1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 KERR COUNTY COMMISSIONERS COURT 9 Special Session 10 Monday, October 24, 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 October 24, 2005 2 PAGE --- Visitors' Comments 5 3 --- Commissioners' Comments 10 4 1.2 Consider, discuss and approval of proposed 2006 budget for Kerr Emergency 9-1-1 Network 14 5 1.1 Review and approval of Community Plan for 6 submission to AACOG 22 7 1.3 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action on Final Notice from 9-1-1 on addresses 26 8 1.4 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action on 9 Water Availability Requirements, Subdivision Rules and/or modification of Court Order 29006 32 10 1.5 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action for the 11 concept plan of Las Colinas of Kerrville in Pct. 1 36 12 1.7 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action for the Final Plat of Ledge Stone Subdivision in Pct. 2 43 13 1.6 Public Hearing for Revision of Plat for Lots 34-37 14 of The Reserve at Falling Water in Pct. 3 49 15 1.8 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action for setting purchase price for copy of 2005-2006 16 budget at $20.00 50 17 1.9 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to approve Contract Amendment No. 1 between Kerr 18 County and Department of State Health Services, and authorize County Judge to sign 52 19 1.11 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action on 20 proposed Memorandum of Understanding for con- struction of the Animal Control Facility 55 21 1.10 Request approval of the Kerr County Jury selection 22 plan as amended to reflect changes required by HB-75 and SB-1704 59 23 1.12 Consider/discuss, act on issues involving con- 24 struction of expansion of Animal Control Facility, its parking lot and sidewalks 62 25 3 1 I N D E X (Continued) October 24, 2005 2 PAGE 3 1.13 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action on resolution thanking Mr. Charles Lewis for his 4 service on the 9-1-1 Board 68 5 1.14 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to nominate and/or appoint new representative to 6 Kerr County 9-1-1 Board 70 7 1.15 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action on Subdivision Rules & Regulations and Water 8 Availability Requirements 72 9 1.16 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action on Kerr Central Appraisal District proposed budget 10 amendment 83 11 1.17 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action on Termination Notice received from Mutual of Omaha 12 with regard to Employee Health Benefits Program 88 13 4.1 Pay Bills 114 14 4.2 Budget Amendments 117 4.3 Late Bills --- 15 4.4 Approve and Accept Monthly Reports 122 16 5.1 Reports from Commissioners/Liaison Committee Assignments 123 17 --- Adjourned 128 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 4 1 On Monday, October 24, 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 regularly scheduled 8 meeting of the Kerr County Commissioners Court scheduled and 9 posted for this date and time, Monday, October the 24th, 10 2005, at 9 a.m. My good friend, Pastor Al Schultz, is here 11 this morning, one of our representatives on the Library 12 Board, and I'd like to turn it over to him for a word of 13 prayer, if you'd please stand. 14 (Prayer and pledge of allegiance.) 15 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you very much. At this 16 time, if there's any member of the audience or the public 17 that wishes to be heard on any matters which are not listed 18 agenda items, you're privileged to come forward at this time 19 and tell us what's on your mind. If you wish to be heard on 20 an agenda item, in connection with any listed agenda item, 21 we'd ask that you fill out a participation form. They're 22 located at the book back of the room. I think we've got 23 plenty back there. It helps me when we get to that item to 24 not miss you so that you have the opportunity to speak on 25 that item. If you fail to fill one out, when we get to that 10-24-05 5 1 item, if you want to be heard, get my attention some way, 2 shape, form, or fashion. Wave your arms. You can get my 3 attention, but we'd -- we'd ask that you fill out a 4 participation form if possible. But if there's anybody that 5 wishes to be heard on a matter which is not listed on the 6 agenda, well, feel free to come forward at this time. Yes, 7 sir? Please come forward, and if you'll give your name and 8 address so that the reporter can get it down. 9 MR. SHOEMAKER: My name's John Shoemaker. I 10 live at 150 Deer Park Lane in Center Point, and I have a 11 couple of items here I'll pass out. I have some questions 12 about some of the activities that have occurred at the 13 airport over the last several weeks. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: We can pass those out for you. 15 MR. SHOEMAKER: I've got a couple extras, if 16 someone needs one. 17 MS. PIEPER: May I have one, please, sir? 18 MR. SHOEMAKER: Sure. The first one was 19 sparked on Wednesday of, I guess, week before last. The 20 Airport Manager instructed a licensed aircraft, piloted by a 21 licensed pilot, not to land and refuel at the Kerrville 22 Airport. That same aircraft and others similar to it have 23 landed at the airport in the past. My questions are, what 24 authority does the airport -- gives the Airport Manager the 25 right and the power to do this? 10-24-05 6 1 Let me back up and tell you that I'm a pilot 2 -- a commercial pilot, an aircraft owner, and taxpayer, and 3 all of these things make a lot of input into my life. I 4 believe you will notice that on every application for grants 5 to improve the airport, that it specifically says that 6 licensed aircraft cannot be denied use of that airport. 