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KERR COUNTY COMMISSIONERS COURT
Special Session
Friday, April 18, 2008
2:00 p.m.
Commissioners' Courtroom
Kerr County Courthouse
Kerrville, Texas
PRESENT: PAT TINLEY, Kerr County Judge
H. A. "BUSTER" BALDWIN, Commissioner Pct. 1
WILLIAM "BILL" WILLIAMS, Commissioner Pct. 2
JONATHAN LETZ, Commissioner Pct. 3
ABSENT: BRUCE OEHLER, Commissioner Pct. 4

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I N D E X
April 18, 2008
1.1 Open bids for new vehicles for Environmental
Health Department and Animal Control Department
and take appropriate action to award bid and
purchase vehicles
5.1 Reports from Commissioners/Liaison Committee
Assignments
--- Adjourned
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the Commissioners' Courtroom, Kerr County Courthouse,
Kerrville, Texas, and the following proceedings were had in
open court:
P R O C E E D I N G S
JUDGE TINLEY: Let me call to order this special
meeting of the Kerr County Commissioners Court posted and
scheduled for this date and time, Friday, April 18, 2008, at
2 p.m. It is just a bit past that time now. The item on the
agenda today is to open bids for new vehicles for
Environmental Health Department, Animal Control Department,
and take appropriate action to award bid and purchase
vehicles. Do we have the bids?
COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: The bids, please.
MR. GARCIA: I have the bid.
JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Bid closing was at 11 a.m.
this morning; is that correct?
MR. GARCIA: Yes, sir.
JUDGE TINLEY: And the one you've just handed me is
the only bid submitted to your department pursuant to the
public notice; is that right?
MR. GARCIA: Yes, sir.
JUDGE TINLEY: Okay.
COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Judge, is the animal --
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(Coughed.) I get so choked up when I talk about it.
COMMISSIONER LETZ: About animals?
COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Is the Animal Control
vehicle in this same bid? The county --
', JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah, all vehicles are in this same
I bid.
COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay. All right.
JUDGE TINLEY: Okay, we have one bid that was
submitted. It was received April 7, which, of course, is
before the bid submission deadline. It comes from Ken
Stoepel Ford. The bid is for four 4-by-2's and one 4-by-4,
half-ton pickup trucks. The unit price of the 4-by-2's are
17,974. $17,974. Four of them would be a total of $71,896,
according to this. I haven't checked the math. The 4-by-4,
unit price is $20,830.13. The math checks, according to my
calculations. What is the Court's pleasure?
COMMISSIONER LETZ: I move we accept the bids, and
I guess go with our only bidder.
JUDGE TINLEY: Okay.
COMMISSIONER LETZ: To purchase those vehicles.
JUDGE TINLEY: I have a motion to accept the bid to
purchase the vehicles as per the bid. Do I have a second?
(Pause.) Where's Bruce when you need him?
COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I'll second it. I want to
ask a question.
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COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second.
JUDGE TINLEY: I have a motion and a second --
COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I'll second it.
JUDGE TINLEY: We have two seconds. Question or
discussion on the motion?
COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: My question is, to what
extent was this bid notification circulated? And did we, by
any chance, contact Houston-Galveston COG for their pricing?
MS. HARGIS: Yes, we did.
COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Here comes the answer. And
the answer is?
JUDGE TINLEY: The Auditor said we did contact
Houston-Galveston COG. And we advertised three times?
MS. HYDE: We advertised the 14 plus one, per the
statutes, in the Kerrville Daily Times. Yes, we did, and
there's copies.
COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I have no problem with
Stoepel.
JUDGE TINLEY: Okay.
COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I don't want them to put
knives in my tires next time I drive my Ford.
JUDGE TINLEY: Any other question or discussion?
All in favor of the motion, signify by raising your right
hand.
25 ~ (The motion carried by unanimous vote.)
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JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign.
(No response.)
JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. That's the
only item on the agenda, gentlemen. I suppose we can get
over here and talk about -- we do have on the agenda reports.
COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Absolutely.
JUDGE TINLEY: Yes. Yes, we do have on there --
COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: And Rex is not here anyway.
COMMISSIONER LETZ: So we can really --
COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: We can really get into it.
COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Go all over the lot, right.
Here we go.
JUDGE TINLEY: Any member of the Court have any
report to render to the Court in connection with their
liaison or committee assignments?
COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'll go ahead and give an
update of our -- Commissioner Williams and myself's meeting
with the City yesterday.
COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS:
note, we came out alive.
COMMISSIONER LETZ: We
coughing throughout the meeting.
line was -- and there was -- all
Councilpersons and the mayor wer
concurred with us, even though I
We're both alive. Take
came out alive, despite my
The -- I guess the bottom
five City -- or four City
e present, and they all
don't think they could take
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a vote, 'cause they don't have -- it wasn't an action item.
That the library -- well, first, Animal Control; the County
will take that over county-wide and pay for it county-wide.
The City will look at their ordinance, and anything that
needs to be modified there will be taken out, so we will only
be enforcing county rules. And there was some concern about
dogs barking and some of this, and they have things that --
like barking dogs are in their -- that ordinance, and they
need to make sure they leave that in there, because the
police can stop barking dogs and things like that, which is
fine.
COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Do the police stop barking
dogs?
COMMISSIONER LETZ: They have the authority to,
according to their ordinance.
COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Do -- do we stop barking
dogs?
COMMISSIONER
going to -- our Animal
county-wide, same serv
COMMISSIONER
about barking dogs.
COMMISSIONER
LETZ: No. We're going to do -- we're
Control is going to be the same
ice.
BALDWIN: Statute doesn't say anything
LETZ: No, I don't know anything about
barking dogs.
COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: No, we don't do things like
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that.
COMMISSIONER LETZ: We don't do barking dogs. The
library, which was --
MS. HYDE: Will that mean that the county laws will
be the ones that we go by?
COMMISSIONER LETZ: Mm-hmm.
MS. HYDE: So the cat thing will be the same now?
COMMISSIONER LETZ: Everything's the same.
Everything will be the county rules. The airport, which is a
-- they have agreed that we will set up an independent board.
Commissioner Williams and myself, Councilman Gross and
Councilman Hamilton will be negotiating the new governance
agreement, but the basis of that agreement is it will be an
independent board, with the Airport Manager reporting to the
Airport Board. Funding will be 50/50 between the City and
the County. So, it's basically what we have been advocating
for several years.
COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Long time.
COMMISSIONER LETZ: Or longer. On the library, our
proposal that they accepted was -- and this is still subject
to the Court looking at this -- that we will fund $400,000 in
the 2008-2009 budget. Currently we're at 444,000. And after
that, we will either continue to reduce our expenditure to
the library down to the area -- somewhere between 120,000 to
200,000, or to zero, or the library will be set up as an
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independent board that will be run by a -- someone that
reports to the board; basically, be the same as the airport,
and we will have equal say in operations of the library, at
which point we will continue to be a 50/50 partner.
COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I think it's fair to point
out --
COMMISSIONER LETZ: And ownership of the all the
~ property will be transferred 50/50.
COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I think it's fair to point
out that Councilman Gross offered to give us 50 percent of
the library just to keep us in the stable.
COMMISSIONER LETZ: And his reasoning is -- he is
probably the lead person, I think everyone knows, in really
taking the library to the next step, and he's had -- he's
concerned that it could cause some problems in their grant
applications and dealings with various foundations and
talking if we pull out right now. And whether that's true or
not, you know, fine, but they are looking at it a lot. A lot
of things on the table. And I did bring up that, while
they're talking to these foundations about funding a new
building, maybe they should talk to some of those foundations
about funding future operations, and they had not thought of
that, but said they would. EMS, there was no change. Fire,
I think it was a $5,000 increase. The -- EMS is the same
formula, so it goes to 180,000, I think, with the fire
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instead of 175. And they wanted -- and they wanted -- it
doesn't have to be that -- they would like an escalator in
there in the area of -- 5,000 was a maximum discussed; could
be as low as 3,000 a year.
