1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 KERR COUNTY COMMISSIONERS COURT 9 Special Session 10 Friday, January 28, 2005 11 9:00 a.m. 12 Commissioners' Courtroom 13 Kerr County Courthouse 14 Kerrville, Texas 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 PRESENT: PAT TINLEY, Kerr County Judge H. A. "BUSTER" BALDWIN, Commissioner Pct. 1 24 WILLIAM "BILL" WILLIAMS, Commissioner Pct. 2 JONATHAN LETZ, Commissioner Pct. 3 25 DAVE NICHOLSON, Commissioner Pct. 4 2 1 I N D E X January 28, 2005 2 PAGE 3 --- Commissioners' Comments 3 4 1.1 Consider, discuss and take appropriate action on candidates/applicants for Information 5 Technology Specialist Position 7 6 --- Adjourned 18 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 1-28-05 3 1 On Friday, January 28, 2005, at 9:00 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 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Let me call to order 7 the special Commissioners Court meeting scheduled for this 8 date and time, Friday, January 28, 2005, at 9 a.m., pursuant 9 to notice properly posted. We've got a limited agenda 10 today. Before we get started, is there any member of the 11 Court that has any preliminary comments? Number 1? 12 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Judge, I do. I'd like 13 to make a comment about a -- on Monday's agenda, Agenda Item 14 2.1, discuss the banking agreement with First National Bank 15 of Omaha and Kerr County and Mutual of Omaha. I talked with 16 the Treasurer about that, and the way she explained it to me 17 was that this is simply an account that she transfers money 18 into so that they can pay insurance claims. You know, 19 that's the way she explained to it me. It seemed very 20 simple. I didn't know we did things like that, but I'm -- 21 it makes sense. She stated that there was a deadline of her 22 signing the document, so -- but I don't know that deadline; 23 I apologize for that. So, I don't know if that's important 24 enough for us to call another meeting Sunday morning at 6:30 25 or something. 1-28-05 4 1 JUDGE TINLEY: We could -- we could include 2 that on our next Thursday agenda. 3 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay, that's fine with 4 me. 5 JUDGE TINLEY: Get in ahead of the -- get in 6 ahead of the 14th meeting. That would certainly be a 7 possibility. 8 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Do you recall the 9 deadline for her signing a document? 10 MR. EMERSON: She didn't say anything about a 11 deadline. 12 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay, that's fine with 13 me. That's the best I can do. 14 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I think what the 15 Commissioner reports is accurate. My question was then, and 16 is now, undoubtedly we have an account set up somewhere to 17 satisfy the claims that worked through E.B.A. in the old 18 system. Is there any reason why that account had to be 19 abandoned and a new one set up? Just to make it more 20 convenient for Mutual of Omaha or what? Just a question. 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yo no sé. 22 JUDGE TINLEY: My understanding of that 23 account is that's largely within the control of E.B.A. 24 And -- 25 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: In which case -- 1-28-05 5 1 JUDGE TINLEY: -- since we changed 2 third-party administrators, it'd probably be necessary to 3 change that. But -- 4 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Okay. 5 JUDGE TINLEY: -- I'll see if we can't get 6 that on our next Thursday agenda, which is the 3rd, I 7 believe. 8 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yes, sir. 9 JUDGE TINLEY: We'll get that then. 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: We meet almost daily. 11 Judge, I have a quick comment, also. 12 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Just to update the Court 14 on an item from last Monday as well. Yesterday afternoon, 15 the -- I guess we call it the Prescribed Burn Committee met. 16 Everyone that was brought up at the court meeting has agreed 17 to serve. I think it's a great idea. I think it's a model 18 which should be done in most of the counties around here. 19 And the rain has given us a little bit of breathing room to 20 get it kind of -- you know, some of the policies and 21 procedures that are -- a little bit more time to work those 22 out. But it's going to -- it was very well received by 23 everybody. I think it's kind of the right way to do it. 24 And, incidentally, I mis -- I did make one misstatement; I 25 said that the state certification program, that only one of 1-28-05 6 1 these members was a -- was probably certified. He corrected 2 me. There is no one in the state of Texas certified, 3 because the requirements are so absurd. 4 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Really? 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: You have to have 6 liability insurance, and the minimum policy that Lloyds will 7 write is $50,000 worth of policy. So, it's -- obviously, 8 the law that's there is meaningless from the standpoint of 9 anyone using it. 10 JUDGE TINLEY: So the ability to use that 11 exception in the -- in the Health and Safety Code is 12 nonexistent because no one qualifies? 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Correct. