1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 KERR COUNTY COMMISSIONERS COURT 9 Special Session 10 Tuesday, May 28, 2002 11 6:30 p.m. 12 Commissioners' Courtroom and District Courtroom # 1 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 May 28, 2002 2 PAGE --- Visitors' Input 19 3 2.16 Set public hearing for considering County's 2000 4 Colonia Comprehensive Plan for June 3 @ 6:30 p.m. 36 5 1.1 Pay Bills 38 1.2 Budget Amendments 38 6 1.3 Late Bills 41 1.4 Approve and Accept Monthly Reports 44 7 2.14 Accept resignation of Constable, Precinct 1 44 8 2.1 Long-Range Planning Committee report for Kerr County Sheriff's Office 47 9 2.2 Approve contract between Texas Department of Protective and Regulatory Services & Commissioners 10 Court to continue maintaining child welfare board 71 2.3 Consider variance to 6.02.E.3 of Kerr County 11 Subdivision Rules & Regs to extend preliminary plat for Cypress Springs Estates, Phase II 76 12 2.4 Approval of court order abandoning & vacating a portion of Pier 5 Drive per agreement of property 13 owners & Commissioners Court 78 2.5 Approve Resolution declaring June 2, 2002, as 14 Ernestine Wilson Zimmerman Day 84 2.6 Discuss comments from Office of Rural Community 15 Affairs re Comprehensive Colonia Study & Plan -- 2.7 Discuss Rules & Regulations for use of county- 16 owned parks, dams, and recreational areas 85 2.8 Discuss revisions to Kerr County Subdivision 17 Rules & Regulations 99 2.9 Approve relocation of Collections Department to 18 space currently occupied by Treasurer's office 112 2.10 Approve job description for Collection Officer 113 19 2.11 Discuss becoming a member of Association of Rural Communities in Texas 118 20 2.12 Discuss resolution calling for increased tax on fuel, distribution of proceeds to counties to be 21 used for maintaining county roads 122 2.15 Authorization to pursue procurement of legal 22 services from McGinnis Lockridge & Kilgore, LLC, to create wastewater treatment service agreement 130 23 2.13 Approve offer to purchase right-of-way for Sheppard Rees Road improvement, authorize County 24 Attorney to finalize purchase, authorize payment by hand check if necessary 132 25 --- Adjourned 135 3 1 On Tuesday, May 28, 2002, at 6:30 p.m., a special 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 JUDGE HENNEKE: Good evening, everyone. It's 7 6:30 on Tuesday, May the 28th, Year 2002. We'll call to 8 order this special meeting of the Kerr County Commissioners 9 Court. 10 AUDIENCE: Can't hear back here. 11 AUDIENCE: Can't hear you. 12 JUDGE HENNEKE: Is that better? 13 AUDIENCE: Yes. 14 JUDGE HENNEKE: Okay. We were calling to 15 order this regular special meeting of the Kerr County 16 Commissioners Court. If y'all will please stand, join me in 17 a word of prayer, followed by the pledge of allegiance. 18 (Prayer and pledge of allegiance.) 19 JUDGE HENNEKE: Thank you. Be seated, 20 please. At this time, any citizen wishing to address the 21 Court on an item not listed on the regular agenda may come 22 forth and do so. Is there any citizen who would like to 23 address the Court on an item not listed on the regular 24 agenda? 25 MR. RACKLEY: Would you please pass out the 5-28-02 4 1 agenda? I don't have a copy of the agenda. 2 JUDGE HENNEKE: Copies of the agenda were 3 available in the back. If we've run out of them, maybe you 4 can share with a neighbor, sir. 5 MR. MOORE: I was one of the very first 6 people in this room, sir, and there was no agenda posted 7 anywhere at that door. There was a form to fill out if we 8 had any discussions to be made, and most of us have filled 9 that out. No other paper was there, sir. 10 MS. PIEPER: The public participation form, I 11 did make more copies, and they're in the back. 12 JUDGE HENNEKE: Well, can you make some quick 13 copies of the agenda? 14 MS. PIEPER: Yes, sir. 15 JUDGE HENNEKE: The agenda is posted outside 16 on the bulletin board as well as outside the courthouse on 17 the public bulletin board. Yes, sir? 18 AUDIENCE: Sir, would it be possible, since 19 we have a couple dozen people still standing in the hall, 20 that we go to a larger courtroom where people can be 21 comfortable and hear? 22 JUDGE HENNEKE: We're going to -- after we 23 have the Commissioners' comments, if we still need to, we'll 24 take that up. Sir? 25 MR. RACKLEY: Since copies of the agenda were 5-28-02 5 1 not available to be passed out and I haven't seen them, I 2 bet other people haven't, would you please read the items? 3 I don't think that would be too much to ask. 4 JUDGE HENNEKE: I'll read them briefly. What 5 we will do is to move the citizens' comments to the end of 6 the meeting so that anyone who wishes to make a comment on 7 an item not listed on the agenda may do so at the end of the 8 meeting. The items for consideration today are as follows: 9 Number 1, consider and discuss Long-Range 10 Planning Committee's report for the Kerr County Sheriff's 11 Office. 12 Number 2, consider and discuss approving a 13 contract between the Texas Department of Protective and 14 Regulatory Services and the Commissioners Court to continue 15 maintaining a child welfare board. 16 Number 3, consider a variance to Section 17 6.02.E.3 of the Kerr County Subdivision Rules and 18 Regulations to extend the preliminary plat approval for 19 Cypress Springs Estates. 20 Number 4, consider and discuss approval of a 21 court order abandoning and vacating a portion of Pier 5 22 Drive in accordance with the agreement reached by the 23 property owners. 24 Number 5, consider and discuss approving a 25 resolution declaring June 2, 2002, as Ernestine Wilson 5-28-02 6 1 Zimmerman Day. 2 Number 6, consider and discuss comments from 3 the Office of Rural Community Affairs regarding Kerr 4 County's Comprehensive Colonia Study and Plan. 5 Number 7, consider and discuss adoption of 6 Rules and Regulations for use of County-Owned Parks, Dams, 7 and Recreation Areas. 8 Number 8, consider and discuss approval of 9 revision to the Kerr County Subdivision Rules and 10 Regulations. 11 Number 9, consider and discuss the approval 12 of relocation of the Collections Department to space 13 currently occupied by the Treasurer's office. 14 Number 10, consider and discuss approval of 15 the job description for Collection Officer. 16 Number 11, consider and discuss becoming a 17 member of the Association of Rural Communities in Texas. 18 Number 12, consider and discuss the adoption 19 of resolution calling for an increased tax on fuel and 20 distribution of proceeds to counties for use in maintaining 21 county roads. 22 Number 13, consider and discuss an offer to 23 purchase right-of-way for Sheppard Rees Road improvement. 24 Number 14, consider and discuss the 25 resignation of Don McClure as Constable, Precinct 1. 5-28-02 7 1 Number 15, consider and discuss authorization 2 to pursue procurement of legal services from the McGinnis 3 Lockridge and Kilgore firm to negotiate a wastewater 4 treatment service agreement between the City of Kerrville 5 and U.G.R.A. for the Kerrville South Wastewater Project. 6 And finally, Number 16, consider and discuss 7 advertising and scheduling a public hearing for the County's 8 2000 Colonia Comprehensive Plan for 5 o'clock p.m. on 9 Monday, June 3, Year 2002. 10 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Judge, with your 11 permission, in light of the fact that we intend to do what 12 the State asked to us do with respect to a public hearing on 13 the County's 2000 Colonia Comprehensive Plan that will be 14 advertised by Grantworks and conducted by Grantworks at 15 5 p.m. Monday, June 3, in this courtroom, in light of the 16 fact that that agenda item is at the tail end and will be 17 introduced, I would withdraw, with your permission -- 18 Court's permission, Item Number 2.06. It has to do with 19 discussing the Office of Rural Community Affairs' 20 Comprehensive Plan. 21 AUDIENCE: Pardon me, sir. We're not hearing 22 back here in the front. Do you have a PA system? 23 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Well, we have one. 24 Sometimes it functions and sometimes it doesn't. But what 25 I'm saying is that we will -- we are planning to have a 5-28-02 8 1 public hearing scheduled on that plan on Monday at 5 p.m. 2 And, in light of that fact -- and that public hearing will 3 be conducted by Grantworks, the people who did the work in 4 producing the plan. I am asking the Court to allow me to 5 withdraw 2.6, which would have been a discussion of the 6 State's comments to it, and the State's comments will come 7 after the public input on Monday, June 5. 8 MR. COSBY: With the Court's permission, sir, 9 these people are here to talk about that issue tonight. 10 AUDIENCE: Yes, sir. 11 MR. COSBY: They work. They can't come in 12 the afternoon. 13 AUDIENCE: That's right. 14 JUDGE HENNEKE: The public hearing is 15 proposed for 5 o'clock p.m. If necessary, we can move it 16 back to 6 o'clock. Does anyone have any objection to 17 pulling that -- 18 MS. HURAYT: Excuse me, I have -- 19 JUDGE HENNEKE: Just a moment, ma'am. Just a 20 moment, ma'am. Does anyone have any objection to pulling 21 that item? 22 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I don't. 23 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: I don't. 24 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: 6 o'clock's even fine. 25 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Six is fine. 5-28-02 9 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Actually, based on the 2 agenda item, 2.6, I don't believe we could have public 3 comment on that topic, anyway. We're talking about -- that 4 item is talking about -- 5 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: The State's -- 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- State's comments. And 7 it would not be appropriate, under the agenda item, to get 8 community input on that topic, unless you have comments on 9 what the State told us. 10 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: That's precisely the 11 reason for pulling it and putting the public comment -- 12 gathering that on Monday, and then the State's comments 13 following, and we can hopefully discuss them. 14 MR. COSBY: The problem with that, Mr. 15 Letz -- one of the problems with that, sir, is these people 16 didn't have enough time to organize after this colonia study 17 came out in the newspaper, so that they could get here in 18 force to talk to you people about what they feel about it. 19 JUDGE HENNEKE: Well -- 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Wait, let me make a 21 comment on that. The problem is, we're governed by law. We 22 can only discuss what was on the agenda. We can't just open 23 up a court meeting to a general discussion. It has to be a 24 posted item. And that topic -- I don't see how you can 25 discuss general comments from y'all's position unless you're 5-28-02 10 1 commenting on what the State has told us in their comments. 2 And we just can't open up to general comments. Isn't that 3 correct, Judge? 4 JUDGE HENNEKE: That's right. I mean, the 5 agenda item is to discuss the comments from the Office of 6 Rural Community Affairs. The comments from the Office of 7 Rural Community Affairs, not the general comments from the 8 public as to how they feel about the Colonia Study and Plan. 9 That's the purpose -- if you'll let me finish, please, sir. 10 That's the purpose of the public hearing. Now, if -- if 11 5 o'clock on Monday, the 3rd, is not a convenient time for 12 the public hearing, we can schedule it for 6:00 or 6:30. We 13 can schedule it for a different day. The only question is, 14 you know, what will be a better day? 15 MS. MITCHELL: How about Saturday morning, 16 10 o'clock? 17 AUDIENCE: No. 18 JUDGE HENNEKE: I'm available. 19 MS. MITCHELL: Not this Saturday, but, you 20 know -- 21 AUDIENCE: I have to work Saturday. 22 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: We appreciate that 23 people do work, and that's the reason why these are 24 scheduled, just like tonight's meeting at 6:30, to allow 25 people who work during the day to have the opportunity to be 5-28-02 11 1 here. But the fact of the matter is, the public hearing is 2 not scheduled tonight, but will be advertised and scheduled 3 for Monday. 4 JUDGE HENNEKE: The only question is what 5 time we want to have it on Monday. And I'm seeing that it 6 would be better if they would have it later, so -- 7 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Let's change it. 8 JUDGE HENNEKE: There's no reason, when we 9 come to that agenda item, we can't make it at 6:00 or 6:30. 10 MR. COSBY: A lot of these folks took off 11 tonight so they could be here. Some of them work at night. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I guess -- 13 MR. RACKLEY: Can I ask a question? You 14 asked earlier if anybody wanted to speak on an item that was 15 not on the agenda. Is that still available, since that's 16 not on the agenda? And there's obviously a lot of people 17 that want to speak on that item that's not on the agenda. 18 JUDGE HENNEKE: If people want to stay and 19 talk about an item that's not on the agenda, yes, that's the 20 purpose of the public comments, and we'll have those 21 comments at the conclusion of this evening's meeting, okay? 22 So as long as everyone understands that Item Number 2.06, 23 which is -- which was scheduled for discussing the comments 24 from the Office of Rural Community Affairs on the 25 Comprehensive Colonia Study and Plan, is not going to be 5-28-02 12 1 considered this evening. We will consider setting a public 2 hearing for Monday, June the 3rd -- at 6:30? 3 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Fine. 4 JUDGE HENNEKE: 6:30, here in the 5 Commissioners Courtroom, to take public comment in general 6 on the Colonia Study and Plan. That item will be taken up 7 later in the agenda, but I think you can rest assured that 8 that item will be adopted. 9 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: It will be advertised 10 in the newspapers as such. 11 JUDGE HENNEKE: It will be advertised in the 12 newspapers as such, yes. 13 AUDIENCE: Is there -- any non-item 14 discussion after the official meeting is just discussion, 15 but not official comments, correct? 16 JUDGE HENNEKE: All you can do is make 17 comments. There's no discussion. Yes, ma'am? 18 MS. HURAYT: Why was this not publicized 19 prior to this study to all the citizens, letting them know 20 that this study was going to be done? 21 JUDGE HENNEKE: There was a public hearing 22 on -- we had to have a public hearing, which was published 23 in the newspaper -- it's a requirement of the law -- as to 24 whether or not we would conduct the study, and that public 25 hearing was held before we ever -- before we ever undertook 5-28-02 13 1 the study. Actually, before we actually got the grant, I 2 believe. 3 AUDIENCE: Can you tell us when that took 4 place, sir? 5 JUDGE HENNEKE: I would have to look it up in 6 the record, but it is an official public hearing, and it's 7 documented. It had to be held. It had to be part of the 8 transcript when we applied for the grant. 9 AUDIENCE: Who initiated it? 10 AUDIENCE: Was it during the day when people 11 can't come? 12 JUDGE HENNEKE: No, I believe that hearing, 13 as most of the hearings that we've had with regard to grant 14 applications, was held at 5 o'clock here in the courtroom. 15 I don't remember the exact time. I don't remember the exact 16 date. I'm telling you that the general practice is that 17 those hearings are held at 5 o'clock. 18 MS. HURAYT: Does not our local newspaper 19 cover any of this? 20 JUDGE HENNEKE: You'd have to check with 21 them. There was notice of the hearing published in the 22 local newspaper. 23 MS. HURAYT: I would like to respectfully 24 request that, seeing as we've all come here to make a 25 comment that is now not on the agenda, number one, to be 5-28-02 14 1 told if we need to fill out a different form. 2 JUDGE HENNEKE: No, the form -- the form is 3 fine. I mean, anyone who wants to use the form they filled 4 out about 2.6 to make a general comment about the colonias, 5 no, we're not going to make you jump through some silly 6 paper hoop in order to make a comment. 7 MS. HURAYT: Okay. Tonight, what -- 8 AUDIENCE: Whose idea was it to delay this 9 comment procedure? 10 JUDGE HENNEKE: Well, the gentleman here said 11 he hadn't had an agenda and he didn't know what he might 12 want to comment on, so the decision was that we would delay 13 the comment until the end of the meeting so people would 14 have a chance to look at the agenda while copies were being 15 made, so that we could go forward with our business. We 16 have a fair amount of business to conduct here outside of 17 this issue. 18 AUDIENCE: It's a business issue, though. 19 You've got a lot of people here concerned. 20 JUDGE HENNEKE: You'll have an opportunity to 21 come on the 5th if you want to. 22 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: Third. 23 JUDGE HENNEKE: I mean 3rd, I'm sorry. If 24 people would like to -- you know, if everyone's satisfied of 25 their opportunity to -- to decide whether they want to make 5-28-02 15 1 public comments or not, we can go ahead and have public 2 comment at this time. I mean, I'm not opposed. 3 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: Let's go ahead, since 4 it's not on the agenda. Why don't we go ahead and take 5 public comments? 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I agree with Commissioner 7 Griffin. I mean, let's do the public comment now. But I 8 just wondered, from y'all's standpoint, if you're concerned 9 about the colonia issue, if you want your comments part of 10 the official record, you need to come to the public hearing 11 and do it, because this is just a public comment period. 12 And we'll hear it from the Court standpoint, but if you're 13 interested in getting it in the official record, you need to 14 do it at the public hearing in addition to doing it tonight. 15 JUDGE HENNEKE: That's right. Any comments 16 we receive tonight will not be part of the official record 17 with regard to the colonias plan. 18 AUDIENCE: I think it's important, though, 19 that our elected officials know where the people stand. 20 JUDGE HENNEKE: Absolutely. 21 AUDIENCE: Even if it's no more than a 22 comment. I think that you're going to take this, you know, 23 well at heart. I would hope you do. Whether it's on the 24 books or not. 25 JUDGE HENNEKE: We certainly will, and 5-28-02 16 1 that's -- 2 AUDIENCE: 'Cause at election time, I tell 3 you, a lot of people here to vote for you. 4 JUDGE HENNEKE: Some of them did, some of 5 them didn't. 6 AUDIENCE: They're here. They're concerned 7 citizens, Your Honor. 8 JUDGE HENNEKE: Well, that's the reason we 9 have meetings at night. We've had them for, you know, the 10 three and a half years I've been on the court. We started 11 them at my suggestion. People went along with it. This is 12 one of the better turnouts we've ever had. 13 AUDIENCE: Yeah. It's -- 14 JUDGE HENNEKE: I think it's great. I'm glad 15 that you are here. This is a process. We have to follow 16 the process. And anyone who wants to make a comment about 17 an item not listed on the agenda may do so, with the 18 understanding that their comment is not part of the public 19 record with regard to the Colonia Study and Plan. Those 20 comments must be received at the public hearing, which we're 21 going to vote on later, which will be held Monday, June 3rd, 22 6:30 p.m., here in this courtroom. Or, if we need to, we'll 23 move to it a bigger courtroom. 24 AUDIENCE: Very good. 25 JUDGE HENNEKE: Now -- yes, sir? 5-28-02 17 1 AUDIENCE: I have a question about the change 2 of the agenda. We now have what you're going to discuss 3 tonight, but you're going to take the colonia off of it. 4 JUDGE HENNEKE: We're going to take Item 6 5 off. 6 AUDIENCE: All right. 7 JUDGE HENNEKE: The comments on the -- 8 AUDIENCE: May we have our discussions now, 9 and then the rest of your business go on? 10 JUDGE HENNEKE: Well, that's what we've been 11 talking about. 12 AUDIENCE: May we do that? 13 JUDGE HENNEKE: The consensus is yes, that 14 we're going to go ahead and receive any public comments 15 about an item not listed on the regular agenda at this time. 16 But, again, I want to reemphasize that public comments 17 received during tonight's meeting are not part of the 18 official record. 19 AUDIENCE: That will be fine, sir. 20 JUDGE HENNEKE: With regard to the colonias. 21 AUDIENCE: That will be fine. But you'll 22 hear it; that's what we want. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: We did not change the 24 agenda to keep you from talking on an item. 25 AUDIENCE: I understand. 5-28-02 18 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It sounded like we 2 changed -- 3 AUDIENCE: We're still talking, and we can 4 keep talking, telling you what we have to say. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. 6 JUDGE HENNEKE: What I'm going to do, and -- 7 and you have -- you have a maximum of three minutes to 8 speak. If everybody speaks three minutes, we're going to be 9 here a long time. 10 MR. MOORE: You'll find it's very important. 11 JUDGE HENNEKE: If you want to speak tonight, 12 please make your comments cogent and, to the extent you can, 13 not repetitive. However, I don't want to discourage anyone 14 from making any comments. What I'm going to do at this 15 time, I'm going to go down through the list of people who 16 signed up to speak on Item 6. If anyone wishes to speak 17 during the public comment period, they may come forth and do 18 so. If they don't wish to, they can simply say, "I don't 19 wish to speak at this time." After I've gone through this 20 list, anyone else who didn't sign up who wants to speak on 21 this item or any other item on the agenda -- not on the 22 agenda, may come forth and do so. Does everyone understand? 23 AUDIENCE: What happens if we speak this 24 time? Can we speak next time, too? 25 JUDGE HENNEKE: Yes, sir. We don't curb 5-28-02 19 1 speaking. Okay. Rhonda Mitchell. 2 MS. MITCHELL: Okay. I have a couple of 3 questions, because my neighborhood was declared a possible 4 colonia, and according to the criteria, my neighborhood 5 doesn't fall into that. According to your own criteria, I 6 have a one-street neighborhood. I live out in the boonies. 