1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 KERR COUNTY COMMISSIONERS COURT 9 Special Session 10 Monday, February 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 February 28, 2005 2 PAGE --- Commissioners' Comments 5 3 1.1 Presentation concerning Trans Texas Corridor 8 4 1.14 Consider nomination of Chuck Lewis to fill vacancy on Kerr Central Appraisal District 5 Board of Directors 26 1.2 Discuss IT staffing, consider bids opened on 6 February 14, and award contract for services, consider budget amendment 29 7 1.3 Consider abandoning, discontinuing, and vacating 380 feet of Riojas Road, Pct. 3 37 8 1.4 Consider Preliminary Revision of Plat for Lot 4 of Live Springs Ranch, Pct. 4 39 9 1.6 Public Hearing concerning Revision of Plat for Lot 9 & 10, Rio Retiro, Pct. 4 46 10 1.7 Consider Revision of Plat for Lot 9 & 10 of Rio Retiro, Pct. 4 47 11 1.8 Public Hearing concerning Revision of Plat for Lot 4 of Live Springs Ranch, Pct. 4 54 12 1.5 Consider Preliminary Plat for Live Springs Ranch, Section 2, Pct. 4 56 13 1.9 Consider Preliminary Plat for Center Point Independent School District, Pct. 2 60 14 1.10 Public Hearing concerning Revision of Plat for Holcomb Ranch to include vacating, discontinuing, 15 and abandoning the road shown as Hacienda Trail 65 1.11 Consider Revision of Plat for Holcomb Ranch to 16 include vacating, discontinuing, and abandoning the road shown as Hacienda Trail 66 17 1.12 Consider authorizing Road and Bridge to repair the service drive at the Juvenile Detention Facility 68 18 1.13 Discuss possibility of a grant to support Substance Abuse Treatment Program 70 19 1.15 Consider approval of redesignation of the Child Welfare Board of Directors, approve 20 terms of each director 74 1.16 Consider approval of agreement with VeriClaims, 21 Inc. for administrative services for indigent health care claims, approval of Business Associate 22 Agreement 77 1.17 Consider adopting a resolution inviting the 23 West Texas Judges and Commissioners Association annual conference to Kerrville in 2007 78 24 1.18 Consider accepting resignation of Walter Harris from Alamo Area Council on Aging 79 25 3 1 I N D E X (Continued) February 28, 2005 2 PAGE 3 1.19 Consider accepting Kerr County Attorney's office agreed-upon procedures report for the period 4 January 2002 through December 2004 81 1.20 Consider conducting workshop and/or public hearing 5 on proposed Kerr County Nuisance Abatement Program 91 1.21 Consider request for designation of City of Ingram 6 as a "Colonia" for eligibility for grant funding for wastewater gathering system 97 7 1.22 Consider lease purchase of chip spreader and asphalt distributor, approve lease document with 8 Security State Bank & Trust, and authorize County Judge to sign same 107 9 1.23 Reassessment of new employee of J.P. 4 from 17-1 to proper step/grade 109 10 1.24 Request emergency Funds for purchase of computer for District Clerk's office 125 11 4.1 Pay Bills 129 12 4.2 Budget Amendments 134 4.3 Late Bills 144 13 5.1 Reports from Commissioners/Liaison Committee 14 Assignments 146 5.2 Reports from Elected Officials/Department 15 Heads 153 16 --- Adjourned 165 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 4 1 On Monday, February 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: Good morning, ladies and 7 gentlemen. Let me call to order this meeting of the Kerr 8 County Commissioners Court regularly scheduled for this time 9 and date, Monday, February 28th, 2005, at 9 a.m. 10 Commissioner Nicholson, I think you have the honors this 11 morning. 12 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Will you join me in 13 prayer, please? 14 (Prayer and pledge of allegiance.) 15 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you. At this time, if 16 there's any member of the audience or the public that wishes 17 to be heard on a matter that is not a listed agenda item, we 18 would ask that you come forward at this time. If you want 19 to be heard on a -- a specified listed agenda item, we'd ask 20 that you fill out a participation form. The forms are in 21 the back of the room. It's not absolutely essential, but it 22 helps me to not pass over you when we get to that item. So, 23 if you do that, it would be helpful to me. But if there's 24 any member of the public or the audience that wishes to come 25 forward and be heard on any matter that is not a listed 2-28-05 5 1 agenda item, feel free to come forward at this time. I see 2 no one moving this direction, so we'll move on. 3 Commissioner Nicholson, do you have anything for us this 4 morning? 5 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Couple things. One, 6 just an update on burning. The last couple weeks have been 7 a good time to burn, and there have been more controlled 8 burns going on in the last few weeks than I have seen 9 previously. And, as far as I know, none of them got out of 10 hand, so that's good news. The other one was that one of 11 our west Kerr citizens was honored by being named Citizen of 12 the Year by the West Kerr Chamber of Commerce. It's Clint 13 Shrader, who's the -- Schroeder, who's the editor, 14 publisher -- I really don't know all the rest of the 15 words -- of the West Kerr Current. It was kind of 16 interesting; Clint was there to cover the banquet and the 17 awards, had no idea that he was going to be named Citizen of 18 the Year. And as they started -- the moderator started 19 talking about all the accomplishments of this person, he 20 became aware of it, so he had to get from behind the camera 21 and get in front of the camera for some of it. So, it was a 22 good story. That's all I've got. 23 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you. Commissioner 24 Baldwin? 25 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yes, sir, thank you. 2-28-05 6 1 I spent Thursday and part of Friday out in Odessa preparing 2 for our meeting next month, the West Texas Judges and 3 Commissioners Association, and Friday I left the meeting 4 early and drove like hell to Brownwood to a track meet, 5 believe it or not. My favorite time of the year. And my 6 little boy won second in the high jump, and was in second by 7 a fraction in the 400 hurdles, and fell for the first time 8 in his life, and he splattered out there on the track. I 9 went over to him, asked him how that felt, and he says, "The 10 tracks taste funny up here." (Laughter.) So, he got up and 11 finished and placed fifth, and -- in the hurdles, so he did 12 well. He's got a lot of heart. That's all. All I know is 13 track now. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you. Commissioner 15 Williams? 16 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Well, Judge, we got a 17 -- as we typically have lately, we've got an agenda book 18 here that would pretty well choke an average cow, so I'm 19 hopeful we can get it done before dinnertime tonight, 20 because I promised to take my wife to dinner to commemorate 21 our 46th wedding anniversary today, this day. 22 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Fantastic, 46 years 23 with you. 24 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: And she deserves it, 25 let me tell you. 2-28-05 7 1 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah. 2 Congratulations. 3 JUDGE TINLEY: Is that all you got for us? 4 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: That's all I got. 5 JUDGE TINLEY: That's plenty. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I don't have anything. 7 Let's just get on with the agenda. 8 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. As most of you know, 9 here approximately a month and a half ago, a decision was 10 made at the state level with regard to our local State 11 Hospital, and which our acute civil commitment beds were to 12 be converted over to forensic patient beds. It kind of 13 threw Kerr County in a dither, as well as our other 18 to 20 14 counties in our cachement area, and it really sent us 15 scrambling. We didn't have much in the way of prior notice. 16 But, as I'm sure some of you may have noted in the past few 17 days, we've found at least a temporary, partial solution. 18 The State has allowed, to begin with temporarily, 10 beds 19 out here at Kerrville State Hospital for acute civil 20 commitment patients, and we're working on a more permanent 21 plan to begin next fiscal year, which will begin September 22 1st, the State's fiscal year. But I -- my purpose in 23 mentioning that to you this morning is to ask you to thank 24 the people that I think are primarily responsible for 25 getting this back where we've got something to work with out 2-28-05 8 1 there for our acute civil commitment patients. Dr. Olson 2 and her staff, of course, were very instrumental. 3 Representative Hilderbran worked very hard at the state 4 level in Austin. But Linda Werlein, our local Community 5 Mental Health Director here -- I call her that; that may not 6 be her title, but she did yeoman's work in hurriedly putting 7 together this plan and utilizing some of her funding of the 8 community Mental Health Authority for the purpose of making 9 this happen. So, when you see these people, thank them for 10 their work, because they -- they did a wonderful thing, and 11 it's hopefully going to get us kind of back to where we were 12 on our civil commitment beds. And also, this every-two-year 13 or so "sky is falling" routine about they're going to close 14 Kerrville State Hospital, I think by converting a lot of 15 those forensic -- a lot of those patient beds to forensic 16 beds will help solidify our future. And then if we can just 17 get our acute civil commitment beds on top of that, I think 18 we'll really, really be in good shape out there. So, thank 19 these people when you see them or you have occasion to be in 20 touch with them, and -- because they're doing those things. 21 That's all I have, thank you. Let's move on with the agenda 22 items. The first item on the agenda is presentation 23 concerning the Trans Texas Corridor. Commissioner Letz? 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I put this on the agenda 25 at the request of one of my constituents, Sharon Spenrath, 2-28-05 9 1 who's sitting up here. Sharon is a good friend of mine in 2 the county for a long, long time, good friend of the Court, 3 probably one of the strongest advocates of property rights 4 in the state of Texas. She has many, many accolades; among 5 them, past president of the, I guess -- make sure I get it 6 right -- Texas Cattlewomen's -- national president as well? 7 MS. SPENRATH: No, I'm National Legislative 8 Chair. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: National Legislative 10 Chair. So, you know, very involved in property rights, very 11 involved in a lot of political circles. She's done an 12 outstanding job representing Central Texas on many, many 13 boards nationally. She had called and asked if she could 14 get on the agenda to update the Court and the public about 15 the Trans Texas Corridor, and I'll turn it over to her. I 16 think it's a very important issue. Thank you for coming, 17 Sharon. Thank you for your interest. 18 MS. SPENRATH: Appreciate y'all giving us 19 some time. With me I have Mr. Bill Reese and Susan 20 Heffington. Mr. Reese has been very active in developing 21 our program for this morning, and I'm -- he's going to take 22 over the first segment of it. So, Mr. Reese? 23 MR. REESE: Well, good morning. I was 24 figuring up the other day that it's been about two years 25 since I last addressed y'all, and, oh, in the fall of 2003, 2-28-05 10 1 I spent three months in the hospital, and they tell me I 2 died twice, so I have a report to make from my trip to the 3 hereafter, and so I'll give my scouting report. Most 4 importantly, to my supreme Commissioner, Buster, contrary to 5 some religious beliefs, the ratio of young ladies to dirty 6 old men is not nearly as high as -- as claimed. And -- 7 MS. SPENRATH: He promised me he'd be nice. 8 (Laughter.) 9 MR. REESE: And the best thing, Buster, is I 10 did not detect any heat or flames licking my backside, so 11 you can relax. 12 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay. 13 MR. REESE: With that said, let's get going. 14 This is a pretty serious topic. I've titled it "The New 15 Spanish Trail." The biggest question I hear is, why haven't 16 I heard anything about it? This perhaps is the most asked 17 question about the Trans Texas Corridor. The ballot read: 18 "The constitutional amendment creating the Texas Mobility 19 Fund and authorizing grants and loans of money and issuance 20 of obligations for financing the construction, 21 reconstruction, acquisition, operation, and expansion of 22 state highways, turnpikes, toll roads, toll bridges, and 23 other mobility projects." Passed, 67.3 percent voting yes. 24 This was in 2002. 25 That constitutional amendment enabled the 2-28-05 11 1 passage of HB-3588 that became law on September 1, 2003. 2 And little did we know that this -- that tiny little 3 amendment would become this 4,000 miles of quarter-mile 4 corridors of six passenger lanes for passenger cars, toll 5 roads, four passenger lane -- I mean truck lanes, oil 6 pipelines, gas pipelines, water pipelines, utility lines 7 snaking across the state. I want to point out that one year 8 ago in February, the first public hearings were held on the 9 Trans Texas Corridor 35 route from San Antone to Dallas. In 10 December, 10 months later, the deal was done. The project 11 was awarded to Cintra, a firm from Spain, and H.B. Zachry. 12 Well, we know H.B. Zachry is from San Antone; they own 13 15 percent of the project. Cintra is one of the world's 14 largest private sector developers of toll roads and 15 airports. It's owned by a Spanish outfit, and Macquerie 16 Investment Group from Australia. Macquerie Investment 17 Holdings is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Macquerie Bank 18 Limited, the largest investment banking group in Australia. 19 Touted as a 50-year project of the future, 20 Governor Perry says the Trans Texas Corridor will be the 21 interstate system of the 21st century. The question before 22 us today is, is this quarter of a mile corridor 23 criss-crossing the state the answer? Currently, there are 24 three identified priority corridors; the Trans Texas 35 25 corridor, which has been initiated from San Antone to 2-28-05 12 1 Dallas, TTC-69 from Texarcana to some point on the Mexican 2 border, and TTC-10 from Orange to El Paso. We know that 3 I-35 is a traffic nightmare. Most of us have heard that the 4 TTC-69 is part of a 1,600-mile national project, and that 5 I-10 from Houston to San Antone is a NAFTA-rich corridor 6 route. But wait a minute. What do we need a six-lane toll 7 road in Medina for? David Stall of Corridor Watch, an 8 opponent advocate of the Corridors, asked TexDOT that very 9 question, "What do we need to extend I-10 for?" And he was 10 given a very simple but honest answer. Water. So, this is 11 the topic that we're going to discuss today, water and the 12 Texas Corridor. 13 What we have here is a map of the Edwards 14 Aquifer that supplies San Antone, and the Edwards Trinity 15 Aquifer that supplies us for the most part with water here 16 in Kerr County. If you'll back up just one second please, 17 the Edwards Trinity stretches from here in Kerr County all 18 the way back 400 miles west of the Davis Mountains. Let me 19 point out something real quick now. Remember the 400 miles; 20 I'll bring it up later. Okay, go ahead. Thank you. This 21 is very difficult to read. It's a very light map, and -- 22 even in its original state. These are the 2000 population 23 densities. This was provided by the Trans Texas Corridor. 24 Here's the Edwards Trinity Aquifer in here. Very little 25 population in 2000, and very little population in 2060. In 2-28-05 13 1 other words, Edwards Trinity is not threatened by population 2 growth on the whole. It's threatened on the eastern 3 fringes, as it is today, and it's further threatened on the 4 eastern fringes by growth, but it's not threatened as a 5 whole over the entirety of its -- of its acreage. Next 6 slide, please. 7 If we -- well, this is -- what you see here 8 are the aquifers in the far west Texas region. The Edwards 9 Aquifer comes right in here, and is going back to the east, 10 so it's the very light green you see here. These red -- 11 aquifers in red here are igneous aquifers. They're termed 12 the igneous aquifers. These aquifers right here are the 13 West Bolsons. Next slide, please. And crossing these 14 aquifers are the quarter-mile-wide corridors of the Trans 15 Texas Corridor, which, by law, under HB-3588, those -- those 16 -- the land under those corridors will belong to the State 17 of Texas, and under the law of capture, so will the water. 18 An awful lot of water. Next slide. All right. Here's this 19 TTC-10. It started in Orange. Here's El Paso here. Now, 20 if Interstate 10 was about transportation, Interstate 10 21 could be expanded to its full 400-foot width (sic) very 22 easily. But this 400-mile route here would not belong to 23 the State of Texas, but TTC -- TTC-10 does. That's 24 100 square miles of state land that can now be used to drill 25 for -- for water. 2-28-05 14 1 This is a corridor that curves back down 2 through far west Texas. Right here is the Edwards Trinity 3 Aquifer. I've been in contact with Jeff Davis County 4 Commissioners, Tom Beard, the chair of the Far West Texas 5 Water Planning Group, who was appointed by Governor Perry. 6 They jumped on this corridor -- this auxiliary corridor 7 right away. They proposed two separate alternative routes 8 that were less difficult to build, and to no avail. If 9 you'll notice, this corridor curves back through -- you'll 10 see on your handout, curves back through the Edwards Trinity 11 Aquifer, comes down through the igneous aquifer around 12 Marfa, and comes down through the West Texas Bolsons around 13 Presidio. Next slide, please. Now, what I want to point 14 out here is that these are the Davis Mountains just north of 15 Ft. Davis. This is Olympia Canyon. This is a long 16 serpentine route through a precipitous canyon of some 17 20 miles in length. This is con -- this is totally contrary 18 to all of the design criteria of the Trans Texas Corridor, 19 which is supposed to be straight, no grades. This route 20 crosses the creek in 11 spots. 21 MS. SPENRATH: Ready? 22 MR. REESE: Yeah. Right up here is Marfa. 23 It's difficult to see in this -- this is the route of the -- 24 of the corridor. This is extremely rugged terrain, but this 25 is all aquifer of that igneous strata that you saw on the 2-28-05 15 1 previous map. Now, the question before, is the routing for 2 this corridor for traffic or scenery at old Ft. Davis, or 3 does it have to do with passing over three aquifers? 4 Quoting HB-3588, the property -- "Property may be leased or 5 a franchise or license granted for any purpose, including 6 use as a facility or use for unrelated commercial, 7 industrial, or agricultural purposes." Now, when they say 8 "franchise," you know, it doesn't mean Ozarka Burger Barns. 9 Rather, it's granting rights to drill water wells on state 10 property and utilize the pipelines along the corridor to 11 distribute water as the State wishes. Now, who's going to 12 be getting these franchises? There's as many as a dozen 13 active groups of water marketers that are generally 14 dominated by oil men. They have a wildcatter's flare to 15 them. They've tied up millions of gallons of water rights. 16 Right now they haven't sold hardly any water at all. Now, 17 the Trans Texas Corridor reflects the convergence of two 18 ideas; the unparalleled use of eminent domain to centralize 19 water issues at the state level, and to provide an in-place 20 infrastructure to concessionaires for water distribution via 21 a statewide pipeline network that the concessionaires -- oh 22 my god. 23 MS. SPENRATH: Doesn't show up any better; 24 it's too light. 25 MR. REESE: No. Okay. Don't have to invest 2-28-05 16 1 in. Well, here comes the power of the word. What does all 2 this mean for Kerr County? This is the corridor, the Trans 3 Texas 10 corridor. Here is Comfort. Here's Highway 87 and 4 Steeler Hill. Trans Texas Corridor 10 will enter the Hill 5 Country between Blanco and Sisterdale and Kendalia, and will 6 take a northwest turn and cross Highway 87 just between -- 7 just north of Steeler Hill. At this point in time, it's 8 11 miles north of Comfort approximately, and it's also 9 11 miles south of Fredericksburg. Now, let me bring up some 10 economic issues at this time, because by the time it gets to 11 Highway 16, it's going to be 13 miles south of 12 Fredericksburg and 11 miles north of Kerrville. So, from 13 the standpoint of economic considerations, that's what any 14 off ramps at those two highways -- the roadsides are going 15 to be virtually equidistant from exiting travelers to make a 16 choice of whether they go to Kerr County or whether they go 17 to Gillespie County. 18 Now, the points as far as the corridor 19 itself, number one, there's no readily available access to 20 private property. Number two, there are no frontage roads. 21 And, number three, services are available only at 22 concessionaire-operated oases within the corridors, and this 23 is specifically to discourage the need to exit from these -- 24 these toll roads. Okay. If you want to visualize where the 25 -- the corridor would conceivably cross Highway 16, it would 2-28-05 17 1 be in the area of Alfred Henke and Pressler-Henke Roads just 2 south of Henke's fence and gas station. Okay, next slide. 3 Okay. 4 AUDIENCE: Doesn't the Lieutenant Governor 5 own some property right there? 6 MR. REESE: I don't have access to that, 7 but -- 8 AUDIENCE: I believe he does. 9 MR. REESE: -- that would be very interesting 10 to know. 11 AUDIENCE: He does. 12 MR. REESE: All right. The -- I want to 13 point out here that this is this corridor coming north and 14 south just west of San Antone; I'll get to it in just a 15 minute. Here we have Kerrville. We have this corridor 16 coming up this -- that -- go to the next slide, please. We 17 can come back. We have a corridor that starts southeast of 18 San Antone around Karnes City, takes off, goes just north of 19 Pleasanton, goes northwest, crosses 290 between D'Hanis and 20 Hondo, takes a route over -- what is it, 362? -- 462. Goes 21 about two and a half miles west of Medina there on Highway 22 337, picks up Wallace Creek at Highway 16. Here's Medina 23 Children's Home. It's just to the west of Medina Children's 24 Home. Picks up Wallace Canyon, jumps up on top of the ridge 25 and kisses the land owned by Cool Water, which is owned by 2-28-05 18 1 Lee Bass. Goes through -- now go back to the previous 2 slide, please. Goes across Highway 39 in the area of 3 Waltonia Crossing, Junction Crossing at Fall Branch, goes to 4 Austex Properties, which is owned by Stephen R. Bass -- 5 Stephen R. Smith, excuse me, not Stephen R. Bass -- and 6 exits Kerr County, and then it converges in a massive 7 intersection here. 8 These are fully integrated corridors, by the 9 way. There would be a massive intersection here in the area 10 of Klein Branch Road. Now, let me say right now, the 11 neighborhoods threatened in the area of Highway 39 and 12 Waltonia would be Sherman Hill Subdivision, Bumblebee 13 Subdivision, River Oaks, Camp Rio Vista, and Cypress Creek 14 Estates. Those in the area of Junction Highway and Fall 15 Creek would be Bluff Trails, Fall Branch Road, David Paul, 16 and Camp Scenic. In Gillespie County, those homes on the 17 following roads in this area -- these areas: Fallen Oaks, 18 Saddlebrook, Spring Valley Ranch, Duderstadt, Friederich, 19 White Oak, Pressler-Henke Crossing, Klein Branch -- Klein 20 Branch, Lange Road, Fiedler, Windy Ridge, and Alfred Henke. 21 In Bandera County, Highway 337 and Elm Creek Road area, Mesa 22 Verde, Wallace Creek Road, Greene Road, and Echo Hill Road. 23 Now, if we'll go back -- go back to the -- 24 MS. SPENRATH: Go backwards? 25 MR. REESE: Backwards, please. I believe 2-28-05 19 1 backwards. No, go forward. Okay. Let me point out here, 2 you remember I made the comment about the canyon -- the 3 Olympia Canyon just north of -- in the Davis Mountains just 4 north of Ft. Davis. That was a 20-mile mountain canyon. We 5 have Wallace Canyon. These are -- these are canyons that 6 are -- that are pretty dear to some of us that live up here. 7 Last I heard, there were nesting eagles up there. These are 8 rough, beautiful canyons. This is about a -- an 8-mile 9 stretch. TexDOT is talking about just a 20-mile stretch 10 north of Ft. Davis, even with -- presented with alternate 11 routes, for whatever reasons. That's what I'm told. Okay, 12 we can keep going. Now, the point I'm making, like the 13 situation in far west Texas, where a 125-mile-long corridor 14 was created under the auspices of aiding transportation, 15 when in fact it appears more about the gathering and 16 distribution of water, so now it appears the case that this 17 time a 155-mile corridor conveniently kisses the property of 18 two property owners with a known history of water marketing. 19 Now, it's very important that we point out at 20 this time these -- these corridors are not engineered at 21 this time. They're termed conceptual, yet they're extremely 22 accurate when it comes down to water-specific situations. 23 And I want to make this very clear at this time. To our 24 knowledge and to my knowledge, no laws have been broken, and 25 we're making no implication that laws have been broken or 2-28-05 20 1 planning to be broken or any such thing in this 2 presentation. This is not a matter of whether there's 3 marketable water in Kerr County, that the water marketers 4 are right or wrong, there will be four traffic lanes or six 5 traffic lanes, the concrete is poured first or the pipeline 6 is. It's all about a taking of such proportions that most 7 of us really can't comprehend the scope. A vision conceived 8 only with an eye towards an artist's rendition, the Trans 9 Texas Corridor is incubating a beast that will make the 10 alien look plumb loveable. I think that's the way this 11 county should look. That's just my opinion. Thank you. 12 MS. SPENRATH: I'll do the balance of the 13 presentation. It's kind of an overview and review. 14 Approximately 580,000 acres, 908 square miles, of private 15 land will be taken by the State through eminent domain for 16 superhighway; four sets of vehicle lanes, two sets of rails, 17 plus both underground and above-ground utilities. Any 18 access to vehicle lanes will require expensive flyover 19 separations. Emergency access alone will be difficult. By 20 design, it will draw traffic away from the existing highway 21 systems. It will encourage motorists to remain on the 22 corridor while passing thousands of Texas communities. The 23 State is ready to start taking land for the Trans Texas 24 Corridor, not in the future, but right now. As per the 25 Trans Texas Plan, Right-of-Way Overview, it quotes, "To 2-28-05 21 1 preserve the corridor for future generations, acquiring 2 property for all components must begin as soon as possible." 