1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 KERR COUNTY COMMISSIONERS COURT 9 Special Session 10 Monday, March 22, 2004 11 9:00 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 H. A. "BUSTER" BALDWIN, Commissioner Pct. 1 23 WILLIAM "BILL" WILLIAMS, Commissioner Pct. 2 DAVE NICHOLSON, Commissioner Pct. 4 24 ABSENT: JONATHAN LETZ, Commissioner Pct. 3 25 2 1 I N D E X March 22, 2004 2 PAGE --- Commissioners' Comments 4 3 1.1 Approval of easement request for construction by KPUB, authorize County Judge to sign same 7 4 1.2 Consider rescinding resolution approved by Court Order #28560 9 5 1.3 Approve road names for privately maintained roads 21 1.4 Discuss process for selecting candidates for Comm. 6 Court Coordinator/Administrative Asst. position, authorize temporary hire for interim period 22 7 1.5 Union Church Use Regulations and Rental Rates 27 1.6 Request waiver of hookup & capital recovery fees 8 for River Star Arts Park sewer/water connection 30 1.7 Assignment of Real Estate Lease and Agreement for 9 loan to Texas Arts and Craft Fair Foundation, authorize County Judge to sign 33 10 1.8 Authorize Kerr County Environmental Health Dept. to file Solid Waste Grant Application with AACOG 35 11 1.9 Amendment to engineering contract with Tetra Tech, Inc., to extend the termination date, 12 authorize County Judge to sign same 44 1.10 Award bid for single-course sealcoating to low 13 bidder for Kerrville South Wastewater Project 45 1.11 Authorize ad valorem tax freeze on residential 14 property of persons age 65 & older and disabled 47 1.12 Request opinion indicating what entity has 15 authority to approve settlements of final judgment in bail bond forfeiture cases 61 16 1.13 Request to approve the proposed budget amendment for Kerr Central Appraisal District 63 17 1.14 Request by the Hill Country Automobile Club to use Courthouse Square for annual car show July 3rd 67 18 1.15 Request permission to hang children's shoes from trees in front of the courthouse during April for 19 Child Abuse Prevention and Awareness month 68 1.16 Request for permission to hold annual garage sale 20 on courthouse grounds by Tivy Cheerleaders 72 1.17 Burn Ban status 73 21 1.18 Authorize Texas Dept. of Criminal Justice Parole Division to utilize Courthouse space for parolee 22 reporting and related contacts 75 3.1 Action taken on Executive Session items 81 23 4.1 Pay Bills 85 4.2 Budget Amendments 86 24 4.3 Late Bills -- 4.4 Approve and Accept Monthly Reports 88 25 5.1 Reports from Commissioners/Liaison Assignments 88 --- Adjourned 90 3 1 On Monday, March 22, 2004, at 9:00 a.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 TINLEY: Let me call the meeting to 7 order of the special Commissioners Court posted for this 8 date, Monday, March 22nd at 9 a.m. It's a couple of minutes 9 after that now. Commissioner Letz advised that he would not 10 be with us today, stating that he had a family wedding to 11 attend, so we're operating one short today. Commissioner 12 Williams, I think today is your day, is it not? 13 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Will you please rise 14 and join me in a word of prayer, and remain standing for the 15 pledge of allegiance. 16 (Prayer and pledge of allegiance.) 17 JUDGE TINLEY: At this point, if there is any 18 member of the public that wishes to be heard on any matter 19 that is not listed on the agenda as a listed agenda item, 20 they're privileged to come forward at this time and to let 21 us know what their thinking is on whatever it is they want 22 to tell us about, as long as it's not a listed agenda item. 23 If it is a listed agenda item, we would ask that you make 24 your desire known to speak on that item by filling out a 25 participation request form. They're at the back of the 3-22-04 4 1 room, and you can fill those out and get them up here. It's 2 not absolutely essential, but it helps me in planning so 3 that I don't miss you when we come to that item, and just go 4 by it and go on to something else. If I don't have your 5 note, why, it's hard for me to pick it up. So, if there's 6 anybody here, a member of the public that wishes to come 7 forward and speak to us about anything that's not a listed 8 item on the agenda, we welcome you to come forward at this 9 time. Well, there's not much movement out there, so we'll 10 get on with our regular business. Commissioner Williams, do 11 you have anything for us this morning? 12 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Just a couple 13 quickies, Judge. Tomorrow at 10 o'clock at the Center Point 14 Cemetery, the slain serviceman James Kiehl from Comfort will 15 be honored in a special ceremony. I believe the -- I 16 believe the Texas Rangers Association is doing this, and any 17 of the public who would like to come by, pay tribute to this 18 fallen soldier from among us, is certainly welcome to do 19 that. And, secondly, we talk from time to time about the 20 burn ban and the net effects of the burn ban, and people 21 having good judgment about when to burn, when not to burn, 22 how to burn, how not to burn. And sometimes it works and 23 sometimes our warning doesn't work, but it is especially 24 disheartening when it doesn't work when it applies to county 25 or other governmental property. And I take note of the fact 3-22-04 5 1 that while there's a -- there is a contract underway for 2 clearing airport property, it's not a county contract; it's 3 a TexDOT contract. And they did a lot of clearing out there 4 and knocked down a lot of trees, which I had a lot of phone 5 calls about, but that's neither here nor there. And all of 6 a sudden, one bright, windy day, we're going to burn all 7 those trees, notwithstanding that the breeze is blowing 8 pretty steadily and it's blowing from north to south, and 9 it's just covering up a lot of folks with smoke and live 10 embers and so forth, and creating a lot of anxiety in 11 people's minds. So, I guess what I'm -- only thing I'm 12 saying is that maybe, you know, those of us who speak about 13 caution should take necessary steps to practice caution. 14 And in this particular case, we didn't do that, or whatever 15 oversight was supposed to be in place wasn't there. 16 JUDGE TINLEY: Is that all you got for us 17 this morning? 18 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: End of lecture. 19 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you, Commissioner. 20 Commissioner Nicholson? Commissioner Baldwin? 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Couple of things. I 22 want to remind everyone, the Commissioners Court, beginning 23 tomorrow, will be out of town the rest of the week, so if 24 you have any business to take care of with us, you need to 25 get her done today. Number two, I'd request our airport 3-22-04 6 1 liaison to request that Mooney come in soon to the 2 Commissioners Court and give us an update of what-all's 3 going on with them. I've gotten a couple of disturbing 4 phone calls, and just to kind of clear the air and find out 5 for sure what's going on. 6 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Sure, be happy to do 7 that. 8 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That's all, sir. And, 9 by the way, the fish are not biting at Buchanan Lake. 10 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: You know firsthand? 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Firsthand. 12 JUDGE TINLEY: Save somebody a trip up there. 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: As a follow-up to Commissioner 15 Williams, the ceremony honoring Specialist James Kiehl, 16 there will be a presentation of a special Texas Ranger 17 marker that they have designed for this particular occasion, 18 and the Texas Rangers Foundation will be dedicating that, as 19 it were. I understand that there are to be some of the 20 members of 507th Maintenance, which was Specialist Kiel's 21 unit out of El Paso, to be there, as well as the chaplain 22 that was with him in Iraq when he lost his life -- that was 23 assigned to his unit. By way of further information, I'd 24 like to let you know that the Lower Colorado River 25 Authority, which I'm sure some of you have participated in 3-22-04 7 1 the tree program that's administered through KPUB, who -- 2 who purchases wholesale power from the L.C.R.A., they've -- 3 they've been kind enough -- the L.C.R.A. has -- to give the 4 County 50 new trees. We had hoped to get as many as 25, and 5 they were kind enough to scurry up 50 for us week before 6 last. The trees were planted; they're already in the ground 7 at Flat Rock Lake Park, some down at Center Point Park, and 8 others out at the Youth Exhibit Center. So, I want to thank 9 L.C.R.A. for -- for making those available to us and -- and 10 their participation in that program. That's all I have. 11 Let's get on with the -- with the business at hand. First 12 item on the agenda is consider and discuss the approval of 13 an easement request for construction by KPUB, and authorize 14 the Judge to sign the same. Mr. Holekamp I don't think is 15 with us this morning. Has he got a representative that he 16 designated for that purpose? Yes, sir? Please come forward 17 and identify yourself. 18 MR. ALDRICH: I'm David Aldrich, Chief 19 Engineer with Kerrville Public Utility Board. 20 JUDGE TINLEY: Tell us about this easement, 21 if you would, sir. 22 MR. ALDRICH: Yes, sir. The board is -- 23 requests the Commissioners Court to consider this easement 24 granting the KPUB a 10-foot strip of easement, right-of-way 25 along this side of the property along 16. This is necessary 3-22-04 8 1 for us to maintain our distribution facilities and work with 2 the TexDOT Highway Project For State Highway 16, which is 3 expanding and redoing their right-of-way and curbing and 4 sidewalks. And, due to that, we are needing to relocate our 5 facilities in such a manner to maintain clearances to other 6 utilities, and also to the -- to the highway right-of-way 7 itself. And that is the -- the cause for our request, and 8 also, in our plans, we are -- want to be placing some of the 9 overhead utilities underground in the vicinity, and this 10 will allow us to perform that as well. 11 JUDGE TINLEY: This is in connection with the 12 total reworking of Sidney Baker by TexDOT that's due to get 13 underway here shortly, and the moving of those lines back 14 further away from the street? 15 MR. ALDRICH: Yes, sir. That -- that project 16 is causing us to relocate our facilities in a number of 17 locations. 18 JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah, I know. Just up the 19 street at Sidney Baker, you've got one to do there. 20 MR. ALDRICH: Yes, sir. 21 JUDGE TINLEY: Any further questions? 22 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Is this the movement 23 of poles, or is this taking poles and lines underground? 24 MR. ALDRICH: Both. We're actually going to 25 be relocating poles, and -- and in some places, including 3-22-04 9 1 along the courthouse property here, putting those overhead 2 lines underground. 3 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Good. 4 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That's a good thing. 5 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Move to approve. 6 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. 7 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 8 approval of the agenda item. Any further question or 9 discussion? All in favor of the motion, signify by raising 10 your right hand. 11 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 12 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 13 (No response.) 14 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. Thank 15 you very much, sir. 16 MR. ALDRICH: Thank you, sir. 17 JUDGE TINLEY: We appreciate you being here. 18 The next item on the agenda is consider and discuss 19 rescinding resolution approved by Court Order Number 28560. 20 Mr. Odom? 21 MR. ODOM: Yes, Judge. Good morning. Last 22 week you took the resolution -- I was trying to verify 23 exactly what was expected of Road and Bridge and trying to 24 clarify what roads were available -- I mean, we were 25 supposed to maintain. I was under the impression that we 3-22-04 10 1 were to maintain that old portion of the west -- west side 2 of Johnson Creek from the Arts Foundation all the way from 3 the highway all the way through to 39 there. Must be 4 three-tenths of a mile, something like that? Something like 5 that. And, looking at that, I would like a direction of the 6 Court, what are we to do? Because we had a phone call 7 saying that someone had stepped in a hole on that portion of 8 the Arts Foundation property, or the -- in the city limits. 9 I won't say their property; in the city limits of Ingram. 10 Looking at it, that portion of that road -- of the Arts 11 Foundation property there as they go across is in the city 12 limits of Ingram, and I want to clarify, what is our 13 responsibility in there and exactly what we're -- what 14 portion of the road are we talking about? 15 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I'm confused. The 16 agenda item says we're going to discuss rescinding the 17 resolution. Is that what we're talking about? 18 MR. ODOM: That's right. I mean, I'm sort 19 of -- I didn't know how else to put it. 20 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: I think there's been 21 some confusion on this, Commissioner. The only thing we 22 voted on was to accept a portion of the road that's from the 23 boundary of the Arts Foundation back west of 39. 24 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Okay. 25 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: That portion of it 3-22-04 11 1 that's typically associated with the Ingram Little League. 2 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Okay. 3 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: So, anything that's 4 happened back on the portion of it that's Arts Foundation 5 is -- is not our concern. 6 MR. ODOM: Still in the city limits. 7 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: City limits. It 8 does have a pothole there, but that's not our concern. 9 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: So, the resolution 10 that we adopted accepting this or whatever, the description 11 in that resolution was incorrect? 12 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: No, it is correct. 13 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: It is correct? 14 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Yeah. 15 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I don't have that 16 sheet. 17 MR. ODOM: I never saw that sheet either, so 18 I -- I know we talked this morning, but -- 19 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: What we've taken, 20 again, is the eastern boundary is the property line of the 21 Arts Foundation, and the western boundary is Highway 39. 