1 2 3 4 5 6 7 KERR COUNTY COMMISSIONERS COURT 8 Emergency Session 9 Friday, May 16, 2003 10 4:45 p.m. 11 Commissioners' Courtroom 12 Kerr County Courthouse 13 Kerrville, Texas 14 15 16 BURN BAN 17 18 19 20 21 PRESENT: PAT TINLEY, Kerr County Judge 22 H. A. "BUSTER" BALDWIN, Commissioner Pct. 1 DAVE NICHOLSON, Commissioner Pct. 4 23 ABSENT: WILLIAM "BILL" WILLIAMS, Commissioner Pct. 2 24 JONATHAN LETZ, Commissioner Pct. 3 25 2 1 On Friday, May 16, 2003, at 4:45 p.m., an emergency 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: Okay. It's -- it's a bit past 8 4:45 local time in the afternoon on this 16th day of May, so 9 I will call to order the special emergency Commissioners 10 Court meeting scheduled this time, notice having been posted 11 more than two hours prior to this on this date. The only 12 item on the agenda is consider and discuss imposition of 13 burn ban for Kerr County. Commissioner Nicholson, this was 14 something that you were seeming to have an acute interest 15 in. 16 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: I've talked directly 17 to the -- to the Ingram Fire Chief and the Hunt Fire Chief, 18 and they are alarmed at the dry conditions in west Kerr 19 County. And while I'm not an expert on firefighting, I can 20 see that the grass is awfully dry, wind's high, humidity's 21 fairly low. And while we were sitting there in the fire 22 department, we heard the call over the radio that there's a 23 brush fire out at Comfort; called in the the volunteer fire 24 departments. Maybe the fire departments -- volunteer fire 25 departments overreact a little bit. You guys -- at least 5-16-03 emg 3 1 Buster's got a lot more experience than I do with this, but 2 I agree with them; I think we need a burn ban. So, I 3 propose -- I move that a burn ban for Kerr County be 4 established for 90 days, to be effective immediately, under 5 the terms and conditions that the Commissioner of each 6 precinct is authorized to suspend the burn ban by written 7 direction to the Kerr County Commissioners Court 8 Coordinator. 9 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay. I'm going to 10 second that motion. I have a question. 11 JUDGE TINLEY: All right. Motion's been made 12 and seconded that the burn ban for Kerr County be imposed 13 for 90 days, to be effective immediately, as stated by 14 Commissioner Nicholson, seconded by Commissioner Baldwin. 15 And your question, sir? 16 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yes, sir. I just want 17 to make sure that I understand this. This program of each 18 Commissioner being able to call a burn ban in -- in his own 19 precinct, is that program just -- is that the 90-day, and at 20 the end of the 90-day, you have to renew that for another 90 21 or 20 or whatever? You know, I want to establish a burn ban 22 in my precinct today. Do I need to fill out something? 23 MS. SOVIL: No, you're calling a burn ban 24 county-wide. This -- the way the court order -- he has 25 moved will allow each Commissioner to lift it in their 5-16-03 emg 4 1 precinct, and at such a time, then they can put it back on 2 in their precinct during the 90-day period. 3 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Is that what we did 4 when we were putting it on and off? 5 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Commissioner 6 Baldwin, I've also put on the agenda for our next 7 Commissioners Court meeting an item to -- to look at the way 8 we effectuate burn bans and see if we want to do something 9 different, and at that time I'll be able to hear what your 10 experience has been with these kind of things. 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: It didn't bother me. 12 It's just -- you know, the -- the fact the that many times, 13 particularly in the last two or three years, it seems that 14 Commissioner Letz can get as much as 3 inches of rain, and 15 you and I don't get a drop. And so, you know, just -- we 16 need that leeway, I think. 17 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: I think we do. 18 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: And I, as well, called 19 my Fire Chief out at Turtle Creek, and he highly recommended 20 that we move forward with this. And, as always, I always 21 talk to City of Kerrville Fire Department, and, you know, 22 they never say, "Buster, you got to go out there and put a 23 burn ban on," but they say, "Conditions are not very good 24 out there." So I take that as an encouragement. So -- 25 JUDGE TINLEY: Your motion, then, would 5-16-03 emg 5 1 impose a county-wide burn ban for 90 days, and during that 2 90 days, each Commissioner, for his respective precinct, 3 would be allowed to file something in writing with the 4 Commissioners Court administrator to lift the burn ban in 5 their precinct, or if a burn ban has previously been lifted, 6 to notify the Commissioners Court Coordinator that the burn 7 ban in that Commissioner's precinct is reimposed? 8 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Yes. 9 JUDGE TINLEY: Is that the understanding I 10 have? 11 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Yes. 12 JUDGE TINLEY: That's your understanding? 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That's exactly the way 14 I understand it. 15 MS. SOVIL: I have a question. Are we going 16 to post it on our web site? 17 MS. PIEPER: Our web site's been down 18 since -- 19 MS. SOVIL: No, it's back up. 20 MS. PIEPER: Is it? 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Who's doing it? 911? 22 MS. SOVIL: No, 911 has their own web site, 23 and it is on there right now. It should have gone on at 24 4:45 -- at 4:55. And -- 25 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: This is a four, and 5-16-03 emg 6 1 this is a five. 2 MS. SOVIL: Yes, sir. 3 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay. 4 MS. SOVIL: And -- but remember in 5 previous -- last year, it was posted on the Kerr County web 6 site. 7 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Right. 8 MS. SOVIL: And our HEAT number will be 9 back -- is back in effect also, 792-HEAT. You can find the 10 status of the burn ban in your precinct. It's a public 11 number. 12 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Judge, would you 13 just -- for clarity, would you go over that one more time? 14 And so we can -- 15 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion is that the burn 16 ban be imposed county-wide in Kerr County for a period of 90 17 days, effective immediately, with a proviso that each 18 Commissioner, during that 90-day period and for that 19 Commissioner's precinct, can lift the burn ban as to that 20 precinct by filing written notice of the lifting of the burn 21 ban for that precinct with the Commissioners Court 22 Coordinator. And if the ban has previously been lifted 23 during that 90 days by that Commissioner in that precinct, 24 he can reimpose it by a similar notification to the 25 Commissioners Court Coordinator. 5-16-03 emg 7 1 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Very clear now. And 2 both of us have visited with the fire chiefs in our 3 respective precincts, and their recommendation is to move 4 forward. I'm in agreement. 5 JUDGE TINLEY: Any further discussion? All 6 in favor of the motion, signify by raising your right hand. 7 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 8 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 9 (No response.) 10 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion does carry. The record 11 will reflect -- of course, I should have stated this at the 12 beginning -- that, of course, present are Commissioners 13 Nicholson and Baldwin and myself, and absent are 14 Commissioners Williams and Letz. But we do have a quorum, 15 and therefore the motion and the vote were by majority of 16 the quorum present. Any further business? I'll declare the 17 meeting adjourned. 18 (Commissioners Court adjourned at 4:55 p.m.) 19 - - - - - - - - - - 20 21 22 23 24 25 5-16-03 emg 8 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 16th day of May, 2003. 8 9 10 JANNETT PIEPER, Kerr County Clerk 11 BY: _________________________________ Kathy Banik, Deputy County Clerk 12 Certified Shorthand Reporter 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 5-16-03 emg