3 The Transportation Code, as amended -- and 4 here I'm just trying to specifically point out that law does 5 not keep them from doing these particular things that we're 6 discussing today. The Transportation Code, as amended in 7 2003 by House Bill 3588, provides that the Trans Texas 8 Corridor property may be leased, franchised, or licensed for 9 any purpose, including use for unrelated commercial, 10 industrial, and agricultural purposes. And you'll note that 11 this is all in the Transportation Code, and I've quoted the 12 sections below. You have that in your notes. Another new 13 authority permits TexDOT to acquire land for ancillary 14 facilities that generate revenue for use in the 15 construction, maintenance, or operation of a turnpike 16 project. Taken together, these provisions grant permission 17 for an unlimited taking of land by the State for development 18 by it or its private concessionaire partners on and along 19 the Trans Texas Corridor. And to facilitate unimpeded 20 takings, the power of condemnation was also expanded by 21 House Bill 3588 to include facilities of the Trans Texas 22 Corridor. 23 New authority granted to TexDOT allows the 24 taking of city or county-owned real property, parkways, 25 streets, highways, alleys, reservations, and prohibits 2-28-05 22 1 TexDOT from paying any compensation for that land. You'll 2 find it in the Transportation Code, Section 370.169(a). The 3 land replacement costs will then be paid by our local 4 taxpaying citizens. The RMA is also exempt from payment of 5 development fees, utility connection fees, assessments, and 6 service fees imposed or assessed by any governmental entity 7 or any property owner or homeowners' association. Property 8 values will decline and taxable land will be removed. So 9 noted down south; they're already purchasing land, and 10 they're not wanting to pay full market price. It is equally 11 important to point out if the corridors come to the hill 12 country, Kerr County will lose 2,300 to 3,500 acres. Almost 13 16,000 acres will be lost in Kerr, Bandera, Gillespie, 14 Kendall, and Kimble counties. As many as 300 families will 15 lose their homes. Kerr County will lose real dollars from 16 reduced traffic from I-10. Kerr County will lose control of 17 its underground water. Kerr County will lose its water to 18 out-of-county users. 19 Local water is a major concern. The State 20 will have the right to drill, pump, and transport 21 groundwater located on all right-of-ways under the rule of 22 capture, with the possible outcome being depletion of 23 aquifers or lowering of aquifers and the transporting of 24 water out of counties, states, or possibly to Mexico. 25 Mexico being farfetched until you read this -- wait, I've 2-28-05 23 1 got one more slide after this. I'll -- it will clarify 2 that. A Senate subcommittee has recently concluded that the 3 law is not clear that lessees of state land such as the 4 Trans Texas Corridor are bound by the rules of a groundwater 5 conservation district. The report says such exemptions 6 could easily undermine a district's ability to manage the 7 aquifer or portion of an aquifer for which it is 8 responsible. The subcommittee is also recommending to the 9 Legislature that groundwater produced from state-owned lands 10 should be reserved for in-state use. In making this 11 recommendation, we have to conclude that the subcommittee 12 could not find a current prohibition of exporting Texas 13 water to another state, or even Mexico. So documented on 14 Senate committee down below, 78th Interim, on November 3rd, 15 '04. 16 Now, these are excerpts from Governor Perry's 17 press release. The Regional Partnership for Progress MOU 18 was signed by Governor Perry, Governor Yarrington from -- 19 I'll have to -- forgive my language -- my Spanish here, but 20 Tamaulipas, Governor Martinez of Coahuila, and Governor 21 Gonzales of Nuevo Leon. The agreement calls for an 22 integrated approach to regional economic development, public 23 safety, energy, telecommunications, healthy infrastructure, 24 and education. Now, Perry has said, "Through my proposal 25 to" -- this is a quote. "Through my proposal to build the 2-28-05 24 1 Trans Texas Corridor, a 4,000-mile network of roads and rail 2 lines, oil and gas pipelines, and electric transmission 3 lines, we are making stronger energy connection to Mexico a 4 top priority." Now, with the Trans Texas Corridor utility 5 zone reaching Mexico for oil and gas pipelines, there is no 6 apparent and no law barrier preventing water marketers from 7 selling Texas water to Mexico customers. 8 The State of Texas will compete in the free 9 marketplace. The State of Texas, due to ownership of all 10 properties, the State will have exclusive rights to all 11 income generated from concessions such as gas stations, 12 garages, stores, hotels, restaurants, and other unrelated 13 commercial and industrial purposes. The State of Texas will 14 be direct -- in direct competition with our businesses 15 located in communities, such as ours here in Kerr County, 16 along the Trans Texas Corridor. All Texans will pay for the 17 Trans Texas Corridor. This will not be a superhighway where 18 those who use it pay for it. The Trans Texas Corridor will 19 be paid for by tolls, fees, leases, taxes, lost private 20 property, lost taxable property, lost economies, and lost 21 natural resources. Now, we're asking, as residents of Kerr 22 County, that the Commissioners Court develop and sign a 23 resolution opposing the Trans Texas Corridor, and let our 24 state officials know. 25 I've put in your booklets in front of you a 2-28-05 25 1 sample from McLennan County, which is Waco. I did that -- 2 if you'll note that there -- we have neighboring counties 3 that have already done this, and that is Kimble, Menard, 4 Real, Edwards, Mason, and Gillespie. Those commissioners 5 courts have already signed resolutions opposing. We're 6 asking that -- that you do the same. The document -- the 7 resolution in your booklet from McLennan County just seemed 8 to be more precise and to-the-point, well-developed, so I 9 included that in your booklet to refer to in writing one. 10 Now, since I'm so wonderfully endowed with a liking for 11 quotes, "A wise and frugal government...shall restrain men 12 from injuring one another, shall leave them otherwise free 13 to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, 14 and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has 15 earned. This is the sum of good government." - Thomas 16 Jefferson. Thank you. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Thank you. 18 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you, Ms. Spenrath. 19 MS. HEFFINGTON: I have copies here, if 20 anybody would like to have a copy, and anybody in the 21 audience. I'll pass out a copy to you. 22 MS. SPENRATH: I don't know your -- your 23 tolerance of us moving our equipment out of here right 24 quick, but you might instruct me as to how you prefer we do 25 that. 2-28-05 26 1 JUDGE TINLEY: Just do it as orderly as you 2 can. Unless you'd like to stay with us for a while. You're 3 welcome to stay. 4 MS. SPENRATH: We could stay a little while. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: We'll take a break in 6 probably 30 minutes. 7 MS. SPENRATH: Then we'll do it then. We'll 8 do it at break time. 9 JUDGE TINLEY: We'd be tickled to death to 10 have you stay with us. 11 MS. SPENRATH: Thank you. 12 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you very much. Let's 13 move to Item 14. Mr. Chuck Lewis is with us, and I 14 understand he's got some commitments that he's got to scurry 15 to later this morning, so let's go to Item 14, consider and 16 discuss nomination of Chuck Lewis to fill a vacancy on the 17 Kerr Central Appraisal District Board of Directors. 18 Commissioner Letz. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I put this on the agenda 20 in relation to Paula Rector resigning her position several 21 -- I guess at the last meeting or two meetings ago; I can't 22 remember which one. And she's going to continue her slot on 23 the Appraisal Board of Directors as a nonvoting member. The 24 way the process, as I understand it, works with the 25 Appraisal Board when this type of a vacancy takes place is 2-28-05 27 1 that the -- each of the entities that appoint members have 2 the right to nominate a person to fill this vacancy. For 3 that reason, I'd like to, you know, make our nomination. My 4 feeling is -- and I hope -- I see one Appraisal Board member 5 in the audience, Mr. Dozier. But I -- hopefully they will 6 appoint the representative that the County nominates. I 7 think it's important that we keep representation on there, 8 and I think that would, you know, certainly be to my liking 9 that way. The person that I'm recommending, Chuck Lewis, I 10 think we're familiar with. He has served on the 9-1-1 Board 11 for some time. He did, in my mind, an outstanding job on 12 that board. And I think -- I visited with him. His term 13 currently is up, I believe, in September of this year on the 14 9-1-1 Board, and I think our policy recently has been we 15 kind of make a change on boards occasionally. That will be 16 his second term. 17 I asked if he was interested to serve on this 18 board, which I think is also one of the most important 19 boards that we make appointments to; certainly, it directly 20 affects our taxes, appraisals and things of that nature. He 21 said he would be willing to serve on the Kendall Central 22 Appraisal District Board of Directors -- I'm sorry, Kerr, 23 not Kendall. Though he pays taxes, and I do also, to 24 Kendall for schools. He also has made a request that he not 25 resign immediately from 9-1-1 Board. Some things are going 2-28-05 28 1 on with some bidding progressing, and I see no problem with 2 that at all. It is, you know, his choice pretty much on 3 that board, either when we have an opening, you know, 4 someone to fill that opening, or at the end of his term. 5 Doesn't make that much difference to me. We certainly have 6 no prohibition from serving on two boards at one time. But, 7 anyway, with that being said, I'd like to nominate Chuck 8 Lewis to fill that vacancy on the Kerr Central Appraisal 9 District Board of Directors. 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. 11 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 12 approval of the agenda item. Any question or discussion? 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Chuck, do you have any 14 comments? Questions? 15 MR. LEWIS: If y'all have any questions, I'll 16 answer them. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. 18 JUDGE TINLEY: No questions of yourself? 19 MR. LEWIS: No, sir. 20 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay, that's good. Any -- all 21 in favor of the motion, signify by raising 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. Your 2-28-05 29 1 name will be submitted as the county's nominee. Thank you 2 for being here. 3 MR. LEWIS: Thank you, Judge. Thank you, 4 Jon. 5 JUDGE TINLEY: Let's go back to Item 2, if we 6 might, for a report and discussion of Information Technology 7 staffing, consideration of bids opened on February 14th, 8 2005, and awarding contract for services, and consider a 9 possible budget amendment. Mr. Trolinger. 10 MR. TROLINGER: Good morning. 11 JUDGE TINLEY: Morning, sir. 12 MR. TROLINGER: Okay. Well, as requested 13 from the last meeting, the two bids were received and 14 opened. I've reviewed both, and have also reviewed two 15 additional contractors that have done business within the 16 county. My evaluation is that we're heavily automated. 17 There's a lot of equipment here, and right away we do have 18 the need, not for a part-time, which has been budgeted this 19 year, but for a contractor that has as many capabilities 20 that we can use in the interim from now through October. 21 The contractor that I'm recommending is Gazelle PC. They 22 fit these needs. They come in below the budgeted part-time 23 salary, and I'd like to ask you to review and consider for 24 approval the Gazelle PC contract. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: What do you envision -- 2-28-05 30 1 or I guess how do you envision Gazelle and yourself 2 interacting, and who's going to do what? 3 MR. TROLINGER: Well, I'll receive the work 4 request, and as I deem it's a computer emergency that can be 5 handled by Gazelle, then I'll send them to -- dispatch them. 6 So, for instance, if I'm in the middle of a situation 7 already, I can -- I can dispatch them. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So pretty much, you'll -- 9 so that all county employees will contact you, and then 10 you'll make the determination how best to get the -- 11 MR. TROLINGER: Yes, sir. I would be 12 managing Gazelle, yes. 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Did they agree -- 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Go ahead. 15 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Did they agree in any 16 way of -- of the time frame of when your call goes in, how 17 long is it going to take them to get to the facility? 18 MR. TROLINGER: That's a good question. 19 There he is. What kind of response time are we looking at? 20 MR. OTCU: My name is Turk from Gazelle PC, 21 and we're really close to the courthouse. We're right 22 across from Albertsons. And by coming to this time, I think 23 John was testing us, so we were -- we got few important 24 works done in here. And it's -- since he's already managing 25 the -- the calls when it needs to be done, what's the time 2-28-05 31 1 frame, it's being real easy for us to come here. I mean, 2 the last time we were here in 15 minutes. We had -- it was 3 in the lunch break, so we were able to come in real quick. 4 And then the other one networking job we done for Miguel -- 5 Mr. Miguel, and it was -- he just managed real good. He 6 said, I mean, it needs to be done this week, so we were able 7 to manage the second week. And we have four people working 8 for Gazelle Computers, plus we have a secretary. And if -- 9 even if you are not there by the moment, our secretary is 10 taking the notes; with the next service call, we can be 11 here. 12 MR. TROLINGER: Basic answer is, if we need 13 them here right now, they'll -- they've shown that they can 14 and will respond. And if I need to schedule them, they can 15 -- they can do that very nicely. 16 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: So, John, essentially 17 what we're talking about is Gazelle would be doing -- 18 putting out the brush fires for you, answering the calls to 19 go to certain -- certain departments and take care of a 20 computer that may be malfunctioning and so forth? 21 MR. TROLINGER: Yes, sir. 22 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: You're not asking 23 them to get involved in mainframe or the servers, -- 24 MR. TROLINGER: That's correct. 25 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: -- things of that 2-28-05 32 1 nature; is that correct? 2 MR. TROLINGER: That is correct. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Will there be any need 4 for Gazelle to be either bonded or go through any background 5 check because of some of the proprietary nature of some of 6 our data? 7 MR. TROLINGER: Yes. And the County Attorney 8 reviewed the proposed contract, and we've made a couple of 9 changes that will be reflected in the -- in the contract we 10 have for the Judge, and it's here today, to require 11 background checks. 12 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: This question may be 13 a bit nitpicky, but under costs, it talks about a service 14 time calculated at minute-by-minute, limited to Kerrville 15 city limits. I don't know what computers we have out of 16 Kerrville; I know we got some in the West Kerr Annex. 17 MR. TROLINGER: Yes. 18 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: That doesn't mean 19 they're not going to be served by this service, does it? 20 MR. TROLINGER: Kerrville city limits, is 21 that a hard number? 22 MR. OTCU: Actually, we put the Kerrville 23 city limits to this contract, but if you would like to 24 service all Kerr County, we may make some change. I mean, 25 for example, if John needs to go somewhere that he cannot 2-28-05 33 1 leave here to service over there, then we can definitely do 2 our best to satisfy that need. We may add traveling time, 3 and we can -- we can do that. We hate to say, "No, we don't 4 do it; it's not in our contract." So, we will -- 5 MR. TROLINGER: So, it sounds like you'll do 6 the work within the city limits, and there may be some 7 travel time if it goes outside? 8 MR. OTCU: Yeah. Yeah. I think we added -- 9 MR. TROLINGER: Okay. 10 MR. OTCU: -- added the background check. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Currently, the only 12 location outside of the city limits is the Ingram office? 13 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: I think that's 14 right. Is Animal Control in the city limits? 15 JUDGE TINLEY: Yes. 16 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: The Ag Barn, I don't 17 know what -- 18 JUDGE TINLEY: Yes. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Well, it's not, but it's 20 next to. 21 JUDGE TINLEY: Surrounded by. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: We consider it close to. 23 MR. TROLINGER: Right now -- 24 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Close. And that 25 would also apply to the Juvenile Detention Center. 2-28-05 34 1 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: This is not a 2 deal-breaker. 3 MR. TROLINGER: Okay. 4 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: West Kerr Annex has 5 had its share of unresolved problems with their computers, 6 so I don't want to neglect them. 7 MR. TROLINGER: I have been out there, and 8 understand the needs. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think that it might be 10 easier to put a -- because a lot of the county properties 11 are not technically in the city limits, to modify that 12 language and put a -- a distance from the courthouse. And 13 if there needs to be a different rate for the City of 14 Ingram, I would understand that travel time is a little bit 15 different, but Road and Bridge is technically not in the 16 city limits. It's -- 17 MR. ODOM: Yes, they are. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: The Ag Barn is not. The 19 Animal Control is. The Juvenile Detention Facility is not, 20 I don't believe. 21 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I don't believe so. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So, you know -- 23 MR. TROLINGER: Okay, change that. 24 MR. OTCU: Sure, I will add that to the 25 contract immediately. 2-28-05 35 1 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: You want distance 2 from the courthouse? 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Distance from the 4 courthouse, as long as we pick up the airport and that loop. 5 MR. TROLINGER: Will that do? We'll do 6 distance from the courthouse instead of city limits. 7 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: That will work. 8 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Just do a radius 9 distance from the courthouse. 10 MR. TROLINGER: Okay, we'll do that. 11 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: I'll move to approve 12 it. 13 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I'll second. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: Your request for Gazelle? 15 Okay. 16 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Gazelle. 17 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I'll second it. I'd 18 like some explanation of how we're going to pay for it. 19 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 20 approval of entering into contractual agreement with Gazelle 21 Computer Services as a contractual provider of I.T. 22 services, subject to a few modifications that we've heard 23 here in the last few minutes. You had a question, 24 Commissioner Williams? 25 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Yeah. I'd just like 2-28-05 36 1 for you to step us through these budget amendments with a 2 little explanation. 3 MR. TROLINGER: Yes, sir. The Auditor's 4 going to present the budget amendments, but contingent on 5 the approval of the contract, right now a part-time 6 Information Technology Specialist has been approved and 7 budgeted, and I would like to move that unused money to 8 the -- to the Contract Services line. And that's going to 9 more than cover the contract and give us a little buffer if 10 we go into overtime, and likely we'll have money left over 11 at the end of the year. 12 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: How about the second 13 budget amendment in here? 14 MR. TROLINGER: The second one that -- the 15 second one, the County Auditor's not going to present that. 16 He's decided to go ahead and leave that budget the way it is 17 with the Nondepartmental money. That's the way he needs to 18 account for it. 19 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: So that's a 20 non-starter? 21 MR. TROLINGER: Correct. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: We're going to deal with 23 the budget amendment later, though? 24 MR. TROLINGER: Yes. Yes, sir. 25 JUDGE TINLEY: Any other questions concerning 2-28-05 37 1 the motion? All in favor of the motion, signify by raising 2 your right hand. 3 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 4 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 5 (No response.) 6 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. Thank 7 you. 8 MR. TROLINGER: Thank you. You're welcome. 9 JUDGE TINLEY: Mr. Trolinger, we appreciate 10 your work. 11 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Yes, we do. I think 12 he's gotten off to a hit-the-ground-running fast start, and 13 I've got some confidence that we're going to do a better job 14 of information service technology in the future. 15 JUDGE TINLEY: Let's move to Item 3, consider 16 abandoning, discontinuing, and vacating 380 feet of Riojas 17 Road located in Precinct 3. Commissioner Letz? 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: This is -- well, I'll 19 turn it over to Leonard Odom. This is Hill Country Ranch 20 Estates, where there was a -- that area, anyway, that a 21 gentleman wanted to abandon part of the road that goes 22 through his property. 23 MR. ODOM: Right. 24 JUDGE TINLEY: Mr. Odom? 25 MR. ODOM: Thank you, Judge. I believe in 2-28-05 38 1 November, this came before the Court. Mrs. Hardin had 2 presented something, what we normally do for name changes 3 and abandonment and speed limits, and it was asked at that 4 point to defer decision on this, and as well as another item 5 that Commissioner Letz had. And so, going back to those 6 minutes, it's -- Mrs. Hardin had asked him at that point 7 whether or not she would work with that gentleman to resolve 8 this issue as far as a turnaround. This was a road that 9 just dead-ends, and I -- what we have done in the past is 10 where we've asked people to have a cul-de-sac. And these 11 pictures are not that -- they're black and white, but 12 basically, the gentleman's put that together, and that when 13 it gets springtime, when the sealcoats go in, that will be 14 taken care of. So, we would ask the Court to abandon that. 15 That gives us a better facility down there to turn around. 16 The rest of the property is on his property, and as far as 17 we're concerned, we think it's a better situation as it is 18 right -- the way it's proposed than it is presently. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: The cul-de-sac is located 20 on -- came out of his property? 21 MR. ODOM: On his property. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: On his property. 23 MR. ODOM: On his property. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I move approval. 25 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. 2-28-05 39 1 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 2 approval of abandoning, discontinuing, and vacating that 3 portion of Riojas Road as indicated. Any question 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: All opposed, same sign. 8 (No response.) 9 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. The 10 next item on the agenda is consider preliminary revision of 11 plat for Lot 4 of Live Springs Ranch in Precinct 4. 12 MR. ODOM: This -- what I've handed you is a 13 -- should be a master plan. I believe I've probably given 14 mine away now. 15 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Here. 16 JUDGE TINLEY: Here you go, Leonard. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Is this different than 18 the one on the agenda? 19 MR. ODOM: It -- it is -- the agenda item is 20 for Lot 4 in Live Springs; however, what we wanted to do was 21 to show you the overall plan. And this is a little bit 22 complicated, and I hope I do a good job of explaining 23 everything. May I read my notes so you'll have a little bit 24 better understanding? It says the developers purchased Live 25 Springs Ranch, which was done probably a year ago, in Live 2-28-05 40 1 Springs, Section 1. And a large ranch that lies behind the 2 subdivision, the majority of the large ranch lies in 3 Gillespie County. Today we need to discuss several items; 4 the concept drawing of all the property, and that's what you 5 have before you. The Commissioner and I have met with Ron 6 Imel and Eric Ashley to go over this, and looking at the 7 overall concept, what he was trying to do, since Gillespie 8 County -- we have no authority up in Gillespie County, we 9 wanted the Court to be able to understand the impact of what 10 was transpiring. The preliminary for the revision of Lot 4 11 in Live Springs Ranch, which will extend the existing 12 subdivision roads through Lot 4 to access the large ranch. 13 Previously, you would see on off to the right there, replat 14 of Lot 4. Down there it says Live Springs Ranch. That line 15 that goes back to the left was the access that they had 16 originally had, and apparently he was trying to work 17 something out that he would run -- as you can see, that road 18 up there, he was going to -- thought he could work with 19 the -- with the owner, a Mr. Stauble, and apparently that 20 did not work out. And so he had to come back to replat Lot 21 4, which we don't have a problem with. It would match the 22 existing -- existing road. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Len, I have a question at 24 this point. Why would he not use -- instead of building an 25 all new -- whole new right-of-way for a new road, use the 2-28-05 41 1 road as far as it gets to Mr. Stauble's property line and 2 come straight up there, as opposed to splitting a lot and 3 creating a lot that's 2.77 acres? 