7 This is what I'm asking about. Has the F.A.A., Department 8 of Transportation, TexDOT been notified? And then I come to 9 the question of how much federal money has the airport 10 received in the last five years? And that leads us to 11 number four, which is, has an airport official investigated 12 whether or not the Kerrville Airport can be required to 13 return all federal money for refusing landing to legal 14 aircraft? And then the obvious, will this kind of publicity 15 be beneficial to the airport? 16 Most of you probably by now know that it was 17 the Met Life blimp who was denied landing out here, and, of 18 course, they are en route -- or they were en route to 19 California. And we'll probably hear from Mr. Madden Monday 20 night about the fact why you're not allowed to land here. 21 They landed here in the past. And my concern is, when I'm 22 flying to California, when I'm ready to land and I'm out of 23 fuel, will some airport out there say, "No, you're from 24 Kerrville; we don't allow people from Kerrville to land at 25 this airport"? 10-24-05 7 1 The second item is about the roads at the 2 airport. They're used by automobiles, 18-wheel trucks and 3 various unregistered vehicles, forklifts and so forth. My 4 question is, who owns them? Who's responsible for 5 maintenance? The section near the fuel farm is in terrible 6 condition. In case one of those forklifts runs into me, who 7 do I call? Who responds? Who -- who writes the tickets? 8 Second page says, as an aircraft owner, commercial pilot, 9 flight instructor, and taxpayer, I have several questions 10 about the operations. Almost daily there are three or more 11 vehicles simultaneously on the runways and taxiways. These 12 vehicles include the Airport Manager's private truck. 13 Monday, after I had started writing these, there were six 14 City trucks and a lawnmower on the runway simultaneously. 15 They were completely blocking the runways. Numerous 16 airplanes were trying to take off and land. They would not 17 get out of the way. The large aircraft that was trying to 18 take off, a Challenger jet, sat there and waited as long as 19 he could till his clearance was about to expire, and then he 20 took off, like anybody else would have to do. His wingspan 21 is 56 feet wide. The airstrip is 100 feet wide. Vehicles 22 on either side of him had less than 10 feet clearance 23 between the vehicle and the airplane that's going 200 miles 24 an hour. 25 Now, my questions. Is the airport -- Airport 10-24-05 8 1 Manager's personal vehicle covered by enough insurance to 2 pay for this jet? We're not even going to talk about the 3 loss of life and other things that could be associated with 4 it. Do the vehicles monitor the unicom frequency that is 5 required according to the airport regulations? I'll come 6 back to them in a minute also. Have the people in the 7 trucks and on the tractors received any training on aircraft 8 procedures, vocabulary, and responses? What are they 9 supposed to do? Does the Airport Manager try to reduce the 10 number of vehicles on the runway to the least number 11 necessary? I think I know the answer to that one. And the 12 one that really worries me are the bottom ones. Federal 13 officials, the F.A.A., send me a letter just about once 14 every six months that says when I see something unsafe, I'm 15 expected to report it to the proper authorities. If it's 16 the Airport Manager that's being unsafe, rude, or 17 unresponsive, to whom do I report it and what course of 18 action can be expected? Airports are funded by taxes. And 19 my question is, who do I go to? Which of my elected 20 officials has the authority over the airport and its 21 management? Where does the buck stop? 22 I'd certainly like for some of you people to 23 address these things. I have a copy of the old airport 24 rules here. It's 36 pages long. The new airport rules, 25 which I got from the City, is 83 pages long, eight pages of 10-24-05 9 1 forms which are not used, seven pages of which are blank. 2 Hidden in there is the information that we need to operate 3 the airport. And I would like to see that the rules are 4 enforced or -- or changed or edited so that they can be 5 enforceable. Thank you. 6 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you, Mr. Shoemaker. 7 Under the law that we're required to play by here, since 8 this is not a listed agenda item, I'm sure you understand, 9 we cannot engage in a dialogue and -- and respond to these 10 things. But -- 11 MR. SHOEMAKER: Yes, sir. And my purpose is 12 to make you aware of the circumstances, and so that we can 13 start following up some of these circumstances. Some of us 14 have been trying, you know, rather unsuccessfully, to -- to 15 get some of these things addressed, and that's -- that's my 16 purpose of being here. If it requires putting it on the 17 agenda and coming through or whatever we need to do, I'll 18 certainly be glad to do that. 19 JUDGE TINLEY: We -- we appreciate you being 20 here today and bringing these matters to our attention. And 21 I think I can give you reasonable assurance that they will 22 be looked into. 23 MR. SHOEMAKER: Thank you. 24 JUDGE TINLEY: You bet, sir. Is there any 25 other member of the public or the audience that wishes to be 10-24-05 10 1 heard concerning a matter which is not a listed agenda item? 2 Anyone else? Seeing no one else coming forward, we will 3 move into the Commissioners' comments. Commissioner 4 Baldwin, do you have anything for us this morning? 5 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: No, sir. I'm excited 6 about this agenda, and let's roll our sleeves up and get 7 going. 8 JUDGE TINLEY: Commissioner Williams? 