22 MR. ODOM: Yeah. I -- I had a letter here 23 from TexDOT that was talking about surplus right-of-way, and 24 that these portions be removed from the state highway 25 system. I take that to be plural. I take that to be the 3-22-04 12 1 Arts Foundation also. Talking to Mike Coward, that's the 2 impression I got, was the whole thing. And talking to Mike, 3 is that we're not allowed to go in the jurisdiction of the 4 municipality of Ingram, take their road system. 5 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: We didn't. We just 6 took the part that's contiguous to the Ingram -- 7 MR. ODOM: To the Arts -- to that. 8 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: And anything -- 9 anything having to do with the part that runs through the -- 10 the Arts -- the Point Theatre part -- 11 MR. ODOM: In the city limits. 12 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: -- has got to do 13 with Ingram, not us. 14 MR. ODOM: We got a phone call saying we 15 could end up with a lawsuit because there was somebody 16 stepped in a hole there, and so, you know, we're -- I'm sort 17 of caught, after being out of town last week, and trying to 18 get something -- trying to find what exactly I am 19 responsible for, in case we need to rescind something. So, 20 Mike? 21 MR. COWARD: Good morning, Commissioners. 22 I'm Mike Coward, engineer for the Highway Department here in 23 town. Simultaneously, we also sent exactly the same package 24 to the City Council in Ingram. There was some question -- 25 even while we were preparing these, we weren't sure of the 3-22-04 13 1 exact boundaries of -- city limits of Ingram. There was 2 some talk those might change, so we executed these 3 resolutions simultaneously with both the City of Ingram and 4 Kerr County Commissioners Court. And the intent is this; it 5 was to remove both the pieces of roadway that runs behind 6 the Little League field, and it also does officially remove 7 from the state highway system a portion of old state highway 8 right-of-way 39, which does run through the Hill Country 9 Arts Foundation. The ultimate goal of removing that was to 10 allow that land to become available for somebody that could 11 actually make use of it, specifically the Hill Country Arts 12 Foundation. 13 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: And the portion that 14 we accepted is a fairly attractive piece of property. 15 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yes, it is. 16 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: And the Little 17 League owns the land, I understand, on the other side of it. 18 It's -- the riverbank. And I've had very positive reaction 19 from people in that community about the potential for this. 20 I -- I see nothing but an upside to it. I found the road. 21 Our portion of it, county portion, doesn't have any 22 potholes. 23 MR. ODOM: No, it's in good shape. 24 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Large pothole on the 25 Arts Foundation side, but, again, that's -- that's the City 3-22-04 14 1 of Ingram's concern. 2 MR. ODOM: Well, as you can see, what Mike 3 said, this was -- continuous to this was also the Arts 4 Foundation, and that's in the city limits. I mean, City of 5 Ingram tried to -- well, essentially, relinquish their 6 rights to that, and they can't do that. I mean, we can't 7 move in to take their -- that is something they need to work 8 out with whomever -- the Arts Foundation or whatever. 9 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Yes. That's not our 10 responsibility. 11 MR. ODOM: Are we to maintain -- under the 12 circumstances, and with the enlightenment I've just gotten, 13 what those limits are, are we to maintain this road now? To 14 cut the brush and do any patching that we need to do? 15 JUDGE TINLEY: Let me see if I can answer 16 that question. As I read the resolution, it says, "Whereas, 17 Kerr County has agreed to accept the transfer, jurisdiction, 18 and maintenance of these tracts," and it describes both 19 Tracts 1 and 2. 20 MR. ODOM: Right. 21 JUDGE TINLEY: Which is the Arts Foundation 22 tract and the Little League tract. 23 MR. ODOM: That's right. 24 JUDGE TINLEY: I think therein lies the 25 reason for your concern, does it not? 3-22-04 15 1 MR. ODOM: That's right. 2 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. That's what I was -- 3 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: So this map is 4 incorrect? 5 JUDGE TINLEY: The resolution had Kerr 6 County -- it's asking the Texas Transportation Commission to 7 declare both of those segments as surplus, and to remove 8 them from their system. Now, that being the case, the net 9 effect is that whoever -- whoever they were originally 10 obtained from -- and I assume that Kerr County obtained both 11 of those right-of-ways at one time -- they would revert to 12 Kerr County. 13 MR. COWARD: It was my understanding, Judge, 14 that the reason that had to be done is that this was the 15 original route of State Highway 39, and there was no clear 16 title to this route; it simply became State Highway 39 by 17 our use and maintenance of the route. And so, when it came 18 time to try to establish title, there was none. And so, in 19 this case right here, it was not clear; we did not have an 20 instrument that ever deeded us this land. We -- we did -- 21 the Highway Commission actually, in 1965 or 1966, did pass a 22 minute order removing this portion of 39; in addition, the 23 portion of 39 that is now known as Old Ingram Loop through 24 downtown Ingram, from the system, so it's just kind of been 25 out there in a no-man's-land for the last 30-plus years. 3-22-04 16 1 JUDGE TINLEY: That being the case, 2 Mr. Coward, if there's -- if there's no title to the -- 3 originally to the County, or where a right-of-way was 4 acquired by the County, when it's abandoned, does it not 5 revert back to the adjacent landowner? 6 MR. COWARD: I was asked that question this 7 morning by Commissioner Baldwin, and I'm not sure of the 8 legal answer. I think, typically, TexDOT -- it originally 9 was the county road. It became a state highway at some 10 point, probably in the '30's, and so it -- the original 11 landowner was originally a county road on its original land. 12 So, in this case, the County would have been the original 13 user and owner of the road. But one thing I wanted to clear 14 up for Commissioner Nicholson, there should have been in 15 your packet a second exhibit, which would have been Exhibit 16 B, which does show the second tract that the -- that the 17 resolution refers to. 18 JUDGE TINLEY: Mm-hmm. 19 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Well, help me out one 20 more time. We want Exhibit A, but we don't want Exhibit B; 21 is that correct? 22 MR. COWARD: I think that we -- what we did 23 is -- I think that under -- I wish I was an attorney 24 sometimes so I would understand this a little better. But 25 my understanding is, because of the question of where the 3-22-04 17 1 city limits were when we were preparing these, we went ahead 2 and took care of it simultaneously with the City of Ingram. 3 So, what's in the city of Ingram reverts to City of Ingram. 4 What's outside the city limits reverts back to the -- to the 5 County. 6 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Would that be Exhibit 7 B goes to the City of Ingram, and Exhibit A goes to Kerr 8 County? 9 JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah. 10 MR. COWARD: I would have to verify exactly 11 where the city limits are. I don't know. 12 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I'm getting a nod. 13 MR. ODOM: This copy right there will verify 14 exactly where the city limits are at. If you will look at 15 the Point Theatre, you'll see this blue area, which abuts 16 against to the baseball fence right there. That is the city 17 limits of Ingram. They've taken that in. So, the question 18 is, does the resolution as it is still stand, or should we 19 rescind it and then clarify that portion which you wish 20 to -- to take in? Because I -- I do not see us being able 21 to take in that part of the Arts Foundation. It's in the 22 city limits of Ingram. They can rescind anything they wish 23 to, but that doesn't negate them from their responsibility. 24 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: I think that's -- as 25 I read it again, I think that's correct. I think we 3-22-04 18 1 mistakenly or inadvertently accepted Exhibit A and Exhibit 2 B, when we only intended to accept Exhibit A, and that's all 3 we had in our package. 4 MR. ODOM: And may I also -- I don't mean to 5 be argumentative with Mike here, but that minute order 58435 6 from 1965 or 1969 only addresses that portion which you gave 7 me, Mike, and it's written in there, that minute order. It 8 has to do with the east side; the east side going back up 9 underneath of Johnson Creek, not the west side. None of 10 that is taken into the minutes. It's -- there's two things 11 that were taken in. One is Camp Mystic and the portion 12 right there, that old loop right there at -- it's hashed off 13 in the minute order 58435 from Austin there. So, it had 14 nothing to do -- and I was instructed five years ago by 15 Wayne Pehl that the County still -- I mean, the State still 16 had the right-of-way right there, and you wanted to retain 17 that in case you did work on that bridge, so they could have 18 a bypass. So, I can see keeping that left-hand side where 19 the old crossing's at, that's blocked off, but the other 20 side there, you know, the part of that's inside the city 21 limits. So my suggestion to the Court is to rescind that 22 order and then correct it. If it's that portion that they 23 wish us to take in, that I just need to put it in my 24 maintenance schedule. 25 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: That's what needs to 3-22-04 19 1 be done, is this -- this resolution needs to be changed to 2 drop the reference to Tract 2 and Exhibit B, so that we take 3 in only that portion of Old Highway 39 that's contiguous to 4 the Ingram Little League field, and not that part that's on 5 the Point Theatre or any of the rest of it that's in the 6 Ingram city limits. 7 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Can't that be done by 8 amending the previous court order to reflect those changes? 9 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: I would hope so. 10 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I would think so. 11 JUDGE TINLEY: The question that comes to 12 mind is, is the agenda item sufficient to amend it at this 13 point, or do we only have the authority to rescind it? And 14 my thinking is, we can only rescind and -- 15 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I say we rescind and 16 bring it back, and let's do it clean and right when we do 17 the thing. And then your -- your question whether it's 18 going to be in maintenance, I see us having two options. We 19 can either maintain it, or we can quitclaim it to the Little 20 League. 21 MR. ODOM: That's the way I see it. 22 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Whatever we want to 23 do. 24 MR. COWARD: If the Court would like, I'll 25 have a corrected resolution prepared. We have the -- we'll 3-22-04 20 1 have it prepared and sent. 2 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 3 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: I move to rescind 4 that -- 5 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Second. Order 25 -- 6 28560. 7 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Yes, that's what I 8 wanted to say. 9 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded to 10 rescind Court Order Number 28560. Any further question or 11 discussion? 12 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: I understood, Mike, 13 you said that you will get us the documentation to get it 14 back on next Commissioners Court meeting? 15 MR. COWARD: Yes, sir, I'll get it done 16 today. 17 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: All right. Thank 18 you. 19 JUDGE TINLEY: Any further question or 20 discussion? All in favor of the motion, signify by raising 21 your right hand. 22 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 23 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 24 (No response.) 25 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. 3-22-04 21 1 MR. ODOM: Thank you. 2 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you, gentlemen. Next 3 item is to consider approving road names for privately 4 maintained roads in accordance with 911 guidelines. Good 5 morning, Ms. Hardin. 6 MS. HARDIN: Good morning. We have 12 7 privately maintained roads throughout Kerr County. 8 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I don't have any on 9 here. 10 MS. HARDIN: You don't have any on there. 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: My precinct is done, 12 'cause we work hard, and that's why we're number one. I do 13 have a question on here, though, about the Vanhoozer road. 14 We had the young lady that came before us last time with 15 concerns, and I'm not sure of the legalities of it. Does 16 the actual property owner select that name, or do the 17 neighbors get involved and have a say-so? Or how -- 18 MS. HARDIN: Normally, it's all entities. I 19 mean, everyone who owns property along that road should 20 agree on a road name. 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I'm in agreement with 22 that. 23 MS. HARDIN: As of last Tuesday, they had all 24 agreed. 25 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Ms. Hardin mediated 3-22-04 22 1 a -- a name that's acceptable to everybody. 2 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Oh. So we got 3 granddad's name here, and that's acceptable to your family? 4 MS. MANN: Yeah, that's fine. 5 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay, cool. I'm 6 happy. 7 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Thank you, 8 Ms. Hardin. 9 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Move approval of the 10 road name changes as presented by Road and Bridge. 11 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Second. 12 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded to 13 approve the road name changes of privately maintained roads 14 in accordance with the presentation by Road and Bridge. Any 15 further question or discussion? All in favor of the motion, 16 signify by raising your right hand. 17 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 18 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 19 (No response.) 20 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. Next 21 item on the agenda is to consider and discuss and take any 22 appropriate action of the process for selecting candidates 23 to be interviewed for the Commissioners Court 24 Coordinator-slash-Administrative Assistant's position, 25 authorize temporary hire for interim period beginning 3-22-04 23 1 April 1 until the new employee selected begins employment. 2 Commissioner Williams, you had asked that this item be 3 placed on the agenda. 4 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Yes, sir, only for 5 the purpose of trying to identify a process for doing this 6 so that we can sort through the resumes that have been 7 submitted and come back with some recommendations for 8 interview. 