4 MR. ODOM: Because my understanding is -- 5 and, Eric, Mr. Stauble owns that right-of-way, doesn't he? 6 MR. ASHLEY: Yes, sir. There's no road 7 there. It's -- it was right-of-way left for future 8 development, and -- and did not provide access to the ranch 9 to the north. 10 MR. ODOM: To the north. And he thought he 11 could work with the gentleman, but apparently that did not 12 work out. He doesn't own that. The other gentleman had 13 that easement right there. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: What do you do with the 15 -- I guess my problem is ending up with a 2.77-acre lot. 16 MR. ODOM: Okay. And what he explained to 17 me -- Mr. Imel is not here today. I wish he was, but he had 18 the flu and he said he didn't want to give flu to everybody 19 else, and I thought that was a good idea. He had mentioned 20 to us that he thought he would make -- either sell it to 21 that gentleman, to let him have that, or make a greenbelt 22 out of that. Am I correct in that assumption? 23 MR. ASHLEY: Yes, sir. It's however the 24 Court deems appropriate. It's useless land, essentially. 25 It's not intended to be built upon. It's just kind of 2-28-05 42 1 residual, and it was left between the two roads, and so it 2 could be greenbelt or however y'all felt was appropriate. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think it needs to be 4 just on the plat that that is not a -- no building shall be 5 permitted on that lot. What they do with it is their 6 choice, but it is -- 7 (Discussion off the record.) 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Well, they can probably 9 get -- they may be able to get an exemption to that, but I 10 think the thing -- we've done this before. You just have a 11 -- that lot cannot be built upon, you know. If somebody 12 wants to drill a well there, that's up to Headwaters, but 13 they can't build a structure on it. 14 MR. ODOM: No structure on it. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah. And no mobile 16 home. I mean, you can't -- it's a -- you can probably get 17 the language from Rex as to what it needs to say, but no one 18 can live on that piece of land. 19 MR. ODOM: What about if it just be dedicated 20 to the homeowners' association as far as a greenbelt? 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: That's even better. 22 MR. ODOM: You agree with that? 23 MR. ASHLEY: I hear what you're saying, and I 24 agree with it, but on the other hand, it does meet the 25 requirements that it could be built upon, I believe. 2-28-05 43 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Why? It's smaller than 2 5 acres. 3 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: That's my question. 4 MR. ASHLEY: Average lot size. 5 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Average lot size 6 is greater than 5 acres. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Only with a water system. 8 MR. ASHLEY: It's irrelevant, really. It 9 really doesn't matter. 10 MR. ODOM: Mr. Imel implied to me that he 11 preferred to probably make it -- either try to sell it to 12 the gentleman so that he would have the whole thing, or to 13 make it a greenbelt. And we -- you know, I would prefer the 14 greenbelt, myself. Just in case he couldn't sell it to the 15 gentleman. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It doesn't make any 17 difference to me. It's just -- it's not a buildable lot 18 under our current rules. 19 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Procedurally, what 20 are we doing here today? This is a preliminary revision. 21 MR. ODOM: This is -- you're right. 22 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: What's the next 23 step? 24 MR. ODOM: Next step will be to have a -- a 25 public hearing. But I will take no action at this time, 2-28-05 44 1 because what we're trying to do is, we will go into Live 2 Springs, Section 2, which is two lots into the county. Up 3 above that goes into Gillespie County, as you can see right 4 there. And so what we were trying to do is have a final 5 together. We thought this would be an alternate plat, and 6 it was fluid. It changed. And when we first set this up, 7 it was going to be alternate platting; we wouldn't even need 8 a public hearing, but then it changed on us, and we decided 9 we'd come and allow him the opportunity to develop this 10 other part, and particularly in Gillespie County, which he's 11 met up there with -- with those commissioners up in 12 Gillespie County. So, what I would like to do is to have a 13 preliminary -- this preliminary with this note that Lot 4B 14 would not be buildable, and then later -- I don't know; 15 10:10, I believe -- we'll have a public hearing. There will 16 be no action taken other than just a public hearing on this 17 preliminary. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And, so I understand, so 19 what we're going to do is basically a -- is he going to put 20 that acreage to the north into this subdivision? 21 MR. ODOM: That's my understanding, yes. 22 Uh-huh. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yes? So it's a -- we're 24 expanding the subdivision? 25 MR. ODOM: We're expanding the subdivision. 2-28-05 45 1 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I see a "no" back 2 there and a "yes" here. 3 MS. HARDIN: Section 2. 4 MR. ODOM: Section 2 will be -- 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Just a second. So 6 there's a -- we're going to have a revision -- 7 MR. ODOM: On Lot 4. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- on Live Springs, and 9 that would mean, then, we're going to have a new 10 subdivision. 11 MR. ODOM: That's right. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. 13 MR. ODOM: Does that -- am I confusing? It 14 is a -- 15 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Yes, but we'll go on. 16 MR. ODOM: That's the reason I wrote my 17 notes, to try to -- 18 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: No action is needed 19 on this agenda item; is that right? 20 MR. ODOM: Well, this is a preliminary, so we 21 need action on this one, on the preliminary. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think we need an action 23 on this one to -- a motion to approve the preliminary plat 24 with the revisions noted. 25 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Second. 2-28-05 46 1 JUDGE TINLEY: That was a motion? 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Sure. 3 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Motion made and 4 seconded for approval of the preliminary revision of plat 5 with the revision as noted. Any further questions, 6 discussion on the motion? 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: That motion does carry. Let's 12 go to our timed 10 o'clock item, and I will recess the 13 Commissioners Court meeting, and I will open a public 14 hearing concerning revision of plat for Lot 9 and 10 of Rio 15 Retiro in Precinct 4. 16 (The regular Commissioners Court meeting was closed at 10:01 a.m., and a public hearing 17 was held in open court, as follows:) 18 P U B L I C H E A R I N G 19 JUDGE TINLEY: Is there any member of the 20 public that wishes to be heard concerning the revision of a 21 plat for Lots 9 and 10 of Rio Retiro located in Precinct 4? 22 (No response.) 23 JUDGE TINLEY: Hearing none and seeing none, 24 I will close the public hearing, and I will reconvene the 25 Commissioners Court meeting. 2-28-05 47 1 (The public hearing was concluded at 10:02 a.m., and the regular Commissioners Court 2 meeting was reopened.) 3 - - - - - - - - - - 4 JUDGE TINLEY: And we will go to Item 7, that 5 being consider a revision of plat for Lots 9 and 10 of Rio 6 Retiro in Precinct 4. 7 MR. ODOM: Yes, sir. You have before you -- 8 we presented this before in a preliminary. Now it's for a 9 final. The question that was presented before was in 10 reference to O.S.S.F. That has been taken care of. We've 11 had the Commissioner and communicated with him that -- and 12 you can see that Miguel has signed off on it, and that this 13 is changing -- meets all the restrictions and covenants that 14 was there; that 10 has been shortened and 9 has been 15 enlarged, and meets all the requirements. It should be 16 acceptable. So, I ask the Court to accept this replat or 17 revision of plat for Lot 9 and 10 of Rio Retiro. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: How big is Lot 10 after 19 this is done? 20 MR. ODOM: After this is done -- is Lee here? 21 MR. VOELKEL: I'm sorry, what was the 22 question? 23 MR. ODOM: What's the size of Lot 10? We 24 changed 60 feet -- I'm sorry. It's still going to be a 25 small lot no matter what. I mean -- 2-28-05 48 1 MS. HARDIN: It says right here .72 -- no, 2 that's 9. 3 MR. ODOM: What was the size of Lot 10 prior 4 to? Do you -- 5 MR. VOELKEL: Half acre prior to. It's a 6 half-acre lot. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It seems to that the 8 revised plat should show all of Lot 10 on it, to me. 9 MR. VOELKEL: Well, Lot 10 no longer is all 10 of Lot 10, because we're revising part of Lot 10 into Lot 9. 11 MR. ODOM: 9. 12 MR. VOELKEL: And putting those together, so 13 what you have is the remainder of Lot 10. 14 MR. ODOM: 10. 15 MR. VOELKEL: And that's kind of noted there 16 on the south side or the bottom part of the drawing. And 17 then it gives you volume and pages of where these have been 18 sold off by metes and bounds. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right, but we're still -- 20 I mean, we're revising two lots, Lot 9 and Lot 10, so we 21 ought to -- the revision should show both revised lots, it 22 seems to me. 23 MR. VOELKEL: Are you asking me to make the 24 remainder of Lot 10 into Lot 10R? Is that what you're 25 saying? And show it on the plat? 2-28-05 49 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yes. 2 MR. VOELKEL: Well, you know, that's owned by 3 somebody else. I'm not sure if we can even get their 4 permission to be a part of the plat. It's another owner. 5 Again, those -- 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: You're revising that lot 7 line. I don't see how you -- 8 MR. VOELKEL: That lot has been revised when 9 those were sold by metes and bounds without the benefit of a 10 replat, prior to -- gosh, probably 10 or 15 years ago. 11 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: There are 12 residential dwellings on both of these lots, 10 and 9, 13 currently; is that correct? 14 MR. ODOM: 10 is -- 15 MR. VOELKEL: Lot 10, where you see Tract 1 16 there on my drawing, which is the remainder of Lot 10, there 17 is a townhouse existing on that tract, and it goes into Lot 18 11, which is even further south. Tract Number 3 is a 19 greenbelt area that's reserved for their water system for 20 those townhouses. Now, Lot Number 9R, as we have revised 21 it, has a new residence built on it, one house. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I mean, maybe I'm 23 confused. We're going from two lots to two lots. There's 24 Lot 9 and there's Lot 10, and now we're going to Lot 9R and 25 Lot 10. But Lot 10 is also changed, so why wouldn't you 2-28-05 50 1 show that new lot configuration on the plat? Am I missing 2 something? 3 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: The boundaries of 4 Lot 10 -- tell me if I'm wrong -- have already been altered 5 by metes and bounds. 6 MR. VOELKEL: That's correct. 7 MR. ODOM: That's correct. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But aren't we trying to 9 make -- I mean, we're trying to get the plat to reflect 10 what's out there. 11 MR. ODOM: But it does now. It does now. 12 JUDGE TINLEY: I think the Commissioner's 13 point is that, actually, the balance of 10 that's not 14 included in this replat becomes actually a part of Lot 11. 15 It was previously conveyed by metes and bounds, but in order 16 to do that and reflect it on this plat, you've got to pull 17 in the owner -- current owner of Lot 11. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Where's Lot 11? 19 JUDGE TINLEY: Well below here. This portion 20 has been combined with Lot 11. 21 MR. ODOM: Let's see if I've got it right. 22 This is -- Lot 10 was sold by metes and bounds, but yet it 23 showed it shorter. And what we had was a plat that was 24 revealing "as platted," and it was actually the revision. 25 What we were trying to do is clear it up on the revised 2-28-05 51 1 plat, what is actually on the ground by metes and bounds. 2 So, years ago, this was sold by metes and bounds. It was -- 3 that's what it actually -- 9 and 10. The 9 was part of 10. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think what I'm also 5 hearing, though, from the comments that Lee made, that 6 the -- Lot 10 needs to be revised also, but this current 7 project's been undertaken by the owner of Lot 9. 8 MR. VOELKEL: Correct, who owned the north 9 half of Lot 10 also. He owned half of Lot 10. The 10 remainder of Lot 10 is owned by other property owners. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And lot -- you know, I 12 think correctly so, I mean, you're billing the owner of Lot 13 9, and he doesn't want to pay to redo Lot 10, even though 14 Lot 10 needs to be done. 15 MR. VOELKEL: And we don't have their 16 permission, really, to participate. 17 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: And all of this was 18 initiated by a desire to expand the size of Lot 9 so that a 19 septic system could be built for the house that's already 20 been built? 21 JUDGE TINLEY: And the septic system that's 22 already been built. 23 MR. ARREOLA: No, there's not a septic system 24 in there yet. 25 JUDGE TINLEY: Not one there yet? This would 2-28-05 52 1 be accommodating their -- 2 MR. ODOM: This will accomplish it. 3 JUDGE TINLEY: That's how the problem arose. 4 MR. ARREOLA: My understanding of Lot 10, and 5 if I'm correct there, it's -- the remainder of Lot 10 is 6 included in Lot 11. There's a note on the bottom there now. 7 So there's no Lot 10 any more. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Oh. 9 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Commissioner Letz, 10 you're going to lose this argument. 11 MR. ODOM: It needs to be revised to get the 12 septic system -- 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Needs to be revised, but 14 this isn't the time we're going to do it. 15 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: You're right, but it 16 ain't going to happen. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Can we put that note in 18 bolder print? 19 MR. VOELKEL: Sure. 20 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: How about put it in 21 color? Sticks out. 22 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: I move to approve 23 the revision of plat for Lot 9 and 10 of Rio Retiro 24 Subdivision in Precinct 4. 25 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Second. 2-28-05 53 1 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 2 approval of the agenda item. Any question or discussion? 3 All in favor of the motion, signify by raising your right 4 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. We'll 9 move on to our next timed item at 10:10, and -- 10 MR. ODOM: Can we -- 11 JUDGE TINLEY: -- I'll recess the 12 Commissioner Court meeting -- 13 MR. ODOM: What I would like to do, though, 14 before we have that public hearing, I need to have the 15 preliminary, right? 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Preliminary is done. 17 MR. ODOM: Huh? 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Oh, this is a 19 different -- 20 MS. HARDIN: Should have two preliminaries. 21 MR. ODOM: I should have two preliminaries, 22 and then -- 23 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: What are we speaking 24 to, Number 8? 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Let's go back to Number 5 2-28-05 54 1 before we do it, or we can do the public hearing. We can do 2 this first -- still do it, and then do the public hearing, 3 and then do the preliminary. 4 JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah, we can come back to 5 that. 6 MR. ODOM: Okay. 7 JUDGE TINLEY: I will recess the 8 Commissioners Court meeting at this time and convene a 9 public hearing concerning the revision of a plat for Lot 4 10 of Live Springs Ranch located in Precinct 4. 11 (The regular Commissioners Court meeting was closed at 10:10 a.m., and a public hearing 12 was held in open court, as follows:) 13 P U B L I C H E A R I N G 14 JUDGE TINLEY: Is there any member of the 15 public or the audience that wishes to be heard with respect 16 to the revision of a plat for Lot 4 of Live Springs Ranch 17 located in Precinct 4? 18 (No response.) 19 JUDGE TINLEY: Seeing no one indicating a 20 desire to be heard, I will close the public hearing 21 concerning a revision of plat for Lot 4 of Live Springs 22 Ranch located in Precinct 4. 23 (The public hearing was concluded at 10:11 a.m., and the regular Commissioners Court 24 meeting was reopened.) 25 - - - - - - - - - - 2-28-05 55 1 JUDGE TINLEY: I suppose at this point, we 2 would come back to Item Number 4. 3 MR. ODOM: Right. 4 JUDGE TINLEY: And recall Item 4, consider 5 the preliminary revision of plat for Lot 4 of Live Springs 6 Ranch located in Precinct 4. 7 MR. ODOM: What you have before you is that 8 portion of two lots in our county, before you go into 9 Gillespie County. That is what they call Live Springs, 10 Section 2. 11 (Discussion off the record.) 12 JUDGE TINLEY: Section 2. Public hearing was 13 on Lot 4. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: You're right. Sorry. 15 MS. HARDIN: You took action on 1.4. You 16 need to go to 1.5. 17 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Confusing. 18 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 19 MR. ODOM: Yes, it is. But we -- 20 JUDGE TINLEY: Already taken action on that. 21 We subsequently called a public hearing on that. Doesn't 22 seem hardly cricket to me. 23 MS. HARDIN: Yes, sir, I know. 24 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But the public hearing is 2-28-05 56 1 regarding the final approval, which we're not doing today. 2 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 3 MR. ODOM: We're not doing any final approval 4 on Section 1. 5 JUDGE TINLEY: Let's come back to Item 5, 6 consider the preliminary plat for Live Springs Ranch, 7 Section 2. 8 MR. ODOM: Two. 9 (Discussion off the record.) 10 JUDGE TINLEY: That big tract up there. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: We're on the new 12 subdivision? 13 MR. ODOM: It's a new subdivision. When I 14 gave you the master plan where they were going, we had the 15 Section 1 where we tried to change the road. What we just 16 had was the final -- I mean a public hearing for that. No 17 action, okay, on this one. It's a preliminary, is what we 18 need right now. And this is for those two lots, 153 acres 19 and 220 acres, coming off Section 1 where that road goes up 20 and meets it, runs all the way up and goes into Gillespie 21 County, and it meets all the criteria we have. It's -- I 22 would -- Mr. Imel's not here right now, but we did discuss 23 this, as you can see, that these roads -- this could be 24 subdivided up. And I'm concerned that what's up there -- 25 what we have is a country lane all the way through, which 2-28-05 57 1 meets the criteria in Kerr County. However, Mr. Imel -- we 2 were talking to change this to a local road later on, to 3 upgrade the road, because I have -- we have no control in 4 Gillespie County. Actually, we have no control on 10 acres 5 there. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right, but it's got to be 7 platted, 'cause the road's going into the 10 acres. Doesn't 8 make any difference. 9 MR. ODOM: Right. 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But I think the -- I 11 don't -- I'm not looking at our -- well, I've got the rules 12 here, but I'm not going to go through them. I don't know 13 that -- it says the standard between a local road and a 14 country lane is the number of lots that it serves. It 15 doesn't specify those lots have to be in Kerr County, I 16 don't believe. So, if there's additional lots that are in 17 Kerr County -- I mean, if it's serving additional lots, it 18 has to be built to the local roads, I would think. 19 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Isn't this all in 20 Kerr County? 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: No. 22 MR. ODOM: These two lots are. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Our subdivision is. Our 24 road extends on into -- 25 (Cell phone playing "Eyes of Texas" song.) 2-28-05 58 1 (Laughter.) 2 MR. ODOM: That's -- you know, this is hard 3 enough, trying to put this Live Springs Ranch together, 4 without that going on. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But, anyway, I mean, I 6 think it's probably -- if it serves additional lots, I think 7 we're -- 8 MR. ODOM: He would have to upgrade to a 9 local road. 10 JUDGE TINLEY: What do we got going back 11 there? 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Somebody isn't here. 13 MS. UECKER: Something's getting ready to 14 explode. 15 JUDGE TINLEY: Let's get us a bucket of 16 water. Find out whose it is. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Only other comment I had 18 is that first left-hand corner looks pretty sharp, but 19 that's something for you and the surveyor to look at to make 20 sure. 21 MR. ODOM: I have been out there and drove 22 it. The question -- I didn't know where the line was, but I 23 -- I've got this now, but it was drivable. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay, that's fine. 25 MR. ODOM: I drove the whole thing prior to 2-28-05 59 1 coming to court and all awhile back. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think we can approve 3 the preliminary at this point, but I think that note has to 4 be made on the -- the road needs to be looked into a little 5 bit more as to how our Subdivision Rules actually read, 6 whether the lots have to be in Kerr County that the road 7 serves. If it needs to be a local road, it needs to be a 8 local road. 9 MR. ODOM: Well, the way I take it is that 10 Gillespie County is part of it, but since we don't have 11 jurisdiction in Gillespie, that's one point that I wanted to 12 make to the Court, that I -- I feel like the master plan 13 says that it needs to be upgraded to a local road. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I would agree, but I 15 think you have to look at our rules. 16 MR. ODOM: Our rules say that they could have 17 a country lane, so I -- remember, we haven't got a final 18 yet, so I think it -- 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'd read our rules real 20 carefully. I don't think it says anything about that lots 21 have to be in Kerr County. 22 MR. ODOM: No, it doesn't. It does not say 23 that. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But, anyway -- 25 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Move to approve the 2-28-05 60 1 preliminary plat for Live Springs Ranch, Section 2, Precinct 2 4, and with an expectation that the questions about the road 3 will be answered when we look at the final plat. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 5 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 6 approval of the agenda item. Any 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. It's 13 not quite 10:20; we'll go to Item 9, consider preliminary 14 plat for Center Point Independent School District located in 15 Precinct 2. 16 MR. ODOM: This is the preliminary for the 17 school. I think that everything that was discussed, if you 18 will take a note on General Notes up there, Lot 6 -- I mean 19 Number 6, we do have that -- Lots 1 and 6 will be serviced 20 by a community water system, and individual on-site sewage 21 facilities. 22 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Lots 1 and 6, or 1 23 through 6? 24 MR. ODOM: 1 through 6. 25 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Okay. 2-28-05 61 1 MR. ODOM: And then my understanding is 2 probably if the school went up here and developed that, they 3 would probably have a separate well to do that. But there 4 was some problems before about wordage on community water 5 system that I had before us, so I wanted to clarify that; 6 that, to my understanding -- I talked to the school when 7 they were there -- that this would serve -- primarily, that 8 well would serve these six lots. 9 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Okay. 10 MR. ODOM: I would assume that they would not 11 want to jeopardize that. They would probably drill their 12 own well for the school system up there. 13 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I would think so. 14 Whatever they plan in the future with respect to the 15 development of a school facility, that'll be wholly and 16 separately apart from this. We'll hear about it later. 17 MR. ODOM: And also, the road is out front. 18 There was a discussion there, so they have checked with 19 TexDOT. You have some general notes up here with TexDOT, 20 and basically when they start to build that road and get 21 that in, that there will be a permit. That permit will 22 probably show that location of the egress/ingress in there 23 between Lots 1 and 2 and 4 and 5, and that will control the 24 access on there. And that's agreeable to the State. But as 25 far as individual driveways accessing 27, that will not be 2-28-05 62 1 done. TexDOT's got their notes up there, that they feel 2 they can control access off there, and that will just 3 service those six lots right there. 4 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I think it's between 5 1 and 2 and 5 and 6, I believe, but that's correct. 6 MR. ODOM: That's correct, somewhere in 7 there. 8 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Move approval of the 9 preliminary plat for Center Point Independent School 10 District. 11 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Second. 12 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 13 approval of the agenda item. Any question or discussion? 14 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I want to go back to 15 the access off 27 right quick. 16 MR. ODOM: All right, sir. 17 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Are you saying that 18 they -- that they have access between 1 and 2 and 4 and 5 19 off of Highway 27? 20 MR. ODOM: That's correct. 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: In the notes up here, 22 it says no lots will have direct access to state highway. 23 MR. ODOM: I understand. And I asked 24 Mr. Voelkel to clarify that, and to -- 25 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I knew the Voelkels 2-28-05 63 1 were involved in this. 2 MR. ODOM: Yes. But, however, they say that 3 this is a standard notation that they have now, that they 4 control. And, remember, what I was saying is when they go 5 to have the permit and they have to have a permit, that 6 location will be cited at that point for the driveways or 7 for the access. 8 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: The driveway's a 9 permanent easement to the Center Point Independent School 10 District; is that correct? 