9 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I have a couple 10 things, Judge. First of all, I'm not going to respond 11 in-kind to what Mr. Shoemaker brought to our attention, but 12 I am going to tell the Court that I will place on the agenda 13 an item -- on the airport agenda an item that deals with 14 personnel performance review of the Airport Manager. I 15 think it's a topic that's been there before. It needs to be 16 addressed, and -- and I will -- I will address it at -- in 17 the proper form. I'd like to take a moment of my time here 18 this morning, Judge, to -- to single out a couple people. A 19 great big tall fellow who wears a black hat, and everybody 20 knows him as the Kerr County -- former Kerr County 21 Republican Chair, is -- stand up, Tom Mock, and put your 22 damn hat on, will you? He is about to leave for Iraq. Now, 23 you would wonder if anybody in his right mind would 24 willingly go to Iraq. 25 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: But isn't there -- 10-24-05 11 1 MR. MOCK: Key word was "right mind," right? 2 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That's what I was 3 going to bring up. Plus the -- isn't there an age limit of 4 some sort? (Laughter.) 5 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Not sure about that, 6 but Tom is going to go over to Iraq on the first of what he 7 believes will be two six-month contracts to train law 8 enforcement officers, and I just want to publicly thank him 9 for his service to Kerr County and the Kerr County 10 Republican party, and wish you godspeed. Come back safe. 11 Thank you, Tom Mock. 12 MR. MOCK: Thank you very much. 13 (Applause.) 14 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Secondly, I'd like to 15 introduce a lady who's going to take Tom Mock's place. She 16 does not wear a black hat. She has blond hair. She was 17 born in Waco, Texas. Her name is Cecile Folly -- Folley 18 McKenzie, and -- did I tell you? I wasn't born in Waco, but 19 I lived in Waco a long time, so that makes us -- there's a 20 kinship there. 21 MS. McKENZIE: Yeah, that's right. 22 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: She obtained her 23 doctorate from the University of Houston, taught at the 24 graduate level at Houston Baptist, was chosen in Gray's 25 Order, which is for those who achieve excellence, from 10-24-05 12 1 University of Houston. And Cecile is going to take Tom 2 Mock's place as the Kerr County Republican Chair. Stand up, 3 Cecile; let everybody see who you are. We welcome you. 4 (Applause.) 5 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Better looking, too. 6 MR. MOCK: You're exchanging a G.E.D. for a 7 Ph.D. 8 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Thank you both very 9 much for coming. Thank you, Judge. 10 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you. Commissioner Letz? 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I just want to get back 12 quickly to Mr. Shoemaker on his -- on his comments. In 13 addition to what Commissioner Williams said about the listed 14 item, our next meeting will be -- it's the first -- 15 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: First Tuesday. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: First Tuesday of 17 November, and I think we can answer some of these. Anyway, 18 that will be an agenda item; we can answer a lot of these 19 questions for you in that situation. You know, which will, 20 I think, help, 'cause I am concerned about your issues as 21 well. For your information, Commissioner Williams and I are 22 the representatives from the Commissioners Court on the 23 Airport Board. That's the only comments I have today. 24 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you. Commissioner 25 Nicholson? 10-24-05 13 1 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: The only -- I join 2 in welcoming Ms. McKenzie to the Chair of the Republican 3 party. Very impressive credentials. And I also lived in 4 Waco, and I lived on McKenzie Street; may have been named 5 after your great-grandfather. But welcome to the 6 chairmanship. 7 MS. McKENZIE: Thank you very much. 8 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: It's -- hunting 9 season is coming up, and west Kerr County is abuzz with 10 hunters loading up their feeders and getting their deer 11 camps in order. And, of course, we always welcome them. 12 They come from all over the state and even out of state, and 13 they leave a lot of money in Kerrville and west Kerr County. 14 I hope they'll be careful with their fires. We lifted the 15 burn ban again, but as you know, the conditions are still 16 pretty ripe for -- for wildfires, so we need to be careful 17 of that. The West Kerr Chamber of Commerce annually has a 18 hunter's barbecue on opening Saturday, the first Saturday in 19 November, and this year that'll be held at -- it gets bigger 20 and better every year. It's really an interesting and fun 21 event to be at; a lot of very valuable prizes in the 22 drawings. So -- and good barbecue, so if you have an 23 opportunity that Saturday afternoon, get out there and join 24 the hunters barbecue. That's all I've got. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Where will it be? 10-24-05 14 1 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Ingram Park. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Ingram Park. 3 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you. I, too, want to 4 welcome Ms. McKenzie to her leadership position in the local 5 Republican party and wish Tom Mock good luck and godspeed, 6 and I certainly don't envy what he has before him to do, but 7 I'm glad we've got people that are willing to accept the 8 challenges that he's taken on in that -- in that situation. 9 Let's get on with the agenda, if we might. We have a timed 10 item for 9:15; it's a bit past that now. Item 2 on the 11 agenda is to consider, discuss, and approval of the proposed 12 2006 budget for the Kerr Emergency 9-1-1 Network. 13 Mr. Amerine, good to have you with us this morning. 14 MR. AMERINE: Thank you. Commissioners 15 Court, citizens, I'm Bill Amerine, Executive Director for 16 Kerr 9-1-1. Annually, I come before the Court to present a 17 proposed budget for review and approval by the Court. This 18 year's budget, again, is a balanced budget. We're putting 19 an emphasis this year on upgrading our equipment, which has 20 -- will be 10 years old this year. No longer leading edge. 21 I don't even think it's making a ripple in the mud pond at 22 this point, but it works. We've allocated, over the last 23 three years, $200,000 towards this. We'll be paying cash 24 for this upgrade, and we'll still have an adequate capital 25 reserve going forward for 2011, when we'll probably have to 10-24-05 15 1 face this again. I stand ready to answer any questions the 2 Court has on any of the line items in our budget. 