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. All right. You got 15 anything, Commissioner 4? 16 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: No. 17 JUDGE TINLEY: I didn't mean to pass over 18 you. I thought you had mentioned what you needed to do, 19 sorry. 20 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: What did I need to 21 do? 22 JUDGE TINLEY: Well, the -- when you followed 23 up on his comments about the insurance. 24 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Oh, I have nothing 25 else. 1-28-05 7 1 JUDGE TINLEY: The item on the agenda today 2 is to consider, discuss, and take appropriate action on 3 candidates or applicants for the Information Technology 4 Specialist position. The matter is posted also as an 5 executive session item. I'll be guided by the Court. 6 Obviously, it's a personnel item and, you know, we got a 7 number of options at the Court's direction. It was 8 advertised as both a part-time and full-time employee 9 position, as well as a contract position for -- for 10 outsourcing type arrangement, or some combination of those, 11 I suppose. If -- if the Court wants to try and narrow down 12 the basis upon which we want to handle that information 13 technology, which of those options or which combination of 14 those options first, or whether we want to go through the 15 applications first and then come back and look at the whole 16 thing in one capsule, you know, whatever you want to do. 17 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I think we probably 18 need to do both. Both of the above. It just kind of ties 19 together. I mean, you -- you can't really make a decision 20 on what -- what way we're going to do it without looking at 21 the people that are involved. 22 JUDGE TINLEY: Certainly. 23 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: 'Cause it -- you could 24 go both ways, I think. 25 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: We could go both 1-28-05 8 1 ways. We could go also outsourcing, but I'm not convinced 2 that outsourcing is the way to go, so I'd rather look at the 3 personnel -- people who've applied and see if we can settle 4 on some candidates for the full-time, and see where that 5 takes us. 6 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Do you have any 7 particular druthers? 8 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: I agree with both of 9 you. Makes sense. 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: My only other question 11 would be, should we go in executive session for a personnel 12 matter? 13 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: I think we're going 14 to say some pretty sensitive things about some of these 15 people. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I have another thought, 17 too. I'm just wondering, since the County Auditor is 18 intricately involved in -- in the equipment that we utilize, 19 is it not -- would it not be beneficial if he participated 20 to some extent as well? 21 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: We need a picture of 22 this. This is good. 23 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Commissioner in 24 training. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. 1-28-05 9 1 JUDGE TINLEY: Good observation, 2 Commissioner. I don't think that -- that the Auditor is -- 3 is available today. 4 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Okay. 5 JUDGE TINLEY: I don't know. Do you know 6 whether he's available? 7 MR. ALFORD: No, sir. I can go check, if you 8 want. 9 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Would you be kind 10 enough to do that? We'd appreciate it. 11 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Procedurally, I'm 12 going to guess what we do today is to winnow this list down 13 to some people that we want to talk to, so if the Auditor's 14 not available now, then he can be available when we get down 15 to brass tacks. 16 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Sure. 17 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So, are you telling me 18 that you don't -- you don't see us making an actual decision 19 today? 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: No. 21 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: No, yeah. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: The answer to that 23 question is no. 24 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Well, we need to talk 25 about that. Today's the -- mine says 29th, and I know it's 1-28-05 10 1 around there somewhere. And -- and Shaun's leaving the last 2 day of the month. How -- how big of a hole are we going to 3 leave there uncovered? That's kind of important. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think -- my first 5 feeling is that, I mean, I think we have -- between Tommy 6 and Brad and a few other people, I think the employees in 7 the county, we can just limp along. I mean, there's got to 8 be somebody at Software Group or someone else that can help 9 us. I think this is too important a decision to rush into, 10 and by my reading of these things, these are basically 11 meaningless, in my opinion. I mean, there's no way I will 12 make a decision based on what's on these applications. Some 13 of them obviously have a lot of experience, have been with 14 -- I mean, the ones that caught my eye were those that were 15 able to -- you know, some of the retired individuals, 16 basically, that have been either at IBM, something like 17 that, who obviously is a good employee, 'cause it's a big 18 corporation and they wouldn't keep them that long. But, you 19 know, we're not talking about having to negotiate salaries. 