And then on streets, continue what we're doing
right now, as in talking, and we will be probably, as a pilot
program, doing some sealcoating for them in the next budget
year. And the -- their material costs is going to be in the
area of $60,000, but that's not -- they pay whatever it
costs. It was set up -- or discussed as that it's a -- you
know, we'll do the labor, kind of look at it, but they were
paying for it. They're paying us, as opposed to paying a
contractor. And it would be subject to putting it into our
schedule, because there's no anticipation of us changing the
structure of Road and Bridge personnel-wise right now, but
that could come down the road, depending on where that leads.
COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Judge Tinley asked a
question when we were chatting outside with respect to
Councilman Hamilton's central initiative regarding double
taxation, and that was the driver on his plate. And it
seemed to be my -- it was my observation that of all the
discussions that had taken place with respect to his
perception of inequity in the taxations thing, it didn't end
up that way. And I think he finally could see that his
colleagues were not jumping on that train to the extent that
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he might have liked. And so -- so, there's no double or
triple increase in our cost to equate to his -- his
equalization formula that he's been pushing. So, for our
purposes, that's a plus.
COMMISSIONER LETZ: And that discussion really
centered around the -- well, the airport, but also EMS. It
went round and round about EMS and whether the County should
pay 100 percent of EMS. And I brought out that there's a
different level of service and, you know, it's not proper for
us to pay the same amount, because they are different levels
of service, unless they plan on putting substations out in
the county. They said they don't want to do that. We went
round and round for what seemed like an hour, but probably
was only ten minutes, and finally we agreed to leave it where
it is.
MS. HARGIS: Was the new Fire Chief there?
COMMISSIONER LETZ: No.
COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Did you say that the maximum
increase per year would be 5 percent on the fire contract?
COMMISSIONER LETZ: 3,000 to 5,000.
JUDGE TINLEY: Dollars.
COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: 3,000 to 5,000.
COMMISSIONER LETZ: Dollars.
COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Dollars. And then, did you
talk long-term? Or are we just talking about next year?
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COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Just talking about -- we're
not talking long-term.
COMMISSIONER LETZ: We're talking about midterm,
probably, five to --
COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Well, like, let's say,
okay -- I mean, it would be nice to say somewhere between
3,000 and 5,000 for the next five years.
COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah. Something like that,
yeah. I think that was the intent there. I think they have
come off of --
COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Where's the attorney when we
need him?
COMMISSIONER LETZ: They, as everyone will recall,
last year tried to increase it to 260,000, I think, and felt
it was going to have another increase this year.
COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Right.
COMMISSIONER LETZ: And the Council does not -- I
mean, they think that where it is right now is -- is fine.
And, in fact, there's some sentiment on the Council that we
shouldn't have to pay that, because they just need to do it.
COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I seem to remember in the
discussion last year, Commissioner, that it was the City
Managers's position that what would have been fair from his
point of view was us to pick up the cost of one crew.
COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah, something like that.
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But --
COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Or one station. Do you
remember it that way?
COMMISSIONER LETZ: But that whole --
COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: That's gone bye-bye.
COMMISSIONER LETZ: All that's gone. It's just --
COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Cost of doing business.
COMMISSIONER LETZ: It's 175,000 with the
escalator. And that escalator will probably -- anything else
that we do fund, if we were to fund -- agree to fund the
library, long -- or, you know, 100,000 two years from now,
then that --
COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I just -- I just -- I'm
certainly not going to argue about it, but I hope that we
would have discussions about increasing the fire contract
every year. I mean, I -- you know, all those things that
y'all fuss about all the time, that is one area that I could
see that, personally, I don't know that we're getting the
bang for our buck. I just don't quite see that, 'cause
it's -- the thing goes up, and the thing is, how many times
do they go there? How many times do we use that service?