7 It says 51 percent has to be low to moderate income. Well, 8 I've got 10 houses on my street. Six of the 10 are not low 9 to moderate income. All the -- there's 10 houses. Five are 10 brick, two are brand-new siding. That's not -- you know, 11 the only thing we don't have is sewer. And, you know, we've 12 never had that. We've got a water system. We don't meet 13 that criteria, but yet they put us in it. According to one 14 of your things, the 1990 Census was used. Why don't they 15 use the 2000? It's been out since January. I mean, if 16 they're going to use old -- old numbers, then everything 17 that y'all are looking at is skewed, you know. And it's 18 just -- I'm just concerned about it, because you've lowered 19 my property values, but my taxes have gone up, because 20 they've raised my property values. If I want to sell my 21 house and people find out that I've been designated a 22 colonia, they're not going to want to pay for it, and I 23 don't think that's right, especially when you want to keep 24 raising my taxes. City -- I mean county, school, all of 25 that goes up every year since I've been here. And, you 5-28-02 20 1 know, it just seems like y'all are wasting money on 2 things -- I mean, if we were a low-income neighborhood and 3 it would benefit our neighborhood, fine. But this is not 4 going to benefit our neighborhood, because you don't even 5 have me, through 2011, as getting any benefits from the plan 6 that you've drawn up. And I just -- you know, I've been 7 talking to my neighborhood, and we don't fall under the 8 criteria -- your own criteria that is put in this thing. 9 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: State criteria. 10 MS. MITCHELL: Okay. Well, we don't fall 11 under that. They didn't poll our neighbors. They don't 12 know how much we make or anything like that. And if they're 13 going to do something like that, then they need to get out 14 and go door-to-door and say, "How much money do you make?" 15 They need to look at the houses, you know, and stuff like 16 that. But we're a little one-street neighborhood right 17 across from the river, so they want to come in -- and I 18 don't want the U.G.R.A., somebody I didn't elect, telling me 19 how much money I have to pay. If they're going to 20 eventually put sewer in my neighborhood, then they could 21 charge me whatever they want and I have nothing to say about 22 it, because I didn't elect them. But if I elected them, 23 they could be gone. So, that's what I have to say. 24 JUDGE HENNEKE: Thank you. Ed Shy? 25 MR. SHY: Between the audibility or lack of 5-28-02 21 1 it, I really don't know what I can say. But can I speak -- 2 I've heard the response here two or three times, but I'd 3 just like to make this comment, if I may. And we certainly 4 respect all you gentlemen and appreciate the meeting 5 tonight. The point was made here a minute ago, and it's 6 been in my mind, why are we termed a colonia? And I am just 7 repeating what has already been said, but you gentlemen, or 8 whoever came up with that term, should be ashamed. We've 9 got -- we have many areas in Kerr County, and even in the 10 town of Kerrville, that have lesser income among the people 11 and -- and a lot of restricted -- they should be restricted 12 areas, neighborhoods. I don't know why we're -- we're 13 taking on that term. I don't like it. And one thing, I 14 just will speak to this. I have a feeling that all of our 15 action here tonight is probably going to be useless. I 16 think your commission has kind of set this thing up so a few 17 people will speak, and beyond that, we're wasting our time 18 here tonight, personally. 19 JUDGE HENNEKE: Before we go to the next 20 speaker, we do have a district courtroom set up for the 21 Sheriff's long-range planning, which has a lot more seating. 22 Why don't we shift? 23 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Okay. 24 JUDGE HENNEKE: Okay. We're going to move to 25 District Courtroom Number 1, and we'll take up the comments 5-28-02 22 1 and proceed with the agenda from there to a certain point. 2 (Meeting was moved to District Courtroom 1.) 3 - - - - - - - - - - 4 JUDGE HENNEKE: All right. We'll reconvene 5 this meeting of the -- special meeting of the Kerr County 6 Commissioners Court. Before I continue to call the list of 7 those who wish to speak, let me attempt to again say that 8 the criteria that we used in designating these areas are not 9 criteria that were adopted by this Court. They are state 10 and federal requirements, and the purpose of the plan was to 11 identify areas in Kerr County which may be eligible for 12 grants in order to improve the water, wastewater, the roads, 13 the drainage in those areas, as we are doing in Kerrville 14 South. There was no intent on the part of the Court to 15 label, brand, stigmatize anybody's property or any 16 particular area. The words that are used happen to be the 17 words that are used by the State, and there is significant 18 money out there that we can tap to improve the living 19 conditions of some people in Kerr County. In the Kerrville 20 South area, where we're putting in wastewater at no cost to 21 the homeowners, we've been able to access $750,000 in 22 grants, and have applied for another half a million dollars 23 in grants. Those grants will significantly improve the 24 living conditions of people in those areas, the living 25 conditions of the people around them, and I would suggest 5-28-02 23 1 the property values of the people in those areas by taking 2 care of some problems in the infrastructure. And, as far as 3 whether or not your comments are effective, I disagree with 4 your statement that the -- comment that our minds are 5 already made up. Mr. Cosby came before the Court at our 6 last meeting, and as a result of his comments about his 7 area, we changed the designation of his area from "colonia" 8 to "potentially" -- 9 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Eligible. 10 JUDGE HENNEKE: -- "eligible area." And we 11 have some flexibility in that area. But we're dealing with 12 state and federal regulations; we're not dealing with Kerr 13 County-crafted regulations or requirements, and we have to 14 live within those parameters. So, I hope that you will keep 15 those explanatory remarks in mind as we move through the 16 rest of these comments. And, again, I'd ask you to move as 17 quickly as you can, because we do have a substantial agenda. 18 When I call your name, if you wish to speak, please come 19 forward to the microphone that's set up at the podium and 20 deliver your comments. The next person is Patricia Crisman. 21 MS. CRISMAN: Just a couple of questions. My 22 assumption is that these grants are coming from taxpayer 23 money, and they're going to put in sewer lines and water 24 lines in our areas. What will it cost us, the property 25 owners, ultimately? The monthly fees, the connection fees, 5-28-02 24 1 installing pumps, et cetera? Where do we go from here, 2 cost-wise? Does anybody know? 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: We can't respond. 4 We're -- this is not an agenda item where we can explain 5 that. Yes, we know, but we -- we can't get into dialogue 6 and discussion. That's why we say come to the public 7 hearing. Then it can be a discussion format. 8 MS. CRISMAN: Okay. My objection is to the 9 use of taxpayer money for this, and then the ultimate cost 10 to the property owners. 11 JUDGE HENNEKE: Thank you. Mark Wittlinger. 12 MR. WITTLINGER: Hi. Thank you for 13 listening. Comment to y'all; treat these guys with a little 14 more respect. You may disagree with them, but try to be 15 nice, okay? I appreciate y'all serving. Some comments, and 16 then some questions, which I realize you can't answer 17 because it's not official. Our water is tested every year, 18 and it's fine. It's never showed any problem, so I don't 19 see that there's truly a problem. Now, maybe other people 20 don't test out okay and they have problems, but I don't see 21 a problem. Also, my comment is that it does seem like a 22 waste of taxpayers' money that it's not really an issue -- a 23 problem issue, and if that money could go to an area that 24 does need it, I think that's much better use of that 25 taxpayer money. And then I wanted to know -- and y'all can 5-28-02 25 1 answer this next time -- is this something the State is 2 forcing on Kerr County, or is it an option? That -- it 3 sounds like it's an option to me, which I hope everybody 4 understands that, that it's grant money that we can opt for 5 or not. And then, if the County decides to do it, is -- are 6 all the owners required to participate, or can any opt out? 7 And if you opt out, is that a problem that will be for the 8 owners who opt out, or are there any negative effects? And 9 that's -- hopefully those can be answered next time. Thank 10 you. Appreciate it. 11 JUDGE HENNEKE: Lewis Cosby. 12 AUDIENCE: Sir? Could the volume on this 13 microphone be tuned up a little bit? I don't think hardly 14 any of us back here are hearing what's being said. Is there 15 a volume control on it? 16 MR. COSBY: I'll just get closer to it. Can 17 you hear me now? 18 AUDIENCE: Hear you better. 19 MR. COSBY: All right. Thank you, gentlemen, 20 I appreciate it. The goosebump words at the last meeting, 21 as you can see, didn't help. I've talked to a lot of my 22 neighbors, talked to people in other areas that were 23 designated colonias. Even though some of us have been 24 redesignated as areas that may benefit later, it still 25 carries a stigma. The Judge, earlier in his comments 5-28-02 26 1 downstairs, indicated that the public hearing or meeting 2 that -- that you folks had talking about this colonia 3 project, or maybe hiring Grantworks -- I don't know exactly 4 how that worked, because I never saw it in the paper. I 5 don't believe the newspaper printed it all, to be honest 6 with you. The people -- the people are way behind the power 7 curve here. We got a train that's going down the track full 8 speed, wherein county government -- it plans on turning over 9 this wastewater program that you guys are getting money for. 10 By the way, all those grants, according to your own study, 11 will not pay for all of it. You're going to have to go out 12 for money, probably in a bond. But you guys aren't going to 13 do it; U.G.R.A. is, because you're planning on turning it 14 over to U.G.R.A., an unelected body. We can't do anything 15 about it. That's what we're angry about. That's what we're 16 worried about. Why don't we put it in front of the voters, 17 let the voters decide? Sunshine the law, something. 18 We know the people in Kerrville South need 19 water -- have water problems. We know that they have sewer 20 problems. But I don't where I live. The people here 21 tonight don't have that problem either, but they're paying 22 for it. They are paying for it. You can say what you want, 23 it doesn't affect your property values. Well, guess what? 24 It doesn't affect your appraisal value. Mine went up 25 $5,000. It's perception. Mr. Williams, you and I discussed 5-28-02 27 1 that, remember? It's perception. When a buyer comes in to 2 buy a piece of property in Silver Creek Estates and finds 3 out that they were designated or may be designated as a 4 colonia, do you think that man wants to buy that property? 5 I doubt it. So you can say what you want; you've hurt us 6 all, every one of us. And I'm hoping that these folks will 7 come to the public meeting, to where we can go on the 8 record. Thank you. 9 JUDGE HENNEKE: Ray Rackley. 10 MR. RACKLEY: Commissioners, thank you for 11 hearing me. I'd like to apologize, because I've never 12 spoken about a subject I knew less about. These two pieces 13 of paper were placed near my mailbox, and that's the limit 14 of what I know about it. I stand to say I am against this 15 designation of colonia or colonia, or whatever you want to 16 call it. I bought a piece of property in Turtle Creek 17 Ranches six months ago, put in a septic tank, I put in a 18 well. And now I find out that somebody is going to come 19 help us. By grants? No, thank you. Grants are like free 20 lunch, and I don't believe there is one. So, please don't 21 help us. I'm against it. I'm also against water districts. 22 I spent four years serving as a director on one. I saw more 23 trouble, more graft, more waste than I want to waste your 24 time telling you about. Please, I'm against this, and I 25 think most of the people in this room are. Thank you. 5-28-02 28 1 JUDGE HENNEKE: William Magill. 2 MR. MAGILL: I would like to thank you for 3 hearing me. I intended to say a little bit more than what 4 I'm going to say. I do realize that the State mandates the 5 requirements for colonias, but it's obvious that the ones 6 that you've selected to name as colonias are not colonias at 7 all. Now, that seems to be a representation of fraud 8 towards the state and the federal government, so I think you 9 should think about that. The other thing is, that wouldn't 10 it be an appropriate action to bring this before the voters 11 of the county to see if they approve of this or not? That's 12 all I have to say. 13 JUDGE HENNEKE: Cynthia Hurayt. 14 MS. HURAYT: I apologize, but I have to work 15 the night of the public meeting, so I'm just going to read 16 my thing here. I'm here to object to my property values 17 being lowered by designation of Turtle Creek Ranches as a 18 colonia. The colonia criteria states a minimum density of 19 one dwelling per 3 acres, and 51 percent have low to 20 moderate income. In Turtle Creek Ranches, 67 percent of the 21 lots are greater than or equal to 10 acres. Even with a 22 generous assignment of one dwelling per lot, we have only 23 0.27 dwellings per 3 acres, far below the minimum required 24 for a colonia designation. Regarding income, Mr. Hartzell 25 states in the minutes of the workshop that the 1990 census 5-28-02 29 1 and door-to-door income surveys were used to determine this. 2 37 percent of the residents on my road were not even there 3 in 1990, and five of the eight homes on my road have gates. 4 Other criteria include 25 percent of homes are substandard 5 and lack central water and sewer. Mr. Hartzell also stated 6 a drive-by survey was done to determine the substandard 7 housing. Five of eight homes on my road are not even 8 visible from the road. 9 Regarding central water and sewer, we, being 10 rural, have wells and septics. He doesn't claim a need for 11 sewerage in our area, but a central water system that will 12 be operated by U.G.R.A. or a private operator. Hooking up 13 10-acre lots to a central water system sounds like an 14 expensive venture, and Mr. Hartzell has let it be known that 15 the funds the county government are seeking will not pay for 16 the entire project. It looks an awful lot like we would end 17 up paying for something we don't even need. Turtle Creek 18 Ranches is being developed with nice homes in the hope of 19 increasing property values. Ironically, the same week we're 20 declared a colonia, our property values and taxes went up 21 substantially. 22 There are two points I wanted to make. One, 23 Mr. Hartzell and Grantworks are paid to get funding for 24 projects. It is my considered opinion, from the minutes of 25 that workshop, that Grantworks has deliberately been loose 5-28-02 30 1 and subjective in their compilation of data. They have 2 padded it by including areas that absolutely fail to meet 3 the criteria. This is fraud. And when my property value 4 suffers as a result, I will do all I can to bring this fraud 5 to the attention of the funding authorities. Two, our 6 elected officials seem intent on making U.G.R.A., a river 7 authority with taxing capability and no accountability to 8 the taxpayers, into a major utility company. Even without 9 my own investment in well and septic, or if I lived in some 10 of the areas more qualified to be a colonia, I wouldn't want 11 my utility fees determined and assessed by U.G.R.A., who 12 answer to no one. I did learn something about Commissioners 13 Court, U.G.R.A., the Daily Times, when the mandatory aerobic 14 maintenance contract was being discussed. It seems like it 15 all was working together. Then, when the public paid 16 attention, y'all backed off, and then when we stooped paying 17 attention, it slid through once our attention waned. And 18 not one bit of information would be reported by our daily 19 newspaper, as was told to me by a member of U.G.R.A. when I 20 asked when this had happened. He told me it never made it 21 to the newspaper. I suspect we can expect the same from the 22 newspaper with this issue. So all of us really need to pay 23 attention, or we're going to be taxed up the nose -- and 24 that wasn't the word I wanted to use -- to bring the 25 projects to their completion, and then over to U.G.R.A. 5-28-02 31 1 Thank you for letting me have my say. 2 JUDGE HENNEKE: Virginia Hurayt. 3 MS. HURAYT: I decline till next week. 4 JUDGE HENNEKE: Thank you. Carroll Smith. 5 Carroll Smith? 6 AUDIENCE: He left. 7 JUDGE HENNEKE: Edward Moore? 8 MR. MOORE: Gentlemen, I was aghast when I 9 received some information about what could be done for me 10 and my property. I live on Molina Road. I didn't move 11 there by accident. I've improved the property. My 12 neighbors around my place have improved their property. I 13 ask you to not push this issue. I ask you not to fund this. 14 You cannot improve my quality of life with anything offered 15 in this thing. It will do me no good. I want you to 16 understand that and please consider that if this funding 17 comes to question. Thank you very much. 18 JUDGE HENNEKE: Vicky Lableu. 19 MS. LABLEU: I decline to speak. I'll 20 postpone until the public hearing. 21 JUDGE HENNEKE: Thank you, ma'am. John 22 Hanson. 23 MR. HANSON: I decline to make a statement at 24 this time. 25 JUDGE HENNEKE: Thank you, sir. Gene 5-28-02 32 1 Thacker. 2 MR. THACKER: I'll make my comment on the 3 3rd, public hearing. 4 JUDGE HENNEKE: Thank you, sir. Charles 5 White? 6 MR. WHITE: I'll do the same on the 3rd. 7 JUDGE HENNEKE: All right. Those are the 8 forms I have. Is there anyone else who'd like to address 9 the Court on this issue or any issue not listed on the 10 regular agenda? 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: May I just make one 12 comment? At the public hearing, make sure each of y'all say 13 your address and what subdivision you live in. Just as a 14 point of reference, it would be helpful, I think. If 15 it's -- I mean, if it's general comments about the program 16 or if it's your neighborhood doesn't fit the criteria, 17 little bit different issues, but we'd like to hear both, I 18 think. 19 AUDIENCE: I want to thank y'all for 20 listening to the comments, listening to the public like you 21 ought to. I appreciate what you've done for us, even though 22 I didn't address you. I think you guys have done fine in 23 listening. I hope that the 3rd will be beneficial for 24 everybody. 25 JUDGE HENNEKE: Thank you. We do listen. I 5-28-02 33 1 mean, you know, there -- sometimes -- I don't know who it 2 was -- public gets involved in these things after it's gone 3 along way down the road. It gets a long way down the road, 4 though, despite our best efforts to publicize things. But 5 we do listen, and I can guarantee you that I, at least, will 6 take very seriously the comments that are made here. This 7 is a draft plan, and if we've made errors, then we'll 8 correct them. There's no hidden agenda here. There's no 9 desire on anyone's part to punish anyone. Now, let me make 10 it clear that this Court does not have the authority to 11 require anyone to participate, nor do we have a desire to. 12 Yes, ma'am? 13 AUDIENCE: Is it possible for us to have 14 available to everyone a copy, or can we make copies of the 15 grant and the survey that was made? How do we get our hands 16 on that? 17 JUDGE HENNEKE: We have -- there are. 18 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Grantworks 19 representative might be able -- 20 JUDGE HENNEKE: We can make copies of the 21 proposed plan available in the County Clerk's office. 22 AUDIENCE: Will that be available for us to 23 come pick up? 24 JUDGE HENNEKE: Yes, ma'am, we will do these. 25 We'll have those -- some copies made and we'll distribute 5-28-02 34 1 them free of charge. We'll have those ready starting after 2 lunch tomorrow. 3 AUDIENCE: Okay, thank you. 4 JUDGE HENNEKE: I've forgotten how many pages 5 it is, but -- 6 MS. PIEPER: Yes, sir. 7 MR. COSBY: Excuse me, sir. Is that this one 8 here, the Colonia Study Plan, the 41-page unit? 9 JUDGE HENNEKE: No, I think there's a smaller 10 version, what I'm thinking of. 11 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Perhaps the 12 Grantworks representative could take note and bring extra 13 copies for the public hearing. 14 JUDGE HENNEKE: Well -- 15 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: They actually need it 16 before that. 17 JUDGE HENNEKE: They need it before that. 18 AUDIENCE: We need it so we can see what 19 we're talking about. 20 JUDGE HENNEKE: We'll have some things 21 available starting late tomorrow afternoon for people to 22 look at. I mean, I don't think you want to see the grant. 23 That doesn't mean anything to most of y'all. What y'all 24 want to see is the parameters of the draft plan, which I 25 think is about 8 to 10 pages, as I recall. 5-28-02 35 1 MR. COSBY: Sir, if I may ask you one more 2 question, the Kerr County Commissioners Court workshop that 3 was conducted on April 22nd, that's public record, is it 4 not? I mean, we can -- we can go into the County Clerk's 5 office. I know we have to pay for it, so many cents a page, 6 but we can do that; is that correct? 7 JUDGE HENNEKE: The minutes of that meeting 8 are public record, that's correct. 9 MR. COSBY: Okay. Do we have to fill out a 10 public record request form to get them? 11 JUDGE HENNEKE: I believe you would have to 12 go to the Clerk's office and fill out an Open Records -- 13 Texas Open Records Act -- 14 MS. PIEPER: If they just would come in and 15 let them know what they want, I can provide it. 16 MR. COSBY: Okay. Thank you, ma'am. Thank 17 you, sir. 18 JUDGE HENNEKE: Anything else? 19 MR. MOORE: I have one question. Can you 20 clarify what Kerrville South is? Where all this work is 21 being done? That doesn't tell me anything. 