20 You get them in here, meet them. Probably not a bad idea to 21 ask them to write something for us. 22 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I think we need to 23 meet them and talk to them. 24 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: If we have to limp 25 along and we don't have the inside capability to do that, 1-28-05 11 1 there's at least two firms here in town that can help us; 2 B and B out at Ingram, and Turk over here on Highway 16. 3 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Which one here? 4 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Turk. I can't 5 remember the name of his company. He's over there in that 6 shopping center where the Chinese restaurant is across from 7 Albertsons. 8 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Okay. 9 MR. EMERSON: Gazelle. 10 MS. MCELHANNON: Gazelle? Is that it? 11 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: He's pretty 12 impressive, and Benny Brown, B and B, is -- he's a guru when 13 it comes to computers. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: There's also 5K Laser 15 that, you know, can do a lot of stuff out towards Ingram. 16 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: We can find some 17 contract help if we needed to. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: That may be a good idea, 19 because I just think -- I hate to rush into this. 20 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Well, it's an 21 important decision, and I think we need to -- we need to 22 determine who we want to speak with, who we want to 23 interview. And my -- in looking through there last night, 24 studying them, there are two or three that are standing out, 25 and the rest of them are pretty low, in my opinion -- in my 1-28-05 12 1 view. 2 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Well, another part of 3 the -- part of the picture that we need to -- puzzle that we 4 need to put together is, what -- where -- are we going to 5 leave this department under the Auditor, or are we going to 6 move it under the Commissioners Court? And if we're going 7 to limp along, let's leave it under the -- 8 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: With the Auditor. 9 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: -- the Auditor until 10 that point. That's funny, but I'm also serious. 11 JUDGE TINLEY: Well, you'd have some 12 continuity, and that's -- 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah, that's what it 14 is. 15 JUDGE TINLEY: That's where you're coming 16 from. 17 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That's right, 18 absolutely. 19 JUDGE TINLEY: And I didn't mention a little 20 bit ago when I was talking about our options, we have some 21 -- we have some folks here in the courthouse; Brad Alford is 22 one, of course, that is subject to call for, you know, 23 right-now problems that he's been real cooperative in trying 24 to help various offices with, and so we've got that 25 available to us. But we don't want to wear out our welcome 1-28-05 13 1 there. If we're going to utilize that, we may want to think 2 about some sort of additional staffing. But I -- I think we 3 need to go through these folks, and they may give us an idea 4 which direction we're going, 'cause some -- some are 5 applying part-time, some are applying full-time, and some of 6 them even have -- are in the business. I noted one of -- 7 one of the individuals that I think is probably more 8 qualified, based upon my review, is in the business, and 9 that could possibly be a contract outsource arrangement. 10 So, we've got a bunch of options available to us. 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay. 12 JUDGE TINLEY: I -- the sense I get is that 13 we go into executive session, we look at the individuals, 14 and then, depending on how that gets winnowed down, we move 15 from there. Is that -- 16 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I think -- 17 JUDGE TINLEY: -- what I'm hearing? Well, we 18 will -- we will close the open public session at -- at 9:13. 19 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Judge, I don't -- 20 personally don't have any problem with the County Attorney 21 staying. 22 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Not at all. 23 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: He might keep us out 24 of trouble. 25 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I don't know. 1-28-05 14 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Rex goes, "Oh, boy, just 2 what I wanted to do this morning." 3 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I think he's decided 4 that's becoming a bigger task all the time. 5 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Let me suggest a 6 process. Why don't we take turns indicating three or four 7 or five that we've -- we like the best and get that recorded 8 up there, and then see -- see if there's two or three or 9 four that stand out. 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I'm ready. 