9 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I have a suggestion. 10 What I'd like to see done is that we appoint Mr. Williams 11 and the Judge and the County Treasurer as a committee to go 12 through -- I don't know how many we have -- 13 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: About 20 now, I 14 guess. 15 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: -- to this point, but 16 go through all of them, and whittle it down to three or 17 five, and then bring -- because of the time frame, bring 18 that -- those people and their resumes back to the full 19 Court for interviews. 20 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: That's your 21 suggestion? 22 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That's my suggestion. 23 That's what I want to do. That's the right way to do it. 24 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I don't have any 25 problem with it. I just put on it here so we could come up 3-22-04 24 1 with a process. That's as good a process as any, I guess. 2 JUDGE TINLEY: It's a Commissioners Court 3 employee. What's the rationale for having the Treasurer? 4 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Personnel officer. 5 JUDGE TINLEY: I understand that. 6 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Personnel person only, 7 and it would be a three -- three-member committee, odd 8 number. You don't want her on there? 9 JUDGE TINLEY: Well, I -- whoever's selected 10 is going to be subject to the personnel policies anyway, is 11 my only thinking. And this is an employee that's going to 12 be answering to the Court. 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Absolutely. I don't 14 have any problem with that. I just thought an odd number, 15 and the personnel officer is always involved in those 16 things. That's my suggestion, but I don't have a problem 17 one way or the other if you feel strongly about that. The 18 two of you? Or do you want to have a full-blown meeting and 19 put three of you on there? 20 JUDGE TINLEY: I think Commissioner Williams 21 and I can handle it adequately, very frankly. 22 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I move that we appoint 23 the Judge and Commissioner 2 to the committee to review the 24 applications and bring back to the Commissioners Court three 25 or -- 3-22-04 25 1 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I don't think you 2 need more than three. 3 JUDGE TINLEY: Three. 4 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Bring back three to 5 the full Commissioners Court for interviews. Say "second." 6 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Second. 7 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded. Any 8 further question or discussion? 9 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: I think -- I think 10 that's workable, and I will -- I've scored the candidates, 11 and I will give you all my recommendations about who I think 12 the top two or three are. 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: As I. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: Sure, we need your input. Any 15 further question or discussion? All in favor of the motion, 16 signify by raising your right hand. 17 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 18 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 19 (No response.) 20 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion does carry. 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: What about the 22 temporary employee? 23 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Do we need a court 24 order to do that, or can we just do it? 25 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Well, let's see. 3-22-04 26 1 There won't be any extra funds involved in that, would it? 2 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: No. 3 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: But how are we going 4 to do it? I mean, are we going to go out here on Main 5 Street and stop the first person that comes along and hire 6 them? Or do we go to a temporary service, or do we know 7 someone? And how long? 8 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Well, absent all the 9 other options, we have a temporary service who provides 10 people. Their -- the hourly rate for those services is 11 probably a little higher than you would have if we hauled 12 somebody in off the street, but the results might be better. 13 JUDGE TINLEY: And it's strictly an interim 14 thing. And, you know, what are we looking at, maybe 30 15 days, 45 at the most? 16 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I think 30 is the 17 outside. 18 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Thirty is my outside. 19 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: I'll just ask the 20 personnel officer to supply an interim coordinator for us, 21 unless you want to handle selecting her. 22 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: No. 23 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: I don't feel the 24 need to. 25 JUDGE TINLEY: That's what temporary services 3-22-04 27 1 are for. 2 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: All right with you? 3 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah, that's fine. I 4 just -- 5 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Make arrangements. 6 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I just think that, 7 because of the short time frame of the thing, we -- it just 8 needs to -- needs to get going. 9 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Yeah. 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That's all. 11 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I don't guess that 12 requires an actual order. Just ask the personnel officer to 13 provide us with a -- a replacement beginning April 1 until 14 further notice. 15 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay, we'll move on, then, to 16 the next item on the agenda; consider, discuss, and take 17 appropriate action on Union Church Use Regulations and 18 Rental Rates. Commissioner Williams? 19 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I put this back on, 20 Judge, after having reviewed the material that we had last 21 time. Mr. Holekamp had marked it up and had made some 22 suggestions. I met with General Schellhase, who is a member 23 of the Historical Commission, and I believe he's chair of 24 the Friends of the Union Church, and we've gone through all 25 of this and the material that's presented, the rates that 3-22-04 28 1 were suggested, made the necessary changes, and I tweaked 2 the language to get -- to change them from "Use Suggestions" 3 to "Use Regulations," and that's what you have in front of 4 you. I think it's timely now to enact this and put it in 5 place, because there are folks out there -- believe it or 6 not, more than one -- who are anxious to use the facility, 7 have the money up, and are making inquiries, and so it's 8 time for us to put this in place. In concept, this would be 9 managed by our Facilities Use Maintenance Department. Jamie 10 and/or Glenn would handle the reservations -- Jamie, 11 basically, and the telephone numbers are there. All the 12 other regulations are in place; when you can use it, when 13 you can't use it, what the rates would be and so forth and 14 so on, who gets it free, who doesn't get it free. Tour 15 buses are out; we don't have to worry about cleaning up the 16 restrooms after tour bus stops. And we have a -- a lease 17 agreement which has been tweaked to represent the Union 18 Church taken from the same lease agreement that we use for 19 Hill Country Youth Exhibit Center, so I believe the package 20 is ready to go. 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. 22 JUDGE TINLEY: I have only one language -- 23 minor change on the proposed rental schedule at the bottom. 24 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Okay, bottom on the 25 schedule. 3-22-04 29 1 JUDGE TINLEY: I think the last paragraph 2 would be clearer if it were slightly altered to read, "If 3 event is canceled 60 days or more before event." 4 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Okay. 5 JUDGE TINLEY: And then the second sentence, 6 where it says "after," change that to "within" 60. 7 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: If the event is 8 canceled 60 days or more before the event. And, go ahead, 9 the second change there? 10 JUDGE TINLEY: The second sentence, where it 11 says "after 60." "Within 60." Change that to read "within" 12 instead of "after." 13 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Okay. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: I think it's clearer that way. 15 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I agree. With those 16 proposed changes, then, I would move adoption of the -- of 17 the use -- Union Church Use Regulations and Rental Schedule. 18 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. 19 JUDGE TINLEY: Are you incorporating -- and 20 the lease agreement that's attached as -- 21 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: And the lease 22 agreement. 23 JUDGE TINLEY: And the format? 24 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Yes, sir, and the 25 lease agreement to be used in all cases. 3-22-04 30 1 JUDGE TINLEY: All right. Motion made and 2 seconded for adoption of the Union Church Use Regulations 3 and proposed rental schedule, as slightly modified in the 4 last paragraph, and the lease agreement format. Any further 5 question or discussion? 6 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Judge, let me ask 7 General Schellhase. Do you have anything you want to add to 8 this? 9 MR. SCHELLHASE: No, Commissioner. 10 Everything's fine. 11 JUDGE TINLEY: Any further question or 12 discussion? All in favor of the motion, signify by raising 13 your right hand. 14 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 15 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 16 (No response.) 17 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. The 18 next item on the agenda is to consider, discuss, and take 19 appropriate action requesting the City of Kerrville to grant 20 a waiver of hookup and capital recovery fees for sewer and 21 water connections for the River Star Arts and Event Park 22 under construction on Kerr County property. Commissioner 23 Williams? 24 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Thank you, Judge. 25 Commissioner Letz and I have been working kind of on the 3-22-04 31 1 edges of this project -- excuse me -- and received 2 correspondence -- I believe all Commissioners received 3 correspondence from Mr. Miller, the Executive Director of 4 the arts park, with respect to the needs of the arts park 5 for a sewer and water connection. And, as everybody is 6 aware, I'm sure, the construction is underway out there. 7 Ground's being moved, buildings are going up and so forth 8 and so on. We had talked on one other occasion about 9 whether or not there was any quid pro quo's or precedents in 10 place with respect to sewer and water hookups. Some 11 research of the matter reveals that there are probably not 12 any quid pro quo's, but there certainly is a precedent set 13 in terms of what accommodations have been made between the 14 City and the County in situations involving County property 15 with respect to water/sewer hookups, and refreshing 16 everybody's memory in terms of how the sewer line got 17 extended from the city limits to its present stub behind 18 the -- our facilities. 19 So, with all those thoughts in mind, and 20 because we had no meeting in time to get all this done, and 21 because the construction is underway and the need is clearly 22 there, I put together the letter which is in your packet to 23 Mr. Patterson outlining all of this and asking for favorable 24 consideration by City Council for a waiver of fees and 25 capital hookup and capital recovery fees. And I stated in 3-22-04 32 1 the back -- second paragraph of my letter, last page of my 2 letter, that I would anticipate that my letter would be 3 confirmed by court order so it becomes official for City 4 Council action, which I understand would take place tomorrow 5 night. My understanding is that it is on the agenda for 6 City Council action tomorrow night, and deliberation 7 tomorrow night. So, what I'm asking here today is that the 8 letter and the request be confirmed by court order so we can 9 advise City Council of an official action of the Court. 10 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: I'll move to confirm 11 the request and authorize the letter. 12 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. 13 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion made and seconded 14 to confirm Commissioner Williams' request to the City of 15 Kerrville as an official Commissioners Court request by 16 court order. Any further question or discussion? 17 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Question. 18 JUDGE TINLEY: Yes, sir? 19 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: The letter is already 20 over there? 21 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Yes, sir. 22 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay. 23 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: It's there, and we'll 24 send a copy over of whatever we need to advising them that 25 the Court took this action this morning. 3-22-04 33 1 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: I think it's on 2 their agenda for tomorrow. 3 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: It is on their agenda 4 for tomorrow. 5 JUDGE TINLEY: Any further question or 6 discussion? All in favor of the motion, signify by raising 7 your right hand. 8 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 9 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 10 (No response.) 11 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. The 12 next item on the agenda is consider and discuss an 13 assignment of a real estate lease agreement that is an SBA 14 requirement for a loan to be received by Texas Arts and 15 Crafts Fair Foundation, and authorize the Judge to sign the 16 same. The particular item, the lease assignment format that 17 is in the materials that you have, there would be three 18 changes to that. The first one, and of course most 19 significant, would be in the very opening paragraph. The 20 actual lease is with the Texas Arts and Crafts Educational 21 Foundation. I don't think there's a state in that title. I 22 think it's Texas Arts and Crafts Educational Foundation, is 23 actually the lessee under the lease from Kerr County to that 24 property. The other two are minor typographical changes, 25 one down in approximately the middle of Page 1, where it 3-22-04 34 1 describes the property as 7.18 acres. That would be 2 modified, where it says "Stateway," it's "State Highway." 