3 JUDGE TINLEY: Anyone have any questions of 4 Mr. Amerine? Mr. Amerine, on Phase 2 wireless -- 5 MR. AMERINE: Yes, sir? 6 JUDGE TINLEY: -- I know that for a 7 significant period of time, there was considerable 8 discussion about that possibly being a tremendous cost to 9 local governments and local 9-1-1 jurisdictions. It appears 10 that that didn't turn out to be the case. Can you give me 11 an explanation for that? 12 MR. AMERINE: In a roundabout way. 13 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 14 MR. AMERINE: I brought a fact sheet, and I 15 think this will help out, if I can present this to the 16 Court. Would the County Clerk also want a copy? 17 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Thank you. 18 MR. AMERINE: I think the answer to the 19 question, Judge, is that it all depends on who our wireless 20 carriers are in our jurisdiction. And -- and perhaps, 21 living in the hill country, specifically in Kerr County, has 22 been an advantage to us financially as far as what the cost 23 would be for Phase 2. I know that our districts that are 24 northwest and east of us who have the larger carriers -- 25 SBC, Verizon -- as their local providers of service have had 10-24-05 16 1 rather hefty Phase 2 bills, and we're talking about in the 2 tens to hundreds, and then in some cases, millions of 3 dollars. That is to offset the cost of those providers 4 upgrading their networks to be able to provide that location 5 information for Phase 2. 6 Our carriers in this area are Five Star 7 Wireless, Verizon, Sprint, Nextel, and Cellular One. Sprint 8 and Nextel are doing self-recovery. In other words, they're 9 -- they're passing that cost through their bills back to the 10 customer rather than coming to 9-1-1. We don't know quite 11 yet what the cost recovery will be for our local carrier, 12 Five Star Wireless. I'm working with the General Manager 13 over there on that. We've already paid the up-front costs 14 for Verizon. It was less than $6,000, one-time forever fee. 15 And Cellular One is going to ask for a waiver on Phase 2; 16 they're not quite ready in their network, so we don't quite 17 know what their costs are going to be. So, there are some 18 uncertainties. Where our really big costs are is in Phase 19 1, and that's what this fact sheet goes into some detail 20 about. Phase 1 is a prerequisite step to getting the 21 network ready for being able to do location information for 22 wireless 9-1-1 calls. These will require the Kerr 9-1-1 23 District to have contracts for nonrecurring and recurring 24 fees to provide that service. 25 Every one of the carriers seems to have a 10-24-05 17 1 different methodology, which is allowed by the F.C.C., on 2 what that will be. The fairest probably is based on circuit 3 and tower cost. How many towers, how many circuits do you 4 have to provision to provide that service? At least it 5 costs us the least amount doing it that way. Others use a 6 standard per-customer base, where there is a recurring fee 7 every month. Fourteen and a half cents is the one that 8 we're looking at with Sprint. That one is less fair, in my 9 mind, but -- and quite costly. Our cost in the first year, 10 which will be 2006, will be $78,000 to provision Phase 1 11 service, and that's going to be every year, we're going to 12 be facing a fee like that. It will get less in 2007, 13 because there's some up-front nonrecurring fees that you pay 14 to start that service. 15 So, we're looking from this point forward at 16 paying somewhere in the order of $66,000 to $70,000 a year 17 for Phase 1 service. The only thing that will change that 18 is a substantial change in technology that we currently see 19 today. However, in all fairness to the wireless providers 20 and what we're trying to do at 9-1-1, we collect 50 cents a 21 month from every user of a cell phone in Kerr County whose 22 bill -- whose billing address is here. And when you look at 23 the average across Texas, at least, there usually is a 24 50/50, 60/40, somewhere in that neighborhood, split between 25 what the district keeps of that 50 cents and what they give 10-24-05 18 1 back to the wireless providers for their costs for providing 2 that service. When you look at our formula, this $66,000 to 3 $70,000 is about half of what we'd collect. 4 Now, I told you I was going to come all the 5 way around the bush. That doesn't mean that Phase 2, even 6 though we've done all the up-front costs -- paid all the 7 costs, is going to be free to 9-1-1. There's going to be an 8 intermediate cost for us with T.C.S. and Entrado. These are 9 intermediate database providers who will actually house the 10 location information before it's sent down to our answer -- 11 our call center. Those fees are going to run something on 12 the order of $1,250 a month, and there's an up-front $9,000 13 engineering fee. So, there will be some Phase 2 costs, but 14 it's just not nearly as much as what we had anticipated. 15 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you. Any other 16 questions for Mr. Amerine? 17 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I just want to be 18 sure I understand, Bill. These are one-time costs, or 19 recurring costs? 20 MR. AMERINE: What you have in your hand are 21 the Phase 1 costs, and they are recurring every year. 22 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: They do recur? 23 MR. AMERINE: Yes, sir. 24 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: I've got a couple 25 questions. 