11 MR. VOELKEL: Correct. 12 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: And the driveway 13 itself is what has access to the highway, not the individual 14 lots? 15 MR. ODOM: That's right. 16 MR. VOELKEL: Correct. And let me clear that 17 up for Commissioner Baldwin, just -- if I might. The actual 18 -- if you can imagine, what this will be is a loop road that 19 comes off of 27 in front of Lot 2, and then it goes into the 20 private road, and then it comes out back onto 27 at the end 21 of Lot 5. Lot Number 1 there -- when Mr. Odom said between 22 Lot 2 and Lot 1, it's actually not going to come between Lot 23 2 and 1. It'll actually go in front of Lot 2 there on the 24 private road and go out in front of Lot 5 there, again, at 25 the private road easement. Lot 1 will not have access 2-28-05 64 1 directly to the highway, and Lot 6 will not have access 2 directly to the highway. When we come to final plat, 3 hopefully we can make that a little more clear. It was the 4 same question Mr. Odom had. It may read a little confusing, 5 but that's kind of the way TexDOT wanted to handle it. 6 MR. ODOM: Yeah. I asked for a note to 7 clarify it a little bit, and they said that this is the 8 notation that they use, and that this will be clarified at 9 the point when the permit is asked for, and they will 10 clarify that location at that point. 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Cool. 12 MR. ODOM: I didn't -- this is confusing up 13 here, and it confused me. And I asked Lee, and he went back 14 to Mike Coward, and Mike said, "I don't want to change 15 anything other than what District 15 has given me. This is 16 our general notation." They will have access, but it will 17 be a controlled access. 18 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I understand. I 19 remember the conversation. But today it says you cannot 20 have access, but you can have access. 21 MR. ODOM: Yeah. 22 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Just -- that's fine. 23 We'll clear it up later. 24 MR. ODOM: I'm sorry. This is -- 25 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Anything to do with 2-28-05 65 1 this corridor stuff? 2 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Yeah, sort of. 3 MR. ODOM: This has been interesting agenda 4 items for me. 5 JUDGE TINLEY: Any further questions or 6 comments or discussion on the agenda -- on the motion? All 7 in favor of the motion, 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: That motion does carry. I 12 will now recess the Commissioners Court meeting and open a 13 public hearing, as specified in Item 10, that public hearing 14 concerning revision of plat for Holcomb Ranch, to include 15 vacating, discontinuing, and abandoning the road shown as 16 Hacienda Trail. 17 (The regular Commissioners Court meeting was closed at 10:21 a.m., and a public hearing 18 was held in open court, as follows:) 19 P U B L I C H E A R I N G 20 JUDGE TINLEY: Is there any member of the 21 public that wishes to be heard concerning the revision of a 22 plat for Holcomb Ranch, to include vacating, discontinuing, 23 and abandoning the road shown as Hacienda Trail? 24 (No response.) 25 JUDGE TINLEY: Seeing or hearing no one 2-28-05 66 1 desiring to be heard, I will close the public hearing 2 concerning revision of plat for Holcomb Ranch, to include 3 vacating, discontinuing, and abandoning the road shown as 4 Hacienda Trail. 5 (The public hearing was concluded at 10:22 a.m., and the regular Commissioners Court 6 meeting was reopened.) 7 - - - - - - - - - - 8 JUDGE TINLEY: I'll reconvene the 9 Commissioners Court meeting and call the next item, and that 10 is consideration of revision of a plat for Holcomb Ranch, to 11 include vacating, discontinuing, and abandoning the road 12 shown as Hacienda Trail. 13 MR. ODOM: What we have before us is five 14 lots combining back into one lot. And all of -- we have 15 abandoned the road that was in there last time. It meets 16 all the criteria, and I think it's a good thing to reduce 17 the size of the lots. Gentleman owns all the property, and 18 I think it's a good deal. It's to the benefit of the 19 county, I think. 20 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. 21 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: I'll move to 22 approve, but I got a question. 23 MR. ODOM: All right, sir. 24 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I second that. 25 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 2-28-05 67 1 approval of the agenda item. Any questions or comments? 2 Commissioner Nicholson, you had a question? 3 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Is there an issue 4 here about the size of the cul-de-sac? There is -- 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: What road? On -- 6 MR. ODOM: On the existing one, or the one 7 that we abandoned? We abandoned -- 8 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: We abandoned -- 9 doesn't make any difference. 10 MR. ODOM: We abandoned that one, Hacienda 11 Trail. 12 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: I don't need an 13 answer to that question. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: What about the cul-de-sac 15 on Edelpas? 16 MR. ODOM: Sir, that was -- seems like it was 17 in good shape. It's still -- 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It looks, the way it's 19 drawn, that it's an odd shape. 20 MR. ODOM: Odd shape, but it's not -- 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. 22 JUDGE TINLEY: Any further questions or 23 comments concerning the motion? All in favor of the motion, 24 signify by raising your right hand. 25 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 2-28-05 68 1 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 2 (No response.) 3 JUDGE TINLEY: In order to complete Road and 4 Bridge items, let's go to Item 12 quickly, consider and 5 discuss and take appropriate action to authorize the Road 6 and Bridge Department to repair the service drive at the 7 Juvenile Detention Facility. 8 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Judge, there's -- I 9 put this on because there's a need for some minor 10 improvement. There's a small -- small in terms of length -- 11 service drive that comes off of the parking area on the 12 original facility that goes up to a side service door. 13 Isn't that correct, Becky? 14 MS. HARRIS: That's correct. 15 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Side door. It's all 16 gravel, and the folks who work in and about the original 17 building, in the kitchen particularly, who have to move 18 foodstuffs and packages, all sorts of stuff up that driveway 19 from a Sysco truck or some other truck like that are 20 struggling on loose gravel to get their truck dollies and 21 trucks up there. I think the total length of it's probably 22 not more than 20 feet, and the width of it's 8 to 10 feet 23 wide. And what I'm asking the Court is to give a direction 24 to Road and Bridge to stabilize that so as to facilitate the 25 movement of goods and materials from trucks unloaded into 2-28-05 69 1 the facility. 2 JUDGE TINLEY: You've looked at it? 3 MR. ODOM: Yes, sir, I've looked at it, and I 4 just -- since that is a general revenue, I just need 5 permission to -- authorization to go do it. Health, safety, 6 and welfare. I don't know how they're pushing it up there 7 now, anyway, with that pea gravel. 8 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Very -- with a lot of 9 difficulty. 10 MR. ODOM: A lot of difficulty, I'm sure. 11 And I don't think it would be that -- that difficult for us 12 to get in there. I will certainly coordinate with the 13 people, what they need exactly, but -- what they think they 14 need. But I think we can do it. 15 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I'd move authority -- 16 approval of authority to give Road and Bridge authority to 17 make that repair. 18 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. 19 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 20 approval of the agenda item. Any question or discussion? 21 All in favor of the motion, signify by raising your right 22 hand. 23 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 24 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 25 (No response.) 2-28-05 70 1 JUDGE TINLEY: That motion does carry. 2 Before Mr. Odom leaves, do we have anybody that's able to 3 play the Aggie War Hymn to give him equal time here? 4 MR. ODOM: Yes, it would make me feel better, 5 since this has been -- and I want to thank the Court for 6 putting up the -- Live Springs was difficult, trying to get 7 it all together. And maybe four years at A & M probably 8 didn't help. (Laughter.) But, anyway, I appreciate the 9 Court bearing with me, and I think we got it done. 10 JUDGE TINLEY: My recommendation to you, 11 Mr. Odom, is that maybe the next time you bring the Aggie 12 War Hymn rendition with you. 13 MR. ODOM: Yes, sir, I think I will. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: At this time, we'll stand -- 15 MR. ODOM: Somebody did that on purpose, I 16 think, back there. 17 JUDGE TINLEY: We'll stand in recess for 15 18 minutes. 19 (Recess taken from 10:27 a.m. to 10:43 a.m.) 20 - - - - - - - - - - 21 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Let's come back to 22 order. We've been in recess for approximately 15 minutes. 23 We're back in session now. Let's go to Item 13, discuss the 24 possibility of a grant to support the Substance Abuse 25 Treatment Program. Ms. Harris. Sorry to have awakened you. 2-28-05 71 1 MS. HARRIS: I was enjoying my nap. Well, I 2 need to apologize to the Court for one thing, for putting 3 this on the agenda and sort of, kind of wasting a minute or 4 two. In more researching and a telephone conversation I had 5 with Karla Sartin -- she is a grant writer; she's written 6 all the grants here lately for K.I.S.D. that they've been 7 awarded, plus she has written several grants for the Hill 8 Country Council on Alcohol and Drug Abuse also. In 9 researching the grant offer some more, speaking with her and 10 reading it more, and I've been trying to make phone calls to 11 the federal government, which is not the easiest thing to 12 do, for this division that is distributing this grant, it 13 seems that in order to qualify for this grant, you have to 14 have a juvenile drug court in place. My question was, 15 since, Judge Tinley, you hear all the detention cases, 16 that -- if that would suffice. That's the question that 17 seems to be up in the air that I cannot get an answer to at 18 this point in time. The likelihood of that sufficing is 19 probably not very good; that you would have to have an 20 already established drug court. Well, Kerr County is not 21 large enough to justify having a juvenile drug court. The 22 larger metroplexes, of course, would be the ones that would 23 -- that would suffice for that. So I'm not seeing at this 24 point in time -- unless something reveals itself, I'm not 25 seeing at this point in time that this is a viable grant to 2-28-05 72 1 go after, because I don't think we're going to be able to 2 qualify. 3 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That's typical. 4 MS. HARRIS: We're not large enough. 5 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That's typical. A lot 6 of these things are designed for Dallas and Houston. 7 MS. HARRIS: You're absolutely right, and 8 that's where most of the moneys go. So I'm back searching 9 again for something else. So I apologize, 'cause I put this 10 on the agenda on Tuesday, and this didn't come about until 11 Friday. So -- 12 JUDGE TINLEY: Well, keep up the hunt. 13 MS. HARRIS: I'm looking. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you. 15 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Judge, just a related 16 thing. We are always talking about finding somebody to help 17 us write grants. Sometimes we're able to do that, sometimes 18 not, but I just want to bring to the Court's attention, and 19 anybody else who's interested, there's a five-day 20 grantsmanship training program hosted by AACOG, presented by 21 the Grantsmanship Center, free of charge, available to 22 anybody who wishes to participate. It's a five-day class 23 program, and it's hosted by AACOG. It begins Monday, 24 March 28th, and lasts through Friday, April 1. And when you 25 come out of there, you should know how to write a grant. 2-28-05 73 1 MS. HARRIS: Okay. 2 JUDGE TINLEY: 40-hour deal, huh? 3 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Yeah. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think one -- just 5 briefly on that topic, a lot of grants -- and I think the 6 seminar will teach this -- there are very -- certain 7 boilerplate information that needs to go on all of them, and 8 if the County would just develop that one time, it could be 9 used probably in almost every grant. And then you -- then 10 you take the -- narrow the specifics to it. And that's the 11 hard part for something like county governments, is to 12 create that first one with all the information that's needed 13 for a lot of these federal and nonlocal grants. 14 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Well, I think that's 15 a valid point. That's one of the reasons why I wanted to 16 bring it up. If we had one person trained who could step 17 through all these little hoops and bells and whistles, it 18 might be beneficial downstream. 19 MS. HARRIS: 'Cause this is the grant. This 20 is it. And it's tremendous to wade through. 21 JUDGE TINLEY: Well, we -- I guess we can 22 individually consider who we might feel most appropriate on 23 behalf of the County would be the person that we'd like to 24 push into doing that. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Commissioner Williams, 2-28-05 74 1 probably. 2 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: No, I don't think so. 3 But thank you for that vote of confidence. Appreciate it. 4 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Well, I agree with 5 Commissioner Letz. 6 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I'm glad -- 7 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That's two. 8 JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah. 9 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Only takes one more. 10 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I'm glad you both 11 agree. 12 JUDGE TINLEY: Let me -- if there's nothing 13 further on that item, let's go to Item 15, discuss, 14 consider, and consider approval of redesignation of Child 15 Welfare Board of Directors and approve the terms of each 16 director. Commissioner Baldwin. 17 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yes, sir. Thank you 18 very much. You remember last meeting we approved a slate of 19 members, and where we got that slate was from the previous 20 board. So, there was a couple of little mistakes made. If 21 y'all will go to this sheet here, we'll -- I probably -- I'm 22 going to make three different motions here. One is the 23 names that need to be removed from the official list, and 24 that is Louise Blalock -- Blalack, Pam Traver, and 25 Sandra Yarbrough, for, as you see there, three different 2-28-05 75 1 reasons. So, I move that we remove those names from the 2 Child Welfare Board. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 4 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 5 removal of the named individuals from the Child Welfare 6 Board. Any question or discussion on the motion? All in 7 favor of the motion, 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: That motion does carry. 12 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Secondly, I'd like to 13 propose Glenda Taylor to fill one of those slots as a new 14 board member, and I so move for approval. 15 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Second. 16 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 17 approval of Glenda Taylor as a newly designated director for 18 that board. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Question. Is that our 20 Glenda Taylor? 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That is that Glenda 22 Taylor sitting right there. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Then I think we need to 24 note, I think he her name's spelled wrong on here. How do 25 you spell your name? Isn't it G-l-y-n-d-a? 2-28-05 76 1 MS. TAYLOR: No. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'm sorry. I've spelled 3 it wrong all this time. 4 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Don't you read -- 5 JUDGE TINLEY: Having stepped in the bucket, 6 is there anything else you'd like to say, Commissioner? 7 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Don't you read the 8 byline? You just go through straight to your quotes? 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right, that's it. 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Typical politician. 11 JUDGE TINLEY: Commissioner Letz? 12 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: A bad politician. 13 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Any further question or 14 discussion on the motion? 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Keep my mouth shut. 16 JUDGE TINLEY: All in favor of the motion, 17 signify by raising your right hand. 18 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 19 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 20 (No response.) 21 JUDGE TINLEY: That motion does carry. 22 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Third motion would be 23 the terms of office as outlined on the -- outlined on this 24 schedule before us. As you can see, Laura Singletary, one 25 year; Daletta Andreas, three-year term; Alice McDaniel, 2-28-05 77 1 one-year term; Debbie Baldwin, two-year term; Kathy 2 Mitchell, a two-year term; Thea Sovil, two-year term; Lynn 3 Meng, a three-year term; and Glenda Taylor, a one-year term. 4 That's a motion. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 6 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 7 the designation of the terms as indicated. Any question or 8 discussion? All in favor of the motion, signify by raising 9 your right hand. 10 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 11 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 12 (No response.) 13 JUDGE TINLEY: That motion does carry. 14 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Judge, I'd like to 15 also tell you that the new names on here are -- they're 16 doing background checks, et cetera, on everybody -- C.P.S. 17 rules -- and we're doing that. And it may be next meeting, 18 we may come forward with a few more names as well. So, this 19 thing is -- it's filling up the way it should. And thanks 20 to the County Attorney and some other folks, we're going to 21 -- this thing is going to be up and running and functioning 22 like it's -- like the law says it should. 23 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you. If there's nothing 24 further on that item, we'll move to the next item, consider, 25 discuss, and approval of the agreements with VeriClaims, 2-28-05 78 1 Inc. for administrative services for Indigent Health Care 2 claims, and approval of the Business Associate Agreement. I 3 put this on the agenda. It's essentially the same agreement 4 that we had with the administrator of our indigent health 5 care claims in the past. The Business Associate Agreement 6 is a HIPAA requirement. I've been advised by the Auditor 7 that the matter's already been reviewed by the County 8 Attorney, and the Auditor also advises me that it's 9 essentially the same agreement that we've had in the past. 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I move for approval. 11 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Second. 12 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 13 approval of the agenda item. Any question or discussion? 14 All in favor of the motion, signify by raising your right 15 hand. 16 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 17 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 18 (No response.) 19 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. We'll 20 move to the next item, Number 17, consider, discuss, and 21 take appropriate action to adopt a resolution inviting the 22 West Texas Judges and Commissioners Association annual 23 conference to Kerrville in 2007. Gentlemen, I'll leave it 24 to y'all, whoever wants to go first. 25 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I spoke with 2-28-05 79 1 Commissioner Baldwin about this -- this resolution. This is 2 a necessary item if we are to, in fact, invite the 3 conference to Kerr County and Kerrville in '07. Our 4 colleague, Commissioner Baldwin, will be going into the 5 presidency that year, and I think it would be very 6 appropriate for us to make every effort to try to host it, 7 and host it if we're awarded that opportunity. So, the 8 resolution's very simple. We kind of tweaked it and cleaned 9 it up a little bit from the last time we approved one of 10 these, and it's before you for your approval. I move 11 approval. 12 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. 13 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 14 approval of the agenda item. Any question or discussion? 15 All in favor of that motion, signify by raising your right 16 hand. 17 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 18 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 19 (No response.) 20 JUDGE TINLEY: That motion does carry. Next 21 item on the agenda is to consider, discuss, and take 22 appropriate action to accept the resignation of Walter 23 Harris from the Alamo Area Council on Aging. Commissioner 24 Williams? 25 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: As per the 2-28-05 80 1 attachment, Mr. Harris submitted his resignation for 2 personal reasons from the Alamo Area Council on Aging, and 3 so it's appropriate for us to accept his resignation. I'd 4 like to say, by accepting it, we do so with thanks and 5 appreciation for his service, not only on the Alamo Area 6 Council on Aging, but his prior service on the 9-1-1 Board. 7 I would move approval of the resolution -- of the action to 8 accept his resignation. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 10 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 11 approval of the agenda item, and expression of thanks for 12 his service in that capacity, as well as on the 9-1-1 Board 13 as a County representative. Any question or discussion on 14 the motion? 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Commissioner Williams, 16 will you, in the "thank you" portion of that, draft a letter 17 for us to sign, or for the County Judge to sign? 18 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Will do. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think that would be a 20 nice thing to do, 'cause he's done a lot of work for us. 21 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: He has. Will do. 22 JUDGE TINLEY: Any further question or 23 discussion on the motion? All in favor of the motion, 24 signify by raising your right hand. 25 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 2-28-05 81 1 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 2 (No response.) 3 JUDGE TINLEY: That motion does carry. The 4 next item on the agenda, Number 19, consider, discuss, and 5 take appropriate action to accept the Kerr County's office 6 agreed-upon procedures report for the period January 2002 7 through December 2004, as prepared by the C.P.A. firm of 8 Davidson, Freedle, Espenhover and Overby. Do you want to 9 run with this, or do you want County Attorney to run with 10 it, Commissioner? 11 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I think the County 12 Attorney can run with that. And if you note, there's a 13 letter from the County Attorney in which he's made the 14 submission, and he indicated that there might be some 15 questions of the Court and there might be some explanations, 16 and so I think it's up to the County Attorney to take the 17 lead. 18 MR. EMERSON: Basically, gentlemen, we 19 received a report back. The accounting firm, after 20 reviewing all of the documentation, presented it in the 21 format that I presented the same to you. As you go through 22 there, there's a couple of questions that come out, and I'm 23 attempting to follow up on those at this time. If you look 24 under Appendix D of the report, there's a summary of the 25 general expenses from the Hot Check Fund for January 2002 2-28-05 82 1 through December 2004. 2 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: D? 3 MR. EMERSON: Yes, sir. The unaccounted for 4 expense that jumps out is the credit card payments with no 5 receipts to the tune of $3,070 and one penny. We're 6 currently trying to find documentation on that within the 7 office. Thus far, I've not been able to, but we're 8 continuing to dig. The accounting firm examined seven boxes 9 worth of documents, and there wasn't anything in them to 10 that effect. There's some more questions that pop up under 11 Exhibit E. 12 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Before you go off of 13 D, Mr. County Attorney -- 14 MR. EMERSON: Yes, sir? 15 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: -- what would 16 "contract labor" mean in your domain? 17 MR. EMERSON: Contract labor that's in here, 18 that's indicated was primarily to Brett Ferguson and Kelly 19 Cataldo. Brett Ferguson was a legal intern going to St. 20 Mary's University and providing support work for the County 21 Attorney's office. Kelly Cataldo was also a college 22 student, and my understanding is she was providing support 23 in the County Court at Law, and she was with intakes. 24 Currently, we don't have anybody in that position. 25 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Another question -- I 2-28-05 83 1 think I have two remaining on that page. Computer 2 equipment, computer maintenance. Although paid out of that 3 fund, which kept us from paying it out of the General Fund, 4 for a small department, is that kind of an abnormal amount 5 of money being spent on computer equipment and maintenance? 6 MR. EMERSON: I can't say if it's abnormal or 7 not. It's an awful lot of money. I'm attempting right now 8 to locate the computer equipment. 9 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: What would that mean? 10 MR. EMERSON: $27,000 is quite a bit, and I'm 11 trying to find the documentation to back that up. I've 12 requested -- I sent a note to -- or sent a letter to Adam 13 Adray, who seems to be the primary recipient of the funds 14 out of those two accounts for equipment and maintenance, 15 asking for documentation, model numbers, serial numbers, 16 dates of sale, trade-ins and so forth, and thus far have not 17 received a response back. 18 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: You may have to turn 19 this over to the County Attorney. 