3 That's just typographical. And then, in the latter portion 4 on the signature, where it's confirmed by the Arts and 5 Crafts Educational Foundation, I think there's a misspelling 6 on the secretary there. But, other than that, the County 7 Attorney has advised me that he has reviewed this, and with 8 those changes, it is acceptable. 9 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I would move approval 10 of the assignment of real estate lease and agreement with 11 the Small Business Administration, which is a requirement 12 for a loan to Texas Arts and Crafts Educational Foundation, 13 and authorize the County Judge to sign same. 14 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Second. 15 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 16 approval of the agenda item. I assume that's with the -- 17 with the three corrections? 18 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Yes, sir, with the 19 corrections as noted by the County Judge. 20 JUDGE TINLEY: Any further question or 21 discussion? 22 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: This doesn't create 23 any financial liability for Kerr County? 24 JUDGE TINLEY: I assume it does not, because 25 the County Attorney did not so indicate. He has reviewed 3-22-04 35 1 it, and the only changes he indicated were the ones that I 2 mentioned. Any further question or discussion? All in 3 favor of the motion, signify by raising your right hand. 4 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 5 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 6 (No response.) 7 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. Next 8 item on the agenda is consideration and discussion and 9 appropriate action authorizing Kerr County Environmental 10 Health Department to file a Solid Waste Grant Application 11 with AACOG for consideration in the next funding cycle. 12 Commissioner? 13 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I'd like to go back 14 to the well one more time, Judge. The last time we put in 15 an application for additional funding for solid waste 16 cleanup and regulation, we were probably over-ambitious in 17 terms of what we were seeking, and we didn't get it, bottom 18 line was. So, there's another funding window of 19 opportunity, and Miguel and I met with the AACOG people in 20 charge of solid waste to review our former -- our prior 21 application to see what changes needed to be made, to 22 perhaps make it more acceptable. There is a workshop, I 23 think, coming up -- 24 MR. ARREOLA: Tomorrow. 25 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: -- tomorrow, which 3-22-04 36 1 Miguel plans to attend, and applications, as the letter 2 indicates, are due on April 16th. So, we have not perfected 3 the application yet, have we, Miguel? 4 MR. ARREOLA: No, sir. 5 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: We're working on it 6 to perfect it. What we're asking the Court to do is give us 7 permission to file an application, and as soon as we have 8 perfected that bugger, we'll get it to you. 9 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: I sure want to do 10 that. How -- how much funds do you think we might receive, 11 and how would we use the funds? 12 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Miguel, how much are 13 we going to ask for this time? Have you got that number 14 kind of roughed out? 15 MR. ARREOLA: I don't have the exact number 16 yet. It might be about the same that we applied last time. 17 It's going to be used a little different than the original 18 application. The original one had -- in their view, had 19 some liability involved, and we're going to try to avoid 20 that this time. We're just talking to the people that might 21 get involved also with the rest of the teamwork; basically, 22 the Road and Bridge Department, and also looking at some 23 liability that we need to address, and we have a meeting 24 this afternoon with them and the county -- um, that controls 25 all the insurance. 3-22-04 37 1 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: The liability issue 2 Miguel's referring to has to do with -- in the prior 3 application, we were talking about hauling our waste oil 4 back into a centralized point for pickup, and it was pointed 5 out to us that that really does create a liability. If we 6 have an oil spill somewhere, or a pickup that we might own 7 and operate is involved in an accident and we spill 8 500 gallons of oil, we got a major liability, and we don't 9 want that. And so it was pointed out to us that we should 10 really kind of craft our application to avoid such things as 11 that. This application would envision using County property 12 in three locations; the yard in west Kerr, the yard in east 13 -- in Center Point, and some location on Road and Bridge, to 14 build a coffered-type receptacle for people to bring 15 recyclable oil into, and we would arrange for it to be 16 picked up by a licensed, bonded recycler who -- who does 17 these things right, taking out manpower requirements on our 18 part, and taking out liability on our part. And that's kind 19 of the basic changes. Am I correct? 20 MR. ARREOLA: Basically, mm-hmm. 21 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: And there may be some 22 other tweakings in it, but essentially it's a modification 23 of our previous approach. 24 MR. ARREOLA: We also will try to -- we're 25 going to apply for -- in a separate grant, for salaries for 3-22-04 38 1 the Code Enforcement Officer. We want to get a full-time 2 Code Enforcement Officer, and they have asked us to do this 3 in a separate grant. We'll see if we can -- we can get it 4 this time. Probably a separate grant. 5 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: We had -- I'm sorry, 6 Judge. Let me just add to that before you get to your 7 question. We have a tried-and-true trouper who has been our 8 solid waste officer, former deputy Eddie North, and 9 Constable North -- Deputy Constable North. He does an 10 excellent job; he's just a super guy. The problem is, his 11 health is failing him, and he has limitations in terms of 12 the amount of time he can work. We made the AACOG folks be 13 aware that we are not asking to -- to use their dollars to 14 replace our dollars in funding that position, as we know it 15 today. We're asking dollars to supplement the position so 16 that we can end up with a full-time solid waste officer, 17 five days a week instead of two days a week. And so that 18 would become a separate grant, apart from what we're talking 19 about. So, in fact, we're asking for two. We're going to 20 do two. 21 MR. ARREOLA: Yes, sir. 22 JUDGE TINLEY: The workshop that you're 23 planning on attending tomorrow, is this that special grant 24 workshop that AACOG imposes as a precondition for 25 eligibility to even apply for these grants? 3-22-04 39 1 MR. ARREOLA: Yeah. It's not a precondition, 2 but it's highly recommended. It's for us to know what they 3 want. 4 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: You better show up. 5 JUDGE TINLEY: It's more than highly 6 recommended, from my understanding. 7 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Strong -- strongly 8 suggested that you avail yourself of that service. 9 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: If we -- if we could 10 survey the people who live out in the county and ask them 11 what they were concerned about, I suspect that solid waste 12 would be on up there in the top ten somewhere. Anything we 13 can do to attack solid waste problems is something worth -- 14 worth doing, I think. 15 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Well, I would move 16 that we -- the Court grant permission for Environmental 17 Health to follow -- to file Solid Waste Grant Applications 18 -- it should be plural, Judge, 'cause we are actually going 19 to do two -- with AACOG for consideration in the next 20 funding cycle. 21 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Second. 22 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 23 approval of the agenda item. Is there any further 24 discussion or questions? 25 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I have a question. 3-22-04 40 1 Now, Bill, you talked about picking up used oil, and 2 basically that's all I heard. Are we going to -- of course, 3 we're going to continue our solid waste trash program, but 4 are we expanding only toward the pickup of oil? Or are we 5 going to expand our trash pickup as well? 6 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: That's a good 7 question, Commissioner, and I omitted it. We are going to 8 do batteries. 9 MR. ARREOLA: Batteries also. 10 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: And we were told -- 11 we don't have to basically have a concern on latex paints, 12 because that's water-soluble and not a problem, but we're 13 going to try to devise a plan for picking up oil-based 14 paints and facilitate reuse in some other location, but that 15 would be added to it as well. 16 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay. I didn't -- 17 guess I didn't ask my question properly. 18 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I'm sorry. 19 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Today Mr. North goes 20 out and deals with junk cars and illegal landfills and those 21 kinds of things. That is not being done because of his 22 health problems; I understand that. So, are we going to 23 start letting that side of it drop off to expand to pick up 24 somebody's oil? 25 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: No, sir. No, 3-22-04 41 1 absolutely not. Or that is not our intention at all. Our 2 intention, by asking for three more days of funding to make 3 that a full-time job, would, in fact, increase that 4 surveillance, and that's not our intention, to let that slip 5 at all. 6 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay. So -- so, what 7 you're going to do is you're putting together the -- your 8 actual grant request, and then that's coming back in here 9 before it goes to the same -- 10 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: If the Court wishes 11 it to. 12 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I thought you said 13 that. 14 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I said we would make 15 the Court aware of what -- of the entire applications, but 16 we need to have the permission to get it done and filed, but 17 we'll bring them to the Court for information purposes. 18 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Cool. 19 JUDGE TINLEY: With -- with that 20 clarification, the City of Kerrville Recycling Center that's 21 on county property that -- that they operate by lease from 22 Kerr County, they have a periodic acceptance of hazardous 23 waste-type materials. The frequency is twice a year? I 24 knew it was rather limited, but county residents have the 25 ability to bring their things in. My recollection is 3-22-04 42 1 that -- that used motor oil is not one of the items that 2 they will presently accept, is it? 3 MR. ARREOLA: They don't take it right now. 4 I think they will take it at those two times during the year 5 and special events. 6 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: No, they will not. 7 They discontinued it. 8 MR. ARREOLA: They discontinued it? 9 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Discontinued motor 10 oil. That's one of the reasons we think it's necessary. I 11 get a lot of calls, Judge, from people who want to know what 12 to do with crankcase oil from ranch and farm equipment and 13 so forth, trucks. And the City had -- correct me if I'm 14 wrong, Miguel, but the City had, I believe, two -- 15 MR. ARREOLA: Two special -- 16 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: -- two special 17 dealies for collecting oil, for lack of a better word. I 18 don't know what to call it. 19 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Containers? 20 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Containers. 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Dealies? 22 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Dealies. And they no 23 longer use them, so we're going to see if we can figure out 24 a way for them to get those in on our use so we can press 25 them back into service, and then add another one, and build 3-22-04 43 1 coffer dams around them necessary for where they are placed 2 and the fencing around them so that they can't be 3 vandalized. But they don't collect it any more, for 4 whatever reasons; I don't know. But -- 5 MR. ARREOLA: It's something -- 6 JUDGE TINLEY: -- I know they -- I know on 7 these two specified days, they collect paint and -- and 8 items of that type. What about batteries? 9 MR. ARREOLA: I don't think they do it. I 10 don't think they do it. 11 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. I'm just trying to 12 avoid any overlap area. But if the -- if the need is -- is 13 greater than twice a year, it would seem like, as to what 14 they do accept, the -- maybe part of the discussion ought to 15 be with the City to expand their operation over there, since 16 it's already operating, to provide more accessibility for 17 these items. Certainly, as to the items they're not taking, 18 it makes sense that somebody be equipped so that they don't 19 end up out in the middle of the boondocks somewhere. But 20 what I don't want to see happen is that we end up having 21 items placed with us, and then on the two days that the City 22 is willing to accept them, we end up taking them to the 23 City, where we're having to pick up the responsibility of 24 handling those. Whereas, if the expansion of their 25 operations would become slightly greater, the citizens could 3-22-04 44 1 take them directly there. 2 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: We could certainly 3 coordinate that, Judge. It's not our intention to remake 4 the wheel. 5 JUDGE TINLEY: That's all I have. Any 6 further question or discussion? All in favor of the motion, 7 signify by raising your right hand. 8 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 9 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 10 (No response.) 11 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. The 12 next item on the agenda is consider, discuss, and take 13 appropriate action on an amendment to the engineering 14 contract with Tetra Tech, Inc., to extend the termination 15 date until December 31, 2006, and to authorize the County 16 Judge to sign the same. Commissioner Williams? 17 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: This has to do with 18 getting the next phase underway, and time has not worked in 19 our favor on these. All this does is extend the contract -- 20 as per the request of Grantworks, extend the contract to a 21 termination date of December 31, '06. And, as our 22 representative of Grantworks said, if we don't get this 23 thing done before then, he's going to become an astronaut 24 and go away. So, I move -- 25 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That may be true. 3-22-04 45 1 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: -- I move the 2 extension of the -- of the date to December -- of Tetra Tech 3 engineering agreement to December 31, '06, and authorize the 4 County Judge to sign same. 5 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. 