1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 KERR COUNTY COMMISSIONERS COURT 9 Special Session 10 Monday, November 26, 2001 11 6:30 p.m. 12 Commissioners' Courtroom 13 Kerr County Courthouse 14 Kerrville, Texas 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 PRESENT: FREDERICK L. HENNEKE, Kerr County Judge H. A. "BUSTER" BALDWIN, Commissioner Pct. 1 24 WILLIAM "BILL" WILLIAMS, Commissioner Pct. 2 JONATHAN LETZ, Commissioner Pct. 3 25 LARRY GRIFFIN, Commissioner Pct. 4 2 1 I N D E X November 26, 2001 2 PAGE --- Commissioners Comments 3 3 1.1 Pay Bills 7 4 1.2 Budget Amendments 8 1.3 Late Bills 11 5 1.4 Approve and Accept Monthly Reports 15 6 2.1 Execution of Texas Workforce Commission Child Care Local Initiative Agreement 15 7 2.2 Joint Resolution for NADIN interface for 8 weather station at airport 17 9 2.3 Presentation by Shaun Branham regarding Kerr County web site 21 10 2.4 PUBLIC HEARING - Proposed order requiring 11 registration of dangerous wild animals in unincorporated areas of Kerr County 29 12 2.5 Adopt order requiring registration of dangerous 13 wild animals in unincorporated areas of county 33 14 2.6 Preliminary plat, Holcomb Ranch in Precinct 4 40 15 2.7 Consider name changes for County-maintained roads in accordance with 911 guidelines, speed 16 limit sign, and set public hearing for same 42 17 2.8 Discuss implementation of road name changes 44 18 2.9 Authorize Kerr County Sheriff's Department to participate in interlocal agreement with Texas 19 Department of Public Safety 75 20 2.10 Approval of proposed FY 2002 budget for Kerr Emergency 911 Network Board 78 21 2.11 Clarification/approval of mileage payment to 22 officials and employees 92 23 2.12 Scheduling workshop on health insurance options 97 24 --- Adjourned 99 --- Reporter's certificate 100 25 3 1 On Monday, November 26, 2001, at 6:30 p.m., a special 2 meeting of the Kerr County Commissioners Court was held in 3 the Commissioners Courtroom, Kerr County Courthouse, 4 Kerrville, Texas, and the following proceedings were had in 5 open court: 6 P R O C E E D I N G S 7 JUDGE HENNEKE: It is 6:30 on Monday, 8 November 26th, Year 2001, and we'll call to order this 9 regular special session of the Kerr County Commissioners 10 Court. Commissioner Williams, you have the honors this 11 evening. 12 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Will you please join 13 me in a word of prayer and the pledge of allegiance? 14 (Prayer and pledge of allegiance.) 15 JUDGE HENNEKE: Thank you, Commissioner. At 16 this time, any citizen wishing to address the Court on an 17 item not listed on the regular agenda may come forth and do 18 so. Is there any citizen who would like to address the 19 Court on an item not listed on the regular agenda? Once 20 again, is there any citizen who'd like to address the Court 21 on an item not listed on the regular agenda? Seeing none, 22 we'll proceed with Commissioners' comments, and start with 23 Commissioner Williams. 24 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Only one quickie, 25 Judge. I just wanted to say congratulations to Kaitlin Beth 4 1 McKinney, daughter of Reverend and Mrs. Mack McKinney of 2 Center Point. She's been selected as a finalist in the 3 Preteen Texas Scholarship Recognition Program which just 4 took place in Houston. This is an invitation-only type 5 deal, and scholarship recognition events involve young 6 ladies 7 to 12 years old based on several things which I 7 think are interesting; that are school academic records, 8 awards, and honors, one, and/or their participation in 9 outside activities, and state finalists are evaluated for 10 their academic achievement, volunteer service to church and 11 community, school honors and activities, development of 12 personal skills and abilities and general knowledge, 13 communicative ability, and acknowledgement of 14 accomplishments. I think that's wonderful. I give her our 15 congratulations. 16 JUDGE HENNEKE: Very good. Jonathan? 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Only one comment. I'd 18 just like to publicly thank the Road and Bridge Department 19 for the great work they did during the recent floods. I had 20 in my precinct three or four people who called me or stopped 21 me and thanked me for the quick response from the County. I 22 passed that on to Leonard, and I just think there's a lot to 23 be said for those guys who put in long, long hours those 24 nights; they were up pretty much all night, and thank you. 25 That's it. 5 1 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: Let me echo that. You 2 stole my -- stole my line, because I had the same thing 3 happen. Several constituents called just to say how quickly 4 the department responded and -- and did what had to be done, 5 and it was super. It was -- and it happened not once, but 6 twice. I mean, it was two consecutive days and nights that 7 there were problems, and Road and Bridge really responded 8 well. 9 JUDGE HENNEKE: Great. Buster? 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yes, sir. I don't 11 have a football report -- or Tivy football report, but we 12 got a great basketball team. Preseason, ranked number 8 in 13 the state, and they're playing well; a lot of fun to go 14 watch. We probably do need to pray for the -- pray that 15 Tennessee beats Florida so Texas can get thrown into the 16 state -- into the national championship. Are you going to 17 talk about courthouse lighting? 18 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Am I? 19 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Somebody. Remind 20 us -- 21 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Go right ahead. 22 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: December the 1st is 23 the courthouse lighting ceremony, and I think it will be a 24 ceremony -- is that when Santa Claus comes? 25 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Well, that's the 6 1 whole parade, and the downtown merchants are having a parade 2 at this time in conjunction with first time of -- and then 3 Norwest Bank -- or bank -- whatever bank. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Wells Fargo. 5 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Wells Fargo Bank is 6 doing its annual Christmas program in conjunction with that. 7 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Cool. December -- 8 December 1. That's this coming Saturday. 9 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Mm-hmm. Fun night in 10 the old town. 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah. 12 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I have one other, 13 Judge, if I might before you take over. I see 14 Butt-Holdsworth Library and Antonio Martinez there in the 15 audience tonight, and that reminded me that at our last 16 Library Board advisory meeting -- Advisory Board meeting, 17 Antonio advised the Board that there is one position on that 18 board available, and if Kerr County Commissioners Court 19 would like to make some suggestions for filling that, I 20 think that would be welcome. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Judge, if I can make one 22 more comment, talking about Christmas lighting reminded me 23 of Christmas in Comfort this past weekend and those that 24 attended. Tremendous turnout again, probably close to 25 15,000 people, and the -- I'll note the Kerr County float 7 1 was spectacular. All of our queens and princesses and 2 little Miss Kerr County did a very good job and waved to the 3 whole crowd. 4 JUDGE HENNEKE: Well, I enjoyed the Christmas 5 in Comfort, myself. Did a little Christmas shopping, and it 6 was a nice day to be out, and I enjoyed that. And the 7 festivities this coming Saturday here at our Kerr County 8 Courthouse, the parade starts at 5:30, with the lighting 9 ceremony and entertainment here at the courthouse at 6:30, 10 so we look forward to everyone's attendance. I would remind 11 people once again that our second meeting in December will 12 be on December 21st, as opposed to December 24th, which 13 would have been the regularly scheduled day. That is a 14 Friday, and we'll kick off here at 9 o'clock in the morning 15 on that day. 16 MS. SOVIL: The agenda has to be posted on 17 Tuesday, so you have to move up the -- 18 JUDGE HENNEKE: Right. We'll have to move 19 all the agenda item deadlines up significantly that week so 20 we can accomplish the statutory 72-hour posting, so 21 everybody just keep that in mind. That's all I have for 22 today. Let's move into the approval agenda. Do we have 23 some bills to pay, Mr. Auditor? Anyone have any questions 24 or comments regarding the bills? 25 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I move we pay the 8 1 bills. 2 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Second. 3 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: Second -- third. 4 JUDGE HENNEKE: Motion by Commissioner 5 Baldwin, second by Commissioner Williams, that the 6 Commissioners Court authorize payment of the bills as 7 presented and recommended by our Auditor. Any further 8 questions or comments? If not, all in favor, raise your 9 right hand. 10 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 11 JUDGE HENNEKE: All opposed, same sign. 12 (No response.) 13 JUDGE HENNEKE: Motion carries. Budget 14 amendments. The first budget amendment we have for 15 consideration is from the 216th Adult Probation Department. 16 MR. TOMLINSON: Yes. We've had some 17 donations to the community service work program from 18 businesses or nonprofit organizations in the community, and 19 in order to spend those for that project, I'm asking the 20 Court to increase the budget by the amount of the donations, 21 $1,065. 22 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So moved. 23 MR. TOMLINSON: To purchase some equipment. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 25 JUDGE HENNEKE: Motion by Commissioner 9 1 Baldwin, second by Commissioner Letz, that the Court approve 2 Budget Amendment Request Number 1 for the 216th Adult 3 Probation, which increases the equipment line item for that 4 department by the amount of $1,065, representing donations 5 received. Any further questions or comments? If not, all 6 in favor -- 7 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That's a nice change. 8 JUDGE HENNEKE: All in favor, raise your 9 right hand. 10 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 11 JUDGE HENNEKE: Opposed, same sign. 12 (No response.) 13 JUDGE HENNEKE: Motion carries. Budget 14 Amendment Request Number 2 is for the Constable of Precinct 15 Number 2. 16 MR. TOMLINSON: Yes. This request is to 17 transfer $135 from his Telephone line item to Bonds, and 18 it's to pay a three-year bond for the constable. 19 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: So moved. 20 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: Second. 21 JUDGE HENNEKE: Motion by Commissioner 22 Williams, second by Commissioner Griffin, that the Court 23 approve Budget Amendment Request Number 2 for Constable, 24 Precinct 2. Any further questions or comments? If not, all 25 in favor, raise your right hand. 10 1 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 2 JUDGE HENNEKE: Opposed, same sign. 3 (No response.) 4 JUDGE HENNEKE: Motion carries. Do we have 5 any late bills, Tommy? 6 MR. TOMLINSON: I have -- I have one more 7 budget amendment that I didn't give you a copy of, and in 8 the budget process, we -- the Court approved the sale of -- 9 of a bond -- or the -- not the bond, but the C.O. for the 10 radio program. We -- we budgeted the -- the sinking funds 11 or the funds for the sinking fund, but we didn't budget to 12 spend the proceeds of the bond. 13 (Laughter.) 14 JUDGE HENNEKE: Pretty neat trick there. 15 MR. TOMLINSON: So we have -- we have the 16 money, and we just don't have the -- that amount in the 17 budget. And it's -- it's for -- the proceeds was $979,110. 18 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: So we need -- 19 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Budget amendment? 20 MR. TOMLINSON: We need to increase the 21 budget by the amount of the proceeds of the bond. 22 JUDGE HENNEKE: Okay. Where would that go? 23 What line item would we be increasing? 24 MR. TOMLINSON: It will be in Fund 70. It 25 will be Line Item 70-675-565. 11 1 JUDGE HENNEKE: Okay. 2 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: So moved. 3 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: Second. 4 JUDGE HENNEKE: Motion by Commissioner 5 Williams, second by Commissioner Griffin, that the Court 6 increase Line Item 70-675-565 by the amount of $979,110, 7 representing the sale of Certificates of Obligation for the 8 Sheriff's Department radio project. Questions or comments? 9 If not, all in favor, raise your right hand. 10 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 11 JUDGE HENNEKE: All opposed, same sign. 12 (No response.) 13 JUDGE HENNEKE: Motion carries. 14 MR. TOMLINSON: I have late bills. The first 15 one, I need a hand check for. It's to the Bank of New York 16 for $435; it's for the administrative fee of the contractual 17 obligation that we just mentioned for the radio equipment 18 project. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So moved. 20 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: Second. 21 JUDGE HENNEKE: Motion by Commissioner Letz, 22 second by Commissioner Griffin, that the Court approve the 23 late bill and authorize issuance of a hand check to the Bank 24 of New York in the amount of $435 as the administrative fee 25 on the Certificate of Obligations. Any further questions or 12 1 comments? If not, all in favor, raise your right hand. 2 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 3 JUDGE HENNEKE: Opposed, same sign. 4 (No response.) 5 JUDGE HENNEKE: Motion carries. Do we have 6 any more? 7 MR. TOMLINSON: Yes. The next one is to the 8 Renaissance Hotel. It's for $395 for lodging for Vital 9 Statistics Conference for the County Clerk and a -- and an 10 employee. 11 MS. PIEPER: Requesting a hand check. 12 MR. TOMLINSON: And we need a hand check. 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So moved. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 15 JUDGE HENNEKE: Motion by Commissioner 16 Baldwin, second by Commissioner Letz, that the Court approve 17 the late bill and authorize issuance of a hand check to the 18 Renaissance Hotel -- Renaissance Hotel in the amount of $395 19 for lodging for the County Clerk and deputy at a Vital 20 Statistics Seminar. Any further questions or comments? If 21 not, all in favor, raise your right hand. 22 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 23 JUDGE HENNEKE: Opposed, same sign. 24 (No response.) 25 JUDGE HENNEKE: Motion carries. 13 1 MR. TOMLINSON: The next one I need a hand 2 check for also. It's to the V.G. Young Institute of County 3 Government for $210 for seminar registration for the County 4 Treasurer. 5 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: So moved. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 7 JUDGE HENNEKE: Motion by Commissioner 8 Williams, second by Commissioner Griffin, that the Court 9 approve a late bill and authorize issuance of a hand check 10 to the V.G. Young Institute of County Government in the 11 amount of $210 for registration fee for the County 12 Treasurer. Any further questions or comments? If not, all 13 in favor, raise your right hand. 14 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 15 JUDGE HENNEKE: Opposed, same sign. 16 (No response.) 17 JUDGE HENNEKE: Motion carries. 18 MR. TOMLINSON: Okay. The next one I have -- 19 need a hand check for also; it's payable to the Arizona 20 Supreme Court for $150. It's for registration for a 21 conference for Judge Ables. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So moved. 23 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: Second. 24 JUDGE HENNEKE: Motion by Commissioner Letz, 25 second by Commissioner Griffin, that the Court approve a 14 1 late bill and authorize issuance of a hand check to the 2 Arizona Supreme Court in the amount of $150 as payment for 3 conference registration for Judge Ables. Any questions or 4 comments? If not, all in favor, raise your right hand. 5 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 6 JUDGE HENNEKE: Opposed, same sign. 7 (No response.) 