10-24-05 19 1 MR. AMERINE: Yes, sir? 2 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Bill, I really 3 appreciate this detailed -- 4 MR. AMERINE: Thank you, sir. 5 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: -- summary by line 6 item of what you've done. It makes it a whole lot easier to 7 understand where the money's going. 8 MR. AMERINE: I appreciate that. 9 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: In thinking about 10 your staffing level, you're down to three people now. 11 MR. AMERINE: Including myself. 12 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Including yourself. 13 And that would be expected with the near completion of the 14 addressing project. I'm wondering -- and I look at the 15 vision for 2006 and sort of a work plan outline of what you 16 intend to do here. I wonder if -- how three are necessary. 17 It's hard for me to envision what happens day-to-day -- 18 MR. AMERINE: I understand. 19 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: -- in your office, 20 and probably 'cause I just don't understand it. But 21 compared to other systems our size, is three justified, or 22 could it be lower? 23 MR. AMERINE: Well, in all honesty, there are 24 systems that are somewhat larger than ours that have a 25 full-time director, a full-time GIS person, and a part-time 10-24-05 20 1 office manager. There are also some that are about our size 2 or smaller that have a full-time director and a part-time 3 office manager and no GIS. In talking to the Board of 4 Managers about our staffing for 2006, my initial cut on this 5 was to actually go to reduced hours in 2006 for both our 6 office manager and our GIS position, and they were not 7 comfortable with my estimation of the workload. Partially 8 because we -- with this new system that we're purchasing, 9 we're buying a mapped ALI, and what that means is that 10 instead of just getting textual data when a 9-1-1 call comes 11 in to the call center, there will also be a graphic map that 12 will pop up with an icon showing the exact location of the 13 call, or approximate location of the call if it's wireless. 14 Our current GIS layers that we manage are going to need some 15 work, and we're not quite sure how much work at this point. 16 The vendor who we have selected is going to 17 give us a roadmap to get that data migrated to the new 18 system, so that's going to require my efforts and the 19 efforts of the GIS person, and my Board felt let's just go 20 ahead and keep that person budgeted for the full year. If 21 we find by the middle of 2006 that we don't need a full-time 22 GIS person, then we can reduce that position. The same goes 23 with our office manager. However, I've already had 24 conversations with her, as well as the GIS person, that even 25 though they're fully budgeted for 2006 based upon the 10-24-05 21 1 current workload, at any given time in that year, we might 2 actually go to reduced hours or actually a layoff and 3 outsource one of those jobs or do away with it altogether. 4 I actually -- when I come to see you next year about this 5 time, I think you'll see a full-time director and a 6 part-time office manager. Our goal is to make sure that the 7 maximum amount of our revenue that we collect goes back into 8 the network to provide the best possible 9-1-1 service for 9 our citizens. 10 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: That's a good 11 answer. I can tell you thought that out pretty carefully. 12 Second question has to do with the salaries. 110,000 for 13 three people would -- would be a lot in Kerr County 14 government. Can you tell me what those salaries are? 15 MR. AMERINE: Yes, sir, I can. 16 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Or approximately? 17 MR. AMERINE: I have another fact sheet I can 18 pass out to the Court. I'll keep one for myself so I won't 19 lie to you. 20 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Thank you. 21 MR. AMERINE: You're welcome. The director's 22 salary -- my salary is moving from 51,000 to 52,000. That's 23 a 1.96 percent increase. There was no salary increase in 24 2005's budget. We maintained salaries at a frozen level for 25 these two years. The office manager is going from 27,8 to 10-24-05 22 1 28,8, and the GIS is going from 29,000 to 30,000. 2 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: That's all I have. 3 JUDGE TINLEY: Any other questions for 4 Mr. Amerine? 5 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Judge, I move we 6 approve the proposed 2006 budget for the Kerr Emergency 7 9-1-1 Network. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 9 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 10 approval of the proposed 2006 budget for Kerr Emergency 11 9-1-1 Network. Any questions or discussion? All in favor 12 of the motion, signify by raising your right hand. 13 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 14 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 15 (No response.) 16 JUDGE TINLEY: That motion does carry. Thank 17 you, Mr. Amerine. 18 MR. AMERINE: Thank you. 19 JUDGE TINLEY: Let's go back now to Item 1, 20 which is review and approval of the Community Plan for 21 submission to AACOG. Mr. Stanton? 22 MR. STANTON: Good morning. I'm appearing 23 here before you this morning on behalf of the Kerr County 24 Community Planning Committee. We've been working on trying 25 to put together a plan to present to AACOG outlining the 10-24-05 23 1 needs that we feel like are for Kerr County for this 2 upcoming year. If you can -- I know that you're just now 3 getting a copy of this. If you can flip to Page 8, that 4 will outline actually the people that participated in the in 5 committee and the planning and development of this plan. 6 Basically, what we're doing is outlining the priorities to 7 AACOG and to the governor's office for grant approvals. If 8 you have any questions, I'd be happy to try to answer them. 9 The priorities are listed out on Page 11. The priorities 10 for the juvenile section are started out on Page 11. For 11 victims -- victim issues, it starts out on Page 17. Law 12 enforcement is on Page 19, and then homeland security is on 13 Page 25. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: Mr. Stanton? 15 MR. STANTON: Yes, sir? 16 JUDGE TINLEY: The plan is the basic 17 springboard document for trying to achieve maximum points 18 for grant funding which comes through AACOG; is that not 19 correct? 20 MR. STANTON: Yes, sir, depending on the 21 placement of the priorities in each group, depending on the 22 number of points you receive for that -- that -- during the 23 scoring of the grant issue. 24 JUDGE TINLEY: And the -- the ability to 25 place an application for grant funding under your number one 10-24-05 24 1 priority in your community plan gives you greater points 2 than if it were to fall under your section priority; is that 3 not correct? 4 MR. STANTON: Yes, sir. Yes, sir, that's 5 true. 6 JUDGE TINLEY: So, giving you a leg up, in 7 essence? 8 MR. STANTON: Yes, sir. 9 JUDGE TINLEY: All right. 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Is there a -- a timing 11 reason why this needs to be approved today? Is there a 12 grant pending? Or -- 13 MR. STANTON: No, sir. What it is is that 14 they have to be submitted to AACOG by October 1st. The plan 15 has to be -- not October, I'm sorry. September -- 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: November. 17 MR. STANTON: November 1st, I'm sorry. I've 18 been working on this for so long -- November 1st. It has to 19 be presented to AACOG by November 1st. 20 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: And right after 21 November is December. 22 MR. STANTON: Yes, sir, thank you. 23 (Laughter.) 24 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Is this document -- is 25 this scored in any way? 10-24-05 25 1 MR. STANTON: No, sir. 2 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Is this just something 3 that you use as a guideline as you go through the AACOG 4 scoring and funding program? 5 MR. STANTON: What we do is -- is sometime in 6 November, I will have to present this -- this plan to AACOG, 7 and then they -- once they start receiving grant 8 applications, they will look at our community plan. 9 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Uh-huh. 10 MR. STANTON: Based on priorities. They'll 11 assign it certain scores depending on the priorities set 12 forth by the plan. 13 JUDGE TINLEY: To that end, Commissioner, I 14 can assure you, we tried to make the priority one item as 15 broad as possible to encompass virtually anything we might 16 submit grant applications for. 17 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Cool. 18 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Which is good. Move 19 adoption of the plan as presented by Mr. Stanton. 20 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. 21 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 22 the adoption of the 2005-2006 Kerr County community plan. 23 MR. STANTON: Thank you. 24 JUDGE TINLEY: Any question or discussion? 25 All in favor of the motion, signify by raising your right 10-24-05 26 1 hand. 2 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 3 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 4 (No response.) 5 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. Let's 6 move now to Item 3, if we might. Consider, discuss, and 7 take appropriate action on final notice from 9-1-1 on 8 addresses. Commissioner Baldwin? 9 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yes, thank you. 10 Before Mr. Amerine starts talking, I just wanted to remind 11 you guys that this is the one more time that we're going to 12 try to get folks to get -- get their system in place. And 13 we have budgeted for the postage for this particular -- I 14 can't remember how many there are. 15 MR. AMERINE: I'll go into that. 16 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay. 17 MR. AMERINE: I'll try to be brief. I 18 provided, back on the 10th of October, a summary of where 19 we're at on the addressing, and I broke it out by community 20 or exchange. And in my estimate of what I would require 21 from the County for this final notice, I said we'd need 900 22 to 950, and that's an error. In actuality, even though 23 there's 880 remaining phone numbers that don't have 24 addresses assigned to them, you'll notice that 382 of those 25 are City of Ingram, and we have a different arrangement 10-24-05 27 1 through an interlocal with them to handle that, so you can 2 subtract from the number of envelopes and postage that 380 3 from that 900, so we're looking at something on the order of 4 600 envelopes and postage. 5 And just for the public's edification, if you 6 will, 9-1-1 is not ceasing all addressing operation. We 7 have mailed out numerous notices in conjunction with the 8 County of Kerr, as well as the City of Ingram. We've done 9 phone call-outs. We've done any number -- I can't tell you 10 how many notices the post office and others have mailed out 11 trying to bring people forward to get these remaining phone 12 numbers addressed. Both phone companies have been helpful 13 on that. This is really our last proactive effort to reach 14 out and touch these people to get their phone numbers 15 appropriately addressed. However, we're finding that more 16 and more people, seeing these blue signs go up, are coming 17 to us on their own, and we'll continue to deal with 18 addressing in that way for new properties, subdivisions, and 19 these exceptions that we find from time to time. So, I just 20 don't want folks to think that our addressing is done when 21 this is done. That's not the case. Any comments at all on 22 the final wording of this letter? 23 JUDGE TINLEY: Let me make an observation, if 24 I might, Mr. Amerine. 