22 JUDGE HENNEKE: Bill? 23 MR. MOORE: Where is it? 24 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Kerrville South is a 25 pretty vast area. 5-28-02 36 1 MR. MOORE: That's what I'm afraid of. 2 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: What the original 3 plan talked about was that area on Ranchero Road, where the 4 original grant was given, on Ranchero Road going down to 5 about as far as the Nimitz School, essentially on the south 6 side of the road, where there are many, many failing septic 7 systems that are polluting Camp Meeting Creek. That's the 8 first phase of the project. 9 MR. MOORE: Thank you very much. I 10 appreciate that. 11 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Judge, with your 12 permission, I'd like to ask the Court to move Item 16 up now 13 so that we can take action on it and that the people here 14 will know that a public hearing will indeed be set for 15 Monday, June 3rd. 16 JUDGE HENNEKE: Without objection, we'll call 17 up Item 2.16, which is consider and discuss advertising and 18 scheduling a public hearing for the agenda item at 5 o'clock 19 Monday, June 3rd, Year 2002. I'm sure that's going to be 20 changed. 21 AUDIENCE: Six. 22 JUDGE HENNEKE: Pardon? 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: The agenda item says 24 five. 25 JUDGE HENNEKE: That's the agenda item. We 5-28-02 37 1 haven't voted on it yet. I have to read the agenda item as 2 it's published. 3 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Judge, based on all 4 the interest in this particular subject, and the fact that a 5 public hearing is valuable to this process, I would move 6 that we consider and discuss advertising and authorizing -- 7 advertising and scheduling a public hearing for the County's 8 2000 Colonia Comprehensive Plan for 6:30 p.m. on June 3, 9 2002. Public hearing will be advertised by Grantworks and 10 conducted by Grantworks in a courtroom in this building. 11 That's the sense of my motion. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 13 JUDGE HENNEKE: Motion by Commissioner 14 Williams, second by Commissioner Letz, that the Court hold a 15 public hearing on the draft 2000 Colonia Plan for Monday, 16 June 3rd, Year 2002, at 6:30 p.m., in the Kerr County 17 Courthouse, the exact courtroom to be determined and to be 18 identified by signs which will be placed throughout the 19 courthouse. Any questions or comments? If not, all in 20 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. That will be 25 the public hearing. At this time, let's return to the 5-28-02 38 1 regular order, if we may. Mr. Auditor? We need to pay some 2 bills. Does anyone have any questions or comments regarding 3 the bills as presented? 4 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Judge, I move we pay 5 the bills. 6 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: Second. 7 JUDGE HENNEKE: Motion by Commissioner 8 Baldwin, second by Commissioner Griffin, that the Court 9 approve payment of the bills as presented and recommended by 10 the Auditor. Any further questions or comments? If not, 11 all in favor, raise your right hand. 12 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 13 JUDGE HENNEKE: Opposed, same sign. 14 (No response.) 15 JUDGE HENNEKE: Motion carried. Budget 16 amendments. Budget Amendment Request Number 1 is for J.P. 17 Number 3. 18 MR. TOMLINSON: This is a request from Judge 19 Tench to transfer $600 from Conferences line item to 20 Part-Time Salary. I think this is a result of the 21 resignation of his -- of his clerk. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So moved. 23 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Second. 24 JUDGE HENNEKE: Motion by Commissioner Letz, 25 second by Commissioner Williams, that the Court approve 5-28-02 39 1 Budget Amendment Request Number 1 for J.P. Number 3. Any 2 further questions or comments? If not, all in favor, raise 3 your right hand. 4 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 5 JUDGE HENNEKE: Opposed, same sign. 6 (No response.) 7 JUDGE HENNEKE: Motion carries. Budget 8 Amendment Request Number 2 is for Juvenile Probation. 9 MR. TOMLINSON: This request is from Juvenile 10 Probation to transfer $5.25 from Diagnosis and Treatment 11 line item to Miscellaneous, and it's -- it's to pay for a 12 summons issued in Blanco County. 13 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: So moved. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 15 JUDGE HENNEKE: Motion by Commissioner 16 Griffin, second by Commissioner Letz, that the Court approve 17 Budget Amendment Request Number 2 for the Juvenile Probation 18 Department. Any further questions or comments? If not, all 19 in favor, raise your right hand. 20 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 21 JUDGE HENNEKE: Opposed, same sign. 22 (No response.) 23 JUDGE HENNEKE: Motion carries. Budget 24 Request Number 3 is for County Court at Law. 25 MR. TOMLINSON: This request is to transfer 5-28-02 40 1 funds for the purpose of paying for court-appointed 2 attorneys. We have numerous bills totaling $1,680. We need 3 to transfer $1,625.40 from the Court-Appointed Attorneys 4 line item in County Court to that line item in the County 5 Court at Law. 6 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So moved. 7 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: Second. 8 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Second. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Third. 10 JUDGE HENNEKE: Motion by Commissioner 11 Baldwin, second by Commissioner Griffin, that the Court 12 approve Budget Amendment Request Number 3 for County Court 13 at Law. 14 MR. TOMLINSON: Judge, I have a comment about 15 that. 16 JUDGE HENNEKE: I'm surprised we have that 17 much left in Court-Appointed Attorneys for County Court. 18 MR. TOMLINSON: Well, we're at the point of 19 the year where we're trying to anticipate what will be left 20 in -- in various line items, you know, in all the budgets in 21 the General Fund, to be able to -- to make the year without 22 increasing the budget. So that's where we are at this 23 point. 24 JUDGE HENNEKE: Any further questions or 25 comments? If not, all in favor, raise your right hand. 5-28-02 41 1 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 2 JUDGE HENNEKE: Opposed, same sign. 3 (No response.) 4 JUDGE HENNEKE: Motion carries. Budget 5 Amendment Request Number 4 is for the 198th District Court. 6 MR. TOMLINSON: Okay. This request is for 7 the same purpose, to pay court-appointed attorneys. We have 8 bills for the 216th Court for $1,155. We have bills for the 9 court transcripts for the 216th Court, $151, and 10 court-appointed services for the 198th Court for $919.06. 11 And my request is to transfer $2,225.11 from Court-Appointed 12 Attorney line item in the 198th Court for that purpose. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So moved. 14 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: Second. 15 JUDGE HENNEKE: Motion by Commissioner Letz, 16 second by Commissioner Griffin, that the Court approve 17 Budget Amendment Request Number 4 for the district courts. 18 Any further questions or comments? If not, all in favor, 19 raise your right hand. 20 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 21 JUDGE HENNEKE: Opposed, same sign. 22 (No response.) 23 JUDGE HENNEKE: Motion carries. Do we have 24 any late bills, Tommy? 25 MR. TOMLINSON: Yes, I do, first one being 5-28-02 42 1 payment to the Texas Court Reporters Association, and it's 2 for early registration fee for court reporter in the 216th 3 Court under the Conference line item for $250 for that 4 purpose. 5 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So moved. 6 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Second. 7 JUDGE HENNEKE: Motion by Commissioner 8 Baldwin, second by Commissioner Williams, that the Court 9 approve a late bill and hand check in the amount of $250 10 payable to Texas Court Reporters Association. Any other 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. 17 MR. TOMLINSON: The second one is for $600 18 payable to Kerrville Postmaster. It's emergency purchase 19 for postage for -- for the 216th Court and the 198th court, 20 total of $600. 21 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: So moved. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 23 JUDGE HENNEKE: Motion by Commissioner 24 Griffin, second by Commissioner Letz, that the Court approve 25 the late bill and hand check in the amount of $600 payable 5-28-02 43 1 to the Kerrville Postmaster. 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 MR. TOMLINSON: I have one more. It's also 8 payable to the Kerrville Postmaster for $370, and it's for 9 postage for the Treasurer's office. 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So moved. 11 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: Second. 12 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. 13 JUDGE HENNEKE: Motion by Commissioner Letz, 14 second by Commissioner Griffin, that the Court approve a 15 late bill and hand check in the amount of $370 payable to 16 the Kerrville Postmaster. Any other questions or comments? 17 If not, all in favor, raise your right hand. 18 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 19 JUDGE HENNEKE: Opposed, same sign. 20 (No response.) 21 JUDGE HENNEKE: Motion carries. 22 MR. TOMLINSON: That's all I have. 23 JUDGE HENNEKE: Thank you, Tommy. 24 MR. TOMLINSON: Sure. 25 JUDGE HENNEKE: At this time, I'd entertain a 5-28-02 44 1 motion to approve and accept the monthly reports as 2 presented. 3 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: So moved. 4 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. 5 JUDGE HENNEKE: Motion by Commissioner 6 Williams, second by Commissioner Baldwin, that the Court 7 approve and accept the monthly reports as presented. Any 8 other questions or comments? If not, all in favor, raise 9 your right hand. 10 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 11 JUDGE HENNEKE: Opposed, same sign. 12 (No response.) 13 JUDGE HENNEKE: Motion carries. At this 14 time, at the request of Commissioner Baldwin, we're going to 15 take up Item 2.14, which is really kind of a significant and 16 sad item for Kerr County. The item is to consider and 17 discuss resignation of Don McClure as Constable of J.P. 1. 18 As Don comes forward, Don has served this county loyally and 19 faithfully and extraordinarily well for -- how long, 20 Commissioner Baldwin? 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: No one can count that 22 high. 23 (Laughter.) 24 JUDGE HENNEKE: Some 30-some-odd years. And 25 I think many of us never thought we'd see the day when he 5-28-02 45 1 would no longer be here to care of us. 2 CONSTABLE McCLURE: Y'all kind of had me 3 worried here for a minute. I didn't come with no weapon. 4 (Laughter.) 5 CONSTABLE McCLURE: Thought I was going to 6 have to defend y'all or something for a little bit there. 7 But, anyway, it's with regret that I come to offer this 8 resignation. My term lasts till the end of '04, but it's 9 time for me to resign, to go into retirement. My health's 10 failing me, my mind's not as sharp as it used to be. I can 11 remember things that happened a long time ago, but I can't 12 remember what happened sometimes an hour ago. But, anyway, 13 that's -- that's the reason for it. I just don't feel like 14 I'm able to do the County justice for the remainder of my 15 term. And I appreciate the acceptance of the resignation so 16 I can try to get my stuff back together again. 17 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I'd like to make a 18 comment. I -- this is a dark day in Kerr County, Don. 19 CONSTABLE McCLURE: Not really. 20 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yes, it is. You've 21 been a -- you've been one of my good friends for many, many 22 years now, and a great servant to our community, and I just 23 want to say thank you. And, with that, I'll move to accept 24 the resignation of Don McClure. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second, regretfully. 5-28-02 46 1 JUDGE HENNEKE: Motion by Commissioner 2 Baldwin, second by Commissioner Letz, that we accept the 3 resignation of Constable, Precinct 1, Don McClure, effective 4 June 30th, Year 2002. Any further questions or comments? 5 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I have a further 6 comment, Judge. On June -- Friday, June the 28th, at 7 11:30 a.m., in this courtroom, we'll have a party. 8 CONSTABLE McCLURE: I'll -- 9 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I didn't say it was 10 for you. I just said we're having a party. 11 (Laughter.) 12 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: And we'd like for you 13 to be here, though. 14 CONSTABLE McCLURE: I'll go for that. 15 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So that's Friday, 16 June 28th, at 11:30 a.m. in this courtroom. 17 JUDGE HENNEKE: Sheriff? 18 CONSTABLE McCLURE: Appreciate it. Again, 19 thank y'all. The previous courts that I've been associated 20 with, I've never had anything but total cooperation out of 21 all the courts that I've been associated with over the 22 years. And, again, thank you for the privilege and thank 23 the voters of Precinct 1 for giving me a job. Thank you. 24 JUDGE HENNEKE: Sheriff, you had a comment, 25 before we vote? 5-28-02 47 1 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: I have one comment to 2 Don. Don got me started in law enforcement over 22 years 3 ago, and I know Don's the longest-lasting peace officer in 4 this county. And the one thing I'd like to ask everybody to 5 do right now is stand up and give him a round of applause. 6 (Applause.) 7 CONSTABLE McCLURE: I'd like to commend this 8 little fella here, too, 'cause I tried to talk him out of 9 it. 10 (Laughter.) 11 CONSTABLE McCLURE: I was afraid that, due to 12 his size, he was going to get hurt, but he's proved me 13 wrong, and I thank God for that. Good luck to you. 14 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Thank you, Don. 15 JUDGE HENNEKE: All in favor of the motion, 16 raise your right hand. 17 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 18 JUDGE HENNEKE: All opposed, same sign. 19 (No response.) 20 JUDGE HENNEKE: Motion carries. 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Thank you very much. 22 JUDGE HENNEKE: With great reluctance. Let's 23 take up Item Number 1, consider and discuss Long-Range 24 Planning Committee's report for the Kerr County Sheriff's 25 Office. Mr. Cunningham, or Sheriff or Ms. Bailey, whoever. 5-28-02 48 1 MS. BAILEY: Let me turn this on. We had 2 some technical difficulties earlier, so I'm a little 3 concerned. 4 MS. PIEPER: Do we need to lower the lights? 5 MS. BAILEY: No, I think it will show up 6 fine. While she gets that going, Judge Henneke and 7 Commissioners, we appreciate this opportunity to make this 8 presentation to you up in this courtroom and be able to use 9 the -- the audiovisuals that -- that we have here. We felt 10 like this was important enough that not only should you have 11 the printed copy of the report that we made, but that it was 12 important for you to be able to see some of the items that 13 we were talking about, because many people aren't familiar 14 with all the inner workings of the Sheriff's Department and 15 the jail. 16 As you will remember, almost a year ago, the 17 Court appointed the committee members that make up the 18 committee that have produced this report, asking us to study 19 the Kerr County Sheriff's Office and jail from a long-term 20 perspective, with a view towards perhaps being able to make 21 some short-term decisions that went towards improvement in 22 the long run, and we commend the Court for taking that kind 23 of approach. In my experience with the County, which has 24 been 11 years here, it's the first time I've seen a court do 25 that on a real organized basis, try to look to a long-term 5-28-02 49 1 view to a department. I think it's very useful. We 2 recommend it for any of the larger departments that need to 3 make some long-term decisions and make long-term budget 4 concepts work out. 5 The committee worked hard on this project. 6 There's lots of information in the document that you have, 7 and we're certainly only going to scratch the surface here, 8 but we wanted to highlight a few areas, the five areas that 9 we felt were the most important to review, and that's what 10 Mr. Cunningham will talk about. But, before we get started, 11 I just wanted to introduce to you the members of the 12 committee, and to the audience. We had -- each Commissioner 13 and the County Judge appointed one member. The Sheriff 14 appointed two members, and then we had the Administrative 15 Assistant to the Sheriff also assisting us on the committee. 16 The County Judge's appointee was Rod Myers. Unfortunately, 17 he left the community before we were able to finish the 18 project, so I don't believe he's here today, but we thank 19 him for his -- his assistance. Kirby Cunningham is the 20 Precinct Number 1 appointee. He is an investment adviser 21 and financial planner with the Acacia Group, although he's 22 getting ready to retire from that and maybe take on some 23 more community projects. 24 Then John Comegys was the Precinct 2 25 appointee. He is -- has been a resident of Kerr County for 5-28-02 50 1 about 12 years; began a real estate development company in 2 Collin County before moving here, and now manages the Brown 3 Trout Capital Investments Company, a private investment 4 company. David Burow was the Precinct 3 appointee. He is 5 an employee of the Hill Country Telephone Co-op, where he 6 has worked since 1972. Don Townsend is the Precinct 4 7 appointee. He is a former Air Force member. After he left 8 the Air Force, he worked on the B-58 -- B-58 Program as an 9 electronic engineer, worked in Mission Control at NASA, 10 retired from NASA in 1988, and went to work for Lockheed, 11 where he worked until he retired and moved to Kerrville in 12 1995. 13 Most of you know me. I was Assistant County 14 Attorney for Kerr County for a number of years. In the last 15 two years, I've been in private practice, doing criminal 16 defense and appellate work and general civil litigation in 17 the community, and practice with two other local attorneys. 18 Tommy Hall is the other Sheriff's appointee -- I failed to 19 mention that I was the Sheriff's appointee. Tommy Hall is 20 the other Sheriff's appointee. He works for the Texas 21 Alcoholic Beverage Commission as an agent responsible for 22 Kerr, Gillespie, and Kimble Counties. Then, of course, 23 Sheriff Hierholzer was a member of the committee, and then 24 his administrative assistant, Nancy Robison. 25 The committee, when we first started out, we 5-28-02 51 1 felt like it was important to develop a mission statement, 2 because everything that we did, we then needed to relate 3 back to the mission statement and see if it was in 4 compliance with what our mission statement was, or if we 5 needed to amend it. So, we've adopted this as the mission 6 statement for the Kerr County Sheriff's Office. And, as you 7 can see, the mission is to provide a high level of 8 protection and law enforcement to the residents and visitors 9 of Kerr County in a professional and cost-effective manner 10 on an ongoing basis. What we did was then reviewed the 11 operations and facilities of the Kerr County Sheriff's 12 Office, with a view towards enhancing all of the operations 13 so that they increased compliance with that mission 14 statement. 15 What Kirby is going to talk about next is all 16 of the top five areas that we felt needed to be addressed in 17 relation to that mission statement, and I'll turn it over to 18 Kirby at this time. 19 MR. CUNNINGHAM: Thank you very much, Ilse. 20 Good evening, gentlemen. Overall, the committee found the 21 Kerr County Sheriff's Department, including the Adult 22 Detention Center for the jail, to be a well-functioning 23 division of Kerr County government, but one in need of 24 significant additions and improvements if it is to not fall 25 behind in service obligations. While improvements and 5-28-02 52 1 increased funding over the last few years have brought the 2 department's level of functioning much closer to where it 3 should be, these increases have not fully overcome previous 4 decades in which funding failed to keep pace with 5 ever-increasing population and even faster-growing crime 6 statistics. As with most county operational issues, these 7 problems will require additional funding. 8 The committee is extremely aware of the fact 9 that Kerr County Sheriff's budget already consumes nearly 10 25 percent of the county budget each year, and we are 11 similarly aware of the fact that as expenses rise, so must 12 the tax burden on our citizens. Thus, we do not make these 13 recommendations lightly. We will present the department's 14 anticipated future needs in a format that will allow for 15 planning and prioritization, which will permit the incurred 16 costs to be spread out over time, lessening the impact on 17 any given budget year. For this summary, we have singled 18 out the five top areas the committee believes are necessary 19 to accomplish the continued effective and efficient 20 operation of the department, and those are communications, 21 personnel, records management, physical facilities, and 22 optimizing the use of available funds. So, let's take a 23 brief look at each one of these areas. 24 First of all, communications. The emergency 25 communications system is a vital part of any law enforcement 5-28-02 53 1 emergency operation. As we all know, the current system has 2 not kept pace with growth in all areas of the county, 3 resulting in circumstances where law enforcement field 4 personnel have not been able to communicate by hand-held 5 radio in 40 to 50 percent of the geographical area within 6 the county. Once the officer leaves his patrol car, he can 7 be effectively cut off from all communications with his 8 fellow officers and with his agency. This is unacceptable. 9 But this part of the communication problem is being 10 addressed with the decision by Commissioners Court to 11 purchase a new convention VHF simulcast radio communication 12 system for our Kerr County Sheriff's Office. This new 13 system will result in a guaranteed 95 percent coverage for 14 the geographical area of Kerr County with hand-held radios, 15 and a guaranteed 98 percent coverage with car radios. With 16 the signing of the last two tower leases two weeks ago by 17 Commissioners Court, and full -- and full implementation of 18 this system in 2002, we expect that this aspect of KCSO's 19 radio concerns will have been met for the foreseeable 20 future. 