8 JUDGE HENNEKE: Motion carries. 9 MR. TOMLINSON: Okay. The last one that I 10 need a hand check for also is to Ford Motor Credit for 11 $53,649.96. It's for the second payment on the lease 12 vehicles for the Sheriff's Office. 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So moved. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 15 JUDGE HENNEKE: Motion by Commissioner 16 Baldwin, second by Commissioner Letz, that the Court 17 authorize late bill and -- approve a late bill and authorize 18 a hand check payable to Ford Motor Credit Corporation in the 19 amount of $53,649.46 as a second payment on leased vehicles 20 for the Sheriff's Department. Any further questions or -- 21 any questions or comments? If not, all in favor, raise your 22 right hand. 23 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 24 JUDGE HENNEKE: Opposed, same sign. 25 (No response.) 15 1 JUDGE HENNEKE: Motion carries. 2 MR. TOMLINSON: Okay. 3 JUDGE HENNEKE: Thank you. At this time, I 4 would entertain a motion to approve and accept the monthly 5 reports as presented. 6 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So moved. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 8 JUDGE HENNEKE: Motion by Commissioner 9 Baldwin, second by Commissioner Letz, that the Court approve 10 and accept the monthly reports as presented. Any further 11 questions or comments? If not, all in favor, raise your 12 right hand. 13 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 14 JUDGE HENNEKE: All opposed, same sign. 15 (No response.) 16 JUDGE HENNEKE: Motion carries. All right. 17 Having disposed of the important preliminaries, let's move 18 into the consideration agenda. First item for consideration 19 is Item Number 1, consider and discuss the approval and 20 execution of Texas Workforce Commission Child Care Local 21 Initiative Agreement. Brenda Chapman. 22 MR. CHAPMAN: Okay. Want to come up? 23 JUDGE HENNEKE: And Sharon. 24 MR. CHAPMAN: Good evening. It's renewal 25 time again. Last year, we did not really have to use much 16 1 of the money in this -- in this fund last year. They were 2 able to fund it directly out of the Bexar County -- out of 3 the total amount. This year, we anticipate having to really 4 use this account. Luckily, this year the contracting went 5 very smoothly as far as dealing with them. They called -- 6 contacted us once and wanted to make some changes. We told 7 them no, and they came back and then changed it. So, this 8 is -- we are agreeing with this and are really pleased that 9 they came back with this only the second time, and not 10 having to go back over and back and forth again, like we 11 have had to do in the past. So, we recommend -- Sharon's 12 looked at it, we both looked at it -- that it be approved. 13 Any questions or -- 14 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: $49,000? 15 MS. WADE: That's our share. 16 MR. CHAPMAN: That's our part. 17 JUDGE HENNEKE: Any questions or comments? 18 MR. CHAPMAN: And we already have raised, in 19 that account, about $42,000 to $45,000 already in that 20 account. 21 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I would move the 22 approval of the Texas Workforce Commission Child Care Local 23 Initiative Agreement between Alamo Workforce and Kerr 24 County, and authorize County Judge to sign same. 25 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: Second. 17 1 JUDGE HENNEKE: Motion by Commissioner 2 Williams, second by Commissioner Griffin, that the Court 3 approve the Texas Workforce Commission Child Care Local 4 Initiative Agreement between Alamo Workforce Development and 5 Kerr County and authorize County Judge to sign the same. 6 Any questions or comments? All in favor, raise your right 7 hand. 8 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 9 JUDGE HENNEKE: Opposed, same sign. 10 (No response.) 11 JUDGE HENNEKE: Motion carries. 12 MR. CHAPMAN: Thank you. I would like to say 13 to Judge Henneke thank you for helping us out at the judge's 14 meeting and keeping us -- getting those percentages down 15 here for us. 16 JUDGE HENNEKE: We're trying. Thank you very 17 much. 18 MR. CHAPMAN: We appreciate it. Thank you. 19 MS. WADE: Thanks a lot. 20 JUDGE HENNEKE: Next item for consideration 21 is to consider and discuss approval of joint resolution for 22 NADIN interface for weather station at the airport. Megan? 23 This is yours. 24 MS. CAFFALL: The -- excuse me. The 25 airport's been included in the federal grant to upgrade our 18 1 weather station at the airport to include a National 2 Aerospace Data Interchange Network interface for our weather 3 reporting at the airport. This NADIN, as it's abbreviated 4 to, would allow the weather data collected from our weather 5 observation station at the airport to be linked directly 6 with the National Weather Service for use in their 7 forecasts. It would bring Kerrville into the national and 8 international weather picture. The NADIN connection would 9 also provide an opportunity for pilots using our airport to 10 get weather briefings from anywhere in the world, which 11 would also enhance the airport's ability to attract 12 corporate and also Part 135 scheduled air traffic. The cost 13 of the NADIN interface is $6,500. The airport's share will 14 be $1,625. The grant match expense and operating expenses 15 are included in this year's budget under the match for 16 routine airport maintenance projects. 17 JUDGE HENNEKE: Does anyone have any 18 questions or comments? 19 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I just have a 20 question of Megan. Have you gotten a response from 21 Time-Warner Communications to your suggestion that they pick 22 up the operational cost? 23 MS. CAFFALL: I've been visiting with them. 24 I haven't touched back -- I tried today, after the holiday, 25 and wasn't able to get ahold of Ms. Ivans. I'm also talking 19 1 to a couple other groups, but the cable company is kind of a 2 logical person to partner with us on this. The airport has 3 spent almost $80,000 on this weather station that we have 4 there, and we can get a grant for this additional equipment, 5 but partnership with the cable company would be -- would be 6 nice, because this will feed directly into the weather 7 channel, and all our weather forecasting that you see on TV. 8 There's also other entities that look at using Kerrville 9 weather, so it's -- it is an operating expense that airports 10 do pick up. It's something that, if all else fails -- we 11 will be getting the grant documents. This resolution is 12 just to tell TexDOT that we want to be included in this 13 grant. We'll be getting the grant documents in February or 14 March, so I'm hoping between now and then I can find another 15 source. Because, quite frankly, I think this is something 16 that the community could share in with the airport that 17 everyone would benefit from. So, if I can, I will. 18 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Thank you. 19 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: Let me just add that a 20 -- a community -- this really puts Kerrville on the weather 21 map, no pun intended. It -- it means that if you go online 22 and -- and to "weather.com" and punch in 78028, you're going 23 to get real Kerrville weather now, not Junction weather. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Not Junction weather. 25 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: And it really makes a 20 1 difference to the flying community, but it's also, I think, 2 of use to the entire community. So I look at it as a 3 community service thing, too. 4 (Discussion off the record.) 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I move we -- 6 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: I'll -- go ahead. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. I make a motion we 8 approve the resolution for the NADIN interface for weather 9 station at the airport. 10 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: And authorize the 11 County Judge to sign same. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And authorize the County 13 Judge to sign same. 14 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: I'll second that. 15 JUDGE HENNEKE: Motion by Commissioner Letz, 16 second by Commissioner Griffin, that the Court approve the 17 joint resolution for NADIN interface for weather station 18 at -- for airport and authorize County Judge to sign same. 19 Any questions or comments? 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: We also maybe should add 21 that the matching grant is in the current airport budget. 22 JUDGE HENNEKE: And that the matching grant 23 is in the current airport budget. Any questions or 24 comments? If not, all in favor, raise your right hand. 25 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 21 1 JUDGE HENNEKE: Opposed, same sign. 2 (No response.) 3 JUDGE HENNEKE: Motion carries. 4 MS. CAFFALL: Thank you. 5 JUDGE HENNEKE: Next item is Item Number 3, 6 consider and discuss presentation by Shaun Branham regarding 7 the Kerr County web site. This is a good day; we're glad to 8 see this, and even more happy to see it on our computer 9 screens. So, Shaun, tell us a little bit about it. 10 MR. BRANHAM: Well, first off, I would like 11 to mention the web address. It's "www.kerrcounty.org." And 12 we're real excited that Kerr County's finally making the 13 migration over to e-government. And within the web site, 14 you'll find subjects such as contact information, including 15 the addresses, phone numbers, hours of operation, forms that 16 you can download to fill out online and then print off, to 17 save you some time there at respective offices filling out 18 forms and applications. Different county events, such as 19 y'all mentioned earlier about the lighting of the courthouse 20 on the 1st, and I believe that's already up on the web site. 21 Information about stuff like that. And there's just, 22 basically, the stuff that you see a lot on other county web 23 sites, but since we develop our own, we have the leisure to 24 add and remove, as we please, any kind of information so 25 that we can keep it timely and updated to current events. 22 1 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Good. 2 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: I'd like to add, 3 too -- and Shaun's done a great job on getting us off the 4 ground on this -- I've been through the whole site several 5 times, and it looks good. Web sites generally are as good 6 as the users insist and want them to be, so it really is 7 incumbent upon all of us at the courthouse and county 8 government, as well as the citizens out there that we are 9 really trying to serve with it, to let us know what they 10 would like to see. And we'll keep pushing -- the idea is to 11 keep pushing, and we'll push Shaun as hard as we can and the 12 equipment as hard as we can to get the best that we can get 13 available. 14 MR. BRANHAM: Exactly. 15 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: But that requires 16 input, and requires constructive input. And if there's 17 something that we don't like there, we need to let Shaun 18 know that as well, and we can kick it around and decide if 19 we want to remove something, but it's mostly figuring out 20 what you really want to see there, and making sure that 21 Shaun finds out and that there's a technical -- he's got to 22 evaluate whether there's a technical way -- 23 MR. BRANHAM: Right. 24 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: -- to get particular 25 data on there. We'd like to have everything, obviously, but 23 1 there's got to be a technical evaluation done, and then he's 2 got to go through the -- the actual steps of building web 3 pages and so on. But we're off to a great start, Shaun. I 4 appreciate it. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Larry, is there -- or 6 Shaun or somebody -- 7 JUDGE HENNEKE: Don't look at me. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It seems -- we obviously 9 want to do just what you said and get -- make the web site 10 usable, but is there -- do we need to -- or does the Court 11 need to get involved with what's on there, or we just let 12 anything go on there? I mean, it is representing the 13 County. 14 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: Yeah. I think that 15 the short answer is that -- that anything that's public 16 information, obviously, can go on there if we can get it 17 there. We can't get all the public information there. 18 If -- if there is a question -- and I think Shaun's already 19 done some of this -- is that if there is a question about 20 whether we would like to have something on there from the 21 Commissioners Court point of view, for example, that that 22 primarily -- input's going to come from us, or from the 23 Clerk's Office or Tax Assessor or whoever. And that's the 24 reason we need to be engaged in that. That's what I'm 25 saying; we really need to be engaged in that process. We 24 1 deal with very little that's not public information. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. 3 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: So we have the luxury 4 of not having to be too critical, but there may just be some 5 things on there that we think are more important than 6 others, and that's what we -- we need to prioritize what 7 would get onto the web site quickest. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. 9 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: I think the short 10 answer to your question is, we probably don't have a problem 11 in that area, but we all ought to monitor it just to make 12 sure we don't. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Can you get too big? 14 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: Well, we can -- we can 15 bog the machine down, I guess, at some point, yeah, sure. 16 But -- but as long as you keep -- as you can keep the pages 17 simple enough that they -- the load times are not too bad -- 18 MR. BRANHAM: Right. 19 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: -- the only thing that 20 limits you, really, is how much can you store on our 21 computer, and that would take a lot to overload that. So, 22 we're in -- we're in pretty good shape. And, yeah, if -- 23 but Shaun will be the first judge of that, and he'll tell us 24 if it's -- if we're approaching the limit. Either it 25 affects speed, or the fact that we may be corrupting some 25 1 files because they can't get loaded properly and so on. 2 He'll be our judge on that. But we really need to evaluate 3 what priority we want to see on there. When I say "we," I 4 mean everybody. Not just -- not just the Commissioners 5 Court, but Commissioners Court, the courthouse, everybody in 6 the courthouse and our other offices, and the public at 7 large. 8 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Following up on 9 Commissioner Letz' question, Larry, is there a process by 10 which we get -- we suggest items to be placed on the -- or 11 we just direct a memo to Shaun? 12 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: Yes. 13 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Or through you? 14 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: I would say direct it 15 to Shaun, and he's going to get with whoever -- whichever 16 office is involved, and if -- if he wants my help, he'll ask 17 for it. He probably won't need it. But we can kick around 18 some various ways, sometimes technically, of doing something 19 which may make it operate faster, easier, better. But most 20 of the time, if it's something that somebody would like to 21 see, Shaun's going to make that first evaluation of what it 22 would take to get it. 23 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Okay. 24 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: And is it something 25 that changes often? See, there's also -- without going into 26 1 too much detail, he's got to sort of evaluate, is it 2 something that has to change every day? Is it something 3 that changes once a week? Once a month? Never? Something 4 that changes never, but it's a good piece of information, 5 you may put off on a page and just leave it there. 