20 MR. EMERSON: The County Attorney's office 21 has seven systems with a server, and that's all we have. 22 JUDGE TINLEY: Y'all have a separate server 23 down there, don't you? 24 MR. EMERSON: Correct. 25 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 2-28-05 84 1 MR. EMERSON: And we'll still have that 2 server. I don't know if we'll maintain that after we hook 3 into the county system or not, but right now there is a 4 separate server. 5 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Thank you. 6 MR. EMERSON: If you look at Exhibit E, 7 there's some copies of unclassified checks and withdrawals. 8 I'm sure the Court knows that a number of those are for, 9 quote, cash. Check Number 2336 I was able to account for, 10 to the 216th Narcotics Task Force. They used it for seed 11 money, and they subsequently returned $270 to the County on 12 August 12th of '03. Check Number 2494 was seed money to the 13 Department of Public Safety for the 8-liner investigation, 14 and most of it was subsequently deposited back on 15 November 1st. The -- I guess Check Number 2171 for cash, I 16 have no documentation that I've been able to locate so far. 17 Check Number 2340 to cashier for 195.60, I can't make heads 18 or tails of that notation and trace it down. I have no 19 reason to believe it's not validated; I just can't find 20 anything to back it up. Considering I write pretty poorly, 21 I can't necessarily criticize somebody for the notations. 22 Check Number 2240 -- I think it's 2245, for 23 $5,758.50, the notation, to the best of my ability, says 24 payment on judgment for Jerry Phillips. Jerry Phillips is 25 an Assistant County Attorney in the office. According to 2-28-05 85 1 Mr. Phillips, he's not had a judgment against him, and I 2 don't know why that's written on there. I talked to David 3 Motley on the telephone, and subsequently went back and 4 talked to Jerry Phillips, and there seems to be some 5 question as to whether that was a -- basically a rather 6 large incentive payment made to Mr. -- 7 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Large what? 8 MR. EMERSON: "Incentive payment" was the 9 words that were used, to Mr. Phillips. So, other than that, 10 I don't know what to tell the Court. 11 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: That it? 12 MR. EMERSON: That's it. 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Rex, I -- 14 MR. EMERSON: It -- I'm waiting on 15 documentation from Mr. Motley and Mr. Gray. 16 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I don't know if you're 17 going to make it as a politician. You're a little bit too 18 honest. I've just -- this is so new to me, I -- could you 19 come back next month and give the report again? It was very 20 -- that's good. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I guess the question I 22 have is, where do you go from here? Or where do we go from 23 here, or where do you think we should go from here? I mean, 24 at some point, you know, clearly -- I mean, I guess a little 25 more research to try to find out where some of the computers 2-28-05 86 1 are and trying to -- what an incentive is, maybe, try to -- 2 MR. EMERSON: That's -- 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But there's a point that 4 you can't do any more, other than -- 5 MR. EMERSON: Correct. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- here it is. At what 7 point do you think -- or how long before you get to the 8 point that you say you've, you know, exhausted your 9 resources and files that you have access to? And then what 10 would you do with the -- because, I mean, the total is 11 significant that's in question. 12 MR. EMERSON: Yes, sir. I would say, 13 realistically, probably 60 days. I've talked to Mr. Motley, 14 and he's picked up copies of the checks that are in 15 question, as well as he's been given a total for the 16 unaccounted for credit card charges, and he's going to 17 attempt to locate records and see if he can find anything. 18 I had a follow-up letter that will be going out to Adam 19 Adray on the computer equipment. I already know from 20 talking to the Sheriff's Department and the Auditor's 21 Department that there's no paper trial going either 22 direction on there on any systems that were turned over to 23 the County for refurbishing, I guess is the proper word. I 24 don't -- I also do not think there were any that were sold 25 on the County's bulk sale, which, from what I understand 2-28-05 87 1 from Mr. Holekamp, was three or four years ago, last time 2 that was done. This audit only goes back to January of '02, 3 so at this point, I don't know what to do except keep 4 looking for documents. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So, you would anticipate 6 in 60 days, maybe, coming back to the Court and saying yes 7 or no? I mean, you found these items -- 8 MR. EMERSON: I can tell the Court either I 9 found it or I didn't, and the explanation for it. 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. 11 MR. EMERSON: And then at that point, if it's 12 unaccounted for, I think the ball is in the Court's hands as 13 far as if they want to designate further investigation or 14 not. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay, that's what I was 16 looking for. And I appreciate your diligence in going 17 through this and sorting this out, and we'll -- I'll wait, I 18 guess, for 60 days and see you here again on this topic. 19 MR. EMERSON: Thank you. 20 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Just one quick 21 question, Mr. County Attorney, in terms of how the Hot Check 22 account operates. If a person is charged with a hot check 23 offense and has to make restitution, that individual makes a 24 payment to your office. Is that just for your -- the fees 25 associated with the administration? Or what happens to the 2-28-05 88 1 remuneration to the -- to the business or service provider? 2 Is that a separate check? How does it work? 3 MR. EMERSON: What happens is, theoretically, 4 if Mr. Baldwin wrote a hot check -- 5 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Okay, I like that 6 hypothesis. 7 JUDGE TINLEY: Again. 8 MR. EMERSON: -- he would be contacted by our 9 office, where he would come in. Theoretically, he'd walk 10 in, pay the full amount. What would happen is, that goes 11 into a trust fund. Once a month, at the end of the month, 12 the trust fund distributes the money to the merchant, which 13 includes their bank charge fee, which they're allowed to 14 collect. So, it would be the original remuneration plus 15 their bank charge fee, and then if we collected enough to 16 also cover the statutory hot check collection fee, that 17 would go into the Hot Check account. 18 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I guess I asked 19 because I didn't see any -- any distribution to merchants or 20 anything like that, any check -- 21 MR. EMERSON: This is -- the report that you 22 saw is after the money's already been distributed to the 23 merchants. 24 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Okay. 25 JUDGE TINLEY: Only the County's portion? 2-28-05 89 1 MR. EMERSON: Correct. The original 2 distribution comes out of the trust fund -- 3 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: That explains it, 4 thank you. 5 MR. EMERSON: -- to the merchant. 6 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you, Mr. Emerson. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I have one more question 8 on that. It seems it's a huge amount of money that goes 9 into that account. I mean, to me, it was a bunch of money 10 over that period, 183,000 or something like that? 11 MR. EMERSON: Yes, sir. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: That's just the County's 13 portion? 14 MR. EMERSON: Correct. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: There's that many -- I 16 mean, is -- is the amount that -- the fees that statutorily 17 the County Attorney can collect are real high? Or do we 18 have that many hot checks? 19 MR. EMERSON: We have a large volume of hot 20 checks. Very large volume. The statutory fees are -- most 21 of them collected are in the $5 to $10 range. 22 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: My gosh. 23 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: What range? 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Five to ten. 25 MR. EMERSON: $5 to $10. If we get a large 2-28-05 90 1 number of checks, the fee goes up accordingly, but most of 2 them are pretty small. 3 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: By law, can we 4 charge more? 5 MR. EMERSON: No, sir. But I think you'll 6 see -- 7 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Just looking for 8 something to tax. 9 MR. EMERSON: You'll see a little different 10 distribution of the money this time around. The County will 11 get a little more benefit out of it. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So, annually, are we 13 looking at -- I mean, historically, on the historical data 14 annually of 60,000 coming in? 15 MR. EMERSON: I'd say 50 to 60 thousand. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: 50, 60 thousand. 17 MR. EMERSON: The trend statewide is an 18 actual decrease, because more and more people are using 19 debit cards. 20 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: As a merchant who's 21 received hot checks, I can tell you, it's a very valuable 22 service to the business community. Because if they didn't 23 collect them, they'd go uncollected. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'm just astounded that 25 there's -- on a $5 and $10 fee, there's enough to generate 2-28-05 91 1 50, 60 thousand in this county. 2 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: It is. 3 MR. EMERSON: Historically, the Court will 4 also -- you'll also notice an increase in your fines, 5 because what had happened in the past is, people that 6 wouldn't initially pay it would be filed on criminally as a 7 theft by check. And then once they -- with the theory being 8 that that -- that hammer over their head would force them to 9 pay the restitution to the merchant. And what's happened 10 now is, if they force us to go to that point, we're not 11 dismissing the cases any more. They will have to pay the 12 court costs and fine together with it. So -- 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Thank you very much. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you, sir. 15 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Thank you. 16 JUDGE TINLEY: The next item, consider, 17 discuss, and take appropriate action to conduct a workshop 18 and/or public hearing on proposed Kerr County Nuisance 19 Abatement Program. 20 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Judge, my backup 21 statement kind of summarizes where we are. This goes all 22 the way back to September of '02, when Commissioner Baldwin 23 first made a presentation on this topic to help strengthen 24 our hand in terms of cleaning up solid waste problems. It 25 wasn't until this year when I resubmitted it to the new 2-28-05 92 1 County Attorney that he had his staff take a look at the 2 issue and rework the potential plan. I'm not going to go 3 through all of the details of it today. I really think that 4 it deserves a workshop where we talk about it in-depth. I'm 5 not sure if it requires a public hearing, but it certainly 6 deserves a workshop which everybody has input, and the do's 7 and don'ts and the good and the bad about it, and so that's 8 really what I'm asking today, is that we assign a date for a 9 workshop and begin the discussion. In the packet there are 10 also a couple memorandums from Miguel Arreola with respect 11 to the issue. If I'm not mistaken, Miguel, you now have 12 staff equivalent to full-time; is that correct? 13 MR. ARREOLA: Yes, sir. We have two 14 part-time people. It's a full week of work, basically. 15 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: We have a full week 16 of work divided between two individuals? 17 MR. ARREOLA: Correct. 18 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Okay. So, rather 19 than get into all the -- any of the comments today, I'd just 20 like to set a time for a -- a workshop to discuss it. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: They -- I guess my 22 question is, I'm wondering if a public hearing at the time 23 of a workshop, maybe, or public notice or something, really 24 to get -- to hear what the public thinks about this at the 25 time of workshop might be beneficial. Which -- 2-28-05 93 1 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Might be. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I mean, I think one of 3 the -- on something like this, which is akin to ordinance 4 authority, essentially, I'd really like to hear from the 5 public. I think there's certainly -- I mean, I like a lot 6 of what I read, but just as an example, I saw, from Center 7 Point to the Ag Barn, four violations along Highway 27 8 today, and that's not -- and that's a pretty nice area for 9 the most part. So, I mean, I'm wondering -- I mean, if you 10 go by strict interpretation -- I think not even strict; I'll 11 say real interpretation of this, we're going to have a huge 12 number of people in violation, and I'm not much in favor of 13 doing something unless we're going to really do it. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: Enforce it. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Enforce it. So, I'd 16 really like to hear from the public on some of these things. 17 I think it is a very useful tool to us. I think it would 18 help clean up some real problem areas. But the one item I 19 was looking for was tires laying around on people's yards 20 where mosquitoes and things -- so I think that it's just 21 a -- you know, we need to pursue it, but we need to pursue 22 it very consciously, from what the impact to the public is 23 and what it would really mean for law enforcement, not 24 enforcement standpoint in Miguel's shop. 25 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I'm amenable to that. 2-28-05 94 1 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Yeah. 2 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Have a public hearing 3 at the same time? 4 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: We need input, 5 'cause it's an issue that a lot of people care about, one 6 way or the other. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah. 8 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Also, we need 9 participation, I think, from -- from the various people 10 involved in law enforcement, including our constables and 11 J.P.'s and Sheriff and folks. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah. It's one of those 13 areas that, on the surface, people are very much in favor of 14 it, as long as they're pointing at someone else, not 15 themselves. And it's a -- it can't be done that way. It's 16 got to be, you know, uniformly applied, and all parts of it. 17 Whatever we decide to pass, if anything. 18 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: So, you got some 19 suggested dates there, Judge? 20 JUDGE TINLEY: Do I? 21 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Yeah. You're looking 22 at your -- 23 JUDGE TINLEY: No, I was just seeing whatever 24 date you propose, to see how it -- 25 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Well, we almost need 2-28-05 95 1 to go -- we need to advertise. 2 JUDGE TINLEY: Mm-hmm. 3 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Kathy, can we go a 4 month away, second meeting in March, and advertise there 5 will be a public hearing on nuisance abatement? 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Commissioner, how 7 about -- the second meeting in March is a day before we 8 leave for Odessa. 9 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: No, it's not -- oh, 10 are we moving it forward? Second meeting in March is the 11 28th. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I thought it was the 13 21st. 14 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Second meeting in 15 March is the day after Easter, if we stick with our 16 schedule. 17 MS. MITCHELL: 28th. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. Nevermind, then. 19 JUDGE TINLEY: I won't -- that's not going to 20 be 30 days notice. If you were hoping for 30 days notice, 21 that won't get you there. 22 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: First meeting in 23 April. Let's go. I move that we conduct a public 24 hearing-slash-workshop meeting on nuisance abatement for -- 25 JUDGE TINLEY: 11th. 2-28-05 96 1 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: -- April 11, 2005, at 2 1:30 p.m. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Would we make available 4 just this document for the public to get an idea what we're 5 talking about? 'Cause we tend to get more input if we have 6 something -- I don't know where this came from. Is this -- 7 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: It came from the 8 County Attorney's office. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: This is a -- okay. I 10 think we should make this Kerr County, Texas Nuisance 11 Abatement Program document available to the public, so 12 people can look at what we're really looking at. 13 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: And copies can be 14 available at both Commissioners Court and Environmental 15 Health Department. That would be the sense of the motion. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And on the web site. 17 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: And on the web site. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 19 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: And on the radio. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 21 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for a 22 public hearing and a workshop? 23 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Yes, sir. 24 JUDGE TINLEY: Public hearing to be set for 25 1:30 p.m. on April 11th, 2005. Any question or discussion 2-28-05 97 1 on the motion? 2 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Yes, sir. This Kerr 3 County, Texas Nuisance Abatement Program, that's not a 4 program that's in place? 5 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: This is a revise of a 6 program that originated in Cooke County, Texas. And our 7 County Attorney has signed it out, and it's a rework of 8 that -- of that plan, so -- program. 9 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: I don't know how we 10 do that. We might mark it "Draft," or -- 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah, big letters. Real 12 big letters. 13 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Yeah. So people 14 don't get unnecessarily excited. 15 JUDGE TINLEY: Any further question or 16 discussion on the motion? 17 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: It says "Draft" on 18 the one I'm looking at. 19 JUDGE TINLEY: All in favor of the motion, 20 signify by raising your right hand. 21 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 22 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 23 (No response.) 24 JUDGE TINLEY: That motion does carry. Next 25 item on the agenda is Number 21, consider and discuss a 2-28-05 98 1 request for designation of the City of Ingram as a colonia 2 for eligibility for grant funding for the wastewater 3 gathering system. Judge Edwards, good morning. 4 MR. EDWARDS: How are you, Judge? 5 Commissioners? I assume that all of you have received a 6 packet that was filed, and I won't belabor it. This has 7 been a joint effort of actually four governmental entities 8 trying to work together to get this grant application. It 9 started out, of course, with the school laying a line to the 10 elementary school property, city of -- city of Kerrville. 11 We entered into a preliminary agreement with the City of 12 Kerrville to accept and treat the effluent. U.G.R.A. gave 13 us a grant to fund the preliminary engineering report. In 14 the process of the application, they changed the rules on us 15 and increased the quality and extent of the engineering 16 report that we needed, so the engineering firm put in 17 another $15,000 worth of work at no charge to us. Then they 18 changed the rules and said they weren't going to do their 19 in-house environmental assessments any more, and so we had 20 to do that. And we went out for proposals and got a $22,000 21 bid, which we couldn't quite afford, but I went back to 22 U.G.R.A., and again they were very nice and agreed to pay me 23 $3,000 or $4,000 to do an environmental assessment, which I 24 did, and the engineering and the environmental assessment 25 has all been approved by the U.S.D.A. 2-28-05 99 1 I'm encouraged by the fact that I'm asking 2 for this colonia, because this request came from the main 3 office of U.S.D.A. They suggested that we get this 4 designation, which tells me that -- it's an assumption on my 5 part, but three things. Number one, they're obviously now 6 looking very closely at our application, because they've 7 requested some additional paperwork in addition to this. 8 Number two, it -- I think they wouldn't have asked us to do 9 this if they weren't considering our application actively. 10 And, number three, if we get this colonia designation, 11 there's a chance that we can get a 100 percent grant instead 12 of a maximum of 75 or even less under the program that we're 13 in. So, I'm encouraged by this. And I've tried to give you 14 the data to meet the standards for eligibility for obtaining 15 this designation as a colonia, and that's the first time 16 I've ever had to do anything like this, so it's kind of 17 shooting from the hip, but I think the documentation is 18 there to reflect the demographics of the city of Ingram from 19 the -- from the standpoint of salary, the standard of 20 housing that we have, et cetera, et cetera. So, we're 21 requesting the County to give us this designation, and be 22 the fifth county government to join in trying to get this 23 application approved. So, I'll be asking -- happy to answer 24 any questions that you have. I don't want to belabor the 25 whole application, although we can. 2-28-05 100 1 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Danny, I have two 2 questions. I don't know -- I can't -- there's a lot of 3 information here, and I can't tell exactly where -- what 4 area is in -- would be designated colonia. 5 MR. EDWARDS: The entire city of Ingram. 6 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay. Which brings -- 7 but not Greenwood Forest? 8 MR. EDWARDS: No. 9 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Which brings me to my 10 second question. What authority does this Commissioners 11 Court have in designating an incorporated city as a colonia? 12 MR. EDWARDS: The -- the qualifications are 13 set out on the first page of the request. It says, by 14 U.S.D.A. definition, a colonia is any identifiable community 15 designated by the state or county in which it is located, 16 determined to be a colonia on the basis of objective 17 criteria, and sets out the objective criteria there. And, 18 of course, it goes on in the next paragraph to show what the 19 eligibility requirements are. In talking to the U.S.D.A. 20 Rural Development, they actually -- all they asked for was a 21 letter or an authority from the County Judge evidencing the 22 designation of the city as a colonia. After speaking with 23 the Judge, he felt like that it would be proper for the 24 Commissioners Court to be involved in making this 25 designation, and I concur with that. But it just -- 2-28-05 101 1 U.S.D.A. regs say you have to be designated by the state or 2 county, and you are the county. 3 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I'm glad the 4 commissioner asked that question, 'cause I was going to do 5 the same thing. Our only other experience in this was with 6 Center Point. 7 MR. EDWARDS: Right. 8 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: The area of Center 9 Point that would be served by a centralized system, and the 10 reason we did it -- we did it is because the City of Center 11 Point had disbanded and there was no -- was no local 12 authority there. So, that -- I'm glad you asked the 13 question; it popped up in my head. What if we designate you 14 as -- Ingram as a colonia, and the City Council says -- due 15 to public pressure or other reasons, says, "No, we don't 16 want to do that"? 17 MR. EDWARDS: City Council, I assure you, has 18 already considered this. In fact, the City Council approved 19 the application -- the filing of the application, and it's 20 shown on the final signature page. It was approved pursuant 21 to the authority of Ingram City Council. It's been signed 22 off by a committee designated by the City Council to approve 23 this application. And, that's -- 24 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Okay. 25 MR. EDWARDS: And the mayor is present if you 2-28-05 102 1 have any questions about the interest of the City of Ingram 2 being involved in this. But it had 100 percent approval by 3 the City Council. 4 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: And they've already 5 made that designation? 6 MR. EDWARDS: Yes. 7 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: For purposes of this 8 purpose? 9 MR. EDWARDS: Yes. They authorized me to 10 file this -- to file this application and to go forth with 11 it. 12 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I'm cool with it. If 13 you're cool with it, I'm cool with it. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Has the -- the City of 15 Kerrville, obviously, is behind this, 'cause they're the 16 ones that are the ultimate recipient of the waste. 17 MR. EDWARDS: That's correct. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Have they -- are they 19 actively assisting with the grant application in any way? 20 Or -- 21 MR. EDWARDS: No, they haven't acted -- 22 assisted in the application, except to the extent that, as 23 part of the application process, we had to provide U.S.D.A. 24 with a preliminary agreement between the City of Ingram and 25 the City of Kerrville to reflect their -- not only their 2-28-05 103 1 willingness, but their commitment to accepting this effluent 2 and treating it properly. So, we have an extensive 3 preliminary contract of about that many pages already with 4 the City of Kerrville. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: The reason I asked that 6 is just that, I mean, the City is -- I guess the residents 7 of the city is a beneficiary, 'cause they're the ones that 8 get the fee for doing this -- the service, and I was hoping 9 they were fully on board. I visited with some of the 10 members of the city staff and counsel, and, certainly, this 11 project is, I think, of great importance to the whole 12 county, I think, to get wastewater, I think is what it does. 13 And the unincorporated area between Ingram and Kerrville 14 hopefully will be allowed to tap into this line for a fee. 15 MR. EDWARDS: We've already had a number of 16 requests, because the line actually already runs in front of 17 Greenwood Forest. And I've had numerous phone calls, and 18 some angry requests, "Why can't I get on it now?" Well, the 19 simple answer is that the -- the line at this point is owned 20 by the school district, and the school district is not 21 authorized to get the sewer service, so they can't allow 22 other people to connect onto the line, even though it's 23 right -- goes right down Highway 27 in front of their 24 property. So, our agreement, of course, with the City of 25 Ingram is that once we get the grant and the wastewater 2-28-05 104 1 program is instigated, then we will take over the operation 2 of that line. And then we will be a city -- we will be a 3 governmental body which is in the sewer business, and 4 therefore, those people that are on the line to get it at 5 that time have the opportunity to -- to come onto the 6 system. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So -- I'm getting out of 8 my business area, but I frequently do that. So, I don't 9 understand why the school and the City can't work something 10 out to let people that want to get into that line now, that 11 -- it seems that we're just wasting money by people not 12 being allowed to get onto that line when it exists. And it 13 seems some sort of -- I can understand the school's point, 14 but why couldn't they do some sort of interlocal agreement 15 with the City to get at least something going so people 16 aren't -- people that want to get off of septic, and in an 17 area that we need to get people off septic, can't get onto a 18 line that currently exists? That agreement would have to be 19 between the Ingram school district and City of Kerrville. 20 We're not in the picture yet, until such time as -- 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Once we get in the 22 picture, though -- 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. 24 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: -- then they can do 25 that. 2-28-05 105 1 JUDGE TINLEY: Mm-hmm. 2 MR. EDWARDS: We will actually take over 3 operation of the line. It' a two-part line. Starting at 4 the city limits of the city of Kerrville, it goes for a 5 distance as a gravity line, and then it becomes a pressure 6 line, forced main. In the original agreement between the 7 city of -- City of Kerrville and the Independent School 8 District, the Independent School District maintained 9 responsibility for the forced main portion of it, and gave 10 control of the gravity portion of it to the City of 11 Kerrville. But most of these people of which you speak, 12 Commissioner, are on the forced main portion of it; they're 13 not on the gravity portion of it. 14 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Danny, I have two 15 quick questions. Municipal Code permits the City to mandate 16 hookups within its jurisdiction; is that correct? 17 MR. EDWARDS: Do what, now? 18 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Mandate hookups. 19 MR. EDWARDS: Who? 20 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: City. By Municipal 21 Code, City of Ingram. 22 MR. EDWARDS: Yes, we will mandate. 23 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: And, secondly, will 24 this grant pay for hookups for people who are lower to 25 moderate income? 2-28-05 106 1 MR. EDWARDS: We have included in the grant 2 application half a million dollars to try to absorb the cost 3 of going from the house to the lateral. Of course, as you 4 well know, that means all of their septic tank systems have 5 to be decommissioned, and -- 6 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Right. 7 MR. EDWARDS: -- it's an expensive process. 8 So, we did include a half a million dollars in the grant 9 application to cover that. If we don't get the colonia 10 designation, we're not going to get a 100 percent grant. 11 And, of course, one of the first things that we'd probably 12 have to forego would be that portion of the -- of the 13 expenses. Our primary concern is to get the laterals in, so 14 that's another good reason why the colonia designation will 15 assist us, because if we get the 100 percent grant, it does 16 include money to connect the house to the lateral. 17 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Thank you. Judge, 18 would you accept a modification on the styling of the agenda 19 item, to read, "Designation of City of Ingram as a colonia 20 for purposes of establishing eligibility"? 21 JUDGE TINLEY: I think, in the broad sense, 22 that's implied. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Is that your motion? 24 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah, that's his 25 motion. Say yes. 2-28-05 107 1 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Yeah, it is. 2 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. 3 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded to 4 designate the City of Ingram as a colonia for purposes of 5 establishing eligibility for grant funding for wastewater 6 gathering system. 7 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I'm happy. 8 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Any question or 9 discussion on that motion? All in favor of the motion, 10 signify by raising your right hand. 11 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 12 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 13 (No response.) 14 JUDGE TINLEY: That motion does carry. 15 MR. EDWARDS: Thank you very much. We 16 appreciate it greatly. 17 JUDGE TINLEY: Appreciate you being here. 18 The next item on the agenda is consider and discuss a lease 19 purchase of a chip spreader and asphalt distributor, and 20 approve lease documents with Security State Bank and Trust, 21 and authorize the County Judge to sign the same. 22 Mr. Tomlinson. 23 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Tommy, are you out 24 building roads now? Or -- 25 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Spreading chips. 2-28-05 108 1 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Spreading chips. 2 MR. TOMLINSON: Yeah, this is two pieces of 3 equipment that -- that was approved in the budget process. 4 It's an asphalt distributor for $49,500 and a chip spreader 5 for $182,398. What I did, I made arrangements through 6 Security State Bank and Trust to supply the funding under a 7 lease-purchase arrangement, through them. I have the 8 original here for the Judge to sign. The one you have is a 9 copy. They -- the interest rate is 4 point -- 4.3 percent 10 for a three-year period. There's three installments. 11 JUDGE TINLEY: Essentially, what we have here 12 is, instead of a lease-purchase from the vendor that we 13 customarily deal -- for example, dealing with Holt Equipment 14 or somebody like that, the vendor in this case is not in the 15 business of carrying paper, so -- 16 MR. TOMLINSON: That's exactly right. 17 JUDGE TINLEY: -- you just pulled the bank in 18 and did the same thing. 19 MR. TOMLINSON: Exactly. 20 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Which is probably a 21 better deal, anyway. 22 MR. TOMLINSON: I think, from an interest 23 rate standpoint, it is better. 24 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Well, I move for 25 approval. 2-28-05 109 1 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Second. 2 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 3 approval of the agenda item. Any question or discussion? 4 All in favor of the motion, signify by raising your right 5 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. The 10 next item on the agenda is reassessment of a new employee 11 for the J.P. 4 office from 17-1 to proper step and grade. 12 JUDGE RAGSDALE: Hello. 13 JUDGE TINLEY: Hello, Judge Ragsdale. 14 JUDGE RAGSDALE: I sure am proud that y'all 15 did that chipper truck. I saw it the other day going down 16 the road. The chipper was hanging off the back; the truck 17 looked like it had been on fire two or three times. 18 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: This is the new one? 19 JUDGE RAGSDALE: I hope not. 'Cause it was 20 going "boom-boom-pow-pow-pow" down the road, and I'm 21 thinking, Oh, my gosh, it's got a Kerr County sticker on the 22 side of it. (Laughter.) It looked bad. Well, anyway, the 23 reason I came to you is -- is I hired -- Michael, my clerk 24 for six years, went to work for the Sheriff's Office as a 25 deputy sheriff, in realization of something that he really 2-28-05 110 1 wanted to do. He's nuts; I wouldn't work for Rusty. But -- 2 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: I wouldn't have you. 3 (Laughter.) 4 JUDGE RAGSDALE: I was going to say, we do 5 this by mutual consent. But, at any rate, I hired Christine 6 Martinez from the Clerk's office, who is -- boy, she has 7 caught on very, very well. She's -- her experience at the 8 Sheriff's Office and at the Clerk's office even dovetailed 9 into my office much better, brighter than I thought it was 10 going to be. She has really acclimated well. She has been 11 an employee of the county -- you have before you the various 12 -- whatever you call it -- discussion of why I made that. 13 She's been an employee of the County, I believe, for six 14 years. Her experience, as I stated there, has dovetailed 15 into my office very, very well. In keeping up with the Nash 16 thing of not keeping people down at the bottom of the pay 17 scale, she's deserving of her longevity. Anyway, so I just 18 recommend to you and request that you go ahead and allow -- 19 allow her to be paid in accordance with her experience. 20 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: What would that be? 21 You say from 17-1, but you didn't say to what. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: 17-3. 23 JUDGE RAGSDALE: Yeah, should be 3. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It says in the backup 25 three -- three pay grades. 2-28-05 111 1 JUDGE RAGSDALE: Isn't that -- wouldn't -- I 2 think that that's correct. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It's in the fifth line. 4 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Oh, I see. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: He hid it. 6 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: He hid it. 7 JUDGE RAGSDALE: Yeah, right there in front 8 of you. Worse place to do it. 9 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Bill, how long has she 10 been -- tell me, how long has she been with the County? 11 JUDGE RAGSDALE: Six. 12 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Six years. And has 13 she been getting the -- did she get the annual first-year 14 salary increase, and all those things have been coming? 15 JUDGE RAGSDALE: Yes. So what I'm asking is 16 that she just -- yeah, she got those as a longevity, I 17 think, whatever the years you do that, move up a grade or 18 step or whatever it is. 19 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah. 20 JUDGE RAGSDALE: So I'm just asking that that 21 part be transferred over. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: What's her -- where -- 23 what was her step and grade at the -- 24 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Clerk's office. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- Clerk's office? 2-28-05 112 1 JUDGE RAGSDALE: Much lower. Twelve, maybe. 2 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: What was the number? 3 JUDGE RAGSDALE: I think a 12. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: 12-3? Or -- 5 MS. ALFORD: Probably a 12-something. I'm 6 not sure. 7 JUDGE RAGSDALE: I think it's 12-3. I think. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think what we did with 9 the most recent one that was real similar, I think, was -- I 10 believe it was in the Tax Assessor's office, and we went to 11 a 12-2. Because, I mean, we felt that -- or not a 12-2; to 12 a pay grade 12. That the longevity increase, you shouldn't 13 be penalized there possibly, but you shouldn't necessarily 14 be -- when there is an increase in responsibility and in the 15 step as well, that you wouldn't necessarily have to go the 16 full grade that they're at in the previous job. I believe 17 that's what we did the last time, which was kind of a -- 18 midway between what was asked and, you know, what the rules 19 actually said. 20 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Are you talking about 21 the Tax Assessor's -- that one that came in? 22 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: What -- your previous 23 employee left at a what? Not that it means anything. I'm 24 going to try to figure out -- obviously, nobody's going to 25 provide us with enough numbers for us to make an intelligent 2-28-05 113 1 decision here. So, if you could tell me what -- where he 2 was at -- 3 JUDGE RAGSDALE: I think he was also a 3. 4 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: 17-3? 5 JUDGE RAGSDALE: Yes. 6 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So there wouldn't be 7 any extra money coming in or money turned back; it would be 8 a wash? 9 JUDGE RAGSDALE: Correct. 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: And he'd been there 11 how long? 12 JUDGE RAGSDALE: Six years. 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Six years. 14 JUDGE RAGSDALE: That's what I -- that's what 15 I was looking at. I mean, she's been with the County for 16 six years. He was with the County for six years. 17 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: I think, Buster, by the 18 longevity deal, his starting entrance would be the one. And 19 then the longevity was one, four, seven, ten, is the way 20 that works. So she would have gone up to a 17 -- starting 21 at his 17, but with her longevity. It would have been a 2 22 after one year, and then after four years it would have been 23 a 3, and then after seven years it would go to a 4, is the 24 way the longevity works. So she would have -- should be a 25 17-3 just by longevity. 2-28-05 114 1 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I think you're right. 2 You could be the Treasurer of this county. 3 JUDGE RAGSDALE: Well, he does a whole lot 4 more of it than I do, thank goodness. Every six years, 5 maybe. That's all I want. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think the -- 7 JUDGE TINLEY: Is that a motion? 8 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: No, not quite. Not 9 yet. I want Letz to get his German stuff out here on the 10 table. 11 JUDGE RAGSDALE: I hear the squeak right now. 12 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Oh, yeah. (Laughter.) 13 The blockhead is amongst us. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But I don't think Rusty 15 -- what Rusty said is the way we've handled these in the 16 past, 'cause I -- we didn't with the Tax Assessor recently. 17 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: We did not. 18 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Did not. 19 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: The Tax Assessor was the 20 reason y'all actually went one extra bump as far as 21 longevity. You went by her experience. But on this one, 22 it's just total longevity, by the longevity scale that -- 23 that the County has. Just on the tenure of her being a 24 county employee, not on experience at all, would put her at 25 a 17. 2-28-05 115 1 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: He could be the 2 Treasurer, I'm telling you. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I don't think our policy 4 says that, though. I don't think that you -- I mean, you 5 transfer that longevity when you go to a new job. 6 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: All it says is as a 7 county employee, and she would still be a county -- she's 8 never left Kerr County employment. 9 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Yes, but that 10 longevity was accorded to her in a previous job. 11 JUDGE RAGSDALE: So -- but it was still with 12 the county as a county employee. 13 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I understand that. 14 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: It was -- Commissioner 15 Williams, it probably was, and she was a 3 in her -- in her 16 previous job. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. 18 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Starting this job, it 19 should go in as a 3, not as a 1. 20 JUDGE RAGSDALE: Right. 21 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Because of just the 22 longevity. The way it's set up, it doesn't say anything 23 about if you change departments in the county. The 24 longevity plan is just strictly a Kerr County employee. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think -- I mean, I -- I 2-28-05 116 1 think that's an interpretation of our policy. And I think 2 if we're going to go with that interpretation -- and there's 3 validity to it. I think you have to go back and look at -- 4 another one would be the Tax Assessor, 'cause there we did 5 not do that. I think Linda had one that we readjusted that 6 same way, that we didn't go up. 7 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: That was a 8 re-employ, one that had left and come back. What did we do 9 there? 10 MS. UECKER: Well, she went -- 11 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Keep her previous 12 seniority? 13 MS. UECKER: No. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: No. 15 MS. UECKER: No, she gave up that position 16 altogether. I filled it and she took the new one, at much 17 less. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: At a lower grade too. 19 JUDGE RAGSDALE: So that's different. 20 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: She didn't go to a 21 1; she was a 2 or a 3. 22 MS. UECKER: Well, I came back and asked for 23 her to be at a 3 based on experience only, not longevity or 24 anything. 25 JUDGE RAGSDALE: But to this girl's credit, 2-28-05 117 1 it's not just -- I'm not just asking on the basis of the 2 fact that she's been an uninterrupted employee for six 3 years, but also her experience. She is -- she has, man, 4 just set right in there within three weeks; she has been 5 able to nearly run without much supervision at all. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: My concern really, but 7 it's not on this particular situation, is consistency. And 8 I think that there's a good argument, like I said, to do -- 9 you know, to do it this way, but I think we need to be 10 consistent, and we need to go back and relook at the -- the 11 previous one that we didn't take this approach. And, you 12 know, I don't have a problem doing this, but I think that 13 they all need to be looked at the same, and it needs to be 14 clarified in our personnel policy. 15 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: The way I'm looking at 16 this thing, I'm agreeing with the Judge so far, which is 17 kind of a rare occasion in itself, but this person is a 18 lateral transfer. There is no cost -- there's no 19 additional -- 20 JUDGE RAGSDALE: It's not totally lateral. I 21 mean, it is -- she is -- 22 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: A 17-3 is a 17-3. 23 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: She's been -- 24 JUDGE RAGSDALE: But she was not a 17-3 at 25 the Clerk's office. 2-28-05 118 1 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: What was she at the 2 Clerk's office? 3 JUDGE RAGSDALE: I think 12. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: 12-3. 5 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: What did she come to 6 you as? 7 JUDGE RAGSDALE: 17-1. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: 17-1. 9 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: 17-1, so it wasn't 10 lateral. 11 JUDGE RAGSDALE: No. 12 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I'm sorry. 13 JUDGE RAGSDALE: It is -- it is in the 14 respect that she is a Kerr County employee. To that degree, 15 it is just a transfer. Now, as far -- you know, granted, 16 she's making a considerable increase in pay by moving from 17 12 to 17, but by the same token, she ought not to be 18 penalized for maintaining her consistent employment, and 19 very good employment. She worked with the Sheriff's Office; 20 she was a supervisor in the jail, at the Clerk's office. 21 She was a good self-starter in her work with the County 22 Court at Law, and that -- all those experiences should 23 amount to a justification for this, as well as the fact that 24 she's an uninterrupted employee. 25 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: In my mind -- you 2-28-05 119 1 know, I understand what all you're saying, and that's not an 2 issue. If you say she's excellent, then I'll take your word 3 for it, 'cause you supervise her. You understand that. I 4 just want to be sure we're not setting a precedent that's 5 going to come back to haunt us. 6 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Well, we will be. 7 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Or something where we 8 need to rectify others because of what we're doing. 9 JUDGE RAGSDALE: It shouldn't haunt you. I 10 think it's the right thing to do, so it shouldn't be a 11 h'aint. But -- 12 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I'm talking about the 13 precedent, not the -- not the individual. 14 JUDGE RAGSDALE: Well, but even so, the 15 precedent is not an evil one. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think it may be the 17 right thing to do. These are good employees that have been 18 in the county a long time, and it's good to encourage that. 19 It's just -- I really would like to hear from the -- the 20 Treasurer on our personnel policy, exactly what it says on 21 this, because it is something that needs to be clarified, 22 because it's come up two or three times now as to what you 23 do with a longevity when you change positions. 24 MS. UECKER: I don't think the personnel 25 policy addresses it at all. 2-28-05 120 1 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: It just says employment 2 as Kerr County, and then your -- then your application part. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But you're the Sheriff; 4 you're not the personnel person. 5 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: But your application 6 part, even in the county's policy manual, says consideration 7 for employment should already be given to a Kerr County 8 employee, so him moving her over there would be that. If he 9 hired John Q. Citizen off the street, that citizen would 10 start in a 17-1. And this person's already got six years, 11 which would go along with the longevity, moving them to a 12 17-3. 13 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Had that same 14 individual terminated county employment after six or seven 15 years with another office, and then 30 days later decided to 16 come back on board with all that experience -- 17 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: I believe your county 18 policy says they get their seniority back if they come back 19 within a year. 20 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: That's what we did 21 in the District Clerk's Office. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: We didn't give seniority 23 back in the District Clerk's -- 24 JUDGE TINLEY: No. 25 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: But that's -- 2-28-05 121 1 MS. UECKER: She lost it completely. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: She came back -- 3 MS. UECKER: She retired. 4 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: She retired. 5 MS. UECKER: Then came back. 6 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: I'm supportive of 7 going with 17-3, and I'm also willing to defer a decision 8 pending advice from the personnel officer, whichever you're 9 most comfortable with. 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I'll second that, if 11 that's a motion. 12 JUDGE TINLEY: What, the deferral or the 13 17-3? 14 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: The first one. 15 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Okay. I move that 16 we approve the request to assign a salary grade and step 17 level 17-3 to this Christine Martinez. 18 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Now I'll second. 19 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 20 approval of the agenda item, with the employee to come on as 21 a 17-3. 22 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: What was the rest of 23 your -- 24 JUDGE TINLEY: Any discussion? 25 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Yeah. What was the 2-28-05 122 1 rest of your motion? 2 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: No, I -- I was 3 prepared to make one -- either one of two motions. I made 4 the first one. 5 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Okay. All right. 6 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Rule of thumb out 7 there in Precinct 4 is, everything's better in Precinct 4. 8 We've got the best constable, best J.P., best clerk, and 9 best commissioner. So -- 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I withdraw my second. 11 (Laughter.) 12 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Let's move on. Next 13 agenda item. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: What does it say in the 15 personnel policy? 16 JUDGE TINLEY: I'm not sure; haven't got 17 there. 18 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Y'all are not going to 19 sit there and read the personnel policy, are you? I hear an 20 axis burger calling. 21 JUDGE TINLEY: Seem to be -- 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Are you buying? 23 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I'm buying mine. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. 25 (Discussion off the record.) 2-28-05 123 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I don't have a problem 2 with going ahead and doing this now, and coming back and 3 looking at the personnel policy at our next meeting and 4 making any adjustments. There haven't been that many. I 5 know there was one. 6 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: At least one. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: At least one. 8 JUDGE TINLEY: Well, are we talking about 9 making adjustments to include this particular employee? 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I don't think we can 11 do -- all we can do today on the agenda item I think is act 12 on this one, and then at our next meeting, we'd have an 13 agenda item to clarify the personnel policy. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Well, an alternative 15 would be to defer on this one till we clarify the personnel 16 policy. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah. 18 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Let's go ahead and 19 act on this one. 20 JUDGE TINLEY: Whatever. I have a motion and 21 a second in front of me to -- to bring this employee on as a 22 17-3. That's what's before us today now. 23 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: We're not bringing 24 her on. She's already there. 25 JUDGE TINLEY: In this -- in this 2-28-05 124 1 particular -- 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: She's a 17-1 at the 3 moment. We'd change her to a 17-3. 4 JUDGE RAGSDALE: Now, would this go backwards 5 to the 1st of the month? 6 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Don't -- 7 JUDGE RAGSDALE: I just need to know, 'cause 8 she's going to ask. 9 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Don't sell beyond 10 the close. 11 JUDGE RAGSDALE: Why don't we put an 12 effective date of the 1st? 13 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Next pay period. 14 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: March 1. 15 JUDGE TINLEY: Will be March 1. 16 JUDGE RAGSDALE: It would be this pay period. 17 Today's payday. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Whenever the change takes 19 place. 'Cause I think this is more -- we need to get our 20 policy in line with doing this, if this is what we're doing. 21 JUDGE RAGSDALE: I just want to -- 22 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: My reading of the 23 policy is that you can -- you can argue it either way, 24 whichever way you support. So, Judge, you've got a motion 25 and a second. 2-28-05 125 1 JUDGE TINLEY: That's right. Any further 2 questions or discussion? All in favor of the motion, 3 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. 8 JUDGE RAGSDALE: Thank you, gentlemen. 9 Appreciate it. 10 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Kathy, make a note to get 12 this on our next agenda. 13 MS. MITCHELL: Got it. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: Next item, request emergency 15 funds for the purchase of a high-volume-use computer that 16 fried completely and unexpectedly. Very imaginative agenda 17 item there. 18 MS. UECKER: Well, what do you say? I mean, 19 you walk in, it smells like bacon and you're going, "What is 20 the matter?" One of them says, "My computer's not working; 21 it stinks real bad over here." It really did fry. 22 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: You know the 23 difference between a computer and microwave, don't you? 24 MS. UECKER: That might be it, yeah. This 25 is -- this is actually the oldest computer in the office, 2-28-05 126 1 and it was on my list to ask for replacement at the next 2 budget. 3 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: In your capital 4 request line? 5 MS. UECKER: For next time. 6 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I'll move approval. 7 MS. UECKER: I got -- 8 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Second. 9 MS. UECKER: Okay. 10 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Quit while you're 11 ahead. 12 JUDGE TINLEY: There's a motion and a second. 13 MR. TOMLINSON: Do you have a budget 14 amendment in mind? 15 MS. UECKER: I'm sorry, what? 16 MR. TOMLINSON: Do you have a budget 17 amendment in mind? 18 MS. UECKER: No. I'm asking for -- 19 MR. TOMLINSON: There's no money in that 20 account. 21 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Uh-oh. Out jumped a 22 rattlesnake. 23 MR. TOMLINSON: We used it all on that -- on 24 that -- the last purchase we made for the -- what's called 25 the DAS net, the $16,000 piece of equipment that's going to 2-28-05 127 1 be installed. 2 JUDGE TINLEY: For the scanners. 3 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: How about the Law 4 Library fund? Anything there? 5 MS. UECKER: There's plenty there. 6 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: But we can't have it. 7 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Doesn't qualify? 8 MR. EMERSON: May I ask a question? How much 9 is the computer we're looking at? 10 MS. UECKER: 1,300 and -- 11 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Look, he's going to 12 dig -- 13 MR. EMERSON: I have a solution for you. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: What a guy. 15 MS. UECKER: 13. 16 MR. EMERSON: Expenses from the Hot Check 17 Fund designate -- I'm allowed to spend it for anything 18 associated with law enforcement, and I don't know why that 19 computer associated with judicial management of crime 20 couldn't qualify. 21 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: What an offer. 22 MS. UECKER: What a deal. I love this guy. 23 JUDGE TINLEY: You owe him a big hug. 24 MS. UECKER: I do. And he's getting it, too. 25 JUDGE TINLEY: I'm sorry, Rex; I got you into 2-28-05 128 1 this trap. (Laughter.) 2 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I amend my motion and 3 move approval for the funds to come from the County 4 Attorney's Hot Check Fund. 5 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Second. 6 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 7 approval of the agenda item, the funds to come out of the 8 Hot Check Fund. Any further question or discussion? All in 9 favor of the motion, signify by raising your right hand. 10 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 11 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 12 (No response.) 13 JUDGE TINLEY: That motion does carry. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: You may be interested; we 15 just changed our policy drastically. 16 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Did we? 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: This clearly says it's 18 not the way it's done. 19 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Where's the Sheriff? 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Sheriff was wrong. He 21 says -- 22 JUDGE TINLEY: Personnel expert is gone. 23 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I guess he ought to 24 stick to law enforcement and leave personnel alone. 25 JUDGE TINLEY: Isn't that the way -- new 2-28-05 129 1 hires, even within the same department? 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Even within the same 3 department, transfers start at Level 1. It says you 4 consider them as new hire. Any transfers are considered new 5 hires. 6 JUDGE TINLEY: Even somebody moving over in 7 the same department. 8 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: There he is. Tell 9 him. 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Wrong, Rusty. Totally 11 wrong. 12 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: No, I can show it to 13 you. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: We're going to schedule a 15 barbecue next month, Sheriff. You're the main course; we 16 want you to be there. Do we have any items to take up in 17 closed or executive session? Okay. Let's move to the 18 approval agenda. The bills. 19 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Move approval of the 20 bills. 21 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Second. 22 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 23 approval of the bills. Question. Page 6, bottom of the 24 page, Emergency Management expense. Is that derived from 25 that complicated contract that we've got? 2-28-05 130 1 MR. TOMLINSON: What -- what -- 2 JUDGE TINLEY: Page 6. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: City of Kerrville, second 4 from the bottom. 5 MR. TOMLINSON: Oh, okay. I don't know. 6 I'll look it up. 7 JUDGE TINLEY: 2729, last four. 8 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I got a question on 9 the next one. 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Well, those words, 11 "emergency management," whittles it down pretty 12 specifically. 13 JUDGE TINLEY: Well, if it's under that 14 emergency medical services where we pay the director and we 15 pay some other stuff -- 16 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah. 17 JUDGE TINLEY: I'm thinking that may be it. 18 But when it said management, that's what keyed me. 19 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah. That -- the 20 word "management" doesn't fit what you're talking about. 21 (Discussion off the record.) 22 MR. TOMLINSON: I think these are expenses 23 for this quarter. 24 (The Sheriff placed a document on the bench.) 25 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: That's why the 2-28-05 131 1 Sheriff is not the personnel officer. 2 JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah. 3 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Thank heavens. 4 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: I'll show it to you. 5 MR. TOMLINSON: Well, we're paying the 6 telephone service, is what it's for. And they're allocating 7 -- they're allocating this like -- I'm reading from the 8 bill. 9 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 10 MR. TOMLINSON: From City of Kerrville. It's 11 in a county report; I don't actually have a bill. So 12 it's -- there's a $265.50 bill from -- for the monthly 13 telephone service. It doesn't say who it's to. That's for 14 November of '04, and then for December of '04, there's 15 another $265.22 monthly telephone service. 16 JUDGE TINLEY: Have we ever paid this before? 17 MR. TOMLINSON: We -- we pay it quarterly. 18 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: A telephone bill for 19 who? 20 MR. TOMLINSON: Whatever -- I don't -- I 21 can't -- I don't know; it doesn't say on here who it's to. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Is this something maybe 23 your -- 24 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: First Responders? I 25 mean, is this part of the First Responder thing? Or -- 2-28-05 132 1 MR. TOMLINSON: Doesn't say that. 2 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: It could be that, or 3 it could be the -- the EMS part of it, where we pay part of 4 the salary of the medical -- 5 JUDGE TINLEY: Mm-hmm. 6 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: -- director. And we 7 pay part of the salary for the First Responder instructor 8 and those kind of things, but I don't know anything about a 9 telephone. 10 JUDGE TINLEY: That First Responder 11 instructor is billed separately. It comes separately. 12 MR. TOMLINSON: That comes separately. 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I agree with that. 14 MR. TOMLINSON: I'll find out. 15 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: We're going to hold 16 that one? 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: They don't need the money 18 anyway. 19 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: While we're there, 20 look up the next one. I'm just curious as to the 21 County-sponsored, what would we be paying for there? 22 JUDGE TINLEY: 638 -- 2638 is the -- is the 23 invoice. 24 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That's pretty cheap, 25 actually. 2-28-05 133 1 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: It's not the amount. 2 I'm just curious as to what we're doing. 3 JUDGE TINLEY: Sheriff left. Maybe it has 4 something to do with him. 5 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Sheriff? 6 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Long as his hat's 7 here, I believe we're in pretty good shape. 8 MR. EMERSON: I believe he went through that 9 door. 10 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Lock it. 11 (Discussion off the record.) 12 MR. TOMLINSON: Historical Commission, 250 13 brochures. 14 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Historical -- 15 MR. TOMLINSON: Historical Commission. 16 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Okay, good. Thank 17 you. 18 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Same page, under 19 Juvenile Probation, Hays County Treasurer, $1,780 for 20 alternate housing. I'm assuming that that's a juvenile that 21 needed treatment that we couldn't provide? 22 JUDGE TINLEY: Correct. Boot camp. 23 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Okay. 24 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. I have a motion and a 25 second to pay the bills. Are we -- are we carving out this 2-28-05 134 1 City of Kerrville Emergency Management? 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yes. 3 JUDGE TINLEY: For now? 4 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: You're the one that 5 asked about it. I would like to hold it out to find out 6 what it's about. Yes, sir, I would. 7 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Any further question or 8 discussion? All in favor of the motion, signify by raising 9 your right hand. 10 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 11 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 12 (No response.) 13 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion does carry. Budget 14 amendments. 15 MR. TOMLINSON: Okay. I have -- first one is 16 for Road and Bridge for $383. It's for the addition of this 17 water -- this asphalt distributor truck that we just 18 purchased. 19 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So moved. 20 MR. TOMLINSON: $383. Transfer is to Group 21 Insurance to -- I mean, from -- yeah, Group Insurance to 22 Vehicle Insurance. 23 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Second. 24 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 25 approval of Budget Amendment Request Number 1. Any question 2-28-05 135 1 or discussion? All in favor of the motion, signify by 2 raising your right hand. 3 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 4 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 5 (No response.) 6 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. You 7 have another budget amendment? 8 MR. TOMLINSON: I have another one. It's -- 9 it's in conjunction with the agenda item for the I.T. 10 Department, for -- for the contractual service. And the 11 request is to transfer $8,320 from the Part-Time Salary line 12 item into Contract -- $7,688.53 into Contract Services, to 13 add $109.97 to Retirement line item, and $1,530.79 to the 14 I.T. System Specialist line item. 15 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: So moved. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 17 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 18 approval of Budget Amendment Request Number 2. Any question 19 or discussion? 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: The first -- the first 21 item and the second item on that list, that's because we 22 hired at a higher -- 23 MR. TOMLINSON: That's exactly right. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- higher amount than the 25 previous one? 2-28-05 136 1 JUDGE TINLEY: Any further question or 2 discussion? 3 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah. This contract 4 that we're -- that we have with the new company -- I don't 5 remember; is there a specific time beginning today and 6 ending January 30th, or what? 7 MR. TOMLINSON: I think it's through -- 8 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: September 30th. 9 MR. TOMLINSON: That's right. 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So, it's our fiscal 11 year? 12 MR. TOMLINSON: Right. 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: And our new computer 14 guru understands that we don't spend money we don't have? I 15 mean, I know that's a foolish question. 16 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: He does. 17 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: We've seen it here 18 many, many times. 19 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: He understands that 20 the reason he got that approved is 'cause there was money 21 for it to be transferred, and that he's got to come back -- 22 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay. 23 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: -- and get money for 24 next year. 25 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Which, the reality is 2-28-05 137 1 he's not going to hire a part-time person. 2 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: That's it. 3 MR. TOMLINSON: For now. 4 JUDGE TINLEY: Any further question or 5 discussion? All in favor of the motion, signify by raising 6 your right hand. 7 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 8 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 9 (No response.) 10 JUDGE TINLEY: That motion does carry. I 11 assume this is a budget amendment that you're proposing? 12 MR. TOMLINSON: This is a -- a budget 13 amendment I actually received from -- from the Juvenile 14 Detention Administrator, Ms. Harris. I think at the last 15 meeting you approved the expenditure budget, but as I'm 16 remembering, that there was direction to have a similar 17 revenue budget for the same period of time. The top part of 18 this, the -- for the -- for the operating expenditures from 19 February through September '05 is the 1,294,725 which you 20 approved at the last meeting. And then what's been added is 21 the revenue, the projected revenue totaling $506,032 for the 22 same time period. 23 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: That's as we know it 24 today on the revenue side? 25 MR. TOMLINSON: That's what her projection 2-28-05 138 1 is, correct. 2 JUDGE TINLEY: Your -- 3 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Based on -- based on 4 contracts in place? 5 MS. HARRIS: Yes, that's based on contracts 6 in place, and it's also based on -- I put down there the 7 average placement of 23 residents per month. That's what 8 the average has been for January -- for December and 9 January. And the month of February, we increased our 10 average to 26, so we are gradually coming, but I -- I didn't 11 feel comfortable in making a projection of kids that we 12 don't have and that I don't have a history for right now. 13 JUDGE TINLEY: So, you're doing that on the 14 soft side? 15 MS. HARRIS: I was very -- yes. Yes. 16 Anything else will be a placement surprise. 17 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So, Tommy, if I took 18 the total revenue number, 506, and subtracted it from the 19 total operating expense of 1.2, I'm going to come up with 20 this bottom expenditure? 21 MS. HARRIS: Yes. 22 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So the county 23 taxpayers are going to pay $788,000 to pick up the tab for 24 the remainder of the year? Just -- just as of today. I 25 mean -- 2-28-05 139 1 MR. TOMLINSON: Yes. 2 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: -- before we get into 3 any money with Bexar County and all that kind of thing. 4 MR. TOMLINSON: That's exactly right. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: What this means in my 6 mind is that Ms. Harris has got to fill that place up. 7 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Oh, it's beyond that 8 in my mind. This is pretty damned expensive, fellas. 9 MR. TOMLINSON: So, with this -- you know, 10 with this budget, I need some direction as to how much to 11 transfer in cash to make this budget balance. 12 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Couldn't you do that 13 monthly? 14 MR. TOMLINSON: It doesn't have to balance, 15 but -- but rather than come to court every -- every court 16 day and ask to transfer cash to handle payroll and expenses, 17 I would like to -- you know, for the Court to give me some 18 direction as to how much to transfer all at one time to be 19 able to -- to have cash to make -- to pay expenses. 20 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: What do you suggest? 21 MR. TOMLINSON: I would suggest a minimum 22 of -- of 500,000. 23 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That's probably a good 24 number, just looking at it. What -- what I'd like to know 25 is -- and you're talking about going into reserves to get 2-28-05 140 1 the 500,000. 2 MR. TOMLINSON: Exactly, yes. 3 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I'd like to know, when 4 we first started, how much was in reserves September 1, and 5 where we are today. I mean, how much money do we have? Do 6 we have any money? 7 MR. TOMLINSON: Oh, yes. 8 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: But not near as much 9 as we did September 1. 10 MR. TOMLINSON: Well, we -- we have 11 substantially more than -- than the 25 -- the policy is 12 25 percent reserve for -- 13 JUDGE TINLEY: Minimum. 14 MR. TOMLINSON: Minimum. We -- for the 15 General Fund, that's about $3,500,000. So, we have -- I 16 don't have the auditing statements in-hand, but I think -- I 17 feel sure that we have in excess of 500 -- 500,000 in excess 18 of the -- of our minimum requirement. 19 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Which was -- tell me 20 again, was it 2.8 or 3.2 or something? 21 MR. TOMLINSON: I'm telling you this from 22 memory right now, but I recall that the General Fund fund 23 balance at the end of the year was -- was 4 million 3, 24 4 million 5. And so -- and we've already transferred around 25 probably 280,000. 2-28-05 141 1 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Mm-hmm. 2 MR. TOMLINSON: So we have 500 to go. So 3 that -- that would -- I think we'd still be within the 4 limits of our 25 percent. 5 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I agree with you. 6 And -- 7 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: In excess of our -- 8 we'll be in excess of our -- of the policy limits? 9 MR. TOMLINSON: Yes. With the $500,000, yes. 10 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Okay. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think -- I mean, I 12 concur with Number 1 that 500,000 seems like a good number 13 in your recommendation, but in the future ones -- or I'd 14 like to keep -- actually, if you can go back and just add on 15 this same sheet how much we've transferred exactly to-date, 16 so we can look at a real picture from the annual -- I know 17 you said it's about 280,000. That's real close, but we can 18 just add that to this. Then we can -- doesn't have to come 19 back to court; we can get it to Kathy and get it distributed 20 to us, add that line. I think it would be a good item for 21 us to be aware of. 22 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: But I still want to 23 see an accounting of where that 500,000 has gone. 24 MR. TOMLINSON: Well, it'll be -- it's going 25 in this 1,294,000 expenses. 2-28-05 142 1 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I understand. I want 2 to know if it's for somebody getting their nails done, or if 3 we're buying new light bulbs. We're going to micromanage 4 this thing for a while, Tommy. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It's going to be just 6 like all the rest of our -- 7 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: It will be included in 8 our little report that we get. 9 MR. TOMLINSON: Oh, yeah. You have been 10 getting that all along. 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I understand. I 12 understand. I'm saying I want to make sure that that is -- 13 MR. TOMLINSON: Oh, yeah. 14 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: -- forthcoming. 15 MR. TOMLINSON: It won't be any different 16 than the Sheriff's budget. 17 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Tommy, maybe you 18 answered this question while I was playing personnel 19 manager. 20 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: There you go making 21 Rusty mad. 22 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: At the end of 23 September, are we going to have less than our 25 percent 24 policy? 25 MR. TOMLINSON: No, I don't think -- no, I 2-28-05 143 1 don't think so. 2 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: That's comforting. 3 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah, it is 4 comforting. But we're going to find out for sure. He's 5 going to come back and let us know exactly where we are and 6 all that. 7 MR. TOMLINSON: I just -- I just -- I don't 8 want to give you a number without it being in-hand to know 9 exactly, but I'm -- I'm remembering that it was around 10 4.4 million, was our reserve. 11 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: That's what I 12 remember, somewhere in that range. 13 MR. TOMLINSON: Yes. 14 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: So, what do you need 15 here? 16 MR. TOMLINSON: I just need approval to 17 transfer the 500,000 from -- from the General Fund over to 18 Fund 76, which is the Juvenile Detention Facility. 19 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Fund 76? 20 MR. TOMLINSON: Yes. 21 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Move the Court 22 declare an emergency and authorize transfer of $500,000 from 23 reserves to Fund 76. 24 MR. TOMLINSON: Yes. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 2-28-05 144 1 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded. Any 2 further question or discussion on that motion? All in favor 3 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: Motion does carry. 8 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: It was close. 9 JUDGE TINLEY: Do you have any more budget 10 amendments? 11 MR. TOMLINSON: No, that's all I got. 12 MS. ALFORD: What happened to Number 3? 13 MR. TOMLINSON: We pulled that one. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Do we have any late 15 bills? 16 MR. TOMLINSON: I have three. 17 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 18 MR. TOMLINSON: One is for the Kerrville 19 Postmaster for $990 for postage for the County Attorney's 20 office. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So moved. 22 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Second. 23 JUDGE TINLEY: And you're wanting hand checks 24 also? 25 MR. TOMLINSON: Yes. 2-28-05 145 1 JUDGE TINLEY: All right. Any question or 2 discussion on that motion? All in favor of the motion for 3 late bill to Kerrville Postmaster for $990 and issuance of 4 hand check, 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: Motion does carry. 9 MR. TOMLINSON: Okay. The next two are 10 really to the same vendor. 11 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 12 MR. TOMLINSON: But it's to Cooper Equipment 13 Company; it's for $49,500 for the asphalt distributor, and 14 $182,398 for the chip spreader. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So moved. 16 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. 17 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 18 approval of late bills to Cooper Equipment for $49,500 and 19 $182,398, and issuance of hand checks. Any 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. 2-28-05 146 1 MR. TOMLINSON: That's all. 2 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Sure nice seeing you, 3 Tommy. 4 MR. TOMLINSON: Thank you. 5 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Tommy's an old 6 bricklayer, you know? Got to understand bricklayers. 7 JUDGE TINLEY: Do you have any reports from 8 Commissioners in connection with their liaison or committee 9 assignments? 