21 Another important aspect of communications 22 that has not yet been fully addressed is the need for a 23 centralized dispatching center, which would combine the 24 Kerrville Police Department, Kerrville Fire Department and 25 EMS, 911, Ingram City Marshal's Office, and the Kerr County 5-28-02 54 1 Sheriff's Office. While there have been numerous 2 discussions over the past several years between the various 3 agencies that would be affected about how to accomplish this 4 goal, it has yet to be implemented. The committee urges the 5 Commissioners Court to make this a high priority. 6 Let's take a look at personnel, the second 7 area. The committee believes that the additional -- that 8 additional personnel for Kerr County Sheriff's Office -- 9 Jail and Sheriff's Office is a critical need. The current 10 number of personnel budgeted is substantially below minimum 11 levels. According to state recommendations and 12 requirements, Texas state standards generally recommends 13 staffing at the rate of one patrol officer for each 1,000 14 citizens. Other standards merely state that there should be 15 a sufficient number of officers to efficiently and 16 effectively serve the needs of the population. Thus, 17 population density and geographical considerations should be 18 taken into account in formulating an analysis of personnel 19 needs. The committee recognizes that personnel expenditures 20 make up the great majority of the costs for the Kerr County 21 Sheriff's Office, and therefore, it is unrealistic to 22 recommend that all these deficiencies be addressed 23 immediately. Therefore, we recommend increases which should 24 bring staffing to within 80 percent of what we believe is an 25 optimum level within three years. 5-28-02 55 1 Let's take a look at the committee's analysis 2 of what the current and projected personnel needs are for 3 the Kerr County Sheriff's Office and for the Kerr County 4 jail. Since current needs are not being met, future funding 5 plans should focus both on bringing the number of employees 6 up to the numbers needed today, as well as planning to 7 provide an appropriate number of employees to account for 8 predicted future growth. First, the Sheriff's Office. In 9 one 24-hour time period, the Kerr County Sheriff currently 10 should have the following personnel on duty for each shift 11 in order to be fully staffed: For each shift, one patrol 12 officer -- one patrol supervisor, four patrol deputies, and 13 two dispatchers. 14 We need to note here that in order to fully 15 staff any position that needs 24-hour coverage per day, the 16 County will need five full-time employees on the payroll to 17 cover one position. This calculation is based on the 18 following formula: One year equals 8,760 hours, which 19 equals 1,095 eight-hour shifts. One full-time employee will 20 work 240 shifts in a year, on average, taking vacation, sick 21 days, and holidays into account. Therefore, it takes 4.56 22 employees to cover one 24-hour-per-day position. The 23 committee rounded this 4.56 up to 5 to account for 24 additional training requirements that are a part of the law 25 enforcement officer's job requirements. Additional 5-28-02 56 1 full-time personnel needed that do not require the 2 multiplication factor -- in other words, they're not needed 3 24 hours a day -- are as shown on the slide. So, to 4 summarize, seven full-time, 24-hour positions, multiplied by 5 the factor of 5, equals 35 employees. 29 full-time, 6 day-only positions added to the 35 gives us a total of 64. 7 Sheriff's Department currently needs 64, and has 41. 8 Current personnel are 64 percent of what is now needed. 9 Additional personnel needed to bring the staffing to the 10 target 80 percent of recommended number, allocated by year, 11 2003, 2004, 2005, to hit a target of 51 people by 2005, or 12 an increase of 10 positions over the three-year period. 13 Okay. Let's go to the Adult Detention Center 14 and see what we have there. In one 24-hour time period, the 15 Kerr County Adult Detention Center currently should have the 16 following personnel on duty for each shift in order to be 17 fully staffed: Two booking officers, four jailers, one 18 kitchen staff, one nurse, two prisoner service personnel, 19 and two control room officers. And we're going to take a 20 few minutes here to give you a virtual tour of the Adult 21 Detention Center with some slides, and these are 22 self-explanatory. 23 (Slide show presented.) 24 Additional full-time personnel needed that do 25 not require the multiplication factor -- again, not needed 5-28-02 57 1 24 hours per day -- are as shown on the slide. So, to 2 summarize the jail facility's situation with respect to 3 personnel, 12 full-time, 24-hour-per-day positions times the 4 factor of 5 equals 60 employees needed on staff. 13 5 full-time, day-only positions added to the 60 gives us a 6 total of 73. The need is for 73 personnel; currently we 7 have 35. Additional personnel needed to bring the staff to 8 the target 80 percent of recommended number, allocated by 9 year in 2003, '4, and '5, is equal to 58 people, or an 10 increase of 23 positions in the jail. 11 The Texas Commission on Jail Standards 12 requires that the County have one jailer involved in actual 13 inmate observation and care, not performing other duties, 14 but 100 percent devoted to actual inmate observation and 15 care, for each 48 inmates. Kerr County has been averaging 16 more than 160 inmates per day, on average, which requires a 17 minimum of four jailers per shift. However, if recent 18 trends continue, increases even faster than the projections 19 contained within this report are to be expected. Also, our 20 increased census of prisoners has diminished our capacity to 21 handle out-of-county prisoners. In the past, Kerr County 22 has been able to achieve nearly half a million dollars in 23 revenue from these out-of-county prisoners. Thus, our 24 increase in jail population threatens not only to 25 substantially increase our costs of housing prisoners; it 5-28-02 58 1 also threatens to dramatically decrease our income. 2 Okay. Let's take a minute here before we go 3 to the other three areas that we're going to talk about, and 4 talk about the measures of growth that the committee spent a 5 lot of time developing to try to come up with a projected 6 percent growth rate per year for the Sheriff's Department 7 and for the Adult Detention Center. We have projected a 8 growth rate for the Kerr County Sheriff's Office and the 9 Adult Detention Center of 5 percent per year, based on 10 criteria shown on the slide. For the Sheriff's Office, a 11 2 percent historical annual population growth rate, 12 11 percent increase in calls for service over the last five 13 years, and a 24 percent increase in arrests per year over 14 the past five years. 24 percent per year for the last five 15 years. The jail criteria were, again, the same 2 percent 16 historical annual population growth rate, 43 percent 17 increase in prisoner population over the past five years, 18 and an astounding, to the committee, 72 percent increase in 19 bookings over the past five years. 20 The committee acknowledges that it's 21 impossible to predict with real accuracy what future growth 22 rates will be, but since county population -- the county's 23 population has steadily increased at 2 percent per year for 24 many years, and since the crime rate has continued to 25 increase both locally and nationally at a rate faster than 5-28-02 59 1 the population growth, we believe that this 5 percent 2 projection is realistic, and may even be somewhat 3 conservative. It should also be noted here that if our 4 5 percent per year for five years growth rate is accurate, 5 at the end of the first three years, what we show in this 6 report as 80 percent of personnel needs, that target 7 80 percent will actually produce an effective rate of only 8 70 percent of personnel needed for the year 2005, because of 9 increasing statistics in the area that we've talked about. 10 Let's look at records management, another 11 area of critical need in the Kerr County Sheriff's Office. 12 In recent years, the technology revolution has resulted in a 13 huge increase in the number of records being generated in 14 all areas of law enforcement, while governments in general 15 have not kept up with the technology needed to keep up with 16 this information explosion. As a result, the Kerr County 17 Sheriff's Office, like so many similarly situated 18 governmental departments, must deal with a mountain of data 19 in cumbersome, paper files. Although much of the current 20 recordkeeping is done via computer, there are vast amounts 21 of paper that are not duplicated in our electronic data 22 system. 23 KCSO is regulated to a great extent by the 24 Texas Government Code Section 441.158, which provides for 25 the Texas State Library and Archives Commission to issue 5-28-02 60 1 records retention schedules for local governments. In this 2 retention schedule, Kerr County Sheriff's Office is required 3 to maintain and store records for a range of years, 4 depending on the type of record kept, from two years to 5 indefinitely. These records include arrest and offense 6 records, incident records, operational support records, jail 7 records, juvenile delinquency records, records of writs and 8 process, permit records and associated documentation, 9 financial records, personnel and training records, and other 10 miscellaneous records such as applications for deputies, 11 convict labor records, estray records, and memos written by 12 administrative staff, and on and on and on. Kerr County 13 Sheriff's Office currently has in excess of 150 five-drawer 14 filing cabinets dedicated to records that are currently 15 full, and additionally has three storage rooms within the 16 facility that are also full of boxed records dating back to 17 the 1970's and even earlier. 18 Kerr County Sheriff's Office produces new 19 paper documents at the rate of 42,000 per month, on average. 20 It should be a priority of this Court to fund a method of 21 addressing records storage and retrieval. At a minimum, the 22 Kerr County Sheriff's Office should have dedicated records 23 management personnel and equipment sufficient to permit the 24 scanning and cataloging of new records as they are 25 generated, and at the same time, reduce the existing older 5-28-02 61 1 documents to electronic form. This would permit the 2 destruction and disposal of a majority of the hard-copy 3 documents that they currently have on-hand. This would also 4 have the additional benefit of freeing up valuable floor 5 space in the facility for other use. 6 Which leads me to the fourth area of 7 recommendation, physical facilities. When the Kerr County 8 Law Enforcement Facility was opened in 1996, it was 9 projected to meet Kerr County's needs for law enforcement 10 offices and jail for the next 15 to 20 years. Although the 11 building was designed specifically to allow for easy 12 addition of more jail and administrative space, it was not 13 anticipated that this would be needed for the foreseeable 14 future. These predictions have fallen short. As the Court 15 is aware from recent news articles, the jail has been full 16 in excess of its capacity of 192 inmates several times in 17 the last year. Consequently, Kerr County can no longer 18 house out-of-county inmates, which brought in additional 19 revenues of a half million dollars in 2001, as I previously 20 stated. Currently, without out-of-county inmates, the jail 21 daily population continues to remain at an average of 145 to 22 160 inmates. According to Texas Jail Commission 23 recommendations, the maximum number of inmates that Kerr 24 County should house in a facility with 192 beds and continue 25 to be able to properly classify inmates is 153, or 5-28-02 62 1 80 percent of the maximum capacity. 2 The administrative office area is similarly 3 at its maximum capacity, and consequently, office space that 4 was designed for workroom areas and conference rooms has 5 been converted to employee offices, and some 6 single-occupancy offices are now occupied by up to four 7 employees. If additional employees are added, as per the 8 recommendations of the committee, there is not current 9 adequate space to put them without either remodeling or 10 adding new space to the administrative area. Given that our 11 2 percent annual growth in county population has been 12 substantially exceeded by our growth in jail population, 13 43 percent over the past five years, and that daily bookings 14 have similarly increased at an exponential 72 percent over 15 the past five years, it does not take complex calculations 16 to determine that the current jail and administrative 17 facilities are not going to last for the predicted 15 to 20 18 years. Commissioners Court should give immediate and 19 serious attention to the issue of adding more physical 20 facilities at the Law Enforcement Center, because this is a 21 project that will probably be accomplished over several 22 years. 23 The final major area of recommendation is to 24 present ways to optimize the use of available funds. The 25 committee urges Commissioners Court to look at not only 5-28-02 63 1 increased funding to assist the department in its attempt to 2 upgrade, but also continue to consider and take advantage of 3 indirect funding sources. For instance, the Kerr County 4 Sheriff's Office has been highly successful recently with 5 very limited resources in a number of successful grant 6 applications. The committee believes that there are a 7 number of funding sources that will provide grant money for 8 law enforcement, but most of these require matching funds. 9 The committee therefore recommends that if it is statutorily 10 and constitutionally permissible, the Court should establish 11 a sinking fund for the purpose of having an available pool 12 of money from which the county can provide matching funds 13 for these grants. If a sinking fund is not appropriate, 14 then a mechanism for setting aside such funds should be 15 determined. Inquiries should be made into other appropriate 16 ways to set aside the -- the matching funds for future 17 grants to the Kerr County Sheriff's Office and Adult 18 Detention Center. 19 The committee notes with approval that the 20 Court and Sheriff's Department have already taken advantage 21 of this method of indirect funding. During the duration of 22 the Long-Range Planning Committee's duties, the department 23 received permission to apply for a grant for a live 24 fingerprint scanning system and was successful in that 25 effort, receiving $114,000 for the purpose. The system does 5-28-02 64 1 away with inked and frequently unreadable prints, 2 automatically loads data into an electronic database that is 3 immediately transmitted into FBI and DPS databases. Within 4 minutes, the department can obtain notification of a 5 positive identification, if one is available, or information 6 that the individual may be wanted. 7 Not only does this system save time, but it 8 also dramatically reduces the number of personnel hours 9 required to take prints, transmit and copy them, and to 10 retake them when the unreadable ones are rejected by state 11 and federal archiving systems. Despite the fact that this 12 system may appear to have required substantially more 13 financial outlay in its initial stages than the traditional 14 manual system, when the cost is amortized over time and the 15 savings are analyzed, it becomes evident that this system -- 16 this new system will save untold amounts of money and time 17 over its usable life. Luckily, this grant did not require 18 matching funds, but that's the exception rather than the 19 rule. 20 Another example of Kerr County Sheriff's 21 Office implementing technology to save time and money is the 22 installation of a computer in various other law enforcement 23 agencies and prosecutors' office that will -- offices that 24 will enable these agencies to have direct access to the 25 department's computerized jail records, inmate records, and 5-28-02 65 1 defendant case information. This project, while having some 2 nominal initial costs to other participating agencies, will 3 save an immense amount of time and personnel costs in the 4 long run, both for the Sheriff's Department and for these 5 other agencies. The committee encourages Kerr County 6 Sheriff's Office and Commissioners Court to continue to 7 pursue this kind of opportunities. Volunteer utilization is 8 also an important consideration for stretching budget 9 dollars available to Kerr County Sheriff's Office. In the 10 Adult Detention Center, there are not many opportunities 11 beyond what's already being done in terms of volunteers, 12 relating primarily to liability issues, but in the Sheriff's 13 Office there are some opportunities that the -- probably the 14 most significant is a reserve deputy program, which is in 15 its initial stages of being developed, and could have 16 significant impact in terms of the number of deputies 17 required at any given time. 18 The committee recommends that, since a 19 program of grant applications is so potentially lucrative, 20 it would be prudent -- a prudent investment of County 21 resources to dedicate one employee, at least part-time, to 22 grant-writing and research. With the expertise that would 23 come with experience over time, the County could readily 24 maximize its utilization of this resource. In closing, the 25 committee commends Commissioners Court and the Sheriff for 5-28-02 66 1 initiating this planning process. We feel that this is a 2 prudent activity, and one which will result in significant 3 long-term benefits to the County and to its citizens. Thank 4 you very much. 5 JUDGE HENNEKE: Thank you, Kirby. And, Kirby 6 and Ilse and Don and John, fantastic labor, and the results 7 speak for themselves. Sheriff, don't get your hopes up, 8 though. Do any members of the Court have any questions of 9 either -- any of the members of the Long-Term Sheriff's 10 Department Planning Commission? 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Judge, I have a 12 comment. Not necessarily -- are you there? 13 JUDGE HENNEKE: Go ahead. 14 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I can't see you real 15 well. 16 JUDGE HENNEKE: I'm fading fast. 17 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Kirby, excellent job. 18 And, of course, he's Precinct 1's representative. Very good 19 job. What -- it's thrilling to me to see -- see planning 20 going on in county government. It's unheard of throughout 21 the state of Texas. You just don't plan in county 22 governments; it's hard to do. And this Court has done some 23 budgetary planning, and it's good to see an office do that. 24 And this is a huge, huge project. And, personally -- 25 personally, I'd like to see us -- I mean, it's impossible to 5-28-02 67 1 catch everything you said. Even though you did it -- you 2 practiced on me the other day, it's still impossible to 3 catch all those things. So, what I -- what I think we need 4 to do is put this exact same program in a workshop, to where 5 we can actually sit down and spend time and draw circles in 6 the dirt and visit with one another, get details and get 7 in-depth on the issues, and start that workshop with a tour 8 of the jail. And we'd be -- it would be a traveling 9 workshop. There's -- our staff would be following behind us 10 in a little car. I've always had this vision of them doing 11 that. 12 (Laughter.) 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: But I think it's that 14 important, to -- for us to slow down and take a very, very 15 close look at it, and so that's -- that's my desire, is to 16 have it in a workshop and do this again. 17 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I'd like to offer my 18 thanks to the committee, and particularly to John Comegys, 19 the Precinct 2 appointee, for taking the time and effort to 20 not only get up to speed on where the Sheriff's Department 21 is today, but to advance this information to us on where we 22 need to be in the future. A lot of work went into this, and 23 we extend our thanks and appreciation for doing that. I 24 echo what Commissioner Baldwin said in terms of a workshop. 25 I think it would be helpful. While the -- while the study 5-28-02 68 1 that you've completed is comprehensive, it does lend itself 2 to questions when you start getting into the specifics of 3 how -- how to do and why to do and what to do. So, I would 4 welcome that opportunity. I guess the Sheriff will probably 5 pick up that suggestion and do it. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Basically, I concur with 7 what was said. I'd like to thank all the committee members, 8 especially David Burow from my precinct. And I think the 9 workshop -- I support that, but it needs to be done sooner 10 rather than later. Probably June -- mid-June, before we get 11 into the budget. Because this -- the budget impact on the 12 Sheriff's Department overall is always pretty significant, 13 and the items here, if we're going to start going down the 14 road towards implementing the recommendations, you know, in 15 the time frame listed, the alternative time frame, it needs 16 to start now and within this budget year, probably. 17 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: I would echo, too, the 18 kudos to the committee. Great work. Because you -- you 19 developed a good mission statement and then stayed focused 20 on the mission statement, which is obvious in the results. 21 The proof obviously will be, too, when we try to fit a 22 budget profile to this three-year or five-year plan or 23 whatever it turns out to be, and that's always where the 24 devil is in the details. And I would hope that when we get 25 to that point, that we would have the help of the committee 5-28-02 69 1 members to actively stay involved with us in developing the 2 budget profiles over those years, because that's going to be 3 important, and the committee is in a much better position 4 now, probably, than anyone else in the community on what's 5 what and -- and what the priorities -- where the priorities 6 need to be set and so on. But, again, a great job, and -- 7 and thanks to everybody, particularly Don Townsend, 8 Precinct 4. 