6 MR. BRANHAM: Right. 7 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: And that's no problem. 8 But something that has to be updated every day takes his 9 time, or somebody's time, to get the data input so that it 10 can be changed, so there's those kind of questions that you 11 have to work every day. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And one thing that's -- 13 I'll send you a memo on it, but I found real useful during 14 the rains -- I know U.G.R.A. has it on theirs -- is the 15 flood gauges up and down the river. On a realtime basis, 16 you can find out -- you can go on right now and you can find 17 out what the river flow is up at Shoemaker Crossing, down at 18 Comfort, everything else, and it really is pretty 19 interesting to find out real quickly where we're about to 20 have problems. I think it's one of the ways that Road and 21 Bridge was able to stay on top of the flooding, 'cause they 22 were using that, I know, during the -- I mean, they knew 23 exactly the levels all over the county continuously. 24 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: And, certainly, we 25 can -- it may just be that the suggestion there is that we 27 1 link -- have a link directly off of our home page, for 2 example. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: To -- 4 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: Directly to that site. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. 6 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: If U.G.R.A. already 7 has it, we don't have to duplicate it. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: The U.S.G.S. site. 9 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: That's good 10 information. 11 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: And those are the kind 12 of things, if you find a good link -- for example, people 13 are always asking about, "What does the law say?" We can 14 put you a link on there that goes right to the statute, 15 right in the computer in Austin. It's up-to-date, it's got 16 all of the latest stuff in it, and people that are really 17 interested in reading what the law says can go right to it. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think -- 19 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: Don't have to be a 20 lawyer to do that. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think the links are 22 probably one of the most useful things that we can develop. 23 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: Yes. 24 MR. BRANHAM: They are. 25 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: And, again, that's 28 1 something we can suggest. We can all make suggestions on 2 good sites that we know of that may be of use to Kerr County 3 citizens. 4 JUDGE HENNEKE: Excellent. Any other 5 questions or comments? 6 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: Would you repeat the 7 -- let's repeat the URL one more time. 8 MR. BRANHAM: Its "www.kerrcounty.org," 9 o-r-g. 10 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: Get the word around to 11 everybody that it's there, and -- and please check it out. 12 JUDGE HENNEKE: Okay. Thanks a lot, Shaun. 13 At this time, we're going to have a public hearing on the 14 proposed order requiring the registration of dangerous wild 15 animals in the unincorporated areas of Kerr County. This 16 public hearing is technically not a requirement of the 17 statute that authorizes -- or requires us to enact this 18 order, but we thought it would be -- it was prudent, in the 19 best interests of the county, to give people an opportunity 20 to come before us and address us on the issue of this 21 registration of dangerous wild animals, since it is a -- a 22 new mandate from the State Legislature. So, at this time, 23 will we recess the Kerr County Commissioners Court meeting 24 and open the public hearing. 25 / 29 1 (The regular Commissioners Court meeting was closed at 7 p.m., and a public hearing was 2 held in open court, as follows:) 3 P U B L I C H E A R I N G 4 JUDGE HENNEKE: Is there anyone in the 5 audience who would like to address the Court on the proposed 6 order requiring the registration of dangerous wild animals 7 in the unincorporated areas of Kerr County? Yes, ma'am. 8 Come forward, identify yourself, and tell us what you need. 9 MS. LEITNER: Yes. My name is Anke Leitner, 10 and basically what I would like to know is what kind of 11 regulations the County would require, if they are similar to 12 the state regulations, what we already have if somebody does 13 have a wild animal, or if they going to be different, if 14 there are going to be additional regulations, or how it's 15 going to be proceeded. 16 JUDGE HENNEKE: Mr. Allen? 17 MR. ALLEN: The State's not going to regulate 18 them any more; it's going to be the Animal Control 19 Department of the county or the Sheriff's Department. 20 MS. LEITNER: Okay. 21 MR. ALLEN: And which, in our case, it will 22 be the Animal Control Department, so the State's not going 23 to regulate it. The only thing they're going to do is 24 provide us with the forms to register them. 25 MS. LEITNER: Mm-hmm. 30 1 MR. ALLEN: And enclosure sizes, and that's 2 all. It will be up to us and you, as an animal owner, to 3 fill out the application for registration, and then we'll go 4 out and inspect your premises. 5 MS. LEITNER: Okay. 6 MR. ALLEN: And then if you pass, then you 7 pay a $50 fee, if that's what we set, and it will be good 8 for a year. 9 MS. LEITNER: And those regulations, are they 10 going to be the same as the State required? Because the 11 cage we have for ours is according to the -- to the State 12 for that particular animal. Because different wild animals 13 require different regulations. Like, for example, let's say 14 a lion, who does climb, or a cougar, who does climb, or a 15 leopard, who does climb, needs a roof over. A tiger, for 16 example, who does not climb, the State used to require a 17 certain height of fence, and barbed wire on top of it facing 18 inwards to the cage. How are those regulations going to 19 be -- 20 MR. ALLEN: We don't have the pen sizes. We 21 don't have the enclosure sizes. 22 MS. LEITNER: Enclosure sizes, actually, by 23 the State was very little. I would say it was maybe, I 24 think, 10-by-15 or something like that. What it -- in my 25 personal opinion, it is not sufficient for an animal like 31 1 that. So the size, I really don't have a problem. What I'm 2 trying to find out is if the regulations are going to be the 3 same as the State's were, or if there's going to be any 4 additional regulations. 5 MR. ALLEN: I don't believe it will be 6 additional. It will just be new regulations. 7 MS. LEITNER: Okay. And what else is going 8 to be required for that? What -- what does the individual 9 have to do? 10 MR. ALLEN: You have to fill out an 11 application for registration. 12 MS. LEITNER: Mm-hmm. 13 MR. ALLEN: And come up with the 14 requirements, which I don't have your -- the pen enclosure 15 sizes. 16 MS. LEITNER: Okay. That's the only -- 17 that's the only requirement? Or are there any additional 18 requirements? Because I know -- 19 MR. ALLEN: I've got a list right here you 20 could read. 21 MS. LEITNER: Okay. Because what it used to 22 be, used to -- like, you had to have a vet who sponsored you 23 for the first year. 24 MR. ALLEN: You do. 25 MS. LEITNER: I mean, I already passed that 32 1 stage, because our tiger, she is going on to eight years 2 right now. So, what about that? I mean, she is an older 3 animal, so do I still have to have a veterinarian who 4 sponsors me? 5 MR. ALLEN: You still -- 6 MS. LEITNER: Or did I pass that stage? 7 MR. ALLEN: You still have to have -- on your 8 application, you're going to have your veterinarian sign off 9 on it. 10 MS. LEITNER: Okay. On the cage? 11 MR. ALLEN: On your application. 12 MS. LEITNER: Okay. Okay. The vet that we 13 used to use before, he does not practice no more. Because I 14 know back then, the State only required that for one year. 15 And I -- I do have regular check-ups on her and stuff like 16 that, so -- 17 MR. ALLEN: If I'm not mistaken, your 18 registration is going to be -- going to be good for one 19 year. 20 MS. LEITNER: That's correct. That's 21 correct, yeah. And I just had the vet sign that he did see 22 the cage, that it's sufficient for the animal, especially 23 size-wise, and that was it. 24 MR. ALLEN: Well, it's going to be similar to 25 that. 33 1 MS. LEITNER: Okay. That's actually all I 2 wanted to know. 3 JUDGE HENNEKE: Okay. Thank you. 4 MS. LEITNER: Thank you. 5 JUDGE HENNEKE: Is there anyone that would 6 like to address us on the issue of registration of dangerous 7 wild animals? 8 (No response.) 9 JUDGE HENNEKE: One more time, is there 10 anyone else who would like to address the Court on the issue 11 of dangerous wild animals? Seeing none, I'll close the 12 public hearing, and we will reconvene the meeting of the 13 Kerr County Commissioners Court. 14 (The public hearing was concluded at 7:05 p.m., and the regular Commissioners Court 15 meeting was reopened.) 16 - - - - - - - - - - 17 JUDGE HENNEKE: Next item for consideration 18 is item 2.5, which is consider and discuss adopting order 19 requiring the registration of dangerous wild animals in the 20 unincorporated areas of Kerr County. This is the form of 21 the order that was approved when we met on this issue back 22 in October. I passed out to you all late this afternoon 23 some information which Marc had received, which does provide 24 us with some alternative grandfather clauses, if we're so 25 inclined. Anyone have any comments or questions? 34 1 MR. ALLEN: Judge? 2 JUDGE HENNEKE: Yes, Marc? 3 MR. ALLEN: One animal we might think about 4 adding to this list would be the wolf. Now, it's not 5 addressed in our county order, and we can add it to this to 6 make sure it's regulated also. There's a lot of people who 7 have wolves and wolf hybrids, and they're just as dangerous 8 as any animal on there. They may look like a domestic dog, 9 and they're all happy and everything, but they can turn on 10 you just like anything -- just like a wild animal. They're 11 not domesticated. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: We have -- nevermind. 13 MR. ALLEN: Just one to think about. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: My question was really -- 15 I think I've answered it already, but let me just make sure. 16 I mean, I'm really not in favor of the -- the options. I 17 think if you register them, you register them. I think 18 everyone, whether you have them now -- but you do need, I 19 think, a grace period to get them registered. And I read 20 the order; they have until June 1st, 2002, to get the animal 21 registered. 22 MR. ALLEN: Right. Just need to have it in 23 place by December 1st, one way or the other. Either 24 prohibit them, or we're going to register them. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right, okay. So it gives 35 1 them a 6-month period to get the animal -- that's what I was 2 looking for. I think that's addressed. 3 JUDGE HENNEKE: Any other thoughts or 4 comments? 5 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Marc's suggestion 6 regarding adding the wolf is something we ought to consider. 7 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: I mean, do we have a 8 number in the county? 9 MR. ALLEN: I couldn't -- I can't tell you 10 any exact numbers right now. I know of one mountain lion. 11 This lady here, I know at one time she lived on Beaver Road 12 and she had a tiger, and that is -- I think it was about 13 three years ago. 14 MS. LEITNER: Yeah, and she's still there. 15 MR. ALLEN: I didn't know if you moved; I 16 hadn't heard anything of it, so now I know of two animals in 17 the county at this time. 18 JUDGE HENNEKE: What about wolves, though? 19 Are you aware of anyone keeping wolves? 20 MR. ALLEN: I've had them in the city limits 21 before. And if they say they're a wolf, okay, they're a 22 wolf. I mean, I can't prove any different. You know, you 23 have a lot of people -- a lot of dogs look like wolf 24 hybrids. 25 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: Yeah. 36 1 MR. ALLEN: But unless you have the blood 2 test, which we're not going to do -- if they're bragging, 3 "Hey, I got a wolf hybrid," hey, it's got to go. You can't 4 have it in the city, so don't go bragging it's a wolf 5 hybrid. That's the way it is. And if it's out in the 6 county and you're going to be bragging that you got a wolf 7 or a wolf hybrid, hey, you got to get it registered now, 8 buddy. You know, it's a safety issue. Those wolves, it 9 just seems like they've always attacked little babies and 10 elderly people. 11 MS. LEITNER: That's correct. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I did a study on it 13 before, and it's -- they're dangerous animals. 14 JUDGE HENNEKE: What's the consensus? Shall 15 we add wolves to the laundry list? 16 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I would suggest we 17 do. 18 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: Yeah. I don't have a 19 problem with that. 20 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Won't cost any more. 21 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: I'll make a motion 22 that we add wolves to the list. 23 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Second. 24 JUDGE HENNEKE: Motion by Commissioner 25 Griffin, second by Commissioner Williams, that the Court 37 1 amend the proposed order to add as one of the list of 2 prohibited animals the category of wolves. Any further 3 questions or comments? 4 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: Not prohibited; it's 5 just -- 6 MR. ALLEN: Just be registered. 7 JUDGE HENNEKE: Correct. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Is it wolves or wolves 9 and wolf hybrids? 10 JUDGE HENNEKE: Well, it would be wolves and 11 hybrids. 12 MR. ALLEN: If you read the bottom, it says 13 any hybrid of any of these animals. So -- 14 JUDGE HENNEKE: Any other questions or 15 comments? If not -- 16 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I kind of wanted to 17 turn the wolves over to 911, but -- 18 (Laughter.) 19 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: You already have. 20 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: They already have 21 them. 22 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: The wolves are already 23 after them. 24 JUDGE HENNEKE: All in favor of the 25 amendment, raise your right hand. 38 1 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 2 JUDGE HENNEKE: All opposed, same sign. 3 (No response.) 4 JUDGE HENNEKE: Motion carried. Any other 5 discussion on the order, as amended? 6 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: I'll make a motion 7 that we approve the order as amended. 8 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. 9 JUDGE HENNEKE: Motion by Commissioner 10 Griffin, second by Commissioner Baldwin, that the Court 11 approve the order requiring the registration of dangerous 12 wild animals in the unincorporated areas of Kerr County as 13 amended. Any further questions or comments? If not -- 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I did have a question. 15 It goes back to the -- the question regarding cages, and I 16 didn't see it as I glanced over it. I really haven't had a 17 lot of time to look at this. I glanced over the 18 legislation, the original -- 19 MR. ALLEN: It doesn't have it. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: You're going back under 21 the statue as to what the requirements are for cages? 22 MR. ALLEN: I was talking to Mr. Robert 23 Tremble, which he's the attorney for this Federation of Wild 24 Animals, and he was telling me that T.D.H. is going to 25 publicize a list of cage sizes, and it's supposedly going to 39 1 be comparable to what it used to be, so we don't have to 2 come up with the cage sizes. We don't have to go out and 3 decide; it's going to be the State, and you have to comply 4 to the State. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: T.D.A. is going to, I 6 guess? 7 MR. ALLEN: T.D.H., yes. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: T.D.H. is. 9 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Judge, will we have to 10 come back at a later time and adopt that? 11 JUDGE HENNEKE: No. 12 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: We're adopting the 13 Health and Safety Code when we adopt this order here? 14 JUDGE HENNEKE: That's correct. 15 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: I thought those cage 16 sizes were in 822 -- in Chapter 822 of the Health and Safety 17 Code. 18 MR. ALLEN: I don't believe it is, not for 19 the dangerous wild animals. This is completely new for 20 T.D.H. So -- 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: They were probably -- 22 they may have been in there for other animals. 23 MR. ALLEN: It might have been for other 24 animals, but not for this list here. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Could have been the same 40 1 animals, but under a different authority. Okay. But that 2 answered my question. 3 JUDGE HENNEKE: Any other questions or 4 comments? If not, all in favor of the motion, raise your 5 right hand. 6 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 7 JUDGE HENNEKE: Opposed, same sign. 8 (No response.) 9 JUDGE HENNEKE: Motion carries. Next item is 10 Item Number 6, consider the approval of preliminary plat of 11 Holcomb Ranch in Precinct 4. Commissioner Griffin? 12 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: Franklin? 13 MR. JOHNSTON: It's a small subdivision. 14 It's private roads off of Indian Creek Road, 5-acre 15 subdivision. I think the lots average a little over 11 16 acres a lot. I think they're putting in a private road, 17 which all they would need was unpaved country lane, but I 18 think they're putting in a paved country lane, last time I 19 talked to them. 20 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Mr. Holcomb is back 21 there, if you -- 22 MR. JOHNSTON: Paved country lane, right? 23 MR. HOLCOMB: Yes. 24 MR. JOHNSTON: Yes. 25 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: Does it meet all the 41 1 requirements? 2 MR. JOHNSTON: Meets all the requirements. 3 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: And -- 4 MR. JOHNSTON: The one water crossing, if you 5 recall, they had a preliminary conference. They designed -- 6 had Les Harvey design it, and it was put in that way, 7 concrete with the appropriate number of culverts. And I was 8 out there and looked at it once when they had the sub-base 9 in, and -- 10 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: Looks good. 11 MR. JOHNSTON: -- it's ready for preliminary 12 approval. 13 JUDGE HENNEKE: Part of it's in the Ingram 14 ETJ, correct? 15 MR. JOHNSTON: Part of it is. I guess you'll 16 be taking that to the Ingram City Council -- 17 MR. HOLCOMB: Yes, sir. 18 MR. JOHNSTON: -- for preliminary. 19 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: I'll recommend that we 20 approve the preliminary plat as presented. 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Third. 23 JUDGE HENNEKE: Motion by Commissioner 24 Griffin, second by Commissioner Baldwin, that the Court 25 approve the preliminary plat of Holcomb Ranch in Precinct 4. 42 1 Any questions or comments? If not, all in favor, raise your 2 right hand. 3 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 4 JUDGE HENNEKE: Opposed, same sign. 5 (No response.) 6 JUDGE HENNEKE: Motion carries. Item Number 7 7 is consider name changes for County-maintained roads in 8 accordance with the 911 guidelines, and the speed limit 9 sign, and set public hearing on the same. This is 10 Commissioner Griffin and Commissioner Letz. 11 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: I know the ones in 12 Precinct 4, that this was -- we discussed this one last time 13 we did these, and we put this one off, and after having 14 spoken with some of the constituents who live there, we 15 worked it back through 911 and Road and Bridge, and we've 16 come up with names as shown, Upper Reservation Road and 17 Lower Reservation Road, which seems to make everybody happy. 18 It's a good compromise and ought to work. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And the one -- the one 20 road that's on here right now is Benson Road to Eugene Road, 21 and change the speed limit sign on Westwood. There are two 22 others that I think would finish up mine in my precinct, but 23 they're not on the list. Can we add them at this point? 24 Can they be added to that list? I think Truby has talked 25 with 911. I'm talking about Comfort Valley. Do you know? 43 1 Comfort Valley Road? Okay, we'll hold off, just do it next 2 time. 3 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: Okay. On South Park 4 Road, that one has been coordinated with everybody there and 5 everybody's pleased with it, 'cause they wanted to retain 6 the Cougar theme that goes with some of the other roads out 7 there in Guadalupe Ranch Estates. So, this looks good. 8 JUDGE HENNEKE: Okay. 9 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: And I'll make a motion 10 that we set the public hearing for January 14th on these 11 changes, at 10 a.m. 12 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: January 14? 13 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: January 14, 10 a.m. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 15 JUDGE HENNEKE: Motion by Commissioner 16 Griffin, second by Commissioner Letz, that the Court set a 17 public hearing on the name changes on public roads and the 18 regulatory sign on Westwood in Kerr County for January 14th, 19 Year 2002, at 10 o'clock a.m., in the Commissioners 20 Courtroom, 700 Main, Kerrville, Texas. Any questions or 21 comments? 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Question. These are 30 23 days, right, on these? 24 JUDGE HENNEKE: Correct. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: If we added some more on 44 1 the 10th, could we make that same public hearing? 2 JUDGE HENNEKE: Yes. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I would think we could. 4 Or will you start publishing before that? 5 MS. PIEPER: Road and Bridge does the 6 publishing. 7 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: But I think you're 8 right; if we added it on the 10th, we could make the same -- 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: We could wait, get it all 10 ready, and save the expense if we can get the last two that 11 I have -- 12 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: Sure. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- that are not private. 14 Okay. 15 JUDGE HENNEKE: We'll go ahead and move on 16 this, though. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Move it, and if we can 18 add them, we'll add them. If not, we won't. 19 JUDGE HENNEKE: Any further questions or 20 comments? If not, all in favor, raise your right hand. 21 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 22 JUDGE HENNEKE: Opposed, same sign. 23 (No response.) 24 JUDGE HENNEKE: Motion carries. Item Number 25 8, consider and discuss implementation of road name changes. 45 1 Commissioner Baldwin. 2 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yes, sir. Recently, 3 on July the 6th of 2001, we changed a couple of road names 4 in my precinct. One was South Monroe Drive. We changed it 5 to Michon Drive South. One was Loma Vista South, and we 6 changed it to Bailey Jo Drive South. We have changed the 7 road signs out there. All emergency services have been 8 contacted and are aware of the road changes. And then a 9 constituent of mine gets a note from the mail carrier -- 10 that is in your packets there, a copy of it's in your 11 packets -- that says, "Mr. Hanson, the Postmaster, has 12 instructed me to send all Michon Drive mail back to the 13 sender. Please change back to Monroe Drive immediately." 14 And I have asked Mr. Hanson to come to this meeting and to 15 explain to us how this works, and he was kind enough -- I 16 understand you just came back from vacation? 17 MR. HANSON: Yes, I -- 18 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: From a trip somewhere. 19 I appreciate you coming, Mr. Hanson, to our meeting. I 20 don't understand -- obviously, I don't understand how it 21 works, and I was hoping that maybe that Mr. Hanson would 22 shed some light on it so that -- and I've spoken to a couple 23 of you guys about it, and you seem not to understand how it 24 works, either, so maybe Mr. Hanson can shed some light on 25 it. And I also want to say that Mrs. Guerrero from San 46 1 Antonio phoned me just right before we came in here, and we 2 had a very pleasant discussion. She's with the Postal 3 Service out of San Antonio, I guess the central office, 4 maybe. 5 MR. HANSON: District office. 6 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: District office. And, 7 Mr. Hanson, would you come to the podium, please, and kind 8 of explain -- and hopefully we'll have just some discussion 9 here, some nice, kind, friendly discussion, and so that we 10 can all understand. And I guess my -- my deal in the thing 11 is that I'm an elected official by the constituency out 12 there, and anytime something goes wrong, they come to me. 13 And that's fine. That's my job, and I understand that. But 14 what I want to do is, I want to find what the problem is, as 15 to why they can't receive mail at an address -- at a new 16 road name and address that we've assigned, and what -- what 17 the problem is with it. What can we do to fix the problem? 18 That's all I'm looking for. 19 MR. HANSON: Okay. That's a good question. 20 I think it's in everybody's interests if we get where we can 21 all have one address. Right now, a lot of people have one 22 911 address and a mailing address. We can make that happen. 23 We can get to that point, but a few things have to happen 24 first. What I need to get is a cross-reference listing. 25 And we're getting closer. I got a listing from the 911 47 1 people, but I can't use it. It tells me who owns this 2 property and what the new address is. Basically, what it 3 appears to me 911 is doing is saying, "There's a structure 4 there, and this is the address we're giving it." All of our 5 addresses -- our mailing addresses are in a database. It's 6 called an Address Management System, and Mrs. Guerrero works 7 in that office. I have to know what the old address was and 8 what it's being changed to, and I need to have it by carrier 9 route. This is standard. The State put out guidelines for 10 911 prior to 1990, and as far as I know, virtually every 11 county has provided this or is in the process of providing 12 this to the Postal Service. If I can get that product, I 13 can do it. I can make it happen. 14 I want to do it. It's in everybody's best 15 interests to go ahead and get this done, get them one 16 address. But right here I have a -- as an example, this 17 address is Post Office Box 509, Pecos, Texas. The new 18 address is 136 Taylor Road South. I can't do anything with 19 that, because I don't know what the old address is. I have 20 to have this information in a format I can use, and so far I 21 don't have it. Once I get that, I can get it to 22 Ms. Guerrero and we can get it in the computer, 23 notifications can go out, and then -- then people can start 24 using this address for the mail. But until that happens, 25 until they get a letter with my signature on it, they can't 48 1 change their mailing address. I don't know what it is. I 2 don't know what the new addresses are. And you've told me 3 what the road name changes are, but I don't deliver mail to 4 a road, I deliver mail to a mailbox that has a specific 5 address assigned. 6 I brought, as an example -- when Gillespie 7 County changed the addresses in Tierra Linda, which is in 8 Gillespie County, they put it in my delivery area; they have 9 Kerrville addresses. A letter was put together by Gillespie 10 County. It's a joint customer notification of change of 11 address from Gillespie County 911 and the United States 12 Postal Service. It's signed by the County Judge on one side 13 and signed by the Postmaster on the other side. It's 14 addressed to such-and-such family, Highway Contract Route 5, 15 Box 574-A, and it says, "Your new address is being 16 assigned." It tells them the new address. This makes it 17 official. This way it can be done all at one time; we can 18 give them the 911 address and start using it for the Post 19 Office at the same time. But I really don't know what 20 addresses have been assigned to people; I have no way of 21 knowing. I don't have the information available. 22 And to go into my -- I've got to do two 23 things. I've got to go in our computer system and change 24 this database, and that notifies every mailer around the 25 country -- they purchase those address products to update 49 1 their mailing list, because they sort it to carrier route 2 and do things like that with it, so that's a product that I 3 sell to mailers. I've got to get this information in there 4 right. Also, my clerks who sort the mail every day, they're 5 seeing addresses that they have no clue where they are. 6 They don't know where they go. So, once we get that 7 cross-reference in a format that we need, we can do it. 8 There's no reason why we can't do that, but I don't have 9 that yet, and so I can't do it yet. 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So, if we come along 11 here and we changed up Monroe Drive to Michon Drive, and on 12 the Monroe Drive, Mr. Baldwin's camera shop -- let's say 13 that, just as an example, that Mr. Baldwin was 101 Monroe 14 Drive, and we changed the name to Michon. Wouldn't it still 15 be 101 Michon? 16 MR. HANSON: That depends on what 911 wants 17 to do with it. And in many of the cases, no, the numbers 18 are changing. 19 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So, 911 hasn't 20 provided you with numbers? 21 MR. HANSON: They have provided me with 22 something. 23 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: Yeah. They may have 24 provided them with the numbers. The problem is -- is that 25 he doesn't have a cross-reference that says 101 Monroe is 50 1 now 106 Michon. And he has to know -- he has to get those 2 cross-referenced somehow to both. He has to have the old 3 mailing address, not -- not the old owner's address. He has 4 to have the old mailing address for that property. I see 5 what you're saying. 6 MR. HANSON: That's exactly what I need. 7 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: You have the old 8 address and the new address, so he can change it in the 9 database. 10 MR. HANSON: Yes. And I need that by carrier 11 route, which -- you know, that information is available. 12 Now -- 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: What is a carrier 14 route? 15 MR. HANSON: Sure. We have 32 different 16 routes that deliver mail out of Kerrville. Highway Contract 17 Route 4, 5, and 6, Rural Route 1, Rural Route 2, those sort 18 of things. 19 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay. 20 MR. HANSON: They need to be in sequence by 21 route, 'cause that's the way we keep our database. That 22 information is available. We normally sell it to the 23 public, but we make it available to 911 free of charge. And 24 I know what 911's doing; they're working off a database made 25 from the tax records, which doesn't help me. That works for 51 1 them, but it -- it doesn't work for me. I need it done off 2 of the database of the old mailing address. 