10 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: This is sort of 11 related to that. Excuse me, did I interrupt? 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: You go ahead. 13 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: We -- we contacted 14 the City of Kerrville to tell them that we wanted to serve 15 notice that the Animal Control contract needs to be 16 renegotiated. It's going to expire, and we haven't heard 17 back from them on that. 18 MS. MITCHELL: No. 19 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: And so I've got some 20 concerns about that. I'd like that to start moving along, 21 but it's an even broader concern than that. I think we have 22 other contracts that -- with the City of Kerrville that may 23 be needing renegotiated, or you need to -- we need to make a 24 decision about whether or not we're going to let them 25 automatically re-up and that sort of thing. I just -- just 2-28-05 147 1 bring that up because over the last two years, I've -- I've 2 seen that period of time between March and September moves 3 awfully quickly. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think -- I mean, I 5 share that concern. I think we have a -- a number of things 6 on the table with the City of Kerrville right now, and -- 7 and it's been a one-way conduit for about the last six 8 months of us saying that we want to do these things. And -- 9 and one of them that's been on the table is the ETJ table. 10 Commissioner Baldwin and I were trying to work, and we heard 11 that they appointed someone, but that was the last we heard. 12 So, my recommendation would be that we try and hold a 13 workshop with the City of Kerrville. 14 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Let's do it. I think 15 that's a great idea. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think we should ask 17 them to at least participate, and in the workshop set up a 18 series of committees that both concur with, and set some 19 timelines up, and then -- doesn't have to be real lengthy. 20 I just think -- what I think I'd like, and I, you know, ask 21 the Judge to do that, is send a letter over there and just 22 ask that we have a workshop to set up all the various 23 contracts, and not try to iron them all out at this point. 24 Just figure out who's going to do what and when so we have a 25 plan, because Commissioner 4 is correct; we've got about 2-28-05 148 1 three months to get this stuff worked out. We have an awful 2 lot on the table. 3 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah, I agree with 4 you, and I can't imagine them not doing it. I mean, two 5 government entities that own properties together and 6 represent taxpayers. I'm sure they'd be willing to sit down 7 with us. I think it would be great. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: We've tried twice. 9 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I know. 10 JUDGE TINLEY: Any other reports from 11 Commissioners on their committee/liaison assignments? 12 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Absolutely not. 13 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: One other quickie. 14 This involves free lunch, Commissioner. 15 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay. Go ahead, Bill. 16 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: You may want to 17 listen up. The Alamo Area Aging group is conducting an 18 Alzheimer's Association seminar here at First Presbyterian 19 Church, where you can learn all you need to learn about 20 Alzheimer's and related disorders. Maybe that's beneficial 21 for all of us; I'm not sure. 22 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: What's your name 23 again? 24 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: It's going to be on 25 Tuesday, March 15th, in First Presbyterian Church, and lunch 2-28-05 149 1 is served free. 2 JUDGE TINLEY: Anything else? 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Only comment I have is -- 4 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: If they remember to 5 prepare it. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: If -- if anybody cares to 7 see a bridge under construction, go by Hermann Sons. 8 They've got -- the pillars are being poured and they're 9 working on it and all that stuff. 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: The High Water Bridge, 11 as well. It's not -- it doesn't look like a bridge, but you 12 can see a lot of dirt work going on. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Lot of dirt work. 14 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Pretty darned exiting. 15 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: What about the trees? 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I told you that last 17 week. The trees are the responsibility of the contractor. 18 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Are they down and 19 moved away? That's all I want to know. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think some of them are 21 still standing. 22 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Still standing, okay. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But I'm not sure if 24 they're coming down or not coming down. I mean, I'm not -- 25 I didn't -- I was down there a couple days ago, but I didn't 2-28-05 150 1 walk to see which trees were gone and which ones -- 2 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I only ask because 3 I'll see Charlie tomorrow, and he's going to ask me. He 4 does every week. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Just, you know, tell him 6 that he should go down and find the supervisor from Dean 7 Word Construction and ask if there's any trees left. 8 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: And bring his 9 chainsaw and truck. 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Just give him Letz' 11 home phone number. That will straighten it out. 12 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: That's a good idea. 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Immediately. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: Any other reports? Any 15 reports from elected officials? Boards? Commissions? 16 Committees? 17 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: What did -- what did 18 the lieutenant personnel officer come in and lay on that end 19 of the desk earlier? What was that? 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It was a nonrelevant 21 piece of material. 22 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Nonrelevant. 23 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: It was a very relevant 24 piece of literature. 25 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: You don't want to 2-28-05 151 1 know. 2 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: It's a "got ya" deal, 3 huh? 4 MS. MITCHELL: No, it can be interpreted many 5 different ways. 6 JUDGE TINLEY: I think the statement in the 7 personnel policy, the general statement, probably takes 8 precedence over that, because it addresses it specifically. 9 But that issue, of course, is going to now have to be 10 considered another day; that an inappropriate precedent has 11 been set. But, be that as it may -- you had something for 12 us, Mr. Auditor? 13 MR. TOMLINSON: I found out about the bill. 14 You had a question about it. 15 JUDGE TINLEY: Yes. 16 MR. TOMLINSON: And we -- the County 17 apparently has an agreement with the City to pay half of the 18 -- the salary and expenses for the Emergency Management 19 Coordinator, which is Mr. Holloway, and that -- and we're 20 paying half of whatever that budget is. And so, whether it 21 be long distance or office supplies or his salary, we have 22 been paying that on a quarterly basis, based on -- based on 23 their billing to us. 24 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: And -- okay. I'm 25 there. How much was the bill? 2-28-05 152 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: 950. 2 MR. TOMLINSON: 950. 3 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: $950 phone bill? 4 MR. TOMLINSON: No, there's more to it than 5 that. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Salary and phone bill. 7 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Oh. 8 MR. TOMLINSON: It's -- salary's in there 9 too. It's 965.72. 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: For something that 11 doesn't even function. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Well, they do. 13 JUDGE TINLEY: No, it functioned. We had a 14 workshop -- 15 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Uh-huh. 16 JUDGE TINLEY: -- last week, I think. Full 17 day, tabletop. The Sheriff was even there. 18 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: You're kidding. 19 JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah, he was there. 20 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Which one? 21 JUDGE TINLEY: You don't remember? Give him 22 that Alzheimer's day. 23 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That free lunch. 24 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Alzheimer's seminar. 25 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Are you talking about on 2-28-05 153 1 the jail stuff? 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. 3 MR. TOMLINSON: So -- 4 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay, thank you. 5 JUDGE TINLEY: Anything further? 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Are we going to pay that 7 bill? I think we should pay the bill. 8 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I move we pay the 9 bill. 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 11 MR. TOMLINSON: That's what I want to know. 12 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded. Any 13 question or discussion? All in favor? 14 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 15 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed? 16 (No response.) 17 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion carried. Anything 18 else? 19 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Ms. Harris had her 20 hand up. 21 MS. HARRIS: Department head reports? 22 JUDGE TINLEY: I called for those, but I did 23 it very quickly. I was hoping to pass over the Sheriff. 24 (Laughter.) Do you have something? 25 MS. HARRIS: Yes, sir. 2-28-05 154 1 JUDGE TINLEY: All right. 2 MS. HARRIS: Just very quickly. 3 JUDGE TINLEY: Come forward. 4 MS. HARRIS: Sorry. I wanted you to know 5 that the Bexar County contracts are in. I believe Judge 6 Tinley has them for signature. And Rex has looked them over 7 and didn't find any problems with the Bexar County 8 contracts. Spoke with the placement officer on Thursday. 9 He is sending a packet of several psychologicals for us to 10 review. Should be here Wednesday, he said. I explained to 11 him about the pending contract with Hill Country Council on 12 Alcohol and Drug Abuse and M.H.M.R. He reiterated -- he 13 said, "So, does that mean that you will have licensed 14 chemical dependency counselors that will provide the 15 treatment?" I said yes. So he is sending two additional 16 psychologicals on two boys that would be substance abuse 17 eligible for treatment at the facility. Rex has looked over 18 the contract with Hill Country Alcohol and Drug Abuse 19 Council, made a couple little minor changes, sent it back to 20 the Council. That was on Friday. They're closed on 21 Fridays, so when I get back to the office, I'll follow up on 22 that to see where that contract is. 23 If -- from the indications that I'm getting 24 from M.H.M.R., an MOU or a contract is not required for them 25 to furnish the free service that they would come out to the 2-28-05 155 1 facility to do a suicide assessment on a kid that has 2 attempted suicide. On a child that scores high on the 3 intake MACI for suicidal ideation, there probably would be a 4 charge. He is trying to get an answer from his higher-ups, 5 and at this point in time, as of late Friday afternoon, he 6 had not received an answer. In the past, whenever a kid 7 scores high on that -- on that instrument, that suicidal 8 ideation instrument, and we have to have a contract 9 psychologist come in to do the assessment within 48 hours, 10 that's our -- part of our service. 11 JUDGE TINLEY: That's not -- it's not a 12 reimbursed -- 13 MS. HARRIS: Not a reimbursed medical, no, 14 sir. No, sir. So I'm still trying to find out what 15 M.H.M.R. would charge for that service, if anything at all. 16 That's what he's looking for, the answer for that. Right 17 now, we have seven kids that are diagnosed for substance 18 abuse treatment. We have five kids coming in within the 19 next 10 days to two weeks. This is going to really crowd 20 the number of beds that I already have licensed. I have 18 21 beds licensed, 12 for boys and 6 for girls. Now, this is a 22 bittersweet dilemma that we're in; we're getting more kids, 23 and they're substance abuse kids, and that was the objective 24 to begin with, but if we exceed the number of licensed beds 25 that I presently have licensed, I would have to turn 2-28-05 156 1 substance abuse diagnosed children away. I don't think we 2 want that. So, I just need you to be aware of the fact that 3 in two weeks, I may have to come before this Court and ask 4 you permission to license additional substance abuse beds. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Which means more staff? 6 MS. HARRIS: No, it means more money. 7 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: But not much money? 8 MS. HARRIS: It means a $100 application fee 9 plus $30 per extra bed. 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: After the half a 11 million we just dumped in there, that's -- we spilled that 12 much at lunch. 13 MS. HARRIS: So I just need for y'all to be 14 aware of that. I will be graduating three kids this month 15 of March, which will kind of offset the kids that we're 16 getting in in regards to increasing the number of treatment 17 beds, but it's going to be the timing. Now, there may be a 18 period of time in there that I will have to exceed that 18 19 bed number, so I just want you to be aware of that. One of 20 my counselors is going -- has verbally resigned. He will 21 turn in his -- his written resignation effective April the 22 15th. The reason why I'm bringing this up now is for you to 23 also be aware of the fact that, number one, I will lose a 24 full-time counselor. This also provides an opportunity for 25 me to search for a licensed professional counselor to take 2-28-05 157 1 this person's place. That person would be able to do these 2 suicide assessments, plus fill the vacancy that this is 3 going to create, plus provide full-time mental health 4 services to a point. Once it reaches beyond that person's 5 licensure, then it would go to a psychiatrist or a Ph.D. 6 psychologist. But, anyway, that's extremely important to a 7 lot of the counties that are sending us kids, so I need you 8 to also consider that. We can put a flyer up. University 9 of Texas, San Antonio, is having a job fair the latter part 10 of March. We can put a flyer up advertising for that 11 position if you wish us to do that. 12 JUDGE TINLEY: Does that require also an 13 LCDC? 14 MS. HARRIS: No, sir. An LPC is a Master's 15 degree psychologist or sociologist that's taken the Licensed 16 Professional Counseling test and passed it. The ideal 17 person would be an LPC-slash-LCDC, but those are scarce as 18 hen's teeth. You can't hardly find those people. So, on 19 another note, Hill Country Alcohol and Drug Abuse, you can 20 only -- and this is for any LCDC; you're only allowed 10 21 individuals on your individual counseling load. Once TCADA 22 starts doing the individual counseling, they're already -- 23 their one person is already going to exceed that 10. So, 24 what we've come up with is that my remaining counselor, 25 she's going to go ahead and apply for her LCDC internship. 2-28-05 158 1 I, in turn, applied to make the facility a counseling 2 internship training site. Doesn't cost anything. I just 3 fill out an application and send in some documentation. 4 Once that's done, then my remaining counselor will become an 5 intern, and she can have a counseling load of 10, so that's 6 going to save some money in there. 7 We have a boy coming from Upshur County 8 tomorrow. We've got a Midland County kid that's going to 9 court on the 4th. A Williamson County juvenile was supposed 10 to be here last week, but there was a snafu in the hearing 11 and they had to reschedule the hearing for the 10th. We 12 will get that child. Brewster County -- we will have a 13 Brewster County child. We've never had a kid at the 14 facility from Brewster County; this is a brand-new contract. 15 That child will be here on Friday, and a Guadalupe resident 16 will be here Wednesday. And so we're getting -- we're 17 getting kids in. Last week there wasn't anybody from DRG or 18 STR showed up at the facility. And I know that the County 19 Attorney has written letter after letter after letter, and 20 so they're -- nobody showed up last week to do anything. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Have any of the problems 22 been fixed? 23 MS. HARRIS: No, sir. The only thing that's 24 been fixed has been the interior structures for the A.D.A. 25 complaints; toilet paper dispensers, paper towel dispensers. 2-28-05 159 1 Those have been rectified, but the A.D.A. handicap ramps 2 have not. There's a disagreement between the engineer and 3 DRG as to what to do. The sewer has not been taken care of. 4 The drainage has not been taken care of, and the generator 5 has not been addressed. So -- 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Rex, on that, I think it 7 was -- you sent the memo up, of response, to the contractor 8 saying that it was -- it's an engineering design problem, 9 not an installation problem. Who do we look to for that, if 10 that's, in fact, true? Do we have any resource against the 11 engineer or engineering firm, which I guess is DRG? 12 MR. EMERSON: I would think so, and I sent 13 out a letter last week to DRG specifically telling them, you 14 know, that the top three issues had not been addressed, and 15 emphasizing the lift station in particular, and told them my 16 understanding was that it was a matter of changing out the 17 motors and reworking the breakers to meet the specs. And if 18 that's accurate, then it needs to be done as soon as 19 possible. So -- 20 JUDGE TINLEY: A thought occurs to me; the 21 bond that the contractor put up with -- both the payment and 22 performance bond, I assume. 23 MR. EMERSON: Well, the issue -- I don't 24 know, Judge. I haven't reviewed it, but the issue that's 25 popping up is, if you talk to the contractor, the contractor 2-28-05 160 1 says, "I built everything exactly according to specs." 2 Including the parking lot, the ramps and everything else, 3 and the lift station. 4 JUDGE TINLEY: Well, I'm just thinking, if we 5 put the bonding company on notice, that might build more of 6 a fire under everybody involved that may have had up a bond. 7 And -- because they may be looking at going back to that 8 bonding company for ongoing product checks, and they may 9 want to make sure their skirt's clean. 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Well, even if they go to 11 other bonding companies, I would imagine it's going to hurt 12 their ability to get bonds no matter who they use. That's a 13 good idea. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: If that's P and P Bond, you 15 know, may not be -- just as a -- as a matter of courtesy 16 notification, they probably need to be aware of it so that 17 we don't waive any rights. 18 MR. EMERSON: I have not seen a copy of the 19 bond in all the documents that I found. I know there's a 20 bond there. There's references to it, but I've not actually 21 seen a bond. 22 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: One comment and one 23 question, Judge. Ms. Harris last week made an appearance 24 before the rural judges at the AACOG meeting and made a 25 great appearance and a presentation, and about four or five 2-28-05 161 1 of those judges afterwards come up and tell me what a good 2 presentation it was. What was kind of interesting, however, 3 was one judge of a neighboring county contiguous to Kerr 4 County was totally unaware that we took postadjudicated 5 kids. He thought all we took was preadjudicated kids, and 6 -- "Well, I'll be darned. I didn't know you took 7 postadjudicated kids." So, what do we do, Judge? That was 8 a comment. The question is, where are we in our discussions 9 with K.I.S.D. with respect to all your schooling? 10 MS. HARRIS: They are -- the contract, the 11 County Attorney made adjustments on the Kerr County side, 12 sent it -- forwarded it to Kerrville ISD, and it is sitting 13 at their attorney's desk. 14 MR. EMERSON: I have a meeting with Dan 15 Troxel this afternoon. 16 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Very good. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: One other -- on the -- 18 you mentioned the job fair issue. Ms. Harris, I don't know 19 if she's planning -- you may want to go out to west Texas -- 20 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: She's going. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Going? 22 MS. HARRIS: Going. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: She has a booth? 24 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: It's a done deal. 25 MS. HARRIS: I'm going. And also, I have 2-28-05 162 1 been asked before -- there is going to be a -- this is the 2 very first conference for Brewster, Jeff Davis, and Presidio 3 Counties and other surrounding counties, that they are 4 having their first annual area judges and attorney 5 conference March the 16th and 17th. We were asked to come 6 out there to participate as vendors, and I got a phone call 7 Thursday, and I have been asked to participate in an 8 afternoon session, a question and answer panel session for 9 the judges and the attorneys, so I will be doing that as 10 well. And we have 27 kids today. We have exceeded 30 for 11 the month of February. We had -- one day we had 32 kids. 12 And our monthly average for February is 26 total, 16 post 13 and 10 pre's, and that is up from the previous month. 14 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: How many Kerr County? 15 MS. HARRIS: Four. 16 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Thank you. 17 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you, ma'am. 18 MR. EMERSON: Since you're already late for 19 lunch anyway, I'm going to throw my two cents in on the 20 County Attorney's part. I think y'all are all aware of 21 this, and I informed the Court that I had some intention to 22 do this awhile back unless something changed. But as of 23 this morning, I provided Beverly Harris, Assistant County 24 Attorney, with 30 days notice. And basically, it's based on 25 the restructuring of the office, as well as the -- having a 2-28-05 163 1 limited number of beds at the State Hospital. We don't need 2 the position at this time. I can take that money and what 3 was costing the county approximately $5,400 a month, and for 4 $1,000 a month professional contract fees, I can cover what 5 might fall through the cracks. 6 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: You experienced 7 Commissioners have probably seen something like this before, 8 but this is the first time I've heard an elected official/ 9 department head come and say, "I need fewer people." You 10 ever heard that before? 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I've been an elected 12 official in this county for over 20 years -- 13 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Enough said. 14 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: -- and I've never seen 15 it. 16 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Okay. 17 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: This is just blowing 18 me away. 19 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Maybe he can be a 20 beacon to the others. 21 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Just imagine what 22 could happen. 23 JUDGE TINLEY: Lest you think about having a 24 big celebration out in Odessa -- 25 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Uh-huh. 2-28-05 164 1 JUDGE TINLEY: -- while you're away from 2 home, Ms. Harris is going to be there, so she's going to be 3 looking after you, so you can't get too wild. 4 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Well, she's having a 5 hard time -- I checked on her while I was out there last 6 week. 7 JUDGE TINLEY: I see. 8 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: And she's having -- 9 they told me she's having a hard time getting a check from 10 the county to pay her fee out there. And -- 11 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: That should have been 12 taken care of today. 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: And I said -- I didn't 14 know what to say. My jaw dropped open a little bit, 15 embarrassed here in front of all my little friends. And -- 16 but they're holding -- they're holding the slot for you, so 17 if you ever get around to paying them, I'm sure they'd like 18 to have the money. 19 MS. HARRIS: As soon as our request that we 20 turned in over 10 days ago is answered, which I believe it 21 was this morning. 22 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: She turned it in to 23 the Sheriff. Or who did you turn it in to? 24 MS. HARRIS: I thought that's who I was 25 supposed to turn it in to. (Laughter.) 2-28-05 165 1 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Oh. 2 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Your own fault. 3 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Yeah, he's doubling 4 as the County Treasurer. Why not? 5 (Discussion off the record.) 6 JUDGE TINLEY: Hold it. 7 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Do you have -- in 8 the big celebration in 2007 -- 9 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yes, sir. 10 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: -- all the food and 11 all the good times and everything, do we have a designation 12 of Commissioner emeritus? 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yes, absolutely. 14 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: So I could attend? 15 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yes, absolutely. For 16 the food only, though, not the entertainment. 17 JUDGE TINLEY: Do we have anything else to 18 come before the Court this morning -- this afternoon? We 19 stand adjourned. 20 (Commissioners Court adjourned at 12:27 p.m.) 21 - - - - - - - - - - 22 23 24 25 2-28-05 166 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 4th day of March, 2005. 8 9 10 JANNETT PIEPER, Kerr County Clerk 11 BY: _________________________________ Kathy Banik, Deputy County Clerk 12 Certified Shorthand Reporter 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 2-28-05