1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 KERR COUNTY COMMISSIONERS COURT 9 Regular Session 10 Monday, April 8, 2002 11 9:00 a.m. 12 Commissioners' Courtroom 13 Kerr County Courthouse 14 Kerrville, Texas 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 PRESENT: H. A. "BUSTER" BALDWIN, Commissioner Pct. 1 WILLIAM "BILL" WILLIAMS, Commissioner Pct. 2 23 JONATHAN LETZ, Commissioner Pct. 3 LARRY GRIFFIN, Commissioner Pct. 4 24 ABSENT: FREDERICK L. HENNEKE, Kerr County Judge 25 2 1 I N D E X April 8, 2002 2 PAGE --- Visitors' Input 4 3 --- Commissioners Comments 5 4 1.1 Pay Bills 10 1.2 Budget Amendments 13 5 1.3 Late Bills 36 1.4 Read and Approve Minutes 38 6 1.5 Approve and Accept Monthly Reports 39 7 2.1 Consider variance for depth of utility lines in Falling Water Subdivision, Precinct 3 39 8 2.2 Consider approval of cattle guard to be installed 9 on Honey Creek Road 44 10 2.3 Consider/approve road name changes for privately maintained roads in Precincts 2, 3 & 4 47 11 2.7 Consider proclamation declaring April 8-12, 2002, 12 as Environmental Crime Prevention Week 48 13 2.8 Consider approving social services contract with Big Brothers/Big Sisters, authorize ratifying 14 County Judge's signature 50 15 2.6 Consider authorizing Grantworks to proceed with public hearing on April 17, 2002, at 7 p.m, to 16 discuss County's participation in Texas Community Development Plan 51 17 2.4 PUBLIC HEARING - consider requesting TexDOT to 18 install signs designating by name crossings of the North & South Forks of Guadalupe River 54 19 2.5 Consider approving request to TexDOT to install 20 signs designating North & South Fork crossings of Guadalupe River 60 21 --- Adjourned 68 22 --- Reporter's Certificate 69 23 24 25 3 1 On Monday, April 8, 2002, at 9:00 a.m., a regular meeting 2 of the Kerr County Commissioners Court was held in the 3 Commissioners' Courtroom, Kerr County Courthouse, Kerrville, 4 Texas, and the following proceedings were had in open court: 5 P R O C E E D I N G S 6 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: It's 9 o'clock on 7 April the 8th, 2002, and we'll call to order this regular 8 session of the Kerr County Commissioners Court. 9 Commissioner Williams, you have the honors this morning. 10 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I do, and I'd like to 11 take this opportunity to present to Kerr County and to 12 Commissioners Court, the City of Kerrville, the new minister 13 for Zion Lutheran Church, our new pastor, the Reverend David 14 C. Chancellor, who is here from the big city of Lufkin, by 15 way of Odessa. 16 REVEREND CHANCELLOR: By way of Odessa, 17 Minnesota, Houston, Louisiana, Arizona, but I made it back 18 into God's country. 19 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Reverend Chancellor 20 will lead the invocation and I'll lead the pledge of 21 allegiance. 22 (Prayer and pledge of allegiance.) 23 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Thank you, sir. 24 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Thank you. 25 REVEREND CHANCELLOR: Thank you all. 4 1 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: Is there anyone here 2 who would like to speak on a subject not on the published 3 and posted agenda? Step forward. Please identify yourself 4 for the record. 5 MR. BEUCHLER: Karl Buechler, President of 6 the Kerrville Chili and Barbecue Classic and Easter Fest. I 7 just wanted to come back to the Court and thank them for the 8 use of Flat Rock Park. And the event was well-accepted by 9 the community. Everyone had a very good time. A lot of 10 out-of-town people. We estimate -- we had two monitors 11 going through the crowd -- that we had in the neighborhood 12 of 2,000 people. We had close to 400 egg hunters. We had 13 7,000 eggs for them to hunt; it took them approximately 5 14 minutes to hunt those eggs. 15 (Laughter.) 16 MR. BEUCHLER: There was no instance reported 17 whatsoever of anybody at the event either day, Friday or 18 Saturday -- although the weather was bad that Friday -- that 19 Friday night, we -- we was really worried about the 20 participation, but -- some of the vendors didn't show up 21 that was coming from far away, but we still had 25 vendors. 22 Also, after -- we'll get our complete tally tomorrow from 23 our Secretary/Treasurer, Tracy Nix. She's telling me we're 24 going to be able to donate somewhere in the neighborhood 25 between $2,000 and $3,000 to the Hill Country Youth Ranch. 5 1 So, next year, we're already starting to plan. This year we 2 only had a couple of months to do this. Next -- we're 3 having our first meeting for next year tomorrow night, and 4 we will have meetings every month up until next year's 5 event. It will be bigger and better. And we'd just like to 6 thank you for the electricity. It was -- it really did 7 help. We had bands all day, we had all the award 8 ceremonies. It just worked out perfect. 9 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Fantastic. 10 MR. BEUCHLER: So we'd like to thank y'all, 11 and next year we'll just do it again. 12 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: Thanks, Karl. 13 Appreciate it. 14 MS. NEMEC: Good job, Karl. 15 (Applause.) 16 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: Is there anyone else 17 who would like to speak on any subject not on the published 18 and posted agenda? Seeing none, we'll move on to the 19 Commissioners' comments. Commissioner Williams? 20 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I want to give 21 congratulations -- offer congratulations to Brittany Nemec, 22 daughter of the County Treasurer, Barbara Nemec, who came in 23 this morning to remind me that Brittany had won in the 24 junior high -- Notre Dame Junior High district track meet, 25 the 100-yard dash, the 400-meter relay, and 800-yard dash. 6 1 MS. NEMEC: First place, all three. 2 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: First place, all 3 three. Congratulations to Brittany. 4 MS. NEMEC: I missed the county convention 5 for this, guys, so it was worth it. 6 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: She's upstaging my son 7 now. 8 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: It's just junior 9 high. 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Still -- 11 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: No, but, you know, 12 she's coming on. 13 MS. NEMEC: Give me his time so we can work 14 on that. 15 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Commissioner, I'd 16 like to just add a word to Karl. Karl left, but I'm not 17 sure who else from the Court was present at the -- at the 18 CASA -- CASI event with the Easter egg hunt and so forth two 19 weekends ago, but it really was a good event. And if I had 20 one person come up to me, I must have had a dozen came up to 21 me and suggest that that was a really neat use of Flat Rock 22 Lake Park. The park fit the event. The event fit the park. 23 People had a good time. I don't know of any untoward events 24 or activities that took place. You know, maybe late in the 25 night somebody had too much beer to drink, but that's -- I 7 1 don't know about it if it happened. But it was really a 2 good event. The kids had a great time, and it was 3 well-staged and well -- well-conducted. 4 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: Great. Commissioner 5 Letz? 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'd like to echo what 7 Commissioner Williams said. I had some friends in from out 8 of town, from Houston, and they were staying at the -- 9 whatever the Y.O. Ranch hotel is called now, and they went 10 and they had a great time. In fact, they even had a better 11 time -- I think one of them -- one of the little boys won a 12 bicycle, so he was ecstatic about that. There was a lot of 13 prizes; the eggs, as I understand, most of them had prizes 14 in it. They won a total of a bicycle and two silver dollars 15 with three kids, so they had a real good time; they said 16 they'll come back next year. So, it's helping the hotels 17 and everything else. 18 The other comment I'd like to make is -- and 19 we always hear about the efforts going on in Afghanistan. 20 And I'm sure we have more than one person in that effort 21 right now, but I know there's one young man who is a 22 graduate of Tivy last year, Michael Stebbins, real good 23 friends of my nephew, good friends of our families, and he 24 is in Afghanistan right now and has been for quite a while 25 now. And I'd just like to have all our prayers go to him 8 1 and to his mother, Carla. Good -- good family. Doing a lot 2 of hard work for us. That's it. 3 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: Well, I would like to 4 congratulate the Ingram Tom Moore girls and boys tennis 5 teams that won the district championship, and so they're 6 moving on. And also, the 7th grade girls won the district 7 track championship. Now, that's an all-time -- that's a new 8 one. You'll hear more about that, Buster, so I'll keep that 9 in front of you. And that's the only comment I have. 10 Commissioner Baldwin? 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Y'all mind if I talk 12 about track? 13 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: No, why don't you 14 talk about track? 15 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: This week is the 4A 16 district track meet championships, and this is the -- this 17 is the time that they've worked so hard to get to. And -- 18 and at the district meet -- we have ours in Fredericksburg 19 this year, and what they do is, at -- out of each event, 20 they'll take the first and second place, and then those two 21 people go on to the regional meet, which is in Alamo Stadium 22 in San Antonio. And then they take the first and second 23 place out of that crowd that goes to the state meet in 24 Austin. So, it's exciting times, particularly around my 25 house. My son is pretty calm. I've had a hard time the 9 1 last couple of days, but -- but it -- we're having a lot of 2 fun. 3 Another issue I wanted to bring, just -- it's 4 food for thought. The 911 and the road-naming business, you 5 know, we -- we're getting really close to doing everything 6 that we are supposed to do as a Commissioners Court in the 7 county. There's one more little hurdle to get over, and 8 that's the duplicate names that are -- of roads inside the 9 city and out in the county, and that will be coming to us 10 here pretty soon. And my -- I just -- my attitude -- I 11 don't know how y'all will handle it, but my attitude is that 12 we should just do everything that we can to change ours. 13 The City has made a choice of not to participate in the 14 program, so I think that we just -- you know, instead of 15 getting in any kind of fuss or contest with the City, I 16 think that we should just take the bull by the horns and 17 change the ones that we need to change out in the county and 18 just move forward. I just wanted to bring that up, let you 19 start thinking about it, what decision you want to make. 20 God bless America. 21 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: To some extent, we've 22 already done that, Commissioner. There have been some 23 already changed. 24 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: I think a few have 25 fallen into that category. 