3 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: Let me ask a question 4 of -- of some of the 911 folks who are here. If -- if you 5 had -- I'm thinking out loud here; bear with me. If we had 6 the Post Office database, is there any way we can relate 7 that to the -- to the tax database that we are using to 8 identify properties? Is there a way to do that? 9 MR. SANDLIN: Yes, sir. Where we started, as 10 you're aware of, we were working from west to east through 11 the county, and as we were doing that out in the west end of 12 the county, we were coordinating that with the A.M.S. sheets 13 or the check and edit sheets that I'm familiar with. 14 However, when, for instance, this popped up with Michon and 15 Bailey Jo, that was not in an area we were working at the 16 time, and so you remember what we went through. We're going 17 to work the 45-day deal so we can get them their notices out 18 and stuff, and I didn't have the check and edit sheets for 19 Kerrville; we were in kind of a hurry-up mode. I believe it 20 was Tuesday or Wednesday, Ms. Guerrero shipped me eight 21 routes, transmitted them to me. We go by, like y'all know, 22 by the parcel -- what we call the parcel database. And, in 23 many cases, we can look at this lot and determine by who the 24 addressee is on it, and cross it that way. Sometimes it 25 takes a lot of work, because we know who the owner is and 52 1 it's a rent house, and we don't necessarily know who the 2 renter is, so there's a lot of work to be done there, but we 3 can cross that. It's just that at the time this all 4 happened, we weren't prepared to do that cross-referencing 5 and we didn't have that data available to us at the time. 6 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: Right, okay. So, it 7 appears maybe that the Michon/Bailey Jo problem was 8 something -- was created somewhat because we got out of 9 sequence a little bit. 10 MR. SANDLIN: It's a sync problem, 11 synchronization. 12 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: You had not 13 coordinated the mailing addresses to the tax data so that 14 now you could cross 911 with mailing address, which is where 15 you need -- where you need to end up with the Postal 16 Service. 17 MR. HANSON: Right, exactly. 18 MR. BALLARD: But the Postal Service, we 19 don't have a -- 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Question. Have you 21 received some of them? The addresses, I mean. Are some of 22 the new carrier routes done, or redone? 23 MR. HANSON: No. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: He's saying that none of 25 them have been done, but we've changed -- I mean -- 53 1 MR. HANSON: Not for the Kerrville delivery 2 area. Maybe -- you've done Mountain Home and Ingram. 3 MR. SANDLIN: That's where we had the 4 information. And, like I say -- 5 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I'd ask that same 6 question. We'd be in a peck of trouble -- the only one 7 we're here about is Michon. 8 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: You've got to realize 9 that out in the hinterlands it's a little bit different 10 problem. They're a little bit more straightforward, because 11 the routes are sort of obvious and -- and clear, and I think 12 we did work those in the Hunt area, didn't we, with Hunt 13 Post Office? 14 MR. SANDLIN: We're still going back and 15 picking up the ones'es and twos'es and stuff. 16 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: Right. 17 MR. HANSON: I'd love nothing more than to be 18 able to change those addresses when you change them. I get 19 phone calls every day and visits to the office. And I don't 20 like my carriers writing notes like that; those should come 21 from me. Maybe I'd word it a little more diplomatically. 22 What they said basically is true, though. When we get the 23 -- you get those to me, I can get it in the computer system. 24 I have to turn around and teach every one of my clerks -- 25 you know, we'll have to pay them -- every time they get a 54 1 new address, a new street name, we pay my clerks' time on 2 the clock to memorize those new addresses. We'll do that. 3 But it takes a little bit of time; I need a little bit of 4 lead time to get the computer set up and get my folks 5 trained on these new addresses. 6 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I guess my question 7 would be to T. more than the Postmaster. If we're having 8 this problem -- and it was brought to our attention, really, 9 by the Monroe Drive change to Michon Drive. And one of the 10 constituents -- that's a street that splits Buster's and my 11 precinct; I think a piece of it is in each of ours. And one 12 gentleman wrote letters to the editor, he wrote letters to 13 Mr. Hanson, and, you know, this thing has been going on now 14 for several months. We changed that a considerable time 15 ago, which my question to you is, when? When will you 16 provide to the Postal Department what it needs to get this 17 problem rectified? 18 MR. SANDLIN: Well, I thought that we had. 19 And, like I said, it was either last Tuesday or Wednesday I 20 got the A.M.S. or the check and edit sheets for that area. 21 Now, that doesn't mean I can drop what we're doing where 22 we're doing it and go work that whole route. I mean, I can, 23 but any time we do that, start that skipping around -- I 24 don't want to get into a helter-skelter mode. 25 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: Let me ask a question. 55 1 Would the longer-term solution to this be that we don't -- 2 you know, instead of the 45 days which we were trying to -- 3 we tried -- imposed that to try to handle some of this 4 problem and in getting everybody lined up and in the same 5 informational mode. What if -- what if we didn't do 6 anything until the Post Office that's concerned has the 7 proper cross-reference data? If -- in other words, we can 8 make the change, but we just don't do any notification until 9 the Postmaster says, "I'm ready to go with this route." 10 MR. HANSON: Once I get that, it won't take 11 me very long to do it. 12 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: Yeah. And so, instead 13 of 45 days, we just do it when it's -- 14 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: There's this letter 15 that he is showing us from Gillespie County that is signed 16 off by the County and the -- 17 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: Postmaster. 18 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: -- Postmaster. 19 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: That may be -- would 20 that create a problem? 21 MR. BALLARD: I wanted to ask a question in 22 pursuit of what you said, and the Postmaster. We're just 23 talking about those areas that have had road name changes, 24 but as we progress into this area, we're changing addresses 25 by number, but not -- we're not changing names. See, we're 56 1 going to be reviewing addresses in terms of numbers, but 2 we're not going to be changing many more names, okay? Now, 3 this -- does this cross-editing -- cross-reference problem 4 carry over to just -- to those areas too? It does, doesn't 5 it? 6 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: I can answer that one. 7 MR. HANSON: Yes. 8 MR. BALLARD: Okay. 9 MR. HANSON: It's when number or road name 10 changes happen. 11 MR. BALLARD: So, therefore, the 45-day thing 12 only addresses the name change areas, but we still have the 13 cross-editing concern with any address change. 14 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: But we solve -- it 15 would seem to me that we solve a big portion of this problem 16 if we don't do -- if we don't officially change anything. 17 We don't change -- I mean, we change it as far as the order; 18 we get the court order set up, but we don't change -- we 19 don't notify anybody. We don't change a road sign and we 20 don't -- certainly don't tell them they have a new mailing 21 address until we're ready to spring it on them all at once. 22 MR. BALLARD: Try to get in sync. I agree 23 with you wholeheartedly. 24 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: That's one part of 25 the issue, Commissioner. I don't disagree; I think that's 57 1 right for the future, but we have a problem out there. 2 There's a problem on Monroe Drive and Michon Drive, whatever 3 we're going to call it, and it is -- the problem's now 4 exacerbated because the route carrier has been told to 5 return the mail to sender. Now, think about that. You 6 multiply it by "X" number of houses on this street, but 7 think about all the mail being returned to sender. Checks, 8 bills, bank statements, everything that you can possibly 9 think of is being returned to sender, and these people's 10 lives are flipped over. And you're telling me you don't 11 want to do this thing on a helter-skelter basis. Well, 12 their lives are already helter-skelter if that's really 13 being -- happening, that their mail is being all returned to 14 sender. Think about it. 15 MR. HANSON: T., did your letter tell them to 16 use that for the mailing address? 17 MR. SANDLIN: No. 18 MR. HANSON: If I recall, it tells them not 19 to. 20 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: It tells them not to. 21 MR. BALLARD: Tells them not to, absolutely. 22 MR. SANDLIN: Here's -- I brought y'all each 23 a copy of the blank, if you'd like it. 24 MR. HANSON: It says wait till the Post 25 Office notifies you to start using your -- for mail service. 58 1 But some people jumped the gun on that and didn't read it or 2 whatever. 3 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I guess so. 4 MR. HANSON: Starting to notify people that 5 they had a new address. 6 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: And my suggestion 7 was -- was that -- forgetting Michon and Monroe for just a 8 second, but my suggestion would be, is that we don't do that 9 until you are ready to tell them to change their address. 10 MR. HANSON: That would save a lot of phone 11 calls and headaches. 12 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: Now, that's the 13 longer-term problem. Short-term problem is -- 14 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I'm in total 15 agreement. 16 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: Short-term problem is, 17 I suspect we -- did you count up the -- I think Commissioner 18 Baldwin counted them up. About how many -- 19 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: There may be -- 20 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: -- mailing addresses? 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Maybe 15 total on 22 those two. 23 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: So, what I -- what I 24 was going to suggest is, maybe we can work out some way to 25 address these in a very priority basis, and then get to the 59 1 situation where we don't do anything -- any notification 2 until everybody's ready to spring. So -- and to solve the 3 problem for those two roads and the 13 people or whatever it 4 is that -- 5 JUDGE HENNEKE: I think an interim step is to 6 send out another mailing to those people on those two roads, 7 and reiterate the fact that, do not use the 911 mailing 8 address as your -- the 911 address as your mailing address 9 until you get official notice from the Postal Service. 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah. Well -- 11 JUDGE HENNEKE: There's a certain amount of 12 read the -- read the -- you know, the fine print type of 13 thing. I don't know if it's fine print or not, but read the 14 instructions. Like putting together stuff for my kids at 15 Christmas; when all else fails at 3 o'clock in the morning, 16 I read the instructions. Maybe we need to correspond with 17 these people and say, "Please don't use this address, the 18 official 911 address, as your mailing address until you get 19 a notice from the U.S. Postal Service." 20 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: It's clear -- pretty 21 clear that it says that here on this notice from 911 to 22 them. However -- 23 JUDGE HENNEKE: They're probably not -- 24 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: They don't read them. 25 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: Only 13 people; you 60 1 can probably call them and tell them, 'cause not all of them 2 probably -- I suspect not everybody did that. Some of them 3 probably read the instructions. 4 MR. BALLARD: Yeah. There's another issue, 5 that sometimes, if it's a renter, these things are sent to 6 the owner of the property, and the owner doesn't do a very 7 good job of forwarding this information. 8 MR. HANSON: So you're not sending a copy of 9 that to the current resident? Just to the owner of the 10 property? 11 MR. BALLARD: To the owner of the property. 12 MR. HANSON: That's a problem. 13 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: See, and that's -- 14 again, if we were -- if we already had everything 15 cross-referenced and everything's ready to spring at one 16 time, we solve that problem as well. 17 MR. BALLARD: On the cross -- and on the 18 cross-referencing, I'm going to have to ask T. this 19 question. T., is it going to represent an impact to the 20 work plan and an impact to -- to your personnel? Is this 21 something that you expected, or is this extra work? Is it a 22 lot of extra work? 23 MR. SANDLIN: It's not a lot of extra work. 24 It's just, it wasn't an area we had -- were working at the 25 time. 61 1 MR. BALLARD: Is it within our budget? 2 MR. SANDLIN: Yes, sir. 3 MR. BALLARD: Okay. 4 JUDGE HENNEKE: Sheriff? 5 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: I'm kind of in agreement 6 with Commissioner Williams, though. To take care of this -- 7 those two roads, 'cause if I were a resident out there, I 8 wouldn't want my mail getting sent back, either. To take 9 care of those, I'd like to ask T. -- T., how long would it 10 take for those two roads -- for to you furnish the Post 11 Office with their old address and their new address? 12 MR. REESE: May I see the transmittal that 13 they gave you, please? 14 JUDGE HENNEKE: The problem with that, 15 though, gentlemen, is that the Postal Service wants 16 carriers -- they wants intact carriers, and so fixing those 17 two roads, the Post Office is still not going to -- 18 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: But since that's the two 19 we're having the most serious problem with now, can we make 20 an exception on that? I think Commissioner Griffin had the 21 right thing. This ought to be coordinated and all done at 22 one time. But, to take care of those residents out there, 23 can we make an exception on that now, that if T. gets you 24 exactly what it is you need, can you go ahead and program it 25 in for those two roads so those people don't start getting 62 1 their mail sent back? 2 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: Right. 3 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Let me say something 4 right quick. In my conversation with Mrs. Guerrero earlier, 5 she assured me of two things; that if we do get that done, 6 what the Sheriff is referring to right now, if we could go 7 out and get all the proper information on those two roads, 8 that she would immediately fix it for us. 9 MR. HANSON: We can do that. 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Fix that problem. And 11 she also assured me that at any point, she'd be happy to 12 come to Kerrville and meet with all of us or meet with the 13 -- the powers that be to help straighten out and dot all the 14 i's and cross all the t's with us. 15 (Discussion off the record.) 16 MR. HANSON: Yeah. I -- I agree. She could 17 -- I don't know what Cindy means by "immediately," but we 18 can do it in a matter of a few days. 19 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Well, I think -- hey, 20 that's immediate to me. 21 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: Yeah, that's -- 22 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That would be great. 23 You have a couple of businesses out there that their mail is 24 being sent back, and you're talking about invoices and -- 25 MR. HANSON: One of the things that happens 63 1 is, they send that change of address to a business, and they 2 run their addresses through a computer matching service to 3 clean up misspelled streets and where they don't have 4 "South" or "North," those sort of things. When they run it 5 through that address matching, it won't find this street 6 until I get it in the computer, and it's going to kick it 7 out. It's going to tell the company that's trying to mail 8 it, this isn't a good address, and -- and that creates a 9 problem all its own. 10 MR. SANDLIN: And we've covered a lot of that 11 already. The problem we have and that I maybe can solve 12 with the -- I keep calling them the check and edits -- the 13 A.M.S. sheets is, like, the property here to -- well, I 14 won't read it out, but it's an energy land company. I doubt 15 an energy land company lives there. And if we can find out 16 who the postal patron is there, then I can cross that. 17 MR. HANSON: You know, I deliver mail to 18 addresses. 