1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 KERR COUNTY COMMISSIONERS COURT Regular Session Monday, June 11, 2007 9:00 a.m. Commissioners' Courtroom Kerr County Courthouse Kerrville, Texas PRESENT: PAT TINLEY, Kerr County Judge H A."BUSTER" BALDWIN, Commissioner Pct. 1 WILLIAM "BILL" WILLIAMS, Commissioner Pct. 2 JONATHAN LETZ, Commissioner Pct. 3 BRUCE OEHLER, Commissioner Pct. 4 v a~ 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 2 I N D E X June 11, 2007 PAGE --- Commissioners' Comments 5 1.1 Request usage and rate of Kerr County Youth Exhibit Center, February 16-17, 2008, for art sale fundraiser to benefit Former Texas Ranger Foundation 11 1.2 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to readdress Regional Appellate Defense contract 12 1.3 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to authorize nuisance enforcement including litigation relative to Roy Street OSSF issues (Executive Session, as applicable) 18 1.4 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action for road changes in various locations; set public hearing for same 19 1.5 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action for revision of plat for Y.O. Ranchlands III, Lots 109, 110, 118 & 119; set public hearing for same 24 1.6 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action for revision of plat of Lots 2-11 of Privilege Creek Ranches (a/k/a Boerne Falls Ranch) to include road name change from Privilege Lane to Turkey Knob; set public hearing for same 27 1.7 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action on proposed site plan for Hill Country Youth Exhibit Center as presented at last meeting; authorize Commissioners Oehler & Letz to proceed with planning 35 1.13 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to authorize drafting of a "leash law" requirement for persons bringing dogs to Flat Rock Lake Park 46 1.8 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action authorizing John Trolinger to work with Commissioners Letz & Oehler to develop computerized booking system 58 1.9 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to add link to Hill Country Veterans Council on the Kerr County website home page 60 1.10 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action concerning monthly reports from constables 62 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 3 I N D E X (Continued) June 11, 2007 1.11 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to designate new registered agent for Kerr County Housing Finance Corporation 1.12 Request Kerr County Environmental Health Department to provide update on status of TCEQ and court-ordered cleanup of property owned by Milton Taylor, adjacent to Flat Rock Lake Park 1.14 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to approve Letter of Engagement with McCall, Parkhurst & Horton, LLP, to provide Bond Counsel services to Kerr County for Center Point/Eastern Kerr County Wastewater project 1.15 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to clarify expiration of terms of office of Commissioners Williams and Letz on Kerrville/ Kerr County Joint Airport Board 1.16 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action on IRS notice regarding tax period of March 31, 2007 4.1 Pay Bills 4.2 Budget Amendments 4.3 Late Bills 4.4 Approve and Accept Monthly Reports 1.17 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to fill vacancy in Environmental Health, administrative assistant position 1.18 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action regarding designation or status of Environmental Health Code Enforcement Officer(s) (Executive Session) 3.1 Action as may be required on matters discussed in Executive Session 5.1 Reports from Commissioners/Liaison Committee Assignments 5.2 Reports from Elected Officials/Department Heads --- Adjourned PAGE 66 68 79 80 82 90 90 95 96 96 103 105 108 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 4 On Monday, June 11, 2007, at 9:00 a.m., a regular meeting of the Kerr County Commissioners Court was held in the Commissioners' Courtroom, Kerr County Courthouse, Kerrville, Texas, and the following proceedings were had in open court: P R O C E E D I N G S JUDGE TINLEY: Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Let me call to order this regular meeting of the Kerr County Commissioners Court scheduled and posted for this time and date, Monday, June 11, 2007, at 9 a.m. It is that time now. Commissioner Oehler? COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Please stand for a moment of prayer. (Prayer and pledge of allegiance.) COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Thank you. At this time, if there's any member of the public that wishes to be heard on any matter that is not a listed agenda item, we'd be happy to hear from you now. If you wish to be heard on a listed agenda item, we would ask that you wait until that agenda item is called, and also that you fill out a participation form. They can be found at the rear of the room. It's not absolutely essential that you do that. It just helps me to identify those that wish to be heard so that I don't overlook you. But if -- if, for some reason, I do overlook you or you haven't filled out a participation form, when we get to that item, please get my attention in some way, shape, form, or fashion, 6-11-07 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 5 and I'll see that you have an opportunity to be heard, even if you haven't filled out an agenda item. But at this time, if there's any member of the public that wishes to be heard on any matter that is not a listed agenda item, feel free to come forward at this time and tell us what's on your mind. Seeing no one coming forward, we'll move on. Commissioner Oehler, do you have anything for us this morning? COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Oh, not a whole lot. It's just finally turned summertime, and things up the river are in full bloom with all the camps being open and lots of people using all the wonderful Guadalupe River again this summer, and sure glad they're here. They bring a lot of money to Kerr County. Besides that, nothing. JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you. Commissioner 1? COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yes, sir. It's good to be home. Saw a lot of interesting things -- stuff and things. And -- but it's -- it is a thrill to be home, I can tell you. I saw my son bungee jump off of a 200-foot cliff tied to a rubber bland. (Laughter.) And doesn't make any sense to me, but, boy, he sure had a good time doing it. But we did a hundred thousand things like that. It was really a treat. That's all I have. JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you. Commissioner Williams? COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Just got a letter in the mail this morning -- opened this morning. I won't read the 6-11-07 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 6 whole thing, except one paragraph, and I'm going to give it to Commissioner Oehler. It's nice to get a letter that compliments our staff, no matter what department it is. "Ms. Roman is open and honest with people regarding her animals. She and the staff are very caring and compassionate people, and they have the best interests of animals and owners at heart. The place is also very neat and clean," on and on. Commissioner, here's a copy. It's a nice letter commending the activities that take place at the animal -- COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Is that from Bruce? COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Yeah. COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I did not. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: He signed it? I'm going to try that. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Boy, you're sharp this morning. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Sharpened up. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: No jet lag, huh? Also, I got a communication this morning, which the Judge probably has this as well, from Texas Water Development Board, and it has to do with the comments T.W.D.B. has made on the preliminary planning. This -- this letter and comments should have been in my hands two weeks ago. Just arrived today, this morning, and so we'll incorporate them in the plan. This will necessitate one more public meeting, but it also, because the 6-11-07 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 7 lateness of them getting it to us, might require us to ask for another 30 days, which is all. I won't test -- JUDGE TINLEY: Is this on the -- COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: This is on the -- JUDGE TINLEY: -- Kerrville South? COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: No. No, this is on the preliminary plan for Center Point. JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Which we're wrapping up on the grant. They have an interest in that grant, as does U.G.R.A. JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Planning. That's it, Judge. JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Commissioner Letz? COMMISSIONER LETZ: Only thing I have is, I think it was week before last -- the Judge was aware of it -- I was referred a phone call to him from Bud Little of W.O.A.I. He was calling related to the 20th anniversary of the accident outside of Comfort where it was -- ten kids from a camp were swept up the Guadalupe River and killed. But the take on the story, the reason I bring it up, is what has the County done in those 20 years to stop -- to prevent this from happening again? And we don't look back as often as we probably should. And I talked to him, visited with him probably 15, 20 minutes, and was going through things that I could discuss just off the 6-11-07 8 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 top of my head. The early warning system that we have now all along the river that U.S.G.S., Guadalupe-Blanco River Authority, and, really, U.G.R.A. is involved with is a big help; huge thing that's been really accomplished. Plus the -- the number of low-water bridges that this County and TexDOT have participated in replacing, and we're on that final, I guess, push on getting almost all those done in the county right now. And I think it's a -- it just shows that we have done a tremendous amount, not necessarily specifically because of that, but I think that flood and that tragedy has always been in the back of our minds, and a lot of these bridges is a result of that. And I think that's one of the -- it's kind of interesting to reflect back on the 20th anniversary of that tragedy and how we have made this county as a whole -- I think this and many courts before, and TexDOT, through their help, made a lot of improvements in safety along the river. And we have a little ways to go, but I think most of the worst areas have been corrected or are being corrected right now. That's it. COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Judge, I have one more thing to add that I forgot. JUDGE TINLEY: Sure. COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Janie Roman came in earlier this morning; I was here before 8 o'clock, and she told me that she has confirmed more cases of rabies -- and I haven't 6-11-07 9 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 gotten a chance to discuss this with Commissioner Williams -- in Center Point. We have some in our end of the county as well. But she reported to me this morning that she had, I believe over the weekend, in three different areas -- three different locations, but all in close proximity to each other, has found animals she believed to have rabies, two coons and a skunk, and -- and maybe possibly a puppy that has come into contact with possibly the skunk before it died, or -- must have been before it died. And she is, as we speak, headed to San Antonio with the animals to be tested to see if it is positive. She has a real belief that it is going to be positive because of the way the animals were and the way they appeared before they died, and so that's something we all need to be aware of. And the reason I bring it up now is 'cause the press is still here, because later on, when we have Commissioners' reports, that might be a little too late to get that kind of a report put in the paper. But there -- there evidently is some rabies outbreak in Kerr County, and we need to all be aware of that. And if you see animals that are -- that are not acting right, call Animal Control. They deal with them, and they will respond very quickly if they hear of animals that appear to be sick or -- or possibly rabid. So, just keep that in mind, and the newspapers can help us with that. And it's not -- it's not a fun thing to report, but it is true, and we 6-11-07 10 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Judge, can I have one more I minute? JUDGE TINLEY: Sure. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: While we're talking about the newspaper being able to help us a little bit, Alamo Regional Transit is running trolleys on deviated routes. Deviated routes run essentially from Ingram to Center Point, and they make stops throughout that trip. And I haven't seen much publicity with respect to -- particularly in the daily paper with respect to schedules and the fact that that's taking place, and I certainly hope that we can get a little publicity. If people are going to ride the bus, they're going to ride because, one, they need to do that, and they know when it's going to run, and the schedule is readily available. And a little publicity about it would be helpful. JUDGE TINLEY: I think at one point, there were some of those flyers at the back of the room. I know that I've seen them posted at various places. They may not still be there, but at one point there were some of those flyers -- COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Yes, sir. JUDGE TINLEY: -- at the back of the room. I appreciate you mentioning that. Did you have anything? COMMISSIONER LETZ: No. JUDGE TINLEY: Since -- since we last met, if you'll 6-11-07 11 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 recall, we adopted a unanimous resolution in support of Mayor Gene Smith's initiative to designate June as Traffic Awareness Safety Month, and we had a kickoff of that since we last met, and had a pretty good bunch of folks there, and we appreciate the media's cooperation, the whole -- whole idea being to try and get people to pay more attention to the traffic laws, drive in a more courteous manner, hopefully be a good example to our visitors that come to see us here locally. And I want to thank Mayor Smith for his taking the lead for that initiative, and hopefully it'll produce some results. There's some question of that, but you don't know until you try. So, I appreciate his efforts. If we don't have anything from anyone else here on the Court, let's get on down to business. The first item on the agenda is to request usage and rates of Kerr County Youth Exhibit Center on February 16 and 17, 2008, for a professional art organization, that being the Texas Wild Bunch, to hold an art sale as a fundraiser benefiting the Former Texas Ranger Foundation. That will be a two-day event with art, silent auction, quick draw open free -- which will be open free to the public, and the sixth year to hold that event, four of them having been previously held at the Y.O. Ranch Resort Hotel, and the last year, actually held out at the Youth Center. Is Mr. Napper here with us today? He had asked that this item be placed on the agenda. 6-11-07 12 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Was there a request to get a reduced rate? Or -- I mean -- JUDGE TINLEY: I've -- I've not - - I've not received any request along those lines. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I thought we already had rates established for 501(c). I COMMISSIONER LETZ: We do. You c an forward it to our booking agent, and book it, and they ca n contact us if we need to make an adjustment. We don' t need any action by the Court. JUDGE TINLEY: I would agree with that. I thought maybe he wanted to make a presentation. Obviously not. Anybody on the Court have anything to offer on that item? COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: No, sir. JUDGE TINLEY: Let's move on to Item 2, then. Consider, discuss, and take appropriate action to readdress the Regional Appellate Defense contract. Is Ms. Bailey here? MS. BAILEY: Yes, sir. JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. And we have someone here from the Regional Appellate Defense group? MS. RODRIGUEZ: Yes. Good morning, gentlemen. On the agenda is Angela Moore -- JUDGE TINLEY: Give your name and address, please. MS. RODRIGUEZ: Yes. I'm Lori Rodriguez, and along with me is Roderick Glass. We're appellate public defenders 6-11-07 13 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 with the Bexar County Public Defender's office in San Antonio. The agenda has Ms. Moore; she's our chief public defender, but unfortunately she had a prior commitment, so she sent us along today. I believe where we're at is, I think that you all had approved the interlocal agreement with Bexar County to enter into the project for the Regional Defense Plan, but there were some problems when it came back to our Commissioners Court because there were interlineations on the contract. So, Mr. Glass and I are here today to just answer any concerns you may have. You know, we came in person, 'cause it's really important that -- we'd really like your county to take part in the program. It's going to be a great opportunity for this region. JUDGE TINLEY: The -- the language that you speak of had to do with extraneous expenses that -- that you had the ability to authorize, and we wanted the approval of the -- of the initiating court, the judge who -- in whose court the case was heard and from where the appeal was taken. And so it was -- I think there was one interlineation, to my recollection, and it was pretty minor. Your -- your chief, Ms. Moore, has since written a letter in which she stated that, number one, the likelihood that that's going to occur for investigators or interpreters or things of that nature post-trial is, at best, extremely remote. And, further, she made the statement in her letter that, being familiar with 6-11-07 14 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 Judge Ables and his procedures, that she -- she wasn't about to put him out on the end of the limb without telling him that she was going to do that and -- and getting his okay to do that, notwithstanding any contractual language. Is that a fair summation of -- MS. RODRIGUEZ: I think that's absolutely fair. I think Rocky and I have both done extensive appellate work, and it's, as you said, extremely rare that it would ever come up. And I think, really, there -- as far as we were concerned, there really wasn't any problem with the contract, but our Commissioners didn't want -- they want all the interlocal agreements to be the same, so they -- they didn't want to accept it with the interlineations. But, certainly, if there were an instance where there would have to be further expenses, I think what Ms. Moore reflected in the letter was that we would certainly, you know, discuss those with the appointing judge. I don't really foresee it being an issue at all. JUDGE TINLEY: Let me ask you, how many -- how many counties are in your Appellate Indigent Defense project? MS. RODRIGUEZ: There's 32 counties in the Fourth Court district. Right now, we have -- about a third of those have entered interlocal agreements. JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. MS. RODRIGUEZ: We're hoping that all of them will. 6-11-07 15 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 Some of the counties, I think, have been slow in getting back to us because they don't have -- you know, they may have one appeal every two or three years, so it's not a pressing issue for them. JUDGE TINLEY: As to those counties that have entered into interlocal agreements with you, approximately a third of the 32, which would be 10 or 11, I would guess, how many of those have modified any of the language in that interlocal agreement as you proposed it to us? MS. RODRIGUEZ: None. Only Kerr County. None of them had. JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Judge, I have a question. When costs are incurred like that, whether it be interpreter or whatever, doesn't Judge Ables approve it before it goes out anyway? JUDGE TINLEY: Virtually all of those costs are ', incurred at the trial level, and I think that's probably what needs to be understood. Costs for investigators, costs for interpreters and similar type costs are incurred at the trial level, before Notice of Appeal is ever given, which starts it on the track down here to these folks. And, yes, Judge Ables does control those costs at the trial -- or whoever the trial judge may be controls those costs and has -- has oversight authority over them at -- at that level. 