10 1 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So true. 2 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: Anything else? Okay, 3 Tommy, let's pay some bills. 4 MR. TOMLINSON: Any questions? 5 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: Any questions or 6 comments? 7 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Did you want to go 8 first, being as you're number two? 9 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: No. 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: The good Judge sent a 11 note out last week with a couple of questions. I thought I 12 would just ask his questions. On Page 2, in the jury 13 section, fourth one down, Houston Dictating and Steno 14 somebody for $308. Could you explain what that is, Tommy, 15 please? 16 MR. TOMLINSON: I'm not positive, but I think 17 that's the maintenance on -- on the dictating machine for -- 18 for a court reporter. I could look it up. 19 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: It's -- the Stentura, 20 I know, is one that we looked at in the catalog. Is that 21 what that one is? Yeah, that is a machine that had some 22 maintenance -- that's obviously had some maintenance done on 23 it, but I don't know what it is, either. But I just 24 remember that name when we were -- a couple years ago when 25 we were looking at machines. 11 1 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I think Thea has a 2 comment. 3 MS. SOVIL: We haven't paid for hers. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Oh, it's for that one? 5 MS. BANIK: No, not for this one. 6 MR. TOMLINSON: That's for -- that's for -- 7 all the jury funds are in one fund right now, so it could be 8 for either one of the three courtrooms. I just noticed on 9 this -- on this printed report that the -- that the vendor 10 number -- that the invoice numbers are not on here, so I 11 can't look it up right now. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: The issue may be as to 13 who pays for the machines. Because, I mean, we don't 14 provide the machines. 15 MS. SOVIL: Yes, we do. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: We do provide all the 17 machines? 18 MS. SOVIL: Yes. 19 MR. TOMLINSON: We pay for all of them. 20 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Do we pay the 21 maintenance on this machine right here? 22 MR. TOMLINSON: Yes, we would. 23 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Is that true, Kathy? 24 MS. BANIK: It wasn't last year. 25 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That needs to be 12 1 changed or corrected. 2 MR. TOMLINSON: We've done that. 3 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Page 14, Indigent 4 Health Care. It's a bill for $3,984 to San Angelo Medical 5 Center. 6 MR. TOMLINSON: I don't know -- I don't know 7 who it's for. 8 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I remember in past 9 years, I've asked -- we've seen these before, and I can't 10 remember the explanation, but it's tied back to Kerr County 11 somehow. 12 MR. TOMLINSON: Well, when we have -- when 13 Kerr County residents are in a -- in a medical facility 14 outside this county and they're indigent, we still -- 15 they're still under that program, regardless of whether they 16 get served. 17 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: If they're residents 18 of Kerr County? 19 MR. TOMLINSON: Yes. 20 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: You can -- go ahead 21 and yell about that, Jon. I see it boiling up in you. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'm not going to say a 23 word. 24 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Well, it is wrong. 25 It's a wrong thing, 'cause it -- I don't see -- now, of 13 1 course, the state law drives this thing, but I don't see how 2 you can prove your residence. I mean, you could have a 3 residence anywhere. You know, we've fussed about this 4 several times, but good luck. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think it should say 6 everyone who's a resident of Harris County. 7 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah, everybody who 8 lives in Houston. That's all, Tommy. Thank you. 9 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: Any other questions? 10 Do I hear a motion to approve the budget -- or the -- 11 approve the payment of the bills? 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So moved. 13 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Second. 14 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: Motion by Commissioner 15 Letz, second by Commissioner Williams, that the bills be 16 paid as presented. Any further discussion or questions? 17 All in favor, raise your right hand. 18 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 19 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: All opposed, same 20 sign. 21 (No response.) 22 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: Motion passes. Budget 23 amendments. 24 MR. TOMLINSON: Okay. Number 1 is for my 25 office. I had to replace a computer in my office. I'm 14 1 asking for a transfer of $378.43 from Nondepartmental 2 Mainframe Maintenance to Operating Equipment. 3 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So moved. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 5 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: Motion by -- 6 MR. TOMLINSON: I'd like to comment on this. 7 This is a brand-new computer for $378, except for the box. 8 Shaun ordered a part -- all the parts from Altex Electronics 9 out of San Antonio, put it together in my office for this. 10 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: Question. 11 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Does it work? 12 MR. TOMLINSON: Yes. 13 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: Let me just ask a 14 quick question, Tommy, on this one. By the way, we have a 15 motion by Commissioner Baldwin, second by Commissioner Letz. 16 How are we doing on mainframe maintenance these days? Its 17 been pretty good, hasn't it? 18 MR. TOMLINSON: Well, last -- in past years, 19 we've -- we've budgeted funds in Nondepartmental Contingency 20 for -- enough to -- to handle any replacements for data 21 processing equipment. But, for -- we've used that line item 22 completely up now because of -- because of the professional 23 fees that we've had. 24 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: Oh, okay. 25 MR. TOMLINSON: For attorney's fees, for 15 1 cases relative to -- to past years' experiences in the jail, 2 and those funds are gone. And that's the only place I had 3 to find to -- I didn't have it in my budget, so that's the 4 only place I had to move it from. 5 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: On a serious vein, 6 Tommy, that's great if he can put together a computer for a 7 third or less of the cost to purchase one. I guess that's 8 what you're saying. If, for $378, he's put together a 9 computer equivalent to something we have or we needed or 10 wanted, saving the County, what, two-thirds of the cost or 11 more? 12 MR. TOMLINSON: Yes. 13 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: That's good. 14 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: That's excellent. And 15 when you have someone that's as qualified to do that kind of 16 thing as Shaun is, you're probably going to get a good 17 product, too. And you can maintain it; if you have a 18 component fail, you can replace it. That will save -- 19 that's a good savings. 20 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That's why we titled 21 him the guru. 22 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: That's the reason he's 23 the guru. Okay. We have a motion and a second on Budget 24 Amendment Number 1. Any further comment or questions? All 25 in favor, raise your right hand. 16 1 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 2 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: All opposed, same 3 sign. 4 (No response.) 5 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: Ayes have it. Budget 6 Amendment Number 2. 7 MR. TOMLINSON: This one is a request from 8 Judge Tench in Precinct 3. It's a request to transfer $150 9 from Software Maintenance to his Part-Time Salary line item. 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Salary for a 11 secretary? 12 MR. TOMLINSON: Yes, part-time. Someone to 13 take his secretary's place when she's gone. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So moved. 15 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Second. 16 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: Motion by Commissioner 17 Letz, second by Commissioner Williams, that Budget Amendment 18 Number 2 be approved. Any further questions or comments? 19 All in favor, raise your right hand. 20 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 21 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: All opposed, same 22 sign. 23 (No response.) 24 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: The ayes have it. 25 Number 3. 17 1 MR. TOMLINSON: Number 3 is for the District 2 Clerk. She has requested a transfer of $87 from Microfilm 3 Records to Maintenance Contracts, and this is -- this is to 4 pay a contract for her -- for a Canon microfilm reader. 5 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: So moved. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 7 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: Motion by Commissioner 8 Williams, second by Commissioner Letz, that Budget Amendment 9 Number 3 be approved. Any further questions or comments? 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Is this something that 11 we overlooked in the budget process? 12 MR. TOMLINSON: I think -- I think that the 13 maintenance contract was -- was more than what she budgeted 14 originally. 15 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: Motion's been 16 seconded. All in favor, raise your right hand. 17 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 18 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: All opposed, same 19 sign. 20 (No response.) 21 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: Ayes have it. Number 22 4. 23 MR. TOMLINSON: Okay. Number 4 is from -- 24 from the Sheriff. This is a request to transfer $841.10 25 from Deputy Salaries to Employee Medical Exams. I have -- I 18 1 have medical exams for four different people. 2 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: Was this just a -- 3 MR. TOMLINSON: I can't -- the total for 4 these four is $1,413.10. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So moved. 6 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: This is -- I'm sorry. 7 Do we have a second? I'll second it. Motion by 8 Commissioner Letz, second by Commissioner Griffin, that 9 Budget Amendment Number 4 be approved. Is this a -- again, 10 just a -- a budgetary shortfall? 11 MR. TOMLINSON: I'm not sure who these people 12 are, but I think they're new employees, and there has to be 13 a -- a psychological/medical exam for new employees in the 14 Sheriff's Department. 15 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Sounds like that he's 16 had a changeover larger than he anticipated. 17 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: Right. 18 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I think this is the 19 second one of these we've seen. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But this is an item I 21 think we need to track for next year's budget, because I 22 think, you know, we -- 23 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: You can predict it. 24 It's predictable. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. Turnover should 19 1 be predictable. 2 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: I have a motion and a 3 second. Any further -- on Budget Amendment Number 4, any 4 further comment or questions? All in favor, raise your 5 right hand. 6 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 7 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: All opposed, same 8 sign. 9 (No response.) 10 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: The ayes have it. 11 Budget Amendment Number 5. 12 MR. TOMLINSON: Number 5 is for Commissioners 13 Court, and it's -- the amendment is to pay a bill from 14 Allison Bass Associates, and it's legal fees for -- for 15 claimant Lori Ashley versus Kerr County. 16 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Which case? 17 MR. TOMLINSON: Lori Ashley. 18 MS. SOVIL: E.E.O.C. 19 MR. TOMLINSON: It's E.E.O.C., right. And 20 I'm requesting that we transfer $2,318.78 from Contingency 21 to Professional Services. 22 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: So moved. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 24 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: Motion by Commissioner 25 Williams -- who made the second? Was that you? Second by 20 1 Commissioner Letz, that Budget Amendment Number 5 be 2 approved. Any further questions or comments? 3 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah, I'd like a 4 little more explanation on who is Lori Ashley and why the 5 E.E.O.C., and -- is the public more aware of their money 6 being spent here than I am? I mean, I don't know anything 7 about it. 8 MR. TOMLINSON: It's been an ongoing 9 situation for a year, maybe two years. 10 MS. SOVIL: Two. 11 MR. TOMLINSON: Two years, I believe. 12 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Is that a courthouse 13 employee that -- 14 MS. SOVIL: Yes, sir. 15 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: -- that someone fired 16 because they're too old, or -- 17 MS. NEMEC: No. 18 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Y'all are not going to 19 tell me, are you? 20 MR. TOMLINSON: I don't know. 21 MS. NEMEC: I have the information, if I'm 22 allowed to do it in open court. I don't know. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think you can say who 24 the -- I mean -- 25 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: It's just the public's 21 1 money. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I mean, I think the 3 nature of the lawsuit, what they're alleging is public 4 record anyway. 5 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: Yeah, the lawsuit's 6 public record. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So I wouldn't -- I 8 mean -- 9 MS. SOVIL: I don't think it ever got to the 10 point of being a lawsuit. 11 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: What point did it get 12 to? 13 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: Well, enough that the 14 lawyers got their chunk out of it, that's for sure. 15 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: It got someplace, for 16 $2,300. 17 MS. NEMEC: She filed a lawsuit, but we 18 fought it, and that's what this money was for, but she was 19 not terminated. 20 MR. TOMLINSON: I need a hand check for this 21 one also. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Maybe we ought to get an 23 update at our next Commissioners Court meeting. 24 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Is this the final part 25 of it? It is, okay. Thank you very much. 22 1 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: This is the final -- 2 MS. NEMEC: And we won, by the way. 3 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Is this not something 4 we ought to talk about in Executive Session sometime, find 5 out where we stand with litigation? 6 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: Unless we know for 7 sure that this is -- that the matter has been closed and 8 that this is the -- you know, if we know that this is a 9 legitimate bill to close out the process, then we can deal 10 with it in open court as a bill payment. I don't see any 11 reason not to -- 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think we can pay the 13 bill, but I think the Commissioners want to see -- 14 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: Sure. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: We can go in Executive 16 Session at the end of the day on this particular item. 17 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: Sure. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: 'Cause it's not an agenda 19 item. 20 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: Would you entertain 21 amending your motion to include the issuance of a hand 22 check? 23 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Yes. 24 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: And second. We have a 25 motion to approve Budget Amendment Number 5 and to issue -- 23 1 authorize issuance of a hand check for same. Any further 2 questions or comments? All in favor, raise your right hand. 3 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 4 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: All opposed, same 5 sign. 6 (No response.) 7 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: The ayes have it. 8 Number 6. 9 MR. TOMLINSON: Six is for Nondepartmental, 10 and I left this open-ended since I can't find money to pay 11 this. It's -- it's a bill from Texas Association of 12 Counties, Workers Compensation Self-Insurance Fund. It's a 13 total of $15,400, and it's the -- Barbara may help me on 14 this, but I think it's -- yeah, the audit on our -- final 15 bill on our audit for last year's payroll. Is that correct? 16 MS. NEMEC: Mm-hmm. 17 MR. TOMLINSON: And, you know, we talked 18 about workers comp, I think, at length in the budget 19 process. We actually budgeted 40 percent increase this year 20 over -- over the prior year, but it's -- it's still more 21 than -- than the 40 percent. So, what we need in that 22 budget line item, Nondepartmental, is $22,387.75. 23 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: And this is because 24 the workers compensation premium was just a lot higher than 25 was estimated, either by Texas Association of Counties or 24 1 us? 2 MR. TOMLINSON: Yeah, the 40 percent was the 3 number we got from -- from the association. That's what 4 their estimate was, and I -- I think that's the number that 5 we used for budget purposes. But this -- this part of it 6 is -- is the audit on the payroll for the prior year, so 7 our -- our payroll was -- was larger also than we -- you 8 know, than we estimated the year before. You're -- when you 9 budget, you're estimating what the -- what -- first of all, 10 what rate you're going to be at, and -- and then trying to 11 determine what -- you know, what your -- what your payroll's 12 going to be. 13 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: Right. 14 MR. TOMLINSON: So the only thing I know to 15 do is to declare an emergency and take this from -- from 16 Surplus Funds, but I've searched the General Fund budget 17 from beginning to end, and I -- I just -- I just can't see 18 anything that -- that I think won't be used. 19 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: Does Texas Association 20 of Counties -- do they feel like their estimates for the 21 following -- for next year will be -- 22 MR. TOMLINSON: I don't know that we have 23 one. 24 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: We don't have anything 25 yet? 25 1 MR. TOMLINSON: I don't think we do. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: This -- you're saying 3 this amount is for the audit of last year's payroll. Why 4 was the payroll so much different than -- 5 MR. TOMLINSON: Well, we had -- when we pay 6 the quarterly premiums, we -- we pay based on an estimate of 7 what -- isn't that correct, Barbara? 8 MS. NEMEC: Mm-hmm. 9 MR. TOMLINSON: For what our -- in other 10 words, at the beginning of the year, we estimate what our -- 11 what our payroll's going to be. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. 13 MR. TOMLINSON: And then -- then we pay 14 our -- pay quarterly estimates, is what it amounts to. And 15 then, once -- once the year's over, then they come back and 16 do an audit on -- of our payroll. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But -- 18 MS. NEMEC: What happens is, at the beginning 19 of the year, we estimate, okay? 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. 21 MS. NEMEC: Then you go through the -- during 22 the budget process, you start adding employees and getting 23 raises and stuff, so that payroll figure jumps up. So then 24 at the end of the year, they do an audit on our payroll on 25 how much it -- the actual payroll, not the estimate. We pay 26 1 -- they base our premiums quarterly on the estimated 2 payroll, but then we start adding employees and giving 3 raises, and at the end of the year they do an audit, and 4 find that the payroll is actually more than what we 5 estimated, so then that's what this is. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And is this on a 7 calendar-year basis or on our budget-year basis? Their -- 8 MS. NEMEC: Calendar year. So that's why 9 it's hard to budget. 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So that's our problem, 11 basically, is that whenever we do a salary increase -- 12 MS. NEMEC: Right. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- effective October 1st, 14 or any kind of changes in the new budget, that's not taken 15 into account. 16 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Well, there's another 17 factor, too. That's the rate, and the rate is based on 18 experience, and where do we stand with the rate against the 19 estimated payroll? Is the rate the same? Has it gone up or 20 what? 21 MR. TOMLINSON: I don't know. 22 MS. NEMEC: The rate hasn't gone up very 23 much. Our experience has been pretty good. 24 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Okay. 25 MS. NEMEC: As far as experience, you know, 27 1 the rate hasn't gone up. But there's a lot of other factors 2 that were involved this last time that caused the 40 3 percent, but that was over all -- every county felt that, 4 not just us. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Tommy, I think I'll make 6 a motion to declare an emergency and approve the $22,387.75. 7 I think we need to look at this -- it's going to be an 8 ongoing budget item in our budget cycle every year. We're 9 going to do some sort of salary adjustment in the budget 10 process, which means that the prior year audit is going to 11 be wrong. 12 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: You can budget for and 13 make additional payments based on our estimates. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. 15 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: I mean, that -- they 16 will let you do that. So, you know, you could project 17 for -- just like -- just like paying estimated income taxes. 