19 MR. SANDLIN: Right. 20 MR. HANSON: If you can get the old address 21 and the new address, I can live with it. It helps to have 22 the name, but if you do not know who lives there but you 23 know that old address, give me that and I'll work with it. 24 MR. SANDLIN: Like, if we've got an old 25 address -- 103 South Loma Vista is now 103 Bailey Jo Drive. 64 1 That's sufficient? 2 MR. HANSON: Sure. 3 MR. SANDLIN: Okay. 4 MR. HANSON: I can live with that. I do not 5 have to have the name. 6 MR. SANDLIN: Okay. So, this -- what we've 7 already given you, then, is sufficient. 8 MR. REESE: We've given you that when we know 9 it. It's in here. 10 MR. HANSON: There's quite a few of those 11 that it's not there. 12 MR. SANDLIN: I understand. And some of 13 those, they -- it's P.O. Box, Arizona. And now that we've 14 gotten the stuff from Cindy, I'll have even another one -- 15 I'll even have another source to cross that to. 16 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Your Tax 17 Assessor/Collector is jumping up and down there. 18 MS. RECTOR: I just want to know -- if the 19 same thing is going to hold true with all of these road name 20 changes, that's going to create a total nightmare for my 21 office, because not only are we having to change precincts, 22 we're also having to change all of these road names, and 23 every one of them have this little geo -- these north, 24 south, east, west. Is it going to fall into this same 25 category, that we're going to have to have an old address, 65 1 new address in order for the Post Office to be able to 2 update these when these road names are approved? Or for -- 3 MS. BOLIN: Or for us to even know where the 4 roads are. 5 MS. RECTOR: We don't know even -- we have 6 not a clue where these roads are. 7 MR. HANSON: For me, I have to have the old 8 address and the new address. 9 MS. RECTOR: Okay. And -- 10 MR. HANSON: And, now, where you run into 11 trouble is the Highway Contract Route. Highway Contract 12 Route 4, Box 451, you've got to know that; you've got to 13 tell me that this is the physical address we're assigning. 14 That's what I've got to have. And -- 15 MR. REESE: If someone is using -- is 16 currently using a mailing address on the road in question, 17 and we have provided that old address to you, can you make a 18 conversion? 19 MR. HANSON: I need a galley listing. I need 20 it by route, the old address and the new address. 21 MR. REESE: If we give it you by street, 22 and -- 23 MR. HANSON: No, by route. 24 MR. REESE: You can't go from street to 25 route? 66 1 MR. HANSON: No. 2 MR. SANDLIN: Just like we were doing in Hunt 3 and Ingram. 4 MR. HANSON: I need it off of our Address 5 Management System. 6 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Judge, I'd like to 7 wrap this up, if I could. 8 JUDGE HENNEKE: If I could just -- 9 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay, go ahead. 10 JUDGE HENNEKE: I think we need to address 11 Paula's concern. 12 MS. RECTOR: Thank you. 13 JUDGE HENNEKE: Paula, I think what you need 14 to do is not change your mailing addresses until you get a 15 copy of the official notification from the Postal Service, 16 which is what we've been talking about going to, that the 17 name -- the road name change, while approved, will not be 18 effective until such time as an official notification is 19 sent out. Hopefully we can do it like Gillespie County's, 20 over my signature and Mr. Hanson's signature, and you'll get 21 a copy of that at the same time. Now, that's -- that's as 22 to the address change. As to where it is and what voting 23 precinct it is -- 24 MS. RECTOR: If we had a map that showed us 25 where this road was -- there's a lot of them that we have 67 1 never even heard of, and I know a lot of them are private 2 drives into ranches that they've decided to put names on, 3 which that is not a problem with us. But there's still a 4 lot of these, in going over this list, the descriptions tell 5 me nothing. "Highway 41, Mountain Home." That tells me 6 nothing. 7 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: But if you have the old 8 address, which you've already got in your system -- 9 MS. RECTOR: If we have -- 10 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: If you get the same 11 deal, the old one and the new one, then it will match? 12 You -- and you have the precinct? 13 MS. RECTOR: Yes. Yes. But -- and I guess 14 my concern is, because we are State mandated to mail voter 15 registration cards -- they've given us a few extra weeks, 16 into the end of December, to do this. All those cards are 17 going to go to those old addresses. We're going to change 18 all these addresses; we're going to have to remail. That's 19 going to be a big expense. Big expense. I've got stacks 20 and stacks of tax statements back because some of the 21 contract routes were changed. The Post Office sent them 22 back in big bundles to me. 23 MR. HANSON: Yeah. 24 MR. SANDLIN: I didn't do that. 25 MR. HANSON: You didn't do that. And we will 68 1 forward the mail for one year. Now, those notices -- 2 MS. RECTOR: These were not forwarded. Those 3 people still live there. 4 MR. HANSON: Let me tell you, what I'm saying 5 is if you send it to the old address for -- my regulations 6 say for 12 months, I will deliver it to the new address, 7 even though it's addressed to the old one. Now, these 8 Highway Contract Routes you're referring to, we did those -- 9 it's been over two years. It was two years in July of this 10 year. We forwarded that mail for -- went ahead and 11 delivered it to the new address. 12 MS. RECTOR: Is Aqua Vista included in that? 13 I got everybody's tax statements back from Aqua Vista. 14 MR. HANSON: That was changed a little over 15 two years ago, and I went one year past what -- what my 16 regulations allow me to do. So, the one year is going to 17 have to be adhered to. Once we do these 911 changes for 18 the -- for the rest of Kerr County, I will adhere to the one 19 year. I will go ahead and deliver the mail addressed either 20 way; that's why I got to have the cross-reference. 21 Addressed either way, I'll deliver it for one year. But 22 after one year, it will go back. 23 MR. SANDLIN: Mr. Hanson, what's the time 24 trigger for that one year? I mean, what's -- 25 MR. HANSON: That letter that goes out, 69 1 whether it's a joint signature or my signature, it's 12 2 months from that letter. 3 MR. SANDLIN: Okay. 4 MS. RECTOR: Is there some way that we can be 5 notified that these addresses have changed so that maybe we 6 could contact those people and get an address change from 7 them? Because they're not doing it. 8 MR. HANSON: Yeah, you have a good issue. I 9 can -- I think -- I think I can get that information for 10 you. 'Cause, see, those were, by and large, generated by 11 Gillespie County, a lot of those were. So -- you know, some 12 of those were. Some of them were generated here. I don't 13 know. I don't have a real handy list, but I can put one 14 together. I can get that for you. 15 MS. RECTOR: We had talked to you several 16 weeks ago about providing us with a list. 17 MR. HANSON: Yes. Did you ever get that? 18 MS. RECTOR: No. 19 MS. BOLIN: Never heard anything. 20 JUDGE HENNEKE: I think y'all need to talk 21 after we're done. 22 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That's what I -- 23 JUDGE HENNEKE: Commissioner? 24 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah. One real 25 quick -- Mr. Hanson, you had been -- I want you to repeat 70 1 something for me. You had been saying you need the old 2 address and the new address, and then a couple of minutes 3 ago you said that you needed -- needed that by the route. 4 MR. HANSON: Yes. 5 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So you need -- how is 6 he to know what route? 7 MR. HANSON: He needs to start with this 8 address product that Cindy Guerrero sent him last week. 9 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So you can do that? 10 MR. SANDLIN: Mm-hmm. 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Listen, thank you very 12 much. My suggestion would be that y'all sit down somewhere 13 under an oak tree and -- and work those things out. Paula, 14 you need to get with the Postmaster and sit down and -- 15 MS. RECTOR: Well -- 16 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: -- somewhere. And, 17 T., you too, or whoever. 18 MS. RECTOR: My concern was with these road 19 name changes, because the geo part of it was saying north, 20 east, south, and west. They're saying it's not going to 21 recognize it if we went in and changed them. Now y'all are 22 saying we're going to hold off until we can get everything 23 cross-referenced and get old addresses to match to the new 24 ones, which will be a big help to me. 25 MR. SANDLIN: Wait a minute. You're saying 71 1 the Postal Service won't recognize the -- 2 MS. RECTOR: Not if they don't have an 3 address to tie it to, a previous address. 4 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: Well, they've got to 5 have -- I think all Mr. Hanson was saying was that he's got 6 to have the right address in his database for it to be 7 recognized. So, we just need to get the right address to 8 him, cross-referenced to the old address so that it will -- 9 the system will recognize it. 10 (Discussion off the record.) 11 MR. BALLARD: It's a cross-reference issue, 12 and sync. 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So, if -- back to 14 these two particular roads that the Post Office said that 15 they would help us put it together and get it going 16 immediately. T., can we count on you guys to help us get 17 those two roads? 18 MR. SANDLIN: Mm-hmm. 19 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Thank you very much. 20 Mr. Letz? 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Now we have those two 22 roads, you know, but I'm still concerned, kind of like 23 Commissioner Williams is, I think, about all these other 24 roads. I mean, and I -- while I agree it's written on here 25 to wait, but I think if -- I don't know what the cost is, 72 1 but if you can get that in bigger print, I think it would go 2 a long, long ways on that form. But my concern is, we're 3 putting up new road signs all over the county, and the 4 logical thing for someone to do, you know, is -- most of 5 them aren't going to read the -- aren't going to read that 6 one line at the very bottom, anyway, I don't think. You 7 know, I would start -- if it was me, I would start using the 8 new street name. 9 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I would, too. 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And I think this is going 11 to be a much bigger problem real soon, 'cause we're changing 12 them quickly and people are going to start, you know, 13 looking up at the road sign and saying, "I guess I should 14 use the new road name." 15 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Exactly right. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I really think we need to 17 figure out a way to get the public notified not to do 18 anything, and I don't think this is going to make it. 19 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Get the information 20 to the Post Office more quickly. 21 JUDGE HENNEKE: I think what we've talked 22 about doing is not changing road signs and not sending out 23 any notification until the Post Office -- I know we have, 24 but I'm talking about going forward. You know, how do we go 25 back and address the problem? I think we need to have Road 73 1 and Bridge or someone do a little research on roads where 2 we've changed the name, but the official notification has 3 not been given, how many of those we have. 4 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: But -- but we should 5 stop changing road signs now until we get to this process 6 where we do it all at once with the joint letter. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. Well, that, you 8 know, I guess is fine. But I think, really, that we need to 9 figure out some way to get something to the public, through 10 the Post Office preferably, about what we're doing and what 11 they need to be doing and not doing. A little bit more -- 12 and private roads -- I mean, I still don't understand what 13 we're doing about private roads. I mean, do they get -- you 14 know, I guess they -- do they use those addresses or not use 15 those addresses? 16 MR. HANSON: You mean -- 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: No one has ever really 18 explained that to me. I don't know -- you have road signs 19 up all over the place. We've put up hundreds of private 20 road signs, and I don't think the public understands what 21 they're supposed to be doing with these things. I get 22 questions, and I say I have no idea, because I've never 23 understood it. But what this is also getting,to, to me, is 24 something I think we need to get on the agenda at our next 25 meeting, you know, since everything, it sounds like to me, 74 1 just got put on hold on moving forward. I mean, from the 2 standpoint of going -- I see a big bottleneck developing, 3 and it's about time for me to get -- I think we're close to 4 being in my precinct in about -- I guess I've got about two 5 or three or four more days. I want to know where we are on 6 911, but that will be at the next agenda, but that's just a 7 warning for 911 representatives here. I want a status 8 review as to where we are and when we're going to be in the 9 rest of the precincts, specifically 3. Because I still get 10 calls on a very regular basis from irate people that can't 11 get their UPS packages, and with Christmas coming up, I'm 12 sure I'm going to have my phone ringing off the wall again. 13 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Wouldn't doubt it. 14 JUDGE HENNEKE: Okay. 15 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That's all. I really 16 would like to see y'all sit down privately somewhere and 17 work those things out. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Mr. Hanson, thank you for 19 coming. 20 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: Thank you. 21 JUDGE HENNEKE: Thanks to you and Dave and 22 Paula. Hopefully, if we keep talking about this long 23 enough, we'll get it done right, so thank y'all very much. 24 At this time, let's take a break, come back promptly at 8 25 o'clock and we'll wrap it up. 75 1 (Recess taken from 7:50 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.) 2 - - - - - - - - - - 3 JUDGE HENNEKE: Let's reconvene the meeting 4 of the Kerr County Commissioners Court. The next item for 5 consideration is Item Number 9, consider and discuss 6 authorizing the Kerr County Sheriff's Department to 7 participate in interlocal cooperation contract with Texas 8 Department of Public Safety. Sheriff Hierholzer. 9 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Y'all have a copy of the 10 contract. I found out through the Texas Department of 11 Public Safety Special Crimes Unit and their Fug-Net 12 apprehension program that they have, which helps arrest and 13 find absconders that were on parole or things like that -- 14 in visiting with them a while back, I found that the Texas 15 Department of Public Safety enters into contracts -- 16 interlocal agreement-type contracts with law enforcement 17 agencies to assist them in apprehending fugitives, parole 18 violators, absconders, people that get out of prison and 19 didn't report or whatever, on what we call a blue warrant or 20 a white warrant. And, in discussing that with them, I found 21 that they, in this agreement, pay counties -- reimburse 22 counties, you might say, for arresting parole violators and 23 absconders, something that every law enforcement officer 24 does anyhow. Anytime we run a check on somebody, if they're 25 wanted on a blue warrant or a white warrant, we serve the 76 1 warrants, put them in jail, okay? And then we -- the 2 County, unfortunately, ends up, you know, having to pay for 3 their incarceration until the State decides what they're 4 going to do with them. It's just like anybody else we put 5 in jail. 6 But, in this -- I've read this contract. 