6 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 7 approval of the agenda item. Any questions or discussion? 8 All those in favor of the motion, signify by raising your 9 right hand. 10 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 11 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 12 (No response.) 13 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. Next 14 item on the agenda is to consider, discuss, and take 15 appropriate action to award bid for single course 16 sealcoating on Wood, Ripplewood, Green Meadow, and 17 Sweetwater streets to low bidder, Edmund Jenschke, as part 18 of the Kerrville South Wastewater Project, the funds being 19 available in the grant money. 20 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Again, Judge, this is 21 another of the -- of the issues we're wrapping up and -- and 22 cleaning up on the first phase of the project. The patching 23 work where trenching was done has been done, and our -- our 24 agreement with Mr. Woods early on for trenching and 25 easements and so forth was to restore his roads to a 3-22-04 46 1 condition as near as they were before we started cutting 2 into them. As before, the money is in the grant to do this. 3 And we have three estimates of cost, those being under 4 $25,000, so we went to estimates of cost. The lowest 5 estimate to do the job per specifications is $12,800 from 6 Edmund Jenschke, Incorporated. I want to thank our Road and 7 Bridge Administrator, Mr. Odom, for being a part of this 8 process and helping us determine exactly what we needed and 9 how best to do it, and his recommendations were valuable in 10 this process. So, what we're asking now is approval of a 11 contract, which I have here, for this single course surface 12 treatment on the roads as indicated, Wood, Ripplewood, Green 13 Meadow, and Sweetwater, and to go to Mr. Jenschke, and I 14 move it, authorize the County Judge to sign same. 15 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. 16 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 17 approval of the agenda item, as indicated. Any further 18 question or discussion? All in favor of the motion, signify 19 by raising your right hand. 20 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 21 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 22 (No response.) 23 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. 24 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Thank you. 25 JUDGE TINLEY: Next item on the agenda is 3-22-04 47 1 consider and discuss authorizing an ad valorem tax freeze on 2 residential property of persons age 65 and older and 3 disabled persons and their spouses, as authorized by House 4 Joint Resolution Number 16. Commissioner Nicholson. 5 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Okay. We've debated 6 this in Commissioners Court meetings. We've had our 7 required public hearing. We've looked at the vote that 8 was -- Kerr County voters overwhelmingly approved this House 9 Joint Resolution. We held our public hearing, and in that 10 hearing we had a robust attendance, and -- and we heard that 11 the very large majority of those who spoke out on it favored 12 freezing of ad valorem taxes for those age 65 and older and 13 disabled. We asked for information about estimates on what 14 tax -- or revenue losses would be, and we received that, and 15 those range from $114,000 loss beginning in 2005, building 16 up to a $1,438,000 annual revenue loss in the year 2014. 17 So, it's now -- I think we have heard all we need to hear 18 about it. We've got the information we need, and now it's 19 time to act on it. 20 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Does that -- we all 21 have this document that was prepared by the Tax Assessor/ 22 Collector, Paula Rector? I have some questions about it, 23 Paula. Are you prepared to discuss it with us? 24 MS. RECTOR: I will do my best. 25 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I think it would be 3-22-04 48 1 helpful if you would give the Court and the public the 2 assumptions that you used to prepare these estimates of 3 revenue reductions. 4 MS. RECTOR: With the help of the Appraisal 5 District on these figures, the -- we took a 5 percent -- 6 conservative 5 percent taxable increase for the next ten 7 years, and according to KCAD records, there's -- 52 percent 8 of the homestead exemptions for Kerr County are either over 9 65 or disabled persons, and that makes up about 27, 10 28 percent of the taxable value for Kerr County after the 11 exemptions. Now, you understand that there is no freeze the 12 first year that it goes into effect. That first year 13 establishes the freeze; the freeze actually is in place on 14 the second year. What we took on the figures here was the 15 total taxable value starting in the tax year 2004, with our 16 5 percent taxable increase, and calculated the amount of 17 taxes frozen and the amount not frozen using our current tax 18 rate throughout that 10-year period, to come up with the 19 levy with the freeze and the levy without the freeze, to 20 arrive at the revenue loss for each year. 21 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Okay. And so what 22 you're telling us is that there is no impact in the first 23 year, obviously. 24 MS. RECTOR: Right. 25 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: And that, beginning 3-22-04 49 1 in the year 2005, which would be for county budget year 2 '05-'06 -- 3 MS. RECTOR: Right. 4 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: -- the impact of lost 5 revenues would begin at $114,377, and over the course of ten 6 years, would increase proportionately due to increased 7 property values and so forth and so on, I assume, to the 8 point that on year 10, the revenue reduction amounts to 9 1.348631? 10 MS. RECTOR: That's correct. 11 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: $1,348,631. 12 MS. RECTOR: That's correct, and that's using 13 the 5 percent increase and using the same tax rate that we 14 have now. Now, I think in the future, we would see the tax 15 rate changing with the revenue loss. There has to be some 16 way to make up that revenue loss, by either increasing the 17 tax rate or cutting services to the county, and that's 18 something I think we're all kind of struggling with right 19 now. If you'd like for me to talk a little bit about some 20 other options, perhaps, other than the freeze -- 21 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I'd like to hear 22 them. 23 MS. RECTOR: Okay. There is an optional 24 percentage exemption that taxing entities, including 25 city/county schools -- the schools already have that option, 3-22-04 50 1 and it is an exemption up to 20 percent of the home value, 2 and no matter what the percentage of the amount is, the 3 optional exemption cannot be less than $5,000. Now, that's 4 optional, across the board for everyone, regardless of age, 5 as long as it's your homestead. There's another optional 6 over 65 and disabled -- 7 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Excuse me, Paula. 8 MS. RECTOR: Okay. 9 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Excuse me. As an 10 option, in effect, it becomes a homestead declaration and 11 exemption; is that correct? Similar to what independent 12 school districts do? 13 MS. RECTOR: Yeah, it has to be your 14 homestead. It has to be declared your homestead. 15 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: And it applies across 16 the board, all property owners? 17 MS. RECTOR: To all homeowners. 18 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Regardless of age? 19 MS. RECTOR: Yes, that's correct. 20 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Is that the way it is 21 for independent school districts? 22 MS. RECTOR: Yes. 23 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: All across the board, 24 everybody? 25 MS. RECTOR: They have a homestead exemption, 3-22-04 51 1 an optional exemption, plus their freeze. 2 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Thank you. Okay. 3 Sorry to interrupt you. 4 MS. RECTOR: That's all right. 5 JUDGE TINLEY: Let me ask you another 6 question while we're at this juncture -- or actually, maybe 7 two questions. 8 MS. RECTOR: All right. 9 JUDGE TINLEY: Can there be a differentiation 10 between applying that exemption between over 65 and/or 11 disabled, and under 65 and non-disabled? 12 MS. RECTOR: Can there be a -- 13 JUDGE TINLEY: Can you say, for example, that 14 we're going to -- we're going to apply 10 percent to under 15 65, and 15 or 20 percent to over 65? 16 MS. RECTOR: No, it has to be across the 17 board. 18 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 19 MS. RECTOR: Yes. 20 JUDGE TINLEY: All right. Then, am I also to 21 understand that -- that that percentage follows the course 22 of the value of the property? The value of the property can 23 change; the percentage just goes with it? 24 MS. RECTOR: That's right. That's correct. 25 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you. I'm sorry, 3-22-04 52 1 continue. 2 MS. RECTOR: The other optional exemption is 3 an over 65 or disabled exemption, and that's at least 4 $3,000, and as for taxpayers 65 and over or disabled, the 5 sky's the limit on that amount. And it only applies to the 6 over 65 and disabled. Now, that also -- your value still 7 increases, the tax dollar amount increases, but you've got 8 your -- your dollar amount exemption off of the actual value 9 of your -- of your homestead. 10 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I need a little 11 clarification from you as to what -- what is the 12 distinction. In the first one, you said we could do 13 percentage, but it has to be across the board, A to Z? 14 MS. RECTOR: Right. 15 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: In this one, you talk 16 about a dollar amount. Is that the distinction? 17 MS. RECTOR: That's -- 18 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: The dollar amount, 19 and it can be for persons 65 and older or disabled, and it 20 could apply only in that category? 21 MS. RECTOR: That's correct. 22 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Has to be a dollar 23 amount? 24 MS. RECTOR: Yes. 25 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: As opposed to a 3-22-04 53 1 percentage of the value? 2 MS. RECTOR: That's correct. 3 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Okay. So, the 4 minimum being $3,000, and the maximum being whatever a 5 governing body determines? 6 MS. RECTOR: Chooses. 7 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Is that correct? 8 MS. RECTOR: That's correct. That's correct. 9 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Okay. The other 10 distinction, obviously, is if we did an exemption along 11 these lines, beginning in budget year '04-'05, where your -- 12 calendar year 2005 for budget year '04-'05, persons 65 and 13 over and/or disabled would, in effect, get a tax reduction; 14 is that correct? 15 MS. RECTOR: That's right. 16 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: As opposed to, if we 17 went the other way, that category of persons would only get 18 a freeze on the existing tax. Is that a clear distinction 19 of what we're talking about? 20 MS. RECTOR: Yes. Whatever your tax amount 21 is for 2004, that establishes the freeze. Say you pay $100 22 in 2004. In 2005, it's going to be frozen at $100, and it 23 will maintain that amount unless you make improvements to 24 your property or you move to another location within the 25 county. 3-22-04 54 1 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: And if we went the 2 exemption route, if I had, for example, a house valued at 3 $100,000, case-in point -- 4 MS. RECTOR: Mm-hmm. 5 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: -- and the governing 6 body determined to have a tax exemption of $20,000 -- 7 MS. RECTOR: Mm-hmm. 8 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Right? That would be 9 permissible, would it not? 10 MS. RECTOR: Yes. 11 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: That would mean that 12 my tax bill for county taxes in the ensuing year, '05, would 13 be based on $80,000 value, not the $100,000. 14 MS. RECTOR: That's correct. 15 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Is that correct? 16 MS. RECTOR: That's correct. 17 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: And, as opposed to 18 that, a tax freeze would mean that my property -- my same 19 $100,000 property, would be taxed and frozen at $100,000, 20 whatever that tax levy is. 21 MS. RECTOR: That's right. 22 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Is that correct? 23 MS. RECTOR: Whatever your tax amount is at 24 that time that it's established, which would be 2005. 25 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I see. Have you, by 3-22-04 55 1 any chance, worked up the numbers as to what a -- what 2 exemptions in dollar increments might mean to revenue, 3 similar to what you did here? 4 MS. RECTOR: I have not at this time. The 5 Appraisal District staff that would have been supplying me 6 these figures were not in the office last week, but I will 7 be happy to do that for you if you would like for me to. 8 And it might paint you the same kind of picture that this 9 has done for you if we do some figures on either the 10 percentage homestead exemption or the over-65 dollar amount. 11 Any other questions? 12 JUDGE TINLEY: Any other questions of 13 Ms. Rector? Do you have any other information you wish to 14 present to us? 15 MS. RECTOR: Not at this time, unless anyone 16 else has any questions. 17 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Thank you, Ms. Rector. 18 MS. RECTOR: You're welcome. 19 JUDGE TINLEY: We did have a speaker that had 20 signed up and requested to speak today. Mr. Eller? 21 MR. ELLER: Judge, Commissioners, my name's 22 Charlie Eller. I live in Greenwood Forest. I urge the 23 adoption of this motion. The people have spoken. They 24 voted overwhelmingly for this, about 87 percent. An 25 election is certain to be passed, and it would be put in 3-22-04 56 1 effect by election. Again, I can not foresee how an 2 election being called, this would not pass. I'd like to 3 also state that I always hear governments talk about the 4 money they lose, when they never had it, okay? And it's 5 like it's their money. It's not. It's ours, and we -- we 6 are speaking. The impact of doing this freeze will be zero 7 unless the Commissioners Court increases spending and 8 increases it over and above the new taxes on new 9 construction in this county. The people voted on 10 Proposition 13, not some thing you may decide to negotiate 11 amongst yourselves. And, if I read the numbers right -- I 12 don't have the document, but I believe it was, like, 13 $1.3 million being lost in ten years? Was that -- 14 MS. RECTOR: Mm-hmm. 15 MR. ELLER: That says you're planning to 16 increase spending my tax dollars by at least $5 million over 17 the next ten years. That's what it really says. I think 18 there are many areas where we can reduce spending. And if 19 the Court will simply assume the proper role of government 20 -- health, welfare, and safety of the people -- and stop 21 social engineering, we can make a sizable impact on this 22 budget. Put simply, if Commissioners Court will simply obey 23 the Constitution of the State of Texas, there will be no 24 need to increase tax revenues through increased property 25 values or tax rate increases. Again, I urge you to proceed, 3-22-04 57 1 approve this. Our only alternative is to have an election. 