1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 KERR COUNTY COMMISSIONERS COURT 9 Special Session 10 Saturday, January 1, 2005 11 10:00 a.m. 12 Commissioners' Courtroom 13 Kerr County Courthouse 14 Kerrville, Texas 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 PRESENT: H. A. "BUSTER" BALDWIN, Commissioner Pct. 1 23 WILLIAM "BILL" WILLIAMS, Commissioner Pct. 2 JONATHAN LETZ, Commissioner Pct. 3 24 ABSENT: PAT TINLEY, Kerr County Judge 25 DAVE NICHOLSON, Commissioner Pct. 4 2 1 I N D E X January 1, 2005 2 PAGE 1.1 Approval of official bonds of: 4 3 E. Bruce Curry, 216th District Attorney H.A. "Buster" Baldwin, Commissioner Precinct 1 4 Jonathan Letz, Commissioner Precinct 3 Rex Emerson, County Attorney 5 W.R. "Rusty" Hierholzer, Sheriff Linda Uecker, District Clerk 6 Paula Rector, Tax Assessor/Collector David Billeiter, Constable Precinct 1 7 Joel Ayala, Jr., Constable Precinct 2 Angel Garza, Constable Precinct 3 8 Bob Terrill, Constable Precinct 4 Ed North, Deputy Constable Precinct 2 9 T.D. Hall, Deputy Constable Precinct 4 Mindy Williams, Assistant Auditor 10 District and County Clerk's Crime Policy bond 11 1.2 Approval of application of appointments for the following deputies: 4 12 Joel Ayala, Jr. Robert Terrill 13 Rusty Hierholzer Paula Rector 14 1.3 Administer oaths to elected officials: 15 Stephen B. Ables, 216th District Judge 5 E. Bruce Curry, 216th District Attorney 6 16 H.A. "Buster" Baldwin, Commissioner Precinct 1 7 Jonathan Letz, Commissioner Precinct 3 8 17 W.R. "Rusty" Hierholzer, Sheriff 9 Paula Rector, Tax Assessor/Collector 9 18 M. Rex Emerson, Jr., County Attorney 10 David Billeiter, Constable Precinct 1 10 19 Joel Ayala, Jr., Constable Precinct 2 11 Angel Garza, Constable Precinct 3 12 20 Bob Terrill, Constable Precinct 4 12 T.D. Hall, Deputy Constable Precinct 4 13 21 James F. Hayes, Headwaters Underground Water Conservation District Director at Large 14 22 Mary Ellen Summerlin, Headwaters Underground Water Conservation District, Precinct 2 14 23 John R. Elliott, Headwaters Underground Water Conservation District, Precinct 4 15 24 Deputy Sheriffs 15 25 --- Adjourned 19 3 1 On Saturday, January 1, 2005, at 10:00 a.m., a special 2 meeting 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 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Good morning. I'll 7 call the Kerr County Commissioners Court to order, please. 8 This is January 1, 2005. It's 10 a.m. We're in the 9 District Courtroom, and let the record show that there are 10 three Commissioners; Number 1, Number 2, and Number 3. The 11 Commissioner 4 and the County Judge are absent. Gentlemen, 12 I have taken it upon myself to ask someone to come and have 13 a word of prayer for us, so I have asked J.P. 1, Vance 14 Elliott, if he would come and lead us in a word of prayer, 15 and when he is complete with the prayer, I'd ask you to join 16 me in the pledge of allegiance, please. 17 (Prayer and pledge of allegiance.) 18 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Thank you very much. 19 I think Vance has started preaching a little bit, so I've 20 given him several opportunities to pray here recently -- 21 pray for us. On behalf of the Commissioners Court, I want 22 to welcome everybody. Glad the courtroom is almost full. 23 Of course, they're all cops, but good -- good to see you. 24 (Laughter.) One thing that we're going to do when we get 25 into the swearing part of it, which mother said to never do, 1-1-05 4 1 we're going to take our time. So, you folks that -- family 2 members or friends that want to do the photos, we'll take 3 our time and make sure that you get all your photos taken. 4 So, just wanted to let you know that. 5 First item on the Commissioners Court agenda 6 this morning is approval of official bonds for the following 7 people: E. Bruce Curry, 216th District Attorney; 8 Commissioner H.A. "Buster" Baldwin; Commissioner Jonathan 9 Letz; County Attorney, Rex Emerson; Sheriff Rusty 10 Hierholzer; District Clerk, Linda Uecker; Tax 11 Assessor/Collector, Paula Rector; Constable Number 1, David 12 Billeiter; Constable Number 2, Joel Ayala, Jr.; Constable 13 Number 3, Angel Garza; Constable Number 4, Robert "Bob" 14 Terrill; Deputy Constable Number 2, Ed North; Deputy 15 Constable Number 4, T.D. Hall; Assistant Auditor, Mindy 16 Williams, as well as the District and County Clerk's Crime 17 Policy bond. I'd entertain a motion at this time. 18 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Move approval of the 19 bonds as presented. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Motion made and 22 seconded. All in favor, please raise your right hand. 23 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 24 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Unanimous vote for. 25 Item Number 2, the approval of application of appointments 1-1-05 5 1 for the following deputies: Joel Ayala, Robert Terrill, 2 Rusty Hierholzer, and Paula Rector. I'll entertain a 3 motion. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Move approval. 5 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Second. 6 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Motion made and 7 seconded. All in favor, please raise your right hand. 8 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 9 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Would you gentlemen 10 like to have what I'm -- what I have here? 11 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: It would be helpful, 12 yeah. 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I've got a copy for 14 you. Anything I can do. Well, just anything I can do to be 15 of assistance to you. We're going to swear in some folks at 16 this time. So, one of you District Judges -- who's first in 17 this thing? 18 JUDGE ABLES: I'm first up, probably. 19 Podium? 20 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yes, sir, I think the 21 podium would be best. 22 JUDGE PROHL: Well, this is a pleasure. 23 Judge Ables is entering his 17th year as your District 24 Judge. (Applause.) Five terms, five elections. Can you 25 believe that? It's hard to perceive. Would you raise your 1-1-05 6 1 right hand, please? I'm going to read the oath and ask that 2 you affirm. I, Stephen B. Ables, solemnly swear or affirm 3 that I will faithfully execute the duties of the office of 4 District Judge, 216th Judicial District of the State of 5 Texas, and will, to the best of my ability, preserve, 6 protect, and defend the Constitution and laws of the United 7 States and of this state, so help me God. 8 JUDGE ABLES: I do solemnly swear. Thank 9 you. 10 (Applause.) 11 JUDGE ABLES: And all of these, we have to 12 sign them right after our oath is administered and give them 13 to our County Clerk. Mr. Curry? 14 (Discussion off the record.) 15 JUDGE ABLES: Bruce has been your District 16 Attorney in the 216th District Court for 20 years. 17 (Applause.) 18 JUDGE ABLES: He's starting his sixth term of 19 office. Bruce, would you raise your right hand? Do you, E. 20 Bruce Curry, solemnly swear that you will faithfully execute 21 the duties of the office of District Attorney, 216th 22 Judicial District of the State of Texas, and will, to the 23 best of your ability, preserve, protect, and defend the 24 Constitution and the laws of the United States and of this 25 state, so help you God? 1-1-05 7 1 MR. CURRY: I do. 2 JUDGE ABLES: Congratulations, Bruce. 3 (Applause.) 4 JUDGE ABLES: Is there a surrogate for Ronnie 5 Sutton? 6 JUDGE PROHL: Ron Sutton's not here? I guess 7 we don't do a Grand Jury Monday. So much for that. 8 Commissioner Baldwin? 9 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That's me. 10 (Discussion off the record.) 11 JUDGE PROHL: Buster's entering his fourth 12 term as your Commissioner, and at this time, would you raise 13 your right hand? Do you, Buster Baldwin, solemnly swear or 14 affirm that you will faithfully execute the duties of the 15 office of Kerr County Commissioner, Precinct 1, of the State 16 of Texas, and will, to the best of your ability, preserve, 17 protect, and defend the Constitution and laws of the United 18 States and of this state, and will not be interested, 19 directly or indirectly, in a contract with or a claim 20 against the County, except a contract or a claim expressly 21 authorized by law or a warrant issued to the Judge or 22 Commissioner as a fee of office? 23 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I will. Thank you 24 very much. 25 (Applause.) 1-1-05 8 1 JUDGE ABLES: Jonathan Letz. I guess we're 2 going to move out here where the flags are behind us. And 3 Jonathan's new baby's going to come up. What term are you 4 starting, Jon? 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: My third. 6 JUDGE ABLES: Third term. Tell me your son's 7 name. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Sam. Samuel Becker. 