Commissioners Association Conference all over the country, and we have put our bid in to bring that conference to Kerrville, and we were finally successful in doing that. In 2007, the West Texas conference will be held right here in Kerrville, and there will be between 500 and 600 brand-new faces that come to town, the best we can tell. But I think that, you know, now that it's come this far south, that we'll have -- our neighboring counties will come over here, and as well as some of the -- the old South Texas bunch; just everybody loves to come to Kerrville, and so our community will be full of county government officials. There -- in the West Texas Association, there's 108 counties, so if you do that math, that's a lot of folks in itself, and then if you start adding these -- Gillespie and Bandera and these other counties locally, our community will be absolutely full, and we're going to have a great time. There's lots of planning to be done. We're -- because we're going to be the host, and we want to dress our community up and learn how to be nice. And -- but a big part of that is there is going to be a large amount of money spent in this community in one week. And, of course, the City of Kerrville gets most of it through the sales tax, so in our process of planning, we 3-28-05 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 will be visiting with the brethren over at the City to see how that we can partnership and -- in some functions. So, that's about it, unless y'all want to talk about track at Baylor. But I won't do that to you today. JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you, sir. Commissioner Williams? COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: colleague to the right failed to tell elevated to first vice presidency of Judges and Commissioners Association, conference is here, he will be the ma the president of that association. Well, my modest you that he also was -- of the West Texas and in 2007, when the jor-domo; he will be COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Major-domo? COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: You like that? COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Is that -- that's below general, though? COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Yeah. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: It's complimentary. And also, you know, there's an old saying, if you don't get it right the first time, you keep trying till you do get it right, and Commissioner Baldwin did that. In his committee meeting, he had a committee that was kind of all over the lot in terms of where they were willing to go, and he kept them at the table voting until they finally got it right, 3-28-05 7 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 they're going to be here in '07. Congratulations. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Thank you, sir. Thank you. JUDGE TINLEY: Is that it? COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Yes, sir. JUDGE TINLEY: Commissioner Letz? COMMISSIONER LETZ: Unfortunately, I was unable to attend the conference due to illness in the family, but I figure there'll be ample time for some other conferences, probably the post-legislative conference. Legislature seems to be tinkering with a great deal of things that's going to affect us, so I plan to attend that. Only thing I really have, I'd like to read a very short letter that I received the other day. Letter's from J. Dudley Snyder, who owns a ranch in east Kerr County, and it's written to the Kerr County Road and Bridge Department. I think Leonard has the original of this. I received a copy. "Dear sir: Sue and I would like to write this letter of commendation to your crew for the very professional job they did recently in our area of Kerr County. The road construction crew needed material for a road repair job nearby, and we offered some of our gravel from our creek crossings. The crew did a very neat and professional job on our ranch, and we'd like to thank them for doing quality work. Please put this letter in the appropriate personnel 3-28-05 8 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 files. Sincerely, J. Dudley Snyder." Len, appreciate your crew. I'm sure you received the original of this and will pass that word on to Douglas and his crew. Very -- it's always a great thing to receive a letter like this about a Kerr County -- any Kerr County employee, so I just wanted to read that into the record. That's all I have. JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you. Commissioner Nicholson? COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Two things, Judge. Our Kerr County children have been competing in the major livestock shows ever since we had the -- the show here, and I don't have information on how well they've done overall. The Houston show was just this weekend, I think. But one group, the Ingram F.F.A., scored really well in Fort Worth, San Antonio, and San Angelo. A dozen of their members scored in those events, and one of them, Hunter Dieringer, scored in five or six different events, so I'll be interested to see how -- how we did overall. I think we've really got fine 4-H activity in this county. There'll be a dedication of the Texas Historical Marker for Hunt on April 7th at 1:30 p.m. at -- near Camp La Junta, right there near the Hunt Crossing. And, as y'all know, that's a major activity to try to -- try to get one of those historical markers approved, so I'm hoping for a good turnout for that. That's it. 3-28-05 9 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you. I, too, want to thank Commissioner Baldwin for his efforts in the -- the site selection committee. I think, but for his efforts, we wouldn't be seeing those folks here in 2007, and I think it was because of his efforts -- strong-arming? Would that be a better term? COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: It works. JUDGE TINLEY: Perseverance. But it was primarily his efforts that is going to bring that -- that function here, and we want to thank him for that. I think it was a beneficial conference to all of us that attended, and I think we all came away with some good ideas. That's all I have. Let's get down to business. The first item on the agenda is consideration of a request by the Hill Country A.D.R. Center to renew a contract with Kerr County to provide mediation services in Kerr County, and for funding. Mr. Reaves? MR. REAVES: Good morning. May it please the Court, three years ago, this Court authorized an allocation of some $43,000 to restart the Hill Country A.D.R. Center that has since grown from a trickle of cases the first year to 68 the second year, and in 2004, we had 105 cases, 66 of which were Kerr -- involved Kerr County residents. The mission of the A.D.R. Center is to provide accessible, affordable dispute resolution for the residents of Kerr 3-28-05 10 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 County and the other counties that we serve. You know, it's hard to put a dollar figure on how much is saved with each case. You know, there's a tremendous amount of good done to the individual parties when you can settle a case in a timely manner by agreement, so they have greater satisfaction with what happens, and then it's apt to stand the test of time better when they've been a part of it. But I did do some research. Found out that -- in Travis County, they found out that it cost a little over $5,000 a day to have a trial, the costs of everybody involved. The average in Travis County is three days for trial. I suspect here it's a little less than that, but T don't have the precise figures. But if you took the 66 cases that we had -- Kerr County cases that we had last year, and we know we saved -- we settled, on average, 80 percent of the cases. It varies from time to time. The last quarter of last year, we had 27 cases, and we settled 26. But -- but you multiply that times those figures, and you're getting a figure close to, oh, some $800,000 or so saved. Now, let's assume that we hear less cases. Maybe we only saved a third of that, but that still would represent about $10 return for every dollar that was allocated by the Court last year to the center. We're excited about the future. We think there are things that we may be able to help out with in the 3-28-OS 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 11 community in addition to helping the courts deal with an ever-growing number of cases. Things like peer mediation in some of the schools that do not have them currently, and a possibility of victim offender mediation in juvenile cases that Judge Tinley and have I spoken about before. And so we would respectfully ask the Court to approve the continuation of our contract this year. There was some 18 -- over $18,000 in A.D.R. funds collected by the County back on 30 September. It was over $21,000 as of 31 December, and I think they're probably just updated quarterly. But, given a straight-line projection, there should be about almost $25,000 in that fund right now, and we're requesting the Court's consideration of allocating $20,000 of that money. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Mr. Reaves, I have a couple questions. How much -- how much did the County kick in this last year? MR. REAVES: $33,000. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: 33? MR. REAVES: Yes, sir. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: And I'm looking at the profit/loss schedule here, and I don't see where that 33 -- I see county funding under December '04, $2,300, and then January-December, $43,000. MR. REAVES: Yes, sir. What that indicates is we received an additional $10,000 from the other counties 3-28-05 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 that we served -- COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I see. Okay. So that's just -- MR. REAVES: -- during the year. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: You lump all the counties together? MR. REAVES: Yes, sir. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: And then one other question. On your performance report, for calendar year 2004, you -- and I think you just answered my question when -- when you talked about you had served approximately 250 clients, and 150 of those were Kerr County residents. MR. REAVES: Yes, sir. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So the Kerr County taxpayers are not picking up the bill for other counties. They are paying for those -- MR. REAVES: No, sir. We'd like to see the other counties participate more. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So would we. MR. REAVES: And that's -- that's on the agenda. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay. Thank you very much. MR. REAVES: Thank you, Mr. Baldwin. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: What is the fee -- 3-28-05 13 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 average fee charged or paid by users of the mediation service? MR. REAVES: Well, if it's a prelitigation case, each side pays $65. If it's already in litigation, each side pays $125. And the mediators charge no fee; they're all pro bono people. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Thank you. MR. REAVES: Thank you, sir. JUDGE TINLEY: Any other questions for Mr. Reaves? COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Not a question, just an observation. I'm a big fan of mediation. Besides all the money it saves, it shortens the time required to get to resolution, and probably makes the community a friendlier place, so mediation is very good. JUDGE TINLEY: Mr. Emerson, have you reviewed the proposed contract? MR. EMERSON: Yes, Judge. JUDGE TINLEY: And what's the result of that review? MR. EMERSON: I don't think there's any outstanding terms for the County. It's the same contract that's been used -- JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. MR. EMERSON: -- for the previous year. And 3-28-05 14 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 "' 2 4 25 at that time, I was actually part of the Hill Country Alternative Dispute Resolution Board and participated in making that contract. JUDGE TINLEY: But the format is the same one that's been approved in the past? MR. EMERSON: Yes, sir. JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. COMMISSIONER LETZ: These funds are budgeted? JUDGE TINLEY: They're segregated funds, if I understand it correctly. When cases are filed in our -- in our courts, there's a certain amount of the court costs that goes into a segregated fund for -- for alternate dispute resolution, and these are the funds that they're asking that be pushed over and allocated for their use for the A.D.R. purpose. COMMISSIONER LETZ: But if we didn't budget them, we still have to budget those -- we have to authorize the expenditure of these funds, don't we? Even though they're in a separate fund? JUDGE TINLEY: Yes. Yes, I would think so. Certainly -- COMMISSIONER LETZ: And if we didn't budget for them, we have to declare an emergency and budget for them. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: No, it'd be just like 3-28-05 15 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 Law Library fund. We take expenditures -- we make expenditures out of the Law Library fund, for example. I think it's the same principle. COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right, but we budget those. We still -- we don't just arbitrarily take it out any time we want to. We just budget those during the budget process. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I'm not sure about that. COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'm not opposed. I just want to make sure we do it properly, so -- you know, they are dedicated funds. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Judge, I move for approval. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Second. JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for approval of the contract. All in favor -- any further discussion or comments? COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Let's get the answer. JUDGE TINLEY: I'm not sure I can find it on this one. COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: I can't help you. COMMISSIONER LETZ: We can deal with that during budget amendments. JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 3-28-05 16 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: That part of it. JUDGE TINLEY: 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: The motion does carry. Thank you very much, Mr. Reaves. MR. REAVES: Thank you very much. JUDGE TINLEY: The next item is a timed item set for 9:15. It's a few minutes past that now. That is consider and discuss policies and procedures for utilization of the Hill Country Youth Exhibit Center and related property; consider options for improving the business management of these facilities. Commissioner Nicholson? COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: I'll start off by telling you what I expect or hope will come from this discussion. There are -- there's a good bit of interest in -- in reexamining the processes and procedures used to book the Hill Country Youth Exhibit Center and related facilities, and what I'm hoping is that we'll get the issues on the table. I don't expect that we're going to find -- come to resolution of all the issues today, but we need to understand the scope of the -- of the concerns or 3-28-05 17 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 w"' 2 4 25 grievances, and then establish a -- a process for dealing with those issues, and I'm hoping the process will include broader issues that deal with the revenues of the -- of the Hill Country Youth Exhibition Center and the other facilities. So, first -- first, I'm going to ask, to help me introduce the subject, Aubrey Henderson to speak to it. MR. HENDERSON: Morning. I've been absent from putting on rodeos for the last six or seven years, but I have been in that building putting on rodeos in the past for 13 years; Host Lion Clubs in the spring, Crimestoppers in the fall. But I wasn't here today to talk about that. I'm here to talk about the fundraiser that I wanted to do. I talked -- in the last year and a half, I've talked to the Former Texas Rangers Association; everybody knows Joe Davis and Lila. And my interest was only to -- and there's other people here to talk about different interests, but my interest was to put a fundraiser on again, to start and have a fundraiser for that organization. I want to talk about policy. I don't know if there's a policy handbook. I hope that there will be one. Buster, Mr. Nicholson, everybody, I think y'all went to Odessa. I think if y'all were talking to Commissioners there, that if somebody asked you a question that said, "What's your policy on the building?" You could open your briefcase and you could pull out a handbook and 3-28-05 18 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 could you say, "Page 72." How big the arena is, how much the seating holds; you could have a conversation about that. If I come to your office and I ask you, "Sir, give me an opinion on something," you're not going to send me a Xerox copy from the other center. It's going to be a copy. I want to see a handbook, if it's possible. I would like to talk about costs of the seasons, the dates of the off-season. There's only so many prime dates. We don't have air conditioning and heating in that other building, but I'd be willing to raise my hand right now and put on a convention or rodeo or anything like that to raise money. If you'll tag the money, I'll put on the rodeo or the function, bring in a star, whatever, and we'll tag that money and we'll raise money to put air conditioning and heating. It won't take very long, I don't think. Week-long events should be different. We should cut deals with people that want to come in and have that venue, and it should be at a reduced price, but primary dates should cost money. When you talk -- and I mean Heart of the Hills in Waco, Rose Palace south of here, San Antonio. You talk San Angelo; they all have different prices, but their venues that come in there is money that they make. And we're all about for the kids first, but we need to make money at that facility. Everybody should be eligible to participate, gentlemen; it's just good business, making money for the 3-28-05 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 county. I don't think there's anybody in this room that would dispute that the 4-H kids are first. They're number-one priority. But, Buster, you know, you asked me the other day -- you were concerned that there was a letter -- or there was a problem that the kids got bumped for another function. Well, I have this letter here, and I'm going to leave it here with you. I'm not here to mention names or anything. There's three names and numbers on that letter; you can contact them. I'm not an investigator. These kids were bumped. And what that was, was kids wanted to come participate at -- a speaker come from Oklahoma City; it was related to a horse event. They didn't get to participate. They did have their function, but they tied their horses out back. Let's talk about conventions. We all know Sudie. We all know that she brings in a lot of people. A lot of people love to come to the Texas Hill Country. We live in a great, great place. If you were in Odessa, it's pretty. Galveston's pretty. But, unfortunately -- COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Getting into opinions now. MR. HENDERSON: Huh? We've got -- you've asked for bed tax, and you received it. These conventions that don't get to come down here -- I'm going to read a 3-28-05 20 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 letter right quick, and here's -- Sudie gave me all this stuff. It's called a Lost Business Report Log. It tells of the convention -- the people that want to come here, the year that they want to come, how many rooms they're going to stay in, and it has here reason for loss of booking. You've seen them, Buster. Commissioner, you've seen this. This is not new news, but these are conventions; these are venues that want to come to our facility. And it says here, Christie Lester does advise that the Junior Red Brangus will not be -- will not be coming to Kerrville in 2004 because the ag complex was not available for those dates. Again, I get back to if the building was available 12 months out of the year instead of these primary dates, fall and spring, and it was air-conditioned and it was heated, which it isn't, and we're not in the business right now to even discuss that, but later down the road, then we probably wouldn't be here, 'cause there would be enough dates available for Sudie. There'd be enough dates for equine. There would be a lot of dates for everybody. But it should be equal. What happened to the Budweiser -- Bill Langley Budweiser horses? They used to come. The Lebanon Brangus, the Cutting Horse Association. And, gentlemen, did you know, Sudie told me that the Home and Garden Show is moving to Gillespie County, 22 miles north of here? You just said we have one coming here. You just said 3-28-OS 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 earlier in your statement that we have a convention. We just lost one. You know, those Commissioners over there and those hotels and those gas stations are applauding us, because this was here for a long time. Now it's gone. I have some recommendations, and they're only recommendations. Form a committee. I raise my hand right now. I've been all over this United States. I've rode in every arena, coliseum; I've seen every venue, good, small, little. Victoria, Texas, where they tell you at 12:01, at midnight, you're charged another day. We don't get that severe, but we have to put rodeos on there. We have to be out at 12:01. If not, we're charged another day. It's just business, gentlemen. All remaining 2005 calendar year's dates be paid in full and deposits in full up front or forfeit those dates, thus opening them for other venues and events. This should eliminate what I believe to call calendar racing and the word "bumped." This allows the County to earn interest up front on their money. It's just business. Recommend that 2006 calendar year be erased immediately, open it up to all parties interested in a fair and honest drawing for these prime dates. No venue, person or persons, private or convention, nonprofit organization, shall be able to rent the indoor or outdoor facility for more than two consecutive occasions per calendar year, 3-28-05 22 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 therefore opening up to all dates for fair and honest competitive scheduling. Note the word, "competitive" scheduling. The County should maintain a log of all incoming inquiries interested in Kerr County facility for future reference. Kerr County Commissioners and public should want to know what kind of interest and venues would like to come to Kerr County with their events. This would also bring outside income to our community. Rebooking after each held annual event. It's kind of like kids playing in a baseball field. Got a chain link fence around it; kids are in there playing. Other kids would like to play, but policy tells them that these kids can't play. If you pay, you ought to be able to play. Everybody wants to play. How do you rate it? This is how I rate it. 4-H kids first, nonprofit organizations second, private businesses third. And let's talk about private business. There's nothing wrong with anybody renting that building making money. I am not here to grieve about that, not one bit, but right is right and wrong is wrong. Just a minute. I was down there the other day. This is posted: "Anyone wanting to use the outdoor arena must check in at Expo Office." The word "anyone" means everybody. It's broad. I'd like to ask one question before I close, fair and honestly. Does the Kerr County Commissioners want growth in our community, and local and outside venues to participate 3-28-05 23 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 our taxpayers' facilities? Thank you. COMMISSIONER LETZ: Aubrey, before you leave -- MR. HENDERSON: Yes? COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- can we get a copy? I didn't take a lot of notes. MR. HENDERSON: Yes. COMMISSIONER LETZ: If you'd make a copy, I'd be -- MR. HENDERSON: Yeah, sure, no problem. And I have the letter, too, for you. COMMISSIONER LETZ: Thank you. MR. HENDERSON: Thank you, Mr. Nicholson. COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: I think Teri Hawkins also wanted to speak on the subject. JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. MS. HAWKINS: Thank y'all. Commissioner Nicholson, thank you for asking me to be here today to present the documentation that has come from all my inquiries. I have copies for all of y'all of everything that I have documented, as well as some questions that -- I don't know if they'll get answered today, but eventually I know they will. I'd first like to say that I understand and agree that the county facility dates should always be for the children first, for nonprofit organizations and raising 3-28-OS 24 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 money for scholarships or benefits before consideration is given to any outside organization or persons, and I firmly believe this. My question to the Commissioners is, what is the standard procedure that outside organizations or individuals should follow to find the availability of the facilities? I have been told that the booking date for contracts in reference to the indoor facility is the month of August. I don't know for sure, and if so, I don't know what day. If it's not in the month of August, I'd like to know what month and what day. Is this public knowledge? Does the County advertise this booking contract date? If so, who do they advertise with and how often do they do it? How many days can an outside organization book in a single 12-month period? How many months in advance can a single organization or individual book the county facilities? And if it's more than a 12-month period, how can you submit these booking contracts based on what I have been told? I would like to know if I could have a blank contract form for my review and a copy of the policies and rules on how the facility is to be ran, rented, et cetera. I'd also -- another question. Please explain the procedure that the County Commissioners use when presented with a new policy or policy change. How many votes does it take to pass a new policy or make an old policy change from the Commissioners? 