18 You can -- you can make a higher payment based your own 19 estimate, and that will adjust that at the end of the year 20 as well. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. 22 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: So that's what we -- 23 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I'll second the 24 motion. 25 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: Okay. We have a 28 1 motion by Commissioner Letz, second by Commissioner 2 Williams, that we declare a budget emergency and approve 3 Budget Amendment Number 6 to be paid from Surplus Funds. 4 Any further discussion or questions? 5 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Of course, I have a 6 comment. Thank you. 7 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: Sure. 8 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: The 40 percent 9 increase is way too much to begin with, and then for them to 10 audit salary increases and a few new employees of the 11 County, and then just charge us $22,000 to -- for that audit 12 just seems to me extremely excessive, and I'm -- I'm going 13 to do everything I can for us to take a look at every inch 14 of our insurance and look at it in a real way. And I don't 15 know if we'll -- if this particular Court right here wants 16 to do that, but I think next year, I'll somehow twist some 17 arms and we're going to get this done. This is our 18 association that we're members of, that some of us have sat 19 on the boards and et cetera and served them, and they turn 20 around and do these kinds of things. And, to me, this is -- 21 this is excessive. It's not an everyday business deal. 22 $22,000 is a hell of a lot of money for this kind of thing, 23 and I am -- I'm really ticked off at them, and I'm -- I'm 24 going to do everything I can to steer us away from TAC. 25 And, you know, you guys get ready, 'cause I'm heading your 29 1 way. 2 MS. NEMEC: I want to say, some of -- some of 3 this, I believe, is for the quarterly payment also; not all 4 of it is for the audit increase. But I have that original 5 bill in my office. I'll look at it and give you some more 6 info on it. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I share Commissioner 8 Baldwin's concerns about insurance, and I have for a while. 9 And we've tried to equalize -- at least get them all on the 10 same year calendar year basis, which I think helps. And I 11 think we've tried to, you know, take the best deal we -- we 12 get, and that tends to usually be TAC up front. When TAC 13 comes in with these increases after the fact, I think we 14 need to take that into account. 15 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: The rates are actually 16 dictated by the state, are they not? The rates are dictated 17 by the state? 18 MR. TOMLINSON: There's a base rate. 19 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: Yeah, base rate plus 20 whatever your experience is. 21 MR. TOMLINSON: Plus your experience. 22 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: Yeah. And TAC, of 23 course, passes that through to us. I mean, they're not 24 tagging it on, but they're passing that through to us, 25 and -- 30 1 MR. TOMLINSON: You have to remember that -- 2 that in a pool for any governmental entity, if they're -- 3 like -- like, TAC or the municipal league, they don't 4 underwrite 100 percent of the risk. So, I know that in 5 property coverage, TAC only maintains, like, 20 percent of 6 their -- of the risk. So -- so we're -- we're subject to 7 market fluctuations, just like the private sector is. I 8 know people that they're in commercial underwriting right 9 now, and they're -- and workers comp and liability, and 10 they're having to go to their customers and say, you know, 11 your bill is twice or three times what it was last year. 12 And so, from what I -- from what I hear in the market, I 13 think we're lucky to get 40 percent. 14 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That's a sad 15 commentary, Tommy. Please don't come in here and defend TAC 16 to any me any more. I mean, I understand what you're 17 saying, but it's still sad. That's sad. 18 MR. TOMLINSON: I know. 19 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: And I really believe 20 in my heart that -- that we can do better than TAC. I do. 21 I know you defend them. You know, we've fought over this 22 thing, but I'm not -- I don't want to listen to any more of 23 it. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: My final comment on it is 25 that I pay it in the private sector as well as all of us pay 31 1 it on the government side, and rates have gone up a lot, and 2 a lot of it's due to lawsuits. I mean, you know, that's the 3 problem that comes through. Lawsuits against -- for 4 everything, against everybody. It's -- we all have to pay 5 more and more. But I agree that, you know, we need to look 6 at -- very carefully at our insurance coverage overall, 7 because we spend a lot of money there. 8 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: That's right. 9 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Can I second this, or 10 is there -- 11 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: No, it's already 12 seconded. 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Dadgumit. 14 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Why would you want to 15 second it? 16 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: We have a motion and a 17 second. We have a motion and a second for budget item 18 Number 6. Any further questions or comments? All in favor, 19 raise your right hand. 20 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 21 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: All opposed, same 22 sign. 23 (No response.) 24 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Now, we just declared 25 an emergency and went into the reserves of Kerr County to 32 1 pay insurance. Thank you. 2 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: To pay our workers 3 comp. Number 7. 4 MR. TOMLINSON: Number 7 is -- 5 AUDIENCE: Commissioner Griffin, could you 6 ask him to talk just a slight bit louder? 7 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: Yeah, our microphone's 8 not working again. 9 AUDIENCE: Okay, thank you. 10 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: Sorry about that. 11 MR. TOMLINSON: Next amendment is for the 12 198th District Court. The request is to transfer $3,616.08 13 from Special Trials to Medical Assistance. 14 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So moved. 15 MR. TOMLINSON: I have a -- I'm asking for a 16 hand check to Stewart Davis' C.P.A. firm for $5,000. 17 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay, I want to re -- 18 withdraw my motion. Stewart Davis is a C.P.A., and we're 19 paying him medical assistance? 20 MR. TOMLINSON: Well, that's -- it's for 21 court -- it's for court-appointed assistance, is really what 22 it is. The title of that account is -- is misleading for 23 that -- for that purpose. 24 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Now you got me 25 confused. 33 1 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I am totally lost now. 2 MR. TOMLINSON: Well, it's -- what it is, 3 according to the bill -- to the court order, it's for the 4 preparation -- in the help of preparation for a trial. And 5 there's -- there's been two C.P.A. firms work on this case; 6 one for the defense and one for the State. And this one 7 that we have -- we have an order for today is for the 8 assistance from this firm in the preparation of a case for 9 the 198th court. 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Why does it come out of 11 Medical Assistance line item? 12 MR. TOMLINSON: 'Cause we don't have another 13 line item that -- we either have to come up with another 14 line item and have it approved today, or pay it out of this. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Isn't there -- is 16 there -- I mean, I don't think it's right to put it under 17 Medical Assistance. I mean, I don't know what other line 18 item you could put it under, but -- or transfer the money 19 from Special Trials to. 20 MR. TOMLINSON: You want to hold it and let 21 me -- let me see what I can -- see what account number I can 22 come up with? 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It's just one of those 24 things -- I'm just afraid if we get it in the wrong item, 25 come budget time, all of a sudden we're going to be 34 1 budgeting money for something that's not appropriate. 2 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: Right. 3 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I agree with that. 4 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: I would suggest we do 5 that, Tommy, that we hold this one and -- 6 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Yeah. 7 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: -- and see if there is 8 a good pigeonhole to put it in, and if not, bring it back 9 and we could create an account for that if we have to. 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Today? 11 MR. TOMLINSON: Yeah, I could do it today. 12 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: Okay. Number 8, 13 Tommy? 14 MR. TOMLINSON: Number 8 is from the County 15 Clerk. She has a request for $650 to be moved into her 16 Microfilm Storage line item, $567 from Capital Outlay and 17 $83 from Machine Repair. 18 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: So moved. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 20 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: I have a motion by 21 Commissioner Williams, second by Commissioner Letz, that 22 Budget Item Number 8 be approved as submitted. Any further 23 comments or questions? 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Question. Do we pay 25 that -- is that an annual fee we pay for microfilm storage? 35 1 Or -- 2 MR. TOMLINSON: Yes, it is. It's a rental, 3 actually. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I just wanted to know, I 5 mean, 'cause it -- it's a budgeting error. 6 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: Any further comments 7 or questions? All in favor, raise your right hand. 8 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 9 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: All opposed, same 10 sign. 11 (No response.) 12 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: The ayes have it. 13 Number 9. 14 MR. TOMLINSON: Number 9 is for the Lake 15 Ingram Estates Road District. We need to transfer $470 from 16 the Interest line item to the Service Fees. And it's -- 17 it's to pay -- there's an annual administration fee for -- 18 to the Bank of New York, and this bank is our paying agent 19 for -- for that debt. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So moved. 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. 22 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: Motion by Commissioner 23 Letz, second by Commissioner Baldwin, that Budget Item 24 Number 9 be approved as submitted. Any further comment or 25 questions? All in favor, raise your right hand. 36 1 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 2 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: All opposed, same 3 sign. 4 (No response.) 