6-11-07 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 16 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: And then, when it moves into those folks in the appellate arena, then they -- these people here are totally in charge of -- of approving or disapproving? JUDGE TINLEY: Under the terms of the contract -- the literal terms of the contract, as I read it, they would be for those type expenses. But the point is that I cannot think of a single case that I've ever been involved in, in which those types of expenses would even come into play once it's up on appeal. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I see. Mm-hmm. JUDGE TINLEY: And I think that's -- you've handled -- between the two of you folks, you've handled a number of appeals, -- MS. RODRIGUEZ: That's correct. JUDGE TINLEY: -- obviously. MS. RODRIGUEZ: That's correct. And just to sort of give a brief overview, maybe this'll help put it in perspective. Once we get our -- our -- once we get involved on the case, it's at the appellate level, so we're working just from the trial court record, just from what's taken down by the court reporter. And we can't really bring in -- at least at our level of what we're doing, we can't bring in anything outside of the record, so it wouldn't be as if -- we're not authorized to do writs of habeas corpus, which is the collateral attack. That's the only instance, I would 6-11-07 17 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 imagine, in a post-appellate scheme of things that you would and actually, under our grant funding, we can't go outside. We can't do writs or anything like that, so we're really limited to what happened at trial. Now, the only thing I could foresee, you know, could possibly involve some expense would be if we had to get an interpreter, but chances are that would be a Spanish language interpreter anyway, and our -- we have one in the office. I mean, our secretary speaks Spanish. typically when we've done this kind of work in the past, we've always had to go -- it's sort of our practice to go and get approval from the judge. I mean, in our office it hasn't come up yet, but when we were in private practice, you do -- if there's any expenses that's sort of outside the appellate appointment, you know, we would go and get prior approval from the Judge. That's just sort of standard practice. COMMISSIONER LETZ: The current -- or the agreement Attorney's office. Does your office have any comment, or do they think it's okay for us to go ahead with the form of contract as originally presented? MS. BAILEY: I can't anticipate there being -- as she said, I can't really anticipate a situation where there would be a large amount of costs in -- in this appellate 6-11-07 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 scheme, so I'm not concerned about it from a practical level. Certainly, from a legal level, whatever letter Ms. Moore wrote would be extraneous to the contract, so if there was a huge expense, that letter wouldn't limit us. However, I've worked with Ms. Moore in the past. She's an excellent attorney. I trust her implicitly, and -- and so I don't have any heartburn about agreeing to change the contract back to the way it was presented. COMMISSIONER LETZ: I make a motion that we accept the contract as originally presented. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Second. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded as indicated. Any further question or discussion on that 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. Thank you very much for being here with us today. MS. RODRIGUEZ: Thank you, gentlemen. MR. GLASS: Thank you. JUDGE TINLEY: Let's move to Item 3, if we might. Consider, discuss, and take appropriate action to authorize 6-11-07 19 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 nuisance enforcement, including litigation, relative to Roy Street O.S.S.F. issues. First, let me inquire if this is a matter that needs to be totally considered in executive session, or whether or not there are some public -- public session matters that can be addressed? MS. BAILEY: I think it's really pretty much entirely executive session. JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Any member of the Court -- MS. BAILEY: As far as I know. JUDGE TINLEY: -- have anything to offer in the open or public session? COMMISSIONER LETZ: Can we pass on this, Judge, and come back to it later? JUDGE TINLEY: Mm-hmm. Oh, yeah. Yeah. COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah, we're going to do the executive session at the tail end. COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. JUDGE TINLEY: We'll defer on that one for now and move to Item 4. Consider, discuss, and take appropriate action for road changes in various locations, and set a public hearing for the same. MR. ODOM: Yes, sir. It is the intention of the Commissioners Court to consider road changes in various locations in Kerr County. A public hearing would be held July 6-11-07 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 20 the 23rd, 2007, at 9:55 a.m., Commissioners Courtroom of Kerr County Courthouse, 700 Main, Kerrville, Texas, concerning the following proposed road changes: One is a speed limit on Goat Creek Cutoff. We ran some tests out there to see what the speed is, and we recommend 35 miles an hour. Presently it's 30, so we're saying 35 is probably a realistic and a safer speed to go at. A stop sign at Greenwood to Marilyn. Currently, there's a yield sign there now, and the complaint is that these people are running this yield sign. So, as far as tort liability is concerned, it would probably be better to put the stop sign there and make people more responsible. I don't know if that'll make them stop, but it would make them responsible in case there's an accident. It wouldn't be a question of who had right-of-way. Name change. We have a name change, Staach Ranch Road, change that to Bear Creek Road. Currently, we have -- Bandera County has the name Bear Creek. You have to understand where Staach Ranch is at. I go past the courthouse in Bandera and go another 20 miles to get to this road, and so I go several miles up Bear Creek, get our road for one mile, and then the end of the road is in Kendall County. Now, Kendall County and -- and Bandera both named their roads Bear Creek, and I believe that it's appropriate to change that name to Bear Creek also, that 1 mile, for health, safety, and welfare for EMS and police and everything else that would be serving that. I had to put that in there. 6-11-07 21 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: For your information, the people over there that live on the road don't acknowledge that they live on Staach Ranch, anyway. I was down there recently; they said -- COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: "Where's that?" COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah, "Where's that road? We don't know anything about that." Truby or Len? MR. ODOM: Mm-hmm? COMMISSIONER LETZ: Where are we on Louise Oehler, changing it to Barbary Way? MS. HARDIN: My understanding is that you were going to have a petition from the landowners. COMMISSIONER LETZ: I thought 911 was going to take care of that. I was wondering if we -- you might check with Bill Amerine. We can save some money if we add it in, 'cause you -- MS. HARDIN: It doesn't need to be added, 'cause it's not a County-maintained road, so there doesn't have to be a public hearing. COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay, thank you. MR. ODOM: Okay. JUDGE TINLEY: Mr. Odom, what about, you know, Bear Creek Road out here between here and Ingram? MR. ODOM: But that's in Bandera County. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: What? 6-11-07 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 22 well, but it's fixing to be in Kerr MR. ODOM: Oh, I hadn't thought of that. JUDGE TINLEY: If we implement this change, we got a Bear Creek in Bandera, we got a Bear Creek in Kendall, and we got an intervening portion that you're proposing to change to Bear Creek, but we've got one out here between here and Ingram too, don't we? MR. ODOM: Yes, sir. You have one -- you do have one, but I would suppose that that number that they would call out of, whatever that number is, is so different -- there was a debate a long time ago about the name changes, and had to do with either the names or -- and we could have duplications. I believe that we have some duplications in the county now with a few names. So, this is totally in another geographical area of the county, and should be able to be defined of where it's at. But EMS and all would be coming out of Bandera anyway. COMMISSIONER LETZ: It's got a separate geo-region designation, so you can have a duplicate, even though we try to limit them, but in this situation, their phones are under Southwestern Bell system, and their -- their phones go straight -- their 911 calls go straight into Bandera. MR. ODOM: Bandera. COMMISSIONER LETZ: Pipe Creek. It's the Pipe Creek/Castle Lake Fire, Pipe Creek/Bandera County EMS. 6-11-07 23 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Judge, when we first started this stuff, the -- there were five Bear Creeks in Kerr County, Bear Creek Roads. JUDGE TINLEY: And we're down to two, or about to be down to two? COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Well, no, there's still one out at Hunt, the Boy Scout camp. JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah, scout ranch. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So, we're down to three, but they're in different geo-regions, and it works that way. MR. ODOM: It works. It has worked very well. COMMISSIONER LETZ: Move approval of the agenda item. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. JUDGE TINLEY: That being to set a public hearing -- COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yes. JUDGE TINLEY: -- as indicated? Very well. COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Second -- we need a second? COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I seconded. JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. I have a motion and a second as indicated. Any further question or discussion on the motion? All in favor of the motion, signify by raising your right hand. (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 6-11-07 24 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 (No response.) JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. Let's move to Item 5, if we might. Consider, discuss, and take appropriate action for the revision of plat for Y.O. Ranchlands III, Lots 109, 110, 118, and 119 as set forth in Volume 6, Page 17, Plat Records, and set a public hearing for the same. MR. ODOM: Yes, sir. This revision is being done under the alternate plat process to combine four lots into one, 109-R, 262.19 acres. We ask the Court to address two issues today. And I just received this letter here dated 24 January '07 from Mr. Emerson. One is whether or not O.S.S.F. needs to review or sign the final plat. Kerr County Subdivision Rules state, the revised one, 6.03.C.5.c, "Statement on O.S.S.F. required on all final plats." And in the past, there's been discussion previously back in January as to whether O.S.S.F. needs to review and/or sign a plat when it combines lots. We ask the Court to clarify this for both departments, O.S.S.F. and us, in such a way that we can add it to our checklist when we're reviewing plat revisions. We -- also, to set a public hearing for July the 23rd, 2007, at 9:50 a.m. I I would assume that -- Tish just gave this to Truby back there, and reading it, what I surmise from this, not being legal, is that basically Rex just -- and my memory was that we said that this is not a subdivision. When we're 6-11-07 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 25 combining a lot, we're not creating a subdivision. And his final paragraph here in summary basically says that, but I wanted some clarification from the Court again. If this is the procedure, then I shouldn't have any problem in the future or any questions as to whether the O.S.S.F. needs to sign it or not. COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think the issue is that, one, either your department or O.S.S.F. needs to get this on the next agenda and make a -- make a total determination. That wasn't done previously, so we're doing them case-by-case right now, and the way the agenda item is styled, I don't think we can do more than a case-by-case today. JUDGE TINLEY: I would agree with you. COMMISSIONER LETZ: If this is on our -- if you put it on our next agenda, we can make a policy change. MR. ODOM: Good. COMMISSIONER LETZ: As long as that's consistent with that letter from -- MR. ODOM: If we have consistency, then the surveyors and engineers are -- we all know which page to go with on this thing, and O.S.S.F. JUDGE TINLEY: Basically, what you're saying is the term "subdivision" means making into two or more smaller ~ parts. MR. ODOM: That's right. 6-11-07 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 JUDGE TINLEY: When you combine, you don't do that. MR. ODOM: You don't do that. JUDGE TINLEY: They don't fall under that I definition. MR. ODOM: That's right. JUDGE TINLEY: Makes sense. MR. ODOM: Now, the question would be, can I go forward, then, to go ahead and set a public hearing? If there's any changes, we would catch that before the final anyway. Can we go ahead and set a public hearing for an alternate plat process? COMMISSIONER LETZ: Sure. COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Sure, I don't see why not. MR. ODOM: Okay. JUDGE TINLEY: That's all you're asking for today on the agenda item, anyway. MR. ODOM: Yes, sir, set a public hearing for July 23rd, 2007, at 9:50 a.m. COMMISSIONER OEHLER: So moved. COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded as indicated. Any question or discussion? COMMISSIONER LETZ: And one of the two departments will get this on our next agenda? MR. ODOM: Yes. 6-11-07 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 27 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. JUDGE TINLEY: Any further question or discussion? All in favor of the motion, signify by raising your right I hand. (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. (No response.) JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. Let's move to Item 6; consider, discuss, and take appropriate action for revision of plat of Lots 2 through 11 of Privilege Creek Ranches, as set forth in Volume 7, Pages 136 and 137, also known as Boerne Falls Ranch, to include road name change from Privilege Lane to Turkey Knob, and set a public hearing for the same. MR. ODOM: Yes, sir. Before presenting the revision of plat for Lots 2 through 11 of Privilege Creek Ranches, I ask the developer and his legal representative to assure the Court that they have legal egress and ingress to this property through Kendall County, and in addition, I ask that the Kerr County Attorney, Rex Emerson, confirm such findings. The following is how the project has been presented to the Court, and I have a summary of what -- where we're really at, and we actually only have the Privilege Creek Ranch. As you see the -- the outline that I presented, we have also received documents under the name Boerne Falls, so let the record 6-11-07 28 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 reflect that all these names are for one project. The plat before you today is for a revision of plat for Lots 2 through 11 of Privilege Creek Ranches, as recorded in Volume 7, Pages 136 through 137 of Kerr County Subdivision Records. Wayne Wells has reviewed the construction drawings and drainage study, and his notes and invoices are inclosed. The total cost to Kerr County for engineering is $1,207.31, which is to be reimbursed through the developer, in fact, to the County. With this plat approval, the road name Privilege Lane will be changed to Turkey Knob. With legal egress and ingress to this development in place, I recommend that you approve the revision of plat for Lots 2 through 11 of Privilege Creek Ranches, as recorded in Volume 7, Pages 136 through 137, and set a public hearing July the 23rd of 2007 at 10 a.m. JUDGE TINLEY: So, what you're asking the Court to take action on today is to set the public hearing? MR. ODOM: That is correct, and to -- basically, what we have told the developer before, and his legal counsel, was to provide us certification that he had egress-ingress to this before we proceeded with this plat. My understanding is that they have that, but I -- I'm not legal. So, I just want to be sure that we have egress-ingress and we can proceed forward to this revision. I don't have a problem with the revision of this plat. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Who's going to speak to the 6-11-07 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 29 issue? MR. EASON: I was, Your Honor. JUDGE TINLEY: We have two participation forms that have been filed. The first is Mr. Bob Eason, who is with the Kendall County Attorney's office. Mr. Eason? MR. EASON: Morning. Thank you for your time. I'm here on behalf of the Kendall County Commissioners Court. As this Court may know, Kendall County sought injunctive relief on the developer in this case because he is using -- the only access he has is using Kendall County roads, and we asked that he be enjoined from using them to develop that piece of property unless and until he complied with all Kendall County rules and regulations having to do with subdivisions. He did not do that, so a suit was filed asking for injunctive relief. The Court granted Kendall County a temporary injunction. That injunction is still in place. It's effective today. The developer is not allowed to use Kendall County roads to develop that property unless and until he complies with Kendall County rules. And Kendall County rules that he needs to comply with are to have a traffic impact study conducted, file a plat with the county, and then have it considered by the Commissioners Court. He has not done that. This situation is currently set for trial on November the 5th. The temporary injunction has been appealed, but no court has overturned it, so it's still in effect. So, it's our -- what 6-11-07 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 30 we're trying do is tell you we're trying to clarify the access issue. We're certainly not asking you -- or telling you to do anything. Kendall County's not doing that. But he doesn't have legal access at this time. Until it's overturned by a court, or until he complies with Kendall County rules, he won't have access. Thank you. JUDGE TINLEY: Who -- who are the parties to that particular litigation? The people? MR. EASON: Kendall County and BTEX Ranch, Limited. And I think there may be some others, but I don't have the names with me today. I think that Mr. Blume was originally on it. He may have been dropped from the suit; I'm not sure. Development company, mostly. JUDGE TINLEY: Kerr County obviously was not a party to that. MR. EASON: Absolutely not. JUDGE TINLEY: Any questions for Mr. Eason by any member of the Court? Thank you, sir. We appreciate it. MR. EASON: Thank you. JUDGE TINLEY: We have another participation form from Mr. David Jackson. MR. JACKSON: David Jackson, 820 Main, on behalf of ~' the applicant. The clarification with respect to the injunction, although I'm not involved in the litigation, is that there is no injunction for access. There's nothing in 6-11-07 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 31 i the order that denies access to this property. As I understand, Kerr County's concern is, does this property have access? Whether or not there are issues of development that need to be complied with, perhaps, is yet to be determined, but that's an issue for the developer, the trial counsel for the developer, and Kendall County to work out with the judge and/or the appellate court. What we did here, if you'll remember the process, is this Court said that it would proceed so long as Kerr County rules were complied with, and we delayed coming back to the Court to accomplish two things. First, we're only revising the existing plat. That's what -- a plat that you approved a long time ago. There was access then. There's access now. Second, we made sure that the County Attorney's office was satisfied. Mr. Mosty and I met with Mr. Emerson, and he is comfortable with the fact that there is access. I certainly concede to counsel that there are issues of development and compliance with Kendall County, but as you might guess, there are always going to be issues when there is a development that is totally located in Kerr using roads in Kendall, and that's just something we're going to have to work out. But that does not prevent this Court or this County from complying with the rules. Unless Ilse has something else to add to that, I think that -- that was our understanding. I wouldn't have come back to you had we not had that assurance 6-11-07 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 32 from the County Attorney. MS. BAILEY: My understanding is that what he's saying about Rex's position is correct. MR. JACKSON: And we're certainly here to answer any questions. The debate will go on. It's a fair and honest debate, but for now, to allow us to move a couple of lot lines and to change the name of a road isn't in the lawsuit in any way, shape, or form. MR. EASON: Would it help the Court to have a certified copy of the injunction? MS. BAILEY: There's a copy in our materials. MR. JACKSON: I think the Court -- the County Attorney has all that information. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I think that -- JUDGE TINLEY: There's a copy in the materials provided to the Court also. MR. EASON: Okay. MR. JACKSON: Thank you. JUDGE TINLEY: I think the issue today is setting a public hearing. That's all that Mr. Odom is requesting. And he's requesting that there be a public hearing on this matter for July the 23rd, 2007, at 10 a.m. Is that correct, Mr. Odom? MR. ODOM: That is correct, sir. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I so move, Judge. 6-11-07 33 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I want to second it, but I I want to be real clear. JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. I have a motion and second for approval of the public hearing scheduled as indicated. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Public hearing on revision of plat. That's all we're doing? JUDGE TINLEY: Mm-hmm. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Well, I'll third it, then. I'm ready to go. JUDGE TINLEY: We have a motion and second as indicated for the setting of a public hearing for the -- MR. ODOM: Excuse me. JUDGE TINLEY: -- revision of a plat for July the 23rd, 2007, at 10 a.m. Any further question or discussion on that motion? MR. ODOM: We want to -- basically, not only the revision, but this is a preliminary; to approve this preliminary of this revision. So, in other words, we're changing this from Lots 2 through 11 to this -- to this revision, so it is really a preliminary. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Let me ask you a question. Leonard, when we have the public hearing on the 23rd at 10 a.m., will that public hearing be followed by action from the Court? MR. ODOM: That's right. 6-11-07 34 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So, in my mind, there's plenty of time at the public hearing and the action taken by the Court for the debate, whether we don't like Kendall County or they don't like us or whatever the issue is. MR. ODOM: The issue is just the revision of this plat, and -- and that's all it is. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Well, ingress-egress. MR. ODOM: That's right. The issue is egress-ingress, and one says no and one says yes. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Let me restructure the motion, Judge. I would move that preliminary revision of plat ~I for Lots 2 to 11 of Privilege Creek Ranches, Volume 7, Page 136-'37 of Kerr County Land Records, to include the road name change from Privilege Lane to Turkey Knob, and set a public hearing for same on July 23, 2007, at 10 a.m. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. JUDGE TINLEY: We have a motion and second as indicated and stated in the record. Any further question or discussion on that motion? All in favor of that motion, signify by raising your right hand. (Commissioners Baldwin, Williams, and Oehler voted in favor of the motion.) JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. COMMISSIONER LETZ: Abstain. JUDGE TINLEY: Let the record reflect that 6-11-07 35 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 Commissioner Letz abstained, neither participating in the discussion or the vote. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Coward. JUDGE TINLEY: Okay, let's move on to Item 7, if we might. Consider, discuss, and take appropriate action of proposed site plan for Hill Country Youth Exhibit Center, as presented at our last meeting, and authorize Commissioners Oehler and Letz to proceed with planning. Which one of you guys wants to take off? COMMISSIONER LETZ: Judge, I put this on the agenda for the main reason that Commissioner Baldwin was absent at the last meeting when we talked about this a little bit, and I wanted to make sure that he was comfortable with the direction we were going, and also to clarify a point about -- at the last meeting I said that we had put $50,000 in a fund for moving the outdoor arena. During the budget process, that was reduced to 25,000. And -- but the idea would be to instruct the Auditor to, I guess, designate work at the remodeling of the pole barn or substitute that in for moving the arena this year. They're both -- it was listed in capital improvements, so it's just listed under -- listed as an item under the capital improvement. Doesn't require a budget amendment, just a matter of direction from the Court. That was after a discussion I had with the Auditor. But, as the diagram shows -- I'll go over it briefly 6-11-07 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 36 again. The plan is that the barn -- the pole barn with the horse stalls will be renovated, horse stalls moved out. About half to two-thirds of that building will be used for 4-H projects. So, we'll have a concrete slab. Sides will be put on the building, and pens will be put in. Then the other third or so of the building will be used for storage for the Fair Association, the 216th work crew, community service group, and also for the County. And the idea is to kind of get this started. The next phase of the project will be to relocate -- actually build a new outdoor arena, which will be located as shown on the attached plat, kind of to the east side of the property, and then the old arena would be torn down -- or old outdoor arena will be torn down. And then the final portion would be a new barn built on the east side of the arena, approximately 150 feet by 300 feet in size, and after that is built, then the hog barn portion will be torn down. And then the area -- that new area will allow for parking on both sides of the building; probably allow for a little bit more -- better traffic pattern. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I read the minutes from New Zealand; you guys are famous. But to make sure that I understood something that Bruce was talking about, the horse stalls that are out there now, you want -- you're going to move them up under that back part of -- where the present arena -- indoor arena is? 6-11-07 37 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Part of it. COMMISSIONER LETZ: Side part. Side. COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Only -- on the east side, that's the covered part, next to the indoor arena. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay. COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Move a -- maybe 20 or 25. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay. COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Which is what we can -- will have a use for most of the time. That way they're able to be supervised, and also controlled, so that we actually get income off of those, rather than just have people come put animals in there and leave and come back and get them and don't pay. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I agree 100 percent. COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Which we've had some of that. The rest of them, for the time being, will be removed from the existing barn and just stored until we can do something else with them, and maybe outside in the future, maybe under a smaller pole-type barn, if we choose to do that later. But for the time being, get them out of there so that we can start working on making that a -- basically, a -- a project barn for 4-H and F.F.A. And they're going to -- my understanding is they're going to raise a good part of the money to do a lot of that renovation. The County's not going to pay for that whole thing. We just -- you know, we're kind of getting things 6-11-07 38 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 started, and they're supposed to come in and -- and finish out with other money, other than county money, this area for the projects. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: You're talking about the Fair Association? COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Talking about -- talking about Extension Office, 4-H, F.F.A. COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think -- yeah. The -- the idea is, I think the County's going to do the -- kind of the basic work, and then the finish-out of the whole thing, I think the Fair Association is going to pay for their part, 216th will pay for their part, and the 4-H projects, through donations, is going to build the pens and all that. I think our obligation is going to be probably to put the concrete slab in, and maybe some of the side work. COMMISSIONER OEHLER: May be a joint effort between the County and -- and whoever they can get to donate some money for that slab. The slab's going to be expensive. COMMISSIONER LETZ: The -- you know, and on the slab issue, that's where I would see, you know, we would put the 25,000 towards that. And, you know, I would be in favor of finding some additional funds in our budget, and I will probably go to some of the -- be an increase in the budget, but using some of the funds that we received from our insurance settlement; designate, you know, maybe 50,000 of 6-11-07 39 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 that, something like that, to get this slab going. And also as a -- you know, to start moving forward on it. I think a lot of the work on the side of the building can probably be done in-house or through -- you know, as we get people -- either trustees or community service people that are qualified welders to do a lot of that work. I mean, the structure, 'cause there's -- by putting some sides on, structure work. We're talking about putting some purline welds up -- some purlines up and put some pens up, which is not rocket science. And I think -- so I think that can be done. But -- and the other thing, I mean, we need to look at, and not necessarily -- kind of just the next step, if everyone is in agreement on where we're going, how we're going to do this. If we're getting into these types of projects, we have to -- you know, I'm not sure of the engineering requirements we need to get and how we need to do things. This is a piecemeal-type project. It's not something that we're going to go out for one bid on. And it seems tome that it may be appropriate to get on the next agenda, if everyone's supportive, of getting -- hiring a construction manager or someone that can oversee the work that's paid as we do things on more of an hourly -- whatever the rate would be. I think, under the law, we're allowed to do that. I think a lot of, you know, projects and renovation-type projects are done this way now, and I think we -- we have to go out for proposal for 6-11-07 40 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 that, but I think it makes a lot more sense. Certainly, we don't want to hire an architectural firm to do this. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So, you're not talking about hiring a planner or somebody up front to put this thing together? COMMISSIONER LETZ: You got the planners. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah. Yeah, and that was another one of my questions. And I think it would be wise to have somebody like that in the -- in the construction part of it. The -- are y'all including the stock show people in these plans? COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think they're aware of it. I have not visited with them. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I think that's smart. You need to -- need to build what the County wants to build, and just don't confuse things this time, like -- like happened last time. COMMISSIONER LETZ: I agree. I think we keep it. My idea is, this is the plan now. If people have an opinion -- it's been publicized; there was an article in the paper about it. If people have an opinion one way or the other, it's -- they should come to the Court and visit. I mean, it's been two weeks -- two sessions in a row I've had it on the agenda. That was also to see if there was strong comments one way or the other. I mean, I don't know if it's 6-11-07 41 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 lack of interest or agreement, but certainly, there's no -- I don't see a lot of opposition. COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Well, as part of this plan, too, Buster, and the rest of the Court, when we talk about building a new outdoor arena, that's an awfully large number there. That's not necessary, but it is -- I guess if we had to hire somebody to do it all and pay for all the materials costs -- I have some qualified, experienced people that are willing to volunteer to do the labor part of it on building the new arena. And, basically, the County or whoever -- basically, the County will just have to buy the materials, which will be very, very -- almost nominal compared to this I number. COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right, I agree. These are -- these are if we were to hire someone to do it. All these numbers are. And I think, except for the new barn, I don't think that's the intent, really, is to go out and hire -- I just want to give an idea of what we're talking about. COMMISSIONER OEHLER: The new barn is going to be the most expensive part of the whole thing. Other things are going to be marginal. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Is this outdoor arena -- bucking chutes? COMMISSIONER OEHLER: No. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Not that kind of -- roping 6-11-07 42 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 box? COMMISSIONER OEHLER: 4-H arena. Roping, return alley, and lights. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I see. COMMISSIONER OEHLER: And stands -- bleachers, and possibly a concession stand under one end of that pole barn that's existing now. But, no. No, if they need to buck livestock, they can use the indoor arena. That is expensive. It is -- COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah. COMMISSIONER OEHLER: It's a lot of maintenance. It's heck to keep it up around it with all the weed control and everything else, like we have with the existing one, which is rarely used. And, no, that is not part of my plan, and I have not made that a part of the plan. That -- the 4-H Horse Club that has that has that facility under their control at this time. But that's -- I don't care if this thing takes five years to do it. It just doesn't matter. We've got to start somewhere, and I think at some point we do need to -- we will have to have an exact plan of that big building, because that is going to have to be bid, and there will be multiple parts of that bid, mainly being the slab work and the building itself, and construction of it or -- or fabrication of it. So, those -- that kind of a thing would need to be done, and also for -- the most important reason, in my mind, is to be 6-11-07 43 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 able to try to acquire grant funding for that building, and some of these other projects as well. I do not want to spend any more county money or public money than absolutely necessary to do this. I think that the public will support it, and I think we can -- we can -- if we get a good plan and go to some of the foundations, I believe we can get funding for it. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I agree. COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Without having to spend tax money. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I agree with you. What is the -- what is the limit now for bidding? COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: 25,000. COMMISSIONER LETZ: 25. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: 25,000. COMMISSIONER LETZ: And this is where -- I really think, you know, I'd like to have the County Attorney's office come back at our next meeting, and after having seen the plan, keep us out of trouble. You know, we want to -- how you interpret a lot of this, and how much volunteer work, how we work with the volunteers, if that has to be engineered or anything, if we have to have a stamp on it, how -- what we have to do to do what we want to do. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I think the idea of a construction manager is a good idea, and might help guide us 6-11-07 44 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 in that, because every one of these items is in excess of the bidding ceiling set by the state. And even though you're going to integrate volunteers to do some, and that's all well and good, total cost of it and incremental costs of it, there's some danger there if we're not careful. So, I think a construction manager is a good idea to help guide us through that in accordance with state law. I do have a question with respect to demolition. You got 100,000 estimated for demolition. That -- that is for the removal of the existing pens behind the exhibit hall; is that correct? COMMISSIONER OEHLER: And the building. COMMISSIONER LETZ: And the building -- the back part of the building, not the exhibit hall. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Okay, the back part of the building. Would that include any potential remediation for soil, that contaminated soil back there? Or have we thought about that? COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I don't know how much contamination that's going to have. That will wind up being a parking lot. I mean, what you basically have back there is manure, hay and stuff that's been gathering for years. COMMISSIONER LETZ: I don't -- I mean, it's not -- it's a bad situation to put livestock on it, 'cause it keeps -- it's more to keep bacteria and things of that sort from growing in the soil. These pens aren't used that much. 6-11-07 45 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 I doubt they're -- I mean, I think the contamination that would be there would be urine and -- and other. I think it's probably taken care of by bacteria almost naturally, you know. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Okay. COMMISSIONER LETZ: I wouldn't know what -- COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I don't know. I'm not an expert in the field. COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'm not either, but I'd -- I would be surprised if there's a huge -- COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Exposing that to daylight again would do a world of good. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I think Bill's right, though. I think -- I think you probably need to at least have it tested. COMMISSIONER LETZ: Mm-hmm. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: And if you look, right next door is Texas A & M, actually on the same piece of property. COMMISSIONER LETZ: We built the building. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: We built the building. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: What a novel approach. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: See, that's part of their planning, and I appreciate you guys building a building right next to A and M that can do the good soil testing. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Yeah, great idea. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: All works out, sounds like. 6-11-07 46 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Another freebie. COMMISSIONER LETZ: But if -- if everyone's in agreement, we can probably put it on our next agenda to do some of the -- I'll visit with the County Attorney's office about the construction manager issue. And then also, Bruce and I will visit a little bit more about -- and maybe get with Roy and the Fair Association about doing something to get this rolling, at least on the pole barn. I think Bruce already talked to Maintenance about getting the horse stalls moved, which is step one, and then see what we -- get a plan on that, at the same time we're talking to the County Attorney's office, and put it back on the next agenda. JUDGE TINLEY: Anything else to be offered in connection with that item? COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I don't have anything. JUDGE TINLEY: In deference to some folks that -- that wish to be heard, I'm going to take an item out of order. We'll move to Item 13; consider, discuss, and take appropriate action to authorize drafting of a leash law requirement for persons bringing dogs to Flat Rock Lake Park. Commissioner Williams. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Yes, sir. Thank you, Judge. I placed this on the agenda for the Court to think about and talk about, because over the last year or so, since we have sort of ignored what's taken place out there, I've had several 6-11-07 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 47 complaints, the most recent being a person who sought me out at the conclusion of church service a week ago to tell me that their animal had been attacked and nearly killed, and had to be taken to the veterinarian to save that animal's life. So, think about it. I also read where, basically -- and I want the County Attorney to weigh in on this -- that the state law does require it. And if state law requires that, then our policy with respect to the use of that park should reflect what the state law requires. So, I haven't proposed the language of the law. I can certainly defer to the County Attorney's office, and we can get some models and some samples and so forth. But if state law requires it, we ought to '~ comport to that law. I JUDGE TINLEY: We have a couple of participation ~I forms on this particular agenda item, and I'd like to give those folks an opportunity to be heard. The first one we have is from Mr. Robert Palmer. Mr. Palmer? If you'll come forward and give us your address and tell us what's on your mind concerning this item. MR. PALMER: Thank you. My name is Robert Palmer. I live at 410 Josephine. First of all, last time I was here, I requested a sign for Flat Rock Park, because there was no sign. And there is one now, and I wanted to make sure I thanked y'all for putting one up. And, so, I represent a group of people -- you see about four of them here on my 6-11-07 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 48 right -- and all of us walk with our dogs off-leash at the park, and our dogs all get along. And, in fact, I know these people; some of them, I don't know their names, but I know their dogs. MR. KELLY: Dogs' names, too. MR. PALMER: But, anyway, I wanted to request that you think seriously about this matter, because this is the one place in Kerr County where dogs have been accepted, have been allowed to go off-leash, and I've been there for over two years, walking my dogs almost every morning around 7:00 to 8 o'clock, and most of these people also, and also sometimes in the afternoon. And the problems have not been with the dogs, when there have been any problems. The dogs -- the problems have been with -- mostly with dog owners. I have not seen any real dog fights. I've not seen any dogs get hurt. ', I've seen a lot of happy dogs, a lot of social dogs. And so I! what I'm actually going to propose is a compromise. Right now, it's pretty well accepted by everyone in the legal profession in town -- I mean by that the police, the Sheriff's Department, Animal Control -- that this is an area which has been allowed for people to have their dogs off-leash. So, I am proposing that the dogs be allowed to go leash-free from around 7:00 in the morning until noon, and then in the afternoon, those people who have their dogs on-leash and are concerned about dogs running free, those people could bring 6-11-07 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 49 their dogs in the afternoon, after noon. And this is almost happening now, 'cause I've been there in the morning and the afternoon. So, I wanted to ask y'all if this kind of compromise could be made at Flat Rock Park, what your -- what y'all's comments on it might be. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Mr. Palmer, the law says there's a leash law, that you must have your animal on a leash. MR. PALMER: Unless -- unless you designate an area I as a -- COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Right. MR. PALMER: -- dog park. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Did we do that? MR. PALMER: No, it hasn't been -- it's been accepted. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So, you have been going out there leash -- leashless and breaking the law this whole time? MR. PALMER: I -- well -- COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I'm serious. I can't figure out what you're talking about. MR. KELLY: You're going to have a busload. MR. PALMER: Well, yes and no. You might have seen on the front page in the newspaper my dog, Boomer, a black lab, is a sightseeing dog for a husky -- a blind husky, and so that dog has been on-leash all the time. And I have another 6-11-07 50 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 dog that's been off-leash, but -- so the answer is yes and no. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: God. MR. PALMER: In other words, if you have a leash law, you don't see who's on which end of the leash, right? COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Well, I remember when you first came in, we were talking about a dog park like they do -- have in other places, and we said no to a dog park. MR. PALMER: I don't -- I don't believe there was any official request for the dog park. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Well -- COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Well, I remember it. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Your signage proposal was that we put up signs MR. PALMER: Right. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: -- indicating that as a dog-friendly park. And the Court did not go along with that idea, nor did it designate Flat Rock Lake Park as a -- as a -- whatever you call it; the dog can run free and -- COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Leashless. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Leashless or whatever. We haven't done that. And we've had a year of experience now since -- since you made your appearance, a little over a year of experience since you made your appearance. And I don't know about the other Commissioners, but I have been contacted several times about the aggressive behavior of animals jumping 6-11-07 51 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 on people, just running and jumping on people that are not -- not their owners, folks who let their dogs run free, not cleaning up after their dogs, and most recently, an owner of an animal -- animal was attacked; a small dachshund dog was attacked and almost killed, and the owners of them then grabbed the dog up after it was all over with and walked down on Riverside Drive home, just totally oblivious to what took place. Didn't try to stop it or anything else. That's the reason why this is on the agenda. MR. PALMER: Okay. COMMISSIONER LETZ: My recollection was that at the time, that the law says something about being under your control or, you know, something along that line. And it was decided that, you know, if -- if the dogs are under your -- under control, may not be under a leash. Am I dreaming that that was part of that conversation? JUDGE TINLEY: I don't think so. I think that there's some language in the statute -- MR. PALMER: Right. JUDGE TINLEY: -- in various so-called "leash law" ordinances or orders that -- that deal with that. I'm not sure the state law that we're talking about, but I -- I suspect that as the County Attorney looks into this, they're going to come back and tell us what our options are. If there are any interpretation nuances or other definitions that 6-11-07 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 control -- or under leash or under control, why, we'll get that information presented to us. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: And that's really all I'm asking the Court today, is to authorize the research and a drafting of a leash law, and bring it back to the Court. Let's talk about it. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Mr. Palmer, what was your proposal, this time frame thing during the day? MR. PALMER: It was -- it's a compromise, and that those people who want to have their dogs on-leash and are concerned about other dogs being off-leash, is that they be -- have their time after noon till the evening to have their dogs on -- on-leash. And those people who prefer to have the dogs off-leash and socially mixing with each other have the morning from 7:00 until noon. And that way, you make both parties happy for the most part, because these people here have some great dogs, and we need an area here. And one other thing that has not been brought up, by our being there in the mornings and through the day, this park has become a safer park, because there are less people who are vagrant or -- or, you know, would seek out -- well, anyway, have evil intent. They're the ones who want secrecy. And -- but we have been there, and most of us are responsible. We help pick up in the park. Right now, there aren't enough barrels there, and there's garbage. People come down there and drop off their 6-11-07 53 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 garbage at that park, and so there's a bigger problem with that, and people coming in and messing up the property. That's a bigger problem than us having our dogs off-leash, but that doesn't seem to be addressed, or get addressed. JUDGE TINLEY: Anything else, Mr. Palmer? MR. PALMER: No. I just hope we can -- that we don't give up this one area in town where most of us who are responsible can -- can take our dogs and have them mix socially, because for the most part, it -- there's always going to be a few situations, no matter what, in that park, whether it's on-leash or off-leash, where you have dogs -- you know, a dog problem. They were there before we came, and they will be. But, for the most part, it is really a fine park. It's a beautiful park, and we help make it that. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Unfortunately, that's always the case, Mr. Palmer. When you have a privilege, there are -- the privilege has been extended, the abuses by someone who doesn't care and that messes it up for rest of the people. It was a dog that got bitten and injured this time. It could be a human that gets bitten and injured the next time. MR. PALMER: Well, that may happen even if you have -- if have you dogs on-leash. There are stray dogs that come into the park. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I understand. COMMISSIONER LETZ: The part of the park that 6-11-07 54 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 y'all -- you use the west side of Third Creek or the east side of Third Creek? MR. KELLY: West. MR. PALMER: West side. We -- COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: The big section. MR. PALMER: Until they complete that bridge. Whenever they do that, we'll probably just use that oval, and walk our dogs on it. COMMISSIONER LETZ: Another option may be to make it more the less-used, which is the east side, in the mornings to be allowed -- and there's access; you can get there right now by going up, I think, by the Swap Shop. But, anyway, that's another thing we can look at at our next meeting. JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you, Mr. Palmer. We appreciate it. We also have a participation form that was filed by Morgan Kelly. MR. KELLY: Sir, my name is Morgan Kelly, and I live at 108 Mesa Del Sol here in Kerrville. I can tell by looking at your faces who's definitely against this program and who may be inclined to be a little more lenient. However, what am I doing here in Kerrville? I came from up in the Kansas City area on the Kansas side, but -- to Kerrville. But before that, I was living in San Antonio, and I was selling Mooney airplanes, and that's how I discovered Kerrville, because I'd bring my prospects up here and take them through the plant. I 6-11-07 55 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 came up so often that they didn't even bother sending one of the employees to lead us through the factory and everything. They said, "You've been here long enough; you know the drill, so go do it yourself." And that made me feel very warm toward Kerrville, and here I am for the last 17, going on 18 years. Now, when I was in Kansas City, there was a beautiful big park there, much -- much larger than the one we're discussing, and they -- they made it a dog-free area until they finished another area that was designed especially for people with dogs, and it worked out very, very well. And that's what we'd ask you to do here. However, because this -- you see the five of us here, and six, really; this man's wife's outside. We didn't know about it until 7 o'clock this morning, when we read the newspaper, and we would like to have an opportunity to come back to the Commissioners Court and present our side of the story and see what can be done. Therefore, I would ask to you shelve this item until another time and give us a little more time to come and present this in a -- in a formal fashion. That's my point, and I thank you. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Excellent point. JUDGE TINLEY: Mr. Kelly, the matter to be considered today is just to merely ask the County Attorney to look into it to see what we're required to do under the law. We're not in a position to take any action, to adopt any rules one way or the other. 6-11-07 56 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 MR. KELLY: Okay. JUDGE TINLEY: Okay? MR. KELLY: Even if you set a section of the park aside. But I was -- you know, for people with dogs off-leash. But this gentleman's idea -- really, I'm sharing it with him, because he didn't -- we haven't talked about it, but I would -- I would like to see a time schedule there, and -- and the Court could say this section is dog leash -- off-leash area at certain times, and it should be acceptable. Thank you. JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you, sir. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I don't know that it requires court action, Judge. The County Attorney's here. We can look into it and bring it back, and the Court can weigh in on it at that time. MS. BAILEY: Would you like -- COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Only thing I'd like to offer on what you said is that I'm -- of course, everybody knows I'm a dog person. My dog is never on a leash unless it's totally required, because he's under my control. If he's not, he wished he had been. And, you know, I do -- I do believe that dogs should have a place to run free, as long as they're under control of their owners. It's pretty hard to throw a stick or throw a ball and have them go fetch it on a leash. You know, that -- that doesn't work very well. Or throw a dummy out into the water and ask them to go swimming and drag a leash 6-11-07 57 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 along with them, those kind of things. But I know this is a public area, and it may be different as opposed to some private areas. But I am sympathetic toward this situation, and I do -- I'm a -- I understand the problem, and really need to see what the law comes up with when it all comes down to the end. But -- MS. BAILEY: Do you want our office do the agenda -- the request item, or do one of y'all -- COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: What's that? MS. BAILEY: Do you want our office to prepare the agenda request item for the next meeting, or is that going to come from the Court? COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I'll get with you and Rex. MS. BAILEY: Okay. COMMISSIONER LETZ: Judge, I believe Mr. Miller also had a comment. MR. MILLER: Good morning. I'm a dog lover. I am. But let me just give you one other aspect -- JUDGE TINLEY: Give your name and address. MR. MILLER: My name's Bob Miller, Texas Arts and Crafts Fair Association, and I run River Star Arts and Events, which is next door to Flat Rock Lake Park. We've had a problem recently with the dogs not on a leash running through the park, especially early in the morning after we've had an event on the weekend, and getting in the trash, spreading it 6-11-07 58 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 all over the place. And one of my problems is -- I have no problem with having dogs unleashed, but there needs to be a fenced, controlled area for that to happen, you know, because we -- you've got lots of businesses and homes adjacent to that park that are not a part of -- don't want to be a part of -- of the dogs running loose. But I think if a dog park is, as such, designated for a park and fenced and set up, it will be wonderful. I'd even take my dog out there. JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you, sir. Any member of the Court have anything further to offer in connection with this? COMMISSIONER LETZ: No. JUDGE TINLEY: Let's move on to Item 8; consider, discuss, and take appropriate action authorizing John Trolinger, our I.T. Manager, to work with Commissioners Letz and Oehler to develop a computerized bookkeeping system. (Commissioner Baldwin left the courtroom.) COMMISSIONER LETZ: I put this on the agenda really as much just to make sure that Mr. Trolinger understood the importance of the Court to get this done. And Ms. Hyde and Mr. Oehler have done a lot of work on this, and I just really -- I'll make a motion that we make this authorization. I think Commissioner Oehler and myself and Ms. Hyde will continue to work out the plan along with Alyce, and get a system developed where we have the bookings realtime online for those that need access to it. 6-11-07 59 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I'll second the motion, but I think we also need to include at the next meeting, we'll come with a recommendation to the Court for what the charges and -- and the form to be presented, and the charges need to be agreed upon -- needs to be by the Court. This is going to be the new policy, basically, and the fees for each thing used in that facility. COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right, I agree. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Everything we do now is manually? COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yes. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Okay. COMMISSIONER OEHLER: But Ms. Hyde has already done most of this work. And when we get Mr. Trolinger to incorporate that into our computer so that it can be -- COMMISSIONER LETZ: Accessed realtime. COMMISSIONER OEHLER: -- accessed. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Good idea. COMMISSIONER LETZ: Anyway -- JUDGE TINLEY: We have a motion and second? COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I'll second it. COMMISSIONER LETZ: He seconded. JUDGE TINLEY: Any further question or discussion on the motion? All in favor of that motion, signify by raising your right hand. 6-11-07 60 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 (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 9; consider, discuss, and take appropriate action to add link to the -- the Hill Country Veterans Council on the Kerr County website home page. Commissioner Letz. COMMISSIONER LETZ: I received an e-mail a while back, and I -- originally, I had copies of the e-mails attached, and Ms. Hyde had some reaction to that, because her personal e-mail was on that -- home address was on that list, so I decided it's probably not appropriate to put that on here, so that's why there's no backup. But the idea is, one of the -- Gene Higgins, one of the original members of the Veterans Council, contacted me and asked that we put a link on our website to theirs. And I'm not even sure it really took court action, but I said I'd be glad to take care of it. Ms. Hyde, do you have anything to add? (Commissioner Baldwin returned to the courtroom.) MS. HYDE: When I talked with them -- because a lot of folks are going to whine if we allow a certain link to be put on the website. A lot of people are going to want their links to be put on. So, what I suggested would be that, over on the website, that you have a "Special Groups" or "Special Help" for Kerr County, so that if people are new to the area 6-11-07 61 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 or if they're looking for things, they could hit that one link and it'll show, you know, whether it be the Extension Office, Hill Country Veterans, and that way we're not, you know, trying to pick or choose who's on the front page. COMMISSIONER LETZ: It's also a matter of, if you leave it up to -- have to come to the Court to close it down a little bit, it makes it harder to get on, which is probably a good thing. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Does the Hill Country Veterans Council have a website? MS. HYDE: Yes. COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yes. MS. BAILEY: I just wanted to sort of reiterate what Commissioner Letz said, and if we have some link that links to separate organizations, it would be nice to have some kind of disclaimer that the County takes no responsibility or is not charged with anything that those sites say or anything they link to, because you don't want us to be tangentially linked to something that could end up being inappropriate. Not that any of these would be, but I think it -- just to protect us, it would be better to do it that way. JUDGE TINLEY: Just say that Kerr County assumes no responsibility for any of the information as may be contained on any of the links to the -- MS. BAILEY: Exactly. 6-11-07 62 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JUDGE TINLEY: -- to the special organizations' MS. BAILEY: Right. We do that through a separate link, like Commissioner Letz suggested. I think that would make it clean. COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. But if -- I'll make a motion to add a link to the Hill Country Veterans Council on the Kerr County website according to, I guess, the policy that was discussed, and get with Ms. Hyde and we can get Mr. Trolinger, when we talk about the Ag Barn, and make sure this is done properly. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Second. JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded as indicated. Any question or discussion on that 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. We'll move to Item 10; consider, discuss, and take appropriate action concerning monthly reports from constables. Commissioner Letz? COMMISSIONER LETZ: I put this on the agenda primarily because I think there's a court order that's attached that says a constable is supposed to give us monthly 6-11-07 63 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 reports. And my memory was saying that it didn't seem like more than one constable, who happens to be the one constable present today, the only one doing that on a regular basis. And I asked the County Clerk's office to check to see if my memory was correct, and it was. Majority of our constables are not giving us monthly reports. We do have a court order saying that, and I just wanted to reiterate that that court order is in place, and this Commissioner is going to look at it during budget time if they don't comply. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Good point. COMMISSIONER LETZ: Really no other action at this time, but just a matter of -- to reiterate that there was a court order in place that -- that I think we expect monthly reports. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I'd point out that is Constable 1, which is probably the best precinct in the county. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I've heard this before. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: You heard this story before? He not only turns in his report monthly, but he does it at the same time of the month. The other guys sometimes give -- get off -- COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Are you saying that maybe he should train the other three? COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I just -- just saying that 6-11-07 64 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 he's a great leader, and if the other three were really good employees or elected officials, that they would fall in line behind all people that are elected in Precinct 1. And -- COMMISSIONER LETZ: I was with you for a while, but you lost me at the end there. (Laughter.) COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Drifted off there. COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Going too far, now. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I keep trying. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Do we try to encourage the reports to be at a certain time? Like, in time for the second meeting of the month? Or have we ever made that designation? COMMISSIONER LETZ: We've never made -- the court order that we previously passed did not make that designation, and we could do that today. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Maybe that -- maybe we need to do that. And, you know, I agree with you; that needs to be done. We've said it needs to be done. Why don't we say it has to be in time for placement on the agenda for the second meeting -- Commissioners Court meeting of any given month? COMMISSIONER LETZ: Is that a motion? COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I make that as a motion. COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'll second. JUDGE TINLEY: I have a motion and second as indicated. COMMISSIONER LETZ: Is that -- 6-11-07 65 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JUDGE TINLEY: Any further question or discussion? COMMISSIONER LETZ: I was going to make a statement, but it's not part of the agenda item, so it doesn't make any difference. I was going to ask about J.P.'s. Do we want to get them on more -- a different schedule? I think we get pretty regular reports from them. Anyway, that's not part of the agenda, so -- JUDGE TINLEY: They're required to file reports with the state. We get copies of those. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Maybe we can just suggest to them privately that this is -- this involves them as well. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: We certainly get the report from J.P. 1. COMMISSIONER LETZ: And 3. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I'm just telling you. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: And 2. J.P. 2 is very good. COMMISSIONER OEHLER: And 4. JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. How about the motion? Any further question or discussion on the motion? All in favor of the motion, signify by raising your right hand. (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. (No response.) JUDGE TINLEY: Motion does carry. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: What was that? To have the 6-11-07 66 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 report in by the second meeting of the month? COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: In time for the second meeting, yes, sir. JUDGE TINLEY: We'll now move to Item 12 -- excuse me, Item 11; consider, discuss, and take appropriate action to designate a new registered agent for the Kerr County Housing Finance Corporation. I put this on the agenda. It was called to my attention, we had some information come in on some reports that needed to be filed. I referred it to the County Attorney. The County Attorney, in turn, communicated back to me that he thought it would be appropriate that we designate a new registered agent, inasmuch as the current registered agent on file with the Secretary of State for that nonprofit is Robert Denson, and thought it would be well if we designated a new registered agent. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I think it would be wise. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Question, Judge. As you pointed out by noting that the agent was Judge Denson, that goes back many years, and I'm wondering whether or not there was a necessity for us even to be involved in that, given that through AACOG, they're -- we participate in a financing corporation -- housing financing corporation which they have set up for all of the counties in the COG region, and any -- any housing finance that would come through this for affordable housing, or anything that, I think, meets the 6-11-07 67 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 Section 8 rules or whatever, we can -- we can access that, and it's already in place. We don't really need to have another one. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Unless state law requires it. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Unless state law requires it. But -- JUDGE TINLEY: I -- I understand -- the honest answer to that concern, Commissioner, is I don't know. That may be something that we want the County Attorney to look into as well. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Okay. COMMISSIONER LETZ: What -- I mean -- JUDGE TINLEY: But as long as we have this nonprofit organization outstanding that we`ve formed, I think we -- we do need to, number one, file the required reports, which there's a report due, and I think it benefits us to have a registered agent that is available to be served, rather than a default not happening. Now, we may later want to -- want to dissolve it because there's no need for it. That's a possibility. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: That's -- I just wanted to bring it to your attention; that is available to us. And -- and they have bonding authority for millions of dollars for purchases of housing. COMMISSIONER LETZ: Do we need to designate a name, 6-11-07 68 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 or can we just say the County Judge, so we don't end up with a former -- in this case, deceased -- judge? JUDGE TINLEY: I think you need to designate a named individual, is generally what the Secretary of State requires for a registered agent. COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'll make a motion we designate County Judge Pat Tinley as the registered agent for the Kerr County Housing Finance Corporation. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Second. JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded as indicated. Any further question or discussion? All in favor of the motion, signify by raising your right hand. (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. (No response.) JUDGE TINLEY: That motion does carry. Let's move to Item 12; request Kerr County Environmental Health Department to provide an update on the status of T.C.E.Q. and court-ordered cleanup of property owned by Milton Taylor adjacent to Flat Rock Lake Park. MR. NORTH: Morning, gentlemen. JUDGE TINLEY: Mr. Williams, you placed this on the agenda. Do you have any remarks? COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I did, Judge, because I've 6-11-07 69 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 had, again, folks querying as to whether or not that cleanup is ongoing. So, I asked County Attorney to provide me with a copy of the court order, which is dated November '06, and if I'm advised correctly, I think there's only one -- been one report filed by Mr. Taylor since November of '06. But I'd like to get an update on where -- where do we stand? What's going on and so forth? MR. NORTH: Well, probably, gentlemen, since I guess you already have a copy of the terms and conditions of probation, will you need a -- COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: That's in the packet. MR. NORTH: All right. If you'll turn to -- the last three pages is the most important. That actually sets out the terms and conditions. If you'll notice, all reports were to be submitted to T.C.E.Q. and through T.C.E.Q., and so we were kind of locally out of the loop. There's no provision for us to receive a copy of that, so therefore, I've asked, and Mr. Malcolm Ferris has consented to come up here from San Antonio. He's a special investigator for T.C.E.Q., and he will bring you up to date on T.C.E.Q.'s -- what they have received and where they stand. I've been checking on Mr. Taylor every day, just about, and he started out doing real well abating the problem, but now he's just slacked off. He's not -- he's not done anything. He's whining and crying, claims he can't get any help and so on and so forth. But, 6-11-07 70 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 anyway, the big hammer is the state. That's why Mr. Ferris is here, and he's certainly more knowledgeable about this side of it than I am. And he will -- if I could present him to you, he will bring you up to date on how they see -- yes, sir? COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Mr. North, tell me again how -- how it got to T.C.E.Q. and not Kerr County. MR. NORTH: Well, the -- when we originally investigated the site, there were a lot of spills, battery spills, oil spills and so on, and right there at Third Creek. As you know, Third Creek empties right into the Guadalupe River, so we thought it best to bring T.C.E.Q. in. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I see, okay. MR. NORTH: To -- to look over the site and see what we could do, exactly where we stood. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I see -- I see Judge Brown's name in here on some stuff. MR. NORTH: That was -- case was heard in County Court at Law. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay. All right, thank you. Thank you, that's fine. MR. NORTH: I'd like to present Mr. Malcolm Ferris of Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. MR. FERRIS: Good morning. My name is Malcolm Ferris; I'm an advisor with the Special Investigations Section, Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. I work 6-11-07 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 71 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Thank you. MR. FERRIS: Did I give you enough? COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yes, sir -- no, sir. MR. FERRIS: Anybody else? COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I think one more. MS. BAILEY: I have one. I think I have one. AUDIENCE: Could we have some back here? MR. FERRIS: I don't have that many. JUDGE TINLEY: Clerk? Okay, thank you. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Everybody but me. MS. BAILEY: I think I've got one you can have. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Thank you, sir. MR. FERRIS: Okay. Basically, to answer some of the questions that were asked, why this was just to T.C.E.Q., I drafted the technical requirements using a template for administrative orders from the agency. Rex Emerson, the County Attorney, could have added the County if he had wished. Apparently, he was satisfied with the T.C.E.Q. receiving the files, and then the County -- the Court would review compliance with terms of probation through review of the T.C.E.Q. file. That was purely up to the County in that matter. In the packet that I provided, you can see there was a submittal on November 18th, '06. I believe that was within 6-11-07 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 the time frame for the first submittal giving notification to the agency. The second submittal was -- there's actually copies of the cover letter. One cover letter was received at the regional office, as required under the terms of the court order, without photographs. A second copy apparently was received in the Austin central office, Remediation Division, as required under the order, and with some photographs. I have not personally reviewed the file. I cannot speak to the accuracy of the -- of this information. It was scanned and forwarded to me just last Friday, so I've only had a brief time to review what he's provided. But, basically, a quick summary of the requirements of the order: He was required to submit a Release Investigation Report that was intended to look for signs of contamination, spills from the dumping activities to which he pled, and in general at the property for the other vehicles. He had agreed to this in the court order. There is no apparent sign of complete compliance with that requirement. The information he sent in is essentially a preliminary -- steps taken to remediate problems, but cannot identify specifically on the property showing any kind of -- how the investigation was conducted, what releases were found. And apparently, he took some remedial action. There was no determination of whether the stains that he identified needed to be removed or not. He apparently picked up some 6-11-07 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 dirt, which may or may not still be on the property. One of the other things he was to do was to remove all of the solid waste. My understanding was he was arranging to have a vehicle shredder brought on property. I'm not sure if that actually was done. I haven't been by the property myself. Do you know if a vehicle shredder had been brought on the property? MR. NORTH: Sorry, what? MR. FERRIS: A vehicle shredder brought on the property to process the -- MR. NORTH: Yeah, there was once. Hasn't been back again. MR. FERRIS: So, I'm not sure if there are still junk vehicles on the property constituting solid waste, which, again, would constitute violations of the Texas Health and Safety Code to which he pled out for just -- misdemeanor charge for 5 to 200 pounds of waste. Obviously, there was a lot more there. We gave him this opportunity to comply with general requirements and to do a cleanup, and so he's done some actions, but he has neither submitted what would be considered a Release Investigation Report, nor has he submitted the Affected Property Assessment Report which refers to the T.C.E.Q. rules, Chapter 30 -- or, sorry, Chapter 350 and Title 30 of the Texas Administrative Code. And so that would kind of be a report that he could only truly comply with 6-11-07 74 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 by hiring an independent consulting firm to do the review, submit the paperwork required to the agency to determine where the releases were, and then whether the releases required cleanup, or if they -- the level of contamination was such that no further action was required. So, that's what we required him to do. You have copies of the information that he submitted. There is a project coordinator assigned the project up in Austin. Her name is in that documentation, Rebecca Hilton. She is the person to make the determination as to what type of information he submitted and how it corresponds to the requirements that we put in the court order, and I haven't had time to pin her down on exactly what's been required and how this information, as submitted, complies with that. COMMISSIONER LETZ: By looking at the file, it appears that middle of -- March 20th is about the last thing that something happened. I appreciate you coming down, but I just think I want to emphasize, this is important to us. And if you can get Ms. Spillman -- is that her name? Rebecca -- MR. FERRIS: Rebecca Hilton. COMMISSIONER LETZ: Hilton? Just make sure that she keeps -- keeps on him. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Would it be your understanding that the Court established a -- a time frame in 6-11-07 75 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 which this remediation needs to be completed? I'm seeing a I nod. MS. BAILEY: That's what -- that's this whole order. Is has timelines in it, and according to what we're hearing right now, so far none of those timeline -- timelines have been complied with to-date. The -- the last one in the order was, by my calculations, due March 22nd of '07, so, you know, a couple of months ago was the last one. And the other two, one was due in early March, the disposal of all solid wastes and the submission of Affected Property Assessment Report. The first deadline was due June the 6th of '07. The Release Investigation Report to which he referred also has not yet been done. So -- well, the only thing it looks like has been done at all was the first submittal required by this probation order. The options under this probation order are only to make a motion to revoke the defendant's probation and place him in jail, which still does not succeed in accomplishing the remediation, but I will remind the Court that we have established a nuisance abatement order that allows the County, upon proper notice and so forth, to order it to be completed, and if not completed, then for the County to go in and do the work, and to place a lien against the property for any expenses incurred by the County. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Thank you. That's what I was leading up to. We do have that authority? 6-11-07 76 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 MS. BAILEY: Yes, sir. JUDGE TINLEY: As well as criminal penalties on the enforcement of the probation order in the event the terms of probation are not complied with? MS. BAILEY: Well, we have that, and in addition, his -- if circumstances continue at the location, the statutes all establish that every day of an offense constitutes a new offense, so in theory, every day that he's been in noncompliance is a criminal action. But, once again, filing -- issuing criminal complaints, if it hasn't been done yet, I'm not sure how efficacious that would be. COMMISSIONER LETZ: But there is -- so it sounds like there are more -- MS. BAILEY: We have options. COMMISSIONER LETZ: A more viable option might be pursuing it, clean it up ourselves, and putting a lien on the property to get it cleaned up. MS. BAILEY: Yes, sir. JUDGE TINLEY: After going through nuisance abatement procedures. MS. BAILEY: Yes. JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. COMMISSIONER OEHLER: And the time frame for that is basically past? MS. BAILEY: The time frame for? 6-11-07 77 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 OEHLER: The nuisance abatement. MS. BAILEY: No. His time frame provided in the order for him to do it, he's not complied with. He's, therefore, in my opinion, in violation of his probation. Therefore, we can then go forward with our nuisance abatement procedures, saying you have -- well, there's a whole litany of things that have to go on, but basically, we have to send him notice, say you've got, you know, 30 days or whatever -- I think it's 30 days -- to complete it. Then, when it's not done, then at that point we can go in and do -- do the work. I suspect that if he hasn't done it in seven months, he probably won't do it in the next 30 days, but he could. COMMISSIONER OEHLER: On my part, I hope we proceed with the process of trying to make sure it does happen, however it has to happen. I don't care at this point. This has been going on for, I know -- not counting what you're showing in the recent past, but this has been a problem for probably 12 or 15 years, and it's ridiculous that it's had to go on this long. It's time to, you know, finish -- finish it up, throw him in jail, whatever you have to do with him to make it happen. And if we have to do it ourselves, put a lien on his property, I'm all for that, too. MS. BAILEY: We don't have an action item on this agenda item, although -- COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I'm coming back with an 6-11-07 78 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 MS. BAILEY: We can pursue the criminal motion to revoke, but we need an action item for doing that. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I'll get with the County Attorney and we'll -- we'll figure out the next step. I just wanted to get the report today. I wanted T.C.E.Q. to talk to us a little bit today, tell us what they knew from their perspective. One other question of Mr. Ferris. To your knowledge, sir, has this Rebecca Hilton been to the site and done any investigation? MR. FERRIS: No, that wouldn't be within the scope of the Remediation Division to come out and solicit the property on routine -- COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Okay. MR. FERRIS: It's really Ed North here with the County and the court probation system to determine if the probation -- the terms of probation have been met, and if not, take appropriate action. As far as the T.C.E.Q., we were just the, essentially, overseer to determine if action was taken appropriately. So -- COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Thank you. COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Have you seen the site? MR. FERRIS: Oh, yes. JUDGE TINLEY: Any other questions for Mr. Ferris? 6-11-07 79 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 Any other matters to be offered in connection with this item? Why don't we take about a 15-minute recess? (Recess taken from 10:42 a.m. to 11:04 a.m.) JUDGE TINLEY: Let's come back to order, if we might. We were in recess. Let's move to Item 14; consider, discuss, and take appropriate action to approve letter of engagement with McCall, Parkhurst, and Horton, LLP, to provide bond counsel services to Kerr County for the Center Point/Eastern Kerr County wastewater project. Commissioner Williams. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Thank you, Judge. This is just unfinished business from the last time we had this on. It is required that we issue a letter of engagement for bond counsel. Bond counsel fees are predicated on funding, so there's no cost to us to do so. They get funding and so forth, then we talk about the fees, and their fees come out of that automatically, as they do for the financial consultant. COMMISSIONER LETZ: Does Upper Guadalupe River Authority hire the same counsel? COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Yes. They hired -- I believe so. They're hiring the same financial advisers, and I believe they're also hiring Tom. COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. Seems like it makes things simpler if it was all one entity. 6-11-07 80 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Sure. Move approval. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second -- third. 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: That motion does carry. Let's move to Item 15; consider, discuss, and take appropriate action to clarify expiration of terms of office of Commissioners Williams and Letz on Kerrville-Kerr County Joint Airport Board. I put this on the agenda. The issue was raised by the City Clerk. The information provided by the City Clerk indicated that the intention from day one was that the terms of both the two Commissioners on the board, as well as the two City Councilmen on the board, would be staggered so that there would be continuity, and that there wasn't any clear designation of -- of those staggered terms in our liaison appointments. At least that's the way that she read the issue. So, if we need to clarify it, it's out here. If we don't, we don't. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: We can, if need be. But -- the City Clerk may not remember; she didn't handle it at that 6-11-07 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 time, but the original draw for the bean was, I got the one-year term originally and Jon got two, and then I got a two, and now it's been rotating two and three. So, we do have a staggered situation for two-year terms, actually. COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think the confusion might be in the court order, by assuming -- you know, in the backup, it says for the calendar year 2007, but there were two-year appointments in 2007. To me, that doesn't need to be clarified, but if they want to clarify it, we can clarify it. I don't see it changes a whole lot. I'll just mention that I would have a -- based on the liaison picks in January, I would -- my term would now run until 2009, and Bill's continues right now to run through 2008. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: That's correct. COMMISSIONER LETZ: So, I guess that would be a clarification, would be that -- JUDGE TINLEY: Mm-hmm. COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- you know, I'll -- well, I'll make the motion that my term that was designated by the Court in January was for a two-year term, which will expire in 2009. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Second. JUDGE TINLEY: And his would expire the end of 2008. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Mine will come up again in '08 for a two-year and so forth. JUDGE TINLEY: We have a motion and second as 6-11-07 82 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 indicated to clarify the issue. 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. Next item, consider, discuss, and take appropriate action on I.R.S. notice regarding tax period of March 31, 2007. Ms. Williams. MS. WILLIAMS: Morning. COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Good morning. MS. WILLIAMS: I really don't want to be here, but oh well. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I think you do; you just won`t admit it. MS. WILLIAMS: We received a notice on the 4th of June that the I.R.S. had found a calculation error and they were changing our tax return, and because of the change, therefore we owed them $3,233.86. I called I.R.S. and spoke with a rep; her name was Ms. Austin. She was very, very kind, very polite and very helpful. During the course of the conversation, I found out that I.R.S. evidently had not received our fourth quarter 2006 tax return, which I know that we sent in, but it was not mailed certified mail, so I have no documentation to prove when I'd actually sent it. Her 6-11-07 83 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 suggestion was, go ahead and get a copy of that sent to Ogden, Utah as soon as possible, which I did the same day, by certified mail this time. And I explained to her the situation that had happened at the end of December. We had a $1,114.46, I believe, credit on the fourth quarter 2006 return that we were going to apply to the first quarter of this year. By them not having the fourth quarter report when we filed our first quarter report for this year, it looked like our -- our first pay period tax liability, which would have been January 15th, was over $100,000. If it's over $100,000, it requires next day deposit. Well, with the credit from December carried over to January 15th, it dropped -- it dropped it below, but the deposit had been made. It actually was made, I think, the day before payroll. So, she said basically to put that in a letter to the I.R.S. requesting abatement of the penalty for that, and the fact that the -- the credit was coming over from the fourth quarter of ' 06. Then the next problem that she said showed on February 15th, we had one liability period which was over $100,000 again. And I explained to her that on January 31st, there were a number of checks that had to be unposted, that were issued in error. We're still learning. And those checks were unposted after the January 31st tax liability period, which threw it over into February 15th. Those credits dropped 6-11-07 84 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 our liability down below $100,000. That's why the tax deposit was not made next day; it was made within the time frame that they allow. Again, she said basically put it in a letter, send it to I.R.S., ask them to abate the penalty and interest. And she said you will probably also get hit with a penalty and interest for late filing on the fourth quarter. When I went into office on the 8th of February, I found that the fourth quarter tax return had not been completed. It was supposed to have been in before the end of January. So, my rough draft copy of the letter that I'm sending to I.R.S. is basically asking them to abate the current penalty and interest notice that we got on the 4th of June, and abate the penalty and interest if there's one assessed for the late filing. The problem is, we need to get this paid before the 25th of June or we will accrue additional charges. I'm asking the Court to allow us to go ahead and pay the $3,233.86, with the hopes that we will get abatement from I.R.S. and they will refund us those moneys. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I've heard this story before. MS. WILLIAMS: Not from me. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: No, but I agree with you. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: But we still have the potential of another situation because the fourth quarter of '06 was late? MS. WILLIAMS: Yes, sir. 6-11-07 85 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: We just haven't heard from that one yet? MS. WILLIAMS: Right. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I thought, when I started reading this, this was about the fourth quarter of '06. MS. WILLIAMS: No, sir. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Okay. MS. WILLIAMS: No, this is strictly the tax period ending March 31st of '07. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Okay. JUDGE TINLEY: So, what you're asking the Court to do is authorize the -- the payment of the amount that I.R.S. has at this point assessed? MS. WILLIAMS: Yes, sir. JUDGE TINLEY: Of $3,233.86? MS. WILLIAMS: Yes. JUDGE TINLEY: In hopes that we'll get additional -- we'll get that credit down the road if it's abated? MS. WILLIAMS: Yes. If -- if they will take into consideration that I'm new in the office, and that some of this was a carryover from my predecessor, and some of it is learning. We're still learning. COMMISSIONER LETZ: Mindy, question. It sounds like our payroll is bumping 100,000 nowadays. MS. WILLIAMS: It's running anywhere from -- our tax 6-11-07 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 86 liability is running anywhere from, say, 93,000 to maybe 96, 97. Very seldom do we get over 100,000. The only time we actually hit that is when we have overtime that we pay off. COMMISSIONER LETZ: But would it not -- I mean, with -- looking down the road, as soon as we do -- assuming we do a cost-of-living adjustment, we're going to be over 100,000 starting then. Why don't we start going with the next-day -- the requirement right now, so that when -- when that change -- when we're required to change that thing, -- MS. WILLIAMS: We can. COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- we get the bugs worked out of that? MS. WILLIAMS: We can. We started doing our tax deposits with EFTPS. It's Electronic tax -- Federal Tax Payment Services. Ms. Austin informed me that, in fact, we have to do it that way because of our -- our liability. And it's really very easy. We can do it online. We can do it by phone. You have up until, I believe, 8 o'clock -- MS. HYDE: 8 o'clock. MS. WILLIAMS: -- to get that in for next-day settlement. So, it's not a problem. H.R. is getting the payroll done ahead of time where we can have it prepared. We can do the tax deposits when it's due by next day. COMMISSIONER LETZ: I just think it would be good practice to start doing it next day, even when we are not 6-11-07 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 87 required to. MS. WILLIAMS: Right. COMMISSIONER LETZ: Because we're going to be over that limit pretty quick, it appears to me. MS. WILLIAMS: Yeah, looks that way. JUDGE TINLEY: Essentially, what we talked about, right? MS. WILLIAMS: Yes, sir. JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. MS. WILLIAMS: It is. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Move that we pay the penalty and interest of $3,233.86. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I'm going to second it, but I have a question. JUDGE TINLEY: Your question is, where's the money going to come from? COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Right. JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. My question also. MS. WILLIAMS: I'll defer that one to the County Auditor, because I -- JUDGE TINLEY: Workers Comp? MR. TOMLINSON: That's fine. JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Dip into old Rusty's budget, 6-ii-o~ 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 88 see what he says. SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: You want to -- MS. WILLIAMS: Okay, may I ask one thing? SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: You want to see my budget? ~, MS. WILLIAMS: Will the -- will the order reflect that we are to move the moneys from Workers Comp to Commissioners Court Contingency so we can pay this and kind of keep everything in one place? COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: If that's your recommendation, that's the motion. MS. WILLIAMS: Yes, sir, that would be my recommendation. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. We have a motion and second as indicated. Any further question or discussion? COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Discussion from my end would be, I appreciate you coming forward with this and telling us exactly what the problem is and has been so that it can be resolved before it gets out of hand. Thank you. MS. WILLIAMS: You're welcome. I appreciate that. JUDGE TINLEY: Any other questions or discussion? COMMISSIONER LETZ: Well, while we're talking about abatement, have we ever heard back from the other abatement, the $12,000 one? MS. WILLIAMS: I haven't had any correspondence from 6-11-07 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 89 I.R.S. regarding that at all. We paid it. I guess they're happy, and -- COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Sure, they got the money. COMMISSIONER LETZ: But -- well, I'll put it on the next agenda; it's really not on this item. JUDGE TINLEY: It was, quote, on appeal. COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right, but I want to -- did that appeal happen? Are we certain it happened? MR. TOMLINSON: I thought I saw a letter denying it. COMMISSIONER OEHLER: So did I. MS. HYDE: We had a letter that denied it, and then we were supposed to reapply for appeal. COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. MS. HYDE: And I don't think that anyone has seen a reappeal. MS. WILLIAMS: I haven't seen a denial letter either. I haven't found one downstairs. MS. HYDE: I've got one. MS. WILLIAMS: Yeah, I need a copy. COMMISSIONER LETZ: We mainly want to -- I think, certainly, for that amount of money, we should go to the next level. MS. WILLIAMS: Okay, thank you. JUDGE TINLEY: All in favor of the motion, signify by raising your right hand. 6-11-07 90 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. (No response.) JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. What's the pleasure of the Court before we get into executive session? Do you want to go ahead and knock down the bills and what-not? COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yes. JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. We'll move to -- SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Judge? JUDGE TINLEY: -- Section 4 of the agenda, payment of the bills. (Discussion off the record.) JUDGE TINLEY: Okay, first item is to pay the bills. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I move we pay our bills. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Second. JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded to pay the bills. 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 amendments. Budget Amendment Request Number 1. MR. TOMLINSON: One is for the County Jail, to move $5,065.88 from Jailer Salaries, with 790.13 to Operating 6-11-07 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 91 Supplies and 4,275.75 to Prisoner Medical. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So moved. Forgot what we were doing. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Second. JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for approval. Any question or discussion? All in favor of the motion, signify by raising your right hand. (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. (No response.) JUDGE TINLEY: The motion carries. Budget Amendment '~~ Request Number 2. MR. TOMLINSON: Number 2 is for the 198th District Court and the County Jail. We're transferring $5,770 from Jailer Salaries, 3,097.50 to Court-Appointed Attorneys line item, and 2,572.50 to Civil Court-Appointed Attorney line item, and $100 to Special Court Reporter. COMMISSIONER LETZ: So moved. COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Second. JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for approval. Any question or discussion? COMMISSIONER LETZ: Rusty has a question. SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Only one question. If you look at -- and I just got my printout. In the Jailer Salaries stuff and that, by the budget stuff, we should be at about 6-11-07 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 92 31 percent of our budget left. And if the Court will remember, we did dissolve two part-time, made a full-time and addressed the clerk, and the Court was going to transfer that money later, whenever it became necessary to do it. So, if you look in the clerk line item right now, we're at 18 percent, and we're at 29, so we're a few percentage points below the overall budget, so there is going to have to be some money out of the Jailer Salaries remaining so that we can fund those positions fully through the rest of the year as agreed prior. COMMISSIONER OEHLER: We'll take it from another line item in your budget if we need to. SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: I figured that. Thank you. JUDGE TINLEY: Any other questions or comments? All in favor of the motion, signify by raising your right hand. (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. (No response.) JUDGE TINLEY: The motion carries. Budget Amendment Request Number 3. SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Not my salary. (Laughter.) MR. TOMLINSON: Number 3 is for the 216th District Court, to transfer 2,495.13 from Special District Judge's line item -- excuse me -- with 1,891.80 into Court-Appointed Services and 603.33 to Special Court Reporter. 6-11-07 93 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So moved. COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Second. JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for approval. Any question or discussion? COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Question. Tommy, are you going to recommend that we have a Special District Judge line item again? MR. TOMLINSON: I think we do. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Do we ever -- MR. TOMLINSON: For next budget year. Oh, in their budget, I think there is a line. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: We have special judges that come in and sit? MR. TOMLINSON: Occasionally they do, yes. It's been rare in the last two years, but -- COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: It's because of this state funding being zeroed out, I think. JUDGE TINLEY: Mm-hmm. MR. TOMLINSON: Right. That's right. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That's one of those programs that I -- that I like. I think it`s beneficial to the entire system, including the jail and, you know, all -- everything involved in it, that we have visiting judges come in here and sit and hear these things, instead of those guys sitting in that jail all the time. Get it cleaned out. Anyway, that's 6-11-07 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 94 beside the point. JUDGE TINLEY: Any other questions or comments? All in favor of the motion, signify by raising your right hand. (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. (No response.) JUDGE TINLEY: That motion does carry. Budget Amendment Request Number 4. MR. TOMLINSON: Number 4 is for -- is from Kevin Stanton at the juvenile facility. He's transferring some funds in -- in his budget to finish out the year. And he didn't write the name of the accounts on here, but the total of the transfer out is 30,500, with those -- with the same amount going into the line items as specified on the right-hand side of the page. ', COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Could you identify these, III what they're for? MR. TOMLINSON: Well, let's see. I don't have -- I don't have his budget with me. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Let me ask a question. Does it transfer straight across? MR. TOMLINSON: No. He has -- COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: No, it doesn't. MR. TOMLINSON: I'll have to go get my -- I'll have to go get his budget. 6-11-07 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 95 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Is this just to clean up the -- MR. TOMLINSON: He said -- he told me he had some -- he was having to pay some extra amounts in his part-time salaries. That had to do with some problems with -- with replacing some full-time people. COMMISSIONER LETZ: I guess my question is -- MR. TOMLINSON: Because there -- COMMISSIONER LETZ: Why don't we hold off ti11 next meeting so we can get this in the same form as all the others? MR. TOMLINSON: Okay. It's not a rush. Let's do that. JUDGE TINLEY: He's just trying to get things lined up to go the rest of the year? MR. TOMLINSON: That's right. I didn't -- I'm -- I apologize; I didn't realize that -- that the names weren't ~~, there, and so I'll -- I'll redo it. COMMISSIONER LETZ: Make him redo it. He can use the same form as everybody else. JUDGE TINLEY: I gather that no action be taken on Number 4? You have any other budget amendments? MR. TOMLINSON: No. JUDGE TINLEY: We have any late bills? MR. TOMLINSON: No. JUDGE TINLEY: I've been presented with monthly reports from Justice of the Peace, Precinct 2, and Justice of 6-11-07 96 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 Peace, Precinct 3. Do I hear a motion that these reports be approved as presented? COMMISSIONER LETZ: So moved. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: So moved -- second. JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for approval. Any question or discussion? All in favor of the motion, signify by raising your right hand. (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. (No response.) JUDGE TINLEY: That motion does carry. Let us go back, then, to Item 17; consider, discuss, and take appropriate action to fill vacancy in Environmental Health, administrative assistant position. Does any member of the Court have anything to offer in the open or public session on Item 17? COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Is it going to closed session? COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Yes. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay. JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah. Let me go ahead and call Item 18; consider, discuss, and take appropriate action regarding designation of status of Environmental Health Code Enforcement Officers. Before we go into executive session, does any member of the Court have anything to offer with regard to 6-11-07 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 Agenda Item 18 in public or open session? Seeing no one -- COMMISSIONER LETZ: Call this one, too. JUDGE TINLEY: Oh, okay. COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I'm not real sure that we need to -- there's much discussion to be had in executive session over that particular -- particular item. JUDGE TINLEY: Which one are you referring to? COMMISSIONER OEHLER: On the -- 18. JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. COMMISSIONER OEHLER: The designation of -- or status of Environmental Health Code Officer. We talked about this last meeting, and basically authorized the hiring of an individual, and I think this basically -- this means we need to designate that person as the Environmental Health Code Enforcement Officer. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: All wrapped up in one item? COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Well, I think we need to discuss a little bit possibly in executive session about some issues that probably shouldn't be discussed in open session, but as far as making that designation, I don't know what would prohibit that from happening if it was the pleasure of the Court to do so. 'Cause we did authorize that person last meeting, and the money to pay for that person till the end of the year. COMMISSIONER LETZ: I don't understand 6-11-07 98 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 "designation." What are we doing with this? Do we have to make a -- COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Well, that basically has to do with the way that person's going to operate, whether they're going to operate with a peace officer's license or whether they're not. COMMISSIONER LETZ: My understanding is, this person has that license. Therefore, they are a peace officer; therefore, we don't make a designation. They just have to operate that way. COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Yeah. That's what I think it is. It's basically operational. COMMISSIONER LETZ: And I think that it's a -- you know, I think we kind of got this from Ilse. There's some good positives and negatives about being a police officer, or a peace officer in this position. But I don't -- you know -- COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Yeah. COMMISSIONER LETZ: This person has his police officer license; therefore, it's not a discussion any more. I mean -- COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: That's kind of the way I feel about it, and plus the fact that we set a precedent for this matter going back several years with Mr. North. So, you know, it's clearly in place. He has a peace officer's license as well. 6-11-07 99 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Here's a copy of the court order that states basically what -- what has been done with Mr. North, and I think the same designation would have to be made for the incoming peace officer -- or not peace officer, but Code Enforcement officer. COMMISSIONER LETZ: The -- the question comes in, I guess, as to who holds that license? COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Let me ask a question before we get to that point. Has the person been hired? COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yes. COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Yes. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Are you TCLEOSE-certified? Have you tested out? You got your license and everything? So, you know, who's -- COMMISSIONER OEHLER: We authorized that hiring -- COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay. COMMISSIONER OEHLER: -- of Ray last meeting. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Who's going to -- who's going to -- who's your license under? MR. NORTH: Joel Ayala, Constable 2. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: And so who are we going to get to carry these licenses? COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I would assume that that basically is up to -- COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right there. Your constable 6-11-07 100 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 raised his hand. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Of course. I'm not shocked. So, what's the question now? What's the question? COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think the only question -- I think that Rex raised a question, is there any kind of limitation around the county when it's -- if that license is held by a constable as opposed to a county-wide person? And, you know, I guess -- you know, to me, I don't see what difference it would make, because from the standpoint of -- he's got to follow the rules regardless. But that's something the County Attorney has to -- I mean, he has to follow the peace officer rules, which requires a search -- when it comes to search warrants and all that other stuff you have to do if you're -- COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Well, the way I understand it, a constable has as much, if not more, authority than what's-his-name over here. (Laughter.) COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Which "what's-his-name" are you talking about? COMMISSIONER LETZ: Sheriff. SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: This what's-his-name. COMMISSIONER LETZ: But, anyway -- MS. BAILEY: A peace officer has statewide jurisdiction, and so I think that's over the things that he's going to be charged with taking care of from our perspective. 