7 It's one that they have -- one that they use, and it does 8 give us, on parole violators and that, a $300 reimbursement 9 for any parole violator that the County actually arrests and 10 incarcerates. It's $300 on the ones that are considered 11 absconders, or as it says on Page 2 in that contract, the 12 ones that a parole revocation warrant was issued for murder, 13 capital murder, kidnapping, and it goes down the list. Then 14 it also, in Paragraph B on Page 3 -- it's a $600 15 reimbursement to the County who arrests these people if they 16 are considered as -- they're Texas high-profile sex 17 offenders or on their Texas ten-most-wanted list. 18 Now, these aren't adding any duties on the 19 Sheriff's Office. They're not adding any extra duties to my 20 people. It's just us going out and doing our job, and -- 21 and actually arresting these people and putting them in 22 jail, which we do now. We already do it, okay? It's just 23 that the County has never entered into any kind of 24 interlocal agreement, and until I visited with the people 25 from Special Crimes D.P.S, I didn't even know this existed, 77 1 and so I asked them to send me a copy of it and see if we 2 can't at least get some kind of reimbursement back for these 3 blue warrants and parole violators that we arrest. 4 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: Seems like a 5 no-brainer. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: No-brainer to me. 7 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Not a tough one down 8 here. 9 JUDGE HENNEKE: I think we ought to dock your 10 pay, though, for everybody you didn't -- picked up that we 11 didn't -- 12 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Wait a minute, Judge. 13 JUDGE HENNEKE: -- we didn't know about this. 14 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Evidently, this has been 15 in existence for several years. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: They just don't publicize 17 it. 18 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: I haven't been in office 19 that long, so you can't dock it much. It's just a way for 20 us to get back some of this money. I think we ought to do 21 it; I see no down side to it. 22 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: I move the Sheriff's 23 Department participate in an interlocal cooperation contract 24 with Texas D.P.S. as presented, and authorize County Judge 25 to sign same. 78 1 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I'll second that 2 motion. 3 JUDGE HENNEKE: Motion by Commissioner 4 Griffin, second by Commissioner Baldwin, that the Court 5 authorize the Kerr County Sheriff's Department to 6 participate in the interlocal cooperation contract with 7 Texas Department of Public Safety, and authorize County 8 Judge to sign same. Any questions or comments? All in 9 favor, raise your right hand. 10 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 11 JUDGE HENNEKE: Opposed, same sign. 12 (No response.) 13 JUDGE HENNEKE: Motion carries. 14 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Thank you. And if you 15 actually want to know what the duties are, Paragraph C is 16 the duties of the county. What we're required to do is 17 under Paragraph C on Page 2 of that contract. 18 JUDGE HENNEKE: Okay. Item Number 10, 19 consider and discuss approval of proposed budget for the FY 20 2002 Kerr County Emergency 911 Network Board. This was 21 postponed from our last meeting in order to get some revenue 22 information. Mr. Sandlin, do you want to tell us what you 23 found out on revenues? 24 MR. SANDLIN: Did y'all get the -- 25 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: Yes. 79 1 MR. SANDLIN: Y'all got them? My apologies, 2 I left that out of the budget pack. I thought I had these 3 with me at the last meeting, and I didn't, so I got them to 4 you that afternoon. 5 JUDGE HENNEKE: Does anyone have any 6 questions on the revenues? 7 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I do. You got to 8 help me through this, T. I'm just not understanding. I 9 admittedly probably have a thick head, but I'm really not 10 understanding where this is all coming from, and I think it 11 has to do with your audit statement and where you were in 12 the year 2000. 13 MR. SANDLIN: Mm-hmm. 14 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: And where you 15 anticipated you were going to be, revenue-wise, in 2001, and 16 where you anticipate you're going to be in 2002 on the new 17 budget. 18 MR. SANDLIN: Yes, sir. 19 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: And I don't 20 understand, really, when you start going back -- what I 21 really don't understand is -- is the basis of your fee 22 structure. Part of it's 41 cents, I know, because I looked 23 on the telephone bill. It says 41 cents for every straight 24 line I have. I look on my cell phone bill, and it says 50 25 cents for every cell phone line I have. So, you got two 80 1 sources of income that I know about, right? Fees. 2 MR. SANDLIN: Mm-hmm. 3 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: You may have some 4 other sources that I don't know about, but if they're not in 5 here, I can't -- I don't understand them. 6 MR. SANDLIN: Basically, we have the land 7 line fees, which are paid to us directly, involving any land 8 lines. That's collected by the phone companies. They get 9 to deduct 2 percent and send it to us. There's a delayed 10 process in there, usually 60 to 90 days from when they 11 collect it to where it's passed on to us. The second fee is 12 the wireless fee, which the wireless companies pay to the 13 State, and then the State divvies up to the various 14 districts, home, rural, cities, whatever, based on 15 population figures. So, that's our two primary sources of 16 funding, plus any interest we get off any -- 17 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Which leads, then, to 18 two questions. How much of the amount of cell phones do you 19 get back from the State, question number one. And secondly, 20 what would be the ratio of straight lines, wired lines, at 21 41 cents versus cell phones at whatever you get back from 22 the State, what is the percentage breakdown that goes into 23 your mix that you -- that tells me you're going to get 24 $350,000 in fee structures this year -- fees this year? 25 Where is that breakdown? 81 1 MR. SANDLIN: I'm not sure exactly what the 2 percentage breakdown is. What we do, we have tracked it 3 since 1995. 4 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Okay. 5 MR. SANDLIN: All right. Our monthly income 6 is from each of our two local sources, or our wire -- our 7 land line sources, and then beginning in March of '96 was 8 when we started getting wireless fees. At first they were 9 directed to us; then they changed up and went through the 10 State. And we're able to just, plain and simple, track it 11 in a spreadsheet as to what our income is, based on the 12 month it was paid or how it was accrued. 13 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Can you tell us what 14 your percentage breakdown is of wired lines versus cell 15 lines? Whatever that number is, it's divisible by -- wired 16 lines divisible by 41 cents. 17 MR. SANDLIN: Right. 18 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: That tells you how 19 many straight lines you've got, I would think. 20 MR. SANDLIN: No, because we also -- there's 21 a trunk line fee in there and a business line fee. Not 22 everybody pays 41 cents. Some of them pay $1.07, some of 23 them pay $1.05. That's not by my design. 24 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: All right. So that 25 even makes it more difficult to track your revenue stream. 82 1 I guess we just have to take it on face value that it's 2 going to be X, Y, and/or Z, because you don't have any basis 3 to track it or any understanding of how you generate those 4 particular fees. I just made some notes over the weekend, 5 looking at this, and in anticipation -- I'm not going to 6 bore it to death, not going to browbeat you or drag this on 7 ad nauseam, but in Year 2000, you know, unless the capital 8 that you, for whatever reason, budget separately is not 9 included in your total budget -- the way we do ours here, 10 I'll put it that way -- you had a $291,669 general 11 operational budget, and you overspent that budget by 12 $14,693. Not knowing what your breakdown is on revenues, 13 my -- my calculation tells me you would have needed another 14 200 -- 2,986 connections just to make up the -- the negative 15 or the excess of expense over -- over revenue. In -- I 16 don't understand how you get where you are. In Year 2000 -- 17 2001, again, you would have to have a significant number of 18 new hookups to be able to equate to the dollars that you 19 listed on the expense side. And you didn't give us the 20 revenue side; all we have is the expense side. If you carry 21 that forward into 2002, when you're talking about a $350,000 22 spending plan, by my calculation, you'd have to have an 23 astronomical number of new connections to make your expenses 24 equate to your revenues. 25 MR. SANDLIN: Well, actually -- 83 1 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: If you help me 2 through that, I would really appreciate it. 3 MR. SANDLIN: The 350 is what we project that 4 we will collect, available to us in total fees. As I've 5 explained, we track this on a monthly basis. It's an ever 6 increasing -- this is what was sent to us on a monthly basis 7 by fees. Over the years, it has steadfastly tracked at 8 about a 5 percent increase, 4.7, 5.1 over the years. One 9 thing that has just increased many-fold is the cellular. 10 Back in 1996, when this first started, our average -- well, 11 let's say from March '96, what we received was merely $1,824 12 in wireless fees. Now, the picture's not complete for, for 13 instance, August, September, and October, because those fees 14 have not been forwarded to us yet. However, in November we 15 have received our wireless fees. We haven't received our 16 land line fees yet, but we've received our wireless fees, 17 and for November this year, $10,221. 18 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Okay. 19 MR. SANDLIN: Quite a jump. 20 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Help me through one 21 other piece here; then I'll go to sleep. In the year 2000, 22 you overspent your budget by $14,693, correct? And you 23 dipped into your reserves to take care of that. Understood. 24 We know how those things can happen sometimes. The 25 reason -- I don't know whether it was overexpenditure or 84 1 under -- or overcalculation on your revenue. One or the 2 other. You're listing -- I don't know where you're going to 3 finish 2001. Maybe you do, but we don't know where you're 4 going to finish 2001, although your year is almost up; 5 you've got one more month in your budget year to determine 6 whether you're going to be on the plus side of it or on the 7 negative side of it, as you were in the previous year. And 8 that gives me some pause for concern, because as I look at 9 2002, you're showing operations of $17,000 -- to balance 10 your budget, you're bringing $17,000 forward from the 2001 11 budget, and I don't understand that. Maybe you can 12 enlighten me how you're going to get from a negative -- from 13 a negative 14 and a half to a positive 17 without a 14 revenue -- without a real fix on revenue. Help me. 15 MR. SANDLIN: Okay, I'll try. First of all, 16 the total revenues available to us that we expect and that 17 in FY 2002, like I say, it's based on plain linear 18 projections. We expect available moneys, $357,000. We 19 expect $350,000 of that to arrive at us over the -- FY 2002. 20 On our wireless and land line fees, based on historical 21 data, and giving it a 3 percent increase, which it has 22 actually increased more than that over the year, balance 23 brought forward from FY 2001. Previous years, '95, '96, we 24 were told to call that "encumbrance," so we encumber that 25 fund, and when we went to this different auditor, they said, 85 1 you know, call that a "balance forward" instead of an 2 encumbrance. It's still cash available to you. And I'm not 3 going to try to get into much more past accounting terms 4 than that, 'cause I'll lose myself. We're just trying to 5 show you all of the funds that are available to us so that 6 you can see that it's -- our income is expected more than 7 our spending for that year -- for the upcoming year. 8 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: I think, in accounting 9 -- what he's saying is that -- is that their operational 10 funding is a rollover account. It's not like ours, where it 11 goes away at the end of the budget year; it goes back into 12 reserve or whatever, that you start every budget year clean. 13 They -- they actually roll over whatever they've got left to 14 be spent in the following year. 15 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Presuming they have 16 something left. That's the basis of my question, because -- 17 MR. SANDLIN: Every year we've had something 18 left in the -- 19 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: But in the operational 20 funds, they did. They had funds that could have been 21 encumbered, but weren't spent. So, in the operational 22 funding, that's a rollover account, so it's real money. I 23 mean, it is real money. Now, they may have overspent the 24 Capital Outlay, could have overspent several other places, 25 but that money is real. 86 1 JUDGE HENNEKE: How, then, do they build up 2 their balance on hand? 3 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: Balance on hand? 4 JUDGE HENNEKE: Yeah. It says in the general 5 fund, cash on hand for general operations, $91,909. 6 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: How do you do that? 7 JUDGE HENNEKE: Some years you have a surplus 8 and you don't roll it all forward? Or -- 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It's -- that kind of goes 10 to the heart of my confusion. And it's -- the question I 11 have is that I've only dealt with two governmental-type 12 entities, one being the school board, one being this, and 13 there are very strict governmental rules on how you account. 14 Why don't -- this is tax money. Well, it's a different kind 15 of tax money. Y'all don't have to account for it the same 16 way? There's not the same, I mean, financial -- 17 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: But what -- 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- way of doing it for -- 19 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: What you're looking at 20 up on the top there, that's -- that's cash. That's not 21 necessarily -- that's cash on hand. That's actually in the 22 bank. That's cash in the bank. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But, still, there's -- I 24 mean, the other two entities that I've worked with where you 25 had fund balances, you start the year with this much, do all 87 1 your stuff, you bring it in, you take it out, and you end up 2 with a new fund balance. They don't do it that way. 3 They've got a fund balance, then they have this -- they put 4 money forward. And I don't understand, accounting-wise, why 5 they do it differently than other governmental entities. 6 That's my only question. And I don't know if they can 7 answer it. I mean, it just doesn't -- 8 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: I'll have to -- 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Because it doesn't -- I 10 mean, I presume they're doing it legally, but it just 11 doesn't make sense to me why they don't account for it the 12 same as the County does. And I would appreciate an answer 13 to that, and I don't expect you to have it now, but it would 14 be -- that's the root of, I think, all the questions we're 15 having, is 'cause they account for it differently. 16 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I've exhausted mine. 17 I'm no clearer. No closer to understanding than I was when 18 I started, so just go by me. 19 JUDGE HENNEKE: Want to take action on the 20 budget? Want to pose some questions, bring it back again in 21 December? 