.~ ,~ 1 2 3 4 G E 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 ., 23 74 _5 KERR COUNTY COMMISSIONERS COURT Special Session Monday, September 26, 2005 9:00 a.m. District Courtroom #1 Kerr County Courthouse Kerrville, Texas O ~~ ~~ 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 2 1 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 I N D E X September 26, 2005 PAGE --- Visitors' Input .................................... 5 --- Commissioners' Comments ............................ 7 1.1 Consider, discuss and take appropriate action considering the use of Road District Funds ......... 9 1.2 Consider, discuss and take appropriate action on repealing Court Order No. 28266 requiring 25'~ reserve fund balance to be maintained by County .... 14, 141 1.3 Consider, discuss and take action on OS-06 budget change recommendations ............................. 14, 131 1.7 Public Hearing on proposed salary, expenses and other allowances of elected county or precinct officers for FY 2005/2006 .......................... 40, 143 1.9 Public Hearing on proposed FY 2005/2006 Kerr County budget ............................................. 60, 145 1.16 Consider, discuss and take appropriate action to approve Resolution of Opposition to application for an Air Quality Permit filed with TCEQ by Wheatcraft, Inc. for a rock-crushing operation in Center Point.. . 9E 1.4 Consider, discuss and approve the Sheriff and Constables fees as authorized by LGC 118.131 ....... 136 1.5 Consider, discuss and take appropriate action on VAWA grant-funded special prosecutor's salary and budget ............................................. 138 1.8 Consider, discuss and take appropriate action on setting the salary, expenses and other allowances of elected county/precinct officers for FY '05/'06.. 149 1.10 Consider, discuss and take appropriate action to adopt the proposed FY 2005/2006 Kerr County budget.. 145 1.11 Consider, discuss and take appropriate action on rer_~mmendation and request for court a n ion in filling County Extension Agent-FCS position ........ 148 1.6 Clarification of minimum lot size for Kerr County Subdivisions with community water .................. 152 ].12 Consider, discuss and take appropriate action on implementing the Burn Ban .......................... 158 1.13 Consider, discuss and take appropriate action to approve Kerr County Facilities Booking and Rental Policy ............................................. 159 1.21 Consider, discuss and take appropriate action on Kerr County Emergency Management Plan ...... ...... 173 3 1 .-. 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 -, 1 3 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 Z3 "' 2 4 25 I N D E X (Continued) September 26, 2005 PAGE 1.20 Consider, discuss and approve Resolution for cooperation between Kerr County Commissioners Court and City of Kerrville City Council .......... 186 1.14 Consider, discuss and take appropriate action to correct Court Order 29360 due to ministerial mistakes ........................................... . 190 1.15 Consider, discuss and take appropriate action to select a process for naming the members of Library Adviscry Board to be selected by the Kerr County Commissioners Court ............................... 191 1.17 Consider, discuss and apprcval of Resolution or other action to participate in Indigent Defense Grant Program, authorize County Judge to sign ..... 193 1.1R Consider, discuss and take appropriate action on purchase of new Odyssey software package from The Software Group, authorize County Judge to sign contracts for purchase of same .................... 199 1.19 Consider, discuss and approve contract between Kerr County and Hart Intercivic for eSlate, authorize County Judge tc sign .................... 197 4.1 Pay Bills ......................................... 200 9.2 Budget Amendments ................................. 201 ........................................ 4.3 Late Bills --- 4.4 Approve and Accept Monthly Reports ................ 207 Adjourned ......................................... 209 4 1 2 3 9 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 On Monday, September 26, 2005, at 9:00 a.m., a special meeting of the Kerr County Commissioners Court was held in District Courtroom #l, 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: Ladies and gentlemen, it looks like we're going to have more folks wanting to attend today than we have adequate seating for. We've made arrangements for one of the district courtrooms upstairs that has additional seating available. Is it 1 or 2? Ms. Mitchell had inquired about that. MS. NEMEC: She's finding out. JUDGE TINLEY: One? Okay, let's go up to Courtroom Number 1. As you get off the elevator, it'll be to your right. (Commissioners Court meeting moved upstairs to District Courtroom #l.) JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Let me call to order the regularly scheduled meeting of the Kerr County Commissioners Court scheduled for this date and time, Monday, September the 26th, 2005, at 9 a.m. We had a slight delay as we moved the location to allow for more participation. We appreciate your indulgence there. Commissioner 3, I believe you're up this morning. COMMISSIONER LETZ: Would everyone please 9 2 h 0 5 5 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 19 I5 16 17 15' 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 stand and join me in a moment of prayer, followed by the pledge. (Prayer and pledge of allegiance.) JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you very much. At this time, if there is any member of the audience or the public that wishes to be heard with regard to an item or a matter that is not a posted or a listed agenda item, we ask that you come forward now. If you wish to speak or be heard on a matter or item which is a listed agenda item, we would ask that you fill out a participation form. Those are located at the back of the room. I've got several of them that have been provided to me already. It's not absolutely essential, but it helps me keep track of who needs to speak or is desiring to speak on a given item. So, if you would be kind enough to fill out that participation form, we would greatly appreciate it. The clerk has some here for anybody that might be needing them. If you'll just raise your hand, she'll be happy to get one to you. Is there any member of the public that wishes to be heard on a matter that is not a listed agenda item? If so, please come forward at this time. Yes, sir? When you come forward, if you would give your name and address so that the record will be complete. Thank you, sir. MR. MILLER: I take it the library is not a listed agenda item? y_ h ~ ~ s 6 1 2 3 4 5 5 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 I8 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 AUDIENCE: Yes, it is. JUDGE TINLEY: It -- it is a budget issue, obviously, Mr. Miller. MR. MILLER: Or as it's not a budget matter. JUDGE TINLEY: Well, I think we're going to find that it is, Mr. Miller. MR. MILLER: Very well. JUDGE TINLEY: I think we will. MR. MILLER: I turned in a form, so -- JUDGE TINLEY: I have your form here, and I will place it with the library. I'll mark it on that. MR. MILLER: Thank you. JUDGE TINLEY: Is there any other member of the public that wishes to be heard on an agenda -- on an item that is not listed on the agenda? Any member of the public? Yes, ma'am, please come forward. MS. KAHANT: I'm in the same quandary as Mr. Miller; I'm not sure. My name is Carolyn Kahant. I live at 300 Cedar Springs Road in Ingram. But I'm not sure if I should be speaking now or wait, because I -- what I'm going to say has to do with several items, and I don't want to get to the agenda item and then not be able to cover that. So -- COMMISSIONER LETZ: Several items related to the budget? e-z6-oa 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. KAHANT: Budget, right. JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. If you don't mind, I will mark you as a budget speaker. MS. KAHANT: Okay. DODGE TINLEY: All right. MS. KAHANT: Thank you. JUDGE TINLEY: Any other member of the audience or the public that wishes to be heard on a matter that is not a listed agenda item? Seeing no one else desiring to be recognized or coming forward, Commissioner 3, do you have anything for us this morning? COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'll just make a brief comment, that we're far removed here from what's happening in east Texas and Louisiana, but over the weekend, or -- I guess over the weekend, starting Friday, I was fortunate to be able to house five families at my residence, over in the cabins, and it really brought home to me what some of these people have gone through. One of the families are from New Orleans, and their house was severely damaged by Katrina. And what these people are going through is absolutely horrible, and I just hope that all of our prayers are with those people and those far distant from us. I know it's a very sad situation. That's all I have. COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: I have nothing, Judge. 9- L h- ~ 5 8 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 19 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 ?? 23 24 25 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: No, sir, I don't have -- I have nothing. I'm just excited about seeing this many citizens. JUDGE TINLEY: Commissioner Williams? COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Just a comment, that it is good to see a number of folks out interested in what the county government does. I know a lot of you here are here about the -- about the library issue, and we'll be dealing with that forthwith, and some of you are here -- are here as a result of a town hall meeting we had in Center Point last Tuesday night with respect to the air quality permit for the proposed rock-crushing facility on the Guadalupe River. We welcome you both. For whatever purpose you're here, we welcome you, and please feel free to participate. Just don't throw tomatoes. (Laughter.) JUDGE TINLEY: That it, Commissioner? COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: That's it. JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you. Just as a matter of procedure, when we get to the budget, those of you that have reviewed the agenda will note that there is a public hearing set on the budget at 10:30, and immediately thereafter there's an action item on that matter. If -- if we are still proceeding with matters related to the budget -- discussions, debate, et cetera -- my intention is, -5 us 9 1 2 3 9 J H 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 72 23 24 2` as close to 10:30 as possible, to call that item, and then, depending upon the amount of time needed, to possibly recess that item until we can continue the debate on the items related to the budget. I -- I choose to do this so that everybody will have an opportunity to be heard, even possibly before the public hearing, if that's their desire. But we will still have the public hearing immediately before the action item in order that everyone who wishes to be heard on that item can be heard. Let's get on with the agenda, if we might. The first item on the agenda is to consider, discuss, and take appropriate action concerning the use of road district funds. Mr. Odom? MP.. ODOM: Thank you, Judge. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Thank you. MR. ODOM: While I was away was -- the last meeting I was on vacation, and the matter of the capital outlays came up, and the question was on road funds. And I would like to enlighten the Court about -- that question was by the Auditor, that I may know something about it, and I know something. The legal question is -- is yet to be resolved. But the one that was here at the time was Buster, I believe, when the road districts were set up. And understanding that, that what was -- what was a bond issue like we've had in the past, as the statutes say, but it was something that was done through 611, which was our working a za us 1 2 3 9 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 19 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 10 budget, was taken out of reserves. And then I'm not -- I've not been able to find a lot of information. That's the reason you have this packet late; that we had to go through and get as much information as we had in our files. But, essentially, this is that there was over $200,000 that they determined would complete the projects. They spent over $300,000, never completed the road districts. Jerry Menafee was here at that time. That money came totally out of 611, though I'm not quite sure what the wording was on the court order; however, those funds were to be repaid back to our reserves. And it was set up as a road district fund, separate than 511. When we gor here 15 years ago, not all the road districts were completed, so we took those funds, and to find out what was going on, they spent more money than what the people were being taxed for to repay that. And I took that money, and each year I went through and I took a road and I rebuilt that road, every year. Now we've completed all that, and you can see that in this data that we have $170,000, $180,000 left, and part of this funding has already been repaid. Some of the road districts are done. The question I can't answer the Court -- and we asked Rex to review this, and the opinion is at this time we'd like to defer this matter until I have a legal opinion to make sure. But Dr. Odom here speaking assumes that the Mt b - U 5 11 1 L 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 L2 23 24 25 intent -- the intent was to repay that money totally back to 611, and that it wasn't to be separate, and that since all the roads were -- are taken care of now and they're in our general maintenance -- and I believe that's the way the court order shows, that we pick it up in general maintenance now. That -- but the object was to make sure that everyone that was being taxed got their roads rebuilt. That's what we did when we came here. And -- COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Leonard, is -- is the amount of money that's sitting in the fund today equal or more than what was taken out of Fund 11 years ago? MR. ODOM: Almost equal now, mm-hmm. What's left right now. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So -- so what I'm hearing you say is that the people -- they taxed themselves. We did not tax them. MR. ODOM: Taxpayers did not, just those people. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: On the road district, and the amount of money that came in from those taxes -- it actually cost more to build the road than the amount that came in. MR. ODOM: That's right. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: And so we took the money out of Fund 11, which is your reserves, to cover that. 9 Z¢,-05 1 2 3 4 5 5 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 ,„ 23 2q 25 12 And -- okay. MR. ODOM: And they were to pay it back, different road districts. There must have been four or five road districts. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: There was five. MR. ODOM: And 15- to 20-year payback. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Right. MR. ODOM: And so they're paying back that portion that the reserves built for them. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay. MR. ODOM: What I'm saying, now that I've got everything done, and I would like the Court to consider that -- if it's not this year, at least next year, to consider that this is not separate. Or -- I mean, we're through, and that it should be able to go in reserves and I should be able to use that money for what there needs to be. And my needs more than any there are capital outlays, to keep my equipment up, particularly. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: If it's legal. If Re r, -- MR. ODOM: If it is legal. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: If it's legal to reimburse your fund, I'm -- I'm all for that. And if there is -- if it's not legal, and there are -- or there is moneys over and above the amount that was originally brought out of ~_,E-o~ 13 1 3 9 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 15 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 Fund 11, then we need to reimburse that to the taxpayers. MR. ODOM: That's the way I feel. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay. MR. ODOM: So, I -- basically, what I'm saying is -- is enlightening you on this information, and really asking for deferment on this decision, 'cause I don't have the legal part answered yet. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Mr. Odom, there's one page in this handout that you gave us that identifies five different road districts, and I guess we're going back to 1988; is that correct? MR. ODOM: That's correct. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: And it shows a total at the bottom of $201,792. Is that the balance that you believe is available for -- MR. ODOM: I believe that that balance is 181,000 at this point. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: You think it's 181? MR. ODOM: But over the period of time, I've spent that money itself to rebuild those roads, so it exceeded that amount of money that we received. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Okay. MR. ODOM: They initially spent 300,000 plus on top of what we spent over the last 15 years to get them. ~-zr,-os 1 3 4 5 F 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 14 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Thank you. JUDGE TINLEY: Anything further? MR. ODOM: No, sir. JUDGE TINLEY: Does any member of the Court have any questions for Mr. Odom, or propose any action on this item? If not, thank you, sir. We'll move on to Item Number 2, consider, discuss, and take appropriate action on repealing Court Order Number 28266 requiring General Operating Reserve Fund balance of 25 percent to be maintained by Kerr County during such fiscal period, and if necessary, set new percentage. Commissioner Nicholson? COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Judge, if I may, I'd like to defer that item until we know more about what the reserve fund may be. JUDGE TINLEY: All right, thank you. We'll move to Item 3; consider, discuss, and take appropriate action on 'OS-'U6 budget change recommendation. Commissioner Nicholson? COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Well, I sound like a broken record, but I have to say it again, that our county government is a very expensive government compared to 13 other counties our size. And in my -- in my analysis of that issue, it's not necessarily that tax revenues are too low; the problem is that costs are too high. One of the things I continue to hear throughout this process is that 9-GO-0.`, 15 1 °` 2 3 4 G 6 7 3 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 2p 21 ~~ 23 "" 2 9 25 the deficit budget we're facing is caused, in large part, by costs, is not very significant. We have been steadily spendinq down the reserve fund. Last year we adapted -- adopted a policy that the reserve fund shouldn't be less than 25 percent, and I think now we're looking at a fund that will be less than 20 percent. That's a very significant and very troubling event in Kerr County. (Low-voir_e discussion off the record.) COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: So, I asked myself, why are our costs so high? Why do we cost so much more than other counties our size? And there's a variety of different reasons, but I'm just looking at the real big bucks, the large reasons. One of them is that we have more employees and a larger payroll than any other county our size. Even more significant than that in recent times is the Juvenile Detention Center, and that's -- that is and is goinq to be a financial disaster for Kerr County. In my estimation, it's going to cost us $763,000 this year. Now, that's -- on a budget of, what, around $19 million, that's very significant. Another cause is the spending that we do in connection with contracts with the City of Kerrville. We've -°e-ns 16 1 2 3 4 5 E 7 8 9 10 11 1^ 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 not been able to -- to bring those costs in check or deal with issues of rising -- rapidly rising costs there. I see the deficit spending can' t continue. We had a deficit spending budget last year; we've got a large one this year. It's got to be stopped somewhere, and if we don't start now, we're going -- it's just going to be more and more difficult to deal with it later. Going back through the budget page by page, looking for opportunities to cut costs, I came up with four different categories that have the potential for $460,000 in savings. The first one is to reduce by 10 percent the salaries of elected officials and appointed department heads whose current salaries are above $40,000 a year. Those elected officials and department heads are those who can and should be held responsible for spending our way into this financial crisis and -- and continuing the practices that have led us to be an expensive county. I said $75,000 in savings there. When we get around to the part of the budget that deals with the officials' salaries, I think the savings will be more like $100,000. I propose that we abolish nine additional positions, and I've outlined them. The County Clerk's office, two; Treasurer, one; Tax Assessor, two; Sheriff, one; Environmental Health, one; Facilities and Maintenance, one; and J.P. 1 and 3 clerks, one. By -- based on the data I have, the staff reductions that we've turned q_?~_n~ 17 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 ~, 23 24 L S in earlier, then add these staff reductions to it, and we'll still be the county our size with the largest employee census. I propose to abolish the Trapper contract and to cut Extension Service and County-sponsored activities by 20 percent. That would bring about a $65,000 savings. I propose that -- that once we get the report of -- from the committee that's studying EMS issues, that we seek to renegotiate the contract with the County on EMS midyear, and that the changes that could be brought about would eliminate the 400-some thousand dollar loss that the City and the County incur on that contract. And if we're able to do that, then that would be a $100,000 savings in this year's budget, half of the annual $200,000 savings. I expect there are other opportunities for cost reductions, but these are the ones that -- that came to mind when I went back through and analyzed the budget. JODGE TINLEY: Any member of the Court have any observations on those or other budget matters? COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I have some observations on some other budget matters, Judge. I'll present them to you now -- present it to the Court now with some comment. This basically has to do with the Butt-Holdsworth Library, and I want to make some comments about it and where we are today. Let the record be clear; I v r, n 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 18 support the increased county funding for the Butt-Holdsworth Library for the 2005-'06 fiscal year, and I will identify funding. The rest will be up to the City of Kerrville. But first some comments on current events. It appears that even in Kerrville, it has become good sport to play a local version of the Hurricane Katrina blame game regarding library funding issues. What distresses me the most has been the absence of complete budget information which has been in the possession of the City since midyear, but not provided to the County, and the current attitude toward county government displayed and articulated by library management. There is no valid reason why, over the course of our budget process, library management has never taken the time nor made the effort to come to Commissioners Court and explain the library operation and any of its unique or special needs. We are left to read in the newspaper that reduced funding places the library's accreditation and perhaps state funding grants in jeopardy. If, indeed, this is the case, would it not have been more productive to all concerned to present this information directly to Commissioners Court at an appropriate time, thus preventing your fifty-fifty funding partner from reading this information with accompanyinq negative comment in the local newspaper? Common sense and ~,-zE,-as 19 1 ~.. 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 ~- 13 14 15 15 17 18 19 20 21 ,~ 23 '" 2 4 25 common courtesy suggests this to me. Also, is it unreasonable to expect more than a library fund budget summary that contains no detail on operations sooner than one week before the county budget is finalized and presented for approval? The new library contract approved by Commissioners Court last Monday has the potential to move the library support and oversight in a new direction. This is long overdue, in my opinion, but also overdue is a frank discussion and the sharinq of information about library operations. Finding additional funding at the last minute is not the ultimate solution. The ultimate solution, however, lies in the formation of a county-wide library district. Chapter 326 of the Local Government Code deals specifically with the creation, funding, and operations and oversight of library districts, which may include incorporated and unincorporated territory. For our purposes, all of Kerr County. I call upon the Mayor and the City Council today to work with us to place the issue of creating a library district, election of directors, and funding to come from existing sales and use tax before the voters at the earliest possible date. Once accomplished, that should forever put to an end City/County squabbling over library funding. It will also allow both the City and the County to reduce our respective tax rates accordingly. The c ~e ~; 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 19 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 ~~ 23 ~4 25 20 appointment of a task force charged with the task of developing a firm plan of action within the nett siY months is a very good place to start. Now for the specifics for this year. First, Kerr County's share of library funding is not $416,113, as presented. This amount should be reduced to $398,613 by removing a charge for building and structures maintenance and repairs. This item is the sole responsibility of the City, which owns the building. I propose adjustments to the Kerr County budget as follows: Line item 10-406-486, Professional Services, reduced by $5,000. I'm talking about our budget, so that moneys can be transferred. Reduced 5,000. Line Item 10-515-451, Detention Center Repairs, reduced by $5,000. Line Item 10-595-950, Airport Operation, reduced 25,000, of which 9,000 was originally overbudgeted. That would be a $16,000 reduction on our budget. Line Item 10-662-232, Trapper Contract, reduce it by $5,000. Line Item 10-666-105, Secretary's Salary in the Maintenance Department, change it to part-time, reducing that figure to $10,000 -- by $10,000. Line Item 31-662-486, Flat Rork Lake Park, reduce funding by $10,000. Line Item 41-634-115 Records Archival, reduced by $5,000. Total reductions to the County budget to be transferred to the library, I propose to Line Item 19-659-491, would be an additional $65,000. This brings our funding level to $365,000, and if u _~-ns 21 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 19 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 L S my math is correct, would leave a shortfall from what was proposed by the City, adjusted by what I said to you earlier, of about $3_',613. This amount, if the Courr approves, can be taken from the estimated fund balances, which is not a savings account; it's fund balances, and is to be used for purposes for the good and welfare of the -- of the county and all of our residents. And that would reduce our year ending reserves by one-half percentage point. Any member of the press who wants a copy of this is welcome to it. Judge, that would be my motion, to adjust the budget by those figures. JUDGE TINLEY: I have a motion to adjust the Kerr County budget by the numbers as enumerated by Commissioner Williams. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Judge, I have some comments before we -- I mean, I'm not ready to make an second quite yet on the issue. I want to get back to Number 4's comments earlier, and number two abolished nine additional positions. I see what you're talking about, Commissioner, until you get down to the J.P. 1 and J.P. 3 issue of reducing an employee. Would you explain -- I know you've explained that before to us, and I just have a short memory. COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: I would combine two clerk jobs into one, Commissioner. The two J.P.'s would 9 i F I~ 5 ^^ 1 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 1J 16 17 18 19 .0 zl 2~ ~3 ~4 25 share a -- a clerk. That might be difficult, but it's doable. It can be done. I have done some research. I notice that not all counties our size have four J.P.'s, so somehow or another, other counties get by with fewer people and less clerical help. JUDGE ELLIOTT: I'd like to address the issue. Vance Elliott, J.P, 1. Commissioner Nicholson, you've been in office three years. Have you spent 30 minutes in one of the these -- either J.P. 1 or J.P. 3's office? COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: I've spent many, many hours in J.P. 9's office. Are they significantly different? JUDGE ELLIOTT: Very different. So, you don't really know what goes on in J.P. 1 or J.P. 3's office, do you? COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: I expect the clerk performs the same functions in J.P. 1 office as the clerk in J.P. 4 office. JUDGE ELLIOTT: Are you aware that an Attorney General's opinion has stated that a justice of the peace precinct office must be within the precinct? COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Yes, sir. JUDGE ELLIOTT: So how would you split one employee into two different precincts? 23 1 L 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 15 20 21 22 23 24 zs COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Well, there's a couple of ways you could do that. You could put the office together and draw a yellow line between them designating which one's Precinct 1 and which one's Frecinct 3, or the clerk could move back and forth, or there -- probably you could come up with a different solution. JUDGE ELLIOTT: Do you have any idea how many transactions are brought into one of the precinct J.P.'s, as far as how many tickets, how mu~~h revenue and things like that are bought into the county through the J.P. office? COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: I see your report once a month. JUDGE ELLIOTT: But do you know what it is? COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Yes, I get a report from you once a month. JUDGE ELLIOTT: So you know how much transactions? Would you give me an idea about how many transactions that would be? COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: You tell me. JUDGE ELLIOTT: So you don't know. And so I certainly hope that your other proposals to the Commissioners Court are a little more well thought out than your proposal to split a person between J.P. 1 and J.P. 3, since that is very much a full-time job, and the person stays extremely busy making sure that revenues are brought 9-2i~-US 24 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 1~ 13 14 15 15 17 18 19 20 21 ?~ 23 24 25 in and tickets are taken care of properly and the dockets are set and the court orders are made. Thank you. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Judge, I apologize for stion. (Laughter.) I will not ask that JODGE TINLEY: I don't think you'll need to, COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I think I'm pretty clear on this. So, as most of you guys know, I have spent a lot of time looking at and studying politicians, and there's some interesting folks around that are good politicians, but I think there's one that has arrived amongst us that just is the king of the -- king of the mat, and that's our new mayor. By reading the newspaper -- and it's not a bad thing; I'm not saying anything bad about the guy, just telling you he's a good politician. I see in the newspaper where he appeared before probably this same group here, or a similar group that's interested in the library, and his answer to them was, "Well, you've got to go talk to the County," and I just find that just absolutely amazing. What a -- what a wonderful political move. And then we get a -- then we get a letter from my good friend Joe explaining that he wasn't invited over there, but -- you know, on and on. I mean, the guy's a great politician. I admire him very much for that. 9 z~,-:,s 25 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 2q 25 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Neither was the County Judge invited. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Excuse me? COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Neither was the County Judge invited. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I understand, and that's fine. I just wanted to comment that the guy is a phenomenal politician. MR. BENHAM: Your Honor, may I -- COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: No, I'm not through. Just hold on here. MR. BENHAM: Okay, sorry. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: One of the things that's bothering me about -- this is the library budget that arrived in my hands last week. Not very much time. And I've gotten to where I kind of understand our budget and how numbers look and where they go and what columns and, you know, that kind of thing, so I'm getting used to ours a little bit. After 16 years, I'm beginning to understand the thing a little bit. But this one's thrown me a little bit, and I tell you -- you know, no one has come to explain to me what this means. And I'll give you an example. On Page 145 of this budget, there is a section titled "Maintenance and P.epairs." And under Maintenance and Repairs is Building and structures, Maintenance Contracts, City Garage; Parts, City i-zh-n5 ~6 1 3 4 5 6 7 H 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 ^0 ~1 22 23 24 25 Garage. I go over here a couple of more pages to Page 150, and there's a section that's tit]ed "Maintenance and Repairs." And under Maintenance and Repairs is Maintenance Contract, City Garage; Parts, City Garage. It's the same thing as the one over here. And alrnost every page, there is a Maintenance and Repairs column. Now, I'm not saying that it's wrong. I'm just saying it definitely repeats itself back there. But what I'm saying is, somebody needs to explain to me -- before you ask me to vote and expend taxpayers' money on something, ycu need to explain to me so 1 can understand what I'm voting on. Now, the Library Director, the last time he has been before this Commissioners Court was several years ago when he came over asking us to help purchase an elevator. Wasn't it an elevator: COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Half of an elevator. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Half of an elevator. We authorized it, and it was three years later before the elevator was put in. That's the last time we've seen the guy. He needs to come before this Court and explain to us roahat this is all about. I find that very poor, poor, poor leadership. And then -- I wish he were here today. Is he here? I didn't see him when we were downstairs. He should be here today, shouldn't he? He should be here today explaining this, and explaining exactly what he means by 9-. h i 7 5 27 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 G 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 ,~ 24 25 he's going to lose funding and the place is going to be closed down the sky's going to fall. Because if maintenance -- what does he mean by "maintenance"? What does the state mean by maintenance? MR. SHULTS: Mr. Baldwin, if you'll let me address the Court -- COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I will when I get through; I'll be happy to. Thank you. So -- MR. SHULTS: I'll explain that. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So, the point in all of this is the guy should be here telling us what this is all about. I've been here a lonq time, and I vote thousands of times a year on issues, but the one time that is the most important time is this budget. That's the single most vote that I cast through the entire year, and I don't know what the hell I'm voting on. And that's a sad, sad moment. COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Commissioner? COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Before I get angry, I better pass it on. COMMISSIONER LETZ: Let me just make a couple of comments, 'cause I know Commissioner Nicholson has a few comments related to the library and other budget issues. I want to make it real clear, I've always supported the library, and I will continue to support the library. And I think we can probably come up with a way to increase the y zE~-~,s 2g 1 2 3 4 F 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 19 15 16 17 13 19 20 21 22 23 ~4 ZS funding for the library this year, but there are some things that need to be said, and everyone needs to understand. First of all, the document to set up the Butt-HOldsworth Library called for the City of Kerrville to manage the library. The City cf Kerrville owns the library. This is not a fifty-fifty partnership. It was never intended to be a fifty-fifty partnership. The documents say that the -- or request -- ask that Ferr County pay basically half of the operating deficit. We are not responsible for capital improvements to that building. We have chosen to pay more than our fair share for a number of years. We helped fund the elevator; we've helped fund the roof. The City of Kerrville has made it very clear this year that they want everything to be dealt with in the City/County relationship as "pay your fair share." Well, our fair share is not the capital improvements at the library. That item, which, in the budget summary provided, is $104,000, so that comes off the top, in my mind. Commissioner Baldwin made the comment -- he was going through this document, and he had Pages 142, 144. That's a little bit misleading. What we received last week from the library was a summary that is all of probably six, seven pages ]ong. It has no backup, no detail of any kind in it. The City of Kerrville has failed the taxpayers of the city and the county and Friends of the Library and every ~-_r~-a5 J9 1 2 1 ' 3 i 4 I s 6 1 7 8 9 10 11 1~ •-•° 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 ~l ?~ 23 29 ~~ supporter of the library. We have a contract with the City of Kerrville that is three pages long. The City has a staff of legal people with a budget of over $250,000. They cannot follow a three-page simple contract. That contract says in April of each year, the library will meet with a designee of this Court and go over the budget. That did not happen this year or last year or the year before that. That contract says that the library -- or the City will present the library budget to the Commissioners Court by July 1st. We received a summary of the library budget -- we still have not received the library budget. The summary we received in September. How is it this Court's fault for funding when the City is so incompetent that they cannot provide a budget to the County according to a three-page contract? Why do they have a legal staff that can't follow a three-page contract? Why do they have a City Manager running a city that's paid, last year, over $163,000 that can't prepare a budget"? 7t is absurd. If you all are mad -- I'm sure you are, as I'm sure you can tell I am -- your anger shouldn't be directed at us; it should be directed at the City Council and City staff. They caused this problem by themselves. We got to the point this year where this Court -- or this Commissioner said enough is enough. We will be treated as citizens -- or as equal players on joint projects with the ~-! <,-0 S 30 1 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 z2 23 24 25 City. We are not going to put up with this "take it or leave it" attitude they have, the arrogance they've had, and the cavalier way they have dealt with the citizens of the county and the city and this Commissioners Court. That will not happen again. I note we have one councilman in the audience, and I will applaud Councilman Coleman. He is the only member of the City Council that has come to me in the past three or four months and wanted to try to solve the solution. He asked me several weeks ago, one-on-one -- he says, "Can we get through this problem?" I says, "Yes, we can, in my opinion." He asked if we would have a joint meeting, and I said, "The County is willing to meet with the City Council at any time." Hopefully we will on this issue. Mayor Smith would rather go to the Friends of the Library meeting and make a statement, If your elected officials don't do what you want with the library, then that's what you do when you check the ballot. I agree with that, and I hope every one of you go to the election nest May and look at what this City Council has done and make changes there. It is ridiculous that they cannot follow a three-page simple contract and they cannot present a budget to this county in a timely manner. A11 that being said, I will, again, be willing to work with the City. Hopefully, we can get 31 1 3 4 5 h 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 19 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 through all this -- this poor relations that we currently have with them. I will work with Commissioner Williams. And I agree with most of his requests for additional funding. The library's not going to get shut down. The funding will come through, but the City is going to have to do two things; acknowledge that they were wrong and did not follow the contract they were in, and second, they have got to come to this Court with a representative of the library and City Manager, City Council -- I don't care -- and explain the budget for the library. If they do those two things, I will support additional funding. Not until then. CuMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I'd like to add one more comment, Judge, following on Commissioner Letz'. Recently, Mr. Benham met with me, and we've talked on many occasions about a lot of things, but we met after he made an appearance before Commissioners Court with respect to this same subject. We had just received what Commissioner Letz referred to, and it came faxed over to us from -- from the legal department. Not from the City Manager, but from the legal department. From looking through this and meeting with Mr. Benham, I asked him some questions. There is a division expenditure summary, and it says -- and I want you to listen to this, because it's important. General operations -- it identifies five different categories of library activity, I assume. General operations, no v-2e-~~5 32 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 ~' S e.;planation. Administration. The administrative costs of the library equal 25 percent of the budget, administration. Patron services. I asked Mr. Benham if he knew exactly what patron services was all about. He and I together were unable to figure exa~~tly what that meant, but that's 19 percent of the budget; 5 percent less for patron services than it costs to administer those services. Circulation services. What are circulation services? They account for 29 percent of the budget, undefined. Technical services. Even my feeble brain can tell you, that's probably computers and things related thereto, 27 percent of the budget, undefined. Ladies and gentlemen, there is a problem here. It's not in this Commissioners Courtroom. COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Just following up on Commissioner Baldwin's comments about categories in the budget, this -- this so-called budget document is numbered, and, Commissioner, if you look at Page -- you were talking about Page 145; it had some maintenance items on it that you questioned. If you loo}: up there at the top right-hand column, Page 145 and 146 are kind of a year-old budget. They don't fit in this budget. The question is probably a moot point. COMMISSIONER LETZ: Commissioner, you're saying the budget they provided is a two-year-old budget? COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: No, part of it is -~~-~ 33 1 2 3 4 5 h 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 two years old and part of it's this year. I, too, wonder where the Library Director is. I wrote the Library Director un May 5th asking him to meet with me, as a representative of the Court, to go over the library finances and budget. Haven't heard from him. The Library Advisory Board became concerned when they learned that there was no interaction between the County and the City, and on June 24th, as authorized by the Library Board, Randall Johnson wrote the City Manager and asked if a representative from the City and representative from the County would meet with the board to discuss budget issues. He didn't get a response on that request either. So, it is not -- the issue is not whether or not the County and the Library Board made an effort to get participation between the two entities. They did that, and they were rebuffed. That's all I've got on the library. On -- there was a motion, I think, that we act on these -- Commissioner Williams' cuts. Procedurally, I don't know how to -- how to go ahead and do that. I've got some cuts on the table too, and I -- I think we need to consider all of the proposed changes in their entirety. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Well, while y'all are figuring that out, can I make one more comment, please? DODGE TINLEY: Are you not mad any more? COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: No, I'm not mad any more. I've taken a deep breath. I looked out at Joe and a-ze-u5 34 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 -'° 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 ~~ 23 24 25 his smiling face, and I feel so much better about everything. But I had gotten a phone call last night from one of our -- and I won't name him, but he's one of our great leaders in the City of Kerrville, and he's been around here a long time, one of my heroes and a good man, saying that we need to make sure that the County provides funding for the library. And he said -- he made two statements. One was, "Surely you can cut the budget somewhere to get the funding. You could even qo into the reserves to get the funding." And you heard the report on the reserves, where we are with the county reserves. That's -- that won't happen. But cutting the county budget, I wanted to let you know -- and you probably already know that in this budget process this year, we have cut, I think, 14 employees out of our system. That is a major cut. That's the first time in my -- my memory, and probably the first time in history that the County's ever made deep cuts like that. Now, it's more than just dollars and cents. are family people, our neighbors, and people -- we're friends, and we get along real well. And we have disrupted 19 families' lives and cut them out. And they had -- the elected officials didn't like doing it, but there wasn't a bunch of moaning and screaming and crying and gnashing of teeth. They simply said, "If that's what we have to do, _,~ _nt 35 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 ,~ 23 24 ~5 that's what we have to do, and we will do this, this, and this to get along." Now, with that said -- and then I turn around and see this library character whining and moaning and talking about the library closing. I -- I really -- that's enough. There I go. COMMISSIONER LETZ: Commissioner, I want to make one more comment, and I want to refer to a member of the -- of a former City Council that many you of know. He's a Friend of the Library, Dr. John Huddleston. I received an e-mail from him and a letter from him, and it was a -- it was quite critical of the County and our -- what was perceived, I guess, by the press and what's been in the press about how we're not going to fund the library. And I visited with Dr. Huddleston over the weekend at length and explained to him what I personally have done in trying to work with the City, about the personal meetings that I've had with Councilman Wampler, Mayor Smith, the conversations I've had with Councilman Bock, Councilman Meek. They were all initiated by me, and not one time, other than the meeting I referred to earlier with Councilman Coleman and one time Councilman Bock called me on the phone, have they ever contacted me. I've worked with them. I went and talked, sat in David Wampler's office for an hour over the EMS issue, and his answer to me was, "This is not negotiable." e _~ os 36 1 L 3 4 5 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 ^1 22 23 ~4 25 That is not an attitude that I can put up with and work I have no problem, and I have told him I have no problem with him relaying that information to anyone in this community. You talk to John Huddleston and you will find out why the library is in the situation it is right now, and the funding with the county. It's not the County's fault, I promise you. Related to the issue that you had, Commissioner, and your budget cuts -- or budget adjustments, as you know, and I think most of the community knows, I've been kind of spearheading most of the cuts that went into our budget. They were very difficult. I've made probably every department head and every elected official in the county quite irritated with me, because I've forced a to r_ of cuts. I am not willing to do any further cuts of the magnitude you were talking to at this time. I think our reserves are dangerously low. I think 20 percent is lower than I would like to -- or less than 20 percent, where I think we currently are, is lower than I want it to be, but I'd like to get through this year. If our situation does not improve, if the Juvenile Detention Facility comes close a - ~ o - 37 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 J7 23 24 25 to the deficit that you mention of $750,000 -- which I don't think will be the case, but if we have another bad year, there will be another round of cuts next year, and I think I voiced that in court before. But at this point, you know, I think I am satisfied with the -- the tax rate and the total budget dollars we've allocated. And, as I said earlier, I think there are areas that we can make some adjustment in the budget through budget amendments, and provide additional funding to the library once the City has come to us and talked to us about what they actually need over at the library, which we have not seen to this date. So, that kind of answers your question about the cuts that you've outlined. And related to the motion that Commissioner Williams has, I'm not willing to second that at this point. In my opinion, I think that most -- many of the areas that he's outlined, there are available funds, but until the City of Kerrville comes and presents a budget to the County, I'm not willing to proceed further. MS. TROLINGER: May I address the Court? It's very short. JUDGE TINLEY: Ma'am, we're going to -- we're going to take -- have you signed a participation form? MS. TRULINGER: I'm getting ready to. MS. NITZBERG: I signed one. 9 h - 0 S 38 1 2 3 9 5 F 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 23 24 25 JUDGE TINLEY: Please, we're going to get to you in due course, ma'am. MS. TROLINGER: No, this is on -- basically on the Commissioners' behalf. JUDGE TINLEY: Well, that will be fine. MS. TROLINGER: Okay? JUDGE TINLEY: That will be fine, but -- COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Let the lady speak. (Laughter.) MS. TP.OLINGER: In your defense. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Hold that thought. JUDGE TINLEY: If you would, if you'd wait until I call for the public participation, folks. MS. TROLINGER: Okay. JUDGE TINLEY: And even if you haven't signed a participation form. We've got a motion on the floor; I need to figure out where we are there. MS. TROLINGER: Okay. Are there any more of those forms available? JUDGE TINLEY: Yes, they're at the back, and Ms. Mitchell may have some right over here. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: County Clerk has some. JUDGE TINLEY: Okay, we'll get you one. MS. TROLINGER: Thank you. y-_ F- ~s 39 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 1R 19 20 ~1 2~ 23 24 25 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you, ma'am. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: The motion is related to Commissioner Williams? DODGE TINLEY: Yes, Commissioner Williams made a motion relative to -- COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Identifying seven items. JUDGE TINLEY: -- budget -- budget adjustments to be made in his presentation to be transferred to the library. And we have a motion. Do we have a second? (No response.) Jt~DGE TINLEY: The motion dies for lack of a second. Commissioner, if I might, I want to try and stay on track here. What I plan to do, then, is do a short recess, go into the public hearing, recess that, and we'll come back to where we are. 'Cause all of those items we're going to come back to, and be after our public comments. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Question. COMMISSIONER LETZ: Judge -- COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: That does not -- the lack of a second at this point -- excuse me -- does not preclude my bringing these back up under that issue? Is that -- under that title? DODGE TINLEY: Of course not. You have every opportunity. G-~h-as 40 1 2 3 4 5 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 G3 24 25 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Thank you. COMMISSIONER LETZ: Judge -- and just for the audience's benefit, all the people that wish to speak on this topic, as soon as we come back, we'll start that process. JUDGE TINLEY: We're going to come right back to it. I think we're through with the Commissioners' comments, and we'll come right back to that. At this point, I will recess the Commissioners Court meeting, and I will open a public hearing on the proposed salary, expenses, and other allowances of elected county or precinct officers for Fiscal Year 2005-ZOn6. (The regular Commissioners Court meeting was recessed at 10 a.m., and a public hearing was held in open court, as follows:) P U B L I C H E A R I N G DODGE TINLEY: It is 10 o'clock, the time that that item was posted for. Having said that, I will now recess that public hearing. (The public hearing was recessed at 10 a.m., and the regular Commissioners Court meeting was reopened.) JUDGE TINLEY: We will come back to it later, for those of you that want to comment, and I will reconvene the Commissioners Court meeting. And we're back on Item Number 3, consider, discuss, and take action on Fiscal Year y ~~-, 41 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 15 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 'OS-'06 budget change recommendations. Do the Commissioners have any further comments at this point in time? If not, we will proceed to the public comment portion. Mr. Benham? I've got yours on top, so let's take yours. Again, I would remind you, as you come forward to speak, if you'd be kind enough to identify yourself, give your name and address for the record, I'd appreciate it. Thank you. MR.. BENHAM: Thank you, Your Honor, members of the Court. I survived three years in the army without getting shot, and I hope I can survive the dealings between the City and County with my aging body reasonably intact as well. I'd like -- with your permission, Your Honor, I'd like to respond to two specific things. I don't pretend to speak for the City, and I sure as shooting am smart enough not to try to speak for Gene Smith. I do feel that it's important to clarify, as the representative of the Friends of the Library, the reason that the mayor spoke at that meeting was he called and asked for an invitation. The board of the Friends did not initiate his appearance before that. He called and asked for an invitation. I feel ', certain that, had any member of this Court expressed an I interest in coming to that meeting, you certainly would have gotten a hearing, and -- I certainly would have argued in favor of your getting a hearing, and I can't imagine that anybody -- anyone at that board meeting would have opposed -z~-ns 42 1 Z 3 4 5 E 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 15 17 18 19 20 21 22 ~3 24 25 it. So, I just want you to understand, the Friends are not playing favorites in this situation, and we sure didn't play favorites at that meeting. He initiated the -- his appearance there, just so you -- just so you understand that, and what he said there is his responsibility. He was speaking for himself, and that was not a statement on behali of the -- on behalf of the Friends. Dr. Huddleston is a professor at Schreiner, and he had to -- he had a class this morning. He said he was going to make every effort to get a substitute -- or had classes this morning, I should say. He said he was going to make every effort to get somebody to fill in in one of those classes and be here, so I'm -- I feel confident, Commissioner, that you will see him before the day is out; that he's not -- he's not avoiding this meeting or avoiding you at all. There -- and you and he know each other well enough to know that's the case, but I -- since he was mentioned, I wanted to clarify that. The Friends' board did adopt a statement which you will get as soon as one of the officers -- Dr. Huddleston, in fact -- is here to -- is here to sign it. All the rest of the officers have signed it. It was adopted unanimously by the board of the Friends. I'm going to take the liberty of summarizing it, if I may, because much of it 43 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 includes information that I've supplied to you in the past. There are a couple of things in it, however, that I think should be -- should be emphasized. The membership of the Friends, which typically is around 600 -- at the moment, I think ir_'s a little lower than that, because our -- our new paid their dues, but it's definitely way up in the hundreds. That, and the tremendous number of hours that our volunteers put in down there sorting books, shelving them, getting books ready for the -- for the book sales, that's no small task, believe me. I think it's indicative of the time that a lot of people in this community devote to that library without getting paid a nickel. On the contrary, we raise money for the library, but we are not in a position to qo beyond what we 've been giving in order to help meet this difference in figures that you - - that you're talking about here. We are totally dependent -- as taxpayers, as members of the Friends, as patrons of the library, we are totally dependent on the city and county governments to provide the funding that is necessary. I -- I cannot speak as to the reasons for the apparent failure to communicate between the City and the County that have been referred to, except to say this. I have met with -- either in person or by phone, I've talked to every City and County official that v-z~-~~s 44 1 2 3 4 5 h 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 I could locate, and -- and an awful lot of former officials. We have at least two former mayors in the audience today that I've spoken with on this. A bunch of former City Council members are here. A current City Council member is here, as Commissioner Letz properly pointed out. Both the current and former publishers of the Daily Times, heads of the banks, business people, lawyers and so forth, and without exception, they have said they want to see this library fully funded and operate fully for the benefit of the people who use it, which is an enormous number. I told you before, it's -- tkie number of people who use this library per year is three times the population of Kerr County. That's a lot of folks, gentlemen. As I say, I've talked to every civic leader that I ~~ould find, and without exception, they have said we want to see this library fully funded. And many of them have said I will try to be of help on any kind of task force, or -- or there was reference to a task force a few minutes ago. I certainly support that. I support the idea of a district. I think it was a terrible mistake for the -- and I'm not going to get into the blame game. As I say, I try to avoid being caught in the crossfire. I think it was a terrible mistake to discontinue the joint City/County budget workshops. I went to some of those when I was president of the Friends. I found them to be very a-~~_-o~ 45 1 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 productive, and I don't know why they were discontinued. I think it was a mistake, and I think that they should be reinstituted just as quickly as that ~~an be -- as that can be arranged. And, again, the Friends will do everything we can to facilitate that process. The word "friends" is not We really want to facilitate anything that will help the library. Having said that, our position is -- and we have most of our board members here, and I think some of them signed up to speak as well. Our position is that it will take time to accomplish the things that are being talked about here, and you can't form a task force this morning before you vote on this budget. You can't go through the procedures necessary to form a library district before this budget has to be approved and the city budget has to be approved. What we are asking is, please come up with the needed funding to keep the library open the number of hours with the dedicated people that they have down there still on the payroll. Restore the morale of those people. Commissioner Baldwin spoke quite properly about the impact of layoffs on good people and their families. Well, the morale ar the library, I r_an tell from you being down there pretty frequently, is at rock bottom. They're afraid they're not going to have a job. And I know that's not your intention. I know ~ _ a L~ S 46 1 2 3 9 5 5 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 15 17 18 19 20 21 77 23 24 25 you don't want to shut down the library, but there is that -- there is that concern. So, what we're asking you is, please take the step -- take a leap of faith one more time to go ahead and fund this budget. Fund the library budget fully, and we will do everything we possibly can at every level of government -- I left out somebody. I've gotten a commitment from State Representative Hilderbran, who chairs the committee in the House in Austin that includes the state library and support for libraries at the local level. He says he wants to do everything -- he will do everything he can to help our library here. COMMISSIONER LETZ: Joe? MR. BENHAM: We will work with you at every level of government we can to do whatever is necessary to solve these problems you've talked about, and onward and upward. But we can't do it all today, and so we're asking you go ahead and take a leap of faith one more time, fund this budget, and then we will work with you as hard as we can to keep this kind of impasse from coming up again. COMMISSIONEP, LETZ: Joe, I have two questions. And I really want to fund it, and this is really to everyone in the room. Is the Friends of the Library -- are they asking the County to forget about the contract we have with the City? Let the contract -- they don't have to follow the contract, and for us to approve funding for a 9- ~ F- n 5 97 1 2 3 9 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 19 15 16 17 18 19 ^0 21 ?? 23 24 25 budget that we have not seen? Is that what you're asking us to do? To ignore a contract and fund a budget we haven't seen? MR. BENHAM: Commissioner, my understanding, from what I'd heard before and from what I've heard today, is that you have a budget; it's just not complete. COMMISSIONER LETZ: That is not a budget. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: It's a summary. COMMISSIONER LETZ: This is what we have, sir. MR. BENHAM: I've got a copy of that thanks to Commissioner Williams. COMMISSIONER LETZ: This is not a budget. MR. BENHAM: Okay. I am -- again, I'm trying desperately to avoid getting caught in that crossfire between you folks and the City. That's not what we're here for. What we're asking is, come up with the -- come up with the funding that the people who prepared the budget for the library for this year have said is what they have to have to run it. Do that one more time -- and it's a leap of faith, I agree. And then let's see what we can do to resolve this. I understand your concern. You certainly are entitled to all the information you need. Nobody would -- I wouldn't disagree with that. And I'll go back to what I've said; I think it was a terrible mistake to discontinue those joint 48 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 3 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 15 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 workshops. But we can't convene one this morning before we vote on the budget. COMMISSIONER LETZ: Not the workshop. It's a three-page contract. MR. BENHAM: Okay. COMMISSIONER LETZ: If the City follows the contract, I will support the funding. It's that simple. MR. BENHAM: I will certainly do anything I can to facilitate that. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Thank you, Mr. Benham. MR. BENHAM: Sure. JUDGE TINLEY: You had indicated that you have had considerable contact with a lot of individuals that have feelings about this issue, and that, virtually, they are unanimous in believing that additional funding should be provided to the library, if I understand you correctly; is that correct? MR. BENHAM: That is JUDGE TINLEY: What folks have expressed an interest in example? If that was discussed. MR. BENHAM: Well, I -- yes, it's been discussed, Judge. figures, but it was significant. I -- that is correct. - what portion of these a library district, for can't give you figures I can't give you mean, it was -- I don't 5-2E-US 99 1 2 3 4 5 h 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 1J 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 ~4 25 think the question of a district came up with every single person I talked to. In fact, it didn't; I can say that. But, yeah, there was definite -- there was definite interest in the formation of a library district among -- I would say certainly strong interest in seeing a permanent solution to -- to this so it doesn't keep coming up year after year. The - - if I had to sum up -- if I had to sum up the general tone of those conversations, it was that we need a first-rate library in this community, and let's do whatever it takes to get there, and call -- call me when you know what specifically I can do to be of help. JUDGE TINLEY: As one of those possibilities on the short term, did any of those folks indicate a willingness to have an additional one-half to three-fourths cent tax increase by the County to fund this shortfall? MR. BENHAM: I didn't ask them that, and nobody volunteered it. I didn't ask them that. But, again, the -- and I want to say -- I didn't call all these people and say, "Will you come down and berate the County Commissioners?" What I did was say, "You're a knowledgeable person about this community. What can we do to get this thing off high center? You know this community better than a-~~-n=. 50 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 23 24 25 I do; you've lived here longer. You've been involved in city and county government, directly in many cases, or serving on committees and whatever. What can we do to get this thinq off high center?" And the thing that came up in answer to that more often than not was, "We've got to improve communications between the City and the County." JUDGE TINLEY: I -- I agree with your comments that you made here today, and also previously, that one very, very helpful procedure would be the resumption of those budget workshops that -- MR. BENHAM: Mm-hmm. JUDGE TINLEY: -- that were held in the past with the City that considered not only the library, but a number of other joint projects. And I was -- I was really disappointed, not for this current year, but for the immediate past budget year, that the City elected to not desire to go forward with those. And I'm hopeful that your suggestion that we resume those -- I agree with it wholeheartedly, and I'm hopeful that that suggestion will be followed and we r_an do this in the future so that hopefully we don't have these same types of issues. MR. BENHAM: Well, I'm at your disposition personally, and I can assure you that the Friends, as an organization, are at your disposition to do everything we can to help that process along. y-~c-_, 51 1 2 3 9 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 19 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 ~4 25 JUDGE TINLEY: I appreciate your willingness. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Mr. Benham, I have two things. One, to your knowledge, has Mr. Martinez thought about, said about, talked about any kind of thoughts or plans that -- that might be able to help in this budget crunch issue? Just giving -- something that pops in my head is, "Hey maybe we can close the library on Sunday, and leave it open in the evenings durinq the week." Now, there's -- there's a thought. Has Mr. Martinez said anything like that? Has he -- has he come forward to you or your group, that maybe there's something -- maybe there's something that we r_an do that would help this problem? MR. BENHAM: He hasn't -- he hasn't made any specific suggestions to me, but I can't speak for everybody on our board. He may have talked to them individually. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So, what he's -- it appears to me he sits back and says, "Come on, government, just give me money, give me money, and I'll take care of it." Now, the second thing -- I saw Mr. Huddleston come into the back of the room. Do you need him to sign something to get to us? MR. BENHAM: Yes, sir. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: You know, John, they were attacking you tough up here, and I took care of you. (Laughter.) I said nice things about you. y-~5-n~ 52 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. BENHAM: John, we need your signature on this so I can give to it them. Do you want him to sign it now? COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Oh, absolutely. COMMISSIONER LETZ: John, one good thing -- or one thing later on our agenda, there's a resolution that hopefully this Court will adopt that addresses the issues of joint meetings with the City and our working together on a number of items specifically, and including this library specifically, and hopefully that resolution -- we're going to send it to City Council, and I hope they follow the lead of the County and commit to working together in a much better relationship than we've seen in recent months. MR. BENHAM: I'm glad you're -- if I can, before I hand you this, I would like to emphasize one thing that it says toward the end, 'cause I think it's worth emphasizing. One of the few benefits of getting old is that you can get away with repeating yourself some. The statement is, great cities need great libraries. That is certainly our position. It has been the position of every -- I've probably talked to 100 people on this; government leaders, former government leaders, civic leaders and civi~~ club officers and so forth, and without e:;ception, they all said we need a first-rate library in this community, and I think I've heard much the same from you gentlemen. I think y-ze-os 53 1 2 3 9 5 5 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 the question is, how do we get there? And we'll do everything we can to get you there and -- help you get there, and help -- and help the City get there. I'm going to stay as long as any of this stuff is being dealt with, so if any other questions come up where I could be of any help at all, I'm here. JUDGE TINLEY: Does any member of the Court have any additional questions for Mr. Benham at this time? COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Thank you very much. JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you, sir. MR. BENHAM: Thank you for your time. JUDGE TINLEY: Albert Shults? MR. SHULTS: Regretfully, at this stage, I know all of you -- JUDGE TINLEY: Give your name and -- MR. SHULTS: I'm Albert E. Shults. I am a member of the Library Board here in Kerrville, and I am speaking after coordinating my conversation with the chairman of the board, Mr. Randall Johnson, and Mr. John Lipscomb here also from the board. You are almost at the point of what I was going to request; you and I were at $2,000 difference in the request. I was going to ask you to consider giving us the opportunity to get this worked out, and please add $100,000 to our budget of 300, to $900,000. You're saying 398, and that would still leave us $18,000 9 2 t~ n5 54 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 15 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 short at this time from what the contract calls for, if it's And then this was brought up to -- on the City and the County had not been followed. The Library Board asked Mr. Martinez why. Mr. Martinez told us, in paraphrase, that all he could do was get with his boss, which at that time was the Interim City Manager, and the Interim City Manager said he'd take care of it, and that he -- and that's as far as Mr. Martinez felt he could go. Then the issue was brought up, and we had discussion about the County Commissioners askinq Mr. Martinez about the budget, and Mr. Martinez informed us that it was his obligation to go through the City, I guess the City Manager, and that's where we are. And it's my -- I'm going to apologize for me, not for the rest of the board, that I should have raised -- excuse my language, but the truth is, I should have raised hell right then and there with the City Manager, because we were caught in the middle. We're still caught in the middle. And all we want to do is have a good library. y-a~-us 55 1 L 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 ._.. ~ 4 25 And, so, I would ask your benevolent heart and mind to help us and give us the opportunity to -- give us more time, as Mr. Benham has said, to get this worked out the Library Board will direct Mr. Martinez to physically get together with the County Commissioners and sit down with you with a budget, and if the City Manager and the City Council takes exr_eption to that, well, they might get another library representative, because they'll have to fire me. And I'm sure our chairman of our Library Board will agree with that, be~~ause the library has to be working, and to work, it takes your -- your communication and cooperation. It takes the City Council. And we will do everything we can. So, in summary -- I know you're busy -- I would recommend and I would ask you to consider Commissioner Williams' recommendation to change the budget to $398,000 to give us an opportunity to work. Any questions? COMMISSIONER LETZ: Just a comment, and it's really somewhat in defense of Mr. Martinez. Several months aqo - - related to EMS, but it's the same type of issue -- I made a contact to someone on the City staff; I had a very general question about operations, and I received an e-mail back from the City Manager prohibitinq me to communicate with any City staff from here -- from that time forward. I 9-Z6-OS 56 1 2 3 9 5 5 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 forwarded that to the City Council. I never heard a response, so by that, I say that the City Council supports that position. I've no other, you know, feelings that I can put -- or no other way I can interpret that. So, I think your -- you know, the comment that I've heard about the -- you know, the Library Manager is not communicating or you've asked him to do it or whatever, the buck stops at City Council and the mayor. They are the ones that have caused this problem, not City Manager or the Library Manager. MR. SHULTS: Mr. Letz, I know of no issue in the budget or the administrative process of the library that should be kept confidential. COMMISSIONER LETZ: I agree. MR. SHULTS: Except for the personnel records of the staff. So, we can probably get that corrected. COMMISSIONER LETZ: I hope so. I think you're right; I think it will be corrected. MR. SHULTS: Thank you, sir. JUDGE TINLEY: Any more questions? COMMISSIONER. BALDWIN: Yeah, I want to make a comment. For years and years, when Vicky Mosty Roberts was the Library Director, she would come over here to the Commissioners Court, long before this time of the year, early goings of the budget process, and -- and give an annual report, and it was basically her budget request. And y-au-n~, _. ~~~_.._ ._._ rya 57 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 19 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 ~5 it was sometimes an hour, hour and a half. She gave a full report, and it was a thing of beauty, that you -- then we had something to go on to start the process, and had a great relationship. And I don't know what happened to that. Well, I know that she left, but I don't know why that we can't do that. MR. SHULTS: Well, our chairman of our Library Board is going to speak to the City Council at the next meeting, and we will ask Chairman Randall Johnson to speak to the City Council and let them }:now that the director of the library has to communicate with both the County Commissioners and the City Council. And, of course, he communicates with us. Maybe this will alleviate the situation, if the City Council will agree to it, and then he ~~an come over here and sit down with you about the budget and answer your questions about the expenditures. Is that agreeable? COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: That's fine. But I -- with all due respect, I put in a call -- I put in a call to the chairman of the Library Advisory Board -- I believe it was Friday. MR. SHULTS: Mr. Johnson? COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Yes. I'm still waiting on a return call. MR. SHULTS: Okay. Now, he's -- I'm not G_~h n5 58 1 2 3 9 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 defending him. He's been out of town; he works out of town. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I understand. I called his home. MR. SHULTS: Okay. Did you talk to him? COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: No, I'm still waiting on him calling me back. MR. SHULTS: All right, sir. Well, this is Monday, Commissioner. (Laughter.) COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I realize. MR. SHULTS: Okay. But I'm sure he will. I'm sure he will. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I hope so. JUDGE TINLEY: Any more questions for Pastor Shults? COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Thank you very much. JUDGE TINLEY: Pastor Shults, we appreciate you being here today. Thank you, sir. Mr. Bruce Baker? COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Two preachers in a row here. MR. SHULTS: All of you, Buster, are in trouble. MR. BAKER: I promise not to take 20 minutes. JUDGE TINLEY: If you'll give your name and address, please? MR. BAKER: Okay. I'm Bruce Baker, 625 a b-o5 59 1 2 3 4 5 F 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 ~l 22 ~3 24 25 Scenic Valley Road, property owner since January 1976. I think that's ^9 years. Precinct 1, the premier precinct in this county. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Hear, hear. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: What a commercial. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: It's true. MR. BAKER: Clergymen Central Texas Conference, United Methodist Church. I believe the issue before us this morning is one of fundamental fairness. I believe it is fundamentally unfair to request that the Commissioners Court amend the budget, especially since they have demonstrated physical responsibility in creating a delicate balance between receipts and disbursements. They should be complimented as good stewards. I believe it is fundamentally unfair if -- if the Library Advisory Board has not presided over a professional audit of current receipts and disbursements, thereby justifying their request for additional funds. If this has not been accomplished, then it is fundamentally unfair to ask the present Library Director to justify his own recommendations. Also, who knows what will happen if the library downsizes its current operations? Perhaps it's never been done before. Last, but not least, if the present budget request as presented this morning is absolutely unconditionally necessary, need I remind you that perhaps $300,000 is really not an - i 6 - ~ S 60 1 2 3 9 5 5 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 19 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 unrealistic dream for a community of our size and stature? By way of illustration, the Sunday after Katrina -- pardon me -- struck the Gulf, a church in Houston -- a church in Houston took a special offering. Preachers like to do that. The pastor made a very strange request -- he must not have been a Methodist -- that no one in the congregation that morning write a check for over $1,000. He wanted everybody to take part. The result of that, in less than five minutes, that one little old church collected $1,500,000. I thought to myself, man alive, it took former President Bush and Clinton over 24 hours to raise one and a half million dollars. If we, this morning, need to raise additional funds, then, folks, let's just do it. Let's not request that duly elected officials perform our work for us. Thank you for letting me share with you. JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you, sir. We have another procedural issue that I'm going to dispose of right quickly, and then we'll be back. At this point, I'm going to recess our Commissioners Court meeting, and I will open a public hearing on the proposed Fiscal Year 2005-2006 Kerr County budget. (The regular Commissioners Court meeting was recessed at 10:30 a.m., and a public hearing was held in open court, as follows:) P U B L I C H E A R I N G JUDGE TINLEY: Now that I've opened that y-~~-os 1 2 3 4 5 5 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 23 24 25 61 public hearing, I will recess that public hearing, having done so on a timely basis at 10:30. (The public hearing was recessed at 10:30 a.m., and the regular Commissioners Court meeting was reopened.) JUDGE TINLEY: And we will -- I will reconvene the Commissioners Court meeting, and we are back on Agenda Item Number 3; consider, discuss, and take action on 2005-2006 budget change recommendations. And we were taking public comment. I want to take a few more before we give our court reporter a rest. At this time, Ms. Carolyn Kahant. MS. KAHANT: Thank you. My name is Carolyn Kahant. I live at 300 Cedar Springs Road in Ingram. I am -- I'm representing the group called Taxpayers Watch for Kerr County, but I'm actually speaking -- I mean, I'm a member of that group -- an active member of that group, but I'm speaking for myself today, because I certainly can't be sure that what I have to say everybody in the group would agree with. I'm coming here to -- to speak For the taxpayer, although I know that -- I don't -- instead of any other special interest group, although I'm going to speak on several -- touch on several things. So much has been said already that I'm not going to go through everything I've got prepared here, but I certainly suppcrt the library, and our 9 2 t~-n 5 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 ~2 23 24 25 62 group supports the library, and I want to say that I fault the City -- the Kerrville City council first, having a larger revenue base, and therefore able to fund a larger share than the County. Obviously, they don't want to set a precedent fcr doing that, or perhaps there are other reasons. And you gentlemen seem to me previously to want a fifty-fifty share basis also, but sometimes these issues do get confused, and I'm trying to follow what's actually Going on. It's not always easy. In any event, I believe we have some misplaced priorities, yet it's very difficult to find any solutions. I -- I want to present some ideas that I have come up with, and some of them I have come up with and rejected, and I'll say why. I want to -- certainly want to say that I'm wary of simply creating another taxing district for the library, as I think it will have the effect of adding a new tax while other needs are created to use up the money that previously went to the library from the general budget, This is just the way government wor}:s. I don'r_ think the government should try to put any greater burden on the taxpayer than we already have. Actually, I would like to see a library district, but one that would have the taxing authority of the U.G.R.A. -- that the U.G.R.A. now enjoys, as the over $1 million the U.G.R.A. is allowed to raise from Kerr County taxpayers every year doesn't seem to y _~,-n , 63 1 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 ~0 21 22 23 24 25 translate into essential services. But the O.G.R.A. is authorized by the State of Texas to be a taxing entity, giving the County no choice in the matter, so there's no -- there's no -- there's nothing I can do there. I would also target the airport, but I -- I find that its potential as a major revenue source in the future makes that also untouchable. That brings me to smaller expenditures that might be called charitable contributions given to various nonprofit agencies, such as something called the Trapper contract, which has already been brought up; also Dietert Claim, which I know is tremendously popular, K'Star, Crisis Council, CASA, Economic Development, Water Development, Historical Commission and others, These contributions add up to something close to $100,000, I think, this year. Much less than last year, and I have not seen final figures. I question whether the County should be donating taxpayer money in any event, whether these should not be funded solely by voluntary citizen participation. But then I'm told that they've -- they often get funding from other sources based on original funding from the County, so it's difficult to deprive them of that outside funding because the County won't give it to them. This leaves us nothing left but employees and salaries and benefits of employees. What I'm going to say e-.h-os 64 1 2 3 4 5 E 7 8 9 10 11 12 -~- 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 2 L 23 "' ^4 L 25 is not going to endear me to the County employees, and I want to say that I -- I've had dealings this past year with the County employees and always been treated very -- in a very friendly and helpful manner, and I don't -- I have no criticism of any County employees. But I do, as I said, want to speak for the taxpayer, and so I'm going to go ahead and -- and say this. I -- I have not -- I know that Commissioner Nicholson has recommended salary cuts, but I've not talked with him about this. I did read about his proposals in the West Kerr Current, but what prompts me to speak about -- about this is that, in inquiring about the county benefits package, I was taken aback to discover that County employees receive 40 percent of their salary, or approximately -- or wages in added benefits. I felt 40 percent seemed like a high fiqure. This includes health insurance and retirement as major benefits, plus numerous smaller items. In addition, Sheriff's deputies each have their own car to take home every night. Constables have new county cars with all upkeep paid for. J.P.'s get all travel expenses paid, as -- as they should. All employees have their own particular seminars they are allowed to attend every year, all expenses paid. I am not begrudging this, but I am saying -- what I want to say is that this adds up to a pretty good deal for work that is not, you know, exceedingly difficult. Working y-~~-os 65 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 -° 13 14 15 15 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 °°'" 2 4 25 conditions are pleasant, and I don't see any -- any suffering going on or, you know, any -- any sacrifice going on in this area. I figured up the total for several elected officials. The positions of County and District Clerk, Treasurer, and Tax Assessor are all at the same level, 94,815 this year -- this past year, so I've used that. And that's up from 40,293 in 2003-'04, a $4,600 increase from the previous year to this past year. So, 40 percent of 49,816 is 17,926, adding up to a total package of 62,742. With this year's 3 and a half percent cost-of-living increase, which is 1,516, the total package comes to 64,938, or in other words, close enough to say 65,000 for the upcoming year. This is not a pittance, and contrasts sharply with what many -- many taxpayers are able to claim. For you Commissioners, your total package next year, with the cost of living increase, will come to 58, 88. Not bad for a part-time job. In my opinion -- well, first I'll say bad decisions have unpleasant consequences. In my opinion, Kerr County is suffering from a number of bad decisions made by this and previous courts. In a just world, those who make mistakes are the ones who suffer the consequences. In politics and government, this is rarely the case. In the work that I currently do, there has not been an increase in about four years. I'm sure many taxpayers are in a similar situation, yet we're given 9 - Z F - U $ 66 1 2 3 9 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 1J 14 15 15 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 29 25 increased property appraisals, a tax rate increase, plus receiving reduced services in order to give our public servants, supposedly, increases so they won't have to suffer. I hate to call for any working person to receive less, and I really mean that, but it seems to me that this is an obvious place to cut fat, and beginning with yourselves. Although, in closing, I will say that I thought -- I didn't }:now about some of these proposals, of course, when I prepared this, and I think that Commissioner Williams has come up with some pretty good areas to cut from, and also Commissioner Nicholson. And I just want to say that it just goes to show that there's always places to cut, you know, if the need is great enough, and if enough people show up. So, i_hank you very much. JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you, Ms. Kahant. Mary Johnston Nitzberq? MS. NITZBERG: Could I defer to my husband, please? Philip Nitzberq. JODGE TINLEY: Okay. MS. NITZBERG: Okay, thank you. MR. NITZBERG: I got sucked into this. JUDGE TINLEY: It appears that way to me. MS. NITZBERG: He's much better than I am at talking. MR. NITZBERG: Philip, initial A, Nitzberq, ~ ~~; s 67 1 G 3 4 5 5 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 N-i-t-z-b-e-r-g, 149 Oak Ridge Road South. Thank you, gentlemen, for having me. And I'm a little P.O.'d at you. (Laughter.) I'd like to start by saying I'm a fiscal -- very fiscal conservative. I'm cheap. I -- I don't believe in spending money when you don't have to spend it, and when I spend money, I want -- I want something for that money. I just don't throw it away. You're not interested in a bunch of verbosity. You've got a problem; you want to solve it. The problem, number one, we have to have a library. We are literate people. We're not ignoramuses. We're not all rednecks. We need a library. We've got a perfectly good library. There is nothing wrong with it. It's already built. The problem is money; that's the problem. Now, Commissioner Letz, you hit it right on the head. There's a -- there's a three-page contract. It's a legal contract. You're a judge. Why don't we just sue them, fast-track it? Okay? (Laughter.) At least threaten them. Ar least threaten to sue them. If worse comes to worst, give them what they want, and sue them for the money later. Buster, I really gave you credit for finding the padding on that thing -- on that statement, because it's -- obviously, someone was very inept when they wrote that thing. They -- they should have had a -- I don't know, an auditor or somebody come in and do it, do it the right way. And that's really all I have to say, because I wasn't a ~E~-a5 68 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 L L 23 24 25 prepared to come up here, quite frankly. Thank you, gentlemen. JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you, Mr. Nitzberg. I think Commissioner Letz has, in fact, challenged them to live up to the contract. I believe I heard him do that several times. MR. NITZBERG: Yeah. Well, let's -- let's not cut our throat. Let's -- we have to have a library. We're not -- we're not a bunch of rednecks here; we're literate people. JUDGE TINLEY: I understand your comment, sir. MR. NITZBEPG: Okay. JUDGE TINLEY: I appreciate it. MR. NITZBERG: And it -- oh, one other thing. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: We're not all rednecks. We're not all of us rednecks, but there are some. MR. NITZBERG: Well, hey, if you're a redneck, buddy, that's your problem. That's not mine. (Laughter.) That's your problem. But one other thing, that the County -- confuses me about something that you said, that 14 County employees have been laid off because of 1ar_k of funding or shortages. We moved here in '89. Our property valuation has gone up double, which means our taxes have gone up -- I don't know, maybe the same; maybe they've 9 - ? F U 5 6~ 1 2 3 9 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 ~2 23 24 'S been doubled, or maybe a percentage. If that library was functioning just fine back in '89 with -- with our -- our small valuation, how come with our big one, when we're paying more taxes, how come we've got a problem? Where's the money going? Is there -- do we have bad priorities? Or maybe -- maybe we're -- maybe we're doing something wrong, and it's something to think about. Maybe giving money to a private organization like the shooting range or building a boardwalk or things like that -- does it -- does it help these people? Sure, it's great to bring tourists in, but what about -- what about the people that live here? What about us? I mean, we're the ones that live here. So, anyways, that's -- to-ta for now. JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you, sir. At this point, we will be in recess until 11:00, and then we'll be -- then we'll be back on that same agenda item. (Recess taken from 10:44 a.m. to 11:00 a.m.) JUDGE TINLEY: Okay, let's come back to order, if we might. We were in a short recess to convene at 11:00. It's a couple of minutes past that now, so we're back in session, and we are resuming our consideration of Item 3 on the agenda; consider, discuss, and take action on the 2005-2006 budget change recommendations. We were hearing comments from members of the public, and I will n =~-i,s ~o 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 ~3 24 25 resume that now. John David Lipscomb. MR. LIPSCOMB: Thank you. JUDGE TINLEY: If you'll give your name and address, please. MS. LIPSCOMB: My name is John David Lipscomb. I reside at 909 Lake Drive, Kerrville. While I am a member of the Library Advisory Board, I'm really here speaking on behalf of -- as just a taxpayer. I do encourage you to do whatever it takes to meet funding so that the library can be operational. I think it's very important. Perhaps you're aware a study was done recently, and 300 people were surveyed via telephone from the North Texas Institution, and they found that there was a lot of support for the library. It's a facility that's used and valued, and I hope that will continue. As a member of the Library Advisory Board, I certainly will offer my capabilities to help negotiate further this -- this seemingly political football that's going on between City and County. I would like, as I'm sure a lot of people would like, to see that resolved. And, so, if I can be of any help as part of the Advisory Board, certainly be glad to. So, I'll make this short. Again, I please encourage you to support the library, whatever that number turns out to be. Thank you very much. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Thank you. 9 2t,-OS 71 1 2 3 9 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JUDGE TINLEY: Any questions for Mr. Lipscomb? COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Thank you. JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you, sir. We appreciate your comments. Ron Peterson? Is Mr. Peterson -- (No response.) (Discussion off the record.) JUDGE TINLEY: Shirley Rackley had indicated to me during the break that -- that her sentiments had been expressed by another speaker. Mr. Miller, John -- J.B. Miller. MR. MILLER: Your Honor and members of the Commission, I'm John Miller, 1300 Barbara Ann here in Kerrville. I've had library cards at various libraries where I have lived since I was 10 years old. Might I ask at the beginning, how many of you County Commissioners have library cards at the Butt-Holdsworth Memorial Library? Two? I am appalled at the friction that exists between the County and the City. I was not aware of this until I came here this morning. I greatly support Mr. Williams' proposal to create a library district. I think this would diminish this -- this problem. Maybe it would just move it to another level, but it sounds to me like that's a very good idea. Referring to Mr. Baldwin's comment about closing the library on Sunday, if we go back -- you made some reference to 9-~v-OS 72 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 Victoria Mosty P.oberts. If we go back even further to when Mrs. Yeagley was the librarian or Library Director, the -- then we had a compromise on that, which might save some money. Keep it open on Sunday and in the evenings, but not for circulation. That means that the people who are at the circulation desk would not have to be there. Those services of the library would not exist. Just like you go to the drive-in windows of the bank on Saturday, and your work is processed as if it did not take place until the following Monday. If you check -- you can't check out a book. If you return a book, it would, according to the computation, be treated as if it was returned the next business day of the library. That's one way to save some money. Since we're all librarians -- since we're all law-abiding citizens, maybe we could say that we could save a lot of money by closing the jail. We know that would be a ridiculous idea. So, therefore, what I'm saying is, we need to give appreciation to what -- those of us who don't necessarily make use of the library, but we know that it is an important facility of the county. I've been told that some people who use the library computers only use it to play computer games. I don't think that's a necessary function. I think that if they can eliminate the capability of computers to go into 9-.e-n ;. 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 porno sites, probably there's a way that they could block it from computer games as well, and that people would only use the computers for proper research. I dare say that that would eliminate a great deal of pressure on the computers, and would free them up for use for desirable purposes. It seems to me that, as citizens of this community, the library deserves to be put on the same level of significance as other community facilities for our amenity, or the amenities that we enjoy as residents here, and I've been here for 32 years. That's all I have. Thank you. JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you, sir. We appreciate it. Ed Nemec? MS. NEMEC: He had to leave. JUDGE TINLEY: I'll come back to one that may have come in late from the recess. Ron Peterson? Is he available? (NO response.) JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Let me try and get us back on track, if we might. Is there any other member of the audience who wishes to be heard on budget change recommendations that possibly was not aware that it was helpful to have a participation form, or who may have signed up for one and I didn't get it? Let me start here over on this side, it I might. MS. TROLINGER: I laid one there; it's on the 9 ae n~ 74 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 ~2 23 24 25 other -- other way. Under your elbow. JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Judith Trolinger. I'm sorry. Come forward, please, ma'am. MS. TROLINGER: My name is Judith A. Trolinger. I live at 125 Pleasure Hill Road, Ingram, Texas. Now, I don't live in Ingram; I live in the county, so we're between Ingram and Hunt. And I'm not going to get into the emotional issue of the love of a library, because I'd talk your ear off, so I won't do that. But I'm going to throw your words back at you when you mentioned the City Council's attitude or their arrogance, and I'd like to make it for the record, because it's not -- it's not said very often. And the reason that we come up here and yell at you people, and why I'm kind of defending your position here, is because we have a whole county full of people that rely on Kerrville for everything, and we cannot vote. The county cannot vote on what the city does, and the Council knows that. So, what the hey. But we need to save our library. It's too important to this community. Been a part of it since the library was built, and I'm with the Kerrville Genealogical Society. With the help of -- of Victoria Mosty Roberts, now Wilson, she worked her tail off to see that we got a -- the Kerr Regional History Center, and that is totally housed by the Kerrville Genealogical Society. We're all volunteers. We love this place. We love the library, and we pay to a ~n a5 ~s 1 3 9 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 volunteer, and so this library is really vital to our community. But in repeating, and I'll -- I'm done, county residents can't vote on city issues, and that is so frustrating, so we come yell at you guys. Thank you. JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you, ma'am. Is there anyone else on this side of the room that wishes to be heard with respect to the budget change recommendations for the coming budget year? Anyone here? If so, please indicate by raising your hand so that we won't miss you. Seeing no one, I'm going to come over to this side of the room. Is there anyone here -- yes, sir -- yes, ma'am. Please come forward, if you might. AUDIENCE: I just wanted to say that I see Mr. Martinez here, if you all had any questions for him. He's taken some heat from y'all, so I think he should have a chance to respond. JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you, ma'am. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: We'd love to have him. JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you, ma'am. Anyone else over here on this side of the room that wishes to be heard with respect to the agenda item relative to 'O5-'06 budget change recommendation? Ms. Lipscomb? Please come forward. MS. LIPSCOMB: I really just had more of a question related to the library district, so that I would understand how that goes. Because, living in the city, we g-a6-os ~h 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 actually city and county residents, and we pay both city and county tares. So, in essence, anything that's jointly funded by the city and the county, I feel like city residents pay for twice. Which I don't have a problem with, and I live in the city because I want those additional city services. With a library district, I just wanted to know how that would work. Would we just pay the library tax once, or would we still be paying it twice, as we do -- as the city and county residents? COMMISSIONER LETZ: Let me respond to that, Judge. MS. LIPSCOMB: Thank you, and I'll sit down. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: No, stay if you like. MS. LIPSCOMB: Oh. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Chapter 326 of the Local Government Code sets up all the rules and regulations and so forth with respect to the creation of a library district. Essentially, in response to your question, and essentially in response to a previous speaker's comment, if I read this correctly, libraries are funded by sales and use tax, so a portion of the sales and the use tax, which is already in place, which is over and above the 6 percent that the state gets, can be diverted to a library district. That spreads it uniformly across the entire tax base. It is not an additional ad valorem tax, as the previous speaker ~+-zF-~s ~~ 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 15 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 mentioned about a library district versus what O.G.R.A. or any other taxing district does. O.G.R.A. depends on ad valorem tares. Headwaters depends on ad valorem taxes. The County depends on ad valorem taxes, as does the City. This spreads the cost or the funding across the base, and it comes from sales and use tax. COMMISSIONER LETZ: I might add just one other comment. And you are totally correct when you say the city residents are also residents of the county; they pay taxes to both the city and the county. And I also would add that county residents do almost all their shopping in Kerrville, and thereby pay sales tax revenue to the city of Kerrville at a ratio of about three-to-one, four-to-one of what the county gets, so it works both ways. County residents subsidize the budget that way. And, yes, residents of the city pay taxes to both entities. It's just the way the state is set up. And I'm not here to say if it's good or bad; I'm just saying that's the way it is. MS. LIPSCOMB: Thank you. Like I say, I was asking for information. '~. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Thank you. DODGE TINLEY: Thank you, Ms. Lipscomb. Pursuant to an indication from a member of the audience -- Mr. Martinez? Antonio Martinez, Library Director, do you have any comments you'd like to make, sir? ~-ae us 78 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 19 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 MR. MARTINEZ: We11, first of all, in regards to library district, I think what Commissioner Williams was referring to was the older legislation. There is more recent legislation that allows either ad valorem or sales or a combination of the two for a library district. There are problems with that concept. Even if we put it in place today, it would probably be two years before we had it in place, but certainly it's something worth pursuing. JUDGE TINLEY: Any member of the Court have any questions? COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I do. Mr. Martinez, prior to you coming in the room, I beat on you pretty hard, and so I will do it to your face. MR. MARTINEZ: All right. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: One of the things that the County's done this year is we've cut either 12 or 19 employees. We've disrupted families and -- and asked our -- some of our friends to leave. And it appears to me that once we do those kinds of things -- and those things are difficult to do, as you well know -- then what we want to do is get rid of people around here so we can send money over to the library. The -- my question is, and -- that I asked earlier, has Mr. Martinez come up with any kind of -- any kind of plan, any kind of thought -- as an example, gosh, maybe we could close the thing on Sunday to help this -- -~~_-os 79 1 2 3 4 5 E 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 help this problem. And, of course, we have not heard anything from you, or any plan. John -- J.B. Miller just stood up and suggested that we could leave the thing open, but maybe stop the circulation functions. Now, I don't know -- I don't know what that does or, you know, if it helps in any way financially, but, my god, somebody has said something, and that's a hell of a lot more than what you have said. See -- MR. MARTINEZ: May I speak? COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Excuse me? MR. MARTINEZ: May I speak? COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah. So, what we have done is we have cut every corner that we can cut over here, and we haven't even seen your face to help us understand what you're trying to do. MR. MARTINEZ: First of all, my instructions come from the City Manager, and my instructions are to present what I present to the Library Advisory Board. Your representative, Commissioner Nicholson, sits on the Library Advisory Board. Everything I've presented has been shared with him. And we did present a reduced budget, 14 percent below last year's. COMMISSIONER LETZ: A question, then. And I don't know if it's really directed to you, or I also see the City Manager present. The budget summary that was provided 9-26 OS 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 ~~ 23 29 25 80 to the County that I have seen is totally inadequate. Will you or the City Manager, or preferably both, come to this Commissioners Court and present a full budget to this Court and answer questions we have? MR. MARTINEZ: I'll let Don Davis answer that, but I'll respond to one part of it. In May and in June, we presented a line-item detailed budget to Commissioner Nicholson. COMMISSIONER LETZ: The final budget that was presented to the City? MR. MARTINEZ: The proposed budget. COMMISSIONER LETZ: Proposed budget. Has a final budget ever been presented to Mr. Nicholson? MR. MARTINEZ: I believe the city budget office sent it over. I can't answer that. COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: No. COMMISSIONER LETZ: Have you ever received a final copy? COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: I got the same thing you did. COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: It must be a different budget than Mr. Martinez is talking about. He's talking about a 14 or 15 percent decrease. This one shows 9.8 percent. So -- 81 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Well, the backup we received also had budget information related to 2003/2004, so -- MR. MARTINEZ: Well, first of all, be sure you're looking at the operating expense, 'cause that's what's shared between city and county, not the total amount. COMMISSIONER. LETZ: Well, the capital items are listen in here. They're not supposed to be shared in here. MR. MARTINEZ; Right. There are no capital items -- COMMISSIONER LETZ: There's 5104,000 in the summary we were sent. So, we're not -- MR. MARTINEZ: The operating is what is split between the city and county. COMMISSIONER LETZ: So we are not responsible for the 104,000 in capital expenditures that was sent over to the city -- from the city to the county. MR. MARTINEZ: The 83 ,000 figure is the figure that is split between the city and county. COMMISSIONER LETZ: That includes $104,000 of capital expenditures that, according to the summary, you sent over. MR. MARTINEZ: Okay. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Part of the 5 z5-us 82 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 ]O 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 1G 20 21 22 u3 24 25 problem -- I'm sorry. COMMISSIONER LETZ: So you're telling me -- what I'm hearing is that we are not responsible for capital expenditures, and I agree with that. MR. MARTINEZ: I believe that would be subject to whatever contract you are operating under, and currently you have a contract that has not been completely negotiated. COMMISSIONER LETZ: We have a contract. The City has not lived up to it. MR. MARTINEZ: I can't respond to that. COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Mr. Martinez, you seem to be implying that I may have had sufficient information to form an opinion about the -- about the contract. Do you recall getting a letter from me asking you to meet with me to go over the library's finances? MR.. MARTINEZ: That's right. COMMISSIONER IdICHOLSON: And you didn't respond to that letter. MR. MARTINEZ: That letter was responded to out of the City Manager's office. Again, my instructions are policy level. That is out of the City Manager's office, and not my domain. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: See, I think that's part of the problem. We're expected to come up with 5-2 E;- U 5 83 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 ]3 14 15 15 17 18 19 ~0 L 1 22 23 24 25 50 percent of the funding, but nobody wants to talk and nobody wants to explain why your administrative costs are greater than your patron services. Nobody wants to tell us what patron service consists of. Nobody wants to explain what circulation services are all about. We're left to guess. MR. MARTINEZ: Again, a detailed line item with narratives was presented in May and June. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Every department head and elected official in Kerr County reports to this Commissioners Court and stands, just like you are, in front of us detailing every single line item expenditure in their budget, and takes questions. I don't know about city policy, but what I know is if you expect 50 percent of a $900,000 budget, somebody ought to come and explain it to us, period. COMMISSIONER LETZ: Just provide it to us, would be nice. JrJDGE TINLEY: Any more questions for Mr. Martinez? Thank you, sir. Mr. Davis? MS. DAMS: I don't think it's fair for the Court to be picking on Mr. Martinez for decisions perhaps that I made, and/or my predecessor. We have tried to work within the guidelines of the contract. We've been working with Mr. Pdicholson on renegotiating the contract. We have a-z6-os 1 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 89 been told on several occasions that this Court is only funding $300,000 toward the operation of that library. Certainly, that is a policy decision that rests with you gentlemen. We -- we don't take fault to that at all. What I do object to, quite frankly, is the criticism that you guys are laying on Mr. Martinez specifically, and the City generally. We have tried to provide you information since back in May. We've tried to make ourselves available. We gave you, as late as October the ]5th, the latest revisions of the -- of the budget. Mr. Brooks was here at your last meeting Monday to answer questions concerning the library budget. None were asked. Ms. Bailey was here to discuss the negotiated proposed contracts with you at last week's meeting. I do know that Mr. Brooks spent an hour or so with Mr. Williams last Friday going over the budget -- the library budget. I don't know that there's anything more that we can do to try to provide you guys with the information that you want. Now, it's difficult for us to anticipate what the four or five of you need. I only trust that when you send a delegate over to sit down with us, that he, in fact, is representing the Court and comes back and reports to the Court whatever it is that we're discussing. It seems like to me, in my brief tenure here, that what happens is we sit down and we discuss, and then come back and y'all criticize v-zF- s 85 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 2S 21 2 ~' 23 29 25 the City for not being responsive. And -- and the same thing has happened on a couple of these other contracts. So, I'm here to say today that -- that we're following the guidelines that -- that have been set forth from -- by us under our understanding of the terms of the contract, and if that's not in keeping with what y'all want, I apologize to you. But I would ask you this; be mad at me, not Mr. Martinez or any of the other City employees that might be responsible for doing their administrative jobs. COMMISSIONER LETZ: Mr. Davis, I have a question. The contract -- Paragraph 5 says, "On or before April 15th of each year, Library Director will meet with the designee of this Court." Did that take place this year? MS. DAMS: No. COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. It alsc says in Paragraph b -- MR. DAMS: Let me interrupt COMMISSIONER LETZ: No, you will not interrupt me. "The Commissioners Court will receive a budget by July 1st." Did that happen this year? MS. DAMS: I believe -- I believe it did, COMMISSIONER LETZ: Not an accurate budget. We received -- MR. DAMS: A work copy. COMMISSIONER LETZ: No, the budget. Did we 9- a-0, 86 1 2 3 9 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 G V 21 22 23 24 ~5 receive the budget before July 1st? MS. DAMS: You received exactly what the City Council received. COMMISSIONER LETZ: I don't care what the City Council received. Did we receive t_he budget? MR. DAMS: You got a copy of the budget. COMMISSIONER LETZ: No, we did not. MR. DAMS: You did. You got a copy of -- COMMISSIONER LETZ: Did not. MR. DAMS: -- the proposed budget back in -- COMMISSIONER LETZ: You have not -- you -- and your predecessor did not follow the contract, period. There's two provisions right here. You did not follow it. MR. DAMS: I cannot speak to my predecessor's -- COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. I'm just saying -- you said you followed the contract. I'm saying that you agreed that you didn't do Paragraph 5. MR. DAMS: That's e::actly right. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: In fairness to Mr. Davis, he can't speak for his predecessor. We shouldn't ask him to do so. But the reality of the situation is, that's where the problem began, when a letter was written and sent over here saying we're not going to have a joint meeting; we're not going to provide you with the information -z5-us 87 1 2 3 4 5 n 7 8 9 ]0 11 12 13 14 15 l6 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 ?4 25 because you don't read it, and if you did read it, you don't understand it. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I don't know that you need to respond. MR. DAMS: We11, thank you, because I can't. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: You don't have to respond. JUDGE TINLEY: That was a full year before -- before you came on board, Mr. Davis. MS. DAM S: Well, we -- please be advised that -- that we're trying to make this thing work, and we understand there are some problems. And I felt real good about the efforts that Mr. Nicholson has provided in trying to resolve this thing in a -- in a longer term basis. And, gentlemen, I r_ertainly understand and appreciate the financial problems that y'all have, and I think that those public policies that you're -- you're forced to make are tough, and I understand that and I appreciate it. And I don't -- you know, and if y'all elect not to participate in the library, that's clearly y'all's decision. COMMISSIONER LETZ: Mr. Davis, we've said earlier -- two of the Commissioners, and I believe with probably the support of the Court -- that we'll fund the library. We just want the City to live up to the contract. MS. DAMS: W211, we're trying. ~-~6-05 88 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 ]3 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 23 24 e~.J COMMISSIONER LETZ: And to present a budget. MS. DAMS: Right. COMMISSIONER LETZ: That's all I've asked. All I've asked is that the City live up to the contract and provide meaningful dialogue so we can understand the proposed budget. That's all we've asked. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Don, the way I understand the contract is, on such-and-such a date, the Library Director shall get with somebody. That did not happen, so I -- yeah, I'm mad at him. I'm not mad at you. I am mad at -- no, wait. Wait, let me finish. I am mad at him. Now, if you -- if you want to take that up with him, that's your -- that's your deal. That's -- I'm just going by the contract, that the man's supposed to be in here making a presentation like his predecessor did for years and years, and that's all I'm asking to do. The contract says that he's going to be here. If he's not here, yeah -- yeah, I'm ticked off at him, and I'm going to get on him. That's it. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Judge? I think we've kicked this dog about enough for one day. And I have some budget amendments I'd like -- JUDGE TINLEY: T don't think he's referring to you, Mr. Davis. (Laughter.) MR. DAMS: That's all right. q_?b_il~ 89 1 2 3 4 5 5 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: No, I wasn't talking to you, Mr. Davis. JUDGE TINLEY: Before Mr. Davis sits down, do we have any more questions for Mr. Davis? COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I guess not. JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you, sir. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Dadgumit. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I'd like to know how we can address these various budget amendments that I've proposed, which would -- after one correction that the County Auditor brought to my attention, which would increase the County's funding to the library by $60,000. And if the Court wishes to do more, there's a way to do that, but I want to address the budget amendments. We're under the budget; I want to address the budget amendments. How do you suggest I do that, Judge? COMMISSIONER LETZ: I've got a solution. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Let me have it. COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'll make a motion that we commit to making additional expenditures from the county budget to fully fund the library after the City Co~zncil or City staff has presented a budget, answered our questions, and made any modifications that we agree to. And that will be done, unfortunately, after the fiscal year through a budget amendment process. That's my motion. yo 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: Well -- COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Well -- COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: -- I'm not ready to second that quite yet, 'cause I still have some questions about the first motion that landed here this morning on Mr. Williams' issue. I have two questions here -- probably just one. I just need to know what -- from the clerk, probably. What is re~~ords archival? COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: That's the one, Commissioner, that the Auditor advised me we have to take out. That's a sequestered fund, and that has to be removed from my -- COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay. How important is the Trapper contract? I'll open up a whole new -- whole new argument here. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Well, I'm not proposing to eliminate ii; I'm only proposing to eliminate the increase that was asked for, so we would be keeping the Trapper contract in place at the same level of funding as last year. COMMISSIONER LETZ: I -- the reason I would prefer to go with the approach I took, I think there are other areas. I don't disagree with the Trapper contract or not disagree with the Trapper contract; it's one that I thought we should put in. If I have my choice between that 3 _5-ns 91 1 2 3 9 5 6 7 S 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 1 tS 19 20 21 22 23 24 2J and some other things that I have in the budget, I would rather make some changes. I also would like to hear from the County Attorney related to some other possibility of funding that may be used from designated funds, being the Law Library fund. And I think there -- you know, I think at this point we just need a commitment to fund the library, and I think that that r_an be done through a budget amendment pror_ess. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Was your motion, though -- did it say that we're going to fund it -- you didn't come up with a figure? COMMISSIONER LETZ: No. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Half of whatever they want? COMMISSIONER LETZ: It will be what we agree on once they present a budget and we discuss it with them. There may be some modifications to it; I don't know. I would commit to fund half of the operational budget when that final number is determined. COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Commissioner? COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: If that's your -- if that's what your proposal is -- your motion is, that the County would fund half of the operations budget, correct? With, what, the total number being defined through discussions with the City? 9- 2 b- U S 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 15 17 18 19 20 G 1 22 23 24 25 92 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Correct. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: If that's what your proposal is, Commissioner, I will second that. JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. We have a motion and a second. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Wow. JUDGE TINLEY: Any question or discussion? COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: I have a question and discussion. JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: We're focusing on a fairly narrow issue of the budget; that's library. What I'm seeing is that the last budget I had in front of me, September 16th, we were sucking $500,000 out of the operating fund balance, and we need to deal with that $500,000 deficit. And now what I see is that we have some opportunities to reduce costs. They're on the table, and we're not dealing with them, but we're considering increasing that deficit by -- by providing more funding to the library. Let me say that I am not opposed to providing more funding to the library. I just want to know where it's coming from, and I want to know whether or not we're going to deal with the $500,000 fund deficit. COMMISSIONER LETZ: If I can answer that question, my intent is, I would not mind addinq it to the -ze-r., 93 1 2 3 4 J 5 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 motion that those -- the funds to fund the library -- additional funding for the library will not come from reserves. We will cut somewhere or find a designated fund possibly to use if that is a possibility. Going into reserves is not an option, in my mind. It may be cutting the Trapper contract and all the other things on Commissioner Williams' list and other things, but I agree, reserves is not -- COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: With that caveat, I can -- I can support your motion. JUDGE TINLEY: So your motion would include that the funding -- additional funding required would not come from reserves? COMMISSIONER LETZ: Correct. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I'll accept that. JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: But I would like to say that Commissioner Nicholson's plan here should be put in the off-season study. I mean, I don't think it needs to be dropped. We need to keep looking at it as we go along. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I agree with that, too. COMMISSIONER. EALDWIN: I'm a little bit unclear, Commissioner Letz, on the stipulations in your motion of what you expect the City to do, or what you're y h-OS 94 1 2 3 9 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 23 24 25 requesting the City to do. COMMISSIONER LETZ: Just to meet with us. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: What you're requiring of the City to do. COMMISSIONER LETZ: To meet -- to have their designee meet with us, go over the library budget, and if we can agree, make some adjustments. Maybe not. Maybe -- there may not be any adjustments to be made, but I want them to go over it with us so I understand it, at least. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah. COMMISSIONER LETZ: And then, if there's something that I think is, you know, disagreed -- that I disagree with, and the City agrees with that, you know, maybe it will be r_hanged. Conceivably could be increased, though I doubt it. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: You're talking about -- you're talking about one or two people coming before the Commissioners Court and visiting? Or are we going to buy some pigeons and send e-mails and back and forth or what? COMMISSIONER LETZ: That's up to the City. And the funding level, under my motion, stays where it is right now at $300,000 until the City comes over to the -- and presents a budget that we understand and has input from this Court, and only at that point will there be a budget amendment after -- and there will be October lst, though I -~~_- ~, 95 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 .5 think someone mentioned -- I think Joe Benham said a "leap of faith" needs to be taken. Well, this is a leap of faith from the City. They're going to have to decide what to do with staff and operations at the library until they come over here and work with us. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okey-dokey. DODGE TINLEY: Any further questions or comments on the motion that's before us now? All in favor of that motion, signify by raising your right hand. (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) JUDGE TINLEY: A11 opposed, same sign. (No response.) JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Judge? Before you move on, can I ask the Court's indulgence to move to 1.16? There are a number of folks in the audience from the Center Point area who have come specifically to listen to, talk about and in support of a resolution that I put on the agenda about the air quality permit application of Wheatcraft, Incorporated. All these good folks got a real enlightenment about the library, and they'd like to help us understand a little bit more of their concerns about the rock-crushing, and it's Item 1 -- that's on Item 1.16. JUDGE TINLEY: Any objection to that? COMMISSIONEP. BALDWIN: No, sir. _f~ ue 96 1 ... 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 a-- 13 19 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 ""' 2 4 25 JUDGE TINLEY: We're going to have to come back to 3 anyway, I think, just to make sure we've got those items cleaned up, but at this time we'll move to Item 16, and hopefully we ran take care of that rather quickly. That action to approve a Resolution of Opposition to the application for an air quality permit filed with T.C.E.Q. by Wheatcraft, Incorporated for a rock-crushing operation in Center Point, Texas. Commissioner Williams? COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Gentlemen, Judge, for the purpose of -- of bringing together the community about their concerns for an air quality permit filed by Wheatcraft, Inc, for a rock-crushing operation on the banks of the Guadalupe, within 2,000 feet of a school, and -- and in the close proximity of many residential properties. The law, as provided to me with emphasis by the County Attorney, tells us exactly what is necessary to get the T.C.E.Q. involved and to conduct a public hearing -- a local public hearing and/or a contested case hearing. And, so, at the -- at the meeting, which was attend by about 125 people from the community, we talked about all of that and tried to stay focused with respect to the rock-crushing aspects of -- of the proposed operation and the amount of particulate matter that would be released into the air unchecked, and what can v~ E-n= 97 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 be done about it. I have introduced a resolution for the Court, and with your indulgence, I'll put it into the record, and then we can open up discussions, if you will allow that. "Whereas Wheatcraft, Inc., doing business as the Rhodes Pit Rock Quarry, located at 5133 Highway 27, Center Point, has made application to Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, Permit Number 76508, to construct and operate a rock-crushing facility; and "Whereas there is substantial public interest about the amount of particulate matter that will be discharged into the air daily that may cause harm to the health of adults and children living in close proximity to the proposed rock-crushing facility; and "Whereas Center Point Independent School District has educational facilities located within 2,000 feet of the proposed rock-crushing facility; and "Whereas Health and Safety Code, Chapter 382.056 requires the T.C.E.Q. to consider the possible adverse short-term and lonq-term effects of air contaminants if a proposed facility is located within 3,000 feet of an elementary, junior high, or senior high school facility; and "Whereas other significant issues and/or questions raised must be addressed by the applicant to the T.C.E.Q. before a permit is issued, such as whether or not 9 an-as 98 1 2 3 4 J 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 an air dispersion model has been completed, whether or not an archeological study has been completed, why no particulate ambient air monitoring has been proposed, whether or not any of the primary listed, if crushed, rocks are more prone to causing pulmonary fibrosis. Where is the 700 gallons per minute of water to be used in this operation -- where is it originating? How much sediment will be discharged into the Guadalupe River? How mur_h petroleum/chemical contamination of the ground will occur from the large volume of trucks anticipated to this site? "Therefore, be it resolved that Kerr County Commissioners Court, meeting in special session on Monday, September 26th, 2005, does hereby oppose the issuance of an air quality permit to Wheatcraft, doing business as Rhodes Pit Rock Quarry in Center Point, Texas, until and unless appropriate controls are established that will protect the health and safety of Kerr County residents and school children located in close proximity to this facility; and "Be it further resolved that Kerr County Commissioners Court does hereby request the Executive Director of T.C.E.Q. to conduct a lor_al public hearing and a contested case hearing on said application at the earliest possible date; and "Be it further resolved that copies of the Resolution of Opposition be forwarded to State 3-~h-, 99 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 19 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 ~~ ~~ Representative Harvey Hilderbran and State Senator Troy Fraser urging them to likewise request a public hearing and a contested hearing on this matter." And I offer this resolution for adoption. JUDGE TINLEY: You're moving the adoption? COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Yes, sir. JUDGE TINLEY: We have a motion on the floor for the adoption of the resolution. COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Second. JUDGE TINLEY: We have a motion and a second for adoption of the resolution. Any question or discussion? COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I have a comment. I think the last "whereas" should be put in a letter form, and I'd be happy to sign that, but I'm really uncomfortable about opposing any kind -- the Commissioners Court opposing any kind of private sector issue. These things -- and, I mean, this is a state -- really a state issue. These things outlined here in the last "whereas" are really the questions for T.C.E.Q., and, you know, I would prefer to seek that, but in a letter form, not -- I would sign off on it. But as far as the Commissioners Court opposing a company -- I just -- I don't think that's the right route to go. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Well, let me expound, Commissioner, by saying that we're not opposing the rock mining. He has every legal right to do that, and that is 5 zE,-os 100 1 2 3 9 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 _. 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 °- 2 4 25 not the issue at a11. In our discussion at Center Point That's the only issue. We're not opposing his mining. We're not opposinq his ownership. We're not opposing anything, except we want controls put on the -- on the release of particulate matter into the air. That's the only -- that's the form of opposition. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Well, of course, the State regulates that and has all the authority to do it. I just don't see what -- what -- how is this going to help? You think T.C.E.Q.'s going to get this resolution and say, "Oh my god, Kerr County's after us"? COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Not really. They're going to get about 125 letters also, and they're going to get a call from Representative Hilderbran, and I'm hopeful the same from Senator Fraser, seeking a public hearing. That's what we're seeking, is a public hearing -- a contested hearing so that we can discuss the appropriate legal remedies that can be put on the air quality permit. Not his mining. We have other mining over there. We got mines all over the place, and that's perfectly legal, and that's not in question. Another matter is, he's operating in the floodplain. Thus far, he has not -- he has not come 5-zF os 101 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 2~ 23 24 25 to Kerr County to file an application to operate in the floodplain. There are other -- other things that have to be addressed in this, and I think it's time to address them. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: You want Rusty to take his handcuffs down there? COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Yeah. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Or do you want me to take mine? COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Both. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I don't get it. COMMISSIONER LETZ: I guess I share a lot of Commissioner Baldwin's concerns. I mean, I don't mind doing a resolution asking that a hearing be held. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Sure. COMMISSIONER LETZ: But I don't -- I can't -- at this point, I don't know enough to oppose. I think that anything that's done needs to be in compliance with T.C.E.Q. rules and regulations. They're the ones that are responsible for protecting the community in this type of endeavor, so I certainly -- I totally support you on requestinq a local hearing be held, and if we need a resolution to do that, that's fine, but I'm uncomfortable opposing something that I don't know anything about. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: We're opposing an air quality permit that has none of these controls on it. 102 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 29 25 JUDGE TINLEY: Any further questions or comments on the motion? COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Well, yeah. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: The public out there wants to speak, I'm sure, Judge. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay, bring them on. JUDGE TINLEY: Okay, I'm going to get to that. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Are they going to -- they going to talk about libraries or juvenile detention facilities or what? JUDGE TINLEY: No. No, we've got some particular speakers on this issue, if members of the Court are through. Mr. John Kovacs? MR. KOVACS: Good morning, gentlemen. My name is John Kovacs. I live at 428 China Street in Center Point. Probably one of your newest residents to the county; we moved here over Memorial Day. I purchased the money pit two years ago, and been working on it. We just moved here a couple weeks ago. Found out that across the river from where I've been putting my life savings, they're wanting to put in a rock crusher. Commissioner Williams was great on holding a meeting. Over 125 people from Center Point, which I understand is quite unusual, showed up showing concern. Commissioner Williams made it very clear that our issue was ~, _,,_~s 103 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 the rock-crushing facility. He made it very clear that I'm new to the area. You guys got a whole county to take care of, but this is Center Point, and I'd like to just give you an idea of what is already occurring. You say you don't know enough to oppose it. I'll give you a little bit of information about what the man is doing, and at an accelerated rate, of what he's trying to accomplish. Last Friday I took some pictures. This one right here shows the proximity to the river of where they're already mining in the floodplain, right next to the river. Without even having a crusher, the amount of dust is coming up from one of a number of big machines. Again, not crushing yet, not doing anything. But again, doing it, I am assuming, legally, because there's no permits even for the mining aspect of this. ramification for the future, what y'all were talking about in the first part of this morning, tax base, the future of the county. This is from Highway 27. This is what everybody at the new -- new gate -- new home development across 27 will look at every day, and it will get worse -_>e-us 104 1 2 3 4 5 F 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 ?3 24 25 every day. Chances of new developments going in are going to be even less. The air quality, as you can see -- no rock crusher is even on-site yet, and yet they're not doing anything to control the dust. Which, the way that it is on this particular day, I can tell you, if you'll go out there and look at the photograph, is heading straight toward the schools. That's the direction that that dust is going. They claim to have no trucks. That's a Wheatcraft truck coming out of the facility. The permit even asked for a 5 mile-an-hour. I can tell you, the man was traveling substantially over 5 miles an hour. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: What permit? MR. KOVACS: I'm sorry? COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: What permit? You just said the permit. MR. KOVACS: Application, I'm sorry. The permit application. Sorry. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay. MR. KOVACS: The application -- T.C.E.Q. application states 5 miles an hour would be the maximum speed for the trucks. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay. MR. KOVACS: On site. And, again, the last photograph -- I took a lot of photographs, but I just want to give you a few. That's what's going to happen on 17. 9-?fi OS 105 1 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 They're just now ramping up to get going. But, again, we have the issue -- you say you don't the rock crusher. I would think you educated, because the rock crusher - mining, but, you know, we're talking coming online from the standpoint of tax base and growth for the county. imity to Highway 27, it's going to -- it's going to keep people from coming in, not make them want to come in. They're not going to want to look at a -- drive by on 27 and look at a giant hole in the ground. So, yeah, you need to work on the issue of educating yourself to what this rock crusher will mean in a negative impact to the county and to Center Point, Texas. And that's the way we have to oppose it, is on the rock-crusher to start with, but I would think that, as the guys that are looking out for the future of this county, you'd want to look at the greater picture. You -a~ ~5 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 ^_0 21 22 23 24 25 107 want to bring in more people, more good industry, more good development than to take 170 acres and turn it into a giant mosquito trap. COMMISSIONER LETZ; I guess the only comment I have is that, you know, I understand your concern, and everyone in Center Point where it's near. I mean, clearly, I wouldn't want it right there either, but Mr. Wheatcraft is the one that owns that property -- I presume he does, or is leasing or whatever the arrangement is. He has a right to do with his private property as he so chooses, as you have the right to do with your private property. The County has no authority to regulate pits. It's been brought up to us numerous times in the past two years, and we can't -- we just have no authority there. We do have some limited authority related to flcodplain -- floodplain development. 