9 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Of course mine's an 10 Aggie. Does that help any? 11 JUDGE HENNEKE: Sheriff, you had a brief 12 comment? You had your finger up. 13 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: The only -- the only 14 thing I wanted to say is, I personally also wanted to thank 15 the committee. They did spend a lot of time and a lot of 16 hours, and a lot of lunch hours meeting over this and 17 discussing it, and took a lot of time getting into detail. 18 As far as Buster's recommendation, I would support that 19 wholeheartedly, because it is a -- a very intense 20 presentation. I appreciate, all the Commissioners and 21 Judge, the opportunity to have a long-range planning 22 committee. It's something that's never been done in the 23 Sheriff's Office. It needed to be done. We needed to know 24 where we're going and how we're going to get there, and I 25 appreciate y'all appointing the members. I think every 5-28-02 70 1 member took it extremely seriously and stayed with it, and I 2 appreciate their part of it. But I, too, think it's 3 something that needs to have a workshop. We need to get a 4 good map of where we're going and how we're going to get 5 there, because it doesn't matter whether I'm Sheriff or 6 anybody else is Sheriff; these are things that are going to 7 have to be faced by this County over the future. Thank you. 8 JUDGE HENNEKE: When the Sheriff brought the 9 notion to me and we brought to it Commissioners Court and 10 got it approved by Commissioners Court, with great 11 enthusiasm, I think this is what we had in mind. This is 12 the product that we needed. This is what we had to have. 13 This is what we need to have. Planning's the fun, though. 14 Implementing is not so much fun, and that's the next stage, 15 and one that we will take on with as much seriousness and 16 commitment as the committee has for the planning. So, 17 again, the thanks of Commissioners Court and the citizens of 18 Kerr County to the planning committee and the people who 19 participated and assisted from the Sheriff's Department and 20 elsewhere. Y'all have really come through with flying 21 colors. Anything else on this item, gentlemen? If not, I 22 propose we take a break, and let's reconvene -- we'll just 23 hold it up here for the duration. Let's be back, if we can, 24 at 8:20. 25 (Recess taken from 8:10 p.m. to 8:20 p.m.) - - - - - - - - - - 5-28-02 71 1 JUDGE HENNEKE: We'll reconvene this regular 2 special meeting of the Kerr County Commissioners Court. The 3 next item for consideration is Item Number 2, consider and 4 discuss approving a contract between the Texas Department of 5 Protective and Regulatory Services and the Commissioners 6 Court of Kerr County to continue maintaining a child welfare 7 board to administer a county-wide welfare program to meet 8 the needs of children in the county who are in need of 9 protective services. Commissioner Baldwin? 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yes, sir, thank you 11 very much. As you see in my note here -- and we'll get to 12 you in just a second -- my note here, it says, basically, we 13 -- they have given us couple of options here, and one of the 14 options is basically what we're doing today, and that's 15 going to be my recommendation. It's considered the 16 nonfinancial contract. And we have with us Bobby Pickens. 17 He's president of the Child Welfare Board. And, Bobby, take 18 it from there, please. 19 MR. PICKENS: Thank you, Commissioners Court, 20 and thank y'all for letting us come in tonight to request 21 that -- for this new contract. And I'd also like to make 22 note, I have -- Vice President Sharon Coldwell is attending 23 the meeting as well. Back on March 19th of 2002, I received 24 a letter from Texas Department of Protective and Regulatory 25 Services stating that our contract with them -- with C.P.S., 5-28-02 72 1 with our local office, will be expiring August 31st of this 2 year. And what they're asking is that we renew our contract 3 with them and have it effective September 1st of 2002. The 4 current contract that we have, the last one we -- we dug in 5 our records, was renewed in 1996. And we have a Child 6 Welfare Board contract that's a nonfinancial; in other 7 words, at the graces of the Commissioners Court, we receive 8 funding from y'all to support our needy children here in 9 Kerr County, which our -- right now, we're presently serving 10 between 40 to 45 kids in Kerr County as of -- and our 11 services have increased there, as well. 12 I'm asking that the Commissioners Court -- I 13 gave each one of you a packet. We had our board meeting on 14 the 13th of this month, and our board has discussed it, and 15 we have voted on going with the Child Welfare Board 16 nonfinancial contract. And we ask that the Commissioners 17 Court support us on this decision and go ahead and approve 18 this so we can go ahead and get it sent back to the State 19 and have it -- all the paperwork drawn up, and have it ready 20 by September 1st. If you have any questions, I'll answer, 21 and Sharon can help me as well. 22 JUDGE HENNEKE: Does anyone have any 23 questions of Mr. Pickens? We just appreciate what you do, 24 Bobby and Sharon, and all the rest of your board. 25 MR. PICKENS: And we'd also like to -- when 5-28-02 73 1 we get -- if you do approve this contract, we'd like to be 2 included on the workshop so we can discuss our budget as 3 well. 4 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Judge, would it be 5 appropriate to approve the contract effective September 1? 6 I mean, that's what we're asking to do, isn't it? So, I do 7 move that we approve the -- 8 MR. PICKENS: The nonfinancial. 9 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: -- nonfinancial -- 10 that's what I was looking for -- the nonfinancial contract 11 with the T.D.P.R.S. effective September 1, 2002. 12 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: And how long does it 13 run -- does this contract run? How long does it run? 14 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I think it's supposed 15 to be an annual contract, but how long has it been since 16 we've -- 17 MR. PICKENS: I came aboard on this board in 18 '96, and that's when it was renewed back then, but they have 19 changed a few things up. Sharon talked to the regional 20 manager and contract manager down in San Antonio. My 21 understanding -- and Sharon can correct me if I'm right or 22 wrong -- is that this contract will stay in effect unless 23 the State comes up with some other changes, but they will 24 ask -- and along with the Commissioners Court, whoever 25 serves on the Court, an annual review of what's taken place. 5-28-02 74 1 Is that right, Sharon? 2 MS. COLDWELL: That's my understanding. 3 Usually the contracts are four to six years. 4 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: Okay. Did you get a 5 second? 6 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I'll second. 7 JUDGE HENNEKE: Motion by Commissioner 8 Baldwin, second by Commissioner Williams, that the Court 9 approve the Child Welfare Board contract, nonfinancial, with 10 T.D.P.R.S. effective September 1, 2002, and authorize County 11 Judge to sign same. Any other questions or comments? 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I have a -- hopefully a 13 brief question. Can someone summarize very briefly the 14 difference between the two types of contracts? I know 15 nonfinancial. What's the other contract -- what are the 16 disadvantages of the other form? 17 MR. PICKENS: On the other two contracts that 18 they -- the State was wanting us to look at, the first one 19 was a County IV-E child welfare contract. Basically, what 20 it is, is that they would reimburse us with some funds, not 21 only from the state level, but the federal level. But that 22 one particularly pertains to the bigger counties, like 23 Harris County, Travis County, the Dallas/Fort Worth area, 24 Waco. Being that we're a smaller county, it's in our best 25 interests to go with the nonfinancial contract. The other 5-28-02 75 1 one is -- is where they would -- the state and the federal 2 government would provide funds in agreement with 3 Commissioners Court and the local C.P.S. office, where they 4 provide funds to pay for part of their staff to help do 5 their work. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. 7 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Commissioner Letz, let 8 me just read you one little paragraph out of the one that -- 9 where the federal and state participate, in their goodness, 10 with our money. This is -- this contract is at all times 11 contingent upon the availability and receipt of federal 12 funds that the department is allocated to contract, and if 13 the funds for this contract become unavailable -- if it 14 does -- during any budget period, the contract may be 15 immediately terminated. I -- I don't want our organization 16 under those kind of guidelines. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay, thank you. Thanks, 18 Bobby. 19 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Thank you. 20 MR. PICKENS: Thank you. 21 JUDGE HENNEKE: Any further questions or 22 comments? If not, all in favor, raise your right hand. 23 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 24 JUDGE HENNEKE: Opposed, same sign. 25 (No response.) 5-28-02 76 1 JUDGE HENNEKE: Motion carries. 2 MR. PICKENS: Thank y'all. 3 JUDGE HENNEKE: Thank you. Item Number 3, 4 consider a variance to Section 6.02.E.3 of Kerr County 5 Subdivision Rules and Regulations to extend preliminary plat 6 approval of Cypress Springs Estates, Phase II. Commissioner 7 Griffin. 8 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: I'll turn this over to 9 Dale Crenwelge and let him -- let Dale sort of go through 10 what the deal is and what -- what he's asking. 11 MR. CRENWELGE: Last year, May 14th, a 12 preliminary plat was approved, Cypress Springs Estates. We 13 have submitted and are on the agenda for June 24th for final 14 plat, but there was a time period from May 14th to 15 June 24th, due to housekeeping, to extend the preliminary 16 plat, so we're requesting an extension of preliminary plat 17 for six months. 18 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: And I would so move 19 that we do. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 21 JUDGE HENNEKE: Motion by Commissioner 22 Griffin, second by Commissioner Letz, that the Court extend 23 the approval of the preliminary plat of Cypress Springs 24 Estates, Phase II, for six months. If you're on the agenda 25 in June for final plat approval, why do you want an 5-28-02 77 1 extension for six months? 2 MR. CRENWELGE: Well, we're going to -- we're 3 going to have to go back in there and probably try to get 4 another extension, because we're just -- we're just 5 final-platting a portion of the preliminary plat. 6 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: The preliminary plat 7 has to stay in force while the preliminary -- even if it 8 were June -- whenever. 9 JUDGE HENNEKE: Right. But -- so the final 10 plat approval on June 24th will only be a portion of Cypress 11 Springs? 12 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: And that was -- and 13 that would probably then require a new preliminary plat to 14 do the rest of it. 15 MR. CRENWELGE: Or an extension. 16 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: Or some kind of 17 extension or modification, an amendment or something, 18 because you couldn't operate off the old one if only a 19 portion of it is -- is in the final plat approval. At least 20 that's the way I understand it. 21 MR. JOHNSTON: I think that was an issue -- 22 the final plat's only a portion of the preliminary plat. 23 Just part of the preliminary plat. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It goes back to where -- 25 it's kind of -- it's a subdivision that was started before 5-28-02 78 1 y'all -- a bunch of y'all were on the court, and it was a 2 real large -- we probably should not have allowed that big 3 an area to be platted under the number of phases and all 4 that at one time. But, we did it originally as one large 5 subdivision with multiple phases, and because of that, it's 6 now being developed in smaller parts. 7 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: Right. Which is the 8 way it should have been done. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: The way it should have 10 been done originally. 11 MR. CRENWELGE: There's a court order that 12 was issued last year allowing for 120 here in the future 13 phase. It's 400 acres, and we're platting 45 lots on the 14 agenda for June 24th, final plat. 15 JUDGE HENNEKE: Any other questions or 16 comments? If not, all in favor, raise your right hand. 17 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 18 JUDGE HENNEKE: Opposed, same sign. 19 (No response.) 20 JUDGE HENNEKE: Motion carries. 21 MR. CRENWELGE: Thank you. 22 JUDGE HENNEKE: Item Number 4, consider and 23 discuss approval of a court order vacating a portion of the 24 Pier 5 Drive, in accordance with the agreement reached by 25 the property owners. Commissioner Griffin. 5-28-02 79 1 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: Does everyone have in 2 your packet -- you should have gotten it -- yep, I see it. 3 Judge, do you have a copy of this shot-down -- okay. The 4 members of the Court will remember that at our last session, 5 there was a public hearing on this matter, and the parties 6 involved came to an agreement just before that public 7 hearing. And they have come to an agreement that I believe 8 they have reduced to draft in writing for -- at least their 9 attorney has, that they may want to make a part of the 10 record as well. But our duty as Commissioners Court is to 11 abandon the portion of the road that they agree -- that 12 everyone agreed that could be abandoned. And you'll notice 13 there on the sketch, on the shot-down version, that where 14 that point is, everything north of that demarcation line 15 would be abandoned as public right-of-way. Everything south 16 of it remains just as it is. And, so, I actually talked to 17 the Judge a little earlier about this. I'm going to try to 18 craft a motion -- and stick with me, because this is a 19 platted subdivision, and we have to refer to it in terms of 20 the platted subdivision for the abandonment. Anybody got 21 any questions on that before I try to wordsmith this thing? 22 JUDGE HENNEKE: We have -- Mr. Robert Mertl 23 has requested an opportunity to address us on this issue. 24 Is he still here? Let's take his comment before we have a 25 motion, Commissioner. 5-28-02 80 1 MR. MERTL: My only concern is that the -- 2 that the agreement that the Wardroups and ourselves, and we 3 believe the Simpsons, have reached is interpreted properly 4 in the final agreement here. That's the only concern I 5 have. I really don't have anything to say, as long as that 6 -- I'm satisfied that that's happening. 7 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: Right. 8 MR. MERTL: Unfortunately, Tom couldn't be 9 here today. 10 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: Would you look at a 11 copy of this just to be sure, Mr. Mertl? Make sure that 12 this -- this line -- and remember, now, that there's a 13 question about -- 14 MR. MERTL: Yes, that's the point. And we 15 have -- we have some language in the draft, too, that -- 16 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: Yes. 17 MR. MERTL: -- Tom gave to David Motley. 18 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: But this is the -- 19 this is the point north of this that the right-of-way -- 20 see, the Court can only deal with right-of-way, and this is 21 the way it's platted now. 22 MR. MERTL: Yeah. 23 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: If it's correct on the 24 plat, that's okay. 25 MR. MERTL: What it is, I've got a survey pin 5-28-02 81 1 at that point. And that foot and a half to the east part -- 2 to the east of that survey pin is the -- where the line 3 starts. 4 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: Okay. And we can -- 5 MR. MERTL: And so that -- that line 6 represents -- this lower portion or the southern portion is 7 public, and the upper portion, northern portion, is David's 8 to do with as he wishes. 9 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: Right. Okay. 10 MR. MERTL: That's the agreement we have. 11 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: Thank you very much. 12 JUDGE HENNEKE: Fire away. 13 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: Therefore, I'll make a 14 motion that -- that we abandon a portion of Pier 5 Drive, 15 as -- described as follows: From the southeast corner of 16 Lot 12 of the Pier 5 Subdivision to a point 66.6 feet along 17 the right-of-way, as noted on the plat; that everything 18 north of that position on the right-of-way would be 19 abandoned. Everything south of that, by the way, stays -- 20 doesn't have to be in the motion, but everything else stays 21 the same, but we abandon from that point north. That just 22 means it reverts to a private road, rather than a public 23 right-of-way. 24 MR. MERTL: Show me what you're -- what 25 you're describing, 'cause the language you've used is 5-28-02 82 1 somewhat different. 2 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: Well, everything north 3 of this line. And that's the reason I was telling you -- 4 I've seen the sketch that you have where there is a pin 5 here. 6 MR. MERTL: Right. Okay. 7 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: That's okay for the 8 placement of gates, and you can make those agreements 9 between the property owners and all and file it with the 10 plat, but what we have to do as the Court is to abandon this 11 right-of-way, all of it. Even if -- even if it's 12 incorrectly platted, we still have to abandon it for that 13 road to be able to revert to private road, so that's what my 14 motion does. 15 MR. MERTL: That's the point we agreed on, so 16 that's no problem. I was just curious about the 66 feet. 17 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: Well, 66.6 feet from 18 that southeast corner of this lot. 'Cause we have to 19 describe it legally, along the right-of-way. 20 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. 21 JUDGE HENNEKE: Motion by Commissioner 22 Griffin, second by Commissioner Baldwin, that the Court 23 abandon as a public road that portion of Pier 5 Drive which 24 is located north of that point which is 66.6 feet 25 southeast -- from the southeast corner of Lot 12, Pier 5 5-28-02 83 1 Subdivision. 2 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: That's about it. 3 JUDGE HENNEKE: Any further questions or 4 comments? 5 MR. MERTL: I'd like to add something, if I 6 might. Considering what I've listened to today that you 7 guys have to deal with, I -- I'd say we certainly appreciate 8 your taking on our little problem. Thank you. 9 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: Thank you very much, 10 Mr. Mertl. 11 JUDGE HENNEKE: Jonathan? 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Question. 13 MR. JOHNSTON: Since this is a platted 14 subdivision and we're making a change to the plat, do we 15 have to do a plat revision in conjunction with a road 16 abandonment or not? That's just a question. 17 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: I don't think so, 18 because unless -- this changes the language that is filed 19 with the plat, so I think that's all that's required, in my 20 reading of it. But I'm open to suggestion. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Going through it -- I'm 22 thinking of all these things as I'm getting ready to ask the 23 question. I think all we're really doing is changing the 24 status -- we're not changing the plat; we're just changing 25 the, quote, status of the road from a county to a private. 5-28-02 84 1 MR. JOHNSTON: Right. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And that -- 3 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: Public to a private. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Public to a private. So 5 that's really not changing the subdivision. 6 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: No, it's not. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Therefore, it would not 8 require a revision of plat or plat change. 9 JUDGE HENNEKE: Any other questions or 10 comments? If not, all in favor, raise your right hand. 11 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 12 JUDGE HENNEKE: Opposed, same sign. 13 (No response.) 14 JUDGE HENNEKE: Motion carries. 15 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: See y'all next month. 16 (Laughter.) 17 JUDGE HENNEKE: Next item is Item Number 5, 18 consider and discuss approving a resolution declaring 19 June 2, Year 2002, as Ernestine Wilson Zimmerman Day. 20 Commissioner Baldwin. 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Resolution speaks for 22 itself. Ladies and gentlemen, this is a little lady that 23 lives here in town. Her name is Ernestine Wilson Zimmerman. 24 She was 104 years old a few days ago, and coming up this 25 coming Sunday -- help me; what church is that? 5-28-02 85 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Calvary Temple. 2 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Calvary Temple is 3 dedicating a new building that I think maybe Mrs. Zimmerman 4 was instrumental in building. And if you find the kindness 5 in your heart to pass this resolution that simply designates 6 that Sunday as Ernestine Wilson Zimmerman Day in Kerr 7 County, I'm going to take this to that function and read it 8 and present it to her. 9 JUDGE HENNEKE: Good. 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second -- is that a 11 motion? 12 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That was a motion, 13 absolutely. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 15 JUDGE HENNEKE: Motion by Commissioner 16 Baldwin, second by Commissioner Letz, that the Court adopt a 17 resolution declaring June 2, Year 2002, to be Ernestine 18 Wilson Zimmerman Day in Kerr County, Texas. Any further 19 questions or comments? If not, all in favor, raise your 20 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 7, consider and discuss adoption of rules and regulations 5-28-02 86 1 for use of county-owned parks, dams, and recreation areas. 