22 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: No. I'll make a 23 motion that we approve the proposed budget for the Fiscal 24 Year 2000 (sic) Kerr Emergency 911 Network. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: What is the -- 88 1 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: I'll tell you -- and 2 I'll tell you why. You know, this thing has been -- it's 3 been scrubbed by their auditor, it's been scrubbed by their 4 board, and as long as there's not the appearance of some 5 illicit expenditure, then I'm -- I am -- I lean toward 6 saying let's approve the budget. That's the reason I make 7 the motion. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: My question is -- 9 JUDGE HENNEKE: Let's see if we get a second. 10 Do we have a second on the motion? 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I'll second it. 12 JUDGE HENNEKE: Motion by Commissioner 13 Griffin, second by Commissioner Baldwin, that we approve the 14 proposed 911 Board budget. Commissioner Letz? 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: My question is, why do we 16 do this? Why do we need to approve their budget? 17 JUDGE HENNEKE: It's -- the simple answer is, 18 it's required by law. 19 MR. SANDLIN: State law. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. Well, then, that 21 goes back further to -- my question is, why don't they 22 account for it the way we do? I mean, why don't -- 23 MR. SANDLIN: Well -- 24 MR. BALLARD: We've got the City of Kerrville 25 to report to; they've approved it. We've got the City of 89 1 Ingram to report to; they've approved it. Do we need to see 2 what their budget system is, too? Because they approved it. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Theirs is the same as 4 ours, the City's is. 5 JUDGE HENNEKE: What -- Dave and Rusty, I 6 mean, I think Jonathan has a very legitimate question. Is 7 the accounting done according to some -- some 8 state-promulgated method for 911 boards? Or is this simply 9 the accounting system that has been arrived at over the 10 years, or what is the basis for this particular accounting 11 system? 12 MR. BALLARD: Good question. T.'s going to 13 have to answer that, because I don't know the answer. 14 JUDGE HENNEKE: Rusty, did you have a 15 question? 16 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Only thing that I would 17 suggest -- 'cause I don't know if T. has that answer either, 18 but I might suggest, since a lot of this is done, and 19 even -- the Board gets an auditor's report. He came in and 20 made his -- his report to us, telling us the status of 911 21 and where our funds were and everything, as -- the board as 22 a whole. And only thing I would suggest, that if the 23 Commissioners Court has a question about that, that they 24 extend an invitation, through T. or through the Board, to 25 have the auditor that did it for Kerr 911 come explain a lot 90 1 of these technicalities, 'cause they are certified auditors 2 to be able to do it. 3 MR. BALLARD: And we do have a workshop -- 4 MR. SANDLIN: And we are audited under 5 the -- 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: GASB. 7 MR. SANDLIN: -- Government Finance -- 8 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: Yeah, GASB. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: GASB. 10 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: 30. 11 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: It might be helpful 12 to have the auditor explain it. 13 JUDGE HENNEKE: I think it might be a useful 14 exercise, because the numbers are not clear. And we -- as 15 Jonathan says, in this and in every other government entity 16 I've ever been to, the year-end numbers were very clear. 17 You could make comparisons of where you started and where 18 you ended up, and everyone could look at the page and see 19 what the numbers matched to, and this is a bit more 20 difficult. The notion of rolling balances forward in a 21 government entity, to me, is rather a strange one. And it 22 may be simply that this is the auditor's way of saying the 23 same thing that -- that we do, where you -- at the end of 24 the year, you have -- if you have money left over, it goes 25 into a reserve account and then you take it out and put it 91 1 where you need it. Maybe the auditor is not expressing it 2 in terms that we are used to. But I think that's a good 3 suggestion, that we perhaps could -- 4 MR. SANDLIN: We used to call that an 5 encumbered fund. Like, for the bills that came in in 6 December, we knew we'd have to pay some in January and 7 February, and that's where the reserves got built up over 8 the years. I think it's -- it may just be a nomenclature 9 problem I'm not able to translate for you. 10 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: Right. See, we've got 11 a pretty healthy reserve fund as it is, $123,055, so it's -- 12 we can get those questions answered. But I personally don't 13 think we ought to hold up the budget process here. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I don't have a problem 15 with that. 16 JUDGE HENNEKE: Motion's been made and 17 seconded. Any questions or comments regarding the motion? 18 If not, all in favor, raise your right hand. 19 (Commissioners Baldwin, Letz, and Griffin voted in favor of the motion.) 20 JUDGE HENNEKE: Opposed? 21 (Commissioner Williams voted against the 22 motion.) 23 JUDGE HENNEKE: Motion carries, three to one. 24 Thank you, T. 25 MR. SANDLIN: Thank you. 92 1 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Who is the auditor? I 2 can't find that. 3 MR. SANDLIN: Greg -- 4 JUDGE HENNEKE: Greg Seibert. 5 MR. SANDLIN: -- Seibert. That's the first 6 time we've used him. 7 JUDGE HENNEKE: Item Number 11, consider and 8 discuss clarification of approval for mileage payment to 9 officials and employees. Commissioner Baldwin. 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Have you ever had 11 something that just kind of nagged on you? This has been 12 nagging on me. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: 911. 14 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: 911 budget's been 15 nagging. 16 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: 911. This has just 17 been kind of nagging on me. I went and talked to Tommy 18 about it, and he seemed to understand that we had adopted 19 the -- the state system, and just kind of rolled it into the 20 budget, and that when we approved the budget, therefore, we 21 approved that system. And -- and that may be -- to me, 22 that's stretching it just a little bit. I just feel like 23 that in order to adopt a -- a change like that, that it 24 really needs to be a separate court order. And it's just 25 been bothering me, and I kind of wanted to bring it out 93 1 here. And -- and I understand the County Clerk -- I have 2 not talked to her, but I understand through the grapevine 3 that, in her mind, that she had budgeted a certain number 4 for travel, and -- and we're providing a different number. 5 Is that correct? 6 MS. PIEPER: That's correct. 7 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: And I don't know. 8 It's just -- those things just kind of bother me. 9 JUDGE HENNEKE: Well, I think you bring a 10 good point to the Court. Let's take care of it. Do I have 11 a motion to adopt the state reimbursement level for mileage, 12 as it may change from time to time? 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Judge, how do -- or 14 Commissioner Griffin, how do we track that? 15 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: It's in Title 9 of the 16 General Appropriations Act. Each time -- each time 17 Legislature meets, Title 9 gets rewritten. Title 9 has the 18 pay scales, it's got all the travel stuff, including 19 mileages for private autos and private aircraft, even. And 20 so you have to read Title 9 of the General Appropriations 21 Act, which is always House Bill 1, and that gets debated and 22 they -- you know, they have mark-up hearings and all that 23 sort of thing. And they kick it around, and then they'll 24 finally vote that out, and it comes out as an enrolled bill. 25 The governor signs it, then it's written into Title 9, and 94 1 that's what -- that's what this is. And it's -- and what it 2 does is, it -- it sets the maximum mileage rate. In this 3 case, for what you're talking about, it also does a whole 4 bunch of -- how much per diem you can get, what's the total 5 lodging and meals and incidental expenses and all that, and 6 it sets the maximum mileage rate. That's important, because 7 you could set a lower rate. There's nothing that says you 8 can't. Most agencies don't do that. I mean, they'll -- 9 they set it at the maximum. 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Mm-hmm. 11 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: And I like the way the 12 Judge has crafted the motion, because "as from time to time 13 it changes" -- 14 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: It's good for two 15 years. 16 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: It's good for two 17 years. 18 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah. 19 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: Well, they actually 20 write it each year, but it's always the same -- 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Oh, okay. Yeah. 22 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: -- in each one of 23 those. And theoretically, they could have, in the second 24 year, something different from the one the first year, but 25 they never do that, so it's good for two years. And any 95 1 time it changes, if you -- if we were to adopt the order, 2 the way the Judge has stated it, then we don't have to go 3 back through this exercise. We would just review it at 4 budget time to see what is the maximum -- what is the rate 5 out of the new Legislature. Remember, it's going to 6 happen -- every legislative session, it's going to change. 7 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: The Legislature's 8 action is based on the maximum allowed by Internal Revenue 9 Service; is that correct? 10 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: No. No, because for 11 years the State ran at 28 cents, way below what the I.R.S. 12 was allowing. I.R.S. was allowing 32 -- 31 and a half and 13 32 and 33 and a half, and then 34. And -- and Texas was 14 still stuck at 28. 15 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: That may be, but I'm 16 saying the State was not -- would not take it above the 17 I.R.S. 18 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: I suspect they 19 wouldn't, but they can certainly hold it below; they did for 20 years. So, that -- that's how it works. And if we were to 21 adopt the motion -- and I will make that motion that we 22 adopt the state maximum rate for this -- for mileage rates, 23 as -- and as they might be changed in the future from time 24 to time, and then we can track it at budget time. I'll make 25 that motion. 96 1 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. 2 JUDGE HENNEKE: Motion by Commissioner 3 Griffin, second by Commissioner Baldwin, that the 4 Commissioners Court adopt, as the rate of reimbursement for 5 mileage for officials and employees on official business, 6 the rate adopted by the State of Texas from time to time. 7 Any further questions or comments? 8 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Thank you very much. 9 JUDGE HENNEKE: And the -- let's make an 10 effective day. Do you want to make it retroactive to 11 October 1st? 12 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: October 1st. 13 JUDGE HENNEKE: Retroactive to October 1st, 14 Year 2001. Any questions or comments? 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Only comments I have, I 16 think that there -- from what I hear from -- Jannett said 17 she budgeted based on a different number, so I think that 18 we're just going to have to have some flexibility for some 19 budget amendments late in the year if, you know, some 20 elected officials run out of money 'cause they didn't 21 properly budget. 22 JUDGE HENNEKE: I understand. 23 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: And it's something 24 that we probably always ought to address at budget time and 25 make sure everybody's using the right numbers and so on. 97 1 JUDGE HENNEKE: Any other questions or 2 comments? If not, all in favor, raise your right hand. 3 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 4 JUDGE HENNEKE: Opposed, same sign. 5 (No response.) 6 JUDGE HENNEKE: Motion carries. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: We'll try to keep you 8 within your budget. 9 JUDGE HENNEKE: Final item is an add-on. 10 Consider and discuss scheduling workshop on health insurance 11 options. The last Legislature changed the law so that 12 counties can now offer employees what they call "cafeteria 13 plan benefits" on a pre-tax basis, and this actually is a 14 monetary savings to both the County and the employee. It's 15 a savings in the sense, for the County, that if we provide 16 medical savings accounts for the employees as part of a 17 health option, we don't have to pay the FICA on those sums. 18 It's a help to the employee, because those sums are pre-tax 19 sums, so they don't pay tax on those sums. For instance, 20 right now, if I insure my family through the County, the 21 County deducts, let's say, $200 from my pay for the family, 22 but I pay tax on that $200. This is a way that, if we want 23 to go this way, that we can still provide the same benefits, 24 but reduce the tax burden on the employees. And I really 25 don't want to go into the details tonight, but if we're 98 1 going to do it, it's something we have to do before 2 December 31st, because that's when our health insurance year 3 starts up. So, I want to know if the Court wishes to carry 4 this to our next regular meeting, or to have a special 5 workshop where Bryan Finley will come in and explain to 6 us -- 7 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: You certainly have 8 hooked me, and I would prefer a workshop. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I agree. 10 JUDGE HENNEKE: Anybody have any strong 11 preferences as to the date? I would -- 12 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: 3 a.m. Sunday. 13 JUDGE HENNEKE: I could be there. I would 14 propose next Tuesday at 4 o'clock. That's the 4th. And two 15 reasons I do that. One is so we can get some materials out, 16 and the second is, I think it would be very useful if the 17 department heads could attend, if at all possible. They can 18 hear the discussion and have an opportunity to pass it back 19 to their employees. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Is it -- you said 21 4 o'clock? 22 JUDGE HENNEKE: That's my suggestion. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: That's fine. That's 24 good. 25 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay. 99 1 JUDGE HENNEKE: Can I have a motion to that 2 effect? 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So moved. 4 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Second. 5 JUDGE HENNEKE: Motion by Commissioner Letz, 6 second by Commissioner Williams, that the Court hold a 7 workshop on Tuesday, December 4, at 4 o'clock p.m. on the 8 topic of health insurance options. Any questions or 9 comments? If not, all in favor, raise your right hand. 10 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 11 JUDGE HENNEKE: Opposed, same sign. 12 (No response.) 13 JUDGE HENNEKE: Motion carries. If there's 14 nothing else, we stand adjourned. Good meeting. 15 (Commissioners Court adjourned at 8:32 p.m.) 16 - - - - - - - - - - 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 100 1 STATE OF TEXAS | 2 COUNTY OF KERR | 3 The above and foregoing is a true and complete 4 transcription of my stenotype notes taken in my capacity as 5 County Clerk of the Commissioners Court of Kerr County, 6 Texas, at the time and place heretofore set forth. 7 DATED at Kerrville, Texas, this 30th day of November, 8 2001. 9 10 11 JANNETT PIEPER, Kerr County Clerk 12 BY: _________________________________ Kathy Banik, Deputy County Clerk 13 Certified Shorthand Reporter 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25