5 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: The ayes have it. Any 6 late bills? 7 MR. TOMLINSON: I have two. 8 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: Two late bills to pay. 9 MR. TOMLINSON: One is to Barbara Nemec for 10 $130, and it's for reimbursement for registration for her 11 clerk in the 30th Annual Treasurer's Seminar April the 15th 12 through 18th. 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So moved. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 15 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: Motion by Commissioner 16 Baldwin, second by Commissioner Letz, that the late bill in 17 the amount of -- what was that, Tommy? 18 MR. TOMLINSON: $130. 19 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: -- $130 for attendance 20 at the conference be paid. Any further comment or 21 questions? All in favor, raise your right hand. 22 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 23 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: All opposed, same 24 sign. 25 (No response.) 37 1 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: The ayes have it. 2 MR. TOMLINSON: Last one is to Buster 3 Baldwin, $181.13 for -- it's to reimburse for travel 4 expenses for the West Texas County Commissioners Association 5 conference. 6 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: So moved. 7 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. 8 (Laughter.) 9 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: Motion by Commissioner 10 Williams, second by Commissioner Baldwin, that the late 11 check be -- or late payment be approved for $181.13 to 12 Commissioner Baldwin for travel to the West Texas 13 conference. Any further comment or questions? 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: How is yours so much less 15 than Commissioner Williams' and mine? 16 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Why is it so much 17 less? 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: We -- you stayed at the 19 same hotel we did, the same mileage. 20 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I'll tell you later. 21 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: All in favor, raise 22 your right hand. 23 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 24 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Just watch the bills 25 next month. 38 1 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: The ayes have it. 2 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I have one question, 3 Tommy. My -- our association fees didn't make it this 4 round? 5 (Mr. Tomlinson shook his head.) 6 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay. I put in to pay 7 our dues to the West Texas Association. You know, when we 8 were in the South Texas, we paid $250 a year to be a member 9 of that thing, and the West Texas Association is $50. Fifty 10 dollars for a year. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: All the more reason to be 12 out west. 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Absolutely. 14 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Registration is 15 cheaper, too. 16 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I'm liking this more 17 and more. 18 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: Do we have a motion to 19 waive the reading of the minutes for the meetings of 20 March 11th and March 25th and to approve the same? 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So moved. 22 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Second. 23 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: Motion by Commissioner 24 Letz, second by Commissioner Williams, that we waive the 25 reading of the minutes of Monday, March 11th meeting and 39 1 Monday, March 25th meeting of 2002, and approve those 2 minutes. Any further comment or questions? All in favor, 3 raise your right hand. 4 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 5 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: All opposed, same 6 sign. 7 (No response.) 8 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: The ayes have it. All 9 right. Do I have a motion to accept the monthly -- approve 10 and accept the monthly reports -- 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: As presented. 12 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: -- as presented? 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So moved. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 15 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: Motion by Commissioner 16 Baldwin, second by Commissioner Letz, that we approve the -- 17 and accept the monthly reports as submitted. Any further 18 comments or questions? All in favor, raise your right hand. 19 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 20 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: All opposed, same 21 sign. 22 (No response.) 23 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: The ayes have it. 24 Okay. On to the consideration agenda. Item Number 1, 25 consider variance for depth of utility lines in Falling 40 1 Water Subdivision, Precinct 3. Commissioner Letz and County 2 Engineer. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'll turn it over to 4 Franklin, and if he has -- if I have any comments to add, I 5 will. I've met with both Leonard and Dale Crenwelge about 6 this. 7 MR. JOHNSTON: We had a request from Dale 8 Crenwelge in Falling Water Subdivision to change the depth 9 of the utility lines from 3 foot to 2 and a half foot. 10 I've -- I've been through Falling Water several times and I 11 know on many places there's solid rock next to the roads. 12 The roads are kind of built up over the rock. In areas that 13 have solid rock, I wouldn't have any objection to 2 and a 14 half foot. It's -- the pipes will be perfectly safe, like 15 they're encased in concrete. I think it should be, you 16 know, not a blanket variance, but as to conditions. If it's 17 an area where they can dig full depth, I think they should, 18 but if they have to rock saw solid rock, I wouldn't think 6 19 inches would affect it either way. 20 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: So, specifically, it's 21 on the areas as designated on the -- 22 MR. JOHNSTON: I think he has that 23 designated, yes, on the map. 24 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: So, it would only 25 apply -- the waiver would only apply to those areas? 41 1 MR. CRENWELGE: Just the areas where we're 2 talking about on the diagram. 3 MR. JOHNSTON: Right. 4 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: Only the areas we're 5 talking about on the diagram. 6 MR. CRENWELGE: Yes. 7 MR. JOHNSTON: As to the -- the distance from 8 the roadway, he requested to change zero to 4 feet from the 9 property line to zero to 2 foot from the finished pavement 10 surface. There, again, I think it should be on a 11 case-by-case basis. I think what he's talking about is 12 areas where there's fills and then the road slopes away, to 13 get to the property line, they're out 20 foot below the road 14 surface or something. 15 MR. CRENWELGE: Right, just primarily up 16 hills and down hills. You know, you have a 50-foot 17 right-of-way, and we've cut the road pretty much 40 foot and 18 we have banks on one side. We have either 16, 18, or 20 19 foot pavement, depending upon the road traffic, so we 20 have -- you know, we have a lot of room right there to put 21 it, you know, next to the pavement without going on the side 22 of the -- huge banks on the side at the end of the 23 right-of-way. 24 MR. JOHNSTON: And then, there again, I think 25 on a case-by-case basis. Some places, it's about the only 42 1 place you can put it. In other places, you know, we should 2 strive to put it away from the road, really for practical 3 purposes. These aren't even county-maintained roads, but 4 just for practical purposes, if a water tap is made or a 5 water line breaks, it doesn't ruin big sections of the road. 6 It's off the road. So -- 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: A comment on the depth. 8 And I've talked to Leonard about this, and we -- he is 9 really recommending that we probably make that change 10 permanent. He says TexDOT really has a 30-inch, on top of 11 the pipes anyway, and he says we're a little bit more strict 12 than TexDOT is. So, I think we probably should address that 13 in the Subdivision Rules, but at this time, just -- I would 14 just make a motion that we approve the variance as 15 presented, both as to the depth and location in areas as 16 designated on the attached plat only. 17 MR. JOHNSTON: These are the lines that we're 18 talking about parallel to the road. I think that will be 19 another issue; probably be the full depth. 20 MR. CRENWELGE: Right. 21 MR. JOHNSTON: That will be an area you can 22 dig, anyway. 23 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. 24 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: Motion by Commissioner 25 Letz, second by Commissioner Baldwin, that -- that the 43 1 variance be granted for depth and location of the utility 2 lines in Falling Water Subdivision as presented. Any 3 further question or comments? All in favor, raise your 4 right hand. 5 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 6 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: All opposed, same 7 sign. 8 (No response.) 9 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: The ayes have it. 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: One other comment I might 11 make on that. Central Texas has also -- utilities -- 12 Electric Co-op has agreed to these same depths. 13 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: 30 inches? 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah. 15 MR. CRENWELGE: Hill Country Telephone and 16 Aqua Source have all -- 17 MR. JOHNSTON: All signed off on it. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: As appropriate for this 19 area? 20 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: They put everything in 21 the same hole? 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Here, they are. 23 MR. CRENWELGE: Yep. 24 MR. JOHNSTON: They all signed off on that, 25 too? 44 1 MR. CRENWELGE: Yeah. 2 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: Item Number 3, 3 consider approval of cattle guard being installed on Honey 4 Creek Road. This is in Precinct 4. This is the one that 5 came before the Court previously. There was a nonstandard 6 design initially proposed that is now prepared to be the 7 standard design that the County uses. Anything to add to 8 that? I think your recommendation now is that we approve 9 it? 10 MR. JOHNSTON: Yeah. We went from a 11 nonstandard design to two standard designs put back-to-back, 12 so I think we resolved the problem. 13 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: We're now down to one 14 which will look just like the rest of them. So, I will make 15 the motion that we approve the installation of the cattle 16 guard on Honey Creek Road as submitted. 17 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. 18 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: A motion by 19 Commissioner Griffin, second by Commissioner Baldwin, that 20 cattle guard to be installed on Honey Creek Road in 21 accordance with the letter from Honey Creek Ranch be 22 approved. Any further comment or question? 