2 Thank you. 3 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you, Mr. Eller. Any 4 further questions or discussion about this? 5 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I've got a comment, if 6 we're to that point. Are you going to make a motion? 7 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Yes. 8 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay. 9 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: I'm going to move 10 that we authorize an ad valorem tax freeze on residential 11 property of persons age 65 and older and disabled persons 12 and their spouses, as authorized by HJR Number 16. 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded. 15 Questions or discussion? 16 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Judge, I want to agree 17 with one thing Mr. Eller says, but one thing only. The rest 18 of it was incorrect information. But the -- of the people 19 that voted for this issue, 87 percent voted for approval; 20 however, there was a very, very, very small amount of people 21 that voted on the issue. However, 87 percent is -- is an 22 impressive number. Subsequently, we had a public hearing, 23 and a pretty nice crowd, if you remember. We moved up to 24 the district courtroom to handle that. And there was one 25 under-65 person to oppose the issue. And I think there's a 3-22-04 58 1 great lesson to the citizens of Kerr County. You either 2 participate, or things are going to go against your way. 3 So, it looks to me like no one under 65 cares. That's the 4 way it appears to me. They had two opportunities, one to 5 vote and one to come to speak at the public hearing, and 6 they chose not to do that. So, I'm going -- I'm going to 7 approve it, because the -- the people have spoken, and I'm 8 going to give them what they want. That's all. 9 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I want to just make 10 one comment, Judge. I don't want the public to take the -- 11 get the impression I'm opposed to it. I'm not opposed to 12 it, and if this is the only option that's on the table for 13 us to consider officially, then I -- I probably have no 14 choice but to approve it, or vote favorably. I am, however, 15 not convinced in my own mind that this is the best option. 16 I think an option of exemptions by whatever percentage or 17 dollar amount that the Court would determine presents a 18 better option. I think it's a better option for the people, 19 because their taxes are reduced. But if this is the only 20 thing we got in front of us, then we are at that point -- 21 well, I'll say what I've said. 22 JUDGE TINLEY: Commissioner Nicholson, do you 23 have anything further to offer? 24 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: One last thing, more 25 or less parroting what Commissioner Baldwin said, but adding 3-22-04 59 1 onto that; that I don't need to hear any more from the 2 voters, from the property owners. I've heard enough. If 3 we -- if we force the voters to petition us to hold an 4 election, I can predict the outcome of that election. If -- 5 if the previous vote had been something like 55-45, I 6 wouldn't be able to predict the outcome of another election, 7 but with the overwhelming majority that we had earlier, I 8 think it's safe to assume that if we put the citizens 9 through the -- through the process of having to get 10 petitions together, then we'd have to hold an election and 11 pay for that election, and for no good reason. So, I'm -- 12 I'm ready to move on down. 13 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Like has been 14 indicated, I -- I think the vote in favor of the 15 constitutional amendment was a harbinger of things to come. 16 I suspect if an election were held on this sole issue, it 17 may not pass by such an overwhelming majority, but I am 18 convinced that, of those persons who care to exercise their 19 privilege to vote, which is unfortunately too few, but that 20 I'm convinced that on this single issue, that it would 21 absolutely pass, without fail. And we are representatives 22 of the people, and we're obliged to act in that capacity. 23 We could certainly force them to go the petition route, hold 24 an election, and be out that -- that expense. But, worse 25 yet, following that course I think would probably do some 3-22-04 60 1 degree of harm by the divisiveness that it might create. I 2 think the result is known, and it's going to happen. And I 3 would hope that whatever action this Court has to take in 4 order to work around whatever problems a freeze may cause, I 5 feel confident that the elderly and the disabled will join 6 forces with us and the other people of this county in order 7 to do whatever's reasonable and necessary to resolve 8 whatever's required to take care of those needs. But the 9 bottom line is, I don't want to see that divisiveness 10 happen, and feel that it might cause some lasting scarring, 11 and that I think would be worse than any other result. So, 12 I definitely am in favor of -- of the freeze. I know it's 13 going to create some difficulties for us. We'll deal with 14 it. And I'm confident that the public will -- will support 15 us in whatever we have to do in order to resolve those 16 problems. Any further question or discussion? 17 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Can I say one more 18 thing? 19 JUDGE TINLEY: Yes, sir. 20 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay. I wanted to go 21 back to Charlie's whining over there about expanding 22 government, which he is exactly 100 percent correct. To 23 give you an example of that, five minutes ago we were 24 talking about getting a grant to expand our Environmental 25 Health Department to help protect the environment in Kerr 3-22-04 61 1 County. You get that grant, you hire a person, and in a 2 couple of years that grant runs out; that person becomes a 3 County employee, paid for by tax dollars. I didn't hear you 4 scream about that, Charlie. 5 MR. ELLER: Mr. Baldwin? 6 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yes, sir? 7 MR. ELLER: I can't fight all the battles. 8 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Oh. Oh. 9 MR. ELLER: But I would -- I would suggest 10 that when you brought up a grant, you explain to the people 11 how much it's really going to cost over the next ten years, 12 like you did this item. 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I agree. I agree 100 14 percent. I'm ready to vote. 15 JUDGE TINLEY: Any further question or 16 discussion? All in favor of the motion, signify by raising 17 your right hand. 18 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 19 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 20 (No response.) 21 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry, 22 unanimously. The next item on the agenda is consider and 23 discuss requesting the County Attorney to provide or obtain 24 a written opinion indicating what elected official or body 25 has the authority to approve settlements of final judgments 3-22-04 62 1 in bail bond forfeiture cases. I point out to the Court 2 that the request for the opinion was for an A.G. opinion, as 3 the backup material would indicate. It may not be clear in 4 the agenda item. 5 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I agree. 6 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. You so move? 7 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: To -- we're requesting 8 the County Attorney to get a legal opinion from the Attorney 9 General. 10 JUDGE TINLEY: That's -- 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So moved. 12 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 13 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Second. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 15 the agenda item, that the County Attorney request an opinion 16 from the Attorney General on the issue as framed. Any 17 further question or discussion? 18 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: I'd ask the 19 Commissioner to -- if he would consider amending that and 20 asking that that A.G. opinion request be done within 10 21 days. 22 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Fine. It won't work, 23 but we can sure try. Yes, I'd amend mine. 24 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: I've been listening 25 to this same issue since before I was on the Commissioners 3-22-04 63 1 Court, so I'd like to -- I'd like to see some resolution -- 2 quick resolution of the issue. 3 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That we request the 4 County Attorney to do it within 10 days? Or do you want the 5 answer back in 10 days? 6 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Request the County 7 Attorney to make the A.G. request within 10 days. 8 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay. 9 JUDGE TINLEY: That's the motion and the 10 second? Any further questions or discussion on it? All in 11 favor of the motion, signify by raising your right hand. 12 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 13 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 14 (No response.) 15 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. 16 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Judge, are we going to 17 take a break? 18 JUDGE TINLEY: We'll catch a few more 19 minutes. Next item on the agenda is consider and discuss a 20 request to approve the proposed budget amendment for the 21 Kerr Central Appraisal District. 22 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I didn't put it on. 23 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay, I put it on. Okay. 24 The -- the Appraisal District has suggested that -- that 25 their budget amendment be approved. It's basically -- 3-22-04 64 1 they're not asking for more money; it's just a reallocation 2 of the funds to be used. I think what they're talking about 3 is -- is making a move from the current location for 4 the very reasons as specified in the request. 5 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: This would assume 6 ultimately, Judge, that their plan would be to dispose of 7 the current property at some point in time? Is that your 8 understanding? 9 JUDGE TINLEY: That's the premise of their 10 request. 11 MS. RECTOR: Can I speak to that, please? 12 JUDGE TINLEY: You certainly may. Ms. 13 Rector, of course, is our representative to the board at the 14 Appraisal District. 15 MS. RECTOR: We have been, as a board, 16 discussing the future of the Appraisal District building, 17 and as you know, that building was the old radio station, 18 been there for many years, and is having some major 19 problems. The roof is leaking. They have a leak in the 20 slab that flooded the building twice this last month. They 21 had to reroute all the plumbing to the outside of the 22 building. In essence, it's pretty much crumbling around 23 their ears. We've got a committee that is looking into 24 either rebuilding on that existing site, since the property 25 will be paid for within five years, trying to renovate the 3-22-04 65 1 existing building, or actually moving to another site, 2 either an existing building there or buying property and 3 building. So, we're looking at all the options right now, 4 but we're trying to build reserves up so that we have some 5 money in place to be able to do that. I think it's 6 something that's -- we've got to pay attention to within the 7 next year or two, budget-wise, and we're asking to move that 8 $28,000 into that reserve account. It'll be no additional 9 expense to any of the taxing jurisdictions. This is moneys 10 that they saved from some of the budget items that they were 11 able to save money in. 12 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Ms. Rector, has the 13 Appraisal Board of Directors determined whether you're going 14 to purchase another piece of property and build a new 15 facility, or lease a property, or have you gotten that far 16 in the deliberations? 17 MS. RECTOR: Not at this point. They're 18 still looking into all the options, whether to lease, 19 purchase another piece of property and build, build on the 20 existing property, or trying to renovate that building. 21 They're trying to get some costs together right now to see 22 which is the best way to go. 23 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I can't believe 24 Charlie Eller walked out on another one. Here's another one 25 right here. It -- the funds were originally budgeted for 3-22-04 66 1 other expenses that did not -- they did not incur. What 2 about the old way of thinking of giving it back to the 3 taxpayers? If they have extra money, give it back to the 4 taxpayers. I move for approval. 5 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Second. 6 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 7 approval of the agenda item. Any further question or 8 discussion? 9 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Is our approval 10 needed, or do we have the authority to make approval to -- I 11 assume we do. 12 JUDGE TINLEY: We approve the budget of the 13 Appraisal District, and as a result of that, they're coming 14 back to us asking us to authorize an amendment to it. 15 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: You have to go to all 16 the other entities as well, don't you? 17 MS. RECTOR: Yes, I have a letter out to all 18 the other jurisdictions. 19 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: We don't have enough 20 votes to stop it; it wouldn't make a lot of difference. 21 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Like voting on board 22 members. 23 JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah, we're lucky we got 24 Ms. Rector there. If we didn't pool all of our votes, we'd 25 be up the proverbial creek, wouldn't we? 3-22-04 67 1 MS. RECTOR: Appreciate your support. 2 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you. Any further 3 questions or discussion on the motion? All in favor of the 4 motion, 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: The motion does carry. 9 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Judge, our 10 stenographer needs a break. 