2 Commissioner Williams. 3 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Just a second, Judge; 4 I'm signing my name. Thank you. This has been before us 5 before and kind of sat on the back burner for a while, but 6 as summer season approaches and more activities are carried 7 out in county parks, the need to have rules and regulations 8 governing the use of the park and giving the Sheriff the 9 ability to enforce the laws pertaining to parks seems to me 10 to be uppermost, and so I've offered these tonight for 11 discussion. If you choose to do that, what I'm uncertain 12 about -- and I didn't style the item to include a public 13 hearing, but I think if it's determined that it's necessary, 14 we should do that. So, I'm opening up discussion -- or 15 opening the park rules. They would ban the use of fireworks 16 in county parks, and they would ban the use of them on dams 17 that are in conjunction to -- with county facilities, that 18 may be owned by Kerr County. Otherwise, they're basically 19 the same as was discussed several months ago. 20 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Well, I have a 21 comment. I know you find that hard to believe. But I think 22 we just simply have a -- a small philosophical difference 23 here. 24 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Could be. 25 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah, could be. I 5-28-02 87 1 just -- I believe that the things -- you know, I kind of 2 like the idea of controlling the overnight camping and those 3 kinds of things. I don't have any problem with that. But 4 when it comes to regulating folks, you know, popping their 5 firecrackers and going out on the dam and going swimming and 6 those things that we've done in this county forever and ever 7 and ever, I feel like that we're regulating our citizens too 8 much. That's my opinion. The way I think is that we 9 have -- we need to have less government, if anything that we 10 do here; take some away. Now, some of the things that we're 11 concerned about are noise levels and -- and probably people 12 getting drunk and tearing things up. I think there's 13 already state laws that are on the books, that Sheriff 14 Hierholzer and his great organization -- if someone breaks 15 the law, breaks one of those laws, you simply arrest them 16 and put them in jail, is the way I see it. 17 I don't see that -- it's just my opinion -- 18 that we don't need to add on, you know, another layer of 19 rules and regulations dealing -- you know, I don't know what 20 all you had in mind here about dangerous and unsafe 21 manners -- acting in any dangerous or unsafe manner. I 22 don't know. I'm not sure what that is, but I do understand 23 what igniting fireworks is about. And I just -- I think 24 we're regulating people and their activities and family 25 activities and et cetera and so forth. When we're talking 5-28-02 88 1 about maintaining noise and sound levels, I mean, what is 2 that? I mean, how do you -- how do you decide what -- am I 3 talking too loud right now, Rusty? He shook his head no. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yes. 5 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Jon says I am. That's 6 my point exactly. 7 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: Huh? 8 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: And that's my point, 9 you know. Who's going to make the determination of what -- 10 what is too -- too loud of noise? Those kind of things. I 11 don't know. I just feel funny about -- we need to get out 12 of regulating people and -- and their freedoms. That's all. 13 And I know I'm in the minority here. That's fine. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: A comment that I'll 15 make -- and I had these -- I kind of had versions of these 16 rules three or four times on the agenda. I finally gave up 17 and gave them to Bill; he could do what he wanted with them. 18 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Thanks. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But I think out of all 20 that -- and it's something that Rusty said at one of his 21 meetings that -- where I -- I've changed my -- when I 22 originally first started proposing these, is that how do you 23 enforce them? 24 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Well, if I can make a 25 comment -- 5-28-02 89 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Well, let me make my 2 statement; then you can make a comment. Probably, it goes 3 back a little bit to what Buster says. There's laws that 4 require a lot of this, but as soon as we pass these rules 5 and ask the Sheriff to enforce them, then he has to have -- 6 we refer to a portion of the penal code or something, or we 7 have to make some penalties and different levels of 8 misdemeanors and all that kind of stuff, which to me is a 9 lot of extra work. To me, we ought to have an open the 10 gate, shut the gate; that's about it. I mean, it's just -- 11 it gets too complicated. 12 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: I think, for example, 13 you could -- I don't know how you do it otherwise, whether 14 you could just do it with a court order, but you've probably 15 got to have something on paper -- in writing that says when 16 the park's open, when it's closed. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Mm-hmm. 18 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: And without a court 19 order, you can't enforce that, even. At least if somebody's 20 in there at 2 o'clock in the morning driving their 21 all-terrain vehicles around drunk on the dam -- I mean, of 22 course, you can get them on several violations there, but 23 I'm just saying that if you -- if you're going to open it 24 and close it, you're probably going to have that in a court 25 order. 5-28-02 90 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Then it's trespassing if 2 they're there other than those hours, I would think, which 3 goes back to other laws he can enforce. 4 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: The Sheriff attended 5 a meeting with me in Center Point here not too long ago, and 6 at which there were about 40, 45 people present at the 7 meeting, and a lot of the comment had to do with law 8 enforcement, its ability and its inability. And I recognize 9 the park rules could, indeed, pose some extra work on the 10 part of the Sheriff. But, absent the rules that govern the 11 utilization of the park, you've got open property that can 12 be utilized for just about any purpose at any time. Which 13 may be what you want to do. 14 You might recall that we had a -- we had 15 quite a public outcry over the utilization of Flat Rock Lake 16 Park here about a year or so ago, and this gets to the heart 17 of the matter in terms of public health and safety and the 18 protection of property. And you will recall that the folks 19 on -- that live on the -- on what would be the north side of 20 Flat Rock Lake -- Flat Rock Lake, itself, complained to 21 Commissioners Court, most of them very often and very 22 firmly, that the activities that take place on the dam at 23 night in the heat of the summer are things that are 24 absolutely not done normally. And if it is within our 25 purview to do something about it, we ought to think about 5-28-02 91 1 doing something about it. For example, popping off big 2 bottle rockets and so forth that fly up and hit their roofs 3 of their homes while they're still sputtering and spinning. 4 Most people are concerned about those things. And I think 5 we have an obligation to address things like that. 6 The noise level that Commissioner Baldwin 7 referred to, I -- I recognize that's very difficult. City 8 Council's taking up that same issue tonight on noise and how 9 you regulate it and how you -- how you determine whether 10 it's too loud, not loud enough, or whatever. And I don't 11 want us to get into that, so -- into that here. But they 12 could be -- these things can be amended, depending on what 13 people think is -- is a logical, legitimate approach to park 14 regulations. We had an event at Flat Rock Lake Park, a very 15 nice event. C.A.S.I. put on a big chili cook-off. Lots of 16 people attended; very well-attended. As far as I know, I've 17 not heard any -- from the Sheriff that there was any 18 untoward activity that they had to come in and regulate or 19 stop. I thought it was a pretty well-attended event, but 20 one of the issues approaching that had to do with, can we 21 bring our big vehicles in there? Can we camp overnight? 22 What time do we have to be in? What time do we have to be 23 out? What can we do and what can we not do? 24 I think it's appropriate to have rules and 25 regulations using County facilities. We have rules and 5-28-02 92 1 regulations that govern the use of this facility. Why not 2 have rules and regulations that govern the public use of a 3 park? And I'd particularly like to see people stay off the 4 dams at 10 o'clock at night with radios blaring and shooting 5 bottle rockets that have the potential for destroying 6 private property. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I just -- I mean, I come 8 down that -- I agree with a lot of what you're saying, but I 9 think that the current laws, if we had an open and closed 10 period for the parks, gives the Sheriff, you know, all he 11 needs to get people out of the park. And people who are 12 shooting fireworks and it's hitting someone else's house, I 13 think there's already something where we can act on that. 14 If there's noise that's being a nuisance, we can act on 15 that. I don't see how us passing additional rules makes 16 that -- changes anything that much from what he can do, and 17 it maybe clouds it up a little bit, to me. 18 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I'd be more 19 comfortable if the Sheriff would stand up and tell me that. 20 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: The only thing that 21 would help us with the county parks is probably an opening 22 and a closing time, okay, if you can put that. 'Cause at 23 that point, the law can take over, because the County would 24 be filing trespass charges on anybody that's there after 25 those hours. That's done in a lot of parks around. It's 5-28-02 93 1 even done in Louise Hays Park. It does help with having the 2 problem of vagrants or people like that going down there, 3 setting up tents and staying there. We had that problem in 4 Center Point. It's hard to deal with that park without 5 having a law. 6 When you get into the definition of unsafe, 7 dangerous noise levels, I hate to see the Court get into 8 anything like that, because that's, to me -- and David may 9 be able to help -- that's almost an impossible law for me to 10 enforce, 'cause who decides what that noise level is? I 11 don't have decibel meters, which you almost have to use now 12 to even enforce the disorderly conduct law that's already in 13 the penal code. You have to actually have a decibel meter 14 to read how loud, you know, that band is practicing next 15 door to somebody to see if it goes past certain decibel 16 levels that are accepted by the -- by the courts. And if 17 it's fireworks, that sets off a different decibel level. If 18 it's firearms, it's going to set off a different type of 19 decibel level. It goes up different, and those almost get 20 to really be a -- a hard thing to enforce. You know, if 21 they can put -- if you can do rules that -- that govern the 22 hours through it, those are pretty easy to enforce, and I 23 think those would help. The problem you have is -- is 24 Center Point not being a gated-type park at all, you know, 25 it's standing there wide-open all the time, and you're going 5-28-02 94 1 to have people going in and out of there all the time. 2 There's nothing you can do. You can't -- 3 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: If you get a nuisance 4 call on noise, for example, you usually respond? Your 5 deputy will respond, right? 6 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: We respond to all of 7 them. 8 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: And see what the -- 9 what's going on? 10 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Mm-hmm. We respond to 11 all of them. We will issue citations based on the noise and 12 based on the complaints we're getting, okay? If it was an 13 anonymous caller, there's not much we can do, but if we can 14 get the citizen to also be willing to be a witness in court, 15 'cause normally they're the one that heard it, or if we can 16 get there and park a ways away, to where we can testify in 17 court to how far it is to where it's happening in our 18 presence, then we can take other rules. Now, one of the 19 other things, and I don't know -- I never even thought about 20 setting rules for parks, but one of the other things that 21 would probably help a lot in the county parks is if you had 22 some way of controlling glass containers, okay? We got a 23 lot of kids -- I haven't seen y'all's proposed rules. I 24 haven't had an opportunity to review them, but you've got a 25 lot of kids wanting to go down there, use the parks for what 5-28-02 95 1 they ought to be used for, without the trash and the litter. 2 We can file littering charges. We can do that kind of 3 stuff, but somebody just down there with a glass container, 4 you really can't control. And I don't know if there's an 5 authority in county government to even try and control that 6 in parks. 7 MR. MOTLEY: Maybe under some sort of -- 8 there might be just some inherent authority to control the 9 park it would be under. Or just under a health and safety, 10 but -- I haven't researched that, but I -- 11 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: I think opening and 12 closing hours would help. 13 MR. MOTLEY: -- think on park land, they can 14 probably do that. 15 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Hmm? 16 MR. MOTLEY: I think they do have the 17 authority to control and manage the property used as a park, 18 probably. I would guess that it would. 19 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Sheriff, a 20 hypothetical. The evening of July 4th, about every year, 21 10 o'clock at night, you get a call from somebody who lives 22 on Bandera Highway, and they complain of a pretty good-sized 23 party, a lot of alcohol being consumed on the Flat Rock Lake 24 Dam, and bottle rockets being shot off that hit their 25 property, hit their roof. How would you respond? 5-28-02 96 1 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: We'd go out there and 2 visit with the people. 3 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Go out there and 4 what? 5 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Visit with the people 6 doing it. And, one, if there wasn't any penal code law 7 violations that we could enforce at that time, there 8 wouldn't be all that much we could do, except for starting 9 to actually look into the disorderly conduct on the noise 10 level, you know, if it's stereos that are too loud or 11 whatever. But if they're sitting out there, it's not 12 past -- what is it, 2 o'clock in the morning to consume 13 alcohol in the public? Which is a -- a law violation after 14 2:00 in the morning. If it's not going to violate one of 15 those, there's not much we can do. 16 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Unless they're drunk 17 in a public place, which that's a public place. 18 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: If they're intoxicated 19 in a public place, we're going to put them in jail. 20 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah. 21 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Okay. If they're 22 consuming after-hours, we're going to put them in jail, or 23 issue a citation at least. If we can find a definite law 24 violation, we're going to enforce it. 25 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: And then you have -- 5-28-02 97 1 and then you have -- on the other side of the coin, you have 2 nice, friendly people like me that, on the 4th of July, full 3 moon, I go out on Ingram Dam with my honey and I go for a 4 swim, and with my children and grandchildren. Been doing it 5 for years and years and years. And a lot of people are 6 tourists -- trying to drive the tourists off. A lot of our 7 tourists go out on the dam, go swimming at midnight, 8 1 o'clock in the morning, but they're not breaking a law. 9 They're not drunk. They're not firing off firearms. 10 They're not -- 11 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Well, there's a lot of 12 people that I know -- there's one here in town who loves to 13 use Flat Rock for catfishing. And I love to catfish, and 14 most of that's at night. And, you know, what kind of 15 hours -- what's it going to do to affect those type of 16 people that really want to use it correctly? You know, 17 there are a lot of things in there. I also love to travel, 18 and I have a travel trailer, and I know one thing that I was 19 impressed going north in Texas. What a lot of the smaller 20 counties do is, around their ag barns -- their public 21 facilities, like you have the Youth Exhibit Center, they 22 have designated spaces in those that just have an electric 23 hookup for an RV'er to plug into overnight, and then they 24 leave the next morning. There's no charge, there's no 25 nothing. It's just a service that county has to keep them 5-28-02 98 1 out of the parks, where they want to close it and things. 2 But it's a nice service for travelers coming through. 3 There's just a lot that needs to be considered. We will do 4 everything in our power to keep the problems down in the 5 park. I think we do a good job of it. I know especially 6 Center Point guys don't even go through Center Point without 7 going through the park. But, you know, there's certain 8 things that we can and can't do. 9 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Well, I brought it to 10 the attention of the Court tonight because I think it's 11 important to open up a dialogue. The Court's heard enough 12 comments from other people in the past. In fact, we had a 13 full house one night on this very issue. I'm not going to 14 require or ask for any action tonight. I will withdraw it 15 as an agenda item, and I am going to sit with each of you to 16 determine what level of rules you believe are appropriate, 17 and then we'll go from there. I know what the answer is 18 from my colleague to the right. But, we'll see. 19 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: The only thing that I 20 would like -- the only thing -- and I think that would be an 21 excellent idea, Commissioner. Only thing I would like is, 22 either myself or David to actually be able to be there with 23 the penal code, with the different laws, so that when you're 24 discussing that, we can actually research and see what are 25 the current laws. Like Buster said, we got enough -- I 5-28-02 99 1 mean, my guys got enough laws to enforce without creating 2 more. But see which ones will cover a lot of those areas 3 you're already talking about, and even that citizen down 4 there in that meeting you and I went to talked about. But, 5 the one that isn't covered in any of it is camping all night 6 long, staying in there, you know, a lot longer. I know the 7 state's even got that in the roadside parks, there's no 8 overnight camping, no 24-hour stay in those. And that will 9 help. 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Believe it or not, I 11 agree with a lot of things that are in here. But -- but I'm 12 pretty passionate about some of them not being -- 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think, whenever you put 14 it back on the agenda after you've visited with each of us, 15 as you say, I think it takes a public hearing, so I think 16 whenever you style it again, you ought to be able to set the 17 public hearing. 18 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Okay. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Just so we have that 20 flexibility. 21 JUDGE HENNEKE: Anything else? 22 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: No. 23 JUDGE HENNEKE: Okay, let's move along. Next 24 item is Item Number 8, consider and discuss approval of 25 revisions to the Kerr County Subdivision Rules and 5-28-02 100 1 Regulations. 2 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Should we go get a 3 hotel room? 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: All right. You didn't 5 say my name, but I presume you're going to pass it off to 6 me. 7 JUDGE HENNEKE: Commissioner Letz. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Everyone on the Court, I 9 think, has received the most recent revised pages. And the 10 cover sheet of the first page lists all the pages, and I 11 really don't see the point of going through them 12 page-by-page again, as we've done a number of times. 13 However, there is one thing I'm getting ready to hand out, 14 and these are some late changes that had come in from Stuart 15 Barron, and also from -- I think Jannett worked on the fee 16 schedule from Truby -- was working on the fees. What I'm 17 handing out are some revised language -- or new revised 18 language for the Appendix B certification of plats. And 19 certification -- the first one where there's a change is 20 Certification by Administrator of On-Site Sewage Facilities. 21 And the main change -- well, I'll let you -- the main change 22 is that Stuart recommends that we go to a subdivision that's 23 less than 3 acres as a required subdivision. That's 3 acres 24 as opposed to 2 acres. And the reason, as I understand it 25 from briefly talking with Stuart -- is Stuart still here? 5-28-02 101 1 There he is. Is that the sanitary control easement, by 2 size, is -- why don't you explain it, Stuart, before I get 3 into trouble here? 4 MR. BARRON: Is it the appropriate time? 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yes. 6 MR. BARRON: Do y'all have the color-coded 7 copies of them? It may be easier for me to -- 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: No, they don't, but if 9 you just go -- cite that number, the certification by 10 On-Site Administrator. 