23 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah. Do we need to 24 address that in our subdivision regs also? I mean, we're 25 talking about a cattle guard here, and the subdivision 45 1 regs -- seems like you have to hire a couple of lawyers and 2 three or four engineers and -- and lots of things, and we're 3 talking about a cattle guard here, you know. Not talking 4 about rocket science. 5 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: Yeah. The book just 6 says -- 7 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Have you read that 8 lately, Jon? 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: No, I have not. 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: It's pretty detailed 11 stuff there. 12 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: Might be able to 13 simplify it somewhat. 14 MR. JOHNSTON: There's some detailed 15 provisions; however, they're -- for a standard 5-foot span, 16 we have now an approved design for that. I think where it 17 was getting complicated, if they wanted to increase that to 18 an 8- or 10-foot span, -- 19 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah. 20 MR. JOHNSTON: -- that's where you have to 21 have it re-engineered. But they're using our standard one 22 and just putting two -- two of them next to each other. 23 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I'm glad it's working 24 out. It certainly took -- you know, to me, because of that, 25 because of -- you know, and that may be the right thing to 46 1 do. I'm not saying it's not. But I think we need to 2 revisit that because of that. You know, these guys have 3 been jumping through hoops for a couple of months to put a 4 damn cattle guard in. 5 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: Yeah. 6 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: How hard is that? 7 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: If they'd come at us 8 the first time with the standard design, I think it would -- 9 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Piece of cake? 10 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: -- have gone pretty 11 easy. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think it's a good time; 13 we need to note those things. At the public hearing, we can 14 make these minor adjustments. That should be a pretty minor 15 adjustment. As to road depth, as well. 16 MR. JOHNSTON: Yeah. In the -- in defense of 17 what's in the book, it's really there for public safety. If 18 someone comes up with some unusual design, it needs to meet 19 some criteria. That's the criteria we have there. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. 21 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: Okay. We have a 22 motion and a second. All in favor, raise your right hand. 23 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 24 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: All opposed, same 25 sign. 47 1 (No response.) 2 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: The ayes have it. 3 Item Number 3, consider and approve road name changes for 4 privately maintained roads in Precincts 2, 3, and 4, in 5 accordance with the 911 guidelines. I might add for the 6 Court that I got a call from Truby Hardin just before the 7 meeting started, and there was some question on the very 8 last one on the list. On West Harley -- or -- yes, on 9 Harley Drive that was proposed, and there was a question 10 about it. We should drop that one from the list, she says, 11 because it is in the city of Ingram; it's not in the county. 12 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: It is, I agree. 13 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: So -- so, 3011 to 14 Harley, that last one on the list, we should drop. The rest 15 we can approve, no problem. These are all privately 16 maintained; they are not county-maintained roads. Do I have 17 a motion? 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So moved. 19 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: So moved. 20 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: Second? Do I hear a 21 second? 22 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. 23 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: Oh. Motion by 24 Commissioner Letz, second by Commissioner Baldwin, that the 25 list submitted for approval of road name changes on 48 1 privately maintained roads, as amended, be approved. Any 2 further comment or question? All in favor, raise your right 3 hand. 4 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 5 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: All opposed, same 6 sign. 7 (No response.) 8 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: The ayes have it. 9 Let's skip down to number -- I think -- let's see, let's do 10 Number 7, consider and discuss proclamation to declare 11 April 8th through the 12th as the Environmental Crime 12 Prevention Week. This was one put on by Judge Henneke, and 13 as you see in the backup material, this is a -- an 14 initiative by T.N.R.C.C. to make the public and everyone 15 aware that Texas has a very vigorous program of -- of 16 addressing environmental crimes; that is, pollution of our 17 natural environment. That there is a -- there is a real 18 move to educate the public that those crimes can be -- can 19 be prosecuted, and the perps brought to justice. And 20 T.N.R.C.C. has declared April 8th through the 12th as 21 Environmental Crime Prevention Week, and we are joining in 22 this effort by this proclamation. And we would authorize 23 the County Judge to sign same, by the way. Do I hear a 24 motion? 25 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I move for approval. 49 1 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Second. 2 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: Motion by Commissioner 3 Baldwin, second by Commissioner Williams, that -- that we 4 approve and adopt the proclamation to declare April 8th 5 through April 12th, 2002, as Environmental Crime Prevention 6 Week and authorize the County Judge to sign same. Any 7 further comment or question? 8 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Judge pro tem, sir? 9 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: Yes? 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I would also ask that 11 Ms. Sovil be sure to send a copy of that court order to 12 Eddie North, our local Solid Waste Coordinator. 13 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Good idea. 14 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: Good idea. I have a 15 motion and a second. Any further comment or questions? 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Also send a copy to 17 T.N.R.C.C. so they remember to enforce these laws that they 18 have on their books. 19 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That's right. 20 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: Any further comment or 21 questions? If not, all in favor, raise your right hand. 22 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 23 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: All opposed, same 24 sign. 25 (No response.) 50 1 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: The ayes have it. 2 Maybe we can squeeze in Number 8. Consider and discuss 3 approving social services contract between Kerr County and 4 Big Brothers/Big Sisters, and authorize the ratifying of 5 County Judge's signature. This is one that you'll recall 6 that goes back to the opinion we were waiting on -- that we 7 got, the opinion that we were awaiting on the support to 8 these organizations. This is to tidy up that paperwork, and 9 to go ahead and ratify the Judge's signature on that. 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So moved. 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I'll second. 12 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: Motion by Commissioner 13 Letz, second by Commissioner Baldwin, that -- that the 14 social services contract between Kerr County and Big 15 Brothers/Big Sisters be approved, and that we authorize the 16 ratification of the Judge's signature on same. Any further 17 comment or questions? All in favor, raise your right hand. 18 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 19 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: All opposed, same 20 sign. 21 (No response.) 22 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: The ayes have it. 23 Okay. I think Item Number -- Item Number 6 -- is that a 24 fast one, Commissioner? 25 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Yeah, that's quick. 51 1 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: Okay. Let's do Item 2 Number 6, consider and discuss authorizing Grantworks to 3 proceed with a public hearing at 7 p.m. on April 17, 2002, 4 to discuss the County's participation in the Texas Community 5 Development Program during the coming year. 6 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: As I noted in the 7 background, we are at a point where we will soon be 8 soliciting bids for certain elements of Phase I of the 9 Kerrville South wastewater collection project, and it is 10 timely that we consider moving forward, and in order to move 11 forward and attempt to get a grant for continuation of the 12 project, we would have to have 50 percent of the funds that 13 were currently awarded obligated by May 16th, I believe -- 14 May 13th. And we intend to try to have that bid so as to 15 obligate those funds by the 13th of the month. That means 16 some fast work on our part, but the plans are drawn for the 17 bypass of the Rolling Green wastewater classification on the 18 Riverhill Country Club, and that will be sufficient to 19 obligate up to 50 percent of the initial funds. Having done 20 that, we would now be eligible, then, to apply for 21 continuing funding for the project, and this -- this court 22 order would enable Grantworks to come in and notify the 23 public of a hearing to be held at 7 p.m. on April 17th, as 24 sort of a performance thing or perfunctory thing. But they 25 do conduct the public hearing at their expense at the 52 1 courthouse, and that makes us -- that's one of the steps 2 necessary for applying for future funding. So, that's kind 3 of the background. We'll be seeing more of the plans and 4 bid solicitations that will come before the Court here in a 5 very short period of time. So, I would move our favorable 6 consideration of allowing Grantworks to proceed with the 7 public hearing at 7 p.m. on April 17th for Kerr County's 8 continuing participation in the Texas Community Development 9 Program. 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I'll second that 11 motion, with a question. 12 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: Okay. We have a 13 motion by Commissioner Williams, second by Commissioner 14 Baldwin, that the -- we authorize Grantworks to proceed with 15 the public hearing at 7 p.m. on April 17th, 2002, to discuss 16 the County's continuing participation in the Texas Community 17 Development Program. Commissioner Baldwin? 18 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: When we talk about 19 Grantworks expanding and moving forward and doing these 20 other things, are we talking about anything outside of the 21 Ranchero Road project? 