9 JUDGE ABLES: Welcome to your first swearing 10 in, Samuel Becker. Would you raise your right hand, 11 Commissioner? Do you, Jonathan Letz, solemnly swear that 12 you will faithfully execute the duties of the office of Kerr 13 County Commissioner, Precinct 3, of the State of Texas, and 14 will, to the best of your ability, preserve, protect, and 15 defend the Constitution of the laws of the United States and 16 of this state, and will not be interested, directly or 17 indirectly, in a contract with or a claim against the 18 County, except a contract or a claim expressly authorized by 19 law or a warrant issued to the Judge or Commissioner as a 20 fee of office, so help you God? 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I do. 22 JUDGE ABLES: Congratulations. Sam, 23 congratulations. 24 (Applause.) 25 JUDGE PROHL: Sheriff. Rusty? Sheriff 1-1-05 9 1 Hierholzer is coming into his second term as our Sheriff. 2 (Applause.) 3 JUDGE PROHL: Would you raise your right 4 hand? Do you, William Rusty Hierholzer, solemnly swear or 5 affirm that you will faithfully execute the duties of the 6 office of Sheriff of Kerr County, Texas, and will, to the 7 best of your ability, preserve, protect, and defend the 8 Constitution and laws of the United States and of this 9 state, so help you God? 10 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: I do. 11 (Applause.) 12 JUDGE ABLES: Paula Rector. Paula, how many 13 terms? 14 MS. RECTOR: Five. 15 JUDGE ABLES: This is your fifth term. You 16 and I started out together, didn't we? 17 MS. RECTOR: Yes, we did. 18 JUDGE ABLES: Just seems like yesterday we 19 took our oath. This is Paula Rector, your Tax 20 Assessor/Collector, who I will swear at this time. Paula, 21 would you raise your right hand? Paula Rector, do you 22 solemnly swear that you will faithfully execute the duties 23 of the office of Kerr County Tax Assessor/Collector of the 24 State of Texas, and will, to the best of your ability, 25 preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution and laws of 1-1-05 10 1 the United States and of this state, so help you God? 2 MS. RECTOR: I do. 3 JUDGE ABLES: All right. Congratulations. 4 (Applause.) 5 JUDGE PROHL: Melvin Rex. 6 (Discussion off the record.) 7 JUDGE PROHL: This is Melvin Rex Emerson, 8 Jr., who is entering his first term as our County Attorney. 9 (Applause.) 10 JUDGE PROHL: Do you, Melvin Rex Emerson, 11 Jr., solemnly swear or affirm that you will faithfully 12 execute the duties of the office of Kerr County Attorney of 13 the State of Texas, and will, to the best of your ability, 14 preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution and laws of 15 the United States and of this state, so help you God? 16 MR. EMERSON: I will. 17 (Applause.) 18 JUDGE ABLES: David Billeiter. 19 (Discussion off the record.) 20 JUDGE ABLES: Ten years as constable? Is 21 that correct? 22 MR. BILLEITER: No, as a deputy. 23 JUDGE ABLES: Deputy. Vance? 24 JUDGE ELLIOTT: It's his first term, but he's 25 been serving the County -- 1-1-05 11 1 JUDGE ABLES: He was trying to give me this 2 hieroglyphics, you know. Vance -- Vance, I'm doing this, 3 and here you're trying to orchestrate the whole thing. 4 David, would you raise your right hand? Do you, David 5 Billeiter, solemnly swear that you will faithfully execute 6 the duties of the office of Kerr County Constable, Precinct 7 1, of the State of Texas, and will, to the best of your 8 ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution and 9 the laws of the United States and of this state, so help you 10 God? 11 MR. BILLEITER: I do. 12 JUDGE ABLES: Congratulations. 13 (Applause.) 14 JUDGE PROHL: Joel Ayala. This is Joel 15 Ayala's second term for the County. Raise your right hand. 16 Do you, Joel Ayala, Jr., solemnly swear that you will 17 faithfully execute the duties of the office of Kerr County 18 Constable, Precinct 2, in the State of Texas, and will, to 19 the best of your ability, preserve, protect, and defend the 20 Constitution and laws of the United States and of this 21 state, so help you God? 22 MR. AYALA: I do. 23 JUDGE PROHL: Congratulations. 24 (Applause.) 25 JUDGE ABLES: Angel, let me see. You wanted 1-1-05 12 1 to have your judge -- come on up, Angel. So, Angel, how 2 long have you been doing this? 3 MR. GARZA: Five years. 4 JUDGE ABLES: Five years. I'm going to swear 5 in Angel for his second term. Would you raise your right 6 hand? Do you, Angel Garza, solemnly swear that you will 7 faithfully execute the duties of the office of Kerr County 8 Constable, Precinct 3, of the State of Texas, and will, to 9 the best of your ability, preserve, protect, and defend the 10 Constitution and the laws of the United States and of this 11 state, so help you God? 12 MR. GARZA: Yes, I do, sir. 13 JUDGE ABLES: Congratulations. 