25 MR. AMERINE: Yes, sir. 10-24-05 28 1 JUDGE TINLEY: The next to the last 2 paragraph, which refers to if the above phone number is not 3 dial-tone or dial-out capable, contact us so that we can 4 remove it. Then the next text you have in there says, 5 "Please contact Kerr Emergency 9-1-1 to correct this 6 situation." In my mind, that refers to the non-dialout, 7 non-dialtone items. I'm thinking it may be well to put in 8 before that last paragraph to contact you that 9-1-1 needs 9 your physical address so that emergency services may reach 10 you without delay when you need them, and then contact us. 11 Because the reason this is being sent is primarily for those 12 that -- that you don't have an address on. 13 MR. AMERINE: Correct. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: That's an observation, and 15 that's just the way I happen to read the notice. 16 MR. AMERINE: I'll be glad to add that in 17 there. 18 JUDGE TINLEY: Might be confusing to someone, 19 that that refers to only the non-dialout -- 20 MR. AMERINE: Right. 21 JUDGE TINLEY: -- type. 22 MR. AMERINE: I do think there's a number, 23 and I couldn't give you even an educated guess of how many 24 of these remaining 880 are actually going to be security 25 keypad gate codes, that are going to be non-dialtone 10-24-05 29 1 DSL-type lines, those sort of things. They're just billing 2 numbers. They're -- they're not at all truly 9-1-1 capable 3 lines. The reason why we have that comment in there is 4 people need to let us know that, because the phone companies 5 cannot or they will not let us know that those are not 9-1-1 6 capable, so we need some way to remove those from our 7 emergency database. I see you crinkling your mouth, sir. 8 JUDGE TINLEY: The -- the phone service 9 providers are unwilling to provide that data to you? 10 MR. AMERINE: I've asked Valor -- and Valor, 11 I might say, has done an admirable effort. As a matter of 12 fact, they removed over -- I don't know, 11,000, 12,000 13 phone numbers from our database that were pager pin codes 14 and others. Hill Country Co-Op, on the other hand, has not 15 been able to provide us with that information. I'll just 16 leave it at that. We've asked them numerous times. 17 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 18 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Bill, does this mean 19 that, for example, my computer line might be one of the 20 problems? 21 MR. AMERINE: If you have a dial-tone 22 computer line that's not registered with an address, yes, 23 sir. And let me tell you why that's important, 24 Commissioner. A lot of folks have phones hooked up to the 25 back of their computers, so that, because it is a regular 10-24-05 30 1 phone line, they can dial out. A lot of folks will also 2 move their computer to another room and then use that as a 3 primary phone line. If it's dial-out capable, we're 4 concerned that 9-1-1 -- because you might dial 9-1-1, and if 5 it's not registered with your physical address, we get 6 nothing at the call center. So, we'd like those folks to 7 give us a call. It's a simple matter if you already have a 8 physical address, and we'll get that associated with your 9 phone number. 10 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: What's your timeline 11 for this, Mr. Amerine? 12 MR. AMERINE: As soon as we get the 13 materials, we're ready to send these out. Typically, we get 14 about a 30 to 40 percent callback, as I said in this 15 estimate. We hope to resolve in the county, not including 16 Ingram, out of these 500 or 600, somewhere on the order of 17 300 to 400 -- or, I'm sorry, 200 to 300 of those, and I 18 think that's pretty good. Right now, compared to other 19 counties, we're right in the run as far as having compliant 20 phone numbers. We're almost 98 percent between the city and 21 the county. That's very good. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'll -- I'll make a 23 motion that we approve the letter as amended. 24 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Second. 25 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 10-24-05 31 1 the notice letter as indicated. Any question or discussion? 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I do have just a brief 3 comment, if I might. I'd like to just take this opportunity 4 to thank Mr. Amerine and 9-1-1 for getting this addressing 5 project done. In my mind, this is the final step in it, and 6 we're now done. As you drive around the county, certainly 7 in my precinct, there -- everyone is -- you know, has gone 8 along with it. I didn't get that much complaint out of the 9 constituents about having to change addresses, and most 10 people are putting up the blue signs. I'd like to thank you 11 and 9-1-1, and pass it on to your board, if you would, 12 please. 13 MR. AMERINE: I'll do that. Thank you. 14 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I have a question for 15 Mr. Amerine. Of the -- how many is left that's -- that's 16 not registered with us? 17 MR. AMERINE: 880. 18 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: And, precinct by 19 precinct, which one might have the lesser -- lesser number 20 out of those 800? 21 MR. AMERINE: I don't think I -- the 22 Commissioner's here, but I think it's Precinct 1. 23 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Precinct 1 has the 24 least. So, what I'm hearing is that the folks in Precinct 1 25 are willing to participate in these government activities 10-24-05 32 1 and trying to save each other's lives. 2 MR. AMERINE: Commissioner, in all fairness 3 to your -- your fellow Commissioners, a large part of your 4 constituency lives in the city of Kerrville, which already 5 had registered addresses. 6 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay. Let's vote. 7 (Laughter.) No, that's a step backwards here. 8 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I do want to echo 9 what Commissioner Letz said, though. Prior to Mr. Amerine's 10 arrival in this job, I'll bet you I heard, every single 11 week, almost every single day, complaints about 9-1-1. I 12 haven't had a person or constituent talk to me and complain 13 about 9-1-1 in a long, long time. 14 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Hear, hear. 15 MR. AMERINE: Thank you. 16 JUDGE TINLEY: We appreciate your efforts and 17 that of your staff and the board. Any further question or 18 discussion? All in favor of the motion, signify by raising 19 your right hand. 20 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 21 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 22 (No response.) 