11 MR. BARRON: The number two certification 12 there, a sanitary well easement is 70,650 square feet. A 13 2-acre tract of land is 84,120 feet. There's not a lot of 14 extra room on a small tract of land like that to install a 15 septic system, so I'm recommending an additional acre. That 16 should be more than sufficient to put in a septic system. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So, basically, what 18 Stuart's recommending is that if a subdivision is less than 19 3 acres, it needs to go through -- 20 MR. BARRON: My review process. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- Stuart's review 22 process to make sure that everything -- that it will work; 23 basically, that you can get both a well -- or possibly a 24 well, but a septic and house and all that on that lot. If 25 it's greater than 3 acres, it never goes through the 5-28-02 102 1 O.S.S.F. review process. It's just deemed to qualify. And 2 it's -- I mean, it's -- basically, Stuart put some science 3 behind the arbitrary number that I pulled out of the air, 4 and came up with a different number. 5 MR. BARRON: I would personally like to see 6 the 10 acres, but that's -- 7 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Sit down, man. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. The next change is 9 on the second page, on Page 4, under the Certification by 10 Floodplain Administrator. Under the standard plat -- well, 11 actually, under the first part, the second line, there's a 12 change, and it's a basic change. We had to keep deleting 13 the words "Community Panel" out of that map name. And then, 14 under the standard plat notes lower down under Scenario 1, 15 you're just changing, I guess, the verbiage a little bit to 16 make it accurate. 17 MR. BARRON: I have a color one if y'all's 18 aren't color-coded. It may be a little easier to see what 19 he's talking about. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: We have lines drawn 21 through ours. 22 MR. BARRON: Okay. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But, I mean, there's -- 24 on this one, there's no substantive changes; we're just 25 making it actually conform to the language put on the maps, 5-28-02 103 1 I believe. 2 MR. BARRON: Yeah. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And then on the next 4 page, there's some change to the permitting regulatory fees, 5 which we set. 6 JUDGE HENNEKE: We don't set the fees. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Well, we don't set them, 8 but we -- 9 JUDGE HENNEKE: We -- is the language in the 10 rules flexible enough to let people know that those 11 Headwaters fees can be changed by them at any time? We set 12 the floodplain and the on-site sewage, but we don't set the 13 permitting and regulatory fees. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: For Headwaters. 15 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: We can just put a note 16 on there that says, "Set by Headwaters," can't we? 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah. I'm wondering -- 18 we kind of changed this a little bit. Maybe we should 19 delete most of those. 20 JUDGE HENNEKE: I don't see any reason why we 21 have the -- any of the fees in our Subdivision Rules and 22 Regs. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: The ones we -- 24 JUDGE HENNEKE: Certainly not the ones that 25 we don't have any control over. 5-28-02 104 1 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Except for 2 information only. And since it's something for people who 3 are looking to do subdivisions or acquire properties, it's 4 information that's valuable to them. 5 JUDGE HENNEKE: But it could be misleading, 6 unless we changed our -- our schedule every time Headwaters 7 changes its schedule. 8 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I see. 9 JUDGE HENNEKE: That's my point. 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: The only two that I would 11 think is the -- you know, and -- but we still don't control 12 it, is the subdivision review fee. And it kind of goes with 13 the Subdivision Rules. 14 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: How about just taking 15 all those out of there and moving this up, and at the 16 bottom, saying that developers or landowners need to contact 17 Headwaters in regard to fees related to Headwaters' 18 jurisdiction? That way we don't have to change this every 19 time they change their fees, but it's just giving them a 20 heads-up -- giving people a heads-up that you got to go talk 21 to Headwaters on areas of their jurisdiction. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I guess -- well, that's 23 fine, doing it that way, but a legal question has come up. 24 David, Headwaters -- you may not know the answer, but 25 Headwaters has a subdivision review fee in here. I think 5-28-02 105 1 it's as they review some subdivisions. Did they have the -- 2 where would they get their authority to have that fee? 3 MR. MOTLEY: It seems to me that it would 4 have to be from the legislation that allowed them to have an 5 underground water authority; would either specifically set 6 out the fee, or else allow them the ability to set their own 7 fees. And I -- again, I can certainly check that out, but I 8 don't -- I don't know that. I know that the -- exactly what 9 you were saying, though, on the septic; that some recent 10 research did show the Commissioners Court, when they set the 11 fees up on septic tanks, but I don't know. But I can find 12 out if you'd like me to. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'd almost say, at this 14 point, maybe we ought to pull the fee page off, because I 15 hadn't really thought of that one thing. Because the only 16 -- the subdivision review that Headwaters is doing is under 17 water availability, and I don't know where they would get 18 the authority to set that. 'Cause if they -- the water 19 availability is something that we're -- we're basically 20 contracting with them, so the fee structure would have to be 21 set by us, not by Headwaters, I would think. We have to 22 agree to a fee structure, possibly, but -- 23 JUDGE HENNEKE: Now, it's been a while since 24 I've done their legal work, but I think they have the 25 authority under Chapter 36 of the Water Code to set fees for 5-28-02 106 1 services. But I think it's a good idea to pull it; I agree 2 with that. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Or we could pull the 4 Headwaters this time and the floodplain -- are those fees, 5 Stuart, that we -- the Court has approved these? 6 MR. BARRON: Yes. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: These are current, 8 approved ones. 9 MR. BARRON: Yes. 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Why don't we just pull 11 the Headwaters, then, fees at this point until we visit with 12 them, make sure that they're -- that there's authority for 13 those fees? 14 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: I'll go along with 15 that. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Other than that, I -- I 17 believe all the changes that we've discussed for the last 18 three or four months are present. 19 MR. BARRON: I'd like to add a little 20 something, if I could. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Sure, Stuart. 22 MR. BARRON: I had left on my part -- I don't 23 know if it got on y'all's document or not -- the land 24 surveyor would certify if it was in a flood -- a 100-year 25 floodplain or not. And the reason for that is -- is that 5-28-02 107 1 they're physically out there on the ground and determining 2 exactly where the subdivision is located by metes and 3 bounds. I don't have those numbers given to me, and I'm not 4 a licensed land surveyor. They can determine exactly where 5 they are. I have to look at a little window that they give 6 me, and the floodplain maps are hard to read. If not all -- 7 if not all the streets are located on there, it is very hard 8 to distinguish where they're at. When they're already out 9 there, they've done the work, they know exactly where 10 they're at, and they know where the floodplain is, I think 11 they ought to be able to determine it without any problem. 12 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: I think that's a good 13 idea, because the surveyors do have the best data, by far, 14 and that would keep arguments from developing between Stuart 15 and -- our Designated Representative and the surveyors and 16 landowners, which has happened on more than one occasion. 17 And they do -- they definitely have the best data, and they 18 have a license that they want to protect. So, if they 19 certify it, that should be good. 20 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: What do they say about 21 it? 22 MR. BARRON: The surveyors? I -- I haven't 23 talked to any of them that said they don't want to do it. 24 Apparently, somebody has. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: They currently do do it. 5-28-02 108 1 MR. BARRON: Yes, sir. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Let me look at that. 3 JUDGE HENNEKE: Yeah. 4 MR. JOHNSTON: They currently do it. 5 Generally, they don't like to do it either, because the data 6 is very vague. It's hard to tell exactly where it is 7 without extensive study. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: No. I mean, that's -- 9 the comments I've heard, they don't -- like Franklin said, 10 they don't like doing it, because it is hard to tell where 11 the floodplain -- they know where they are, but they don't 12 know where they are in the floodplain. 13 MR. JOHNSTON: On the other hand, they are 14 the ones, really, that have the instrumentation and the 15 knowledge to put it on the map, where they probably should 16 be the one to put it on. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And I think -- I think 18 Stuart's point about not being an engineer, you know, that 19 can certify it is valid also. 20 JUDGE HENNEKE: One of the problems, though, 21 is that Stuart's determination as our floodplain 22 administrator is going to be binding upon us. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. 24 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Say that again, Fred? 25 JUDGE HENNEKE: Stuart's determination as our 5-28-02 109 1 floodplain administrator is going to be binding upon us. 2 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: That's correct. 3 JUDGE HENNEKE: You know, and so, do we want 4 him signing off on a surveyor's determination, or him making 5 his own determination? 6 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: I think, in essence, 7 you almost have to do that anyway, don't you? I mean, you'd 8 look at the data and sign off on it, and the surveyor has 9 the best data. 10 MR. BARRON: Yes, sir. 11 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: No doubt about that. 12 So he's got to go along with them. It's just a question of 13 who's certifying it, I think, more than anything. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Well, I think both 15 certify it. 16 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: Yeah. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think the engineer -- 18 that's the way Stuart has it. 19 MR. BARRON: Yes, sir. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: He wants the surveyor 21 to -- 22 MR. BARRON: Both would sign off on it. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- certify it. 24 MR. BARRON: -- in that scenario. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: He certifies it from our 5-28-02 110 1 standpoint and agrees that, yes, it is, or yes, it's not -- 2 or no. 3 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: If he saw something 4 way out of whack, in his opinion, he wouldn't sign off on 5 it. Stuart wouldn't. 6 MR. BARRON: And I think that's the beauty of 7 us keeping a checks-and-balance instead of just one person 8 saying yes or no. It will definitely help. 9 MR. JOHNSTON: Are you talking about the 10 BFE's, or just the line on the -- 11 MR. BARRON: Just the actual location of the 12 100-year floodplain. A zones, also. 13 MR. JOHNSTON: Do you set the BFE's or do 14 they? 15 MR. BARRON: Its depends on what flood -- 16 floodplain they're in. If it's in an AE zone, it's already 17 determined by FEMA. If it's in an A zone, depending on how 18 large the subdivision is, then we make -- then they have to 19 certify. If not, then we can do it, if it's not very large. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I mean, I don't have any 21 problem with -- I mean, with adding that language and making 22 the -- you know, putting it back the way it is. I didn't 23 hear a great response from, you know, the surveyors I talked 24 to. They really didn't have a big problem; it wasn't a 25 breaking point to them. They don't like doing it because of 5-28-02 111 1 that fact. Stuart doesn't like doing it because of that 2 fact. Make them both do it. 3 JUDGE HENNEKE: They can both be in trouble. 4 (Discussion off the record.) 5 JUDGE HENNEKE: I pointed out to Jonathan 6 that I have a question about the certification by 7 Administrator of Headwaters Groundwater Conservation 8 District, which is on the second page of what Stuart handed 9 us. The way it currently reads now, we have the Headwaters 10 District certifying that the subdivision meets the rules and 11 regulations of Headwaters Groundwater Conservation District. 12 Well, why should they be certifying on our plat that it 13 meets the rules and regulations of Headwaters? What we want 14 them to certify is that it meets our Kerr County water 15 availability requirements. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think Truby missed that 17 on the -- or I missed it when I went through it, because I 18 believe we changed that in the text, but didn't change it on 19 the appendix. 20 JUDGE HENNEKE: It's actually not in the 21 text. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. We need to 23 correct that. 24 JUDGE HENNEKE: Okay. Any other questions or 25 comments on the revisions? 5-28-02 112 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: My only -- my comment now 2 is, I'd rather wait two weeks. 3 JUDGE HENNEKE: Okay. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Because if this change 5 didn't get in here, I want to proofread it again to make 6 sure. We have so many drafts going back and forth, I want 7 to make sure the draft that we do is right. And that should 8 have -- we had that in one of the versions, so we -- 9 somewhere, we lost it. We went backwards somewhere. So -- 10 JUDGE HENNEKE: All right. Anyone have any 11 objection to tabling this and bringing it back in a couple 12 weeks? 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I think it's very 14 wise. 15 JUDGE HENNEKE: Okay. Thank you, Stuart. 16 MR. BARRON: Thank you, sir. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: You won't have to come 18 back, Stuart, unless you want to. 19 JUDGE HENNEKE: Next item is Item Number 9, 20 which is consider and discuss approval of the relocation of 21 the Collections Department to the space currently occupied 22 by the Treasurer's office. Even though it doesn't say it on 23 the agenda item, that's upon relocation of the Treasurer's 24 office. 25 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: Hope so. 5-28-02 113 1 JUDGE HENNEKE: I think this is something 2 that we need to do by court action so that departments don't 3 get involved in any turf wars. 4 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Judge, do you want to 5 make a motion? 6 JUDGE HENNEKE: I don't make motions, 7 Commissioner. 8 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah, but you can. 9 JUDGE HENNEKE: I don't. No, I preside. You 10 don't make motions when you preside. 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I move that we approve 12 the relocation of the Collections Department to the space 13 currently occupied by the Treasurer's office. 14 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: Second. 15 JUDGE HENNEKE: Motion by Commissioner 16 Baldwin, second by Commissioner Griffin, that the Court 17 approve relocation of the Collections Department to the 18 space currently occupied by the Treasurer's office upon 19 vacation of such space by the Treasurer's office. Any 20 questions or comments? If not, all in favor, raise your 21 right hand. 22 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 23 JUDGE HENNEKE: Opposed, same sign. 24 (No response.) 25 JUDGE HENNEKE: Motion carries. Item Number 5-28-02 114 1 10, consider and discuss approval of the job description for 2 the Collection Officer in the Collections Department. Y'all 3 have been provided a copy of the job description prepared by 4 Mr. Duncan and Mr. Alford. This was a point that 5 Commissioner Letz made last week, when we had to actually 6 approve a job description. Does anyone have any questions 7 or comments regarding the proposed job description? 8 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Typos. 9 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: What? You said -- 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Typographical. 11 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Y'all know what they 12 are? 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I can't wait. Tell 14 us. 15 JUDGE HENNEKE: Tell us what they are. 16 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Line 2 on the 17 position summary, "Notifies or located." It should be 18 "locates," I believe. 19 JUDGE HENNEKE: Locates, yeah. 20 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: On the very same 21 line, very last word says "Provides." Probably should be 22 singular, not plural. Other than that -- 23 JUDGE HENNEKE: We missed one. The last line 24 of that paragraph should be "Commissioners Court." 25 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Yeah. And 5-28-02 115 1 capitalized, besides. 2 JUDGE HENNEKE: That's right. 3 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Okay. One for your 4 team. 5 JUDGE HENNEKE: Two. 6 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Capital and an 7 apostrophe, so two. Two-to-two. 8 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: You're right. Want 9 to add something? 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: No, I'm not playing. 11 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: I'll move we approve 12 the job description of the Collection Officer, as amended. 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I second that motion. 14 JUDGE HENNEKE: Motion by Commissioner 15 Griffin, second by Commissioner Baldwin, that the Court 16 approve the job description for the Collection Officer in 17 the Collections Department, as amended. Any questions or 18 comments? 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And the -- the duties -- 20 or this job description meets a Grade 17? You think -- you 21 equate it to a Grade 17 in other departments? 22 JUDGE HENNEKE: I believe it does. And my 23 understanding, Brad, was that you reviewed this with 24 Ms. Nemec and she concurred in the classification; is that 25 correct? 5-28-02 116 1 MR. ALFORD: I believe Mr. Duncan did. I did 2 not, 'cause at that time I really didn't have any say-so. I 3 didn't want to overstep my boundaries. But I know 4 Mr. Duncan did work with Ms. Nemec quite closely on revising 5 this. 6 JUDGE HENNEKE: Do you want to approve it 7 subject to her ratification? 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I just want -- I mean, 9 that's fine. I guess I'd just like to -- it doesn't look 10 like a 17, to me, but I think -- it's a job classification, 11 so I'd defer to -- 12 JUDGE HENNEKE: I think it's -- it's not a 13 highly supervised position. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. 15 JUDGE HENNEKE: It's a position that requires 16 a lot of independent action, initiative. Not that all the 17 positions don't, but -- 18 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: Some more than others. 19 JUDGE HENNEKE: -- there's not a 20 superstructure that supports it. But, you know, if we want 21 to -- we need to move forward on this so we can get this 22 thing posted and get people -- applications coming in. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I mean, she's the guru of 24 job descriptions. If Ms. Nemec agrees with this -- 25 JUDGE HENNEKE: Why don't we approve the job 5-28-02 117 1 description and let Ms. Nemec set the appropriate grade? 2 Since she's the one who has that -- 3 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: I'll amend my motion 4 to do that. 5 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: And I'm going to 6 second the amendment. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I like that. 8 JUDGE HENNEKE: All right. Let's restate the 9 motion, then. It's a motion by Commissioner Griffin, second 10 by Commissioner Baldwin, that the Court approve the job 11 description in the -- of the Collection Officer in the 12 Collections Department, with the appropriate grade to be set 13 by the Kerr County Treasurer/Personnel Officer, Barbara 14 Nemec. Brad, are you comfortable enough with that? 15 MR. ALFORD: Yes, sir, I am. 16 JUDGE HENNEKE: Any other questions or 17 comments? 18 MS. PIEPER: Shouldn't that be "step and 19 grade"? 20 JUDGE HENNEKE: Well, the step will be 1 21 unless -- you know, everybody comes in at a 1 unless the 22 Court authorized differently. So -- 23 MS. PIEPER: Okay. 24 MR. ALFORD: If I can ask one more question, 25 after her approval, is that when we would have -- go ahead 5-28-02 118 1 and post it? 2 JUDGE HENNEKE: Yes. 3 MR. ALFORD: I think -- mean if I can get 4 with her tomorrow, we can -- we can post tomorrow afternoon 5 type deal, is what I'm asking. 6 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: How can you post it 7 without knowing what the grade is? 8 MR. ALFORD: After I get with Ms. Nemec. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And -- well, that's a 10 good stopper. 11 JUDGE HENNEKE: Okay. Any further questions 12 or comments? If not, all in favor, raise your right hand. 13 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 14 JUDGE HENNEKE: Opposed, same sign. 15 (No response.) 