14 MR. GARZA: Thank you. 15 (Applause.) 16 JUDGE PROHL: Bob Terrill. 17 (Discussion off the record.) 18 JUDGE PROHL: This will be Bob's second term. 19 Would you please raise your right hand? Do you, Robert 20 "Bob" Terrill, solemnly swear or affirm that you will 21 faithfully execute the duties of the office of Kerr County 22 Constable, Precinct 4, of the State of Texas, and will, to 23 the best of your ability, preserve, protect, and defend the 24 Constitution of the United States and of this state, so help 25 you God? 1-1-05 13 1 MR. TERRILL: I do. 2 JUDGE PROHL: Congratulations. 3 MR. TERRILL: Thank you. 4 (Applause.) 5 JUDGE ABLES: Ed North. Where's Ed? Is 6 Eddie here? Oh, I feel like he's been taking care of us 7 since I moved to Kerrville in the early '70's in one role or 8 another, but we'll get him sworn in where he'll be official. 9 Do you want to hang on to this, Jannett? All right. The 10 law west of T.D. -- of Mountain Home. Law west of Mountain 11 Home's always been taken care of by the Hall family, and, 12 T.D., come on up. They have a rich tradition of law 13 enforcement in the Hall family. T.D., how long have you 14 been doing this? How long you been doing this? 15 MR. HALL: I think this makes about my eighth 16 term. 17 JUDGE ABLES: Eighth term. Would you -- that 18 deserves a round of applause. 19 (Applause.) 20 JUDGE ABLES: Do you, T.D. Hall, solemnly 21 swear that you will faithfully execute the duties of the 22 office of Kerr County Deputy Constable, Precinct 4, of the 23 State of Texas, and will, to the best of your ability, 24 preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution and the laws 25 of the United States and of this state, so help you God? 1-1-05 14 1 MR. HALL: So help me God. 2 JUDGE ABLES: Congratulations. 3 (Applause.) 4 JUDGE PROHL: Mr. James F. Hayes. This young 5 man hails from Slaton, Texas. Only reason I know that is 6 it's 23 miles from Tahoka, so he comes from good stock. 7 Raise your right hand, please. Do you, James F. Hayes, 8 solemnly swear or affirm that you will faithfully execute 9 the duties of the office of Headwaters Underground Water 10 Conservation District Director at Large of the State of 11 Texas, and will, to the best of your ability, preserve, 12 protect, and defend the Constitution and laws of the United 13 States and this state, so help you God? 14 MR. HAYES: So help me God. 15 (Applause.) 16 JUDGE ABLES: Mary Ellen Summerlin. Dr. Tim, 17 good morning. How are you doing? Step around here, Mary 18 Ellen. Mary Ellen has been elected to the Headwaters 19 Underground Water Conservation District, Precinct 2. She'll 20 be sworn in for her first time today. Would you raise your 21 right hand? Do you, Mary Ellen Summerlin, solemnly swear or 22 affirm that you will faithfully execute the duties of the 23 office of Headwaters Underground Water Conservation 24 District, Precinct 2, of the State of Texas, and will, to 25 the best of your ability, preserve, protect, and defend the 1-1-05 15 1 Constitution and laws of the United States and of this 2 state, so help you God? 3 MS. SUMMERLIN: I do. 4 JUDGE ABLES: Congratulations. 5 (Applause.) 6 JUDGE PROHL: John R. Elliott. 7 (Discussion off the record.) 8 JUDGE PROHL: This will be John Elliott's 9 first term on the Headwaters Underground Water Conservation 10 District. Would you please raise your right hand? Do you, 11 John R. Elliott, solemnly swear or affirm that you will 12 faithfully execute the duties of the office of Headwaters 13 Underground Water Conservation District, Precinct 4, of the 14 State of Texas, and will, to the best of your ability, 15 preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United 16 States and of this state, so help you God? 17 MR. ELLIOTT: So help me God. 18 (Applause.) 19 JUDGE ABLES: I think that's all we have up 20 here. Do you have the deputies? 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Are you doing the 22 deputies now? Okay. 23 JUDGE ABLES: We've got to hang on to those. 24 Rusty, if we can have everybody come up here and maybe line 25 up, I know I'd like everybody to see our deputies. 1-1-05 16 1 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: May be better in front 2 of the bench. Line up all across in front of the bench. 3 (Discussion off the record.) 