6-11-07 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 101 COMMISSIONER LETZ: He does have jurisdiction? MS. BAILEY: He has statewide jurisdiction as a peace officer. COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. MS. BAILEY: For these purposes, I think. We've satisfied ourselves to that. COMMISSIONER LETZ: So, it's -- we just need to have a motion to designate -- COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Designate him as being Environmental Health administrative -- JUDGE TINLEY: Code Enforcement. COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Code Enforcement officer. MS. BAILEY: I don't know that the order says anything about swearing him in on your behalf, but since he's working on -- on your behalf and not really the constable's behalf, I don't know if that's something you want to offer. SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: He'll be -- as a deputy constable, David will have to have him sworn in and send the stuff in to the Secretary of State. He'll have to have a psychological exam, and there are expenses in -- in physicals, and that is required by the State before he can carry his commission. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Whatever. Take it out of the Jailer Salaries? SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: No. 6-11-07 102 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But it -- basically, we need to read in a motion identical to this with new names. COMMISSIONER OEHLER: That's the way I see it. I move that we appoint Ray Garcia as our Solid Waste Code Enforcement officer. COMMISSIONER LETZ: Environmental Health. COMMISSIONER OEHLER: And Environmental Health. JUDGE TINLEY: Environmental Health Code Enforcement officer? COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Yes, I'm sorry. JUDGE TINLEY: Both ways? COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Right. And he can serve in both capacities. COMMISSIONER LETZ: And license to be carried by Constable -- COMMISSIONER OEHLER: To be carried by Constable, Precinct 1, David Billeiter. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Second. JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded as indicated. Question or discussion? All in favor of the motion, signify by raising your right hand. (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. (No response.) JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. Okay. Now, 6-11-07 103 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 as to the items that have been called that remain, that'll be Item 17 and Item 3, does any member of the Court have anything to offer in open or public session? Hearing none, we will go out of open or public session at 11:32. (The open session was closed at 11:32 a.m., and an executive session was held, the transcript of which is contained in a separate document.) JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. We are back in open or public session at 11:48. Does any member of the Court have anything to offer with regard to matters considered in executive or closed session? COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'll make a motion related to Item 3 -- 1.3. I make a motion that we authorize the County Attorney's office to do whatever is necessary, including nuisance abatement against the property owner at 321 Roy Street, to get that septic system -- or that environmental health issue resolved. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded as indicated. Any question or discussion on the motion? All in favor of the motion, signify by raising your right hand. (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. (No response.) JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. Any other 6-11-07 104 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 action offered by any member of the Court with regard to any other items considered in executive or closed session? COMMISSIONER OEHLER: On Item -- COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: 17. COMMISSIONER OEHLER: -- 17, I move that we fill a vacant administrative assistant position in Environmental Health, making that person a 15-1, Julie -- I can't think of her -- JUDGE TINLEY: De Los Santos, I think. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Trevino, isn't it? Julie Trevino? COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I don't know her last name. COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I believe it is. COMMISSIONER OEHLER: But she fill the vacated position that was a 13-2 -- I mean, that was a 15-1, and that we hire a new person to fill the 13-1 position. I COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded as indicated. Any question or discussion? All in favor of the motion, signify by raising your right hand. (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. (No response.) JUDGE TINLEY: That motion does carry. Okay. That brings us to Section 5. Any reports from Commissioners in 6-11-07 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 105 their liaison or other assignments? One? COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: No, sir. JUDGE TINLEY: Two? COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: No, sir. JUDGE TINLEY: Three? COMMISSIONER LETZ: Um -- COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Come on. COMMISSIONER LETZ: No. JUDGE TINLEY: Four? (Commissioner Oehler shook his head negatively.) JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Do we have any reports from elected officials? Let's move to Item 3. (Laughter.) SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: I don't have a report, but I got cornered with a question out in the hall a while ago. I need to ask -- see if y'all can give advice on something that does concern the courthouse. JUDGE TINLEY: It's not an agenda item at this time, Sheriff. SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: I just need advice. COMMISSIONER LETZ: We can't give you advice, but you can give us a report. SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Okay, I'll give you a report. I had -- one. JUDGE TINLEY: I'll punch your T.S. card if you have 6-11-07 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 106 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Had a lady by the name of Ms. Platt corner me a while ago in the lobby, and requesting that -- she has gotten approval to have an antique car show on the courthouse grounds on July 7th, and wanted me to shut down the entrances to the courthouse on the night of July 6th and get rid of any other vehicles that may be parked around the courthouse, and advised me that they were setting up tents on the courthouse grounds. Not in the parking lot, on the grounds, and that it had all been given an okay. I said, "I have no idea what you're talking about." COMMISSIONER LETZ: The County Judge is liaison. I suggest that this be referred to him to handle. JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah, I've talked to those folks about holding their annual July 4th car show, which is done on Saturday. But -- SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Saturday, July 7th. And that was the request, and I don't know that I have the authority without some kind of court order, and I don't know if there's Commissioners Court after this date to be able to actually tow any vehicles off the courthouse square and close the entrances after midnight so that they can set up, and nor do I know if I have authority to allow anybody to set up tents on the courthouse grounds. COMMISSIONER LETZ: Well, you don't have authority for that, I can tell you. But we have another court date, and 6-11-07 107 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 you may want to tell those people to make sure they coordinate this, if they want anything done, with the County Judge. SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Is there a court date before July 7th? JUDGE TINLEY: Sure, there's one the tail end of this month, second -- or fourth Monday of this month. SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: And it may be something we put on the agenda, or I'll call her back and have her put it on the agenda. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That's pretty common, that when that car show is going on, I mean, you can't drive in there anyway, or people don't. I mean, you park out on the street somewhere and walk through there, because it's really a neat gig. COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I don't know about tents on the lawn. SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: They want anybody that was parked in here after midnight that night to be removed so that they have room to get all the antique cars in. COMMISSIONER LETZ: There's not many cars left in I here . SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: There normally aren't, but even if there was one, I don't think I have the authority to remove it from a public parking lot. 6-11-07 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 108 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I don't think I'd want to give you that authority, either. SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: I don't want it. COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I would suggest you don't get it. SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Your dog would eat me up. MS. BAILEY: Even though we're not considering this, 'cause it's not on the agenda. SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Right. COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That's right. JUDGE TINLEY: Any other reports? Okay. Anybody have anything else to offer? We stand adjourned. (Commissioners Court adjourned at 11:55 a.m.) 6-11-07 109 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 STATE OF TEXAS COUNTY OF KERR ~ The above and foregoing is a true and complete transcription of my stenotype notes taken in my capacity as County Clerk of the Commissioners Court of Kerr County, Texas, at the time and place heretofore set forth. DATED at Kerrville, Texas, this 14th day of June, 2007. JANNETT PIEPER, Kerr County Clerk B Y : ___ _ ~ __ _____ ___ Kathy B ik, Deputy County Clerk Certified Shorthand Reporter 6-11-07 ORDER NO. 30316 REGIONAL APPELLATE DEFENSE CONTRACT Came to be heard this the 11th day of June, 2007, with a motion made by Commissioner Letz, seconded by Commissioner Williams/Baldwin. The Court unanimously approved by vote of 4-0-0 to: Accept the Contract as originally presented. ORDER NO. 30317 ROAD CHANGES Came to be heard this the 11th day of June, 2007, with a motion made by Commissioner Letz, seconded by Commissioner Baldwin. The Court unanimously approved by vote of 4-0-0 to: Approve road changes in various locations, and set a Public Hearing for July 23, 2007 at 9:55 a.m.: Speed Limit Goat Creek Cut-Off 3 5 mph Stop Sign Greenwood to Marylin Name Change Staach Ranch Road to Bear Creek Road E ORDER NO. 30318 REVISION OF PLAT FOR YO RANCHLANDS III Came to be heard this the 11th day of June, 2007, with a motion made by Commissioner Oehler, seconded by Commissioner Letz. The Court unanimously approved by vote of 4-0-0 to: Approve the revision of Plat for YO Ranchlands III, Lots 109, 110, 118 & 119, Vol 6, Page 17, and set Public Hearing for July 23, 2007 at 9:50 a.m. ORDER NO. 3 0319 REVISION OF PLAT OF LOTS 2-11 OF PRIVILEGE CREEK RANCHES (AKA BOERNE FALLS RANCH) TO INCLUDE ROAD NAME CHANGE FROM PRIVILEGE LANE TO TURKEY KNOB Came to be heard this the 11th day of June, 2007, with a motion made by Commissioner Williams, seconded by Commissioner Baldwin. The Court unanimously approved by vote of 3-0-1 to: Approve preliminary revision of Plat of Lots 2-11 of Privilege Creek Ranches, Vol 7, Pages 136 & 137 (AKA Boerne Falls Ranch) to include Road Name Change from Privilege Lane to Turkey Knob, and set Public Hearing for July 23, 2007 at 10:00 a.m. ORDER NO. 30320 COMPUTERIZED BOOKING SYSTEM FOR AG BARN AND UNION CHURCH Came to be heard this the 11th day of June, 2007, with a motion made by Commissioner Letz, seconded by Commissioner Oehler. The Court unanimously approved by vote of 3-0-0 to: Authorize Commissioners Oehler and Letz, along with Ms. Hyde, to continue to work out the plan, along with Alyce, to develop a system where we have the bookings real-time online for those that need access to it; and come back to the Court at the next meeting with a recommendation with the form to be presented and for what the charges need to be set at. ORDER NO. 30321 WEBSITE LINK FOR HILL COUNTRY VETERANS COUNCIL Came to be heard this the 11th day of June, 2007, with a motion made by Commissioner Letz, seconded by Commissioner Williams. The Court unanimously approved by vote of 4-0-0 to: Add a link to the Hill Country Veterans Council on the Kerr County Website, according to the policy that was discussed, and get with Ms. Hyde and Mr. Trolinger, to be sure it is done properly. ORDER NO. 3 03 22 MONTHLY REPORTS FROM CONSTABLES Came to be heard this the 11th day of June, 2007, with a motion made by Commissioner Williams, seconded by Commissioner Letz. The Court unanimously approved by vote of 4-0-0 to: Approve that the Monthly Reports from the Constables be in time for placement on the Agenda for the second Commissioners' Court meeting of any given month. ORDER NO. 30323 REGISTERED AGENT FOR KERB COUNTY HOUSING FINANCE CORPORATION Came to be heard this the 11th day of June, 2007, with a motion made by Commissioner Letz, seconded by Commissioner Baldwin/Oehler. The Court unanimously approved by vote of 4-0-0 to: Designate the County Judge, Pat Tinley, as the Registered Agent for the Kerr County Housing Finance Corporation. ORDER NO. 3 03 24 LETTER OF ENGAGEMENT WITH McCALL, PARKHURST & NORTON, LLP FOR KERR COUNTY WASTEWATER PROJECT Came to be heard this the 11th day of June, ?007, with a motion made by Commissioner Williams, seconded by Commissioner Baldwin/Letz. The Court unanimously approved by vote of 4-0-0 to: Approve the Letter of Engagement with McCall, Parkhurst & Horton, LLP, to provide Bond Counsel services to Kerr County for Center Point/Eastern Kerr County Wastewater Project. ORDER NO. 30325 EXPIRATION OF TERMS OF OFFICE FOR JOINT AIRPORT BOARD Came to be heard this the 11th day of June, 2007, with a motion made by Commissioner Letz, seconded by Commissioner Williams. The Court unanimously approved by vote of 4-0-0 to: Confirm that the teen for Commissioner Letz, as designated by the Court in January, was for a two-year term, which will expire in 2009, and that Commissioner Williams' term will expire at the end of 2008. ORDER NO. 30326 IRS NOTICE FOR TAX PERIOD MARCH 31, 2007 Came to be heard this the 11th day of June, 2007, with a motion made by Commissioner Williams, seconded by Commissioner Baldwin. The Court unanimously approved by vote of 4-0-0 to: Approve paying the LR.S. penalty and interest of $3,233.$6, and moving the monies from Workers' Compensation, # 10-409-204, to Non-Departmental Contingency, # 10-409-571. ORDER NO. 30327 CLAIMS AND ACCOUNTS Came to be heard this the 1 lth day of June, 2007, came to be considered by the Court various Commissioners Precincts, which said Claims and Accounts are: Accounts Expense 10-General $ 151,129.55 14-Fire Protection $ 10,416.67 15-Road & Bridge $ 19,170.25 19-Public Library $ 36,972.25 28-Records Mgmt & Preservation $ 3,641.77 37-Center Point Wastewater $ 24.20 50-Indigent Health Care $ 66,052.88 76-Juv Detention Facility $ 917.62 TOTAL $ 288, 325.19 Upon motion made by Commissioner Baldwin, seconded by Commissioner Williams, the Court unanimously approved by vote of 4-0-0 to pay the claims and accounts. ORDER NO. 30328 BUDGET AMENDMENT # 1 COUNTY JAIL Came to be heard this the 11th day of June, 2007, with a motion made by Commissioner Baldwin, seconded by Commissioner Williams, the Court unanimously approved by vote of 4-0-0 to transfer the following expense codes: Expense Code Description 10-512-331 Operating Supplies 10-512-333 Prisoner Medical 10-512-104 Jailer Salaries Amendment Increase/()Decrease + $790.13 + $4,275.75 - ($5,065.88) ORDER NO. 30329 BUDGET AMENDMENT #2 198TH DISTRICT COURT COUNTY JAIL Came to be heard this the 11th day of June, 2007, with a motion made by Commissioner Letz, seconded by Commissioner Oehler, the Court unanimously approved by vote of 4-0-0 to transfer the following expense codes: Expense Code Description 10-436-402 Court Appointed Attorney 10-436-403 Civil Court Appointed Atty 10-436-494 Special Court Reporter 10-512-104 Jailer Salaries Amendment Increase/()Decrease + $3,097.50 + $2,572.50 + $100.00 - ($5,770.00} ORDER NO. 30330 BUDGET AMENDMENT #3 216TH DISTRICT COURT Came to be heard this the 11th day of June, 2007, with a motion made by Commissioner Letz, seconded by Commissioner Oehler, the Court unanimously approved by vote of 4-0-0 to transfer the following expense codes: Expense Code Description 10-435-401 Court Appointed Services 10-435-494 Special Court Reporter 10-435-415 Special District Judge Amendment Increase/()Decrease + $1,891.80 + $603.33 - ($2,495.13) ORDER NO. 30331 MONTHLY REPORTS Came to be heard this the 11th day of June, 2007, with a motion made by Commissioner Letz, seconded by Commissioner Williams, the Court unanimously approved by vote of 4-0-0 the following monthly reports: Justice of the Peace, Pct. 2 JP #3 ORDER NO. 30332 DESIGNATION OF ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH CODE ENFORCEMENT OFFICER(S) Came to be heard this the 11th day of June, 2007, with a motion made by Commissioner Oehler, seconded by Commissioner Williams. The Court unanimously approved by vote of 4-0-0 to: Designate Ray Garcia as our Environmental Health Code Enforcement Officer/Solid Waste Code Enforcement Officer, with his license to be carried by Constable Precinct 1, David Billeiter. ORDER NO. 30333 NUISANCE ENFORCEMENT RELATIVE TO ROY STREET OSSF ISSUES Came to be heard this the 11th day of June, 2007, with a motion made by Commissioner Letz, seconded by Commissioner Baldwin. The Court unanimously approved by vote of 4-0-0 to: Authorize the County Attorney's Office to do whatever is necessary, including Nuisance Abatement, against the Property Owner at 321 Roy Street, and get the Septic System/Environmental Health issues resolved. ORDER NO. 30334 ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT Came to be heard this the 11th day of June, 2007, with a motion made by Commissioner Oehler, seconded by Commissioner Letz. The Court unanimously approved by vote of 4-0-0 to: Fill the vacant Administrative Assistant position in Environmental Health, making that person, Julie Trevino De Los Santos, a 15/l, and that we hire a new person to fill the vacant 13/1 position.