1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 KERR COUNTY COMMISSIONERS COURT 9 Emergency Session 10 Wednesday, July 16, 2003 11 4:00 p.m. 12 Commissioners' Courtroom 13 Kerr County Courthouse 14 Kerrville, Texas 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 PRESENT: PAT TINLEY, Kerr County Judge H. A. "BUSTER" BALDWIN, Commissioner Pct. 1 24 WILLIAM "BILL" WILLIAMS, Commissioner Pct. 2 JONATHAN LETZ, Commissioner Pct. 3 25 DAVE NICHOLSON, Commissioner Pct. 4 2 1 I N D E X July 16, 2003 2 PAGE 3 1.1 Consider and discuss selection of voting precincts at the selected combined polling 4 locations to facilitate Justice Department clearance for the Constitutional Election on 5 September 13 3 6 1.2 Consider and discuss amending Court Order No. 28156 (Appointment of Election Judges and 7 Alternates for the tem of one year beginning August 1, 2003) 7 8 --- Adjourned 9 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 3 1 On Wednesday, July 16, 2003, at 4:00 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: I will call to order the 8 special emergency Commissioners Court meeting scheduled for 9 today, Wednesday, July 16th, at 4 p.m. It's a couple 10 minutes after 4 p.m. now. This meeting was necessitated by 11 an unforeseen situation, in that it was necessary not only 12 that -- that there be a designation of the consolidation of 13 the polling places, but a specific identification of which 14 particular voting precincts would be voting at each 15 particular consolidated polling place, and that was required 16 in order that the Clerk could obtain the appropriate 17 clearance from the Texas -- from the United States 18 Department of Justice. So, I'll allow each of you gentlemen 19 to designate which voting precincts are going to be at which 20 particular polling place. Precinct 1? 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yes, sir. Thank you 22 very much. Of course, I did as the rest of you did and 23 chose two -- two voting places in my precinct, and I tried 24 to split them almost in half -- split my precinct almost in 25 half so no one would have to travel very far. One is 7-16-03 4 1 precinct -- Voting Precinct 107, which is the church on 2 Highway 16. The name of it -- 3 MS. PIEPER: Heart of the Hills. 4 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Heart of the Hills 5 Church on Highway 16. And Trinity Baptist, which is 119, 6 Voting Precinct 119. So, in Voting Precinct 107, we want to 7 ask two to come in there, 107 and 101, to vote at Precinct 8 107. Then at Precinct 119, Trinity Baptist, we're going to 9 ask 109, 119, 113, and 118 to go to Trinity Baptist to vote. 10 And that's kind of an equal distance for everybody, and I 11 think it's going to be comfortable. 12 JUDGE TINLEY: Precinct 2? 13 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Precinct 2, Voting 14 District 202 will vote at the American Legion -- the Center 15 Point American Legion Hall. And Precinct 211 will vote with 16 215 at the Extension Office, the Ag complex. 17 JUDGE TINLEY: Precinct 3? 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Precinct 3, we'll have a 19 rural location. It will be Precinct 303, and 308 and 303 20 will vote at Cypress Creek Community Center. And then 320, 21 312, and 314 will vote at the courthouse. 22 JUDGE TINLEY: Precinct 4? 23 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: One polling place 24 would be 406, the First Presbyterian Church, and the 25 precincts that will vote there are 404, 405, 406, and 410. 7-16-03 5 1 Second polling place will be Western Hills Baptist Church. 2 417 and 416 will be also voting there. Why are there 3 different numbers of precincts -- voting precincts on 4 Commissioners' precincts? 5 MS. PIEPER: Why are there different numbers? 6 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Yeah. Why are there 7 three in Precinct 2 and six in Precinct 4? 8 MS. PIEPER: It goes by population of each 9 precinct. You can have up to 5,000 people in each precinct. 10 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Well, we all have 11 the same -- we all have the same number of population. 12 That's just an idle question. 13 MS. PIEPER: But you have -- 14 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: I don't want to hold 15 Bill up any longer. 16 MS. PIEPER: But you have little, bitty -- 17 you have other areas, like there's probably the same 18 population here that may be -- that may cover, like, the big 19 old area here. 20 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Again -- 21 MS. PIEPER: So each -- 22 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: -- I've got about 23 12,000 or 13,000 people. You can divide that by six, six 24 precincts. Bill's got 12,000 or 13,000 people, and he 25 posted three precincts. So he's -- on the average, he has 7-16-03 6 1 to have three times as many people go into each polling 2 place as I do. 3 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I think it's 4 geographical. 