4 JUDGE ABLES: I'm going to get off to the 5 side, 'cause I'm sure we want to get a group photo and make 6 sure we get all of you in it. And I'm going to swear you in 7 as a group. But let me tell you something. We don't tell 8 you how much -- enough how much we appreciate you. Thank 9 you so much for serving us, for protecting us and taking 10 care of this community. We really appreciate you folks. 11 (Applause.) 12 JUDGE ABLES: I'd like all the deputies of 13 Kerr County to raise their right hand and be sworn in. Do 14 you solemnly swear that you will faithfully execute the 15 duties of the office of Deputy Sheriff of the State of 16 Texas, and will, to the best of your ability, preserve, 17 protect, and defend the Constitution and the laws of the 18 United States and this state, so help you God? The answer 19 is, "I will." 20 (Deputies replied, "I will.") 21 JUDGE ABLES: Congratulations, ladies and 22 gentlemen. 23 (Applause.) 24 JUDGE ABLES: We have to -- do we have 25 another swearing in to do of anyone? 1-1-05 17 1 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: No, sir. 2 JUDGE ABLES: And I don't know how y'all want 3 to finish up, but we're going to have to -- going to have to 4 swear -- as you're talking, Buster, can I get these people 5 just to be here in front of me? 6 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: While I'm talking? 7 JUDGE ABLES: We'll be real quiet. 8 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I wish I had the Aggie 9 score. 10 JUDGE ELLIOTT: Maybe you don't. 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Bet I do. Well, this 12 basically concludes this part of the Commissioners Court. I 13 wanted to open the floor for my colleagues to make any kind 14 of comments that they so desire, and -- and if they don't, I 15 want to wish you a happy new year. Commissioner Williams? 16 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Thank you, 17 Commissioner. And I want to wish everybody here a happy new 18 year, a prosperous new year, and a healthy new year, and I 19 want to just take a moment to say thank you to all the 20 people who work for Kerr County. As you can see by what you 21 have witnessed here today, we have an absolutely fine, 22 outstanding group of individuals, both elected officials and 23 appointed officials and deputy sheriffs and so forth, who 24 work for Kerr County, do an outstanding job. It's to our 25 credit. Kerr County deserves this, and we have it, and I 1-1-05 18 1 think we owe all of these good folks a round of applause. 2 Also, I want to say thank you to those at Headwaters for the 3 service they perform, and wish them well in their task 4 ahead. It's not an easy job, and we know you'll do a fine 5 job representing Kerr County and protect our natural 6 resources. I think they all deserve a big round of 7 applause. Happy New Year. 8 (Applause.) 9 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Commissioner Letz? 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'd like to echo what 11 Commissioner Williams said related to happy new year, and 12 thanks to all the Kerr County employees. And I'd also like 13 the thank all of the citizens of Kerr County that support 14 all of us as elected officials. It's a fun job most of the 15 time. I think we all run for these offices -- various 16 offices with the intent of serving the public. I truly 17 enjoy serving the public, and I really appreciate the 18 support I get from all the members of the community. Thank 19 you. 20 (Applause.) 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I just want to close 22 by saying thank you to the families that support our people. 23 And, Karl and Steve, thank you guys so much for coming up 24 and spending part of your New Years to -- to serve the 25 citizens of Kerr County. We appreciate it. Anything else 1-1-05 19 1 to come before this Court? It is officially over. 2 (Commissioners Court adjourned at 10:23 a.m.) 3 - - - - - - - - - - 4 5 6 7 8 STATE OF TEXAS | 9 COUNTY OF KERR | 10 The above and foregoing is a true and complete 11 transcription of my stenotype notes taken in my capacity as 12 County Clerk of the Commissioners Court of Kerr County, 13 Texas, at the time and place heretofore set forth. 14 DATED at Kerrville, Texas, this 4th day of January, 15 2005. 16 17 18 JANNETT PIEPER, Kerr County Clerk 19 BY: _________________________________ Kathy Banik, Deputy County Clerk 20 Certified Shorthand Reporter 21 22 23 24 25 1-1-05