7f he's in violation of that, Mr. Odom, who's in charge of that department, is here, and I suspect he will make sure that he is in compliance or shut him down. Related to the rock crusher, you know, like I say, I'm not familiar with it. I do know that there are -- Wheatcraft has a facility on Highway 173 right nest to some -- well, residential areas. Comanche Trace, to be precise; very high-end development. I know that Drymala had one outside of Comfort in a relatively high-populated area. Martin Marietta, Lucky 3, and Drymala all have another plant 1 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 ~5 108 over at Griffin Road. I believe some of them have rock crushers. They also have crushed base. I don't know where they get it; maybe they buy it and then bring it in, but I know there are -- so, you know, I'm not sure what that rock crusher means. I am in support of requiring anyone to do what is required by law, and if that -- and I have -- I'm in full support of requiring -- or requesting a local public hearing on the issue of any permits from T.C.E.Q. But I can't go on record as opposing something that I don't have authority to oppose. All I can do is say, yes, T.C.E.Q., I think this is an important issue and I think you should conduct a public hearing here for the citizens of Center Point. And Mr. Wheatcraft has a right to do what he wants with his property. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Commissioner, with all due respect, I think you're centering on the word "oppose." The opposition that I'm proposing is not to Mr. Wheatcraft's right or ability to mine, He can mine all day, every day if he wishes to do so. Same with Mr. Drymala who does it; the same with Martin Marietta and anybody else. They're not doing rock-crushing and they're not putting unregulated amounts -- tons of unregulated particulate matter into the air. All we're asking in this resolution is that we oppose the issuance of an air quality permit until he addresses these issues. Now, I want to put Rex on the e-,e-os 109 1 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 G2 23 24 25 spot, 'cause I asked the County Attorney to research this with me. I didn't just draft this up Willy-nilly, just because I didn't have anything better to do that day. And I am given to understand from the County Attorney that we do have the right to ask for a public hearing and a contested case hearing, and cite the reasons why there should be controls put on, or oppose an air quality permit -- not rock-crushing, as such, but the permit for the unregulated amount of particulate matter that's put in the air. We have every right to do that. Am I right, Mr. County Attorney? MR. EMERSON: Correct. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Thank you. COMMISSIONER LETZ: Then why are we talking about 700 gallons a minute of water? COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Well, that's just another issue, is water. COMMISSIONER LETZ: That's what I'm saying. Clean up the resolution and make it to the point; I would support the resolution. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Let me ask a question -- let me ask a question on this air dispersion model. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Mm-hmm. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Now, is there a law or a T.C.E.Q. rule that says that you must provide us with an ~,-_F-ns 110 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 19 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 air dispersion model? COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: He should have filed it with his application. He did not. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay. Now, same thing with the archeological study. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: He should have filed it with his application. He did not. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: A11 of these things that you have listed there. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: No, the particulate -- COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: What's the problem? Why isn't -- well, no, here's the question. Why isn't T.C.E.Q. up here taking care of this? COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: They won't until we nudge them to get here. That's the whole purpose. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: No. You didn't -- you didn't glean much out of this meeting this morninq, obviously. You call Mr. Hilderbran and demand that they be up here before dark this evening. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Oh, I did call him, and he's waiting on this resolution. He will act. He was very positive about it. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: See, what he is doing, he is waiting on us to tell him what to do. Sorry, he needs s-ae-~;s 1 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 ~0 21 2 23 24 25 111 to do his job and get these people off their butts out of San Antonio up here doing their job. MR. KOVACS: May T speak? I'd like to address that. I mean, because it says here in my -- I have asked for the contested case hearing as an individual, and it says in here regarding that request, it says, "Thank you for your letter expressing your concerns regarding Wheatcraft air quality permit. Your request has been received by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality staff responsible. All requests for hearing, if timely filed and authorized, are ccnsidered." Y'all are just another part of that process. You guys are part of the people requesting the hearing. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Exactly. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I understand. Who's that letter from? MR. KOVACS: It's from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That's pitiful. MR. KOVACS: Part of what we have to do to get to the next phase. COMMISSIONER LETZ: Again, I -- MR. KOVACS: One other thing that I -- about the rock crusher specifically that the permit is a little bit vague on is whether or not they're going to crush -~r ,,s 1 2 3 9 5 E 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 112 concrete, which takes it inter a whole 'pother matter of actually a recycling process, which would take that to a whole new level of environmental issues. You're talking about a truck in full and a truck out full. They got to bring in concrete, crush it, and take out what's -- what they crushed as a different product, so the crusher changes the entire dynamics of what they're putting on that site. Because if they're going to crush it, the environmental issues if they're going to crush r_oncrete, even if it's in the future -- once the crusher's there, hey, slide in approval for a new -- or an application for a new use for that crusher. COMMISSIONER LETZ: Are they -- are they crushing currently? MR. KOVACS: No. That's all -- what you see there is just screening. COMMISSIONER LETZ: No. So, I mean -- MR. KOVACS: I see no -- again, not being on the property, I've shot photographs from 27 and from the other side of the river. I don't see a crusher. I see a tremendous amount of screening and mining, but no crusher. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: My understanding is he's not yet installed the crusher, but he intends to. COMMISSIONER LETZ: Well, I'll go back. I concur totally with the resolution requesting the local -~~-ns 113 1 2 3 4 J 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 L S hearing be held, and T.C. -- and it can be -- the resolution can state that, you know, we expect T.C.E.Q. to enforce the law. I don't know why we need to say that, but -- I mean, that's their responsibility, not ours, but if that's what the resolution needs to say. I think there's a lot of stuff here about us opposing things that I just disagree with. I mean, I disagree with stating it in the resolution. T.C.E.Q. needs to do their job. I will be glad to support a resolution saying that. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: All right, we'll see if we can amend it so that it meets some of the -- some of the concerns of the residents. But I want to address one other base, Commissioner, with respect to the water. He's going to use a lot of water. The question is, where does it come from? Obviously, I know where it comes from; comes from diversion permits that he may or may not have from the Guadalupe River, and if that's not sufficient, then it may come from an application for a deep well. He's going to use a lot of water. Hopefully, he'll use it to control the dust, but he doesn't say that. He doesn't have that in his application. And that raises significant -- other significant questions. Where's the water going? How is the water going to get back into the river? What's going to happen in terms of detention basins for the capturing of particulate matter and so forth? All these issues need to a-~F-~I~ 114 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 I9 20 21 22 23 24 25 be addressed. COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right, but those are Headwaters and U.G.R.A. issues, not this Commissioners Court's issue. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Well, I think they're county issues, too. COMMISSIONER LETZ: Well, I -- COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Because we have a right to stand up for our citizens and protect their health and safety, and this is one way to do it. (Applause.) COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. But we do not have the authority -- we do not have the authority, other than requesting an open hearing. It's up to T.C.E.Q. We do not have the authority to go to Mr. Wheatcraft and say you can or cannot do anything. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I'm not asking that. I'm asking that they oppose the air quality permit issuance until he addresses these issues. COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. MR. EMERSON: May I shed some light? Just a comment. I think a lot of the confusion here is over details that are in the resolution, and the way the Code's written, basically, is any issues that you want to be discussed at the public hearing need to be raised in g-~o-n5 115 1 2 3 4 5 5 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 ~4 25 writing. Now, there is some open cornment area, but it's my understanding from listening to Commissioner Williams that these are issues that he wants discussed in the public hearing. COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think if -- I really think if the resolution is modified, I can go along with it. I think it's just the verbiage. I think it's the way it's written right now that I oppose. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I believe that we -- that we, as a Court, should ask these questions. I like this list of questions. But I don't like coming along here and saying that we are opposed to some kind of function. I just -- that's just distasteful to me. But I really think that we need to write these in a letter form or something, these issues of -- of archeological study. Of course, you know, the -- that puts an end to the function. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: What it means is you can't take that dinosaur bone home with you when you find it. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That means you can't dig a hole there. JUDGE TINLEY: Where are we, Commissioner? COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: We need to amend the resolution so it will be a little -- to address your concerns. _~-off 116 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 15 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 COMMISSIONEP. LETZ: I mean, I think under the "resolved," basically just say that, you know, we want to insure that this Rhodes Pit Rock Quarry is in compliance with state law and their rules and regulations. And then -- and then the next one is tine, that we request a local public hearing. And if we need to cite a lot of these things in here, that's fine. If that's what we want them to discuss at the public hearing, that's fine. I think that we also should forward this to -- if the water is a concern, which it is of mine, always -- to Headwaters and U.G.R.A. I mean, they're the ones that control particulate matter getting into the Guadalupe River, not this Court. If a well is going to be drilled for a non, you know, valid purpose, it's Headwaters that has to issue those permits. If it's going to be a huge -- 700 gallons a minute, that's another matter, but if it's over 25,000 gallons a year -- gallons a year or gallons a day? -- gallons a day, it requires a permit from Headwaters, so they need to be brought into it. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I don't have any problem with that. Be happy to spread the resolution across the board to U.G.R.A. and Headwaters. I'm trying to figure out how we can amend the "resolved" to satisfy your -- your concern. COMMISSIONER LETZ: How about we look at it right after lunch? a-~E-~~~ 117 1 2 3 4 5 5 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 COMMISSIONER. WILLIAMS: You hungry? COMMISSIONER LETZ: Well, actually, I figure you and I may be able to get together and come up with some language that we both agree to. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Okay. JUDGE TINLEY: Want to come back to it? COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Sure. JUDGE TINLEY: Is that acceptable to you, Commissioner Nicholson? COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Yes, sir. JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Let me come back to Item 3, if we might, and are there any other budget change recommendations under Item 3 that the Court needs to take -- MR. LIGON: I requested to speak. JUDGE TINLEY: My apologies, sir. My apologies. I have two others that requested to speak, and I think it's appropriate that we give you that opportunity now, rather than wait until we decide to come back to it. Robert Ligon. MR. LIGON: Your Honor, members of the Court, my name is Robert Ligon, L-i-g-o-n, at 155 J.J. Lane. I'm an owner/occupant of a home out there. I'm probably within 400 yards -- which is part of the state law that governs where he can locate this thing -- about 400 to 500 yards away from where he proposes to build this facility. One of 9- mo o- G 5 118 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 things that -- you folks were talking about working this thing out. I'd like to point out that we have 30 days after this appeared in the newspaper to respond -- to request this, so if we spend too much time debating on the legality of the words and things in here, we may lose that right to petition T.C.E.Q. for this public hearing and a contested case hearing. So, I'd appreciate your -- your indulgence in trying to work this thing out. And this should -- I also talked with T.C.E.Q., and they told me that it wasn't unusual for all of the public offir_ials, including Fraser and Hilderbran, to also request these things, so I believe they're doing that. I have contacted their offices to do that. Another thing that I would request is, speaking about the gentleman having the right to do what he pleases on his own land, I'd like to point out that at the present time, he doesn't have a permit to operate in the floodplain, best I can find out. If that's true, he's breaking our law, and I would ask that the County Attorney would obtain a court action forcing Wheatcraft to cease and desist operation until such a time as he obtains this permit. And anyone, I feel like, that would operate outside the law does not really have the best interests of the community in mind. And I'm concerned for my health, and I'm also concerned for the health of the children in our school. y-~e-o~ 119 1 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 Center Point is a consolidated school. We have the together, plus the Ag Barn where all the animals are located is also located there, and the practice field that they do the baseball and football field is also located in this come from this. We had the town meeting last Tuesday. We had population in Center Point. I also did a petition on my own, and with the help of some of my neighbors, we went out and canvassed the area, and I have over 125 signatures on here requesting also a public meeting and a contested case hearing. After we had the town meeting, I took the -- the -- took the sign-in sheet that we had for the -- for the town meeting and balanced it against the people that have signed in, and it's probably about 20 percent of the people. So, we've got over another 100 people in Center Point, about 250 people that are really interested in this, and so I would appreciate very much if you folks could work together and get this thing so we can have a hearing on that, on the proposal for the air quality permit, because I think it's really going to be detrimental to the health and also the environment because of these things. 9-_r~-u5 120 1 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 We -- we have a nursery over there that makes its livelihood from producing plants, and this fine particulate matter will come over there and just rest on these leaves, and it doesn't get the -- the things that it needs to produce the growth in the plants. And it'll affect all of the -- in my opinion, it will affect all of the environment that we have around in that area. Besides affecting the health, it will also affect the environment and the river and things. But I think one of the big things that I would like to see the County take action on -- you know, three things. Basically, it's to get something to T.C.E.Q. requesting this, and another one would be to make sure that it comes about, and thirdly would be for our County Attorney to look into a cease and desist order until such time that Wheatcraft can come up with the proposed operational permits. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Judge, I'd like to add to what Mr. Ligon said that I appeared before the Center Point Independent School District Board of Trustees at its meeting immediately after the town hall meeting, and that board unanimously approved a -- whatever the Commissioners Court comes up with in terms of resolution of support. JUDGE TINLEY: Any other questions for Mr. Ligon? Thank you, sir. Again, my apologies for almost skipping over you. I appreciate you bringing it to my y-_~-~,s 121 1 L 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 15 17 18 19 20 21 ,- ~3 24 25 attention. We have one other that there's a public partition form on. Sandra Pena. COMMISSIONER LETZ: Haven't seen you in a while, Mrs. Pena. Welcome. MS. PENF1: Good morning. My name is Sandy Pena, and my husband and I live at 718 Witt Road, Center Point. We wholeheartedly support the resolution crafted by our Commissioner, Bill Williams, opposing the proposed rock-crushing facility to be located in Center Point. Every stipulation in that resolution is crucial to why such an operation would have a very harmful impact on the homes, the businesses, the sr_hools, the churches, and most of all, the families of Center Point. In 2004, Governor Rick Perry appointed an advisory committee on rock crushers and quarries, chaired by State Senator Troy Frazer. This committee was charged with conducting a study on the Texas Council of Environmental Quality's current permitting process for these types of facilities. This committee looked at issues not currently considered as a part of the T.C.E.Q. permitting process, but which I think this Court ought to also consider. They are the impact of local truck traffic on state and county roads in the vicinity of such a facility, the impact to air quality beyond the immediate vicinity of the crusher, the impact to ground and surface water, and the impact on land ~, ae-os 122 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 -, ~, 23 29 25 reclamation after such operations have ceased. In its report back to the governor this January, the committee made a number of excellent recommendations to address these important issues, and they concluded by urging T.C.E.Q., quote, to focus more closely on preventing and reducing risk to human health and the environment, unquote. This morning I'm here to urge you, the Commissioners Court, to focus on the same thing and to demonstrate your commitment to the human health and environment of Kerr County by voting for this resolution. And beyond the specific case, I urge you to use whatever influence you have to keep Kerr County from becoming a moonscape of quarries and other rock mining operations which threaten to degrade our quality of life, pollute our rivers and our streams, and reduce our appeal as the premier place in Texas to live. Thank you. DODGE TINLEY: Thank you, ma'am. Is there anyone else in the audience that wishes to be heard? Please come forward. MR. PENF1: My name is Raoul Pena. I live at 718 Witt Road, and the point that I would like to make is that I've -- it is my understanding that agricultural land, as converted into a rock quarry, retains its agricultural exemptions. With the kind of financial problems that you have, I urge you to go -- the Tax Assessor/Coller_tor, go to all these mining facilities that are currently operating y-zE-us 1 2 ? 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 15 17 18 19 20 21 22 ~3 24 25 123 under a tax exemption for agricultural use, and reevaluate them as they should be. Thank you. COMMISSIONER LETZ: In answer to that question, I can answer briefly, and Ms. Rector may correct me if I'm incorrect. We did instruct the Chief Appraiser to relook at this issue, and I believe that he has started, if not done all of the quarries in Kerr County. The actual quarries are not exempt. If they have surrounding property, like this gentleman has 170 acres, you know, out of that 170 acres, whatever the actual quarry part, that will not be exempt. The balance of that acreage still -- if he has livestock on it, it qualities; would be exempt. But I believe that what you've said has been corrected. MR. PENA: Good. Well, it was my understanding the reason there were so many quarries in Kerr County is because they got a tax break. COMMISSIONER LETZ: We follow state law. JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you, sir. Is there anyone else in the audience that wishes to be heard on this particular issue? Yes, ma'am? Please feel free to come forward. MS. KYLE: Thank you. My name is Kay Kyle. I live at 600 Bluff Creek Road, and I would just like to encourage you to vote for this contested hearing so that all these issues that he has not put in his proposal can be ~-zh-as 1 2 3 4 5 5 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 124 answered, so that we will be assured that our quality -- air quality, water quality and everything has been met, so that there will be nothing harmful for all of the neighbors that live next to this proposed site. Thank you. JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you, ma'am. Is there anyone else in the audience that wishes to be heard on this item? COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Before you close out the agenda item, Judge, I'll get with Commissioner Letz and we'll see if we can reconcile some language differences here and come back to the issue after lunch. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Judge? I'd just like to say, Bill, I'm not -- I'm not opposed to what you're trying to do here. I understand. I just don't get it, why -- the State just needs to do their job. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I agree. All we're doing is trying to urge them to do that. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Well, I -- we don't have -- we don't have the stroke that Harvey Hilderbran and your state senator -- I assure you, if those two guys requested T.C.E.Q. to come up here and investigate, they will be here before dark. I don't know why you're going -- COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I intend to give them that opportunity to do just that. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: But they -- they won't g ~E. ns 125 1 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 ~l 27 23 24 25 do that without a resolution from the Commissioners Court? COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: It helps. It really helps. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay. JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Can we leave that one? We'll come back to that later. The issue now is, do we forge forward, or do we take a break for lunch? What's the pleasure, gentlemen? COMMISSIONER LETZ: I see people waving hands; they want their items heard. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Everybody's eyes are glazing over, Judge. JUDGE TINLEY: We've got a number of items to be heard. I don't want to unduly delay getting to the particular matter that you may be interested in. COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Judge? I've got a $20 ticket for lunch, and I've already missed it. So, since I've wasted my $20 and didn't get a lunch, I'd just as soon go ahead. JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. COMMISSIONER LETZ: If we could just take a short break and come back, I think we can work through lunch, 'cause I do have to leave early today. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I'm available to work through lunch. I want to resolve this issue and get it -- 9 ze-r,5 126 1 2 3 4 5 E 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 ^1 22 23 24 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: We can do it during the break. JUDGE TINLEY: I'd sure like to do that. Why don't we take about a 15-minute recess? We'1L come back and we'll get back to it. (Recess taken from 12:17 p.m. to 12:34 p.m.) JUDGE TINLEY: Okay, let's come back to order, if we might. We were in recess for about 15 minutes. When we recessed, we were on Item 16 relative to the resolution offered by Commissioner Williams on the application for air quality permit filed by Wheatcraft, Inc. with T.C.E.Q. for that rock-crushing operation down near Center Point. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Judge, during the break, Commissioner Letz and I got our heads together and may have a -- some suggested language change that would do what we need to do, which would be a little more appealing as opposed to the word "oppose." But before I get into that, I had a minute's discussion with Ms. Bailey -- Ilse Bailey, who is rejoining our staff, if we ever get around to Item 1-point-whatever and fund her job. And she reminded me of a case that took place here involving Kerr County that's germane to this, and I would as}: Ilse, if you would, please, come remind us all what that was all about. 4 _r,-us 1 2 4 J 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 -- 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 ~0 21 22 23 "` 2 4 25 127 MS. BAILEY: Morning, Commissioners and Judge. As I sat through this -- this discussion this morning -- and I will preface this by saying I'm here not as either the Assistant City Attorney or the future Special Prosecutor for the County, but as the former Assistant County Attorney. And in that capacity, I don't recall exactly when it was, but it had to be 8 or 10 years ago, there was a circumstance where FEMA had notified the County that the County was in significant danger of losing its federal flood insurance ber_ause of an excavation that had taken place on some property without a permit in the floodplain out between Center Point and -- and Kerrville, and pretty much in this exact same location; a little bit further -- closer to Kerrville. It was on some property that Bobby Shelton had owned. And, of course, we all know position of trying to require the bank to do significant rehabilitation of this excavation in order to put the floodplain back the way it was, or have the County lose its entire flood insurance. We were able to eventually negotiate a circumstance whereby we -- the property owner, the bank, hired an engineer to do hydrological studies that established that certain berms could be placed to withhold y ~~,-~s 128 1 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 23 24 25 the flood waters, and that FEMA would be satisfied with that, and therefore withdraw their threat of -- of removing our flood insurance. But the reason I brought that up to Commissioner Williams is that, you know, things change. FEMA may have changed their policies or procedures, and I'm not saying that it would be the same case today, but it caused significant trouble on the back end because the property owner didn't do what they were supposed to do at the front end. And I'm hearing today that T.C.E.Q. has said that they don't have any particular issue about the floodplain and excavation, but I would certainly urge you to, before you let this opportunity go by, check and make sure that perhaps FEMA wouldn't have some concerns. And it's much cheaper and more appropriate for the County to address those questions up front, rather than the back end after the excavation's been done, particularly if it's a significant amount of excavation, that the company might just say, "Oh, I'm out of it; now it's your problem," the County. So, I just wanted you all to -- to kind of put that into the mix of what you're considering. COMMISSIONER LETZ: Ilse, wasn't that case -- as I recall, it was a -- they put a drainage -- basically moved a creek? MS. BAILEY: Well -- COMMISSIONER LETZ: And it was going across a v-a~-os 129 1 2 3 4 5 E 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 l6 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 field, and they put some berms up to prevent flooding of a field? MS. BAILEY: Sort of. It was a big, flat field, but as fields go, it wasn't completely flat, and so when it flooded it would retain water in certain areas. And since Mr. Shelton was trying to grow apples, that was bad for them. So, what they did was they graded the field and then dug one trench along the side, rather than have it sort of meander across the fielcj, so it was of much less significant impact on drainage than what I would anticipate a mine to do. Now, I'm not a -- you know, a miner or a hydrologist, so I may be speaking out of turn. It seems to me we're talking about much more significant earthworks than what caused FEMA to really threaten the County in the past. COMMISSIONER LETZ: But it wasn't -- I guess my point is that -- I'm familiar with that situation, and that was not a -- wasn't a quarry. MS. BAILEY: No, no. COMMISSIONER LETZ: It was changing -- MS. BAILEY: It was changing the flood -- COMMISSIONER LETZ: Changing dirt. and drainage in the floodplain, as opposed to mining in the floodplain. MS. BAILEY: Yes, exactly. So -- and that may make it, you know, irrelevant; I'm not sure. y ae-us 130 1 L 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 19 15 16 17 1a 19 20 21 22 23 24 ~5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But your point's well-taken, that FEMA is a player in this, certainly. JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Judge, I would offer just some language changes here, and see if this will get us down the road a piece. The first resolved, "Therefore, be it resolved that Kerr County Commissioners Court meeting in special session on Monday, September 26th, 2005, does hereby urge the T.C.E.Q. to examine carefully all aspects of the air quality permit application Number 76508 filed by Wheatcraft, Incorporated." That would be the first resolved. And then we call for public hearing and contested case hearing, and the third resolved, we add -- we're spreading this around. We add copies to go to Headwaters Groundwater Conservation District, the Upper Guadalupe River Authority, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Thank you. JUDGE TINLEY: I have a motion and a second for the resolution as modified, as indicated by Commissioner Williams. 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.) ~ zh us 131 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 ~2 23 24 25 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. I need to come back, if we might, back to Item 3, and we'll get that finished up, and then we've got to qo to our public hearinq and get those resumed. Sut we're back on Item 3, consider and discuss and take action on '05-'OH budget change recommendations. Where is the Auditor? MS. NEMEC: He had to leave. JUDGE TINLEY; Okay. The Auditor, I think, had given us some budget amendments, approximately -- looks like seven different items to handle things that may have gotten overlooked, or modifications that were made in connection with or since the publication of the last run. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: What item are we on, Judge? JUDGE TINLEY: We're on Item 3. COMMISSIONER LETZ: Judge, I rnove that we adopt the budget amendments as recommended by the Auditor. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Second. JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for adoption of the Kerr County '05-'06 budget amendments -- I believe there are seven in number -- as recommended by the Auditor. Any question or discussion? COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Discussion, COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Total increase of $36, 106. 9 _E,-i,s 132 1 L 3 9 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 ?? 23 29 25 JUDGE TINLEY: That's correct. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay. COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: 1.3 has to do with budget change recommendations in general. I talked about some changes I wanted to make; Commissioner Williams talked about some he wanted to make, so by voting on these minor changes proposed by the Auditor, we're not closing out this subject? JUDGE TINLEY: No, sir. COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Okay. JUDGE TINLEY: Any further question or discussion? COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Just one comment. Those that I raised with respect to the library have been addressed by the subsequent motion that we passed, that we're going to fund the library and we'll figure out how to do that with budget amendments after we hear what the number -- agree on a number. COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: My concern, Commissioner, is that before the day's over, we're going to vote on a budget, and I -- I've got to have a little better feel about what's in there. For example, I would be willing to go ahead and -- and approve the budget cuts that you recommended, if that helps us get to the end of the process. JUDGE TINLEY: Any further questions or ~-zE-os 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 comments 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. Are there any further items under Item 3, consider, discuss, and take action on 'OS-'06 budget change recommendations? COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Yes, sir. I'll make a recommendations in four areas, and the first one was reducing elected officials' salaries, and I'll propose that under Item 1.8 later on. That -- would that be an appropriate place to propose that? COMMISSIONER LETZ: Your -- earlier, your comments related to elected officials and department heads, and if that's what you want, then I think Item 3 is more appropriate. JUDGE TINLEY: That would be my thinking, Commissioner, 'cause it does also include department heads. COMMISSIONER LETZ: But you can separate them out. COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: I'm going to make a motion that we reduce the current salary of 12 elected officials and two nonelected department heads by 10 percent, and those positions are County Attorney, County Clerk, -~~- s 139 1 L 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 1? 