3-28-G5 25 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 y'all answer that? COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Three. MS. HAWKINS: Takes three? Then how can -- I was told that two County Commissioners met with two County Extension Agent -- or with the County Extension Agent and the County 4-H Coordinator at the County Extension Office during the week of March 7th and discussed, voted, and put into force a policy change after l had already spoke with the County employee that was told to me to be in charge of the outdoor facility. I inquired about certain dates on March the 1st, and was told the week of March the 7th that this vote went into play; that the prices, the dates of everything that was available to me, the insurance rates were given, the concession stand questions were answered. The only question they couldn't answer was they weren't sure about the deposit, and that they'd give that to me at a later date. Well, now I'm told by the County employee that's in charge of the outdoor facility bookings that they're -- they were no longer -- I'm sorry, I'm not real good at speaking. COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: You're doing fine. MS. HAWKINS: I'll let y'all read this, and it will make more sense to you. If it takes -- I guess what I'm trying to say, if it takes three votes to put into policy, then it's my understanding that no three 3-28-G5 26 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 Commissioners can meet and discuss any issues before the Commissioners Court date. Is that correct also? Okay. And, so, it does take three votes. Then I want to -- what we wanted to know was, how can this new policy of the outdoor arena be enforced with only two Commissioners' votes that was told to me, and we weren't allowed our dates? Those are my questions on behalf of CowHawk Team Raping Productions. And this is -- COMMISSIONER LETZ: The question -- MS. HAWKINS: I'm sorry if I didn't put it very eloquently. COMMISSIONER LETZ: Does it -- I mean, I don't understand the -- your question, 'cause there's no policy that I'm aware of. Is there more information in your letter about who said what? MS. HAWKINS: Yes, sir, there's documentation. I was told that a new policy was put into effect, and therefore our dates would not be honored. And it's all in there. COMMISSIONER LETZ: It says who said that? MS. HAWKINS: Yes, sir, but I don't want to mention names or anything. COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. MS. HAWKINS: I really appreciate it. Thank you. 3-28-05 27 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 a single copy, or is that a copy for everybody? COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: That's a single copy. MS. HAWKINS: It's just one copy, and you'll have to make copies. I'm sorry. JUDGE TINLEY: We can reproduce. Thank you very much. MS. HAWKINS: Thank you. COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Judge, do you have some participation forms? JUDGE TINLEY: Are you through with the speakers? All right. We have some individuals who have filed public participation forms. Hazelle Calcote. Is Ms. Calcote here? There she is, okay. MS. CALCOTE: Good morning. JUDGE TINLEY: Good morning, Ms. Calcote. MS. CALCOTE: I'm Hazelle Calcote. JUDGE TINLEY: Would you give your address so the reporter can take it down? MS. CALCOTE: 1701 Calcote Road, Kerrville. JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you. MS. CALCOTE: I've lived here for gone on 54 years, and I was on the committee that helped build the outdoor arena back in the early '60's. And at that time, 3-28-05 28 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 sir, Judge Neunhoffer was the County Judge, and he was adamant about the 4-H and F.F.A. kids having access anytime, all the time, to that outdoor arena, 'cause that was why it was exclusively built by the parents and interested friends, for the kids. Because we have enough problems with kids, as everybody knows, you know, in other areas, and not all kids like to play soccer or football or other ball games. And I think that that arena should be available to the kids at all times, and he further decreed that under no circumstances would any kind of alcoholic beverages be sold or consumed on those premises there at the outdoor arena. And I would just like to see that that arena is always available to them, and with exception, only requested by an individual organization would it be allowed for outdoor use and rented, but not be set up for extended yearly coverage that would bump kids in any form or manner. And other people say that they're going to make sure that the kids get it, but I have good knowledge that -- that the kids have been bumped and would be bumped at times to keep them from participating. And I think that if kids show up out there and there's something that's going on, that kids come first. 'Cause my first love is kids and horses. And I thank you for listening to me. But please make sure that the kids have first and last and middle request for that outdoor arena. 3-28-05 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 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you, ma'am. Does anybody have any questions for Ms. Calcote? We appreciate you being here today, Ms. Calcote. Rusty Henderson? MR. RUSTY HENDERSON: I just wanted to say that the -- JUDGE TINLEY: If you'll give your name -- I mean your address to the reporter. I think she's got your name. MR. RUSTY HENDERSON: 1803 Looker Drive, Ingram. JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you. MR. RUSTY HENDERSON: I just wanted to say that the Original Team Roping Association, which is based in Amarillo, Texas, which used to be the Coors, has been leasing this barn for the last 18 or 19 years, and there's never been a problem with getting dates or maintaining dates or paying deposits. Whatever we were asked to do, we did. Original Team Roping has been involved in the last 18 years, and to my knowledge, we've done everything that the Court's asked us to do, and we would like our record and our reputation to speak for itself. Thank you. JUDGE TINLEY: Any questions for Mr. Henderson? Thank you, Mr. Henderson. I appreciate it. Becky Henderson? MS. HENDERSON: I don't think I need to. 3-28-05 30 1 2 3 4 S 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 "-' 2 4 25 Thank you, Judge. JUDGE TINLEY: All right, thank you. Charlie Eller. MR. ELLER: Charlie Eller, 108 Wild Timber, Kerrville. I think I've heard something here this morning I am finally beginning to like about the Ag Barn. In my memory, it had never been operated the way it ought to have been operated, and that is as a business. The County shouldn't be in the business of social engineering and charity and giving away the taxpayers' money. In fact, it's forbidden by law. If what I'm hearing here this morning takes place, then I'm very much encouraged. I won't hear any more $20 million bond issues or three and a half million dollar bond issues to build a facility that we'll lose money on. It seems to me I'm hearing here this morning if we'll run it like a business, if all these people want to come here, there's no reason why that business should not be an asset instead of a debt burden to the taxpayers of this county. And I would encourage you to jump on board and run this like a business and, you know, get it off the taxpayers' back. Make money on it. A tax cut would be wonderful, wouldn't it? I -- I would have no problem whatsoever, if there's more things that need to be done out there, if we issue bonds based on revenue, not on taxpayers' assessments. I wouldn't have any problem with it. But I 3-28-05 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 -- 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 31 think I heard the gentleman here this morning offer to air-condition and heat that place. Jump on it, and don't send me a tax bill for it. Thank you. JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you, Mr. Eller. Is there anyone else who wishes to be heard on this particular item -- agenda item that has not filed a participation form? Yes, sir? If you'll step forward, give your name and address, please. MR. COWDEN: I'm Tim Cowden. I live 3 miles north of Garven School. I'd like to introduce my partner, Mr. Hawkins. And we own some team roping cattle, and are interested in putting on some team ropings in the Kerrville, Ingram, Boerne, and Bandera area. We're working on dates that work for Mr. Hawkins and myself schedule. We would like to use the indoor and the outdoor arena. We're interested in competitive booking. Also represent the T.R.A., a statewide association that would like to come to this venue in the indoor arena. Jerry Hawkins and I are producers, and we had Teri Hawkins call to book. We are the producers that are talked about in her papers. We would like to be able to use both arenas. My concerns with booking, and the resolution of the problem with the outdoor arena I would appreciate very much. Thank you. JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you, sir. Is there 25 ~ anyone else here present that wishes to be heard on this 3-28-05 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 32 issue that has not filed a public participation form? Mr. Walston, if you'll come forward. Give your name and MR. WALSTON: Roy Walston, County Extension Agent, 3650 Highway 27 South. Judge and Commissioners, I've got a letter that we've put together that is made up by the -- by myself and the 4-H Horse Project leaders, and they -- of course, project leaders have signed off on it, and I'd like to give y'all all a copy of that. When we were approached as to using the outdoor arena, I visited with -- I previously visited with Glenn Holekamp, and he had authorized myself to go ahead and -- and lease the outdoor arena as we felt necessary for the 4-H Horse Project. And at that time is when I approached the various -- both Commissioner Baldwin and Commissioner Letz as to what our -- how we would handle that for our 4-H facilities. We've run into some problems in scheduling our office and our meeting rooms by leasing -- or by letting others use it; it got to the point to where we couldn't hold our own meetings in it. So, with that experience and with our growing horse project, and which now has 46 4-H Horse Project members, some growing interest in the English area and some things like that, we felt like by multiple leasing of this facility for multiple events during the year, it was going to conflict with some of the possibilities of scheduling dates for those kids, and 3-28-05 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 at that time, that's when we decided that it would be best if we just did not lease it outside for 4-H -- outside of 4-H use. And that's primarily -- and I appreciate everybody's interest in putting the 4-H kids first, and that's what we're doing. Until we can know that -- that we're -- we've got access to a facility, and that's what we're doing, is making it to where our 4-H kids have access to a facility. As Ms. Calcote mentioned, that facility was built by 4-H leaders and volunteers, and it was my impression that it was a 4-H facility for us to use as we felt necessary. That's all I have. JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you. Any members of the Court have any questions for Mr. Walston? Thank you, sir. We appreciate you being here. MS. HAWKINS: I have a question, and I have -- can I ask a question? JUDGE TINLEY: Yes. MS. HAWKINS: Okay. What is the date of that letter? MR. WALSTON: March 25th. JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you, Mr. Walston. MS. HAWKINS: Mm-hmm. JUDGE TINLEY: Anyone else? We appreciate the input on this subject. It occurs to me that there are a number of stakeholders, interested parties in the use of 3-28-05 34 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 facility. We've got -- we've got nonprofit organizations. We've obviously got ag groups. We've got, as is pretty evident here today, people interested in roping. They have a significant interest. I think our economic development people, certainly our Convention and Visitors Bureau people, our 4-H leadership structure and that organization, our F.F.A. people. It appears like we've got a number of interested stakeholders in this thing. And let me ask Mr. Holekamp, if I might, do you -- do you have a current policy in-hand that you feel comfortable about when -- when these various groups come to you inquiring about the use of these facilities out there? MR. HOLEKAMP: No, sir, we don't have a clear policy. And back in June of this last year, in this Court, we addressed doing some policy changes, and it has not been done. I have some feelings, again, on some -- some ideas. I think something that was brought up earlier, possibly a group committee to put together some policies for the Court to approve would be very appropriate. If I'm going to err in the rental of the facility or use of the facility, I want to err in favor of the youth, the 4-H groups. As y'all all know, the last year, year and a half, we've -- the hill country has had quite a bit of rain. We have opened the doors to the indoor arena for 4-H'ers to practice also, not only the outdoor arena, which that is their arena to use 3-28-05 35 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 when they ride; they drive up and they go in the arena. If that facility is booked for commercial or -- or community, whatever, what are we going to do? Or do we -- do we say to the 4-Hers, "Well, come back tomorrow"? I think there needs to be some policy relative to booking, and the word nobody likes is "rollover." One -- one thing is -- and I brought this up before -- is -- is these events book two years in advance, most of the major ones. You know, just like your -- your -- the Commissioners and Judges conference. They didn't say, "Buster, we're coming there this summer." So -- so what I'm saying is -- is that I see nothing wrong with booking two years in advance for major groups. And we have a history -- you know, our pricing structure, we -- we can change that. You know, we can change our pricing structure. We can book more dates. But there needs to be a commitment from the Court to -- to fund the employees, what it takes to change over one event to another overnight. It just doesn't happen. It takes manpower. So, am I comfortable with what we're doing? Not necessarily. I think we could do better, and I think we could do it if we had a group of people that are willing to -- to put self-interest aside and try to come up with a policy that is fair to the youth, and primarily the youth, and then the citizens also, the groups, organizations depend on us. 3-28-05 36 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 some comments. Glenn referred to -- was it June last year? MR. HOLEKAMP: Yes, sir, June 14th. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: We brought it to the Court, and just a bit of confusion. But I'm -- I'm still -- I still think the policy issue that we talked about that day is still the best policy. I believe that, first of all, there are some things I heard here today that -- to disband our next year's calendar. I'm not in favor of doing that. We've made a commitment to some folks, and I think we need to live up to the commitments that we've made and contracted with so far. But I understand that it's almost time to let the year 2007. MR. HOLEKAMP: Yes, sir. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: In my mind, really, the only fair way to do this thing is to -- for Glenn and his staff to send out letters to all -- particularly the major users, which there are many, and let -- let everybody know that there is going to be a date that the 2007 schedule is going to be let. And let's say that that date is March 30th, 8 a.m., in his office downstairs. If you want to book something for 2007, you need to be there to set aside the dates that you want. It's a first-come, first-served basis, and it's just like anything else. I mean, you don't -- you don't get a motel room without -- 3-28-05 37 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 without putting up your credit card and making some kind of a deposit or whatever. So, in order to secure the dates that you want, you need to put up some kind of deposit. And, to me, that money is -- is what secures the date for your use. Now, there could be a time frame in there somewhere. If you want to cancel out two months ahead, then you may get a refund. Preferably, for me, I would think that it's a nonrefundable deal. Anytime you schedule it, you pay for it. It's secured for you. You may want -- we may want to put a cap on how many weekends you can use -- six or eight or ten or whatever the number might be. I don't have any idea how that works. But it just seems to me that it should be on a first-come, first-served basis. And if the guy in front of you got the date you want, well, that's just part of life, and as Mr. Henderson was saying, that's business. And, to me, that's a simple and an easy and fair, equitable way to do things. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Mr. Eller touched on some things that have been near and dear to my heart about this topic for a long time. I've said it publicly before, and I'll say it publicly now. I think we do a very poor job of running that facility. Very poor job. I'm not being critical of the people who work for Kerr County, but I think we're not knowledgeable in the management of facility business, and therefore we don't stay abreast of what takes 3-28-05 38 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 place to properly run a facility of this nature, make certain that it's a good facility, and to rent it at market rates. Now, Mr. Holekamp made a comment a little bit ago, if the Court wants to fund the take-down or the turn-around from one event to another, then that's okay. That's not okay. Most facilities of this nature have setup and take-down fees associated with the rental of the building. If you want to rent it tomorrow morning following somebody who had it the night before, you're going to pay setup, and the guy who was there before you has to pay take-down. That's the way it works. And that's not the way we have been operating it. I firmly believe that anything -- any time a reservation is made for this facility, it should be accompanied by a check, probably for at least 50 percent of the rental, and it should be nonrefundable. If you want to establish six dates for the year, you better have six dates -- or the amount of money in one check that represents six dates. That's the way it ought to be. It ought to be -- as our friend, Mr. Eller, said, it ought to be run as a business. And if we're incapable, as a court, of running it as a business, I'll bet you we can find people out there in the private sector who are capable of running it as a business. Other counties do that. Other counties make their facilities pay. Other counties get sufficient revenue 3-28-05 39 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 •"- 2 4 25 to keep their facilities up-to-date, and they have people clamoring to get in them. People are not clamoring to get into this one, except maybe a few exceptions here, because I know for a fact there is a lost business report that exists that shows what businesses have lost to Kerr County and for what reasons, and the Hill Country Youth Exhibit Center sticks out like a sore thumb. There's a lot of reasons for that. So, if we're going to do it, and it's -- I know one of my colleagues and I are both liaisons to this Ag Barn and complex. We ought to set up rules, regulations, and policies that make sense for Kerr County and for that facility, and take it forward from there. COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'll just make a comment. I pretty much agree with everything Commissioner Baldwin and Commissioner Williams said. I will say, this has to be a fine day to have Mr. Eller and Mr. Williams in such close agreement. I don't think that I ever saw that was going to happen. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: This is a special occasion, Charlie. COMMISSIONER LETZ: It's phenomenal. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Calls for a drink. COMMISSIONER LETZ: You know, I think -- I mean, I agree; I think the policies need to be a lot clearer. We need to get it done; need to try to make money 3-28-G5 40 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 out there. I thought we were further along on the policy and on the balancing of that than we are, evidently. The one thing I haven't heard a whole lot from my other two colleagues is the -- the -- I guess the difficult part of making money when you add in two events; one, 4-H. 4-H, the outdoor arena is pretty much off-limits. It's 4-H unless there's -- I guess there's a way to schedule around it, but the problem you start getting into, we schedule events out there two years in advance. All of a sudden, then you're going to have 4-H kids show up two weeks later -- or, you know, before, and it won't be available for them, and all of a sudden, you're going to start in a situation of having -- if you start letting businesses use that outdoor arena, it won't be available for 4-H. It's going to have to -- I mean, it's a waste of good work, so I think we need to take that into account. The other issue, as we're all aware, is stock show. Stock show takes off almost six weeks out of the year that are important dates, that that is -- that the facility is off the air, so to speak, and it just cannot be used for anybody else to speak of. But I think we can work around those. I think, clearly, we should do what we need -- should try to maximize running it as a business during the rest of the -- keeping into account those two events or items. I think we do need a clear policy written down, and 3-28-G5 41 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 we need to work on that. And I think it's been a good discussion. Thank you for bringing it to the table, Commissioner Nicholson. And I don't know how you recommend proceeding; if you want to -- well, I'll just leave it to you what the recommendation -- or Commissioner Williams and myself, probably, you know, as liaisons, to come back in the next court with a plan. COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: I like that idea. I also think this has been a -- a productive discussion. I appreciate the participation of interested parties, and there are a number of different groups that are interested in it. I'd like to see -- talk about it next time, and focus on establishing a team that will come up with a business plan that would incorporate policies and procedures for scheduling and pricing and all that. But even broader than that, following along on what Commissioner Williams said, a plan for optimization of the facility in terms of -- of revenues and in terms of improving the facility so it's more attractive, to attract revenues. I think we've got an opportunity here to really solve this issue -- this problem once and for all, and do it in a -- in a thorough and professional manner. COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'm willing to proceed on that. I'll get with Commissioner Williams; we can get together with a plan. I would sense we do have a lot of s-za-o5 42 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 people in the audience that are interested. Anyone who, you know, would like to have more input or possibly serve on a committee or help, get your names to Commissioner Williams and myself, and we can, you know, have that under consideration as well. JUDGE TINLEY: Yes. It occurs to me the so-called team that Commissioner Nicholson mentioned would be appropriate in addition to the liaisons from the Court, so that you can get the benefit of all different viewpoints and different stakeholder interest. It also occurs to me that -- following up somewhat on what Commissioner Williams said, that we could probably benefit to a large degree as a resource from what other counties or other governmental entities or even private contractors have -- have gone through in these types of facilities about policies and procedures, their contracts and things of that nature. Get the benefit of their experience, learn from their misfortunes, their -- their workout arrangements and so forth. I -- I would like to correct one thing. If I'm not mistaken, we do have a setup fee -- MR. HOLEKAMP: Oh, yes. JUDGE TINLEY: -- that is charged to users of that facility, so we are trying to recoup that. May not be adequate, but that's another thing for this team to take a look at and -- and come up with an overall policy. But I 3-28-05 43 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 think it has been a good discussion to bring this matter to the forefront, and maybe we're on the way to a solution, and that's really what we're all about. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Judge, I got one more JUDGE TINLEY: Yes, sir? COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Beat you. You're fixing to let for 2007. When wi11 -- about when will that be? Tonight? Tomorrow? Next week? MR. HOLEKAMP: No. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Couple of weeks? Whenever. How are you going to handle that? I mean, we have -- I don't think that we've given you an answer today. COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think we -- I think he should wait until after we -- COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I thought it was in August when you do that. No? MR. HOLEKAMP: No. Alice? MS. DAVIDSON: I was never informed of when I should open up for the new year -- the next year. MR. HOLEKAMP: 2007. MS. DAVIDSON: I did 18 months in advance for '06, so that's a year and a half, basically. Well, I was running late, because being that I just started in August, I got out what I had already -- Jamie had already had '06 open 3-28-05 44 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 with names already penciled in who wanted the next year, so I went ahead and got the contracts going for '06 and sent them out, and people have already returned them with deposits. But, you know, '07, I'm not sure. That's why I was hoping you all would help out. When do we open up for '07? JUDGE TINLEY: Well, if you're 18 months out, that brings us to July 1 of this year, so we've -- MS. DAVIDSON: Correct. MR. HOLEKAMP: That's correct. JUDGE TINLEY: -- we've got a little bit of time. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Just one comment, following up on Commissioner Letz. Instead of coming back at the next court meeting, I would suggest we come back within a month, because if we deal -- if we have an opportunity to speak with all the interested parties here, we may not be able to fashion a plan in time for two weeks out, but we could certainly do it in time for the second meeting in April. COMMISSIONER LETZ: For the public to know, I mean, the plan will be that 2007 dates will open up July lst, is the current plan, and it will not be before that time. MS. HAWKINS: And will they notify us? Send 3-28-05 45 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 out something? Will it be in the paper? Do we just call down there every day and find out where and what time, or what's the procedure? COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'd say we don't know the procedure right now. We'll have to just follow the -- you know -- JUDGE TINLEY: Part of what we're -- COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- the course a little bit. I think the press can probably handle some of this as well. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: We'll see that you get notified. JUDGE TINLEY: I see a number of hands here. Let me see if I can -- Mr. Eller? MR. ELLER: The -- I see the conflict of 4-H being first, and apparently the only conflict I see is 4-H just needs to have first pick in scheduling their stuff. 4-H is a very well-organized business, if you will. All right? Why not give them first shot at reservations for the next year, two years, three years, whatever you want to do, and then open it up to the other levels of people. I -- you know, I just don't think you can run a business by saying, well, the 4-H can run up two weeks ahead of time and say, "No, they're out; we're in." But give them first shot at scheduling. 3-28-05 46 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: That certainly would be one of the considerations for the team to keep up. MS. HAWKINS: Can I respond to that? JUDGE TINLEY: Well, please be brief, if you could. We're trying to get this wound up. MS. HAWKINS: As a former 4-H horse club adult leader and director for many, many years, as well as being a 4-H horse club member as a child, thanks to Ms. Calcote, she's the one who got me involved in the 4-H horse club. And when I was a child, we did use the facility out there, and it's a wonderful facility. But the kids do get first pick -- from when I was an adult leader, they get first pick. They get the calendar first, and they pick their dates. Just like whenever I contacted the county for the CowHawk Team Roping Production dates, I contacted the 4-H adult leaders immediately after to see if there was a conflict. There was one date that was a conflict. I said scratch it; we are not going to do that. So, that's -- JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you. I don't think we need any further court action. I think that we know the direction we're going. Anything else from any member of the Court in regard to this? Let's move on to the next item on the agenda. The next item is Number 3, consider and discuss approval of a resolution in support of Mental Health and Mental Retardation Local Authority and Provider Roles. Dr. 3-28-05 47 1 '"' 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 Dunkin, if you'll give these folks an opportunity to clear out, maybe things will be -- can't you stay with us awhile longer, Charlie? MR. ELLER: I might get in trouble. MS. HAWKINS: Mr. Williams? I was going to give you my name and address and phone number, if you're looking for a committee for any input, I'd be happy to. Thank you. (Courtroom clearing. Discussion off the record.) JUDGE TINLEY: Okay, we've got things kind of cleared out. Dr. Dunkin, good to have you here today. DR. JUNKIN: Thank you. Sam Dunkin, 148 Rincon Road, Hunt, Texas. It's my privilege to serve as your representative to the Hill Country Community Mental Health/Mental Retardation Center Board. Just as a reminder to you, that's 19 counties, 22,000 square miles, 420,000 of your fellow citizens. We are the local authority, and we're going to ask you to participate in a resolution in a few moments. It's my privilege to make a brief report on the activities of this local authority. The Hill Country -- and let's just call it Hill Country now -- Hill Country Center has assumed a statewide and national -- even national leadership role. I don't know how well-known this is. Certainly, the County Judge has been involved and does 3-28-05 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 understand some of this. Your State Representative does understand it, and you would be amazed, I believe, at the high profile that Hill Country Community Mental Health/Mental Retardation Center has on a statewide basis. We are now training other centers from around the state and the nation. Some of these have the mandate almost of the Legislature of the state of Texas. Your center developed what is called a disease management opportunity. That is, what it has done is taken the old way of doing mental health/mental retardation and simply turned it upside down. One of the things that would be pleasing to your heart is that it is run as a business now. Disease management is based on an attempt to recover as much as possible. It is an attempt to help clients express and meet their own real-life need goals, rather than some higher authority simply saying if you're mentally retarded or you have a -- a mental illness, then this is what happens for you. Our attempt is to get your fellow citizens who have these particular challenges -- to integrate them back into the community, thereby becoming productive citizens. Your law enforcement officers, and particularly your Sheriff, who was here a few moments ago, would understand our work in terms of jail diversion, for so often someone who has one of these particular challenges finds himself at cross purposes with the law, and is simply 3-28-05 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 put in jail. We're now working with your law enforcement officers and city law enforcement officers and others to learn how to deal with the people who really have these challenges and do not know how to deal with them, so your law enforcement officers are much more capable now of dealing with those clients who come into -- into their keep. We are dealing with supported housing and employment. It is completely client-centered, trying to look at both the immediate and the long-term goals for these -- these clients. Mostly, I wish to tell you that the new day for Hill Country, and, yea, the new day for our state is efficiency. We have truly taken to heart the fact that any way we do our business must be run efficiently, so we have reduced staff, but more than that, we have reduced the bureaucracy that is so often a part of such an agency as ours. We require staff members to meet high standards in terms of their own direct involvement with clients. What just almost overwhelms me, because I dealt with an institution for a long time, is the amazingly high commitment on the part of the staff, the high morale that that staff has in terms of what is being done. I need to report to you also that we are working closely, and continue to work closely with the Kerrville State Hospital as its focus shifts in terms of what services it will render our state. Linda Werlein is our Executive Director. She sits 3-28-05 50 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 behind me here. This lady has done amazing things for you, and particularly for the clients who are served by the Hill Country center. She and her staff are creative. They are impressive. They are willingness to -- they have a willingness to work hard and an unwillingness to say it cannot be done. You have before you a resolution which, in effect, reaffirms your commitment to the Hill Country M.H.M.R. Center. We invite you to here publicly, if you will, adopt that resolution and reaffirm your relationship to the Hill Country Center. I have one more personal word, and if there are questions, either Mrs. Werlein or I will attempt to answer them. The personal word is this. It is the genius of the American democratic society that the more able accept responsibility -- at least to some measure, accept responsibility for the less able, especially for those whose lives are complicated more than some of us can imagine by mental retardation and mental health challenges. It is impressive that we will seek to offer those services, and whatever medications are indicated. And these sometimes, in this day and time, are highly expensive, but they enable us to get citizens -- your fellow citizens back into the community, integrated into the community, and becoming productive citizens. I stand before you today -- some might think 3-28-OS 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 that I'm more a client of this organization than I am a leader of it. (Laughter.) But I stand before you to thank you on behalf of those who are served by the Hill Country Community Mental Health/Mental Retardation Center. It was impressive to me that there was quite a bit of discussion about a particular facility of -- of the county, and at the conclusion of that discussion, a whole bunch of my fellow citizens left. In a few minutes, I will leave, because perhaps I do not have an ongoinq stake in some of the other issues before you today. I will say of mental healthlmental retardation, we have tried to hide it over the years, and you know that very well. We've tried to make it as little public as we could possibly make it. It's probably time that we recognize that God has made all kinds of different people, and some have challenges that we do not have. Some have challenges that we do not really understand, and it's time for us, as the American society, to say yes, we who have more ability, perhaps even more money, are willing to pay, to invest ourselves in the lives of our fellow citizens who have challenges that we cannot imagine. On behalf of that board, I ask you to consider and, if possible, to adopt the resolution that is before you. Thank you. JUDGE TINLEY: Any questions for Dr. Dunkin from any member of the Court? COMMISSIONER LETZ: I do have one. 3-28-05 52 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 DR. JUNKIN: Yes? COMMISSIONER LETZ: In your resolution, under the Resolve portion, I guess there's -- the second item says, "Request intense scrutiny of H.B.470 and S.B.194 regarding their detrimental impact on rural counties in Texas." Can you briefly summarize what those bills are and what the status are? MS. WERLEIN: JUDGE TINLEY: I might point out to members last, it was my privilege to board to testify in Austin b Committee in connection with what House Bill 470 would do today. It's -- Judge, do you want to do that? I'd be happy to, Ms. Werlein. of the Court that week before be asked by Ms. Werlein and her =fore the House Human Services House Bill 470. Essentially, -- I'm not sure what it'll do MS. WERLEIN: They just rewrote it Friday, so nobody knows. JUDGE TINLEY: But it would -- there's an effort made, primarily in the metropolitan areas, where -- where some private providers see an opportunity to secure state funds -- this is my perception of it. Ms. Werlein's may be slightly different and somewhat more tactful. But in the metropolitan areas, some private providers see an opportunity to get some state money, and they are trying to segregate the -- the administrative aspect from the actual 3-28-G5 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 provision -- providing of the mental health care services. And if they were to impose that on us, essentially what it would do is it would create an administrative bureaucracy that would be interfaced between the State and between Hill Country Community M.H.M.R. Center, and would actually decrease the amount of funding available to provide directly to the clients. As it stands now, in the Hill Country community and in other rural areas, we administer the funds and we provide the services, so it's kind of a one-stop shopping, as you might say. I would mention that -- that the program that -- that Ms. Werlein has put together here is looked to throughout the state and outside the state as sort of a model program for providing of mental health services on a community basis. Approximately seven or eight years ago, the Legislature says, well, we -- the State needs to back away from it, and we need to have these services provided on a community level. Well, we did it. We're doing a heck of a good job of it. And now, because my perception is that some private providers see the opportunity to -- to make a strong lobbying effort to get some of these state funds, they want to interface an administrative layer between our facility and the State -- our authority and the State, and I don't see it as being in our best interests at all. 3-28-05 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 I might also point out, and I mentioned it earlier, that it is because of the efforts of Ms. Werlein and the board at the Community Center, and the collaborative effort with Representative Hilderbran and the staff out at Kerrville State Hospital that we now have the ability to do locally our acute civil commitments here when the State turned that upside down on us. In that regard, I might mention that I had Ms. Pieper run some figures, which she was kind enough to run, and the court costs that we derive from outside counties that we process, hearings that were held here in Kerr County for Kerrville State Hospital, amounted to, in the last calendar year, approximately $180,000. In addition, based upon costs that we had to pay during this interim period of time, the hearings that were held for Kerr County patients, we would have paid out something under $70,000. So, we're looking at a $225,000, $250,000 financial swing by allowing these things to occur here locally, and it's largely because and through the efforts of the Hill Country Community M.H.M.R. Center, Ms. Werlein, the Board, and collaborative efforts of those at Kerrville State Hospital and our Representative that this has come to be. So, I -- I tried to tell the committee in reasonably strong terms that it ain't broke out here, and it don't need no fixing. And I would urge the Court to adopt the resolution as offered by Dr. Dunkin. 3-za-o5 55 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 WILLIAMS: Judge, I don't have a question of Dr. Dunkin, but I would like to publicly thank him for years of service and dedication to Hill Country Community M.H.M.R. We have a deep debt of gratitude to you, Dr. Dunkin, for your work, and Ms. -- Ms. Werlein as well. We thank you. COMMISSIONER LETZ: I move approval. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for adoption of the resolution. Any further question or discussion? COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: One comment -- excuse me, Commissioner. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Sorry, go ahead. COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: I heard Dr. Dunkin use some terms that I normally don't hear associated with public agencies and governments, and that's "efficiencies" and "cost reductions," and that just warms my heart to hear those kind of words with things the taxpayers pay for. Thank you, sir. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I just want to make a comment, that if y'all need to use the outdoor arena, you'll need to talk to Bill Williams. (Laughter.) COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: We'll see if we can work you in. 3-28-05 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 25 MS. WERLEIN: Thank you. JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you for your efforts, and thank you for the privilege of allowing me to speak on behalf of Kerr County. And, by the way, several other county judges authorized me to speak on behalf of their counties that are within the community. MS. WERLEIN: And I would like to say -- excuse me, Judge. I would like to say that there were probably 50 people testifying to the subcommittee on Health and Human Services under appropriations, and Judge Tinley was the only one of maybe three that -- number one, every committee member listened to what he had to say as he outlined his points, and secondly, he was the only one that they asked questions of. So, when they ask questions, you know they're listening. So, thank you, Judge. We really appreciate it. JUDGE TINLEY: It was my privilege. Thank you. COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Good work. 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.) 3-28-05 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 JUDGE TINLEY: That motion does carry. DR. JUNKIN: Thank you. JUDGE TINLEY: Do we want to -- why don't we take about a 15-minute break here? COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Talked me into it. (Recess taken from 10:19 a.m. to 10:35 a.m.) JUDGE TINLEY: Okay, let's come back to order, if we could, please, and next item on the agenda is to consider and discuss a letter to the City of Kerrville City Manager requesting approximately 8 to 10 trees from the City Farm to be planted around the outside perimeter of the Kerr County Courthouse parking. Mr. Holekamp? MR. HOLEKAMP: Mm-hmm. This -- this came up from a discussion with -- Commissioner Williams had brought it to my attention, that this might be something that Kerr County would want to participate in. At the City Farm, they have some -- some oak trees. I don't know the particular variety, but they were grown many, many years ago. There's all sizes, anywhere from 3, 4 inches, 6-inch trees that are available -- possibly available for us if we do a letter to the City Manager. My thoughts on this -- and I know Commissioner Letz has voiced his feelings about trees in the courthouse yard on several occasions. Over on the Sidney Baker side and on the Main Street side, in my opinion, 3-28-05 58 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's a need for some young trees that may grow up with this -- with the community. The hackberries have died, two or three of them. We still got one to move, but we -- the power lines are an issue for me, so I may need to have someone professionally take that tree down. But the -- as y'all know, Sidney Baker is being re -- there's new gas lines going in. They're going to do reconstruction. I would really like -- and the number of trees, this was just a number, 8 to 10. I mean, it could be 5 or 6. I don't want them real close together. But I really think that our courthouse could utilize some on that outer perimeter only, none in the yard itself, so I was just going to ask permission to ask for some. And they would have to be professionally planted, so my budget probably wouldn't handle it this year, but possibly in October, we could maybe do it, or this winter when they're dormant. We don't have the -- the equipment to plant those trees that are 4 to 6 inches in size. We just -- COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I'm all for it. I don't know about 10 or 12 or whatever the number is. MR. HOLEKAMP: Yeah. Eight or ten I think is what I -- COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I can't see -- I don't know. Maybe. If you take out those dadgum worthless hackberry. Take out all the cedar, as far as I'm concerned. 3-28-05 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 I mean, they're worthless. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: You're talking about the Sidney Baker side and the Main Street side? MR. HOLEKAMP: Yes, sir. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: That side. How about on the Jefferson Street side? MR. HOLEKAMP: There's some -- quite a few water line issues there on that side. I really have to look at that one prior to doing that because of that barrier wall, those roots. I kind of question whether that would be a good situation. COMMISSIONER LETZ: I have no problem with the letter going to the City to get on the list; however, between now and next October, I really want to go back to a little bit more of a plan. I don't want trees just pushed -- put in the ground anywhere. I think we also need to look at the type of trees, and the understanding as to what some of those large trees are -- the maintenance effort's going to take the first couple of years. I'm not a big fan of transplanting trees that size. I think you have a high die-off rate. I think -- and they are going to have to be watered during our normal summer. Even if you plant them in October, they'll have to be watered the following summer almost every day to keep them alive. You have a high die-off, I think, even when you plant them. I think they 3-28-05 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 60 found that out at the River Star; about half of those trees they already pulled out. It depends on the variety. Live oaks are very, very hardy. I do think -- I'm very supportive of planting trees round the perimeter of the courthouse square. As an alternative to that, I would suspect that you probably could get those trees donated, and in a smaller size. MR. HOLEKAMP: Oh, there's so many -- COMMISSIONER LETZ: I know these are donated. MR. HOLEKAMP: They do have smaller size than this. I just didn't know, you know, what was available as far as -- COMMISSIONER LETZ: But even if you get other varieties -- I don't know what they have out at the City Farm, but I'll be glad to work with you on that, Glenn. MR. HOLEKAMP: I'd be more than welcome to have him. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: He's the right guy to work with you. MR. HOLEKAMP: go look at some of the trees, combination to the gate to go know, and I'll be glad to -- COMMISSIONER L I'll be glad to make a motion Well, in fact, if you want to I think they gave me the look at them. So, let me ~TZ: Okay. But I'll make -- to authorize the Maintenance 3-Z8-05 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 Director to send a letter to the City requesting some trees from the tree farm next fall. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Second. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second -- third. JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for approval of the agenda item. Any questions 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. We're going to take an item out of order here. Actually, we're going to take two of them out of order because of some scheduling conflicts we need to contend with. We're going to go to Item 18, and that item is resolution authorizing the acceptance of donation of approximately 3.025 acres of property from Kerrville Economic Development Foundation. Who wants to run with this? COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Well -- JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: It's easy enough. The City worked with Mooney Aircraft in fashioning a grant to Texas Capital Fund, I believe. Am I correct, Ilse? MS. BAILEY: Yes, a loan from the Capital 3-28-05 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 Fund. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: A loan from Texas Capital Fund for, I believe, three-quarters of a million dollars, which would assist Mooney in upgrading their buildings and so forth. As a condition of that -- well, they discovered that -- part of what they wanted to do was improving the parking lot, and in the process they discovered that they didn't own that ground underneath the parking lot. And the State would require that those dollars be spent, that that be incorporated in the broad scheme of things out there. So, to make a long story short, that property, 3.025 acres, is owned by the Kerrville Economic Development Foundation. They acquired it years and years ago, and so a trade or swap came about. K.E.D.F. was willing to swap the property with Mooney for some other property that Mooney itself owned which was contiguous to what K.E.D.F. also owned, and so they fashioned a swap of land. Now, what we're required to do is to accept the donation of this land, as the City Council has done. It then gets incorporated into the main of the body of land upon which Kerrville-Kerr County Airport is located, and all of its ancillary facilities, so that's what this is all about. COMMISSIONER LETZ: We're accepting a half interest and the City is accepting a half interest. 3-28-05 63 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: Exactly. MS. BAILEY: Yes. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: So, I would move adoption of the resolution -- I guess it's a resolution, Ilse? Yeah, move adoption of the resolution, that the Court hereby accepts on behalf of Kerr County the 3.025 acres of property from Kerrville Economic Development Foundation. COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded. I assume that includes authorization -- COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: And authorize -- JUDGE TINLEY: -- for me to sign any documents in connection with that -- COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Well, let's see. JUDGE TINLEY: -- that transaction? There's a closing statement, I see here. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: That resolution -- was it a resolution that everybody signs? Yes, it is, Judge. Resolution everybody signs. And authorize you to sign the necessary legal documents accepting the property. JUDGE TINLEY: All right. Any further question or discussion on the motion? COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: The closing costs is $661? Is that the total? We pay half of that, or is that our share? 3-28-05 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 MS. BAILEY: No, that's the total closing costs, and that will come out of the airport budget, of which you pay half. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I see. Okay. 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.) JUDGE TINLEY: That motion does carry. We'll move to Item 19, consider, discuss, and take appropriate action to approve the Airport Code, which includes Rules and Regulations and Minimum Operating Standards. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Commissioner Letz, do you want to run with that one? COMMISSIONER LETZ: This is basically the -- finalizing what we talked about at our last meeting, the Airport Code, whatever they call -- well, it's Airport Code and Operating Standards -- Minimum Operating Standards. I believe the City -- based on the backup from Ilse Bailey, is that the City has made a few changes that accommodated some of the concerns the Judge had about micromanagement and all. I'll let her explain those changes. MS. BAILEY: Yes, sir. Based on~Judge 3-za-o5 65 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 Tinley's comments at your last meeting about the micromanagement, what we did is we drafted some proposed amendments to Article 5, which is the one-page section that deals with how the rules get made. The City Council did adopt the Code with these suggested changes, which I've provided also to you all. Essentially, what the changes are, there are four minor changes -- four or five, and what they essentially do is approve this Code, and then authorize other changes to be made in the Code by the board. And, instead of each change having to come back to the governing bodies, the governing bodies -- they go automatically into effect unless the governing bodies say we want to review that. That gives us the opportunity, then, to go back and make minor nonsubstantive changes without having to go through this multiple governing body process. So, if you make the -- the recommendation to approve it with those changes, then the City and the County will have approved the same code, and it will need to go back to the Airport Board to approve it with those changes. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: My question, counsel, is 5.01 is underlined in blue. That's the change? MS. BAILEY: That's the added part. And then the part over on the side is anything that's deleted. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Okay. The red line is deleted under Section A, Powers of Authority? 3-28-05 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 MS. BAILEY: The only changes that have been suggested and approved by the Council are the ones on Page 47. The rest of them -- COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I don't think I have what you're looking at. MS. BAILEY: Oh. This should have come across in an e-mail. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Okay. Okay, fine. Thank you. MS. BAILEY: Does that make sense? COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Mm-hmm. JUDGE TINLEY: Any further questions or discussion? Do we even have a motion? Don't have a motion yet. COMMISSIONER LETZ: I move approval of the Airport Code -- Airport Code and the Rules and Regulations and Minimum -- can't speak -- Minimum Operating Standards as amended today. MS. BAILEY: Thank you. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Second. JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for approval. 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. 3-28-05 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 (No response.) JUDGE TINLEY: you, Ms. Bailey. That motion does carry. Thank MS. BAILEY: Thank you, gentlemen. JUDGE TINLEY: Now we can get back to where we were. We appreciate your patience, Mr. Odom. That brings us to Item 5, consider list of road name changes, and set a public bearing for the same. MR. ODOM: Yes, sir. I would -- it's the intention of the Commissioners Court to consider road changes in various locations in Kerr County, and we ask that a public hearing be held May the 9th at 10 o'clock in the Commissioners Courtroom, Kerr County Courthouse. That'll be -- for your information, this -- the notice will go out as such as presented to you, but when I present it to the Court, I'll have two different agenda items for that. For your information, the revised -- the road classification at Big Sky Ranch from public to private, we'll put that on a separate order, so when this is done, we can have a separate court order for the records. We discussed that last time, I believe, in the court. Also, the regulatory signs, the abandon and vacate and name changes as I have here will be on a different agenda item. I have regulatory signs from Hunt River Road, no parking. That is from the river to 1340 for about 100 feet on that southwest corner. That's where 3-28-05 68 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 establi 3-28-05 MR. ODOM: You do have a school zone. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I know. We we're proposing to put the "No parking." Bear Creek Road South, 35 mile-an-hour speed zone. We've had some complaints there; we've looked at it, Freedom Trail to Sheppard Rees. Peterson Farm Road is 45 miles an hour. That'll be from 27 to the city limits, which is around Mooney there, that creek crossing, which the City also has a 45 mile-an-hour. And we ran that check, and that 45 is more persistent in there, a slower speed than what we're showing up front there, but 45 is where we think it ought to be for that school area in there, and they're having problems. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: That would be from the end of the school zone, right? MR. ODOM: It'll be from 27 -- you're right there. That should be, but there's a question there who has authority. But it should be the City's responsibility at the school, but we're saying we're going to put one up front at this point from 27 there, as you turn in there. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Yeah. MR. ODOM: And go -- takes you both ways. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: My recollection is that we approved the school zone, so we established the school zone. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 69 MR. ODOM: Flashing lights and all right there. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Yeah, right. MR. ODOM: Right -- you're right. COMMISSIONER LETZ: This won't impact the school -- the school zone. This is -- COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I'm saying this is on either end of it, before you get to it and after it. That's all I'm asking. COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. MR. ODOM: Right. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Okay. MR. ODOM: And then we have the abandon, vacate, and discontinue from Kerr County maintenance 1,445 feet of Ox Hollow Road South. Gentleman has all this land, and I'll be more than happy to give up 1,400 feet of road there, and we will present that -- that will be like we have in the past, with a cul-de-sac, and contingent on that. The Hurt-Priour Ranch Road, also known as Henry Priour Ranch Road West, that is something that's been on the agenda. We told the Commissioner that we'd make the decision, and we say that we abandon that. We'll have data on that when we -- for the agenda item, but that is another one. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: And that's the entire 25 I -- that entire road? 3-28-05 70 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. ODOM: This entire road. That serves two people. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Mm-hmm. MR. ODOM: And should -- and they asked in 1999 to abandon that. That's when we had the County -- the State out there, and they -- they ran the individual off, confronted them and told them that it was private, and asked us to abandon it. We abandoned it. Now they're wanting us to maintain it. And, basically, it would be probably a little bit over 2 and a half-mile driveway, and we don't think the taxpayers should do that. COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Yeah. I -- I'd like to hear from the County Attorney on whether or not it's necessary to, you know, formally abandon it when we, in fact, abandoned it back in 1999. I want to abandon the road. I'm just not sure that it -- it requires taking formal action now. Probably does. I just want to be cautious about it. MR. EMERSON: I think the prudent thing to do would be to go ahead and follow the procedures for formal abandonment. COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Okay. MR. ODOM: And then I have name changes from Cedar Drive West to West Cedar Drive West and East Cedar Drive West. 9-1-1 is having a problem addressing. This 3-28-05 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 71 was -- previously it was like this; then it was changed back to Cedar Drive West, and now 9-1-1 is requesting that we change it back for addressing. They're having a difficult time. So, that's another one. East Ridgeway be changed to High Drive. That's off Michon right there. COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: You come off Goat Creek Road, and West Cedar Drive West goes right and it goes left, so if you're in an emergency vehicle, you don't know what to do. MR. ODOM: Which way to go. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: And it's kind of the same thing with East Ridgeway and High Drive South. MR. ODOM: It's -- COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Kind of -- same kind of deal. Just a cleanup. MR. ODOM: Cleanup. Makes it better. COMMISSIONER LETZ: Be easier -- I don't want to put a fly in the ointment, but on yours, can't you change one of the roads? COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Change it completely? COMMISSIONER LETZ: I mean, that's very confusing to me, West Cedar Drive West and East Cedar Drive West. That's just -- I mean, that's -- seems to me it's easier to have Cedar Drive and anything else. 3-28-05 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 72 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I'm glad Letz is not driving the ambulances tonight. MR. ODOM: Depends which way you come up. You can either go right/east or left/west. The other way might be confusing. Okay? We're doing what was requested. COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Whatever we do, we'll draw some interest from people that live there. I think this is the most palatable approach to solve the problem. JUDGE TINLEY: And acceptable with the 9-1-1 emergency service. MR. ODOM: That's right. COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: I may have understated that a little bit. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: East Cedar Drive West. That blows my mind. COMMISSIONER LETZ: If that's what they want. JUDGE TINLEY: Right now, you're asking for a public hearing? MR. ODOM: Asking for a public hearing. JUDGE TINLEY: All right. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So moved. COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Second. JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for public hearing on these matters for May 9th, 2005, at 3-28-05 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 10 a.m. 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: That motion does carry. Next item, Number 6, is consider the final replat of Y.O. Ranchlands, Tract 31, located in Precinct 4. MR. ODOM: Judge, let me hand that to you. JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you. MR. ODOM: To give the Court direction. This is a unique situation. From data that we have -- Mr. Voelkel always brings some unique opportunities here. In 1990, this was brought before the Court for final plat. It was -- Court Order 19941 was given to accept that, but the County Clerk had a problem with the way that the attachment -- with the notarized attachment. In Mexico, they do not allow you to sign original documents, so what was sent to us, some landowners -- two landowners; one lived in Mexico -- did what was by Mexico's law, sent it to us, and Pat Dye at the time said that she could not record it that way. Then in 1995, that individual came in from Mexico and signed it. I don't know why that was not done at that time, but it -- at this point, the owners decided that they would desire to have it -- final plat, have it platted. And 3-28-05 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 74 I bring it before the Court to recognize that. All I need is the Judge's signature. It was okayed by the Court in 1990. COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: I think this is just cleaning up some -- technically, cleaning up some old business. It's been replatted. Nothing's changing. It was just -- MR. ODOM: Hasn't changed. Nothing's changed out there. This is in the Y.O. Ranchlands out there in Precinct 4. COMMISSIONER LETZ: When did he sign? '95? MR. ODOM: 1995. JUDGE TINLEY: '95. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That's just 10 years ago. COMMISSIONER LETZ: Oh, yeah. I mean, I'm just thinking -- I'm wondering if we have to do a -- technically, a variance, because the -- I think we have a one-year time period to -- for a plat, to get it signed -- of record. And we just grant a variance and get it approved. I think it needs to be approved. I'm just wondering if we need to do a variance or not. MR. ODOM: Well, he did sign it by Mexico's law, so -- of course, this is Texas, but -- COMMISSIONER LETZ: I know, but, I mean, I 3-28-05 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 75 don't want to do it wrong. That's all I'm saying. If we have to do a variance, do a variance. If you don't, just do it. JUDGE TINLEY: What you're saying is, in a motion to permit it, just state it as being -- authorizing a variance. COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: The variance from what? The one-year -- COMMISSIONER LETZ: The time period to get it filed. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Let's just do that, and we've covered all the bases. COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Let me try, see if it works. I move we approve the final replat of Y.O. Ranchlands, Lot 31 in Precinct 4, and grant a variance of the one-year time requirement for filing with the County Clerk. COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. Perfect. JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for approval. 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.) 3-28-05 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 76 JUDGE TINLEY: That motion does carry. The next item on the agenda is Number 7, is consider awarding bids for cold mix, black base, trap rock aggregate, asphalt emulsion oil, corrugated metal pipe, and equipment by the hour with operator. MR. ODOM: I hope that Kathy -- did you give this -- I apologize; we did have it done. It was -- Truby forgot to put it in the package when we sent it up. But it is our recommendation that we accept corrugated metal pipe of Wilson Culverts, emulsion oils from Ergon, cold mix and black base from Vulcan Materials, as well as trap rock. And the equipment by-the-hour, we recommend using Schwarz as the first contractor and the others as backup when he's not available or we need equipment that he does not have. That sometimes arises that his equipment's too small for a specific project. Also, we did -- for everybody, we did send out to everybody we had last year, and which the previous year we had a lot of people. And why we didn't get a response, I -- we just don't know, but we sent out for everyone. And also, in our base, we would ask the Court since we did not receive any bids from local vendors, with the exception of one which was late and we did not accept, that you would -- that the Court would allow the department to purchase base at the closest source to the job site. And part of that reasoning is because of transportation costs, 3-2a-os 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 ~~ fuel costs, and it makes that price cheaper. We have done that in the past, to recognize one when we can do that. But -- and in this situation, everyone received it. Why they didn't, I don't know, but we would ask the Court's permission. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: What you're talking about now is, like, base material? MR. ODOM: Just base material. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Caliche and that type of thing? MR. ODOM: Yes, sir. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Absolutely. COMMISSIONER LETZ: Move approval of the recommended bid awards. COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Second. JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded to award the bids as recommended by the Road and Bridge Administrator. Any 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. The next item is to consider road name changes for privately 3-28-05 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 78 maintained roads in accordance with 9-1-1 guidelines. MR. ODOM: I apologize for Ms. Hardin; she is not feeling well, and she asked me to take over. So, if there's any questions, I'll try to answer, but -- COMMISSIONER LETZ: I thought you were in charge. MR. ODOM: Sometimes. Depends what day of the week. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Today's Monday. MR. ODOM: Today's Monday. I believe that there's six name changes, five from Precinct 4 and one from Precinct 2. The existing road name is Sarah Saphronia to Sarita Saphronia up in Shelton Ranch. Linda Lou is being changed to the Russell Ranch Road off Elm Pass II. And then county names, which were probably -- I don't know if that's Real or whether that's Kimble County out there, but 8015, 8014, 8011, and 8010 are being changed to the Y.O. Adventure Camp Road, Schreiner Road, Tortilla Flats, and Airstrip Road, all in Commissioner Nicholson's precinct. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I love Tortilla Flats. COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: My question is, the reason for changing Sarah Saphronia to Sarita Saphronia. Was that a typo earlier? MR. ODOM: I'm not quite sure. I -- 3-28-05 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 NICHOLSON: There's no explanation. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I remember when we first did it, and it had something to do with family names. COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: These are family names. And it just blows me away that suddenly they're changing the first name. COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Are Sarah and Sarita taking turns? MR. ODOM: Maybe it's a granddaughter now. I don't kn ow. These are all private roads out there, so I'm just not -- I don't have the background on that. COMMISSIONER LETZ: This is Mrs. Bobby Shelton' s na me. That's who it is. She just wants it the way she want s it. COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: I move to approve. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Second. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded to approve the agenda item. Any questions or discussion? COMMISSIONER LETZ: Question. And I'm sure they've all gone through 9-1-1, 'cause they're on the backup, so I know we have geo-regions, but I'm still -- I'm kind of -- I thought the intent was not to use duplicate 3-28-05 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 ~o names if possible. I mean, and using the name "Schreiner" out there is clearly -- I mean, there's a Schreiner Street in Kerrville. I just -- I guess more of -- my question is probably more to 9-1-1 than anyone else, but it seems to me that we were supposed to quit doing this, and we're continuing to do it. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Good point. MR. ODOM: It's a good point. I saw that myself. The only thing is, maybe the geo grid might have been different, that they accepted that "Northwest" on it, because it will show "Schreiner Road Northwest." COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. MR. ODOM: That's what I'm thinking that they've done. COMMISSIONER LETZ: I agree with that. It's just that if, you know, in an emergency situation, someone has a car wreck, they see the street sign and it says Schreiner, they're going to say Schreiner, and we have that duplicate problem that we've been trying to get rid of for the last number of years. But I'l1 talk to Mr. Amerine about that. JUDGE TINLEY: Any further question or discussion? All in favor of the motion, signify by rising your right hand. (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 3-28-u5 81 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: All opposed, same sign. (No response.) JUDGE TINLEY: That motion does carry. Next item is Number 9, to consider and discuss approval of a proclamation declaring April 2005 Child Abuse Prevention Month in Kerr County. Ms. Mitchell? COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Judge, I just wanted to make a comment, that this is another part of our Child Welfare Board in action. They've been working very hard doing all kinds of things. There's two issues on our agenda today dealing with that particular group, and Kathy's been kind enough to steer this proclamation through that group and then in to you, so I'm going to turn it over to Kathy Mitchell, which she now has the board member hat on. MS. MITCHELL: Kathy Mitchell, 411 Peterson Drive. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Can we take away from her salary while she's here? She's no longer our secretary or administrative assistant; she's now a board member. JUDGE TINLEY: You can do that. I don't think I want to try it. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I don't think I -- I was just wondering, 'cause I'm certainly not interested in doing something like that. (Laughter.) MS. MITCHELL: Thank you, gentlemen. April 3-28-05 82 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 is Child Abuse Awareness Month. And, yes, as in all communities all over the nation, Kerr County has abused children also. The Kerr County Child Welfare Board recognizes and joins the efforts of local agencies, the Child Protective Services, CASA, Kids Advocacy Place, K'Star, Hill Country Crisis Council and others, who day-in and day-out provide counseling, support, safe shelter, and guidance through the legal system to help the most vulnerable members of our community, children who are neglected, are physically, emotionally, or sexually abused. The Child Welfare Board urges our community to join in a national effort to raise awareness of child abuse throughout the month of April. In association with the Department of Family and Protective Services, the Child Welfare Board asks the Commissioners Court to join their efforts to raise awareness about child abuse in Kerr County by declaring April Child Abuse Prevention Month in Kerr County. Thank you. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Don't we get any cute little ribbons? MS. MITCHELL: Yes, you do, and thanks to CASA. They provided us with some blue ribbons for each of you to be able to wear in the month of April. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: We can't wear them now? 3-28-05 83 1 2 3 4 S 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 ^ 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 MS. MITCHELL: You can wear them now. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Judge, I move for approval. And, Kathy, thank you so much for doing -- MS. MITCHELL: Thank you. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: -- the work that you're doing. I move for approval of this proclamation declaring the month of April to be Child Abuse Prevention Month in Kerr County. COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for approval. 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. We'll move to the next agenda item, that being Number 10, consider and discuss appointing Amber Freeman and Pam Peter to the Kerr County Child Welfare Board. I -- is that a misspell? COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: What? JUDGE TINLEY: We got Pam Traver here. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Pam Traver is on the "'~"' 2 4 25 it, Corr 3-28-05 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. I'll let you run with agenda, slash me. 84 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Well, I'm not going to run very far with it, because I don't -- I don't know either one of these ladies, and there's no backup in here. And one of the requirements to serve on this board is to do a criminal background check, and I'm just -- I just think that it would be wise on our part -- I mean, I'm sure that these are good people, and I'm sure Pam knows what's she's doing, but just -- I'm not willing to -- to approve it at this time. We can just kick it back and let it come back the next time with -- let me present it. JUDGE TINLEY: I think the County Attorney 12 I has -- ,.... 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 •--~- 2 4 25 MR. EMERSON: I was going to say, I have information on one of the individuals. I don't know if it will benefit you or not. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Well, it would. MR. EMERSON: Amber Freeman is a registered nurse. She's head of the K.I.S.D.'s Head Start program, and I know her through the medical community that way. She's an outstanding individual, very involved with children. Her husband's a coach for the high school. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Mike. That's Mike Freeman's wife. COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'll make a quick comment. This is on the agenda because when everyone was 3-28-05 85 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 out playing around in west Texas, someone had to hold the fort down around here, and I made the decision -- COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Excuse me? Playing around in west Texas? COMMISSIONER LETZ: And I told Kathy this should go on the agenda. We weren't sure if Pam had talked to Buster or not. I thought she had. And there's no problem; I'll pull this. I put it on the agenda and put his name on it, 'cause -- but we can easily put -- I don't have any problem with that. I agree with Buster. He's not talked to Pam about it; we'll do it next time. JUDGE TINLEY: That's why you weren't going to run very far with it, right? COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Right. JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: With respect to laying around west Texas, I have some numbers here. When the convention comes here for approximately five days, there will be between $250,000 and $275,000 spent in Kerrville by that group. Pretty good chunk of money. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Yeah. COMMISSIONER LETZ: There's no action. It will come back. MS. MITCHELL: Commissioner? My understanding also from Pam Traver is that the other lady, 3-za-o5 86 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 Pam Peter, is also with the Head Start program. She -- Pam is at a Commissioners Court meeting in Gillespie County this morning. She said she was going to try to make it to be able to explain a little bit more, but apparently she didn't. But -- COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Well, the -- really, the only question -- I don't question that these two people are very qualified folks, but when we started this process and we -- we named -- we appointed some from this table, we had to stop that process and do criminal background checks on everybody, and that's what I'd like to know. Are we -- has that been done on these people? Or are we going to appoint people and then do the -- go through that process? COMMISSIONER LETZ: Just -- let's hold off on it till next time. I'm sorry. I think it's better to -- my personal feeling is, on any appointment, if there's some criteria, they have to meet the criteria before you appoint them. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: You can tell Pam that Jon Letz said that. JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. If there's no further activity on that one, we'll move on to the next agenda item, Number 11, Joint Community Service Program Proposal. Ms. Harris. MS. HARRIS: Yes. It's on the agenda for one 3-28-05 87 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 of my counselors, Jennifer Kolb, to make this presentation. She didn't make it back from vacation in time to do this. Her plane did not land when she thought it was going to land, so she called me this morning at the airport, so I'm doing this in her stead. I, too, was in west Texas playing last week, so Ms. Kolb submitted this for the agenda, and I believe she did provide you with the backup documentation, so you do have a copy. What I'm asking the Court, upon reviewing the documentation, that -- that you approve the program so we can proceed in -- in getting all of our ducks in a row. She left a note before she went on vacation. She says that she met with Mr. Dan Edwards, who takes charge of the adult probationers. She did visit with him and -- and Kevin on the 22nd, and that Dan is having a master gardener come out on the 24th to locate the prime area for the garden. Once done, Dan will pick the date for his probationers to come out and clear the land. Dan has access to the equipment to do that. Once cleared, Wally, who is our maintenance person, can get a tractor to plow the dirt, and he's going to have that tractor donated from the Cowboy Church; they're going to donate the tractor. Then Mr. Holekamp and the Aq Extension, they have the dirt. Because you got to have fill dirt, so they've got the dirt. MR. STANTON: They've got a portion of the dirt. 3-28-05 88 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 MS. HARRIS: Portion of the dirt. You talked MR. STANTON: We're still going to have to get some fill dirt from somewhere. There's a portion of it, but we're going to get most of the dirt from the -- the dirt that was pulled out of the Ag Barn and those kind of things. MS. HARRIS: It says she explained the urgency to Dan, because if we're going to have a garden, we need to get certain things planted. We've already missed potatoes and carrots and peas; we've already missed that, so we've got to get the other stuff planted. Anyway, and he said that he was aware of that. Okay. Then, on the fun run, she met with Mindy -- COMMISSIONER LETZ: Wendele. MS. HARRIS: Thank you. Didn't know how to spell her -- how to say her name. At the Main Street office to organize the 5-K. She said we have a route through downtown Kerrville, and the dates are June the 4th or June the 18th to choose from. We'll have a date set sometime this week, and says we want Judge Tinley to fire the starting line trigger. That's the note she left. JUDGE TINLEY: You'd put a gun in my hands? MS. HARRIS: But the gun -- we'll put blanks •'-~ 2 4 i n i t. 25 3-28-05 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: May have to rethink 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 that part. MS. HARRIS: But the -- the community services is a collaborative effort between the Kerr County Juvenile Facility, our kids that reach their last level -- the kids that are in freshman orientation, freshman, sophomore, and junior level will not participate. Only the kids that are in their last 56 days at the facility, the senior level kids, would be able to participate in any of this. And then Kevin's probation kids, and then, of course, the adult probation department would be -- their participation is clearing the land for us. JUDGE TINLEY: Let me ask a question, if I might, Ms. Harris. MS. HARRIS: Sure. JUDGE TINLEY: The -- the chief probation officers from other jurisdictions whose children we have in our program, our post-adjudication programs here, what has been their reaction to this proposal? MS. HARRIS: Their reaction has been very positive, because most of the kids, it's in their court order that they have to perform so many hours of community service, and there is nothing at the facility by which that they could get credit for any community service as it stands. When I was the administrator at Roy K. Robb, because of where the kitchen was located in that facility, 3-28-C5 90 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 kids were able to work in the kitchen washing dishes, things of that nature. They were not allowed to cook, but wash dishes and -- and clean up the kitchen and mop the eating area, and they received community service hours. Well, probation officers really do appreciate it if the kids can work off some of their community service hours while they're with us; therefore, they don't have to tend to that problem whenever the kid gets back to the home county. Plus it's beneficial -- yes, granted, the community service is court-ordered in their home county, but Kerr County would get the benefit of them -- of them serving their community service while they're with us. And so the response from probation officers is very positive for them to be able to do that. It has to be in their court order, though, in order for them to participate in this, that they have community service hours to serve. COMMISSIONER LETZ: If they don't have some -- if they don't have community service -- MS. HARRIS: If they don't have community service hours to serve, they don't participate. Only those kiddoes that have community service hours in their court order. COMMISSIONER LETZ: Is there -- is there a reason for that? MS. HARRIS: It's the individual judge that 3-28-05 91 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 adjudicates the juveniles. Sometimes they assess community service hours to the court order. Sometimes they don't. COMMISSIONER LETZ: I guess, really, my question, I guess, is -- I mean, it's fine if they can get community service credit for this, but to me, this is a beneficial -- it would be beneficial for any juvenile, when they reach a certain level, before they go back home, to -- these are all very positive things and teach giving back to the community, doing something positive -- MS. HARRIS: I agree. COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- with their lives. And I don't -- I mean, to me, they should be able to do this whether they've got community service credit or not. MS. HARRIS: What we could do -- we already have to solicit the permission of the probation officer to allow those senior level kids to go out on field trips or furloughs. What we could do is, we could get permission for -- from the probation officer, and even get an addendum to the court order, if we need to, for them to participate in this program if they don't have community service hours. 'Cause I thoroughly agree with you; it would be beneficial for those kids. COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: I've got a couple questions -- MS. HARRIS: Sure. 3-28-OS 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 92 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: -- Ms. Harris. A couple times in here, it uses a term I'm not familiar with, "community service gene." MS. HARRIS: Community service -- Page 1. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: G-e-n-e. COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Bottom paragraph, MS. HARRIS: Bottom paragraph, Page 1. COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: "Not only will a stronger community service gene..." What does that mean? MS. HARRIS: I wouldn't have the slightest idea, sir. I think it's a typo. COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think it's a typo. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: It's in here a couple of times. MS. HARRIS: Not only will a -- well, "gene" could be construed as a single entity, so the community service single entity would increase visibility of the services. 'Cause a gene is a single unit. Could be -- MS. VAN WINKLE: Generate? (Discussion off the record.) COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: This work by these juveniles is pretty visible. MS. HARRIS: Yes. COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Any privacy issues 3-28-05 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 93 that can be identified as -- MS. HARRIS: They wouldn't have any way of being identified. We would not publish their names. We would not even publish what county that they're from. I -- off the top of my head, I can't think where any identity would be -- COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: You're the expert on that. Third question, what's it going to cost Kerr County? MS. HARRIS: It shouldn't cost Kerr County one single cent, because everything is being donated. COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: You've got the right answer. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Where would the chili cookoff be held? MS. HARRIS: I'm sorry? COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Where would the chili cookoff be staged? MS. HARRIS: We haven't gotten that far yet. I'm not sure, Commissioner. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: One of the things that jumped off the page at me on this thing is the -- is to help these young people with their education, G.E.D. and A.C.T. exams and things like that. MS. HARRIS: Yes. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: But the one that 3-28-05 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 94 really jumped off the page was transition tools, such as clothing to interview for jobs. I just think that is so neat. But you can dress somebody up, and if they don't know -- they don't know how to handle an interview, then you're kind of throwing them out there to the wolves. I would assume that we were -- that we teach them a little bit about interviews and that kind of thing. MS. HARRIS: As a matter of fact, the Workforce here in Kerr County has started coming out to the facility every Monday afternoon, and they're holding workforce readiness classes for the kids, and part of those workforce readiness classes is the interviewing process. COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Good. JUDGE TINLEY: But, by the same token, if the child does not have appropriate clothing to wear -- COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Sure. JUDGE TINLEY: -- it's pretty -- can be pretty devastating to their self-esteem when they go to such an interview. So -- COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I understand. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I like it. JUDGE TINLEY: I think when you partner the two up, it's a positive thing. MS. HARRIS: And whenever -- when the kids get -- reach their junior level, they're allowed to wear 3-28-05 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 95 their own clothes, and from the very beginning, they all can bring their own hygiene products. Well, sometimes, for different reasons, economic reasons or lack of interest reasons, those kids do not receive hygiene products from home or they don't receive clothing from home, and a lot of times our staff buy that, buy the clothing and buy the hygiene products for those kids. This would help to offset some of those costs. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Has Ms. Dieringer started those classes to give them those skills in terms of -- MS. HARRIS: Yes, sir. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: -- how to join the work force? MS. HARRIS: Yes, sir, she has. She -- one week -- one Monday they come out and they do the classes with the girls. Then the next week, they come out and they do it with -- they do the classes with the boys, and they alternate that way. So, we don't mix them up. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Move approval of the joint community service program proposal as presented by Kerr County Juvenile Detention Facility staff. COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for approval of the proposal. Any question or discussion? 3-28-05 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 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Comment. My hat's off to Jennifer Kolb. Very sharp young lady. MS. HARRIS: I'm blessed to have her on staff. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I agree with the Commissioner. JUDGE TINLEY: I've had lots of firsthand observation that she's very committed to what she's doing. MS. HARRIS: Very. Very. She's got a lot of energy. JUDGE TINLEY: Any further questions? Comments? 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 on the agenda is to consider and approve a contract for psychological and medical services performed at the Juvenile Detention Facility. MS. HARRIS: Those two contracts, the psychological and the medical contracts, were included in that packet that I presented to you two weeks ago, that Commissioner Letz had requested all the contracts that we currently have. The psychological contract, the County 3-28-OS 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 97 Attorney, Mr. Emerson, read that over and felt like that the psychological contract was just fine as it is. The medical contract, however, Mr. Emerson is in the process of rewriting the medical contract, and it is not ready for approval today. It may be ready for the next Commissioners Court meeting two weeks from now. So, we would not want to -- we would not want to have any action on the medical contract, 'cause it's -- COMMISSIONER LETZ: The psychological contract was the one that was presented last time? MS. HARRIS: Yes, sir. COMMISSIONER LETZ: I move approval of the psychological service contract for the Hill Country Juvenile Detention Facility. COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Second. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Second. (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 23 "' 24 25 3-28-05 (No response.) JUDGE TINLEY: That motion does carry. We'll JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for approval of the psychological services contract for the detention facility. Any further question or discussion? All in favor of that motion, signify by raising your right hand. 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 98 move to Item 13, hiring an LPC-slash-LCDC to replace the facility counselor resigning in April, with a proposed entry pay grade of Grade 26, Step 1. MS. HARRIS: Yes. I put this on the agenda. Approximately three weeks to about a month ago, one of my full-time counselors came to me and has turned in his verbal resignation. He has not turned in his written. He will be leaving; he's moving to New York, and he's leaving in April, April the 15th, and I need to fill his position. I had mentioned this to the Court a couple of times before, that if an opening ever came up by which I needed to replace a counselor, it would be to our benefit to replace that position with a Licensed Professional Counselor. Two reasons. Number one, that person could do all of our mental health suicide assessments. We would no longer have to solicit the contract -- or that portion of the contract with the psychological -- Dr. Watts that we use right now to come out and do all of our suicide assessments. This individual has the ability to do that. I put on the proposal the approximate cost that it would save. Dr. Watts' costs for suicide assessments is $85 an assessment. I looked on previous invoices that she submitted, and those run anywhere from $400 to $500 a month. She has to come out and do a lot of suicide assessments on preadjudicated kids, and -- and 3-28-05 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 99 sometimes on our postadjudicated kids, she has to come out, so that would save us approximately $400 to $500 a month for this individual to do the suicide assessments. Also, this person could also be the firsthand person for any mental health issues that we might need to refer to M.H.M.R. for -- for more extensive mental health services that we could not provide at the facility. Secondly, the individual that I have in mind is not only an L.P.C., but this person is also a licensed L.C.D.C. in the state of Texas, which is a Licensed Chemical Dependency Counselor. This individual not only can do the mental health; this individual can also be a counselor for the substance abuse kids, and this person can also supervise my other full-time counselor, Ms. Woods, who qualifies to be an L.C.D.C. counseling intern, and he can supervise her as well. He can carry -- this individual can carry an individual substance abuse counseling load of 10. Ms. Woods can also carry a counseling load of 10. That's a total of 20 substance abuse kids that can be covered by the two full-time individuals at the -- at the facility, which I outlined in my proposal what the savings for that would be. Now, anything -- we are licensed for 18 substance abuse beds. We can take care of 20 kids in-house if we hire this person full-time. If we exceed our 18 licensed beds, we -- we would need to look at sending an 3-28-05 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 100 additional licensing fee to the -- to the Department of State Health Services to license more substance abuse beds. Anything beyond 20 substance abuse kids would require a third counselor. Therefore, I would propose that the contract that we have with HCCADA would pick up those additional kids if -- if we go beyond 20 kids, because in-house we could take care of 20 kids. COMMISSIONER LETZ: Can you give me a -- just a question, you know, from ignorance more than anything else. Say you have -- you're at 21 -- or say you're at 20 -- say 21. You need to go to HCCADA to get that counselor, and then we drop down. Would they continue to handle that because -- to keep continuity of counselors with that one kid, even though we may be down to 16 beds? MS. HARRIS: Anything -- anything over 20, I would propose that HCCADA would pick up those counseling services. If we drop down to 20, our full-time counselors can take care of those 20. COMMISSIONER LETZ: So there's not a need, then, to have the same counselor every time talking to the -- MS. HARRIS: It would be beneficial, but ^ 24 that. 25 3-28-05 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. economically, in a business sense, we -- we would not do 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 101 MS. HARRIS: And this is -- and I'm coming at you on the business side of this, 'cause it's economically more feasible to have a full person on staff that can -- can take care of a myriad of services. Hill Country Council on Alcohol and Drug Abuse were very, very cooperative and gracious for coming in when we had -- when we had the need. I -- at the time that we solicited their services and their contract, I didn't need a full-time L.P.C. or an L.C.D.C., 'cause Preston Hyde -- Mr. Hyde had not resigned. Then he resigned, and I've got to fill his position. Because he also does the case management, and Ms. Woods cannot do the case management for all of the kids by herself. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: The original agreement we have with Hill Country, and then we have a letter here today from Ms. Stevens, who I see in the courtroom. Have you discussed this with them, their availability for these -- for our new way of thinking? MS. HARRIS: Yes, I spoke with Ms. Stevens while I was at the Alpine conference, which was two weeks ago, and I -- I visited with Ms. Stevens on the phone and told her that I was going to be presenting this to the Court, and the reasons why, 'cause I've got to fill this position. I have a vacancy. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I need to know what she has to say and what she thinks of that. 3-28-05 102 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: She's filed a participation form, and we'll hear from her as soon as Ms. Harris is through with her presentation. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I just want to review the numbers before we jump away from Ms. Harris. JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Judge, if we can. JUDGE TINLEY: Sure. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Currently, Mr. Hyde's salary is 31,845? MS. HARRIS: That's correct. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: So if you were to replace him just as he is, you would be continuing to expend 31,845? MS. HARRIS: That's correct. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: The new person that you're recommending that you would like to hire, you would be hiring at what, Ms. Harris? MS. HARRIS: 37,850. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: 37 -- MS. HARRIS: 850. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: -- 850. MS. HARRIS: That is Pay Grade 26, Step 1. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Okay. So that's 3-28-05 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 103 about $6,000 more than Mr. Hyde's currently making? MS. HARRIS: That's correct. Yes, sir. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Now, what you're indicating to us on the savings side of the equation, by doing this, is that individual counseling and group sessions for up to how many people? 20? MS. HARRIS: Yes, sir. When I made the proposed -- when I wrote the proposal, at that time we had nine. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Nine. I see it, nine. MS. HARRIS: We had nine substance abuse kids. We now have 12. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: What you presented, then, equates to an expenditure of about $25,000; is that correct? I did some quick math here. For the nine? Nine at 45 weekly and nine at 17.50 and so forth. MS. HARRIS: Yes. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: And then Dr. Watts' cost is about another $6,000? MS. HARRIS: That's correct. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: So, what you're telling the Court is, by following this plan, you -- you can save about $31,000 worth of expenditures by spending 37,850, which is 6,000 more than you're currently spending? 3-28-05 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 104 MS. HARRIS: That's correct. Yes, sir. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: So the net savings would be something like 25,000? MS. HARRIS: That's right. Yes, sir. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Just wanted to be sure we had it correct. MS. HARRIS: Yes, sir, but you're getting a person with dual license. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I understand. MS. HARRIS: Mm-hmm. JUDGE TINLEY: Ms. Harris, the counseling under this alcohol and drug abuse -- substance abuse program, -- MS. HARRIS: Mm-hmm? JUDGE TINLEY: -- that's not a reimbursable medical expense under the residential service contract? MS. HARRIS: No, sir. JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. So that's our responsibility? MS. HARRIS: That's our responsibility, yes, sir. JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Now, let's pretend that we pass a court order here to approve your little plan. Is this particular person -- and I assume that this resume 3-28-05 105 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 back here is the person that you're thinking about? MS. HARRIS: Yes, sir, that's correct. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Has -- I mean, has he agreed to the salary? Has he agreed to come on to work? Has he agreed to do all of these things that you have listed? MS. HARRIS: Yes, sir. And, as a matter of fact -- and I didn't ask him, but he's here in the audience. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Is he excited? That's my question. He's right here? MR. RUSSELL: Excited? COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah, excited. MR. RUSSELL: Excited about the future that you can do with the program, yes. There's -- there's so many ways to go about the program to increase the salability of the juvenile center with other counties. Yes, I'm excited about that. Am I excited about 37? It's quite a come down from what I've had before. Am I excited about the salary? No. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: He's human. MS. HARRIS: Yes, he is. JUDGE TINLEY: Also quite candid, it appears. MS. HARRIS: Yes. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: What do you -- JUDGE TINLEY: Let the record reflect that 3-28-05 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 25 106 was Mr. Michael Russell. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Michael C. Russell. Mr. Russell, what do you do now -- right now? MR. RUSSELL: Right now I'm waiting to see what happens here with the juvenile facility. I was at Starlite. I was the Juvenile Coordinator for Starlite. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay. MS. HARRIS: He was previously a juvenile probation officer in the state of Ohio. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Compared to nothing, this is pretty good money. MR. RUSSELL: Compared with returning back to Ohio, sir, it's very poor money. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Well, that's part of life. The way of doing business, as the rednecks informed us this morning. JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Are we through with questions for Ms. Harris? COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I am. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I am. JUDGE TINLEY: Is that all you have to present on the program? MS. HARRIS: Yes, sir. JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Ms. Stevens, give your name and address to the reporter, please. 3-28-05 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 107 MS. STEVENS: Jeannie Stevens, 1456 Sidney Baker. I'm here today not to cause any grief or change the names of streets or what-have-you. Just some clarification on a contract. And I have given to you what I would like to talk about, and that is, to what extent, with the contract that's been signed on the 14th day of this month, will Kerr County Juvenile Detention Facility be utilizing our services? And if you hire the LPC/LCDC for the Juvenile Detention Facility, do you still need our services? COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Good questions. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Those are great questions. MS. STEVENS: We're here for you. However, I want to support Ms. Harris with everything, because I do believe that she does understand the business side of making things work, and to have someone in-house to do your services is probably one of the best things you can do, rather than contracting out. When you contract out, you don't pay fringe benefits and things of that nature, but you do have a hand, if you will, on -- on that person, knowing that you have oversight with them, and it's just beneficial for Becky. And so I guess my question today is if the County still desires to contract with our facility for these services. COMMISSIONER LETZ: The question I have, I 3-28-05 108 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 guess -- sorry, Commissioner, but just quickly, does the contract have any staffing implications for you? MS. STEVENS: No, sir. We have a full-time L.C.D.C. to perform treatment services for the girls at juvie, and we have an L.P.C. that's willing to take over the boy's group. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: You didn't ramp up, as they say, to meet our expectations, did you, by hiring people? MS. STEVENS: No, sir. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: You already had people on staff? MS. STEVENS: Yes, sir. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Okay. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: What about the contract that we've signed with them saying that they are going to provide these services? We just pretend that doesn't exist? Or do we just lay it aside and use it as a -- as an as-needed type thing? MS. HARRIS: That's -- COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: We do that with the contract? MS. HARRIS: That's what I -- that's what I propose. They provide -- COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I'm asking it, 3-28-05 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 -- 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 109 actually, from a legal standpoint, what I need to know. JUDGE TINLEY: I don't think it's what we would call in the legal world a requirements contract; that any requirements we have in that area, we are obligated to place in the hands of HCCADA. If I'm understanding Ms. Harris' proposal, it's on an as-needed, overflow type situation, that she's proposing that we leave the contract in place to continue to do business. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I agree with that. MR. EMERSON: That's a nonexclusive contract. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay. And you're agreeing to play the ball game? MS. STEVENS: Well, we tomorrow brings, but if we're there f hope to be, God bless us all. COMMISSIONER LETZ: It change is that instead of having a -- overflow, now it's over 20 overflow. know -- never know what or the facility, and we sounds like the -- the you know, an over 10 Which is a -- you MS. HARRIS: 'Cause we have 12 substance abuse kids that require services right now, and we're getting two more kids in this week, which is going to bump our numbers up. COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. MS. STEVENS: May I add something, please? 3-28-05 110 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 11 12 -~- 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 '"' 2 4 25 We are there for the facility as long as we have our staff in place, as long as we have resources to provide this. I would like some kind of a notification prior to this happening with us. Right now, we've been put on limbo, and we would really like some kind of a notification prior to us providing the services again. Just -- 30 days. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: How much advance 8 notice? 9 10 MS. STEVENS: Thirty days would be super. JUDGE TINLEY: I think, number one, your observations about contract versus in-house are -- are very valid, and they're certainly considerations that ought to be given in any situation, and your request to be given a heads-up is certainly reasonable. I'm sure Ms. Harris understands. MS. HARRIS: I understand they would nee COMMISSIONER understand, so the heads-up HCCADA -- we'll now look to MS. HARRIS: COMMISSIONER date. That's perfectly acceptable, and ~ to -- LETZ: So -- I mean, just so I notification will be that HCCADA for anything over the 20? Correct. I could -- LETZ: After the -- whatever 3-28-C5 111 1 f^ 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 ~^ 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 how many substance abuse kids we're going to have coming in, and I can give her a 30-day heads-up, going, "Okay, we've got about five kids coming in, which is going to put us over our in-house counseling load," and give her notice to gear up to take care of those -- those five kids. COMMISSIONER LETZ: So, every 30 days you'll provide a -- 'cause your numbers are going to be changing every 30 days, what you anticipate you'll be for the next 30 days. You anticipate that number? MS. HARRIS: I can do it that way. Like, right now, I have 12 -- 12 kids. I've got two more kids coming in. That's going to get us to 14. As of the end of this week, I don't have any more referrals coming in, so -- and I may not get any more substance abuse referrals in the next 30 days. God forbid that I don't, but -- but it's -- I can usually see at least two or three weeks down the road, 'cause we've gotten referrals. And that way I can give her 30 days and say, "Okay, I know that I've got this many kids coming in, and it's going to push us over our 20 counseling limit," and give her a heads-up. JUDGE TINLEY: Main thing is just good communication -- MS. HARRIS: Sure. JUDGE TINLEY: -- between the two of y'all. MS. HARRIS: Sure. 3-~S-OS 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 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. Just -- to me, Ms. Stevens needs -- and planning is what I presume is really -- is what she's talking about. Is that the best way to do it? I mean, you know, just a letter, an e-mail, phone call? MS. HARRIS: I can -- whatever you want. MS. STEVENS: COMMISSIONER trying to figure out if we every time, or just -- MS. HARRIS: COMMISSIONER A phone call's just fine. LETZ: Okay. Okay, I'm just zad to send out formal letters Right. LETZ: Just communication is what you need. MS. STEVENS: We just want what's best for the residents. COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I just want to make a comment, Judge, and thank Ms. Stevens for her willingness and her organization to -- to come to our aid in -- in getting this ship turned around and going in the right direction. Appreciate it very, very much. Appreciate the spirit that you exhibited when we met -- when Commissioner Baldwin and I met with you, and again, in your willingness to be of assistance to us, because it's -- I guess sometimes good fortune smiles on you, and I guess in this particular 3-28-05 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 113 case, Mr. Harris -- is it Harris or Russell? ' COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Russell. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Coming into Kerr County -- Mr. Russell's coming into Kerr County, available to provide this type of services to us, is -- is fortuitous. So, I appreciate the opportunity you've presented us, and your willingness to continue. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Dittos. MS. STEVENS: So, we're still partners? MS. HARRIS: And triple dittos. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: And friends. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Partners and friends. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I would move approval. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Whoa, whoa, whoa. Hey, hey. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: You want to make it? COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: What about -- no. What about our relationship with M.H.M.R.? MS. HARRIS: Our relationship with M.H.M.R.? COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Does this affect that relationship -- MS. HARRIS: No, sir. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: -- in any way? All right. Don't try to explain anything. That answered it. 3-28-05 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 114 MS. HARRIS: Okay. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Go ahead. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: The -- back to your numbers. The way I understood what you said was -- is that Mr. Hyde's moving to New York; Mr. Russell's moving in with us, and we're going to save a net savings of $25,000 a year. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Based on the census load that we're anticipating, yes, it could effect savings up to $25,000 a year. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Over and above. COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: That's twice today I've heard that word "savings." MS. HARRIS: And when it's associated with me, that's a good thing. COMMISSIONER LETZ: The question I have is, does the 26-1 line up with the work that you all are doing? That you all are doing on -- COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I have no idea. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: The work that we're going to be doing? MS. HARRIS: I put a job description in there for that position. To my knowledge, I don't think that there is another position within the county that I could compare it to. This is something different. 3-28-05 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 115 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I understand that, but, I mean, you can kind of look at -- well, this is above and this is below. I mean, we kind of -- I mean, you're comfortable that we're not creating a one-time deal? This is where this slot should likely be? MS. HARRIS: The research that I've -- that I've done on hiring full-time L.P.C.'s or a full-time L.C.D.C., you're looking at anywhere from $32,000 to possibly $38,000 or $40,000 a year, depending on degrees and licensures. And, by the way, I sent out e-mails to surrounding universities that have psychology departments that graduate Master's degree psychologists with L.P.C.'s. We put an ad in the paper. I didn't get any response from universities. COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. I just wanted to make sure that, I mean, this fits somewhere, hopefully, into the -- the big picture. MS. HARRIS: I believe it does. DR. STACK: I was wondering if I might speak. I'm Dr. Ed Stack, and with -- with the salary you're offering, normally a dual license is significantly more. A dual license with a Master's degree is anywhere from $42,000 to $47,000. I know at .my facility, I could not hire someone at that cost. In addition, just the demands that are being placed on him, especially in terms of the dynamics of 3-28-05 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 ...~ 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 116 suicide assessments, plus groups, plus individuals, plus case management, is -- is a significant load. That ought to be -- I don't mean to tell you folk what to do, but that's not a lot of money in what you're asking him to do, just to kind of assuage your own concerns. But in my facility, when I owned my facility, this would have been rock-bottom, to say the least. Thank you very much. Appreciate it. JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you, doctor. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I would move that we authorize Ms. Harris to hire an LPC/LCDC to replace the existing current facility counselor who is resigning with -- as per the job description provided to the Court, with a proposed entrance of Pay Grade 26, Step 1. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Commissioner, would you be willing to put an effective date? COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I will if I can find out what it is. MS. HARRIS: April 1st. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: April 1st. Effective April lst. Works for me. COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for approval of the motion as stated. Any further question or discussion? All in favor of that motion, signify by raising your right hand. 3-28-05 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 117 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. (No response.) JUDGE TINLEY: That motion does carry. We'll move to Item 14 relative to the purchase of the video recorder in the sum of $720. Apparently, the current recorder is not recording, and the warranty has expired. MS. HARRIS: Yes, sir. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Judge? Just a second. I'm so sorry; I apologize for interrupting. On this -- I want to go back to this other issue just for a second. JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: When Mr. Hyde gives you his written resignation, would you pass that along -- MS. HARRIS: Yes, sir. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: -- to Commissioner Williams and I? Thank you. MS. HARRIS: Yes, sir. JUDGE TINLEY: The recorder is being used to monitor and record secured areas within the facility. Ms. Harris? MS. HARRIS: This occurred while I was at the Odessa conference, and Mr. Valverde called and informed me that the VCR that records all of our security in the old building gave up the ghost, and it is no longer under 3-28-05 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 25 118 warranty due to its age. He indicated to me that IHR is the security company by which we -- we buy our security equipment. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I don't know -- COMMISSIONER LETZ: I can tell you -- the Judge may have indigestion. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Just indigestion. He's got it now. MS. HARRIS: Anyway -- and that he -- he called them and told them what the -- what it was doing. When you put a tape in, it spits the tape back out; it won't even accept the cartridge. Anyway, a new one is going to cost approximately $720. And I looked at the budget that -- that we approved -- that the Court approved, and I can take it out of Line Item 450, which is the Building Maintenance line item. I can take it out of there. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: So moved. COMMISSIONER LETZ: He isn't going to make a motion down there. Second. JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for approval. Any questions or comments? I'd make a comment, that I -- I don't know the -- the vintage of this particular recording device. I know that the Sheriff has got some new security camera devices that are presently being installed. It may be that you may want to check with him. 3-28-05 119 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 MS. HARRIS: Okay. JUDGE TINLEY: I know the Court took a look at that particular equipment. It's all digital, and I think the Sheriff so far is pretty happy with what he got. MS. HARRIS: I'll get in touch with him. JUDGE TINLEY: As an alternative. Obviously, I think you're mandated by law to have that equipment, aren't you? MS. HARRIS: Yes, sir. COMMISSIONER LETZ: Judge, there's probably -- with that, there may be some of the video cameras that were taken out to replace them with additional ones that are -- we could use, too. I didn't think of that. I think we're going to use most of those cameras, but if there is something available out there, that maybe would be -- today. MS. HARRIS: I will get in touch with him COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Do you need one? Or just a recorder? recorder. MS. HARRIS: Just the VCR. Just the COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: He might have one. MS. HARRIS: I'll get in touch with him 3-28-05 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 120 today. JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 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: The motion does carry. MS. HARRIS: Thank you. JUDGE TINLEY: Looks like you finally got through. MS. HARRIS: Thank you. JUDGE TINLEY: We'll move on to the next item, Number 15. Consider, discuss, and take appropriate action on policy with respect to pauper's remains. I put this on the agenda after receiving an Attorney General's opinion that allows the Court to -- to adopt a policy on the disposition of remains which allows us to actually specify cremation. That has been our policy. I'm not sure if it was specifically recognized in the law. And there has been possibly a question whether or not we could require that, but this A.G. opinion allows us to do that. And I asked the County Attorney to review that and to prepare a proposed court order to -- to place that into effect, which is among your materials. 