5 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Geography more than 6 anything. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I've never figured it 8 out. 9 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: That's got to be it. 10 JUDGE TINLEY: Anything further on this 11 particular item, gentlemen? Let's move on to the next 12 item -- 13 MS. ALFORD: We have to have a motion. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: Pardon? 15 MS. ALFORD: We have to have a motion. 16 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Judge, I move that we 17 approve the -- the -- 18 MS. PIEPER: Consolidation of the polling 19 locations. 20 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Do I have a second? 21 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Second. You do. 22 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Thank you. 23 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Even though you 24 struggled to get it out. 25 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded that 7-16-03 7 1 we consolidate the specified voting precincts into the 2 consolidated polling places, as specified by each of the 3 respective Commissioners. All in favor of the motion, 4 signify by raising your right hand. 5 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 6 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 7 (No response.) 8 JUDGE TINLEY: Next item, consider and 9 discuss amending Court Order Number 28156 relating to the 10 appointment of election judges and alternates for the term 11 of one year beginning August 1, 2003. And tell us what -- 12 MS. PIEPER: Gentlemen, after I had got back 13 to the office yesterday and I got all 41 of my notices to my 14 election judges and alternate judges printed out, I got an 15 e-mail from our Democratic County Chair stating that one of 16 the judges would not be able to work -- one of the alternate 17 judges would not be able to work election day, and so that 18 was in Precinct 202, which was Nell Sevey. She wants to 19 move the alternate judge Adolph Castillo up to -- 20 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Again, please? 21 MS. PIEPER: Excuse me? 22 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Again? Who? 23 MS. PIEPER: Adolph Castillo. She wants to 24 move him to Precinct 202 as the alternate judge, and then 25 she wants to substitute 215 with Joyce Woods. 7-16-03 8 1 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: That's fine. 2 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: The remaining -- I 3 mean, the parties remain the same? They're still going to 4 be Democrats? 5 MS. PIEPER: Yes. 6 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: All the 7 Republicans -- 8 MS. PIEPER: Republicans are judges. The 9 Democrats are the alternate judges. 10 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: You need a motion? 11 MS. PIEPER: Yes. 12 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I move that what you 13 said is what we do. 14 MS. PIEPER: Okay. 15 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I wish I could 16 think like that. 17 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: I second it. 18 Jannett, did you say that the Democrat party chairman 19 contacted you? 20 MS. PIEPER: Yes. 21 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Who is that? 22 MS. PIEPER: Dot Larimer. 23 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion's been made and 24 seconded that we amend Court Order Number 28156 to provide 25 that the Democratic party alternate judge roster be changed 7-16-03 9 1 to provide that Adolph Castillo be moved to Precinct -- 2 Voting Precinct 202, and Joyce Woods be named the -- the 3 alternate judge in 215. 4 MS. PIEPER: That's correct. 5 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: The -- so the judges 6 and alternate judges are not required to live in the 7 precincts? 8 MS. PIEPER: No. If at all possible, we're 9 supposed to get judges and alternates and clerks, but if we 10 can't find one that will agree to do it, then we can go 11 outside the area. Just not outside the county. 12 JUDGE TINLEY: Any further question or 13 discussion? If not, all in favor of the motion, signify by 14 raising your right hand. 15 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 16 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 17 (No response.) 18 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion does carry. 19 MS. PIEPER: Thank you. 20 JUDGE TINLEY: That's all I have on the 21 agenda, gentlemen, so I'll declare the meeting adjourned. 22 (Commissioners Court adjourned at 4:13 p.m.) 23 - - - - - - - - - - 24 25 7-16-03 10 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 July, 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 7-16-03