1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 KERR COUNTY COMMISSIONERS COURT 9 Special Session 10 Thursday, February 6, 2003 11 11:00 a.m. 12 Commissioners' Courtroom 13 Kerr County Courthouse 14 Kerrville, Texas 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 PRESENT: PAT TINLEY, Kerr County Judge 23 H. A. "BUSTER" BALDWIN, Commissioner Pct. 1 WILLIAM "BILL" WILLIAMS, Commissioner Pct. 2 24 DAVE NICHOLSON, Commissioner Pct. 4 25 ABSENT: JONATHAN LETZ, Commissioner Pct. 3 2 1 I N D E X February 6, 2003 2 PAGE 3 1.1 Consider and discuss approval to pay the election judges, alternates, and clerks 4 for their services performed during the early voting and election day process, to 5 be taken out of line item 10-402-569 3 6 1.2 Conduct the Canvass of the Youth Exhibit Center Bond Election as per Chapter 67 of 7 the Texas Election Code 7 8 --- Adjourned 12 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 3 1 On Thursday, February 6, 2003, at 11:00 a.m., a special 2 meeting of the Kerr County Commissioners Court was held in 3 the Commissioners' Courtroom, Kerr County Courthouse, 4 Kerrville, Texas, and the following proceedings were had in 5 open court: 6 P R O C E E D I N G S 7 JUDGE TINLEY: It's 11 o'clock on Thursday, 8 February the 6th, 2003. I'll call to order this special 9 Commissioners Court meeting. The first item on the 10 agenda -- I assume we don't want to get into some of the 11 other usual matters that we regularly have with our regular 12 meeting, do we? First item on the agenda is to consider and 13 discuss approval to pay the election judges, alternates, and 14 clerks for their services performed during the early voting 15 and the election day process, those payments to be made out 16 of Line Item 10-402-569. Ms. Pieper? 17 MS. PIEPER: Gentlemen, rather than waiting 18 until, like, the next regular day to pay -- that the Auditor 19 sends out payment, I would like to get our election 20 personnel paid. They seem to appreciate performing their 21 services better if they're paid in a timely manner. 22 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: We appreciate them, 23 so we should do that. 24 MS. PIEPER: Yes. So I don't mind asking for 25 them to be paid a little bit early. 2-6-03 4 1 MS. SOVIL: Do you want hand checks? 2 MS. PIEPER: Yes, and I would request hand 3 checks, if possible. I mean, if that's what it takes. 4 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: You're requesting 5 what? 6 JUDGE TINLEY: Hand checks. 7 MS. PIEPER: Hand checks. 8 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Oh, sure. We're just 9 doing a blanket motion? Or are we -- do you have a specific 10 list, or what do we do? 11 MS. PIEPER: I have already turned the list 12 of election workers in to the Auditor's office. 13 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Judge, I move that 14 the election judges, alternates, and clerks be compensated 15 for the services performed in the election day process and 16 early voting that took place in Kerr County on the bond 17 election, and that the hand checks be authorized. 18 JUDGE TINLEY: In accordance with the list 19 previously submitted to the -- 20 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: That's exactly what I 21 said. 22 JUDGE TINLEY: I thought that's what you 23 said. 24 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I'll second that 25 motion, but I have a question. 2-6-03 5 1 MS. PIEPER: Yes, sir? 2 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion's made and seconded. 3 Mr. Baldwin? 4 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah. I'm assuming 5 that there's money there. I mean, that's just an 6 assumption. 7 MS. PIEPER: Yes, sir, that was money that 8 was budgeted for -- 9 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: And there's plenty 10 there? How much is it? I mean -- 11 MS. PIEPER: It's going to total about 12 $6,000-something. 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: About $6,000. 14 MS. PIEPER: I think the complete election 15 costs the County about $13,000. 16 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Well, my question here 17 is, I mean, seems to me that if I'm going to represent the 18 taxpayers and vote on an issue -- I mean, I'm not throwing 19 up a roadblock here; I'm just thinking that we need at least 20 a specific number of how -- I mean, we're just approving 21 something -- 22 MS. PIEPER: No, sir. When I presented my 23 budget for approval from the Commissioners Court -- 24 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Mm-hmm. 25 MS. PIEPER: -- we had allotted $20,000 for a 2-6-03 6 1 complete election, and then in that we had approved the 2 judges and alternate clerks, so those were set by the Court 3 as well. 4 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So, there's 20 grand 5 in the budget for the election? 