And if you -- if they got real honest about it and looked at
all six times that they go, that's a pretty god-dang
expensive service out there. Plus -- but if we're going to
do it, I like this -- the small increments. But I don't know
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about committing future commissioners courts.
COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: We didn't make any
budgetary commitments.
COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I know you didn't yet, but
I'm not sure that we can. But --
COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think you can, subject to
budget approval.
JUDGE TINLEY: Subject to appropriations.
COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Subject to appropriations,
you can do it that way. Future court appropriations.
COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: If you do it, I like the
small increment way to do it. We've talked about that for --
Holloway and I talked about that for years, and just never
brought it around putting it on the table.
COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think the fire -- your
argument for the fire, I think, would go for inside the city
as well. They're spending now $3 million a year, $2 and a
half million, whatever it is on fire protection, and they
have 10, 15, 20, fires a year? I mean, you know.
COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: But the truck goes with the
ambulance.
COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Mm-hmm, it does.
JUDGE TINLEY: Might get there ahead of it.
COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah. I know we smirk at
that, but that -- I tell you, that's a strange thing to do.
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And I guess they all do it. I don't have any idea. But --
and then you ask them, "Why would a truck go out with an
ambulance?" Well, in case they need help carrying somebody
that's fat or something -- or heavy. You know, I just --
these things don't add up to me. But --
COMMISSIONER LETZ: Anyway, that's kind of where we
are. But I think they heard our positions pretty loud and
clear. Pretty much the -- we now are aware of the same
stuff.
MS. HARGIS: So, it ended up costing us.
COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah.
COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Oh, yeah, of course.
COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: What, Jeannie?
MS. HARGIS: So we ended up --
COMMISSIONER LETZ: It cost us probably -- it
netted us -- the first year, it cost us about $80,000 more.
MS. HARGIS: We've got to pay the animal, and we
need about -- I think we get 130 from them on the animal --
COMMISSIONER LETZ: 120.
MS. HARGIS: 120?
COMMISSIONER LETZ: 120, and then we -- we knock 44
off of the library, so it's about 80. And -- and they're --
you know, the Court could say we'll only do 375.
MS. HARGIS: Well, did that include -- well, I
guess we'll get down to it when we do it, but we need to talk
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about -- 'cause they pick up their dead animals. I don't
know if we're going to be responsible for that.
COMMISSIONER LETZ: The streets department picks up
their dead animals.
MS. HARGIS: No, the wastewater -- I mean their
waste management guys pick up the dead animals.
COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Somebody has to do it,
'cause we're not doing it.
COMMISSIONER LETZ: Our -- that was the issue the
last time, that they wanted us to do it. We said no.
MS. HARGIS: Okay. Just be sure that it's only
live animals that we agree to do this under.
COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah. There'll have to be an
agreement on this. It's the same service we provide in the
county.
MS. HARGIS: We pick up our own dead animals,
though.
JUDGE TINLEY: Road and Bridge picks them up if
they're on county roads.
MS. HARGIS: Okay.
COMMISSIONER LETZ: The Animal Control people don't
pick up dead animals, generally. I mean, there may be an
occasion.
MS. HARGIS: Yeah. I know in my part of the world,
you don't pick them up.
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COMMISSIONER LETZ: A little fluffy cat somewhere.
MS. HARGIS: I don't have fluffy cats; I have
fluffy deer everywhere.
COMMISSIONER LETZ: Fluffy cat ain't fluffy very
long, but...
JUDGE TINLEY: Any other reports?
COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: That was our afternoon.
COMMISSIONER LETZ: We had a good meeting in
Austin, went to the aviation conference.
COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Yeah.