11 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: I'm thinking that 12 ought to eliminate about half of them. 13 JUDGE TINLEY: You're going to be the scribe? 14 Okay. 15 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I've got three. 16 JUDGE TINLEY: Just a minute. Let me get us 17 into executive session. 18 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I'm sorry. 19 (The open session was closed at 9:14 a.m., and an Executive Session was held, the 20 transcript of which is contained in a separate document.) 21 - - - - - - - - - - 22 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. We will reconvene in 23 open session. It is about 10:18. Does any member of the 24 Court have anything they wish to offer in connection with 25 what we did in closed session? 1-28-05 15 1 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I guess -- what, move 2 to invite certain individuals? 3 JUDGE TINLEY: For interview before the 4 Court? 5 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I move we invite 6 Mr. Trolinger, Mr. Swartz -- it's Ms. Artlip, is it not? 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Correct. 8 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: And Ms. Itz in for 9 interviews to begin at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, February 1. 10 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I second that. 12 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded. Any 13 question or discussion? 14 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I have a question. I 15 don't know if it's the proper time to do that or not, but on 16 that agenda, would you all be opposed to taking care of this 17 banking -- insurance banking thing at that day, while we're 18 here? 19 JUDGE TINLEY: No. 20 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Would you be opposed 21 to Road and Bridge coming in with one agenda item? 22 JUDGE TINLEY: I've got those both for 23 Thursday, but now that we're doing this one, we can -- we 24 can post it for Tuesday, two days sooner. 25 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay. 1-28-05 16 1 JUDGE TINLEY: I'll take care of it. Any 2 further question or discussion on the motion? All in 3 favor -- 4 MR. EMERSON: Can I ask one question? As 5 long as you're adding things to the agenda -- 6 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Here we go. 7 MR. EMERSON: -- can I shift my line item 8 from February 14th to this coming one about the remodeling 9 downstairs? So that we're not sitting on hold for three 10 weeks? 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I have no problem with 12 it, myself. 13 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Sure. 14 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: When I got this job, 15 I didn't know I was going to have to work five days a week. 16 (Laughter.) 17 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I think it's a good 18 idea. Let's get it done. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Do we want to tell the 20 people to show up at 10:30, then? We're going to have some 21 agenda items to -- or they can show up at 10:00; they can 22 wait. 23 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Get used to waiting 25 around here. 1-28-05 17 1 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Or she could stagger 2 them. 3 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That's probably a good 4 idea, to stagger them 10 minutes at least. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: 10:30? Starting at 6 10:30? 7 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Take care of our 8 in-house business so they can get back to work, and then get 9 to the interviews. 10 JUDGE TINLEY: Starting at -- well, it's not 11 going to take too long with the first two items. The -- his 12 item may take a little bit longer. I don't know how 13 involved we're going to get with that. If it's just going 14 to be looking at preliminary stuff, maybe. 15 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: And Road and Bridge is 16 just purchasing the Gradall, and -- 17 JUDGE TINLEY: The other's going to be -- 18 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: This thing here is 19 just a -- 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: 10:15, probably. 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: 10:16. 22 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: 10:30, 10:45, 11:00. 23 JUDGE TINLEY: Let's do it at 10:00, 24 15-minute intervals. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Probably 10. 1-28-05 18 1 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I think 10 minutes. I 2 really do. 3 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Any further discussion 4 on the motion? All in favor of the motion, signify by 5 raising your right hand. 6 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 7 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 8 (No response.) 9 JUDGE TINLEY: Is there any further business? 10 If not, this meeting will be adjourned. 11 (Commissioners Court adjourned at 10:20 a.m.) 12 - - - - - - - - - - 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 1-28-05 19 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 1st day of February, 8 2005. 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 1-28-05