3-28-05 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 121 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Judge, it appears to me that -- or it seems to me that a pauper -- we become owners of that body. Because it looks like here that you have -- you have the option -- or one of the options is to contact the state board and see if they would like to use the body. And if they say yes, then you have the authority to send that thing to San Antonio or wherever to them to use any way they see fit. Or if they say no, then we cremate. So, obviously, it looks like it -- I've never looked at it that way, that the County actually is the owner of that body. JUDGE TINLEY: We, in essence, become -- have control over those remains, to do with -- and the authorization to deliver to the State Anatomical Board was another reference made in the A.G.'s opinion, so we've included that here. You know, it may be in some of those cases, we can avoid the cost of having to handle those cremations. But you're exactly right. If -- if they don't, why, then it's incumbent upon us to do that, as we've done in many cases. COMMISSIONER LETZ: Two questions or comments. We have done this before, so I'm pretty sure we have a court order saying that we're doing this cremating, so I think we ought to cancel any previous court orders, whether we know where they are or not. s-za-o5 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 122 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Man, that would be That would be many, many, many years ago. COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think we can -- COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: The County's been cremating bodies here for -- COMMISSIONER LETZ: But the other part is, on the -- the companion to this, it appears that we need to designate who the County's agent is to notify the state, you know, and deliver the body. I mean, we -- this doesn't -- this just says the County's doing it. Well -- or agent. So, are we appointing the County Judge as the person who is going to do the contacting? JUDGE TINLEY: I'm the one that -- that has the responsibility for approving or disapproving pauper status as it -- as it's now operating. COMMISSIONER LETZ: So we're also granting you -- this isn't a question; this is a statement. And we are also granting you the authority to contact the state -- I won't even try to say that word today -- that board, and handle the cremation or set up cremation. JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah, that would necessarily 23 "~ 2 4 25 3-28-05 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So moved. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Second. go with it. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 123 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for approval. 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: That motion does carry. Next item, Number 16, is consider and discuss a master road plan for Kerr County. COMMISSIONER LETZ: Judge, just a quick comment -- or question, is whether we're going to break for lunch or just plow on through? Probably be done at 12:15, 12:30 or so. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Plow on through. COMMISSIONER LETZ: Plow on through. I put this on the agenda, and it's here for a couple reasons. The Subdivision Rules and Regulations are -- you know, I've been working on them for some time. I want to really -- well, and that's the reason this is on the agenda. I'll save the rest of it for next agenda item. Part of the master plan for the City of Kerrville was that they appointed me as chair of the Transportation Subcommittee, and part of that -- the main thing that subcommittee worked on was developing a master road plan. And a copy of that road -- master road plan, which is pretty much around the City of Kerrville, is 3-2fi-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 25 124 in your handout. It's small; it's hard to see. And I don't think we need to take action right now. My main question right now is, if we're going to do something in our Subdivision Rules about a master road plan, that decision needs to be made now so the language can start being built The thought being that, basically, that if -- you know, as an example, you see it on this plat; on the righthand side of it, there's a dotted red line that goes -- it's an arc up to the front of this line right here. That's a potential -- that -- basically, that line says that at some point, Spur 100 needs to connect -- needs to connect with I-10. As subdivisions go in, that needs to be -- I mean, you could easily block off a future access point. That has happened in Kerrville South, primarily. You can't get front Point A to Point B, even though you're right there, because of subdivisions put in. If we're going to adopt a plan, I think we can figure out a way of how we do it. I'm not to that point yet, but the reason to put on it the agenda is, if we're going to try to follow this or some other master plan around the city of Kerrville, we need to have something in our Subdivision Rules that allows or permits or gives us authority to start working with the developer as to what we're going to do to protect some of the right-of-way, or build the road, possibly. 3-28-05 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 125 So, anyway, I've not talked with Rex on this at all as to what our authority may even be, and the reason I put it on the agenda is, if we want to pursue it, I think now is the time we need to start looking at it. I have a larger copy of this in my office which is about 24-inch by 24-inch that we can pass around and look at. I think everyone can look at it -- we could look at it, and the Subdivision Rules are going to be on our agenda probably for every meeting for a while, so I think we need to make a decision, really, right now. Just think about it. Look at the map and start thinking of how we might do it. And I'll, in the meantime, get with Rex and see -- I just don't want to spend a whole lot of time writing language if he comes back here and says we're not going to do a master road plan. So I think -- COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Is -- is it -- is it required to have a master road plan in order to negotiate with the developer? I mean, I know that I've done that out in Kerrville South a few times. COMMISSIONER LETZ: No, I don't think so. I think what this would do would put the public on notice, and hopefully the developers on notice that, hey, we may require something additional here, because this is in a published, adopted master road plan. And I think that I'll have some more comments, I think, why this may be important under the 3-28-05 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 25 126 next agenda item. COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: I've got a question on that. From my understanding -- and I'll use this example you used, the Spur 100, this dotted line. Say I own some property out here where that dotted line goes across. Does this master plan tell me don't build anything where that dotted line is? COMMISSIONER LETZ: The master plan says -- it's a lot like the Trans Texas plan. I probably shouldn't use that analogy at all. These -- it just says that somewhere between Spur 100 and I-10, a road needs to be built. No -- and the next step would be that a -- some topographic studies be looked at and say, okay, where is the most logical -- one, two, three, four, however many different routes you look at. And then, if a developer -- and you keep track of those. This just says, conceptually, a road needs to go that way. I think a little bit of topography was looked at, the way it was drawn. It doesn't mean that that road is going to cross that person's property. COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: So in our Subdivision Rules, we might have some language that says here's -- here's our dotted lines for future -- for example, if we decided that a south-of-the-river road out there towards Hunt is desirable, we might publish a map with a 3-28-05 127 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 dotted line on it. COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Under the auspices of the Subdivision Rules. COMMISSIONER LETZ: Mm-hmm. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: As an example, what I've done a couple of times out here is, there will be a cul-de-sac that may be 100 yards from the property line. Still, you have another 100 yards to go to the property line, and I have asked them to do an easement from that cul-de-sac to that property line for future usage. COMMISSIONER LETZ: There's -- COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: And they do it, just -- COMMISSIONER LETZ: I mean, one of the best -- COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: -- 'cause it's a good idea. COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- examples of a problem is Saddlewood. Saddlewood has a great big road south -- COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Right through the middle of it. COMMISSIONER LETZ: It's a private road, and you can't -- I mean people that live at the northern end of it have to drive who knows how many miles to get to the 3-28-05 128 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 southern end if they don't live in that subdivision; the gates are closed. So, it's just a way to -- you know, to do it. This was a -- anyway, we don't have to, clearly, use the city's plan. This was just one that was -- you know, that they put on. It's not too far off from one the County and the City, I think, had looked at probably in the early 90's. I mean, it's -- it's pretty basic. It's been updated a little bit, but it's just on the agenda for the purpose to think about it. And then we have to look at -- I shouldn't say "we." Rex and I have to look at what authorities we have to implement something like this, if any. And it may be difficult. But, anyway, it's just on the agenda to say it's coming back next week to discuss a little bit more. JUDGE TINLEY: Commissioner, is it not true that by officially designating an roadways on a master plan, that i a landowner in that area, you can right-of-way, and right-of-way of depending upon the classification platting of that property? COMMISSIONER LETZ: approximate route of n the platting process for require the dedication of a specific width, of the road, in the I don't -- I mean, I'm not sure of what -- what it actually means. I've always had a little bit of a problem with that, because then we get into a taking issue if you have a big road going through, and some of these are pretty -- these are bigger roads that 3-28-05 129 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 we're talking about here, as to how you handle that. And that's why I think it really needs to get back -- if we want to pursue a master road plan on a county-wide basis, I think we need -- really need some guidance from the County Attorney. Clearly, this has been adopted by City of Kerrville. I mean, this -- and a lot of these roads are probably in the ETJ. I'm not sure what that means, necessarily. Since I mentioned the ETJ, I will make a brief comment. While I was visiting with the City Manager on ETJ issues with the County, they have almost finalized a proposed map to divide up the ETJ between the city and the county, and that will be coming to us, I think, probably within the next month. Which is a -- Commissioner Baldwin and I were appointed to a committee a long time ago, and it appears the City's already done all the work. And, actually, I looked at it; it looks reasonable. I won't say we need to agree with it. Commissioner Baldwin hasn't seen it, I don't believe. But they are -- it's working. And it's -- I think the plan, I think, has been mentioned in this court before. The County's going to have an area where our rules will be in place; City's going to have an area of the ETJ where their rules will be in place. It's a lot simpler for the public. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: And a single platting process. 3-28-OS 130 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: Single platting for -- yeah, it will -- each one will have their own platting process, but no one will have to go through two processes. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I think you ought to move forward with it, just kind of see where it -- where it takes us. COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. All right. JUDGE TINLEY: Anything further on Item 16? COMMISSIONER LETZ: No. JUDGE TINLEY: Let's go to Item 17, consider and discuss Subdivision Rules and Regulations and Water Availability Requirements. Commissioner Letz? COMMISSIONER LETZ: One of the things -- this is what I was going to say earlier before I got started. I really want to thank Rex Emerson, our County Attorney, for his help in this area. One of the things we waited on when redoing our Subdivision Rules was the change in the County Attorney's office, and to get new input. Rex has been a big help already in providing legal opinions and things that I actually find quite interesting reading -- most people probably find it quite boring -- related to court cases. I mean, whenever I can find a court case, it grips me and I'm excited to read it when it comes to some of these cases. But I do like subdivision rules, and I like -- another thing that has become very apparent is that we better make darn 3-28-05 131 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 sure our rules follow the law -- the state law. There are more and more cases that are going to court, and the courts are ruling on Section 232 one way or the other, in most of the cases very narrowly. And I think that it's everything from lot size -- there's a new, or relatively new case that clearly says counties have zero authority to set lot size under Section 232, but we do have authority under other areas of the law possibly, and that primary area is probably water availability, because of the priority status granted Kerr County by the Legislature a while back. So, I asked -- and we have talked on this Court previously about almost eliminating the water availability standards because Headwaters is doing it. A lot of things have changed over there. I don't think -- I think I would go 180 degrees opposite; I think we need to work with Headwaters very closely. They do need to help implement them, but I don't think we want to get rid of them, because that's probably our strongest area to set lot sizes and help govern that area. I asked Ms. Mitchell last week to contact Gillespie County and Kendall County and get copies of their water availability requirements, and she was able to do that. She had them actually in moments, I think. She must have great rapport with her counterparts in the cities. Very interesting. The -- Gillespie County is almost verbatim, our current one. Little bit more on parts 3-28-05 132 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 of it, but -- a little bit stricter, but there's a lot of subjectivity in it. Not that I didn't like it a whole lot. Kendall County is a different approach. I have copies of both, just to let everyone on the Court read it, because I think it's very important that we have some sort of water availability, 'cause I think it is a very -- probably one of the best ways for us to set lot sizes, and that's what we've done in our current rules; they're based on water availability totally. The other thing that I asked Kathy to get is a -- something that Kendall County has that I had never seen, and I have a copy. I'll hand out all this in a moment. They have a creature over there -- COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Did you say "creature"? COMMISSIONER LETZ: Creature. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Creature. COMMISSIONER LETZ: Creature. It's called Affidavit of Land Location requirement. And what they require in Kendall County is, any division of property that is not in a subdivision has to file an Affidavit of Land Location, which is basically a survey plat of it, and it does a very interesting thing. One, it goes straight to O.S.S.F. Then they have a -- something that they require when you do any kind of building; you have to get a copy of the land -- and I think Miguel's already getting something 3-28-05 133 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 this point. That would already be done with O.S.S.F. needs. But the other thing it does -- and these have to be approved by the Court or by the Court designee. It also lets the Court be aware of any time an illegal subdivision is going in, because we have to pass off -- we're basically saying, "Yes, you're correct, this is not a subdivision," or, "No, you're incorrect, this should be subdivision -- platted." And it's a way that -- you know, just to kind of monitor the whole system, and any new subdivision has to go one way or the other. It also goes into road frontage and other things of that nature. Pretty interesting. Rex and I have talked a little bit about it. He has not seen a copy from Kendall County, I don't believe. There's a copy for him as well. I'm not sure if Kendall County is doing this -- their authority seems to list every -- they've got a page and a half of citing their authority for doing this. I don't know if Rex is going to agree with all of them or not. And I don't know if they're really banking on the additional authority that Kendall County has being adjacent to Bexar County that we do not have. Clearly, Kendall County and any county adjacent to Bexar County has additional platting authority. So, anyway we needs to rely on Rex to see if we can do this or not. But after everyone looks at it and we get some input from Road and Bridge -- it's an interesting concept, something we've 3-28-05 134 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 never really looked at before. So that's just -- that being said, a couple of other things. And I'm just going to talk about some of these things, and you can think about it; I'll hand some things out. New laws say that condominiums, clearly, we have authority under 232 to regulate. We had a big issue with that on -- whatever the -- the -- MR. ODOM: Cypress. COMMISSIONER LETZ: Cypress -- whatever it's called. COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Saddlewood. JUDGE TINLEY: Saddlewood. COMMISSIONER LETZ: No, it's -- but whatever it is -- Stablewood. COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Stablewood, out Cardinal Hill Road. COMMISSIONER LETZ: We clearly have that authority. I think we need to really tighten up and bring that as a specific item in our Subdivision Rules, but you have to say you do. You have to almost claim that authority under 232. You can't just be silent on it and claim you have the authority. You have to be kind of proactive on that. There's some new cases on being able to set, in a subdivision, lot sizes based on highway frontage. We have a 200-foot minimum frontage. That's been thrown out. We -- I think the courts have said we don't have that authority, a 3-28-05 135 .~ 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 Guadalupe County case. So, anyway, it's pretty interesting. There's a lot of cases coming down; a lot of these things are being challenged, and so I think it's really important that we try to keep up-to-date with what the current law is, and rely heavily on the County Attorney's office to cite -- basically, to claim the right authority when we're making a rule. Whether we're talking about -- and a lot of the problems have been that the -- the Commissioners Court didn't cite the right authority or didn't cite any authority. And there may be some authority on setting the frontage if it's done in a court order; that that's just a blanket court order that Road and Bridge has, you know, authority to set highway entrances, county road entrances. And we've never done that. There may be some things that we need to do to that enable us -- that we can do that under some various health, safety, and welfare clauses, things of that nature. So, there's -- the good news is, there's a -- a lot coming down the pike on subdivisions. Bad news is, it's slowing down the process a little bit, because some of these new cases, really, I'm looking a lot harder at some of our language and talking with Rex quite a bit about that as well. So, I want to hand these out, just some things to read. These, again, will be at our next meeting, and we'll discuss them a little bit more. I plan to get with Gordon 3-28-05 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 136 Morgan, the president at Headwaters, and Gene Williams over there, their acting manager, and talk a little bit about water availability, 'cause I think it's in every -- well, Gillespie County and Kendall County rely heavily on their groundwater districts to implement the policy. So we clearly -- I think that makes sense. I think that we need to continue that relationship in Kerr County as well. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Commissioner, have you been tracking the progress, or lack thereof, of the -- of the bills in the Legislature that -- some of them were filed by Senator Wentworth, and one by Representative Carter Casteel dealing with county authority under the subdivision platting process? Have you been tracking that? COMMISSIONER LETZ: I've not been tracking them. I read the original -- you know, the summaries, or actually read the bills on those from Mr. Wentworth and Mr. Casteel -- or Ms. Casteel. But I've not -- I don't know what the status is, and it's -- I know there's so many bills pending, and they get changed. It's almost -- it's rather frustrating, in my mind. If you don't -- if you're not there the day they vote on your bill, it's going to be a different bill anyway, so it's kind of -- you know, try to lobby where you can a little bit and hope for the best. But, actually, I will say one other thing. You brought up -- 'cause you asked me a question recently about a 3-28-05 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 .~ 24 25 137 potential -- not a mobile home park, but an R.V. park going in. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Mm-hmm. COMMISSIONER LETZ: And if that was under the Subdivision Rules. Under another court case that I got a copy of, it may be. It clearly says there's a -- I forgot which one it is that Rex gave me, or I had it from somewhere. It was about Section 232 does apply if you're going to lease your lots. You don't have to divide them and sell them. If you're leasing them, it qualifies under 232. And the contemplation in that court case was for mobile homes, but -- which is a longer term lease than an R.V. park would be. But I don't -- you know, there's nothing in the opinion that says one way or the other. Maybe there's an A.G. opinion that talks about that. But, anyway, there may be some relief in that area if we want to regulate it, R.V. parks. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Well, I sort of believe that's become an issue, and I think there's one brewing out in my precinct. COMMISSIONER LETZ: That's why I brought that up. But I think a lot of the -- the main thing, after reading a lot of these recent opinions, is that, you know, we have to try to think outside the box and think where the potential problems may be coming, and then be very specific 3-28-05 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 " 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 138 as to what our authority -- where we're getting our authority. And you can't claim most of it comes under 232, 'cause that does not grant that much authority, unless you're adjacent to Bexar County or another big county over 700,000. So, anyway, that's just good to get everyone thinking a little bit about subdivisions. We'll talk about it again in two weeks, and two weeks after that, two weeks after that. COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Commissioner, one quick question. I think you've answered this for me before, but unless something's changed on R.V. parks, the only authority we have to regulate those currently is floodplain administration? COMMISSIONER LETZ: O.S.S.F. COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: And O.S.S.F. JUDGE TINLEY: Is that it on that particular COMMISSIONER LETZ: That's it on that one. JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Does any member of the Court have anything that we need to place in executive or closed session mode? COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Not I. JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Well, Mr. Auditor, I guess we're ready for you. First item is payment of the bills. 3-28-OS 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 139 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I've got a couple questions. On Page 1, County Clerk -- I'm sorry, County Court. Gerry Rickhoff is the County Clerk in Bexar County? MR. TOMLINSON: That's right. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: What -- tell me what this is. JUDGE TINLEY: Mental health cases. MR. TOMLINSON: Mental health cases. JUDGE TINLEY: Bills of cost for patients that were sent down there during that mid-January to March 1 window. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: All right. Page 6 -- and seemed like to me we went through this about two months ago. Page 6, down at the bottom, the Sheriff's Office. Milton Bernhard, hog processing. Did we not go through -- what was the explanation of that? COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I forgot. COMMISSIONER LETZ: I can tell you what it is, I'm pretty sure. It usually comes out of donations from the stock show. There's a cost -- the meat is donated to the Sheriff's Department from some of the buyers, but then the entity getting it has to pay for the processing. I believe that's probably what it is. MR. TOMLINSON: Exactly. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: It looks like that we, 3-28-05 140 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 I2 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 the taxpayers, are paying for the processing. MR. TOMLINSON: Well, these are donated funds that he's using. COMMISSIONER LETZ: Well, but you're -- I mean, it's -- the meat is donated, but the entity receiving it has to pay for the processing, and that being the Sheriff's Department in this case. JUDGE TINLEY: And it's using donated funds to pay for that processing. MR. TOMLINSON: Right. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay. So, this is just a pass-through -- JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: -- thing. Why isn't -- my real question behind all this, why isn't the Commissioners Court invited to eat the damn hog? Okay. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: That's a good question. COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: If they put the silver handcuffs on you, you'll get to eat the hog. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Get to eat the hog. Page 8, Feller Fabricators, the awning on the front entrance of the Ag Barn. That has been -- obviously, been done? Yes, I'm sure it has. That kind of goes along with -- COMMISSIONER LETZ: Next page. 3-28-05 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 ~' 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 141 JUDGE TINLEY: Final draw. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: The final draw on the roof out there. Has Mr. -- well, has Mr. Holekamp signed off on all those? COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: What page is that on? COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That is on Page 14, the roof. COMMISSIONER LETZ: Oh, yeah. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: And the awning -- I didn't know anything about an awning, but I'm assuming that's just part of the gig. JUDGE TINLEY: The -- it's my understanding that they've -- they made a final inspection and have approved the roof. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay. JUDGE TINLEY: If you'll recall, going into the Exhibit Center, there's -- COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yes, sir. JUDGE TINLEY: -- a little -- kind of a porch area, covered porch area. The other awning that's being done is the one right outside the entrance into the maintenance facility and the director and so forth. It's the one immediately west of there. And the arrangement, as I understand it, is that Feller is providing the labor at no cost, and we're paying for the materials to put a similar 3-28-05 142 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 type awning over that entrance, similar to the one that's into the Exhibit Hall. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That's what I figured. Then I see the bill on it is less than $1,000, and I -- that's what made me think, how could he put an awning up there for less than $1,000? Okay. Page 15, the Juvenile Detention Facility. What -- this Bob Barker thing, I'm sure that they -- he sells lots of stuff, but I can't tell what. Resident supplies? Is that -- MR. TOMLINSON: It would be clothing. He sells clothing. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Clothing. And -- MR. TOMLINSON: Bedding. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Key control for 1525 lock. So, old Bob just sells all kinds of stuff? Is that what you're telling me? MR. TOMLINSON: Yeah, that's -- COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay. And then the last item there, $6,608 to Allison Bass for professional services, Advocacy, Inc. Do we have any idea if this is the last one or not? MR. TOMLINSON: Yes. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: This is the last -- MS. HARRIS: Last one. MR. TOMLINSON: It is the last one. 3-28-05 143 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: -- bill? Can you give us a figure of how much we've paid Allison Bass and whoever all these other people are? COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Relating to Advocacy? COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Related to Advocacy. JUDGE TINLEY: 29 to 31, somewhere in that range, total. MR. TOMLINSON: No, it was -- 18 and 6 is 24. JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: 25,000. MR. TOMLINSON: Yeah. The first one was 18. JUDGE TINLEY: I was thinking it was higher than that. I'm sure you've got more familiarity with the figures than I do. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Well, out in Odessa, I was with Mr. Allison there the last day, and he was just so friendly. Day before that, I had lunch with Mr. Bass, and they were really nice to me. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I guess -- COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: We were out there -- COMMISSIONER LETZ: They hadn't got that check yet. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Received it, yeah. Yeah. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: They were expecting a 3-28-05 144 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 check. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That's all my questions. COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: I've got one on Page 7, Juvenile Probation. This is more of an educational question. Kerr County Juvenile Facility, we paid $18,000. So, this is what the facility charges us to take our children? COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: For our kids. JUDGE TINLEY: Mm-hmm. COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: And Child Protective Services pays us to -- to take care of those children? MR. TOMLINSON: No. COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: No? This is a -- this is an $18,000 cost to Kerr County. It's not -- not a pass-through thing? JUDGE TINLEY: I think what you may be thinking about, Commissioner -- notice that this says preadjudicated. COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Okay. JUDGE TINLEY: The post-adjudication is the one that you receive a reimbursement rate from the State of Texas on. COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Right. That's it. JUDGE TINLEY: Okay? 3-28-05 145 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: Move we pay the bills. COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for payment of the bills. Any further questions or comments? 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. Budget amendments. Budget Amendment Request Number 1. MR. TOMLINSON: Okay. Number 1 is for the Commissioners Court and the County Attorney's office. The request is to transfer $2,301 from the Secretary's Salaries in the County Attorney's budget to the Professional Services under the Commissioners Court budget. It's to pay part of the M.O.S. from Davidson Freedle, P.C., for the audit for the Hot Check fund. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So moved. COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for approval of Budget Amendment Request Number 1. Any question or discussion? All in favor of the motion, signify by raising your right hand. 3-28-05 146 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. Budget Amendment Request Number 2. MR. TOMLINSON: Number 2 is also for the County Attorney's office. This request for the County Attorney to transfer $602.66 from Computer Software to Software Maintenance. It's an update on his Hot Check software. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: So moved. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for approval of Budget Amendment Request Number 2. Questions or comments? COMMISSIONER signature, or were you in a MR. EMERSON: COMMISSIONER MR. EMERSON: information, this is actual last year. LETZ: Rex, is this your usual hurry this day? Little bit of a hurry. LETZ: Okay. And, for the Commissioners' ly an expense from October of COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: What? MR. EMERSON: This is an invoice from October of last year that didn't get paid. 3-28-05 147 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: Oh. MR. EMERSON: So we're playing catch-up. JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Wonderful. JUDGE TINLEY: Any further 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. Budget Amendment Request Number 3. MR. TOMLINSON: Number 3 is for Justice of the Peace, Precinct 3. His request is to transfer $270 from his Part-Time Salary line item to Bonds, and that's for his elected official's bond. COMMISSIONER LETZ: So moved. COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Second. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for approval of Budget Amendment Request Number 3. 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. 3-28-05 148 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 (No response.) JUDGE TINLEY: That motion does carry. Budget Amendment Request Number 4. MR. TOMLINSON: Okay. Number 4 is for the County Jail. The Sheriff wants to transfer $200 from Jailer's Salaries to Employee Medical Exams. COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: So moved. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for approval of Budget Amendment Request Number 4. Any question or discussion? COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Comment. When you see the employee medical exams going up and over budget, it's a pretty good sign there's a -- the turnover out there has increased on us a little bit. I wonder what's going on. JUDGE TINLEY: Any further 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. Budget Amendment Request Number 5. MR. TOMLINSON: Number 5 is for Road and Bridge to transfer $680.03 from Contract Fees to Capital 3-28-05 149 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 Outlay. They have actually spent -- they've purchased all their Capital Outlay for the year, and the total of their purchases were over budget by $680. JUDGE TINLEY: My observation is, that ain't too bad based upon $385,000-plus. COMMISSIONER LETZ: So moved. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for approval of Budget Amendment Request Number 5. 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. Budget Amendment Request Number 6. MR. TOMLINSON: Number 6 is -- is a request from the County Clerk. Actually has to do with her budget and the Election Expenses budget, but from a recommendation from the I.T. people, she's made this request. Her request is to transfer $343.60 to -- out of Election Judges line item, $6,203.69 from Ballot Expense, and 492.71 from Election Supplies, to transfer $2,200 into Machine Repairs, $800 in Computer Hardware, $1,140 in Computer Software, and $2,900 in Operating Equipment. 3-28-05 150 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: Question for the Clerk, I guess. This process means that you're not going to have any other election or ballot expenses for the remainder of the year? MS. PIEPER: COMMISSIONER local option election comes MS. PIEPER: comes up, it will be put on COMMISSIONER MS. PIEPER: on the November ballot. My 1. No. WILLIAMS: What happens if the up in Precinct 2? It's my understanding if it the November ballot. WILLIAMS: Pardon? If it comes up, it will be put new budget would kick in October COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Okay, fine. Thank you. COMMISSIONER LETZ: I had the same question, 'cause I think it will come up. But it'll be in November; it'll be next budget year. COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: What is the local option? COMMISSIONER LETZ: Liquor. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Precinct 2 is the only precinct in Kerr County that's dry. COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Glad I don't live there. 3-28-05 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 151 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: You can bring it in, Commissioner. You can bring it in. You just can't purchase it. COMMISSIONER LETZ: Actually -- JUDGE TINLEY: Not hard liquor. COMMISSIONER LETZ: You can have beer. No wine, though. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: You can have beer -- well, I'm not so sure about that, because -- COMMISSIONER LETZ: They sell wine, but T.A.B.C. kind of looks the other way over in Precinct 2 a little bit. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: It is so convoluted, it's unbelievable. Thank you for the answer. Thank you. JUDGE TINLEY: All right. Do I hear a motion? COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: So moved. COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for approval of Budget Amendment Request Number 6. Any question or comment? COMMISSIONER LETZ: The comment is that there are three or four members of the precinct that are very involved in getting that law changed currently, one of them being a -- I won't mention who they are; they may not want 3-28-05 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 152 their names mentioned who they are. But it's -- they think it's something that needs to be corrected. JUDGE TINLEY: Any further question or comment? COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: It's brewing. COMMISSIONER LETZ: It's brewing, that's right. JUDGE TINLEY: 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. Do we have any late bills? MR. TOMLINSON: No. JUDGE TINLEY: I don't see any transcripts. Don't have any monthly reports. MS. PIEPER: Yes, you do. JUDGE TINLEY: Do have monthly reports. I've been furnished a monthly report from J.P., Precinct Number 1. Do I hear a motion it be accepted as submitted? COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So moved. COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for approval of the Justice of the Peace, Precinct Number 1 3-28-05 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 153 monthly report as submitted. Any question or discussion? All in favor the 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. Do we have any reports from the Commissioners in connection with their liaison or committee assignments? COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: No, none of us. JUDGE TINLEY: I don't hear anything -- COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: I don't have one, but I would like to ask the honorable County Clerk if she's getting the documentation now that she needs. MS. PIEPER: Yes. So far, I have had several papers pushed at me today. I appreciate it. COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Some of the -- some people putting items on the agenda in the past have not complied with the process fully, and it makes her job harder. So -- COMMISSIONER LETZ: I have one comment, and just so everyone knows what's coming around shortly, last year during the preliminary -- or during the audit discussion, I made the comment that the Commissioners Court should be more involved in writing the -- I forgot -- it's a 3-28-05 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 --- 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 154 management discussion of the county. Well, the Auditor, I think, agrees with that, and has dropped that off in my lap to write. So, anyway COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: That'll teach you. COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah, that'll teach me all right. So that's going to -- I'm going to be passing that around. It's about a quarter-inch thick packet from the Auditor from Pressler Thompson, who are our auditors, of last year's comments. And I don't know that I'm going to be the one writing it, but someone on the Court. I think we need to be more involved in it so it can be circulating around for comments. I think it's a good exercise because of the -- it just makes us very much aware of what the audit actually says. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I just have one question, since it's related. One comment. Commissioner Baldwin and I are still looking for an audit firm that can conduct a management audit on the previous activities of the Kerr County Juvenile Detention Facility. When we find that individual, we'll let you know who it is and how much it costs. JUDGE TINLEY: Any other reports from Commissioners? Elected officials? Department heads? Any other reports to be rendered? Any further business? (No response.) 3-28-05 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 155 JUDGE TINLEY: We stand adjourned. (Commissioners Court adjourned at 12:28 p.m.) 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 1st day of April, 2005. JANNETT PIEPER, Kerr County Clerk B Y : -- -- ~Q/N!C/~j ---- Kathy B ik, Deputy County Clerk Certified Shorthand Reporter 3-28-05 ORDER N0.29096 Hill Country ADR Contract Came to be heard this the 28th day of March 2005 with a motion made by Commissioner Baldwin, seconded by Commissioner Williams. The Court unanimously approved by vote of 4-0-0 to renew the contract between Kerr County and Hill Country ADR Center to provide mediation services. ORDER N0.29097 RESOLUTION MENTAL HEALTH AND MENTAL RETARDATION Came to be heard this the 28~' day of March 2005 with a motion made by Commissioner Letz, seconded by Commissioner Baldwin. The Court unanimously approved by vote of 4-0-0 the Resolution in support of Mental Health and Mental Retardation Local Authority and Provider Roles. ORDER N0.29098 COURTHOUSE TREES Came to be heard this the 28~' day of March 2005 with a motion made by Commissioner Letz, seconded by Commissioner Williams. The Court unanimously approved by vote of 4-0-0 to authorize the Maintenance Director to send a letter to the City of Kerrville City Manager requesting some trees from the City Farm to be transplanted around the outside perimeter of Kerr County Courthouse. ORDER N0.29099 LAND DONATION KERRVILLE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT FOUNDATION Came to be heard this the 28~' day of March 2005 with a motion made by Commissioner Williams, seconded by Commissioner Letz. The Court unanimously approved by vote of 4-0-0 to accept a donation of 3.025 acres of property from the Kerrville Economic Development Foundation as amended. ORDER N0.29100 AIRPORT RULES & REGULATIONS Came to be heard this the 28`x' day of March 2005 with a motion made by Commissioner Letz, seconded by Commissioner Williams. The Court unanimously approved by vote of 4-0-0 the Airport Code, which includes Rules and Regulations and Minimum Operating Standards as amended. ORDER N0.29101 PUBLIC HEARING ROAD NAME CHANGES Came to be heard this the 28`'' day of March 2005 with a motion made by Commissioner Baldwin, seconded by Commissioner Nicholson. The Court unanimously approved by vote of 4-0-0 the list of road name changes and set a public hearing for May 9, 2005 at 10:00 am. ORDER N0.29102 Y O RANCHLANDS, TRACT 31 Came to be heard this the 28th day of March 2005 with a motion made by Commissioner Nicholson, seconded by Commissioner Letz. The Court unanimously approved by vote of 4-0-0 the Final Replat of YO Ranchlands, Tract 31 and a variance of the one-year time requirement filing with the county clerk. ORDER N0.29103 AWARD OF BIDS Came to be heard this the 28'h day of March 2005 with a motion made by Commissioner Letz, seconded by Commissioner Nicholson. The Court unanimously approved by vote of 4-0-0 to award the bids as recommended by the Road Administrator. ORDER N0.29104 ROAD NAME CHANGES Came to be heard this the 2$`" day of March 2005 with a motion made by Commissioner Nicholson, seconded by Commissioner Williams. The Court unanimously approved by vote of 4-0-0 the road name changes for privately maintained roads in accordance with 911 guidelines. Existing Name Sarah Saphronia RD W Linda Lou Ln E New Name Sarita Saphronia RD W Russell Ranch Rd E 8015 Y O Adventure Camp Rd NW 8014 Schreiner Rd NW 8011 Tortilla Flats Rd NW 8010 Airstrip Rd NW ORDER N0.29105 PROCLAMATION APRIL 2005 CHILD ABUSE PREVENTION MONTH Came to be heard this the 28~' day of March 2005 with a motion made by Commissioner Baldwin, seconded by Commissioner Letz. The Court unanimously approved by vote of 4-0-0 to proclaim Apri12005 as Child Abuse Prevention month. ORDER N0.29106 KERB COUNTY JUVENILE FACILITY KERB COUNTY JUVENILE PROBATION DEPARTMENT Came to be heard this the 28~' day of March 2005 with a motion made by Commissioner Williams, seconded by Commissioner Letz. The Court unanimously approved by vote of 4-0-0 the Join Community Service Program Proposal for the Kerr County Juvenile Facility and the Juvenile Probation Department. ORDER N0.29107 KERR COUNTY JUVENILE DETENTION CENTER PSYCHOLOGICAL SERVICES Came to be heard this the 28`" day of March 2005 with a motion made by Commissioner Letz, seconded by Commissioner Nicholson. The Court unanimously approved by vote of 4-0-0 the contract for psychological services performed at the facility. ORDER N0.29108 KERR COUNTY JUVENILE DETENTION CENTER Came to be heard this the 28th day of March 2005 with a motion made by Commissioner Williams, seconded by Commissioner Letz. The Court unanimously approved by vote of 4-0-0 to hire Michael C. Russell an LPC/LCDC at a step 26/1 effective April 1, 2005. ORDER N0.29109 KERR COUNTY JUVENILE DETENTION CENTER Came to be heard this the 28~' day of March 2005 with a motion made by Commissioner Williams, seconded by Commissioner Letz. The Court unanimously approved by vote of 4-0-0 for the purchase of a video recorder for $720 to come from item 450 -building maintenance. ORDER N0.29110 PAUPER'S REMAINS Came to be heard this the 28`" day of March 2005 with a motion made by Commissioner Baldwin, seconded by Commissioner Williams. The Court unanimously approved by vote of 4-0-0 that Kerr County pauper's remains shall be respectfully handled in the following manner. The County Judge or designee shall inquire of the State Anatomical Board of the State of Texas whether the body is required for educational or scientific purposes. If the Board does not require the county to deliver the body to the Board, Kerr County shall dispose of the body by cremation and pay all costs thereof. ORDER N0.29111 CLAIMS AND ACCOUNTS On this the 28th day of March 2005, came to be considered by the Court various Commissioners Precincts, which said Claims and Accounts are: Expenses Amount 10-General $87,134.07 14-Fire Protection 30,664.22 15-Road & Bridge 29,158.09 26-Technology 919.12 50-Indigent Health Care 14,869.43 70-Permanent Improvement 8,598.30 76-Juvenile Detention Facility 8,914.09 Total Cash Required for all Funds $180,257.32 Upon motion made by Commissioner Williams, seconded by Commissioner Letz. The Court unanimously approved by vote of 4-0-0 to pay the claims and accounts. ORDER N0.29112 BUDGMENT AMENDMENT COUNTY ATTORNEY COMMISSIONERS COURT Came to be heard this the 28`" day of March 2005 with a motion made by Commissioner Baldwin, Seconded by Commissioner Letz, the Court unanimously approved by a vote of 4-0-0 to transfer the following expense codes: Expense Code Description Amount 10-401-486 Professional services $2,301.00 10-475-105 Secretary salaries ($2,301.OOj ORDER N0.29113 BUDGMENT AMENDMENT COUNTY ATTORNEY Came to be heard this the 28"' day of March 2005 with a motion made by Commissioner Letz, Seconded by Commissioner Nicholson, the Court unanimously approved by a vote of 4-0-0 to transfer the following expense codes: Expense Code Description Amount 10-475-563 Software maintenance $602.66 10-475-562 Computer software ($602.66) ORDER N0.29114 BUDGET AMENDMENT JUSTICE OF THE PEACE, #3 Came to be heard this the 28~' day of March 2005 with a motion made by Commissioner Letz, Seconded by Commissioner Nicholson, the Court unanimously approved by a vote of 4-0-0 to transfer the following expense codes: Expense Code Description Amount 10-457-206 Bonds $270.00 10-457-108 Part-Time Salary ($270.00) ORDER N0.29115 BUDGET AMENDMENT COUNTY JAIL Came to be heard this the 28`x' day of March 2005 with a motion made by Commissioner Nicholson, Seconded by Commissioner Baldwin, the Court unanimously approved by a vote of 4-0-0 to transfer the following expense codes: Expense Code Description Amount 10-512-220 Employee medical exams $200.00 10-512-104 Jailer salaries ($200.00) ORDER N0.29116 BUDGET AMENDMENT ROAD & BRIDGE DEPARTMENT Came to be heard this the 2$`~' day of March 2005 with a motion made by Commissioner Letz, Seconded by Commissioner Baldwin, the Court unanimously approved by a vote of 4-0-0 to transfer the following expense codes: Expense Code Description Amount 15-611-570 Capital outlay $680.03 15-611-553 Contract fees ($680.03) ORDER N0.29117 BUDGET AMENDMENT COUNTY CLERK ELECTION EXPENSE Came to be heard this the 28`t' day of March 2005 with a motion made by Commissioner Williams, Seconded by Commissioner Letz, the Court unanimously approved by a vote of 4-0-0 to transfer the following expense codes: Expense Code Description Amount 10-403-456 Machine repair $2,200.00 10-403-561 Computer hardware $800.00 10-403-562 Computer software $1,140.00 10-403-569 Operating equipment $2,900.00 10-402-108 Election judges ($343.60) 10-402-210 Ballot expenses ($6,203.69) 10-402-330 Election supplies {$492.71) ORDER N0.29118 MONTHLY REPORTS Came to be heard this the 28~' day of March 2005 with a motion made by Commissioner Baldwin, Seconded by Commissioner Letz, the Court unanimously approved by a vote of 4-0-0 the following monthly reports: Justice of the Peace Pct. 1