11 JUDGE TINLEY: All right, we'll certainly 12 give her that. We'll stand in recess until 20 before the 13 hour. 14 (Recess taken from 10:26 a.m. to 10:40 a.m.) 15 - - - - - - - - - - - 16 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay, let's come back to 17 order, if we might. It's about 18 before 11:00. We went 18 into recess, and we'll now reconvene the meeting. Next item 19 on the agenda is consideration and discussion of a request 20 by the Hill Country Automobile Club to use the courthouse 21 square for their annual car show on July the 3rd. The 22 request is in your packet. It's been cleared with the 23 Market Days coordinator. They've gotten where they're 24 pretty good about clearing those. 25 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: So moved. 3-22-04 68 1 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. 2 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 3 approval of the request and the agenda item. Any further 4 question or discussion? All in favor, signify by raising 5 your right hand. 6 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 7 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 8 (No response.) 9 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. Next 10 item is consideration and discussion of a request for 11 permission to hang children's shoes from the trees in front 12 of the courthouse during the month of April, which is Child 13 Abuse Pretension and Awareness Month, that request by Hill 14 Country CASA. 15 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Is that during the 16 entire month of April? 17 MS. DAVIS: Yes. 18 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: And the request is to 19 hang them, so is somebody going to take them down? 20 MS. DAVIS: Yes, sir. 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: You did take the kids 22 out of the shoes? 23 MS. DAVIS: Well, we will not put children in 24 the trees. 25 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: We're going to abuse 3-22-04 69 1 them for a whole month. 2 MS. DAVIS: We're going to abuse the shoes 3 for a whole month. 4 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Shoes. 5 MS. DAVIS: Just the shoes, no children. 6 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: The reason I asked 7 about taking them down, Judge, is because, for example, the 8 United Way campaign, once it puts that sign up, that sign 9 never comes down, regardless of how successful or 10 unsuccessful or the length and duration of the campaign, so 11 I was just wondering. 12 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Even more pertinent, 13 if you look at this -- this large tree right out here on the 14 corner, there are very old Christmas lights hanging down as 15 we speak, and have been for years. And, I mean, it's the 16 ugliest thing on the courthouse, and they're just hanging 17 there, not used. They're old and worn out, and I guess 18 we're going to have to get a bulldozer to get them down; I 19 don't know. So, you will clean up? 20 MS. DAVIS: We will put them up and we will 21 take them down, yes, sir. And we will have signs saying 22 what they're for, what they represent. 23 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Tell us more about it. 24 MS. DAVIS: There -- in Texas in 2002, there 25 were 203 child fatalities from child abuse and neglect. In 3-22-04 70 1 2003, there were 184. And I have other stats from '97, '98, 2 '99 -- or '98. I don't have '99 or 2000 yet. It's just a 3 way to bring awareness to child abuse prevention in Kerr 4 County. 5 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Your hanging shoes 6 from the trees? 7 MS. DAVIS: Yes, sir. Each pair of shoes 8 will represent a child. 9 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Where are you getting 10 the shoes? I'm just curious. 11 MS. DAVIS: We will get our shoes from 12 K'Star, from thrift stores, Crisis Council. 13 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Okay. 14 MS. DAVIS: This is not just CASA. It's the 15 Crisis Council, it's Family Outreach, it's CAP, and Family 16 Services of the Hill Country, Amy Blanks. And K -- did I 17 say K'Star? All five of us. 18 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: You're going to avail 19 yourself of the services of the Kerrville Daily Times and 20 the Mountain Sun to promote this little campaign so people 21 will understand that you didn't take those shoes off of poor 22 little kiddies running around town without shoes on? 23 MS. DAVIS: Since we have your permission, 24 yes, sir, we will. 25 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Okay. 3-22-04 71 1 MS. DAVIS: We will. 2 MS. LAVENDER: What about the TV station? 3 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Maybe they'll donate 4 some shoes. 5 MS. DAVIS: Okay. 6 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So, you're telling us 7 that the end of April, the shoes are coming down? 8 MS. DAVIS: Yes, sir. Yes. 9 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: How many days are in 10 April? 11 JUDGE TINLEY: Thirty. 12 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So, April 30th or May 13 1st? We got -- we have to get specific. 14 MS. DAVIS: April -- what is April 30th? 15 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I don't know. I asked 16 you first. 17 MS. DAVIS: What is the last Friday of April? 18 MS. SOVIL: 30th. 19 MS. DAVIS: Okay. They will be down by 20 April 30th. 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I like it. 22 MS. DAVIS: Okay. Now, they'll be up by 23 April 1st. 24 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I'll move for 25 approval. 3-22-04 72 1 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Second. 2 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 3 approval of the agenda item. Any further questions or 4 discussion? All in favor of the motion, signify by raising 5 your right hand. 6 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 7 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion does carry. Next 8 item -- thank you very much. 9 MS. DAVIS: Thank you. 10 JUDGE TINLEY: Next item on the agenda is 11 consider and discuss the request for permission to hold the 12 annual garage sale by Tivy High School Cheerleaders. This, 13 again, is an annual event and has been coordinated with 14 the -- with the Market Days people. They have designated 15 May the 15th as the preferred date. They gave us three 16 possible dates, and they designated May the 15th as the 17 preferred date. 18 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: So moved. 19 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Second. 20 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 21 approval of the agenda item as to May the 15th, 2004. Any 22 further question or discussion? All in favor of the motion, 23 signify by raising your right hand. 24 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 25 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 3-22-04 73 1 (No response.) 2 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. Next 3 item is consideration and discussion of the status of the 4 burn ban. This was placed on as a result of the last burn 5 ban action, to my recollection. 6 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: And I think 7 Commissioner Letz just probably thinks we ought to have this 8 on the agenda in case there's something to talk about, so we 9 can do it. 10 JUDGE TINLEY: The burn ban is presently -- 11 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Lifted. It's in 12 place, but lifted in all -- 13 JUDGE TINLEY: In all four precincts. Until 14 when, Ms. Sovil? 15 MS. SOVIL: Tomorrow at noon, according to 16 your court order. 17 JUDGE TINLEY: But we're still well within 18 the 90-day period that each of the Commissioners have to 19 impose it or lift it? 20 MS. SOVIL: Yeah. 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Two weeks into the 22 90-day period, yeah. 23 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: And our current 24 suspensions expire tomorrow? 25 MS. SOVIL: At noon. 3-22-04 74 1 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Please note that I 2 continue the suspension in Precinct 2 for two weeks. 3 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: I want to continue 4 it also. Would it be more convenient to continue it till 5 the day after the next Commissioners Court meeting? 6 MS. SOVIL: That's what you voted on last 7 time. 8 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Yeah, you're right, 9 we have a three-week -- we have a three-week lapse here 10 between meetings. You're right. That's fine. 11 MS. SOVIL: Till the day after your next 12 meeting? 13 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Mm-hmm. As long as 14 conditions don't change. 15 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: You want to do that 16 also, Commissioner Baldwin? 17 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yes. 18 JUDGE TINLEY: Any further action needed on 19 this item? 20 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Hmm-mm. 21 JUDGE TINLEY: We'll move on to the next 22 agenda item, consideration and discussion of authorizing -- 23 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Real quick, Judge, does 24 that mean that in 3, it's going to go back to effect 25 tomorrow, since Letz is not here? 3-22-04 75 1 MS. SOVIL: No, he wants it lifted. 2 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay, I was not aware. 3 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Okay. 4 JUDGE TINLEY: Next item, consideration and 5 discussion of authorizing the Texas Department of Criminal 6 Justice Parole Division to utilize courthouse space for 7 parolee reporting and related contacts. This was made known 8 to me by Mr. Alford at Court Collections. There was an 9 earlier request; I think they've been doing these contacts 10 out in Ingram, and that -- that has fizzled out. 11 MR. ALFORD: Yes, sir, that's correct. 12 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. The -- the request 13 specifically is to utilize space in the basement of the old 14 portion of the courthouse? There's one office down there 15 that was formerly occupied by the Collections Department. 16 To use that at what frequency interval, Mr. Alford? 17 MR. ALFORD: They're talking about as regular 18 as the first week of the month. They normally -- there's 19 two actual parole officers assigned to Kerr County. They're 20 normally going to meet the first week of the month with all 21 the parolees, but in his letter, he stated there's some 22 other times they may need to come in and do spot checks on 23 some of their parolees, and they just need a place to go 24 meet them at. So, I'm looking at maybe four or five days a 25 month. 3-22-04 76 1 JUDGE TINLEY: They understand that any such 2 use that would be authorized, it would be subject to being 3 modified, depending upon what our needs are for the space? 4 MR. ALFORD: Yes, sir, they do. Again, this 5 is -- they're kind of -- what they're trying to do is, as 6 the budget allows, they're trying to become a full-time 7 office up here somewhere, some space. And I think, 8 historically, they have moved around all over the county as 9 far as I can remember back starting in the mid-'80's or 10 early '70's, and it's just kind of another hopscotch for 11 them. At one time, they did meet here. I don't know why 12 they ever left or what the reason was, but now they're 13 requesting to come back. City of Ingram is expanding and 14 they need their office space, is what I have been told. So, 15 there should be no black eye for Ingram or Parole. It's 16 just a matter of business. 17 JUDGE TINLEY: I understand there's some 18 advantage to having them do their parolee contacts here in 19 the courthouse? 20 MR. ALFORD: I'm sure hoping there is. 21 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. And what is that? 22 MR. ALFORD: Well, I'm just hoping the fact 23 that the parolees meet here, we'll have better contact with 24 them. Right now, we try to go out to Ingram, 'cause you can 25 imagine, trying to meet with parolees on a schedule, you 3-22-04 77 1 almost have to send one of us up there two days a month from 2 7:00 till 5:00 or 6:00. I think this will just make it more 3 efficient if they're here where we can run downstairs. 4 And -- and we've talked to the parole officers. If there's 5 one particular parolee we have been looking to contact, they 6 can just call us; we can simply run downstairs. 7 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: You're talking about 8 your Collections Department? 9 MR. ALFORD: Yes, sir, Collections 10 Department. 11 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Are we just talking 12 about space available for -- for these officers to conduct 13 interviews? 14 MR. ALFORD: Yes, sir, we are. 15 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Not talking about 16 setting up a full-blown office? 17 MR. ALFORD: No, sir. What we're talking 18 about, I believe there's -- we were down there -- 19 Commissioner Baldwin or the Judge, I think, were down there 20 a couple months ago when this all came up. Don't hold me to 21 that. I think there's one desk in here. They may want one 22 more. Again, what I'll do is I'll get with the Maintenance 23 Department and we'll provide them whatever we have around. 24 Telephones will be strictly local calls only. They have 25 State-issued cell phones, so there's no reason for long 3-22-04 78 1 distance. I'll get with Shaun and we'll restrict that to 2 local calls only. Internet, they said in the future, they 3 may like to have internet. Again, I've talked to the I.T. 4 Department. The wire's already there; it's already hooked 5 up, so there's really no cost to us that I can think of, so 6 I -- just maybe some electricity. 7 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: There's no reason to 8 have a telephone in there. 9 MR. ALFORD: There's really not. 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: They have their own 11 phones. 12 MR. ALFORD: Like I say, that's the only 13 thing they said. Again, the phone wasn't that important, 14 but it would save the State the long distance air time. 15 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: They're talking about 16 using it in regular courthouse hours? 17 MR. ALFORD: Yes. 18 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So there's no reason 19 for them to have outside door keys and that kind of -- 20 MR. ALFORD: None whatsoever. Provide them 21 with an extra key to that office so they can maintain 22 security, and other than that, there's no -- there's 23 nothing. 24 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I certainly am in 25 favor of it, and have always been. 3-22-04 79 1 MR. ALFORD: If I can, maybe we can reissue 2 the -- the deal. Only reason for the local phone calls is 3 to save state roaming fees, would be the only reason to have 4 a local phone down there. So, that way, if they want to 5 call Ingram or D.P.S. or the Sheriff's Office, it doesn't 6 have to go on their roaming air phone -- or cell deal. 7 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Well, they pay that; 8 it kind of makes sense. However, I haven't seen the State 9 down here trying to help us do things. 