22 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: It is a continuation 23 of the Ranchero Road project, and would essentially take us 24 down to Loyal Valley towards the -- the mobile home park and 25 so forth and so on. 53 1 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: If we could get our 2 County Attorney -- where'd he go? If we could get him to 3 answer our letter, we'd know that, wouldn't we? But we're 4 not talking about anything outside of that Phase I project 5 at this point? We're not talking about Center Point yet or 6 anything? 7 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: No. 8 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay, thank you. 9 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: We have a motion and a 10 second. Any further comment or questions? 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: General question. By 12 reading the backup, it seems to me this is just a public 13 hearing to receive what? I mean -- 14 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Well, it's called 15 for -- it's called for by the regulations, the T.C.D.H. -- 16 whatever that is, Texas Community Development block grants. 17 They have to conduct a public hearing, so that it's to 18 perform -- really, conduct a public hearing. If anybody 19 wants to know what the purpose is, they explain the purpose 20 and so forth. So, it's just one of the requirements. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But it's just a public 22 hearing to work with that state agency? I mean, if there's 23 nothing -- if we don't have any plans as to what we're going 24 to do, I don't see what you would -- why you would -- anyone 25 would come to a public hearing. 54 1 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I don't know. The 2 last one they conducted, no one came either. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Just a requirement? Any 4 specific project information will be handled through either 5 another hearing or Commissioners Court meeting? 6 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Right. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. 8 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: Okay. All in favor, 9 raise your right hand. 10 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 11 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: All opposed, same 12 sign. 13 (No response.) 14 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: And the ayes have it. 15 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Thank you. 16 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: Okay. It is 17 10 o'clock on April the 8th, 2002. We'll recess the regular 18 meeting of the Kerr County Commissioners Court and convene a 19 public hearing regarding requesting TexDOT to install signs 20 designating by name the crossings of the North and South 21 Forks of the Guadalupe River on Highway 1340 and Highway 39. 22 (The regular Commissioners Court meeting was closed at 10 a.m., and a public hearing was 23 held in open court, as follows:) 24 P U B L I C H E A R I N G 25 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: This, you will recall, 55 1 is a -- is an issue that was raised by letter from the 2 Schumacher sisters to name the Schumacher Crossing or have 3 it -- and have a sign posted there. And, in discussion with 4 TexDOT, they recommended that if we would request them to do 5 so, that they would install signs naming all of the 6 crossings, and they gave us a list of what they considered 7 at the time to be the most commonly used names for those 8 crossings, and we wanted to set -- even though we didn't 9 have to, we wanted to have a public hearing so that we could 10 discuss other inputs on what some of those names might be. 11 I do know that Commissioner Baldwin has had some contacts 12 from -- as well as I have, from some of the old-timers, the 13 old-time residents. And, Commissioner Baldwin, before we 14 get into the pure public hearing part of this, how about 15 giving us a rundown on what you found? 16 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Well, over the weekend 17 I had a phone call from, of course, an old friend of my 18 family's, and that particular family has been in Kerr County 19 for over 100 years, and -- both the wife and the husband's 20 side of it; both of them have been over a hundred years. 21 And they were all -- whole family have lived up on the North 22 Fork of the Guadalupe, Highway 1340 for many, many, many, 23 many years. And they called me over the weekend and told me 24 what -- and it jogged some memory of my childhood, but told 25 me what -- what the -- some of these crossings on our little 56 1 list that we have in our packets here, what the real names 2 have been for a long, long time. And when we get down to -- 3 get out of this public hearing and get down to the adoption 4 part of this issue, I want to -- actually, I'd really like 5 to amend it right now so that we will know, so we can have 6 discussion, and if there's anyone in the audience that 7 doesn't agree with me, they have the opportunity to throw 8 things now. 9 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: I think it would be -- 10 without offering it as an amendment to the names, since none 11 of them have really been put up, you might go ahead and go 12 through -- 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay. 14 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: -- the names you have. 15 Then we'll know what we're considering on the list. 16 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: If we go, starting on 17 the righthand side, Highway 1340, better known as the North 18 Fork -- formerly a Kerr County road, by the way -- and go 19 down the list to Number 4, it says McChesney Crossing. We 20 want to change that to Benson. The Benson family has been 21 out there for many, many years. The next one's okay. The 22 following, Blue Haven Crossing, the original name of it is 23 Graham, G-r-a-h-a-m, a family that's been out there forever 24 and ever and ever. The next one, Quinn Crossing, there at 25 B.E. Quinn's place, that's really known as Frederick, 57 1 F-r-e-d-e-r-i-c-k, and if you remember, that's the Friedrich 2 family out of San Antonio, and that's really pre- Eddie 3 Rickenbacher time. So -- you know, and I kind of remember 4 some of those. 5 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: Isn't that name -- I 6 think it's spelled as the German spelling, is it not, the 7 Friedrich? It's like Friedrich, but it's pronounced 8 Frederick. 9 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yes, sir, it is. 10 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: It's 11 F-r-i-e-d-r-i-c-h. 12 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: F-r-i-e-d -- 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: And so Quinn Crossing 14 to Friedrich. Waldemar is fairly correct, and then Johnson, 15 it's known as the Hope, H-o-p-e, Crossing. 16 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: What's the background 17 information on that? 18 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Confidential 19 information. 20 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Have to kill me if I 21 find out? 22 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: River Bend Crossing is 23 Lone Star, because that was originally Lone Star Lodges 24 many, many years ago. 25 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: Is that one word or 58 1 two? Do you know? 2 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I think that's two 3 words. 4 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: Yeah, me too. 5 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: And then, of course, 6 Stewart Crossing would be changed to Mayhew, M-a-y-h-e-w. 7 That's another old name that's been here for many, many 8 years. And I did not have anyone call me over the weekend 9 and comment on the South Fork, so I -- I don't know. 10 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: I got the same input 11 that you did on the names that -- that you've just 12 discussed. And, as you say, it came from the -- a family 13 that's been -- has lived on the North Fork for a hundred 14 years. And I think our -- our view here should try to be to 15 get them right, and there's no -- these were just names 16 suggested by TexDOT that we started with. And let's get 17 them right and try to stick with the -- with the -- with the 18 historic names where we can. And so, with that, I think now 19 we can really get into the public hearing part of it. I 20 know that Mr. Crum -- 21 MR. CRUM: Yes, sir. 22 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: Mr. and Mrs. Crum are 23 here. 24 MR. CRUM: Good morning. My name is Bill 25 Crum, and my wife Jane. We live at HC-1, Box 147-B in Hunt 59 1 on the North Fork. The comments that have just been made 2 preempt a lot of what I'm going to say, but I thought I 3 might just introduce myself to the Court and make one 4 comment. I want to commend the Court and TexDOT for taking 5 this action. I think it's a very -- very fine move. And 6 I'm going to make a side note, that Mr. Tucker, in finishing 7 what has been now known as the Waldemar, and it may be 8 changed, and the Quinn, on the coloring of the sidewalk or 9 the side panels there, it's excellent. It was at one time a 10 very psychedelic orange, and I think it's wonderful at the 11 present time. I will not take any more of your time. The 12 Blue Haven was what stuck in our particular mind as -- we 13 wondered what that might entail. That's the -- we live 14 about a mile northwest of that Blue Haven Crossing. And we 15 suggested that maybe that there would be a better name than 16 Blue Haven, unless it's a misprint and should have been Blue 17 Heron, because we have a great blue heron that flies up and 18 down there. We suggested maybe Rickenbacher or Scout, 19 because of the camp right there. So, with those comments, I 20 commend, again, the Court for its actions. Thank you. 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Thank you very much. 22 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: Anyone else who would 23 like to speak on this issue? If not, we'll -- do we adjourn 24 or do we -- 25 MS. SOVIL: Close. 60 1 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: We'll close the public 2 hearing, and we'll reconvene the regular session of the Kerr 3 County Commissioners Court and discuss Item Number 5, which 4 is to consider and discuss approving the name change -- or 5 not name changes, the request of TexDOT to install signs 6 naming the crossings as we discussed during the public 7 hearing. 8 (The public hearing was concluded at 10:08 a.m., and the regular Commissioners Court 9 meeting was reopened.) 10 - - - - - - - - - - 11 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: Any further comment 12 from the Commissioners on this? 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: My only comment would be 14 that on Blue Haven, Commissioner Baldwin said Graham and I 15 hear Rickenbacher or Scout. Is there a -- I mean -- 16 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: Graham was the 17 historic name. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Graham is before 19 Rickenbacher? 