COMMISSIONER LETZ: Interesting. I think there's
a -- I think we have a -- I have a lots of optimism about our
airport. I think there's a lot of things that can be done on
the marketing side that now can be done and addressed. I
think our -- the next big question is going to be who should
be on that board.
COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: That was a point that was
made yesterday with the City Council, that it's appropriate
to look at the current board members to see whether or not
they are the ones for the future.
JUDGE TINLEY: Insofar as future board members, was
it possibly suggested that the nomination selection process
be patterned maybe after the KPUB concept?
COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: We didn't get into that
yesterday, but we'll get into it when we sit down at the
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table on the governance agreement; we'll define the process.
JUDGE TINLEY: Okay.
COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think it's important that
it's not a city appointee and county appointee, and as long
as we get away from having "theirs" and "ours," I'll be
happy.
JUDGE TINLEY: That's the reason I mention it,
because the KPUB process, according to my understanding, is
that if there's a vacancy on -- or about to be on the KPUB
board, that board itself proposes a nominee or nominees for
whatever the vacancies are. In that case, the City Council
has the authority to say no. But if --
COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Does the City authorize it,
though?
JUDGE TINLEY: Huh?
COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Does the City authorize it?
JUDGE TINLEY: Well, they --
COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Approve it?
JUDGE TINLEY: They can approve the nominee that
comes from the board, or they can disapprove.
COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Or they can sit on it and
make them go back.
JUDGE TINLEY: Or if they -- if they disapprove,
you go back and they propose another nominee. And then, of
course, the Council gets to approve or disapprove that
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nominee. But if they disapprove two, then the next one that
the board proposes is -- is it. They don't have veto
authority other it. It happens.
COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: We'll take a look at that
process, Judge.
i
JUDGE TINLEY: 'Cause I think that that takes the
-- takes some of the politics out of it. That, I think,
would be good.
COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think the -- you know, my
view is -- I mean, I have nothing against any of our three
members that are out there, but it's going to be a very
different board. It's going to have a lot more meetings.
It's going to have a lot more responsibilities and things,
and it's got to be a lot more hands-on for the first couple
of years, 'cause they're going to -- you know, they're going
to have to work with that Airport Manager. And I just -- you
know, all three of our current board members take rather long
holidays during the year; I mean, as in a month at a time
off.
COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: As the chairman is right
now for a 3-week vacation to Europe. Which, God love him,
but if there's any airport business that needs to be dealt
with, they're down to two people dealing with it.
JUDGE TINLEY: Mm-hmm. Okay. Anything else? The
Auditor has laid something before us that's a report from a
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department head, I assume?
MS. HARGIS: No, it's just homework.
JUDGE TINLEY: Homework?
COMMISSIONER LETZ: It's bidding -- looks like
bidding process -- purchasing. It's purchasing processes.
COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: This is for our
edification, or because you sense a problem?
MS. HARGIS: It's for your edification.
COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Thank you.
JUDGE TINLEY: Anything else? We'll be adjourned.
(Commissioners Court adjourned at 2:23 p.m.)
STATE OF TEXAS I
COUNTY OF KERR I
The above and foregoing is a true and complete
transcription of my stenotype notes taken in my capacity as
County Clerk of the Commissioners Court of Kerr County,
Texas, at the time and place heretofore set forth.
DATED at Kerrville, Texas, this 18th day of April, 2008.
JANNETT PIEPER, Kerr County Clerk
BY : __ ~G ____ _____
Kathy nik, Deputy County Clerk
Certified Shorthand Reporter
4-18-08
ORDER NO. 30807
BIDS FOR VEHICLES FOR ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH AND
ANIMAL CONTROL
Came to be heard this the 18th day of April, 2008, with a motion made by
Commissioner Letz, seconded by Commissioners Williams/Baldwin. The
Court unanimously approved by vote of 3-0-0 to:
Accept the bid from Ken Stoeppel Ford, which was the only bid, and to
purchase the four 4x2s for $71,896.00 and one 4x4 half-ton pickup truck for
$20,830.13.