6 MS. PIEPER: For the bond election. 7 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: And you think it's 8 about $6,000? 9 MS. PIEPER: Yes. I totaled it up, and I 10 don't remember the exact figure, but it was like $6,000. 11 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: For just the 12 personnel part? 13 MS. PIEPER: For just the personnel part. 14 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: The other piece, you 15 said, was going to bring it up to about 13? 16 MS. PIEPER: Yeah, total of $13,000. 17 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Which is seven under 18 what we budgeted. 19 MS. PIEPER: Yes. 20 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay. Well, my second 21 still stands, and I seconded on the recommendation of the 22 County Clerk. 23 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Motion's been made and 24 seconded by Commissioners Williams and Baldwin, 25 respectively, that we approve payment to the election 2-6-03 7 1 judges, alternates, and clerks for the services during early 2 voting and on election day, services performed on the bond 3 election, and that they be issued hand checks in accordance 4 with the specific list, as previously provided by the County 5 Clerk to the County Auditor. Is there any further 6 discussion? I'm looking at, under -- under 402-569, 7 Election Expense, a total amount of $20,750 was approved in 8 the budget for that -- for that particular category, if that 9 makes a difference. Is there any further discussion? Being 10 none, all in favor, raise your right hand. 11 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 12 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 13 (No response.) 14 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion carries. Thanks, 15 Ms. Pieper. 16 MS. PIEPER: You're welcome. 17 JUDGE TINLEY: Next item of business is to 18 conduct the canvass of the Youth Exhibit Center bond 19 election in accordance with Chapter 67 of the Texas Election 20 Code. I have been provided with the returns and tally list 21 of the bond election held on the 1st day of February of this 22 year, and in all the election precincts. 23 MS. PIEPER: Judge, in providing you with 24 that tally, on election night, when I kept my -- my totals 25 going on my computer, I provided you with several copies of 2-6-03 8 1 that, I believe. And, that way, there is a breakdown of 2 what is in with the tally and on the book, just for an 3 easier canvass for you. And then, that way, you can just 4 call out the "for" totals and "against." 5 JUDGE TINLEY: All right. The -- the numbers 6 that -- that I have been provided by the Clerk are broken 7 out into early vote and election, but in the actual return 8 book for the election, we have totals of -- of both the 9 early and the election day's totals combined. And, for the 10 record, Precinct 1, voting for the proposition to issue the 11 bonds is 210. Voting against in Precinct 1 was 270. In 12 Precinct 2, voting for the proposition were 208. Voting 13 against are 133. These are the election day totals that I'm 14 giving you. In Precinct 3, voting for the proposition, 98. 15 Against, 116. In Precinct 4, voting for, 207. Against, 16 188. And then the combined early totals voting, for the 17 proposition, 577, and against, 669. The combined aggregate 18 total voting for the proposition, 1,300. Voting against the 19 proposition, 1,376. Do I hear a motion that the canvass be 20 approved and the results certified as official? 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So moved. 22 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Second. 23 JUDGE TINLEY: It's been moved and seconded 24 by Commissioners Baldwin and Nicholson, respectively, that 25 the totals be approved and certified as the official results 2-6-03 9 1 of the election. Is there any discussion on this matter? 2 There being none, all in favor, raise your right hand. 3 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 4 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 5 (No response.) 6 JUDGE TINLEY: Court approves the same also. 7 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: That was easy. 8 MS. PIEPER: Gentlemen, while I have your 9 attention, can I just make a comment? Commissioners Baldwin 10 and Williams, I have spoke to y'all before about our 11 election systems, but I don't know if you were aware, we 12 fall under the grandfather clause now, meaning that our 13 election system is not A.D.A. compliant, and I didn't know 14 how long we were going to be able to fall under that. 15 However, I have a memorandum from the Secretary of the State 16 that now says as of November of 2006, each polling place in 17 this state must have at least one accessible voting system 18 per polling place. 19 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: One what? 20 MS. PIEPER: One accessible voting system per 21 polling place. 