13 19 15 16 17 18 19 ~0 '' 1 22 23 24 25 County Commissioners, four of them, County Judge, County Treasurer, District Clerk, Sheriff, County Court at Law Judge, Tax Assessor/Collector, the Manager of the Road and Bridge Department, and the Manager of the Juvenile Detention Facility. JUDGE TINLEY: We have a motion on the floor. Mr. Auditor, you had a comment that you wanted to offer? MR. TOMLINSON: Well, the County Court at Law Judge's salary is set by state law. JUDGE TINLEY: Do I hear a second to the motion on the floor? (No response.) JUDGE TINLEY: The motion dies for lack of a second. Are there any mother matters to be taken up under Item 3, consider, discuss, and take action on 'OS-'06 budget change recommendations? COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Okay. I want to make a motion that we abolish nine additional positions, two in the County Clerk's office, one in the Treasurer's office, two in the Tax Assessor's office, one in the Sheriff, one Environmental Health, one in Maintenance, and combine two jobs into one in J.P. 1 and 3 office. JUDGE TINLEY: Do I hear a second to that motion? (No response.) n-aF, os 135 1 G 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 ~2 ^3 24 25 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion dies for lack of a second. Any further items to be considered under Item 3, consider, discuss, and take action on '05-'06 budget change recommendations? COMMISSIONER NTCHOLSON: Yes. I make a motion that we abolish the Trapper contract, cut the Extension Service and County-Sponsored functions by 20 percent. JUDGE TINLEY': Do I hear a ser_ond to that motion? (No response.) JUDGE TINLEY: Hearing no second, the motion dies for lack of a second. Any further items to be considered under that agenda item? COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: I move that we cut the funding of the EMS contract by $100,000, with the expectation that we'll be able to negotiate a new contract at six months into this budget period that will eliminate the losses due to undercharging and undercollecting. ,JUDGE TINLEY; Is there a second to that motion? (No response.) JUDGE TINLEY: That motion dies for lark of a second. Any further items to be considered under Agenda Item Number 3, consider and discuss and take action on A-zS-~~s 136 1 2 3 9 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 'OS-'06 budget change recommendations? We will move on to -- COMMISSIONER LETZ: Number 2. We skipped that one. JUDGE TINLEY: Hmm? Which one? COMMISSIONER LETZ: Item 2 we were going to do after we did Item 3, I thought. JUDGE TINLEY: We're certainly going to have to do Item 2 before we get to Item 10. COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Let's go to Item 4, consider, discuss, and approve the Sheriff and Constables' fees as authorized by Local Government Code, Section 118.131. MS. PIEPER: Gentlemen, this is a formality we go through every year that requires me to send the Sheriff and Constable fees to the Comptroller by October the 15th, and I will defer this to our Sheriff. SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: When I first came today, I wasn't prepared to make any changes to these, because this Court did address this two years ago and we made several changes. But one of the constables has brought to my attention, under service fees, being small claims citation and justice court citations, we have both those set at $45, and then we have all other court citations at $50. His n -, ,;-os 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 1~ 13 14 15 16 17 16 19 20 21 ~, 23 24 25 137 concern was that there is a number of times that it takes him three to four to five times going out to a location trying to serve a citation out of the justice courts, and the prices of fees are not in line with the rest of them. And he would like to express on behalf of some of the constables, at least, to change those two $45 fees up to $60 fees to put them in line with all the other citation fees we have. COMMISSIONEP, NICHOLSON: I'd like to do that. SHERIFF HIER,HOLZER: And I would be in support of that. COMMISSIONER LETZ: Is that a motion? COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Yes. COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. JUDGE TINLEY: Are those the only changes you're asking, Sheriff? SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Yes, sir. JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Everything else stays the same here? Everything else stays the same? JUDGE TINLEY: Is the motion, Commissioner Nicholson, to adopt these fees with the two exceptions as noted by the Sheriff? COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Yes, sir. JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. I have a second? 9-26-05 138 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: Yes, I seconded. JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Any questions or discussion on the motion? 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 Item 5, consider, discuss, and take appropriate action on the Violence Against Women Act grant-funded special prosecutor's salary and budget. A little tough to say, but you can say V.A.W.A. now. MR. EMERSON: Thank you, sir. I stand before you today -- the Commissioners Court, back in January, approved a resolution whereby we could apply for a special grant for a special prosecutor for crimes against women, and the Court committed to fund the matching part of it. The State, somewhat to our surprise and much to our benefit, has approved an award of $70,879. As it was indicated in the paper, I guess, last week, we approached Ilse Bailey and several other people about applying for the position, went through a series of interviews and questionnaires, and Ms. Bailey was offered the position and very graciously accepted. What we need to do with the budget -- and I y_~~_~~ 139 1 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 29 25 know this is a late date, but because of the recent notification, this position -- this grant was fully funded as of September 1st, but we need to modify our budget accordingly, I guess somewhat to the effect that we did the Crime Victims Assistance, and set up a special budget line item for a grant-funded position. The only thing that the County is required to fund on this Ls the actual insurance cost. Everything else is covered by the grant and/or one of the three prosecutors' offices. JUDGE TINLEY: I think the health insurance cost is already included within the budget that we have before us, is it not? MR. TOMLINSON: That's correct. DODGE TINLEY: Okay. MR. EMERSON: Then what we need to do is, I guess, approve the budget as it's presented on the grant application, which includes -- and includes a salary for Ms. Bailey of $59,034, and then includes the -- the insurance which apparently has already been funded. The contractual fees that are included ~n there are actually services that are already currently provided through the Sheriff's Department, the police department, and/or Todd Burditt, the 198th investigator, so it's an in-kind type contribution. The travel that's listed in the grant is $2,500 for fees and CLE, which is included in the grant. y-~6-os ]40 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 1Z 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 LJ There's $1,000 in travel that would be required out-of-pocket. It was agreed between the three prosecutors it would be covered out of our offices, depending on what the CLE was addressing. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Mr. Emerson, what -- I'm looking at the grant budget formulas page where you break down these items, and what was the number for the salary for the attorney? MR. EMERSON: It's about three pages up; it's $59,039. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: We11, I'm looking at a different number; I'm looking at 68,379. JUDGE TINLEY: Previous page. MR. EMERSON: That -- actually, that includes the -- the FICA and the retirement. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Okay, I got you. COMMISSIONER LETZ: Is this a one-year grant, or -- MR. EMERSON: Correct. COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- is there a likelihood it's going to be renewed? MR. EMERSON: That's my understanding, is when we reapply in January, that providing statistics validate the grant, that we stand to get approval. COMMISSIONER LETZ: We need to approve, then, 9-?G-OS 141 1 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 just the budget today? The grant budget? JUDGE TINLEY: The grant budget. MR. EMERSON: Yes, sir. COMMISSIONER LETZ: 1 make a motion we approve the grant budget as presented. COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Second. JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for approval of the V.A.W.A. grant budget as presented. Any question or discussion? COMMISSIONER WTLLIAMS: Yes. Do we not have to amend your department budget also? MR. EMERSON: This is pretty much a freestanding grant budget, somewhat like the Crime Victims Assistance. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I see. Thank you. JUDGE TINLEY: Any other questions or comments 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. MR. EMERSON: Thank you. JUDGE TINLEY: Let's get back, if we could, to Item Number 2, consider, discuss, and take appropriate ~-'e-n~ 1 2 3 4 5 H 7 s 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 .1 22 23 24 25 142 action on repealing Court Order Number 28266 requiring General Operating Reserve Fund balance of 25 percent to be maintained by Kerr County during such fiscal period, and if necessary, to set new percentage. Commissioner Nicholson? COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Procedurally, I'm not quite sure how to deal with this. We have a court order we passed last year that says we have t_o maintain a 25 percent reserve, and we're about somewhere around $500,000 under that right now. So, I would say we -- if we're going to adopt a budget that's $500,000 deficit, we have to repeal that court order. COMMISSIONER LETZ: I agree to a degree. I think that the -- we certainly need to make an exception for this year's budget, but my preference would be to not repeal the order; just pass an order that waives that requirement for the financial year 2005-2006. DODGE TINLEY: Is that a motion? COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yes. COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: I'll second it. DODGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded that the Court Order 28266 be inapplicable to the Kerr County budget for the Fisr_al Year 2005-2005. COMMISSIONER LETZ: Correct. JUDGE TINLEY; Okay. Any question or discussion on the motion? All in favor of the motion, ~-~:H-n5 143 1 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 1L 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 Z1 22 23 24 25 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. Let's -- let's get back and get these public hearings out of the way now for the financial issues, now that we've got those pretty well resolved. I will recess the Commissioners Court hearing at this time, and I will reconvene a public hearing that was called at approximately 10 a.m. this morning, that public hearing being on proposed salary expenses and other allowances of elected county or precinct officers for Fiscal Year 2005-2006. (The regular Commissioners Court meeting was recessed at 12:56 p.m., and the Item 1.7 public hearing was reconvened as follows:) P U B L I C H E A R I N G JUDGE TINLEY: Is there any member of the publir_ that wishes to be heard with respect to the proposed salary expenses and other allowances of elected county or precinct officers for Fiscal Year 2005 and 2006? Any member of the public or the audience that wishes to be heard on that item? Pursuant to -- there was a published notice with regard to that. Seeing no one moving towards the front or otherwise asking to be recognized, I will close the public hearing on the proposed salary expenses and other allowances e ~.,-~~s 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 149 of elected county or precinct officers for Fiscal Year 2005-2006, and I will resume or reconvene the Commissioners Court meeting. (The public hearing was concluded at 12:57 p.m., and the regular Commissioners Court meeting was reopened.) JUDGE TINLEY: And I will call Agenda Item 8, consider, discuss, and take appropriate action on setting the salary, expenses, and other allowances of elected county or precinct officers for Fiscal Year 2005-2006. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Judge, I would move approval of the salary, expenses, and other allowances of elected county and precinct officers for Fiscal Year '05-'06, as published in the Kerrville Daily Times as required by law. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for approval of the salary, expenses, and other allowances of elected county or precinct officers for Fiscal Year 2005-2006, as set forth in the public notice. Any question or discussion? All in favor of that motion, signify by raising your right hand. (Commissioners Baldwin, Williams, and Letz voted in favor of the motion,) JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Opposed. 9-'e-u5 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 145 (Commissioner Nicholson voted against the motion.) JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. I will now recess the Commissioners Court rneeting, and I will reconvene a public hearing that was originally called at approximately 10:30 a.m. this morning, that public hearing being on the proposed 2005-2006 Fiscal Year Kerr County budget. (The regular Commissioners Court meeting was recessed at 12:59 p,m., and the Item 1.9 public hearing was reconvened as follows:) P U B L I C H E A R I N G JUDGE TINLEY: Is there any member of the public or the audience that wishes to be heard concerning the proposed Fiscal Year 2005-2006 Kerr County budget? Any member of the audience or public that wishes to be heard with respect to the coming year's budget? Seeing no one moving forward or otherwise seeking to be recognized, I will close the public hearing on the proposed Fiscal Year 2005-2006 Kerr County budget, and I will reconvene the Commissioners Court meeting. (The public hearing was concluded at 1 p.m., and the regular Commissioners Court meeting was reopened.) JUDGE TINLEY: And we will go to Item 10 on the agenda, consider, discuss, and take appropriate action v-~~-ue 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 ^1 22 23 4 25 146 to adopt the proposed Fiscal Year ^005-2006 Kerr County budget. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN; Judge, I move we adopt the proposed Fiscal Year 2005-2006 Kerr County budget. COMMISSIGNER W7LL7AMS: As amended? JUDGE TINLEY: We've already approved those seven items. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN; Yeah, we've already done that. JUDGE TINLEY: So they are part of the budget now. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN; Is there something else? COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Okay. I just wanted to rnake sure that was in there. COMMISSIONER. LETZ: Second. JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded to approve the proposed and adopt the proposed Fiscal Year 2005-2006 Kerr County budget, which includes the seven items that were previously voted on that is part of the budget now, Any question or discussion? COMMISSIONER. NICHOLSON: Judge, I need to propose an amendment, to add $4,000 to the Rabies and Animal Control budget for vehicle maintenance and repair. JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Are you offering that 9--'e-as 1 3 4 5 5 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 .1 2~ ^3 24 25 147 as an amendment to the -- to the budget? COMMISSIONER. NICHOLSON: Yes. JUDGE TINLEY: A1] right. COMMISSIONER LETZ: Is this -- COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: We blew up an engine on a truck. COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second -- well, I guess -- actually, I guess -- COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Takes care of that. COMMISSIONER. LETZ: You know, I don't know how we procedurally handle that. I agree with the Commissioner. COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: It's in there somewhere. DODGE TINLEY: We have a motion and a second to amend the motion to adopt the fiscal year 'OS-'06 budget to increase Animal Control, the appropriate line item, to cover vehicle maintenance and repair, to increase that by $4,000. Is there any question or discussion on the amendment? COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: We're voting on the amendment? DODGE TINLEY: We are voting on the amendment now. All in favor of the amendment to increase the Animal Control budget by $4,000 for vehicle repair, signify by -zE-u~ 148 1 2 3 4 5 E 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 raising your right hand. (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) JUDGE TINLEY: Al] opposed, same sign. (No response.) JUDGE TINLEY: That motion does carry. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN; I don't know. Why don't we just take that out of their salary? Might be -- be easier. JUDGE TINLEY: We now have another motion on the floor to adopt the proposed Fiscal Year 2005-2006 Kerr County budget. Any question or discussion? All in favor of that motion, signify by raising your right hand. (Commissioners Baldwin, Williams, and Letz voted in favor of the motion.) JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. (Commissioner Nicholson voted against the motion.) JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. We will move to Item 11, consider, discuss, and take appropriate action on recommendation and request for court action in filling County Extension Agent, Family and Consumer .Sciences position in Kerr County. Ms. Cheryl Mapston from the district office in Uvalde. I apologize for you getting to spend the day with us. I hope it's been informative. MS. MAPSTON: Yes, it has. Thank you very y-z5-o~~ 149 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 13 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 ~q LS much. We're pleased to be here today on behalf of Texas Cooperative Extension to bring forth an applicant for the vacant Family and Consumer Sciences position. And I'd li}:e to introduce her at this time. Today I brought with me Nicole Spenrath, and Nicole grew up in -- grew up in Comfort area. She's a former 4-H'er; she was in the Kendall County 4-H program for 12 years, and that was her first contact with the Extension. She went on to college at Tarleton State University and received a Bachelor's degree in home economics, and as a part of her studies there at Tarleton, she served as a student intern at our Erath County Extension Office there in Stephenville, so she's had an opportunity to see the inside of a -- inside workings of a County Extension office from an internship program. After Nicole -- and then also she was a member of the FFA and also served as a 4-H leader and a 4-H judge through her college career. She began her professional career with the Women, Infant and Children Nutrition Program out of San Marcos, where she supervised, she trained employees, she screened clients to determine their eligibility, developed and actually taught nutrition education lessons for those clients in WIC, and she also collaborated with other social service agencies to get things done for people within that program. Then the program was transferred over to Fredericksburg at Memorial Hospital, where she's been for 9-26-i~5 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 150 the past few years, and she serves as the WIC Program Director there and she serves a five-county area. She has been involved with our County Extension Agent, FCS, within the hill country, where they have -- she served on our advisory board. She's familiar with the Better Living for Texans Nutrition Education Program for Limited Resource Audiences, and serves -- actually served on the Kerr County board for the Better Living for Texans Program. And so, I'd Like to introduce Nicole at this time, and then recommend Nicole Spenrath be appointed as County Extension Agent for Family and Consumer Sciences at the currently budgeted salary effective October 12th. JUDGE TINLEY: October 12th. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Are you sure she wants to after listening to all that this morning? MS. SPENRATH: I'm pleased and excited, actually, to be given the opportunity. I certainly hope that this will be approved, but it was a very interesting day to have to sit through here -- through your court. Do y'all have any questions you'd like to ask me? COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Do you mind coming in every Monday and doing this thing with us? MS. SPENRATH: We11, yeah. That might actually -- COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So do I. (Daughter.) a->e-o e. 151 1 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 19 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 ~7 23 24 25 MS. SPENRATH: -- alter my opinion of you. I don't know. COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'll make a motion that we appoint Nicole Spenrath to the County Extension Agent, Fami]y and Consumer Science position in Kerr County. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for appointment as requested in the agenda item. 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.) DODGE TINLEY: Glad to have you on board. MS. SPENRATH: Thank you. MS. MAPSTON: Thank you, Judge, Commissioners, and thank you for your continued support and your investment in our program. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Thank you, Cheryl. JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Now let's go back to Item 6. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: That's why Leonard's been jumping up and down. DODGE TINLEY: Mr. Odom's been getting his exercise almost as mur_h as -- who was your coach down at j-h-ii5 152 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 IO 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 A & M when you were there? MR. ODOM: Coach Stallings. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Oh, boy. JUDGE TINLEY: I see. MF.. ODOM: May I pass this around? I'm short one, and I'll give the Court -- JUDGE TINLEY: Item 6 is to consider, discuss, and take appropriate action for clarification of minimum lot size for Kerr County subdivisions with community water. MR. ODOM: Right. I apologize; I'm one short, I think -- or did I get -- COMMISSIONER LETZ: I've got one. MR. ODOM: I thought I had six when I came in. What I'm seeking from the Court is some clarification, direction of which way to go, because recently we have had several inquiries about this water availability and the size of the lots, whether it's 5 acres and all, and we couldn't give a definitive answer. Because when we look at the rules -- when we look at 5.O1.D, it says that -- essentially this; that the total number of lots must be divisible by five. And that was based on surface water. And my understanding is that several years ago there was an entity that was -- I would assume when this was put together, that was going to have the water availability, and that was based 9-' l fi r 153 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 l5 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 on surface water. Yet, on the other hand, when we go to S.O1.E, it says lot size, and we talY, about 1-acre lots if there's community water. And so the question is, what do we go by? Because I've had -- like I say, this -- this is a letter -- no action on this, but this is a letter from a gentleman that wanted to pass this out to you on this item right here. COMMISSIONER LETZ: To me, it's very clear. There's a 5-acre average currently in our current rules. There's a 5-acre average for lots of any size. If you have 50 acres currently in Kerr County, you get 10 lots, period. If you are using a community water system, you can have a minimum lot size of 1 acre. You can have -- you know, and then you can have -- you can have, you know, nine 1-acre lots and one 41-acre lot. The average is what's the key. We -- and I guess the confusion came when, several months ago, we suspended the water availability requirements. That has nothing to do with this provision. MR. ODOM: Well, that's essentially the -- COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. MR. ODOM: -- position. COMMISSIONER LETZ: One other comment; I visited with Mr. Davis, and I maybe visited with other people too, and I told him our rules are what they are. But, because of his situation of wanting to put in a v-zh-os 154 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 15 17 18 1q 20 21 2~ 23 24 25 development -- a high-density development near Ingram, near Greenwood Forest, I said I would personally entertain a waiver, as we have done for other situations in a similar situation to this. And I would support that if that is consistent with two things; one, the fact that he's in the ETJ, and two, that that is the direction that our new rules are going to go. If we can ever get past our budget, I can get back to work on our Subdivision Rules. So, I would support a waiver as we've done previously. I also told him another thing -- another way that he may want to approach this, as some of this property is in the ETJ of the city of Ingram and ETJ of the city of Kerrville, that if he comes to court and asks us just to back out and let those entities handle this, I would support that. But I said, currently -- you know, I've been very clear to him. I said our rules are our rules. But, you know, we'll be glad to talk to him. We don't want -- his bottom line is that he can't -- the economics don't work on 5-acre averages next to Greenwood Forest for development. Well, you know, it's not my business whether the economics work or don't work. I gave him two options he can pursue iE he wants to. He can pursue the development the way he wants to, or he can follow our rules the way they are. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So, it's 5 acres unless you have community water, and then it's down to ~~ ~e-ns 155 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 1 acre -- no, community -- community water and community O.S.S.F. COMMISSIONER LETZ: It's 5-acre minimum if you're having an individual well, and a 5-acre average. It is a 1-acre minimum and a 5-acre average if you're using a community water system. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: RLght. And then -- COMMISSIONER LETZ: They're not independent provisions. You have to comply with both the average and the minimum lot size. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: What if you have community water and community sewage? COMMISSIONER LETZ: Under our two rules -- COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Two different proposals? COMMISSIONER LETZ: Hopefully, under our community rules, there's no minimum lot size, but there's still -- COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: No minimum lot Size? COMMISSIONER LETZ: But it's -- there's still a 5-acre average. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: What -- I'm not debating; I just want to understand the relevancy of the -- of the water availability in the situation where you're 9-26 ~5 156 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 29 25 saying you can have -- if you have a community water system, you can have 1-acre lots, nine of them in your illustration, and one 41-acre lot. What is the relevancy of it if you're on community water -- the relevancy of applying the 5-acre averaging for this situation, if they're on a community water system? COMMISSIONER LETZ: The averaging came about based on the -- the water availability, that it takes 5 acres to recharge a family household on an annual basis. Therefore -- COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: What if it's an individual well? COMMISSIONER LETZ: Doesn't make any difference; it's going to take 5 acres. If you're using groundwater, it takes 5 acres of Land to sustain that one household -- average household. So, the averaging just -- the whole reason for doing the averaging as opposed to minimum lot size, if you do a 5-acre minimum lot size, your economics will never work on a community water system. Or I won't say never; it's basically much harder to encourage -- community water systems are good for the most point, excluding the AquaSource issue. But, I mean, overall, from a water standpoint, you're having fewer penetrations into the aquifer, less chance of pollution, and more -- you know, and a better quality well, and which is monitored by the {-~€ i; 157 1 2 3 9 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 ZO ?1 2L ~3 29 25 state. So, that's the reason. I mean, it's just a matter of trying to make it easier for developments to use the averaging, and many developments have gone in and used this averaging. The newest one in my precinct is The Reserve. They have a number of -- MR. ODOM: 3-acre. COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- 3-acre, and probably 2 1/2-acre lots, and they have -- and to get the average up, they have some 50- and 60-acre lots. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: The newest one actually is the one in my precinct across from the golf course. COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. But they have a 5-acre average; I think they're -- that's a subdivision going in with individual wells, and there's a 5-acre average and 5-acre minimum. So, I think -- I mean, our rules are what they are. I think they're going to change, but they haven't changed yet. MR. ODOM: Right. COMMISSIONER LETZ: And maybe I confused the poor gentleman when I told him -- MR. ODOM: This gentleman -- if that concept was there, he could bring it in for a variance and the Court could make that decision. And, like I say, I have another one -- there's another one that's a business park right -zE-~.s 158 1 2 3 9 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 1J 16 17 18 19 ~0 21 22 23 24 25 across the street that they're -- COMMISSIONER. LETZ: Business parks are specifically mentioned in our rules as to be addressed on a case-by-case basis. MR. ODOM: And that's what I told the individual at that point, if he was to -- okay, I have the direction. Thank you. JUDGE TINLEY: Did that clarify it? MR. ODOM: Makes some clarification. COMMISSIONER LETZ: Apologies to Mr. Davis. JUDGE TINLEY: Let's move on to the next agenda item, Number 12, consider, discuss, and take appropriate action on implementing the burn ban. COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Judge, this is on here just to keep us in compliance with the law. It's been almost 90 days since we passed the burn ban ordinance or court order, and so I'm going to propose that we -- that we establish a burn ban for 90 days, with the granting each -- each Commissioner the authority to lift the burn ban in his precinct as conditions dictate. COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. JUDGE TINLEY: That one includes "reimpose" also, right? COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Yes. JUDGE TINLEY: Lift or reimpose. We have a a-z~,-os 159 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 2~ 23 ;4 25 motion and second for adoption of the burn ban order. Any question or discussion? COMMISSIONER LETZ: Quickly, just for the Court and the public, I am -- I will not suspend it in my precinct. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I will not be suspending mine. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Neither will I. COMMISSIONER NICHGLSON: Neither will I. JUDGE TINLEY: Any other 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. We'll move to Item 13, consider, discuss, and take appropriate action to approve the Kerr County Facilities Booking and Rental Policy. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: It says Judge, but I actually put that in, Judge, not you. JUDGE TINLEY: Mine says Commissioner, Precinct 2. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Does it read y? Mine -- whatever. This is the third or fourth draft, I've 9-26-u5 150 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 1~ 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 forgotten which. It says second, but it's more than that. And some of the -- all of the comments that the Court offered before are incorporated. Some of the comments that were suggested or offered by the Convention and Visitors Bureau are incorporated, and there are some comments that were given by Caroline Hanson which are not incorporated, and I put them in there for your review, and you tell me whether you'd like to add them in there or not. COMMISSIONER LETZ: Commissioner, I'm trying to make sure I can understand where we are on this process. What we're doing -- what I think -- what I thought we were going to do was hopefully approve this and -- and, at that point -- or I guess approve it to set it out for public review. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: We did that. COMMISSIONER LETZ: We're already through that completely? COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Yes, we're through with that part. We're back. COMMISSIONER LETZ: We're back? COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: And so, like I said, the Court's suggestions are in. Suggestions that were offered by C.V.B. are in, and the only ones that are not in are those that were submitted by Ms. Hanson, which are included. And if you wish them to be in, they'll be in. a-~h-a° 161 1 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 29 25 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Why did you not just COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Well, because I think little bit. I -- that's a good question, Commissioner, and I just wasn't going to make that many adjustments without the Court knowing exactly what they were and having an opportunity to discuss it. I, frankly, think we have addressed in all of our previous discussions the concerns that were raised by Ms. Hanson, but if you think differently, we can also include those. Mr. Holekamp's back there listening very carefully, and perhaps he has some comments that he'd like to offer as well at this point. MR. HOLEKAMP: The only thing that I had, and this was to several comments on page -- well, it's Number 13, the alcohol policy. It says, "Guests attending events may not bring alcohol into any event. Bring-your-own-bottle events are prohibited." The "bring-your-own-bottle events are prohibited" is not a problem, but who's going to police if someone brings an ice chest of beer during an event? I mean, I don't think Maintenance and Facilities are going to go out there and break all their bottles and pour them on the parking lot. Do we call the Sheriff's Department if somebody is drinking beer out there? I just don't know how that would be policed. y-ah-os 152 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: I guess my question goes back to a little bit more fundamental, as to -- I almost hate to ask the question, as to why we have this in our policy. I mean, I think it's good to, but I don't know how you enforce it. I guess -- MR. HOLEKAMP: I don't either. COMMISSIONER LETZ: So, I guess it's the -- and if you don't have it, obviously -- MR. HOLEKAMP: You're encouraging. COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- you're encouraging people to bring alcohol. If we do have a policy, we're creating a nightmare to try to figure out how to enforce it. And then, as soon as we don't enforce it uniformly, then we're going to be accused of not enforcing uniformly, which is right back to where we are right now. Sheriff, do you have any input, or possibly County Attorney as well? SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: County Attorney may. My input would be, number one, I don't know that I could enforce it. It's a policy; it's not a law, you know. I don't know if you really need it in there. There is a law about public intoxication. If somebody gets out of control and drinks too much at a public event that's out there, or an event that the public's, you know, invited to or can have access to out there, then we can enforce the public intoxication law, or perhaps a disorderly conduct law or, ~~-^e-os 163 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 you know, minors in possession of alcohol law. There's plenty of other laws that could probably address this. But I don't know -- could you have it as a policy that just -- they may not get to rent the facility again if they violate county policy on what they're supposed to do? I don't know what else is in there, but I would hate to put it on our department to try and enforce the law. COMMISSIONER LETZ: The problem, though, with that approach is, to hold the -- I don't have a problem with trying to hold the person who's renting the facility accountable, but it's -- I'll use the example of the Stock Show Association. Say one of their members -- and there's -- I mean, we're talking about thousands of people out there -- one of them has a beer in their car. Does that mean we're going to never let the stock show exist in Kerr County again? SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: How -- do you let the person in charge of that association address that one person and have him remove his beer, as far as the alcohol policy and renting it? COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I don't think it goes that far, Commissioner. Now, if somebody drives up with a -- with a can of beer in his container module on his truck, and it's open, he's in violation of the law if he gets caught, 'cause they've got an open container law that takes ~-ze-os 164 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 19 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 care of him. All this says is he can't bring it into this event. COMMISSIONER LETZ: That's what I'm saying. I'm saying if somebody pours a beer into a cup and takes it into the stock show. COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Commissioner, I've got some real, live, firsthand experience with this. I -- I help cook every year at the Game Warden's event where we -- fundraiser with one of the fire departments, and there's probably, what, Bill, maybe 15, 20 different outfits out there cooking, donating food and all that sort of thing. And I would guess with this policy, you'd probably lose about half your cooks about the second year of this policy. There'd be a lot fewer cooks out there than there have been in the past. I don't know the wisdom of the policy or not. I have not -- in my experience, I haven't seen that it's creating any problems. But if there's -- it's a Kerr County-owned place, and if we need to bar alcohol, we can do that, but there are some consequences. COMMISSIONER LETZ: I just think that we have to think of all of the -- the whole spectrum. And we can't treat -- just because someone's paying a -- you know, one fee, they can't be treated differently than the game wardens; they all have to be the same -- treated the same. And -- 9 -) ~ - ~ S 165 1 2 3 4 5 5 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: I agree. COMMISSIONER LETZ: And you can't -- I can't be in favor of having a policy that would turn and look the other way. I mean, that doesn't make sense either. So, I don't know how we adjust that. Mr. County Attorney, do you have any -- MR. EMERSON: The only input I would have would be that you consider it basically a breach of contract if you address it and they don't handle it, and then you just don't rerent to that particular entity. COMMISSIONER LETZ: So, we could -- we could have a policy, and if we -- someone turns in someone, we find the person that headed up the event and say, "You're in violation of our policy; you need to take care of it"? MR. EMERSON: That's the only suggestion I have. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: But as long as you're selling it there, it's okay? COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Yeah. It can be served, yeah. Like the stock show, they -- they serve it; it's part of their -- their event. That would be perfectly fine. They can continue to do that, but they have control of the event. COMMISSIONER LETZ: Sales during the fundraiser event. They don't sell it during the stock show. a-z~ os 166 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 ~4 25 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: No, just talking about during the fundraiser. No. Heavens, no. SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: What do you do for events like the chili cook-off down by the river that they've started each year? MR. HOLEKAMP: Park policy. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: That's park policy. SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Okay. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: What are you trying to accomplish with saying no to alcohol? I mean, what is -- COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: We're not really -- all this is saying -- and I'm not makinq a statement in support. This is something that came out of our joint discussions, so if we're having second thoughts about it, fine and dandy; we'll adjust accordingly. But -- COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Glenn, what are you trying to say when you say you can't bring alcohol into our facility? MR. HOLEKAMP: What I'm saying is, is that it's very difficult to police that during some events that are kind of open, I mean, like stock show. I'm going to use that for an example, stock show. They -- if you go behind there, behind that barn, there's a lot of little ice chests and open beers, people -- adults drinking; I've never seen children. But, you know, this -- you know, during a roping, -zh-ns 167 1 2 3 9 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 for example, the people that rope -- well, you know, they -- they bring their ice chest and they go -- whether it's in their truck or whatever, they go out there and drink a beer and whatever, and then they go rope again. I mean, so I never see -- I've never seen these people in a state of -- that they can't operate. But -- COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Well, give me an example of a function that you don't want -- or you wouldn't want alcohol to be there. The B.Y.O.B.? MR. HOLEKAMP: No. No, not with this -- COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Well, 4-H, that's clear. Let's go back to Number 4's chili-cooking or shrimp-cooking thing. We don't want those guys to bring their bottle in there, but if we want to sell it to them, it's okay? See, I don't get -- what is the difference here? Do you not want alcohol? Or you want to have the ability to make some money off the alcohol? MR. HOLEKAMP: No, I'm just -- just questioning a policy that -- I was trying to figure out how I would police it. No, no, no, I don't -- COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I'm questioning the same thing. MR. HOLEKAMP: I don't have a position one way or the other. COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: I'd like to take ~,-z ~-a 5 168 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 1 L 13 19 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 ~~ 23 29 25 this policy out. What we got here is a solution looking for a problem. If we have problems out there with drunkenness, we ought to deal with it. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I agree. COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think we take out the part that's in bold and underlined. I think the rest of it's okay. MR. HOLEKAMP: Mm-hmm. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Yeah, I agree . I agree. Just take out the bo ld, underlined part. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So, at the -- at the 4-H -- no, t he stock show di nner fundraiser deal, do they sell alcohol there? COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: No, they serv e it. COMMISSIONER LETZ: They serve it. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I thought you said you couldn't do that. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: No, you can. DODGE TINLEY: Sold or served. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: First bullet says alcohol must served only from designated areas. It can be, yeah. MR. HOLEKAMP: There is a difference, and maybe this will help you, Commissioner Baldwin. Your insurance liability is different if there is alcohol versus a ze ~~s 169 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 non-alcohol. So, when -- when we deal with the insurance carrier, when a person comes to approach us about booking the facility, one of the first questions is, is there going to be alcohol served? usually they say no, but then we find out somebody brought alcohol. What -- you know, that is where the issue comes in. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: What do you want to do about it? COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think we take out the bold. MR. HOLEKAMP: I think it needs to be handled primarily on a case-by-case basis. If a person is inebriated -- COMMISSIONER LETZ: Then you call -- MR. HOLEKAMP: -- then it's his issue. SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Right. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Well, you talk about an enforcement nightmare. You want to sit out there doing breath tests? MR. HOLEKAMP: No, no, no. I'm talking about stumbling-type issues. No, I don't -- no, I really don't want -- if it was me, I'd take out all the bold print and go on. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: That's what we just said. 9 2h-n5 170 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 2 V 21 22 23 24 25 MR. HOLEKAMP: Yeah. That's -- but Commissioner Baldwin asked me a question. I tried to answer him. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: So the bold print's out. COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: I have a question for Commissioner Williams. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Yes, sir? COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: A few months ago, we had -- over several meetings, we had a number of people in here that were pretty upset about the fairness of the way we administered bookings. In your opinion, Commissioner, will these changes -- do these changes deal with their concerns, or are they going to be back in here saying it's still unfair? COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I, frankly, think they do deal with the booking concern, right. And, as the Court might remember, when we talked about all this, we tried to put together a comprehensive booking policy. That may embody too much; it may not embody enough in terms of the questions that were raised about booking inequities. I think we've addressed them. Now, there's somebody in the audience who can probably tell me if I'm right or not, because her husband is one of those who books all the time. So, far as I can tell from the discussions that we had with 9 ~ b n 5 171 1 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 Mr. Holekamp, Commissioner Letz, Roy Walston, and myself, we have addressed those -- we have addressed those issues. COMMISSIONER LETZ: But, specifically, the -- Ms. Hawkins and -- I forgot all the names. They were provided a copy of this, correct? COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Oh, absolutely. COMMISSIONER LETZ: They have seen this, and they have not come saying they don't like it. So, we -- I mean -- COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: I dropped copies off at their businesses or residence, and I have not heard from them, so I'm going to assume that they don't have major concerns about it. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I just want to ask Ms. Mitchell -- Ms. Mitchell, how many copies did you -- MS. MITCHELL: Everybody you gave me the name of that had signed up and their address, I sent out. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: 15 or 20 copies? MS. MITCHELL: Yes. COMMISSIONER LETZ: And I also visited, you know, with one of -- the attorney that represented Mr. Henderson, and never heard back from him after I called him back. So, I mean, I think we have gone the extra mile and, you know, not even asked them to come to participate in this process. We've sent them copies of the new draft, and 9 - ~ 6 - U 5 172 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 19 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 ~~ 23 29 25 have heard, you know, not a great deal of input, and I think any input they did provide we incorporated. COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Did you make a motion, Commissioner? COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I will make a motion that we adopt the policy that's in front of you with the change just made in Paragraph 13, eliminating the boldface with respect to guests attending a B.Y.O.B. type phrase, as previously amended. COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Second. JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for adoption of the policy with the items mentioned, those -- that change or changes. Any further question or discussion? SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: The County Attorney had to go down to a hearing real quick. He did hand me his copy, and he has -- I'll give it to the Judge -- just a couple notations of where he thought about adding some words into certain paragraphs. I -- COMMISSIONER LETZ: Are those the -- JUDGE TINLEY: Those are the ones that are already penciled in, as amended, that I was -- SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: That may be. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Let me see them real quick. Well, no, there's two or three here where the County Attorney has made suggestions, and far as I can tell, they A ?r. u5 1 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 173 should be incorporated. JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Why don't -- do you want to incorporate those as part of the motion? COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Yes, I will, and we'll have a clean draft for distribution. COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think it was seconded by Commissioner Nicholson. COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Yeah. 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: The motion does carry. It's a bit past 1:30. We had a 1:30 timed item on the agenda, that being Item 21, consider, discuss, and take appropriate action on the Kerr County Emergency Management Plan. Commissioner Letz? COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yes. I put this on the agenda after the past two hurricanes have come in and made me think that something that we should do on a more regular basis is get an update as to what the Kerr County Emergency Management Plan is. You know, I think flooding is a big issue around here on occasion. It appears to me that we are 5-,6-ns 1 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 174 long due for a major flood on the Guadalupe. A major flood means about the height of the Sidney Baker bridge. That's a major flood. We've had some pretty bad floods in recent years, but nothing that I would consider a major flood since 1978. And I thought it would be good to put it on the My understanding of our policy is I'm not -- I can't remember if he's actually designated by the Judge or by the Court, that he's the one -- I think it's by the Judge, actually. But I just thought it would be good to put this on. And I see a representative from the City of Kerrville, I presume from -- on behalf of Chief Holloway. Mr. Beavers, do you have any comments? Or give us an update and kind of -- that's really all I'm looking for, you know, a three or four, five-minute summary as to what the emergency management plan is and how it's created and what our input into the process is. MR. BEAVERS: Okay. Well, as it sounds like you're already aware, the County Judge and/or appropriate mayor are actually the ones responsible for their portion of the plan. Kerrville, Ingram, and Kerr County entered into a joint resolution in 19f?3 to have a joint emergency operations plan. Y'all did a court order way back when, and the cities did ordinances. Every county in the state of Texas is required to have an emergency management plan by a 9 2n u5 175 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 ~0 21 22 23 24 25 division of Emergency Management, which is an arm underneath D.P.S. Austin. They're required to have a plan and have it approved by the state, which we do and have had since, I guess, 1983. The -- like you mentioned, the instances of the past three or four weeks, I think, brought this to attention, two hurricanes. Everybody's quite concerned. You know, the Red Cross opened three shelters, as a matter of fact, and that's -- we work closely with the Red Cross with sheltering, because that's their bailiwick, so to speak. So, there are 22 annexes in the emergency management plan. You have a basic plan that outlines responsibilities and gives you the legal aspects of it, and then 22 annexes. The Sheriff is in charge of warning, Annex A, for example, and then there are 21 other people assigned to be in charge of the other annexes, such as transportation, public information, whatnot. If a disaster happens in the county, the Judge is responsible for providing political and administrative support and guidance, requesting -- formally requesting assistance from the state. What happens in Kerrville, it falls to the mayor. Likewise with Ingram. We weren't hit with any kind of disaster, obviously, this last go-around or the time before, but parts of the plan were enacted. In fact, the Judge was at a meeting last week with several of us, Rusty and myself, the _E us 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 19 15 15 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 176 Chief, and about 30 people overall discussing just -- are we ready for any kind of eventuality here? And we are. We were lucky that we didn't get flooded, torrential rains, especially at the camps and up and down the river. But, you know, these plans have to be an all-hazards plan; it's got to be good for tornadoes, floods, terrorism, whatever. COMMISSIONER LETZ: How often is it updated? MR. BEAVERS: The plan has to be updated -- each annex is supposed to be reviewed by the person responsible for that annex annually, and then it's actually updated every fourth year. And that -- as the Judge will tell you, we have -- this year was a year of updating most of the annexes, and they're all pretty much updated; I think we're waiting on one still, which it's quite an effort. The individual in charge of the annex has to review the state template and mold it -- as Rusty will verify for you, it's quite a chore -- and mold it to their own jurisdiction and their own duties in that jurisdiction. And, so, they've recently been updated. The emergency operations center, in case you don't know, is at Kerrville Police Department. The secondary is at Central Fire Station, so that if one is out of service, you have somewhere else to go. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Mark, let me ask you a 9-!E-U5 1 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 177 question. MR. BEAVERS: Sure. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: As I was watching Rita come through and come in between Florida and Cuba and slip into the Gulf there, then I started kind of watching and waiting on you all to see when you were going to gather the troops up to -- you know, to -- what shall we do here? But I didn't hear about it. What -- at what point are -- how do you make the decision that you need to have a pow-wow? MR. BEAVERS: Well, I believe every circumstance is going to be different. We were constantly reviewing the latest information by the state. They had conference calls every day that we were privy to by entering a certain code number, and you could listen to what the state was doing. We had contacts with Red Cross prior to that point, the hill country amateur radio operators. Police Chief didn't feel like it was necessary to call everybody together to -- to discuss anything at that point. So -- COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Well, okay. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: What -- let me ask the question a little different way. What did we learn here locally from the two hurricanes that we experienced, with the influx of people coming in to us, that we didn't know before? And when you get done with that, I've got another 9-26-OS 178 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 ""' 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 ~. 2 4 25 1 I question. 2 MR. BEAVERS: Well, I think -- you know, I had somebody ask me about lessons learned this last week, the San Antonio Express writer for Katrina, lessons learned. And I told him, you know, it's going to be a while before -- I mean, it's still ongoing. I'm sure that FEMA will demand -- or recommend changes be made in the emergency response planning, preparation, mitigation, recovery, 'cause I'm sure they're still uncovering lessons learned. What will be learned locally is probably that the Red Cross does a heck of a job as far as their aspect of it, which is mandated by federal law, that they pretty much be in charge of the shelter operation. They do a great job sheltering the people that don't have anywhere to go. So -- COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: One of the things we may have learned locally, which -- and I hope we don't have to go through this again ever, in accommodating all the folks who came here seeking shelter from the storm, but -- I'm glad we had 1,000-plus rooms to put them in, and other shelters; that's wonderful. But what happens in a situation like that, where they're escaping from imminent danger in their own locale, is that they come into town, and while they spend money here, which is okay, they also take out part of the resources that are available to the local community. For example, an operator of 16 fueling ti-ze-o~, 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 1L 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 ~0 21 22 23 24 25 179 facilities in Kerr County told me Saturday night that, as a result of all this influx of folks coming in, he has used his allocation of gasoline in 13 of the 16 facilities he operates for the month of September, and he doesn't know if it's going to get renewed appropriately and so forth. So, that puts him and local folks who are in need of their continuing resources in kind of a bind. I don't know what we do about that, but it is something -- it's a fallout. MR. BEAVERS: I don't know. I heard about that. You know, all the resources from the state were geared towards, you know, east Texas; Houston, Galveston, Beaumont, Port Arthur, Lufkin, Jasper, et cetera. They were trying to get the National Guard, which they did, to assist them in getting fuel to the people that were stranded on the highways, as I'm sure you've heard. I don't know that we would be even near their, you know, concern. You know, we're concerned about Kerrville and some fuel issues. But, like I said, I don't really think there's much we can do about that. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Okay. COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: I've got two questions, Mr. Beavers; I'll ask them both at the same time. When we have a disaster, are we -- how much confidence do we have that all of the emergency organizations -- Sheriff, police, law enforcement, EMS, fire departments, National y ,n n= 1 2 3 4 5 5 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 180 Guard -- that they'll be able to communicate, that they'll all be on the same radio links or whatever? Are we going to wake up after a disaster and say communications didn't work as well as they need to? And the second question is, who's in charge of evacuation? MR. BEAVERS: Okay. First question is interoperability, and that's something that the state of Texas is working on. In fact, Sheriff Hierholzer has just recently programmed all of his vehicles and portable radios, et cetera, with the Texas Law 1, 2, and 3 interoperable channels, Fire 1, 2, and 3, an air ops channel, and a medical channel; that if you have those frequencies, then you're able to talk to anybody that comes into your jurisdiction, because everybody in the state of Texas is supposed to be working toward that goal. So, I hope that helps to answer that. But -- COMMISSIONER LETZ: You mentioned the Sheriff has the capability. Do all other entities in Kerr County have that same capability? MR. BEAVERS: We're working towards it ourselves, and as far as the volunteer departments, they've been issued information, and it's kind of up to them to try and work towards that. COMMISSIONER LETZ: So, if there was a -- I guess if there was a big disaster, we would have a 9-ze-ns 1 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 181 communication problem potentially today. SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: No. COMMISSIONER. LETZ: No, we wouldn't? SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: No. All of the Sheriff's Department's vehicles and portable radios are all equipped with the Texas Law 1-2-3, Texas Fire 1-2-3, Texas Medical 1, and Texas Air 2, okay? In addition to that, under the Homeland Security program, Kerr County was one of five counties in the 13-county region that was awarded a -- awarded a part of that in the emergency communications trailer. That trailer has about 300 radio frequencies programmed into it. Now, the other thing we did late last week -- and we'll come out with a notice for the media later; it just happened so quickly, trying to get everything organized -- is thanks to Crineestoppers and some other areas, the Sheriff's Department received, as of Friday, 36 additional portable radios that are not needed to equip our department, but they are all equipped with all the Texas Law, Texas Medical, and Texas Fire channels to where, say we had a Sheppard Rees or an emergency disaster like that. That trailer can be pulled out; those portable radios can be issued out to the departments that haven't totally made the conversion yet, especially volunteer fire departments or volunteer groups that we have. The emergency communications trailer also has the ham radio frequencies that your ham 9 Z6 U5 1 L 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 182 radio operators use, to where we will be able to talk to them and we will be able to set up total communication within Kerr County using that trailer and the equipment we have. So, that has been addressed. COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay, good. COMMISSIONER N7CHOLSON: Who`s in charge of evacuation? MR. BEAVERS: The evacuation annex portion of the Ingram-Kerrville-Kerr County risk management plan is in charge. It is run by Chief Young, Police Department. Sheriff Hierholzer is the warning; Chief Young is the -- also the law enforcement annex. How this works is, it doesn't mean that -- and Chief -- or, excuse me, Sheriff Hierholzer is completely aware of this; that, for example, law enforcement issues that cross over the city and the county, it doesn't mean that Chief Young orders or tells Rusty what to do. It's up to him to coordinate the law enforcement annex. He has to know who to talk -- who he needs to talk to to get things done in the county, and obviously, that person will be Sheriff Hierholzer. People in charge of certain annexes, again, aren't necessarily in charge of the people associated with that annex. They're in charge of coordinating the agencies and people and organizations that are part of that annex to make sure that that particular function is accomplished. So, to answer G_>~~-05 183 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 your question, evacuation is Chief Young's people. COMMISSIONER LETZ: I see. It's just a -- it seems odd to me to have -- in that type of situation, I understand the responsibility to coordinate, but why wouldn't you move it -- it would make more sense to me -- I don't want to give Rusty any more work; he's going to want more money, but it would make more sense to me for the Sheriff to be responsible for it, and let the Sheriff then work with the City, 'cause the city is part of the county, as opposed to the other way around. I think that -- I don't know Chief Young, but I would think that the Sheriff of Kerr County is always going to be in a better position to understand the entire county's makeup and situation and road situation more than the Chief of Kerrville Police Department. It just -- doesn't make any difference. MR. BEAVERS: We have to have somebody in charge. COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. MR. BEAVERS: And that covers two cities and the county. This was all decided 25 years ago. COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. I guess that I -- my question is, it was decided for whatever reason 25 years ago. Has it been looked at, if we are doing it in the proper way, in 25 years from the annex division standpoint? MR. BEAVERS: I believe we're doing it in a 9-26 ~5 184 1 2 3 9 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 proper way. COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'm not trying to -- not saying anything negative. I just want to make sure we have the best setup in Kerr County that we feel we have today, not the best setup we thought we had 25 years ago. MR. BEAVERS: I believe that part of that may be when Raymond Holloway, the Fire Chief, was made the coordinator, and he's pretty much in charge of the operational issues to be in contact with Judge Tinley and the two mayors and the city managers; that it was probably felt that it might be better to have people in charge of the annexes that also possibly work with the City, as they have a day-to-day, face-to-face type relationship. This is just -- maybe. COMMISSIONER LETZ: Maybe, okay. All right. MR. BEAVERS: And that way, the -- you know, they work together daily. You know, the City of Kerrville has roughly half the population of the county. I know that if we're going to evacuate certain areas of the county, that Chief Young would obviously work with Sheriff Hierholzer, because that's the only way that that's going to, you know, function appropriately. COMMISSIONER LETZ: Well, I mean, this -- this accomplished exactly what I was hoping, that we get a discussion about emergency management. I appreciate you y zE,-os 185 1 2 3 4 5 5 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 coming over, Mark. And, you know, I really didn't want to get -- probably got into more depth than I really had hoped today, but I think it's something that we need to, on an annual, biannual basis, get this before us, and hopefully the City Council, City of Ingram, as well as the City of Kerrville, because I think this is a -- it's an area that we hopefully never have to use, but we are, as elected officials, responsible for it, and after-the-fact is too late. We need to make sure that we're up to speed every day. MR. BEAVERS: We're required to be up to speed every day, and the State makes sure that we are; I assure you of that. COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay, thanks. DODGE TINLEY: As a matter of fact, I might mention that we had some training -- mandatory training that was scheduled for the month of September at -- they gave us three different dates, and here came the hurricanes, and all three of them had to get scrapped. So, now we got to go back and -- and reschedule that. MR. BEAVERS: Exactly. That's the National Incident Management System. Everybody -- elected officials and department heads, et cetera, have to have that training. Also, I appreciated your participation in our last drill that we had back in February, our W.M.D., Weapons of Mass _,-2h us 186 1 2 3 4 5 E 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 19 15 15 17 18 19 20 L1 2 2 ~3 24 25 Destruction drill that we had. It was quite a success. JUDGE TINLEY: Lots of people don't realize the -- the number of potential participants we have. All the -- all the health people, for example, the state agencies that get involved because of different scenarios that come into play. And it was -- it was quite enlightening. I appreciated that opportunity. MR. BEAVERS: Thank you. JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you for being here. Let's go to Item 20, if we might, consider, discuss, and approve resolution for cooperation between the Kerr County Commissioners Court and the City of Kerrville City Council. Commissioner Letz? COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yes. I put this on the agenda and I, over the weekend, drafted a resolution, and then I forwarded it to my wordsmither, Commissioner Williams, to let him clean up my poor grammar and -- COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Can I have a copy? COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- make it read and look better. We have copies here for members of the Court. I had to print it in big type because I couldn't read the small type. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I'm assuming this is it. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: This is it? 9-10-05 187 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: Let me read it; it's not lution. Whereas Kerr County and the City of other, including, but not limited to, Kerrville/Kerr County Municipal Airport, Recycling Center, Animal Control contract, EMS, fire contracts, ETJ development, emergency -- excuse me -- emergency management and others -- we need to add back into this paragraph the library. That whereas is deleted out. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Yeah. COMMISSIONER LETZ: Whereas such joint cooperation is mutually beneficial to the taxpayers of Kerr County and the City of Kerrville, and whereas open communication, mutual discussion, and sharing of information is vital to improve a positive and cooperative attitude between the City and the County; now, therefore, be it resolved that the Kerr County Commissioners Court reaffirms its support for all joint operations, joint-ownership, and mutually beneficial contracts with the City of Kerrville, including, but not limited to: Butt-Holdsworth Library, Kerrville/Kerr County Municipal Airport, Recycling Center, Animal Control contract, EMS and fire contracts, ETJ development, and emergency management; and be it further resolved that Kerr County Commissioners Court calls upon the 9 2 E,-OS 188 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 19 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 mayor and the City Council to resume the practice of funding issues for the Butt-HOldsworth Library, including the formation of a county-wide library district; and be it further resolved that Kerr County Commissioners Court calls upon the mayor and the City Council to join in participating with our special ad hoc committee to examine funding and other issues relating to current EMS system; and be it further resolved that Kerr County Commissioners Court calls upon the mayor/City Council to join in the immediate finalization of an ETJ development agreement required by state law to be in place no later than January 2006; and be it further resolved that Kerr County Commissioners Court calls upon the mayor and City Council to join in adopting a similar resolution acknowledginq the City's commitment to continuation of joint operations, joint ownership, and mutually beneficial contracts, and joins with the Commissioners Court in addressing issues related to the aforementioned four specific items. Adopted this 26th day of September, 2005. And I'll make a motion that we adopt -,o-n5 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 189 such resolution, with the addition of the airport in the first "whereas" -- I mean, excuse me, library in the first "whereas." COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I second. JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for adoption of the resolution as modified. Questions or discussion? I would make one suggestion. In the second "Resolved" paragraph, resume the practice of "biannual." That's similar to the biannual budget, which is every two years. I think we need to either say semiannual or twice-hyphen-annual joint meetings. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Should be semi, Judge. JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. JUDGE TINLEY: With that correction, a little language clean up -- COMMISSIONER LETZ: Thank you, Judge. 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: The motion does carry. Let's 9-26-~5 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 19 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 ~~ L L 23 29 25 190 see if we can kind of qet back to where we were. Item 14, consider, discuss, and take appropriate action to correct Court Order Number 29360 due to a ministerial mistake. The agenda posting and court order stated Lot 34A when, in fact, it was Lot 39A. Publication for public notice backup material and revision of the plat was for Lot 39A, Kerrville Country Estates, Section Two, Volume 6, Page 109. Well, where's Mr. Odom when you need him? MS. MITCHELL: Still talking with those people. JUDGE TINLEY: I think I can probably address that. Mr. Odom's office contacted me, and the agenda item referred to that; therefore, I made the announcement off of the agenda item, and the court order came out. All of the backup information, the plat -- the plat, itself, and the -- the public notice had the right language in it as being 39A. So, I checked with the County Attorney, and he said it was just a ministerial mistake and we could correct it by court order, and so that's why it was placed on the agenda. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: We're rescinding the old order? JUDGE TINLEY: We just ministerially correct the old order so that it refers to Lot 39A instead of Lot 34A. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: You need a motion to U-~h-~~s 191 1 7 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 19 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 do so, or you just do it? JUDGE TINLEY: Pardon? COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Do you need a motion to do it, or do you just do it? JUDGE TINLEY: Well, I think it would be helpful if the Court took the appropriate action to -- COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So moved. COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for approval of the agenda item. 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: Motion does carry. That takes us to Item 15, consider, discuss, and take appropriate action to select a process for naming the members of the Library Advisory Board to be selected by the Kerr County Commissioners Court. Commissioner Nicholson? COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: I put this on the agenda so we could begin the process of planning about how we name the two members of the new library board that the Court will have responsibility for. And I don't really have a proposal. Several of you have been in the business of 9 zh-~~s 192 1 2 3 9 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 19 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 selecting and naming members to boards for a long time. And I haven't -- one thing that does occur to me is I'm not real comfortable with the process of inviting a number of people to -- to nominate themselves for a task such as this, and then going back to those people and say sorry, you weren't selected. That doesn't feel good to me. So, what's your pleasure? How do you want to go about identifying and selecting our two members to the library board? COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Well, it's pretty simple to me. I have -- I have one gentleman from my precinct that's interested and extremely qualified, and I just assume that you adopt it and go on. What's wrong with that? (Laughter.) COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Well, that would give us five members. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Is there a problem with that deal? COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think at another -- you know, at a future meeting, preferably -- we can deal with one today if we want. You know, at our first meeting in October, my preference would be that we come with names, if we so choose. I have some ideas of people, I think from the eastern part of the county, that would be good representatives, but I don't know if they have the interest in doing it at this point. But I think we just kind of 9-zE-ns 193 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 15 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 bring several names and make the selection, and I would say we should do it at our first meeting in October. COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Do you want any documentation? If I've got somebody I want to nominate, do you want me to bring some documentation? COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah. I think serving on boards is a good resume, you know, "I served on the board of this and that" kind of thing. COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think they need to -- the person can write a letter or resume, or you can write a summary. I think there needs to be something. COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Okay. So, I'll -- I'll get that on our next meeting agenda. COMMISSIONER LETZ: All right. JUDGE TINLEY: Why don't we take about a quick five- to ten-minute recess and give our reporter a break, and we'll get the rest of it finished up in short order afterwards, hopefully. We'll be in recess. (Recess taken from 2:02 p.m. to 2:11 p.m.) (Commissioner Letz left the meeting.) JUDGE TINLEY: Okay, let's come back to order, if we might. We were in recess for a short period, and we will resume our Commissioners Court meeting this date. We'll go to Item 17, consider and discuss approval of 9 2h-os 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 ~, 23 24 25 194 resolution or other ar_tion to participate in the Indigent Defense Grant Program and authorize County Judge to sign the same. This has to do with the -- the Court-appointed attorneys for indigent defendants, and this is -- there was prior authorization to apply to the Indigent Defense Grant Program. That's an annual thing that we do every year. This resolution says we'll comply with the conditions of the grant, and our Auditor is the one that primarily rides herd on that. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Move approval. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for approval of the resolution, and authorize County Judge to sign the same. Any question or discussion? All in favor of the motion, signify by raising your right hand. (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) JODGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. (No response.) JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. We'll move to Item 18, consider, discuss, and take appropriate action on purchase of new Odyssey software package from Software Group and authorize County Judge to sign contracts for purchase of same. And here's our I.T. Director, Mr. Trolinger. MR. TROLINGER: I believe you have in your 9 ~ 6 ~i 195 1 2 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 23 24 25 backup the copies of the contracts. COMMISSIONER. WILLIAMS: I don't have it. MR.. TROLINGER: If you care to -- did you get those out, Jannett? MS. PIEPER: Is this it? MR. TROLINGER: We have the originals here. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I got ours, but I don't have yours. MS. PIEPER: I have the originals. MR. TROLINGER: The County Attorney's reviewed them. I've gone to the department heads, made sure we have all the right pieces, all the T's are crossed, I's are dotted. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: All I need to know is, has the County Attorney signed off on it? MR. TROLINGER: Yes, he has. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I don't have to sit here and read the whole thing. Long as he's happy with it, I'm happy with it. MR. TROLINGER: County Attorney had about a doyen points, and we reviewed those and modified the contract in one case, added a -- added a short piece of text and addressed the rest of the issues. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I believe the Auditor advised us that the funding for this begins in the '05-'07 196 1 2 3 4 5 b 7 s 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 ^0 21 22 ~~ 24 ~~ J budget; is that correct? MR. TROLINGER: That is correct. MR. TOMLINSON: The funding for the retirement of the debt. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Yeah. Thank you. MR. TROLINGER: You're welcome. JUDGE TINLEY: Any other questions with regard to this particular matter? COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Move approval. COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Second. JUDGE TINLEY: I have a motion and a second for approval of the agenda item. 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. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: You mean we got out of that thing without a presentation? That's a great -- MR. TYLER: I know how much you love those. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: It's a great day. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: It is a great day. COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Yeah, we don't have to pay for it this year; we'll have lots of money newt year. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: We'll have some v _~. U 5 197 1 3 9 5 F 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 15 17 18 19 20 21 ~~ 23 24 25 demonstrations too, aren't we? JUDGE TINLEY: Let's move to Item 19, if we might, consider and discuss and approve the contract between Kerr County and Hart Intercivic for the eSlate, and authorize the County Judge to sign the same. This deals with the Help America Vote Act requirements. MS. PIEPER: Right. This is our eSlate with Hart Intercivic. Y'a11 had did an order earlier for me and the County Attorney to negotiate the contract, and this is the contract. County Attorney had two issues on this. One of them was about our taxes. He just had a question on if we're tax exempt, so we have to forward our tar,-exempt number to Hart. And then he had a question on late charges, because it says that if we're 30 days late in paying them, that we have to pay 1 percent per month of the maximum rate, and I called the Secretary of the State to find out how quic}; we would get our grant money, and they said within three days. So -- COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Does this -- are we in compliance with all state rules? F.egulations? Laws? MS. PIEPER: Yes, we are. With this, we will be, yes. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Which would be a total price of $287,752.50. Is that correct? MS. PIEPER: That's correct. v-ze-r~5 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 19 15 16 17 18 19 20 Ll 22 23 29 25 198 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: And that is the number that comports to the amount of money that the Secretary of State gave us? MS. PIEPER: Yes. Yeah, that was one of the things I had to call them and tell them that they were charging us too much money, and we could only pay what we were being funded from the state. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: And they agreed to that? MS. PIEPER: Well, they had to do some cuts. They rut -- we had eight -- we were going to normally have 12 days of a project manager on-site, but they knocked that down to eight, and then they were also going to do a voter education. Instead of them doing that, I will do it. They're going to send me a disk that got -- that has pamphlets on it that I can just print out, rather than them driving down here with a box-load of pamphlets. I believe they also had cut out one or two laser printers, which we have laser printers in the office, so they did some little cuts. It's nothing major. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: So we're in balance? MS. PIEPER: So we're in balance. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Thank you. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I didn't move it; you ~,-zE,-os 1 2 3 9 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 1 ti 19 2G 21 22 23 24 25 199 moved it. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Oh, I did? Let's see. I move we approve the contract between Kerr County and Hart Intercivic for eSlate and authorise County Judge to sign the same. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Second. JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for approval of the agenda item. Any question or discussion? All in favor -- COMMISSIONER. WILLIAMS: Just a question. When will they have that in, Jannett? MS. PIEPER: I'm supposed to have it by January 1. Whether or not I'm trained on it by then is a different story, but we will have -- we will be using it for our March primary. COMMISSIONER. WILLIAMS: Okay, thank you. 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. fNo response.) JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. Unless I missed something, gentlemen, that gets us through all of our agenda items. Do we have any items that we need to go 9-2E-0~ 1 3 9 5 5 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 ~~ 23 2q 25 200 into executive session concerning? SHERIFF HIERHOLZEP.: I would like to give an update on two litigation issues, if you would like to hear it ar this time, or we can wait till next time. JUDGE TINLEY: Why don't we go ahead and finish up our routine items and then come back to that, if we might? Anybody on the Court have any problem with that? COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: No, sir. JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Where's our County Attorney? SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: He was in a hearinq. He was in a hearing he had to go to. JUDGE TINLEY: Why don't we go to the approval agenda, if we might. Mr. Auditor? MR. TOMLINSON: Just don't ask any questions about the bills. They're downstairs in the -- in the other courtroom. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I move we pay the bills. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Second. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Oh, that's right. COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Second. JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded to pay the bills. Any question or discussion? All in favor of 9 ~ F V `~ zol 1 2 3 4 5 H 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 the motion, signify by raising your right hand. (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. (NO response.) DODGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. Budget Amendment Request Number 1. MP.. TOMLINSON: Number 1 is -- is for the Auditor's office. I'm requesting a transfer of $1,717.24 from Part-Time Salaries to Operating Equipment to upgrade two computers for this year for our new accountinq system. COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Move to approve. MR. TOMLINSON: That's part of the package that you just approved. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: 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. (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) DODGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. (No response.) DODGE TINLEY: Motion does carry. Budget Amendment Request Number Z. MR. TOMLINSON: Number 2 is for the District Clerk. Her request is to transfer $709.66 from Part-Time 9 ? ¢~ i 202 1 2 3 4 5 5 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 Salaries to Employee Training. COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Move to approve. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. COMMISSIONER. WILLIAMS: Second. Ji_iDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for approval of Budget Amendment Request Number 2. 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. INo response.) DODGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. Budget Amendment Request Number 3. MR. TOMLINSON: Okay. Number 3 is for Indigent Health Care. This requires the Court to declare an emergency and increase the budget out of surplus funds in Indigent Health Care. We have bills for -- totaling $28,978.46, and payments to our third-party administrator of $1,304.03. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Tommy, if we were going to go with one of your recent plans of you doing some of the things that the third-party administrator does, are we under contract with them? I mean, will that decrease? Or -- MR. TOMLINSON: We have a contract -- well, -~~ us 203 1 3 4 5 6 7 8 G 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 L 1 22 23 24 25 no, we don't really have a contract with them at the present time. It's month-to-month. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So, will there -- will there -- will the numbers decrease because we're removing some of their workload? Or -- MR. TOMLINSUN: Yes. Well, the payment of the eligible expenses may not decrease, but the payments to the third-party administrator will go away. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Totally? Totally go away, so you'll totally take over their function? MR. TOMLINSON: Yes. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: If you know, Tommy, we're closing out the budget year now, and this is an expense -- an extension of funds of about $30,000. What is the total amount we've spent on Indigent Health care to-date, if you know? MR. TOMLINSON: Well, it's 708,827.77. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: 708,8 -- MR. TOMLINSUN: -27.77. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: $708,000. MR. TOMLINSON: Yes. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Thank you. DODGE TINLEY: Well, now, that -- that was going into this amendment. -z6-_s 204 1 2 3 4 J 7 8 9 10 11 l~ 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 2~ 23 ~4 25 MR. TOMLINSON: That's right. Went in -- for total year-to-date, add the 28,000 to that. JUDGE TINLEY: Bottom line -- MR. TOMLINSON: About 740,000. JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Bottom line is, our indigent health rare cost year-to-date is about $770,000. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: That's the number I was looking for. JUDGE TINLEY: Okay, yeah. That is what ae have budgeted for next year, and that may not be adequate. MR. TOMLINSON: This is the last -- this is the last bill for this year. DODGE TINLEY: There won't be any last half of the month cominq in after the 1st of October? MR. TOMLINSON: There's no one in -- the last person that was our -- at Sid Pete resigned. There's no one over there right now to process any -- any invoices, so -- COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That's one way to stop it. DODGE TINLEY: Would that have been a solution from day one? (Laughter.) MR. TOMLINSON: So -- so I really rani give you a solid answer to that question. JUDGE TINLEY: If that would solve the problem, I wish I'd have known that a long time ago. ti z F, ~ , 205 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 .0 21 22 23 29 25 MR. TOMLINSON: Potentially, I mean, it could be -- you know, our potential lability could be -- could be between 900,000, I mean, and a million dollars, because our -- our liability is 8 percent of our tax levy, which in~~ludes our sales tax. So, for all the tax -- ad valorem tax we levy, we have to add to that the almost $3 million in sales tax. And then you take, you know, 8 percent of that number to get what our potential liability is for this program. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Move approval of Budget Amendment Request Number 3 for 30,282.49, declare an emergency and move the funds from Number 50, surplus funds. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded to declare an emergency and approve 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. (No response.) JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. Budget Amendment Request Number 4. MR. TOMLINSON: Okay. Number 4 is for Extension office from Roy Walston. He's requesting a transfer of $1,000 from Conference line item and 525.23 from 9-~~,-ns 2oE 1 3 4 5 h 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 Office Supplies, for $1,104 to go into Capital Outlay for a projector for his office and $421.3 for Operating Equipment. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So, what he's doing here is we're down to the end of the budget year, and he's running now to spend the money that he hasn't spent up to this point. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Way it looks. COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: What's the projector? MR. TOMLINSON: I'm assuming that it's a slide projector of some sort. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Fower Point type. MR. TOMLINSON: Power Foint. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Do you think it's a Power Point? MR. TOMLINSON: It doesn't say that, but -- JUDGE TINLEY: Judging from the cost, it's more than just an ordinary plain vanilla 35-millimeter slide. MR. TOMLINSON: Here's the model number on here. And so I can't tell by that number what it is. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: 1,100. What do you think? Do you think. it's a Power Point? MR. TROLINGER: Don't know. I don't };now e-~e-~~s 207 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 L S from the model number. I just took a peek at it. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Well, I tell you what, it wouldn't hurt anything to have another -- Rusty has one. Wouldn't hurt anything to have one in our county system that we could use occasionally. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: What group? Commissioners Court? COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah. Everybody has one bur us. Did we get a motion and second or -- COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Not yet. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I move for approval. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Second. JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for approval of Budget Amendment Request Number 4. 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. I,No response.) JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. Do we have any late bills? MR. TOMLINSON: That's all I have. JUDGE TINLEY: No late bills or hand checks. Wonderful. I have been tendered monthly reports for Justice of the Peace, Precinct 9; Justice of the Peace, Precinct 1, 20g 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 ~3 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 Amended; and County Clerk, Trust. Do I hear a motion that these reports be approved as submitted? COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So moved. COMMISSIONER. NICHGLSON: Second. JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for approval of the designated reports as submitted. Any question or discussion? All in favor of the motion, signify by raising your right hand. (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. (No response.) JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. Do we have any reports from members of the Court in connection with their assignments to various liaison functions? COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: No, sir, I do not. Thank you. JUDGE TINLEY: All right. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: No, sir. JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Any department heads or elected officials have any reports they wish to render at this time? Hearing none, we've got other reports that are tendered to us on a periodic basis. It appears that we're back to the closed/er,ecutive session items that the Sheriff had requested, and possibly the County Attorney; I'm not sure if we have others from him on possibly the litigation. y-~~- 209 1 Z 3 4 5 6 7 3 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 So, at this time, we will go out of open session at 2:31. (The open session was closed at 2:31 p.m., and an Executive Session was held, the transcript of which is contained in a separate document.) (Discussion off the record JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. We will -- we will go back into open session at -- did I say we went out of closed at 2:38? Actually, I meant to say -- I mean 2:36. It is now 2:37. Having gone out of closed session at 2:36, we're back in open session at 2:37. Anybody have anything else to come before the court at this time? Hearing nothing, we will stand adjourned. (Commissioners Court adjourned at 2:37 p.m.) a '_ F U 5 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 -, , 23 24 25 210 STATE OF TEXAS COONTY 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 3rd day of October, 2005. JANNETT PIEPER, Kerr County Clerk BY : ____ ____ _~(~ ~~ ___ Kathy Bani Deputy County Clerk Certified Shorthand Reporter -~n-os ORDER NO.293 88 COMMITMENT TO FUND % OF OPERATIONAL BUDGET FOR LIBRARY Came to be heard this the 26th day of September, 2005, with a motion made by Commissioner Letz, seconded by Commissioner Williams. The Court unanimously approved by vote of 4-0-0 to: Make the commitment to make additional expenditures from the County Budget to fully fund 'h of the Operational Budget for the Library, after the City Council or City staff has presented a Budget, and after making any modifications that we agree to after discussions regarding same; all of which will be done after the fiscal year through a budget amendment process. Any additional funds shall not come from the County Reserves). ORDER NO. 293 89 OFFER RESOLUTION OF OPPOSITION TO AIR QUALITY PERMIT FILED WITH TCEQ BY WHEATCRAFT, INC. Came to be heard this the 26th day of September, 2005, with a motion made by Commissioner Williams, seconded by Commissioner Baldwin. The Court approved by vote of 4-0-0 to: Discuss and approve Resolution of Opposition to Air Quality Permit filed with TCEQ by Wheatcraft, Inc. for a rock crushing operation in Center Point, to be adopted with changes in the language as discussed. ORDER N0.29390 ADOPT BUDGET AMENDMENTS AS RECOMMENDED BY THE ORDER Came to be heard this the 26th day of September, 2005, with a motion made by Commissioner Letz, seconded by Commissioner Williams. The Court unanimously approved by vote of 4-0-0 to: Adopt Kerr County 2005-06 Budget Amendments as recommended by the Auditor. ORDER NO.29391 APPROVAL OF SHERIFF AND CONSTABLES CITATION FEES AS AUTHORIZED BY LGC 118.131 Came to be heard this the 26th day of September, 2005, with a motion made by Commissioner Nicholson, seconded by Commissioner Letz. The Court approved by vote of 4-0-0 to: Set services fees for small claims and justice court citations at $60 and all other court's citations at $60. ORDER NO.29392 APPROVE VAWA GRANT FUNDED SPECIAL PROSECUTOR'S SALARY AND BUDGET Came to be heard this the 26th day of September, 2005, with a motion made by Commissioner Letz, seconded by Commissioner Nicholson. The Court unanimously approved by vote of 4-0-0 to: Approve grant budget as presented, including $59,034 as Special Prosecutor's salary for Ilsa Bailey. ORDER NO. 29393 REPEAL COURT ORDER NO. 28266 FOR REQUIRED RESERVE FUND BALANCE Came to be heard this the 26th day of September, 2005, with a motion made by Commissioner Letz, seconded by Commissioner Nicholson. The Court approved by vote of 4-0-0 to: Repeal Court Order 28266 requiring General Operating Reserve Fund balance of 25% to be maintained by Kerr County, as it is inapplicable to the Kerr County Budget for 2005-06. ORDER NO.29394 APPROVAL OF KERB COUNTY 2005-06 BUDGET FOR ELECTED OFFICIALS SALARIES Came to be heard this the 26th day of September, 2005, with a motion made by Commissioner Williams, seconded by Commissioner Baldwin. The Court approved by vote of 3-1-0 to: Approve the Kerr County 2005-06 Budget, for Elected Officials Salaries, as published in the Kerrville Daily Times. ORDER NO. 29395 BUDGET AMENDMENT INCREASE ANIMAL CONTROL BUDGET FOR 2005-06 Came to be heard this the 26th day of September, 2005, with a motion made by Commissioner Nicholson, seconded by Commissioner Letz. The Court approved by vote of 4-0-0 to: The amendment to increase Animal Control Budget for Budget Year 2005- 06, adding $4,000 for vehicle maintenance and repair. ORDER NO. 29396 ADOPT KERR COUNTY 2005-06 BUDGET Came to be heard this the 26th day of September, 2005, with a motion made by Commissioner Baldwin, seconded by Commissioner Letz. The Court approved by vote of 3-1-0 to: Adopt fiscal year 2005-06 Kerr County Budget including 7 items previously agreed on. ORDER NO. 29397 FILLING COUNTY EXTENSION AGENT-FAMILY AND CONSiJNIER SCIENCES POSITION Came to be heard this the 26th day of September, 2005, with a motion made by Commissioner Letz, seconded by Commissioner Baldwin. The Court approved by vote of 4-0-0 to: Appoint Nicole Spenrath to the position of Kerr County Extension Agent- Family and Consumer Sciences. ORDER NO.29398 BURN BAN Came to be heard this the 26th day of September, 2005, with a motion made by Commissioner Nicholson, seconded by Commissioner Letz. The Court approved by vote of 4-0-0 to: Establish burn ban for 90 days and authorize each Commissioner to suspend the burn ban at their discretion. ORDER NO.29399 APPROVE KERR COUNTY FACILITIES BOOKING AND RENTAL POLICY Came to be heard this the 26th day of September, 2005, with a motion made by Commissioner Williams, seconded by Commissioner Nicholson. The Court approved by vote of 4-0-0 to: Adopt Policy with changes made in Paragraph 13 removing bold wording. ORDER NO. 29400 APPROVE RESOLUTION BETWEEN KERB COUNTY COMMISSIONERS' COURT AND CITY OF KERRVILLE CITY COUNCIL Came to be heard this the 26th day of September, 2005, with a motion made by Commissioner Letz, seconded by Commissioner Williams. The Court approved by vote of 4-0-0 to: Adopt Resolution for cooperation between Kerr County Commissioners' Court and the City of Kerrville City Council, with the adoption of the changes. ORDER NO.29401 CORRECT COURT ORDER #29360 ON KERRVILLE COUNTRY ESTATES,SECT.2 Came to be heard this the 26th day of September, 2005, with a motion made by Commissioner Baldwin, seconded by Commissioner Letz. The Court approved by vote of 4-0-0 to: To correct Court Order #29360 from Lot 34A to be Lot 39A, Kerrville Country Estates, Sect. 2 ORDER NO. 29402 APPROVE RESOLUTION FOR INDIGENT DEFENSE GRANT PROGRAM Came to be heard this the 26th day of September, 2005, with a motion made by Commissioner Williams, seconded by Commissioner Baldwin. The Court approved by vote of 3-0-0 to: Make a motion for approval of the Resolution and authorizing County Judge to sign same. ORDER NO.29403 PURCHASE OF ODYSSEY SOFTWARE PACKAGE Came to be heard this the 26th day of September, 2005, with a motion made by Commissioner Williams, seconded by Commissioner Nicholson. The Court approved by vote of 3-0-0 to: Approve the purchase of the Odyssey Software Package from The Software Group and authorize County Judge to sign contracts for purchase of same. ORDER NO.29404 APPROVE CONTRACT BETWEEN KERR COUNTY AND HART INTERCIVIC FOR eSLATE Came to be heard this the 26th day of September, 2005, with a motion made by Commissioner Baldwin, seconded by Commissioner Williams. The Court approved by vote of 3-0-0 to: Approve contract between Kerr County and Hart Intercivic for the eSlate and authorize County Judge to sign same. ORDER NO.29405 CLAIMS AND ACCOUNTS Came to be heard this the 26th day of September, 2005, came to be considered by the Court various Commissioners Precincts, which said Claims and Accounts are: Accounts Expense 10-General $ 82,567.85 14-Fire Protection $ 20,534.80 15-Road & Bridge $ 49,807.36 20-Road Districts $ 3,023.02 21-Title IV-E/AACOG Grant $ 4,280.00 50-Indigent Health Care $ 31,709.89 76-Juvenile Detention Facility $ 18,128.02 Total $ 210,050.94 Upon motion made by Commissioner Baldwin, seconded by Commissioner Nicholson, the Court unanimously approved by vote of 3-0-0 to pay the claims and accounts. ORDER NO.29406 BUDGET AMENDMENT COUNTY AUDITOR Came to be heard this the 26th day of September, 2005, with a motion made by Commissioner Nicholson, seconded by Commissioner Williams, the Court unanimously approved by vote of 3-0-0 to transfer the following expense codes: Expense Code Description 10-495-569 Operating Equipment 10-495-108 Part-time Salary Amendment Increase/QDecrease + $1,717.24 - ($1,717.24) ORDER NO. 29407 BUDGET AMENDMENT DISTRICT CLERK Came to be heard this the 26th day of September, 2005, with a motion made by Commissioner Nicholson, seconded by Commissioner Baldwin, the Court unanimously approved by vote of 3-0-0 to transfer the following expense codes: Expense Code Description 10-450-216 Employee Training 10-450-108 Part-Time Salaries Amendment Increase/()Decrease + $709.66 - ($709.66) ORDER NO. 29408 BUDGET AMENDMENT INDIGENT HEALTH CARE Came to be heard this the 26th day of September, 2005, with a motion made by Commissioner Williams, seconded by Commissioner Baldwin, the Court unanimously approved by vote of 3-0-0 to transfer the following expense codes: Expense Code Description 50-641-200 Eligible Expenses 50-641-486 Third Party Administration Amendment Increase/()Decrease + $28,978.46 + $1,304.03 Declare an emergency and move funds from #50 Surplus Funds. ORDER NO.29409 BUDGET AMENDMENT COUNTY EXTENSION OFFICE Came to be heard this the 26th day of September, 2005, with a motion made by Commissioner Baldwin, seconded by Commissioner Williams, the Court unanimously approved by vote of 3-0-0 to transfer the following expense codes: Expense Code Description 10-665-570 Capital Outlay 10-665-569 Operating Equipment 10-665-310 Office Supplies 10-665-485 Conferences Amendment Increase/QDecrease + $1,104.00 + $421.23 - ($525.23) - ($1,000.00) ORDER NO. 29410 MONTHLY REPORTS Came to be heard this the 26th day of September, 2005, with a motion made by Commissioner Baldwin, seconded by Commissioner Nicholson, the Court unanimously approved by vote of 3-0-0 the following monthly reports: J.P. #4 J.P. # 1 -Amended County Clerk -Trust