16 JUDGE HENNEKE: Motion carries. Okay. Item 17 Number 11, consider and discuss becoming a member of the 18 Association of Rural Communities in Texas. I put this back 19 on the agenda. We talked about it about a year or so ago, 20 and it's come back around again. The organization is up and 21 going. They've hired a full-time representative in Austin, 22 an executive director. There's a lot of concern, at least 23 in the Rural Judges' Association, that with redistricting, 24 rural communities have lost so much clout in the Legislature 25 that they need to have more effective representation as 5-28-02 119 1 rural communities. We all know the Texas Association of 2 Counties does not represent rural Texas, nor does the 3 Municipal League. And if you look at the list of -- of -- 4 on the board, you'll find it about evenly divided between 5 county representatives and city types. There are three 6 county judges on the board, including Richard Evans from 7 Bandera County. The cost to the County would be $300 to 8 join. It's something I think we ought to seriously 9 consider. 10 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: $300? 11 JUDGE HENNEKE: Yes. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Is there any money -- is 13 this for next year's budget? I mean, is it -- or is it due 14 now? 15 JUDGE HENNEKE: Well, we could -- I don't see 16 any reason why we couldn't go ahead and make the decision to 17 join, effective -- you know, and -- but with the money 18 coming out of next year's budget, because the real work of 19 the organization is going to be once the Legislature gears 20 up, you know, and really start getting organized and 21 effective in about October/November. So I don't have any 22 problem joining, with the understanding that the dues would 23 come out of next year's budget, which would allow us to 24 budget for it effectively. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: My preference would be to 5-28-02 120 1 kind of commit to join, and then handle it through the 2 budget process as kind of one of our items. 3 JUDGE HENNEKE: I think that would work. 4 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: Is that a motion? 5 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: And then what our goal 6 is, I guess, is this organization, by -- by the time the 7 Legislature goes into session, that we will have lobbying 8 efforts put together, et cetera. I mean, I can't imagine 9 being a member of anything if it's not going to benefit us. 10 JUDGE HENNEKE: Well, I -- 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I would want somebody 12 over there pounding on the table for rural counties. 13 JUDGE HENNEKE: Well, Richard's -- I mean, 14 the requirements are it has to be a county of less than 15 100,000 and a city -- well, a county of less than 200,000, a 16 city of less than 50,000, so you really are striking at 17 rural Texas. It's not something that's going to be 18 dominated by Comal County, Hays County, Williamson County. 19 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I think that's an 20 important factor. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I mean, I think it -- you 22 know, I don't know that we need a motion on it at this 23 point. I think we really need to handle it during the 24 budget process. And I would -- you know, because it's -- we 25 can say we're going to join, but until we budget the money, 5-28-02 121 1 they don't care if we say we're going to join or not. 2 JUDGE HENNEKE: Well, I think they do. I -- 3 you know, I think a commitment from us to become a member, 4 subject to the budget process, gives them another county to 5 put into their -- their roll. And, you know, when they go 6 to the Legislature, if they have 170 counties out of 274, 7 that looks pretty good, as opposed to if they only have 80. 8 So, I would -- I would like to see us commit to joining, 9 subject to the budget process. 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. 11 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: Is that a motion? 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: What? 13 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: You make it, I'll 14 second. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay, that's a motion. 16 I'll make the motion. 17 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: I'll second it. 18 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Make Fred do it. 19 JUDGE HENNEKE: Motion by Commissioner Letz, 20 second by Commissioner Griffin, that the Court authorize 21 membership in the Association of Rural Communities in Texas, 22 subject to the budget process for next year identifying the 23 $300 dues. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Kind of like rainwater 25 catchment. 5-28-02 122 1 JUDGE HENNEKE: We can do that all night. 2 Any other questions or comments? If not, all in favor, 3 raise your right hand. 4 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 5 JUDGE HENNEKE: Opposed, same sign. 6 (No response.) 7 JUDGE HENNEKE: Motion carries. Next agenda 8 item also comes out of the County Judges' -- the Rural 9 County Judges' Association. It's a difficult topic, but 10 it's one that just needs addressing in the worst way, and 11 it's the allocation of state moneys to counties for road 12 maintenance. I think the most telling statistic is the fact 13 that counties currently divide $7,300,000 among all 254 of 14 us for maintenance of roads. That's the same amount of 15 money that's been allocated since 1972, the exact dollar 16 percentage. We haven't got a nickel more in the last 30 17 years. And what is being proposed, led by Richard Evans -- 18 there was an article in County Progress magazine -- is to 19 request that the Legislature increase the fuel tax by 5 20 cents, but at the same time, also change the allocation of 21 funds to the different entities that are in charge of roads 22 so that the counties end up with 10 percent of the total, 23 which in essence would triple the amount of money that would 24 be available to Kerr County for roads in the first year. 25 Asking for an increase in the tax -- the user tax, like 5-28-02 123 1 gasoline tax, propane tax, or diesel tax, is not easy, but 2 the experience of almost everybody has been that it's easier 3 to get blood out of a turnip than it is to get road money 4 away from TexDOT. So, this is something that comes before 5 us to see if we want to join in the effort to equalize the 6 distribution of funds, without appearing to take money away 7 from TexDOT, School Fund, and the Comptroller's Office. 8 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: May I make a comment 9 on your -- on somebody's -- this is probably a topic that 10 somebody -- in the resolution -- 11 JUDGE HENNEKE: Yeah. 12 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: -- the second whereas, 13 "The Kerr County Commissioners Court is responsible for the 14 upgrade and maintenance of 457 miles of county roads, and 15 most of these roads are substandard in comparison to 16 state-maintained roads," that kind of could be a true 17 statement, compared to state-maintained roads. Ours 18 probably are somewhat substandard, but as far as county 19 roads are concerned, our roads are far from substandard. 20 They're in excellent -- 21 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Far superior to 22 Bandera County. 23 JUDGE HENNEKE: I agree with you, 24 Commissioner. This is right -- this is taken from what 25 Bandera and Concho County did. If we wanted to delete that, 5-28-02 124 1 I have no problem with that whatsoever. 2 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: Just say we're 3 responsible for the roads and make a period after that. 4 JUDGE HENNEKE: Yeah. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: What's the total amount? 6 JUDGE HENNEKE: Of what? 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: That Kerr County gets 8 currently. 9 JUDGE HENNEKE: We got about $31,000 last 10 year; 31, 37, something like that, from the State. I mean, 11 it's -- it's not much. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I just -- I don't know 13 that I'm in favor of them giving a tax increase anywhere for 14 not a real significant increase in -- to help the county out 15 a lot. I mean, I think they should give us more money, but 16 they need to give us -- 17 JUDGE HENNEKE: Well, it would take us up to 18 about $113,000, which is what ours -- maybe that's not 19 significant enough to be on record favoring a tax, but 20 you're not going to get TexDOT to let loose of anything they 21 have now. You're not going to get the Legislature to change 22 the current formula. TexDOT controls all that. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And, you know, I think 24 TexDOT, though -- a lot of the major projects, they do 25 eventually pay a large part. I think we're fortunate in 5-28-02 125 1 Kerr County that a lot of the major roads -- and probably in 2 most counties -- are state highways, so they're major 3 thoroughfares. And, you know, I don't know if the bridge 4 fund comes out of bridge money or comes out of that same 5 thing; they pay for a good part of the bridge fund. I wish 6 they'd pay more, but they put a fair amount back into the 7 county. 8 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: My first thought on 9 the thing is, Kerr County roads are -- will soon be all 10 paved and brought up to county standards, and we will 11 automatically go into a maintenance mode from that point. 12 And, just with that thought in mind, it seems to me that we 13 cut way down on our major construction and just get into a 14 maintenance mode, and it just doesn't -- you know, when I 15 think tax increase, maintenance on roads, it just -- 16 something, in my mind, just -- that doesn't fit or go 17 together. Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe I'm seeing it wrong. 18 It's our money anyway, isn't it? 19 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Just ask to get some 20 of it back. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: What we're asking is for 22 them to take more so we can get some back. 23 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah. We want to 24 spend more at the pump so we can get some back. 25 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: This would be to ask 5-28-02 126 1 the Legislature to look at this new -- raise the level of 2 taxation, right? Which is already 33 cents a gallon. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: We're asking the 4 Legislature to tax more, but give us a little bit -- but 5 give us a little bit more of it back. But I'm just not sure 6 the trade-off is -- I'm not sure I'm in favor of asking the 7 Legislature to tax more. 8 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: What I'm afraid of is 9 they'll raise it and not give you anything back. 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Another option. 12 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: Yeah, if we even give 13 them -- that's the fear I would have, really, is that they 14 would play with that -- with that distribution percentage 15 formula, where we -- you know, we get -- we get another 16 $5,000, and we would have been in favor of raising taxes a 17 nickel a gallon or something. That would be -- 18 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Why can't we just ask 19 our good representative to do the lobbying on behalf of -- 20 of rural counties? 21 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: Go back to the last 22 item. 23 JUDGE HENNEKE: I'll leave it in your capable 24 hands. 25 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I'll leave it up to 5-28-02 127 1 Commissioner Baldwin. He knows those ropes well. 2 JUDGE HENNEKE: I think this coming -- this 3 next coming budget year and succeeding budget years, it's 4 going to be exceedingly difficult to fund the Road and 5 Bridge Department at the level that they're at now. And 6 maybe, like Commissioner Baldwin says, once they -- once we 7 get all the roads paved, they won't need as much. But, you 8 know, there are three areas that you can impact the budget 9 to any degree: Sheriff's Department, Road and Bridge, and 10 personnel. And Sheriff's Department takes up about 11 25 percent. Personnel, taking out the Sheriff's Department, 12 probably takes about 24, 26 percent. Road and Bridge takes 13 about 14 percent. 14 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: If the State ups the tax 15 on gas, the Sheriff's Office is going to take up more. 16 JUDGE HENNEKE: Well, you don't pay tax 17 anyway. 18 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Hope not. You can bet 19 they'll find a way. But our families and the employees, you 20 know, we all do. 21 JUDGE HENNEKE: Looking down the road, if -- 22 you know, those are only three areas in your County budget 23 where you can find significant sums to divert into other 24 projects. And if you're going to -- we're going to look at 25 implementing the Sheriff's plan, which means starting this 5-28-02 128 1 year, where are we going to find the money? Because the 2 7.5 percent increase in the ad valorem valuation, by the 3 time you take out a 2 and a half percent COLA and leave 4 yourself a 5 percent increase, it's not going to get you 5 there. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. Well, I -- 7 JUDGE HENNEKE: I'm not going to propose 8 even -- you know, I never have proposed a deficit budget. 9 I've -- we've agreed upon deficit budgets, but I have yet to 10 propose one. I'm not likely to do that again. Okay. Well, 11 I think I get the sense of that one. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'd like to see where it 13 goes. 14 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Kind of like park 15 rules. 16 JUDGE HENNEKE: Well, the only way it's going 17 to work is if we get a strong statement across rural Texas 18 in favor of it. They worked it last year at the 19 Legislature; they actually had a good proposal from Clyde 20 Alexander, who was chairman of the House Transportation 21 Committee. Unfortunately, he retired, so he's not there any 22 more. But we'll see where we go with it. Let's skip over 23 and take up Item 15, the -- since Item Number 13 may 24 involve -- 25 MR. COSBY: I filled out a request to speak 5-28-02 129 1 on this issue. 2 JUDGE HENNEKE: Which issue? 3 MR. COSBY: The 2.12. 4 JUDGE HENNEKE: Okay, I'm sorry. Mr. Cosby, 5 go ahead. 6 MR. COSBY: Thank you, sir. 7 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Which item? 8 JUDGE HENNEKE: This one we just did, the 9 fuel tax. 10 MR. COSBY: I was a little concerned about 11 it, too. I -- Judge Henneke, I think you said a 5-cent -- 12 is it a 5-cent increase? 13 JUDGE HENNEKE: Yes. 14 MR. COSBY: Per gallon? The resolution says 15 a 40 percent increase in fuel tax. I talked to McGrade Oil 16 Company. Right now, we pay 20 cents per gallon state tax on 17 everything we buy at the pump. Federal tax is 8 -- is 18.4 18 cents per gallon. If we request and get through the 19 Legislature a 40 percent increase, it comes out to 8 cents a 20 gallon. 21 JUDGE HENNEKE: But we don't control the 22 federal tax. 23 MR. COSBY: I know, but I'm saying state tax 24 is 20 cents a gallon right now, and we're asking here in the 25 resolution to increase the motor fuel tax, right, by 5-28-02 130 1 40 percent. Forty percent of 20 cents is 8 cents. So we 2 would have a 28-cents-per-gallon tax on motor fuel. And the 3 reason -- of course, you've already marked it off. I think 4 the reason was because of substandard roads. We have a guy 5 here tonight that was an expert in -- and his testimony is 6 on Page 12 of the workshop you guys had on the 22nd. He 7 said that the roads actually are pretty good. Y'all are 8 fortunate to have an excellent county road system compared 9 to your neighbors. The roads are -- I was amazed actually 10 at your road system. Even -- even out in the boonies with 11 three houses on the end of a road, most of the roads were in 12 extremely good shape. Doesn't sound like substandard to me. 13 JUDGE HENNEKE: That was an error. Error on 14 my part. 15 MR. COSBY: Was it? 16 JUDGE HENNEKE: Yes. 17 MR. COSBY: What is -- 18 JUDGE HENNEKE: In not deleting the reference 19 to substandard roads. I apologize for the error. 20 MR. COSBY: No, no, no, and I accept that, 21 but it doesn't change the fact that it's an 8-cent increase. 22 And that's just another way of taxing the taxpayers, folks. 23 Thank you. 24 JUDGE HENNEKE: Okay. Let's take up Item 25 Number 15, consider and discuss authorization to procure 5-28-02 131 1 legal services from the firm McGinnis Lockridge and Kilgore 2 for wastewater treatment service agreement between City of 3 Kerrville and U.G.R.A. for the Kerrville South Wastewater 4 Project, not to exceed $6,200. Commissioner Williams, isn't 5 this a follow-on to the agenda item we had last -- last week 6 when we allocated that amount of money out of the grant for 7 the legal services? 8 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: It was a follow-up to 9 the last item we did -- dealt with at the previous 10 Commissioners Court authorizing budget transfers not to 11 exceed $6,200 out of the capital operating fund for 12 Kerrville South projects. This is the law firm of choice 13 that has the experience doing these things. They will be 14 the ones that will negotiate with the City of Kerrville. We 15 are, however, the ones that have to make the contract for 16 the services, so that's the reason it's on, and I would 17 offer the agenda item for approval. 18 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: The reason that we 19 approve it is because we're the keeper of the cash? 20 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Right. 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I like it. 23 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Keeper of the cash? 24 New song I'm coming out with here. 25 (Discussion off the record.) 5-28-02 132 1 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I move it. 2 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: Second. 3 JUDGE HENNEKE: Motion by Commissioner 4 Williams, second by Commissioner Griffin, that the Court 5 authorize legal services from the firm McGinnis Lockridge 6 and Kilgore, LLC, for the purposes of negotiating a water 7 service treatment agreement -- wastewater treatment service 8 agreement between the City of Kerrville and U.G.R.A. for the 9 Kerrville South Wastewater Project, with a fee not to exceed 10 $6,200. 11 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: And get the County 12 Judge to sign same. 13 JUDGE HENNEKE: Right. Any questions or 14 comments? If not, all in favor, raise your right hand. 15 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 16 JUDGE HENNEKE: Opposed, same sign. 17 (No response.) 18 JUDGE HENNEKE: Motion carries. All right. 19 We'll turn to Item Number 13, consider and approve an offer 20 to purchase a right-of-way for Sheppard Rees improvement, 21 authorize County Attorney to finalize the purchase, and 22 authorize payment of costs associated by County Treasurer's 23 hand check, if necessary. Mr. Motley, should we go into 24 executive session on this one? 25 MR. MOTLEY: That may not be a bad idea, Your 5-28-02 133 1 Honor. 2 JUDGE HENNEKE: Okay. At this time, the 3 Commissioners Court will go into Executive Session, pursuant 4 to Section 551.072 of the Texas Government Code. The time 5 is 9:37 p.m. 6 (Discussion off the record.) 7 (The open session was closed at 9:38 p.m., and an Executive Session was held, the 8 transcript of which is contained in a separate document.) 9 - - - - - - - - - - 10 JUDGE HENNEKE: Having completed the 11 Executive Session, the Commissioners Court will now return 12 to open session, discussion on the purchase of right-of-way 13 for Sheppard Rees road improvement. Do I have a motion 14 regarding that topic? 15 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yes, sir. I move that 16 we transfer $2,970 from Road and Bridge funds. The line 17 item would be determined at a later time by Road and Bridge 18 and the County Auditor, I assume. That is to be paid for 19 costs and fees related to Sheppard Rees road improvement, 20 authorize the County Attorney to finalize the purchase, and 21 ask the County Treasurer to do a hand check. 22 MR. MOTLEY: Buster, on that one, the $400 23 probably needs to stay over there. They're going to take 24 care of the cost of the fence through whatever -- Road and 25 Bridge is going to do that. So, $400 -- 5-28-02 134 1 COMMISSIONER GRIFFIN: We don't have to 2 transfer. 3 MR. MOTLEY: That wouldn't be transferred? 4 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: $2,570 actually is the 5 number. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: We're probably not really 7 transferring; we're just approving payment. 8 JUDGE HENNEKE: Authorizing. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Or authorizing payment. 10 MR. MOTLEY: I think so. 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That's true. 12 MR. MOTLEY: I thought it was going to be -- 13 County funds were going to be transferred, $400 to them. I 14 didn't know where the money was coming from. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Authorizing payment. 16 Second. 17 JUDGE HENNEKE: Motion by Commissioner 18 Baldwin, second by Commissioner Letz, that the Court 19 authorize the sum of $2,570 for purposes of purchasing the 20 remaining right-of-way parcels for Sheppard Rees road 21 improvement, closing costs associated therewith, authorize 22 the County Attorney to finalize the purchase, and authorize 23 a hand check to be issued by the County Treasurer's office 24 as required. 25 MR. MOTLEY: I'll try to get those other 5-28-02 135 1 costs together. 2 JUDGE HENNEKE: Any other questions or 3 comments? If not, all in favor, raise your right hand. 4 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 5 JUDGE HENNEKE: Opposed, same sign. 6 (No response.) 7 JUDGE HENNEKE: Motion carries. Unless 8 somebody has a death wish, we're adjourned. 9 (Commissioners Court adjourned at 9:59 p.m.) 10 - - - - - - - - - - 11 12 STATE OF TEXAS | 13 COUNTY OF KERR | 14 The above and foregoing is a true and complete 15 transcription of my stenotype notes taken in my capacity as 16 County Clerk of the Commissioners Court of Kerr County, 17 Texas, at the time and place heretofore set forth. 18 DATED at Kerrville, Texas, this 3rd day of June, 2002. 19 20 21 JANNETT PIEPER, Kerr County Clerk 22 BY: _________________________________ Kathy Banik, Deputy County Clerk 23 Certified Shorthand Reporter 24 25 5-28-02