20 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah. Oh, yeah. 21 Yeah. Graham -- that Graham family, I mean, there's still 22 some of them there. I have been there, you know, in three 23 or four different lives, and some of them are still out 24 there. So -- 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: As an editorial on 61 1 Rickenbacher, according to my grandfather, it's 2 Mr. Rickenbacher who we have to thank for all of the Russian 3 hogs we have in the country, 'cause he originally imported 4 them from Europe. So, aside from being a World War I ace -- 5 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: Well, if there are no 6 further comments or questions by the Commissioners, do I 7 hear a motion that we request of TexDOT the to install the 8 signs, with the list as amended, on the North and South 9 Forks of -- along Highways 1340 and 39? 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Commissioner Griffin, 11 I'd like to make that motion. 12 MS. SOVIL: Would you reread the list? 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: No. The judge will. 14 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: Well, it will be the 15 list as submitted for the public hearing, with -- these are 16 all on the South Fork -- or, correction, North Fork. What 17 was previously designated McChesney Crossing would become 18 Benson Crossing, B-e-n-s-o-n; previously designated Blue 19 Haven Crossing would be Graham Crossing, G-r-a-h-a-m; 20 previously designated Quinn Crossing would become Friedrich 21 Crossing, spelled F-r-i-e-d-r-i-c-h; previously designated 22 Johnson Crossing would be designated the Hope Crossing, 23 H-o-p-e; previously designated River Bend Crossing would be 24 Lone Star Crossing, two words; and previously designated 25 Stewart Crossing would be Mayhew, M-a-y-h-e-w, Crossing. 62 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Was there a second? 2 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: Yeah, we're waiting 3 for a second, I think. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Well, I'll be glad to 5 make the second, with a comment. 6 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: Okay. Motion by 7 Commissioner Baldwin, second by Commissioner Letz, that -- 8 that the list be approved and we request TexDOT, in 9 accordance with this list, to make the designations. 10 Commissioner Letz? 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Maybe I shouldn't have 12 made that second. Anyway, here's my comment; then we can 13 decide. I'm wondering, since on the North Fork -- I mean, 14 on the South Fork there were not changes, if it would not -- 15 I hate to make these name changes more than one time -- if 16 it wouldn't be better to not do another public hearing, but 17 hold back a week to see if everyone is in agreement or, I 18 mean, people from out west are comfortable with all these 19 names. I have no problem with them, not living in the area, 20 but TexDOT got a lot of the ones on the North Fork wrong 21 historically. But we did -- but I suspect there may be some 22 errors on the South Fork as well. 23 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: Well, I will -- I 24 would say that let's go ahead and, on the condition that 25 if -- we can always bring it back to the Court. I mean, we 63 1 can -- I would recommend we go ahead and get the process 2 started. Remember, this is a request to TexDOT. So, if we 3 want to change the request, we can do that, and it's going 4 to take a while for them to get all this done. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Sure. 6 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: I'm sure there is 7 going to -- kind of generalized public knowledge, not to 8 slow the process down now, but if there are appropriate 9 changes to be made at any time, even on some of these on the 10 North Fork -- 11 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Commissioner, did we 12 solicit a comment on the South Fork in terms of the accuracy 13 of those crossings? 14 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: Who did we solicit? 15 We made the public hearing notice, and that's the reason we 16 had the public hearing. 17 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Nothing was 18 forthcoming? 19 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: Nothing was 20 forthcoming. We did get comment on the North Fork. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: The word got out there, 22 but it was -- you know, and I think probably maybe it's best 23 to go -- 24 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: Well, it was 25 well-covered by the media, the local newspapers and all, so 64 1 I think the word got out. We just didn't get any comment on 2 the South Fork, and we did on the North Fork. That doesn't 3 mean we won't -- we may get comments on both, but I would 4 recommend we go ahead and press on with the motion as -- as 5 made and seconded. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. 7 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: Any further comments 8 or questions? If not, all in favor, raise your right hand. 9 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 10 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: All opposed, same 11 sign. 12 (No response.) 13 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: The ayes have it. 14 Okay. There being no further -- 15 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Oh, we do have -- 16 Tommy, have you got us an answer to the Budget Amendment 17 Number 7? 18 MR. TOMLINSON: Yes. The account number was 19 correct, and we -- we had changed the name of that account 20 for the 216th court and failed to change it for the -- for 21 the 198th. The change we made was -- was in anticipation 22 of -- of the reporting for Senate Bill 7. You know, we felt 23 like that we were going to have to segregate the 24 court-appointed attorneys fees from all other appointed 25 fees. So, what we did, we -- we had two accounts and we -- 65 1 we grouped all of -- all of the court-appointed fees that 2 were not attorney-related into this account, and so all the 3 -- anything -- anything goes in that account except for 4 attorney's fees. 5 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: So, it may be -- 6 MR. TOMLINSON: It could be a medical bill or 7 it could be, as an example, this bill. What we -- in the 8 216th court, we -- when we renamed it, we called it 9 Court-Appointed Services, and that's the correct account 10 number, but we just failed to change the one in the 198th. 11 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: So, it's Court- 12 Appointed -- 13 MR. TOMLINSON: Services. 14 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: -- Services. 15 MR. TOMLINSON: But, for Senate Bill 7, we -- 16 we're just anticipating having to change -- having to report 17 different activities, and we're especially concerned with 18 having only the court-appointed attorneys in one line item 19 by itself. 20 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: Okay. So, could we 21 include the name change in the motion to approve the budget 22 amendment? 23 MR. TOMLINSON: Yeah. 24 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: Does that make sense? 25 MS. SOVIL: 401? 66 1 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: So let's go back to 2 Budget Amendment Number 7. Do I hear a motion for approval 3 of that with the name change? 4 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I move it. 5 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I second it. 6 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: Motion by Commissioner 7 Williams, second by Commissioner Baldwin, that Budget 8 Amendment Number 7 to move money from Special Trials in the 9 amount of $3,616.08 to expense code 10-336-401, which would 10 be renamed Court-Appointed Services. 11 MR. TOMLINSON: That's right. 12 MS. SOVIL: Special Services. 13 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: Court-Appointed 14 Special Services? 15 MR. TOMLINSON: No, it says Court-Appointed 16 Services, I believe it is. 17 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: Court-Appointed 18 Services. 19 MR. TOMLINSON: Yes. 20 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: Any further comment or 21 questions? All in favor, raise your right hand. 22 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 23 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: All opposed, same 24 sign. 25 (No response.) 67 1 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: Okay. That concludes 2 the open portion of our meeting. We do have a -- a closed 3 session or closed meeting, Executive Session scheduled to 4 discuss pending litigation with the County Attorney, so we 5 will recess our regular session for now, and if we can 6 reconfigure the room, we'll have a closed session. 7 (Discussion off the record.) 8 (The open session was closed at 10:17 a.m., and an Executive Session was held, the 9 transcript of which is contained in a separate document.) 10 - - - - - - - - - - 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Judge pro tem? I 12 actually had a question; it just popped in my -- 13 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: We'll reconvene the 14 open -- the regular session of Kerr County Commissioners 15 Court. 16 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Are we reconvened? I 17 had a question about one of the late bills. It's just -- 18 the thought popped in my mind, and I kind of ran through all 19 the language back through my processor here, and it didn't 20 -- didn't compute, and I have to ask the question. The late 21 bill for the convention for the Treasurer's office, who -- 22 what actual person -- see, you have a -- you have the 23 elected official there, which is what I understood that 24 the -- that person is actually going to the convention. 25 Then you have some part-time people. Are we paying for 68 1 part-time people to go? 2 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: That's a good 3 question. I -- I don't know the answer. I would suspect 4 it's either the Treasurer or the person that's going to be 5 appointed to fill Ada's position. 6 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That could be. I 7 just -- the thought popped in my mind, and I think that 8 when -- you probably need to be careful. I don't even know 9 the legalities. It just seemed like -- you know, common 10 sense would say to me that we don't send part-time people to 11 school. I mean, it just seems that way. I could be wrong. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I mean, I would share 13 your sentiment, but I think it's probably up to each elected 14 official, as long as it's legal, at their discretion, based 15 on the way we've done our budgeting under that line item. 16 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: It sure could be. I 17 just -- just a question popped in my mind. 18 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: Okay. Since we've 19 reconvened, I do need to say for the record that no action 20 is required at this time as a result of the closed meeting, 21 Executive Session. Anything else to come before the Court? 22 We stand adjourned. 23 (Commissioners Court adjourned at 10:40 a.m.) 24 - - - - - - - - - - 25 69 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 10th day of April, 8 2002. 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