10 MR. ALFORD: Not going there, sir. 11 MR. STACY: Might help me a little bit, 12 Commissioner, to keep the roaming locally. 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I see. I forgot 14 Kerrville Telephone. 15 MR. ALFORD: I forgot they were back there. 16 There's, like, a spare phone I can just give them. So, you 17 know -- 18 MR. STACY: County minutes are okay. 19 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Getting into an 20 issue of when the State starts helping us more. 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: This is the beginning, 22 isn't it, of the relationship? 23 JUDGE TINLEY: You were thinking something. 24 Do you want to verbalize it, Commissioner Baldwin? 25 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: No, sir. 3-22-04 80 1 JUDGE TINLEY: I didn't think so. 2 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: There's ladies in the 3 room. 4 JUDGE TINLEY: I see. 5 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Do we have a motion? 6 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I move for approval. 7 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Second. 8 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 9 approval of the agenda item. Any further question or 10 discussion? All in favor of the motion, signify by raising 11 your right hand. 12 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 13 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 14 (No response.) 15 MR. ALFORD: Thank you, gentlemen. 16 JUDGE TINLEY: At this time, we have some 17 closed session items, and it is now 5 minutes before 18 11 o'clock, and I will recess the -- the open Commissioners 19 Court meeting, and we'll shortly go into executive or closed 20 session. I think, initially, we probably want the members 21 of the Court and -- 22 MR. STACY: Is there any hope, Judge, that we 23 can move our portion to the first item there in the closed 24 meeting? You've got us fourth. 25 JUDGE TINLEY: I don't have a problem with 3-22-04 81 1 that. 2 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: What is it? 3 JUDGE TINLEY: Pardon? 4 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: What is the issue? 5 JUDGE TINLEY: It's on the telephone contract 6 out there. Initially, probably, then, we'll need the 7 reporter, the members of the Court, and the Sheriff, and 8 when we're ready for you, we'll let you know. 9 MR. STACY: Okay. 10 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: And our County Attorney, 11 preferably. 12 JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah. Let's see if you can 13 scout him up out in the hall. 14 (Discussion off the record.) 15 (The open session was closed at 10:56 p.m., and an Executive Session was held, the 16 transcript of which is contained in a separate document.) 17 - - - - - - - - - - 18 JUDGE TINLEY: Let's back get back into open 19 session, if we can. Appreciate that. We'll now reconvene 20 into open session. It is 12:19. And does any member of the 21 Court have anything to offer in connection with any of the 22 matters that were discussed in Executive Session? 23 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: I'll make a motion. 24 I move that we authorize the Sheriff to terminate the inmate 25 telephone contract with Advanced Tel-Com Systems, and to 3-22-04 82 1 seek another supplier for that service. 2 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: And put out RFP's? 3 Is that what you're asking? 4 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: There was some 5 question about, because it's a revenue thing, that -- 6 whether RFP's have to be -- 7 JUDGE TINLEY: Seek other providers. 8 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Yeah. 9 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I second it. 10 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded to 11 authorize the Sheriff to terminate the inmate telephone 12 contract with Advanced Tel-Com Systems and to seek other 13 providers to provide proposals on providing that service. 14 Any question or discussion in connection with the item? 15 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Question or 16 clarification. In my mind, he has to do RFP's, and the -- 17 the parameters of the RFP's should be discussed by the 18 Court. 19 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay. 20 JUDGE TINLEY: Mr. Motley? Is there a 21 requirement for RFP's on this service? There's not going to 22 be a cost to the County, and it's going to be a 23 revenue-producer. 24 MR. MOTLEY: We're not spending any money on 25 the deal at all? 3-22-04 83 1 JUDGE TINLEY: No. 2 MR. MOTLEY: Of course, on this other 3 agreement, I mean, there is a possibility of us spending 4 liquidated damages and all, but that implied new agreement, 5 I'm going to say that I think that we do not have to do the 6 RFP's. I don't know that this would qualify as highly 7 technical-type stuff. I don't know if there is anything 8 that would come under the exception of limited number of 9 providers. But I think, maybe, basically down at the -- and 10 I may have to check this out; I may change my mind, but the 11 basic definition level of what is required, I think this 12 does not fit. 13 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I'd move an amendment 14 to say RFP's, if required, and we'll wait on the County 15 Attorney's -- 16 MR. MOTLEY: I can find that out. 17 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: That will work. 18 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Tommy's out there 19 looking at us. 20 MR. TOMLINSON: It may be to our advantage to 21 do an RFP. 22 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Pardon? 23 JUDGE TINLEY: We're going to seek -- my 24 understanding was that the Sheriff would seek numerous bids. 25 It's not going to be a single-source thing. 3-22-04 84 1 MR. TOMLINSON: 'Cause it's a very 2 competitive market. 3 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: What I'd like permission 4 to do is just be able to call all the vendors that I can 5 come up with and ask them just to send us a proposal. The 6 only guidelines I would put is that it does provide the 7 recording equipment. 8 JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah, whatever -- whatever 9 your requirements are. 10 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Right. 11 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: So, that motion's 12 amended to -- to include seeking using RFP's if the County 13 Attorney so advises? 14 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Right. 15 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Any further question or 16 discussion? 17 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: When we talk about 18 terminating, that means 30-day -- we're giving them a 30-day 19 notice, right? 20 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: 30 or 60 would be fine 21 with -- you know, just depends on how long it takes to get 22 these other ones. 30 days probably will be fine. 23 JUDGE TINLEY: 30, 45, 60, whatever. Not to 24 exceed 60 days? 25 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Just another question 3-22-04 85 1 in terms of clarification. The notification to be at the 2 Sheriff's determination as to when he'll do that, 'cause 3 he's got logistical problems he has to work out. 4 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Right. 5 JUDGE TINLEY: Anybody have a problem with 6 that clarification? Any further question or discussion? 7 All in favor of the motion, signify by raising your right 8 hand. 9 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 10 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 11 (No response.) 12 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. 13 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: One question. Is the 14 County Attorney going to send the phone company the notice 15 that we are going to terminate? 16 JUDGE TINLEY: You coordinate that through 17 him. You're in the lead on it. 18 MR. MOTLEY: You can send them a letter; 19 we'll both sign. 20 JUDGE TINLEY: Mr. Tomlinson, are you ready 21 to do some business here? I assume everybody wants to blow 22 forward? 23 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Yes, indeed. 24 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Judge, I'd like to 25 make a motion that we pay the bills. 3-22-04 86 1 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I'd like to second 2 that. 3 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you, Commissioner. 4 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That's the least I can 5 do. 6 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Your obligatory 7 motion? 8 JUDGE TINLEY: Any questions or discussion on 9 the motion? 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I'm just glad Charlie 11 Eller's not here. 12 JUDGE TINLEY: All in favor of the motion, 13 signify by raising your right hand. 14 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 15 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 16 (No response.) 17 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. We 18 have some budget amendments. Budget Amendment Request 19 Number 1. 20 MR. TOMLINSON: This is from the District 21 Clerk. Her request is to transfer $111.51 out of Office 22 Supplies to Capital Outlay for the purchase of a -- a 23 monitor. It's a replacement for one that went out. 24 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Move to approve. 25 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. 3-22-04 87 1 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded to 2 approve Budget Amendment Request Number 1. Any question or 3 discussion? All in favor of the motion, signify by raising 4 your right hand. 5 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 6 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 7 (No response.) 8 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion carries. Budget 9 Amendment Request Number 2. 10 MR. TOMLINSON: It's for Jury, requesting 11 transfer of $500 from Juror Fees to Operating Supplies. 12 Hopefully this will get us through September. We're out of 13 supplies in the Jury Fund right now, so hopefully this will 14 do it. 15 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: So moved. 16 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. 17 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded to 18 approve Budget Amendment Request Number 2. Any question or 19 discussion? All in favor of the motion, signify by raising 20 your right hand. 21 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 22 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 23 (No response.) 24 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. Do we 25 have any late bills? 3-22-04 88 1 MR. TOMLINSON: No. 2 JUDGE TINLEY: I have before me some monthly 3 reports from the County Extension Agent, the -- actually, 4 that's the Family and Consumer Services arm of the Extension 5 Service. I don't believe I have one from the ag end. The 6 Justice of the Peace Precinct 4, Justice of the Peace 7 Precinct 2, Kerr County Emergency Services District Number 8 1, the District Clerk, Justice of the Peace Precinct Number 9 1, and Road and Bridge. Do I hear a motion that the same be 10 approved as submitted? 11 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: So moved. 12 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Second. 13 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded that 14 the designated monthly reports be approved as submitted. 15 Any question or discussion? All in favor, signify by 16 raising your right hand. 17 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 18 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 19 (No response.) 20 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion does carry. Do we have 21 any report from any of you gentlemen in connection with your 22 respective liaison assignments? 23 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Only one, Judge -- 24 I'm sorry. Go ahead, Buster. 25 JUDGE TINLEY: Do you have anything? 3-22-04 89 1 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: No. 2 JUDGE TINLEY: Commissioner 2? 3 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Just one quickie. 4 Commissioner Letz and I will be meeting on the 29th with the 5 mayor and Councilman Smith and Mr. Patterson with respect to 6 the airport governance issue. I anticipate a document, and 7 I hope it's stamped "Draft" on top. 8 JUDGE TINLEY: Anything else, Commissioner? 9 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: No, sir. 10 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you. Commissioner 4? 11 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: The strategic 12 planning project list, I've been doing some -- on Priority 13 1, second item, which is Item Number 4, "Review departments 14 that report directly to the CC," I've been doing some work 15 to gather data that compares Kerr County to other similar 16 situated counties, and so I'd like to be one of them that 17 works on that -- that project. 18 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Excuse me, 19 Commissioner. Which project? 20 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: The second one under 21 Priority 1. 22 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Which was? 23 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Review departments 24 that report directly to the CC, learn legal limitations, 25 schedule workshop, receive input on internal plan. I think 3-22-04 90 1 you may have proposed that one. Maybe not. 2 JUDGE TINLEY: I think it's either myself or 3 Letz or both of us. I think it has to do with organization 4 and -- and structuring, and -- 5 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: But, anyhow, I'd 6 like to work on that one with whoever else would be 7 interested. 8 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I'd be pleased if 9 you'd do that. 10 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Okay. I think we 11 ought to keep this in front of us and look at it every time 12 so it moves along. 13 JUDGE TINLEY: For informational purposes, 14 I'm trying to start the budget process a little bit earlier. 15 I've been talking with the Auditor to start getting some of 16 this springboard information earlier. Rather than wait till 17 after we've got a six-month experience level, we're going to 18 do it after a five-month. He says he thinks he'll have that 19 basically after he -- we're still paying the fifth month 20 bills at the present time, so he hopes to have that to me 21 pretty quick. So, it's -- I can start on that, and we can 22 be earlier in the budget workshop process. Anything 23 further? If there's nothing further to come before the 24 meeting, I'll declare us adjourned. 25 (Commissioners Court adjourned at 12:29 p.m.) - - - - - - - - - - 3-22-04 91 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 25th day of March, 8 2004. 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 3-22-04