22 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: What does that mean? 23 MS. PIEPER: That means that a blind person 24 or a handicapped person that comes into the polling place on 25 election day has to have a voting system that meets their 2-6-03 10 1 needs. 2 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Electronic or -- 3 MS. PIEPER: I'm not real sure. I have to -- 4 as soon as more specifications come out from the Secretary 5 of the State, I'm going to start working on getting whatever 6 kind of knowledge I can on the different systems to find out 7 what would meet the needs of Kerr County. 8 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: In the past, didn't 9 it -- didn't it -- I don't know if we can have this 10 discussion, actually. That's nice. (Laughter.) 11 MS. PIEPER: Thank you. 12 JUDGE TINLEY: When Mrs. Pieper brought that 13 to my attention, my first question to her was, I guess we'd 14 best contact the Secretary of State's office and find out 15 what the particular criteria and guidelines are that we've 16 got to have available at each -- at each polling place, and 17 my observation then was that I -- the problem is, what they 18 have in place now is probably not going to be the same as 19 what they have in place in 2006. And her response to me was 20 that, well, they don't have those criteria worked up yet. 21 MS. PIEPER: But you can bet whatever it's 22 going to be, it's going to be expensive. We've got 20 23 polling locations. 24 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Hurry up and wait. 25 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Do you think that, 2-6-03 11 1 besides the typical physical access accommodations, like 2 ramps and things like that, it also has something to do with 3 the method of voting? 4 MS. PIEPER: Right. We are all compliant as 5 far as our locations, but there is, like, a ballot that a 6 blind person could vote on or, you know, somebody that may 7 have an impairment with their arms or something. 8 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Just as a matter of 9 curiosity, isn't a blind person allowed to have someone with 10 them to mark the ballot? 11 MS. PIEPER: Yes. But with all the stuff 12 that's coming down with the different groups, they don't 13 feel that that is voter security. Because, even though the 14 blind person would tell -- tell their assistant they would 15 like to vote for Joe Blow, that assistant could mark Sally 16 Sue instead. 17 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: In which case, the 18 blind person should get a new assistant. 19 MS. PIEPER: If they even find out about it. 20 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Right. 21 JUDGE TINLEY: The only suggestion I'd make 22 is that, at such time as you get these criteria, after they 23 get them developed, well, bring them to our attention. 24 We'll see where we go from there. I don't see there's 25 anything else that we can do. 2-6-03 12 1 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: No. What I'm afraid 2 of, it's going to be one of those things where the State 3 says, okay, here's the problem and y'all figure it out and 4 pay for it. Tell us what's going to happen. 5 MS. PIEPER: I'm sure that's probably what's 6 going to happen. That's what normally happens. 7 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: State mandates, 8 County pays. 9 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Which there's going to 10 be a lot of that coming soon, I'm sure. 11 MS. PIEPER: They're doing grants for the 12 punch cards and the lever machines, but we don't fall under 13 either one of those criteria, so -- 14 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Punch card? 15 MS. PIEPER: Florida. 16 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Swinging chads or 17 whatever? 18 MS. PIEPER: Oh, yes. 19 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: No, I'm not going to 20 vote in favor of anything like that. 21 MS. PIEPER: We don't qualify for grants. 22 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Hanging chads. 23 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Any further business? 24 Hearing none, we'll stand adjourned. 25 (Commissioners Court adjourned at 11:14 a.m.) 2-6-03 13 1 STATE OF TEXAS | 2 COUNTY OF KERR | 3 The above and foregoing is a true and complete 4 transcription of my stenotype notes taken in my capacity as 5 County Clerk of the Commissioners Court of Kerr County, 6 Texas, at the time and place heretofore set forth. 7 DATED at Kerrville, Texas, this 6th day of February, 8 2003. 9 10 11 JANNETT PIEPER, Kerr County Clerk 12 BY: _________________________________ Kathy Banik, Deputy County Clerk 13 Certified Shorthand Reporter 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 2-6-03