23 JUDGE TINLEY: That motion does carry. Let 24 us move, if we might, to Item Number 4. Consider, discuss, 25 and take appropriate action on Water Availability 10-24-05 33 1 Requirements, Subdivision Rules, and/or modification of 2 Court Order Number 29006. Commissioner Letz? 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I put this on the agenda 4 after our last meeting, and also in visiting with Road and 5 Bridge and some others, I think there was confusion between 6 the court order in January and what the intent of the Court 7 was under that court order. The intent was to -- as the 8 minutes reflect, to basically suspend the portion of Water 9 Availability Requirements that require test wells to be 10 drilled. The court order came out and suspended all water 11 availability requirements, and that has caused some 12 confusion, and I apologize for not catching this earlier. 13 Really, it was two or three weeks ago when I finally 14 realized where the problem was and why there's confusion 15 between how I interpreted that suspension and how Road and 16 Bridge was interpreting that suspension, because they were 17 going by the court order and I was going on what the intent 18 of the court order was. 19 So, to rectify that situation, and based on 20 conversations I've had and a memo from the County Attorney, 21 the easiest way to solve this is to modify court order -- 22 clarify -- I'll clarify Court Order 29006 and add that we 23 specifically are only suspending paragraphs 1.04 and 1.05 of 24 the Water Availability Requirements. Other than that, the 25 Water Availability Requirements remain in force, and I will 10-24-05 34 1 make a motion to that effect. 2 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Second. 3 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: 1.0 -- go ahead. 4 JUDGE TINLEY: I have a motion and a second 5 to -- to modify Court Order Number 29006 to provide that 6 only 1.04 and 1.05 of the Kerr County Subdivision Rules and 7 Regulations -- 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Water Availability 9 Requirements. 10 JUDGE TINLEY: -- under Kerr County Water 11 Availability Requirements be suspended. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Correct. 13 JUDGE TINLEY: That'll be the modification to 14 Court Order 29006. I think I got that right, didn't I? 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Now -- yes. Now, if I 16 can ask the County Attorney, does that solve the problem? 17 Do you -- 18 MR. EMERSON: Correct. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. 20 JUDGE TINLEY: Mr. Baldwin? 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: We have an agenda item 22 a little bit later on, I can't remember which one it is, 23 that actually has a copy of the water availability rules in 24 it. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. The reason I put 10-24-05 35 1 that -- 2 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: My question is, does 3 what did we just reinstall the 1.04 and 1.05? Exactly what 4 is that? 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: 1.04 was the requirement 6 that test wells be drilled in all new subdivisions, and 1.05 7 required Headwaters to do some water availability analysis 8 on community water systems, so those are the two things that 9 were suspended. There's some other provisions in state law 10 that -- 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So we're taking the -- 12 those two items and bringing them back into -- 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: No, we're taking those 14 two items out. 15 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay, very good. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And everything else in 17 the Water Availability stays in. 18 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay, I'm with you. 19 JUDGE TINLEY: Any further questions or 20 comments? All in favor of the motion as indicated, please 21 raise 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. Let us 10-24-05 36 1 move now to Item 5. Consider, discuss, and take appropriate 2 action for the concept plan of Las Colinas of Kerrville 3 located in Precinct 1. 4 MR. ODOM: You might pass this around. You 5 received something with -- with the agenda item, but we 6 received this Friday afternoon. It looks like -- Greg 7 Richards was supposed to also be here to represent, but I 8 think Mr. Domingues is here. This concept plan was 9 presented; it's in the ETJ of the City of Kerrville. 10 They're planning to have community water, and they're 11 proposing to have 57 lots, which comes to about 2.4 acres. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Average? 13 MR. ODOM: Average. If you take the 55 -- 14 what you received previously was the fact that Lots 56 and 15 57 were not shown, but actually you've got 55 lots that are 16 going to be buildable there, and they average about 17 1.3 acres, but on community water, and they propose to have 18 -- with T.C.E.Q., to have community water for this. If you 19 take -- the average of these 57 lots is 2.42 acres, is the 20 average. I believe that Mr. Richards and Mr. McRae were 21 wanting to see -- present this to the Court to see if it was 22 acceptable. We are in the ETJ. We're not quite -- what 23 they originally presented to us was to build the roads; that 24 the City gave their permission to do that. In listening to 25 what just transpired, that 5 acres is that minimum, the 10-24-05 37 1 divisible by. But we've had others, and I told them that 2 this is the concept and present it to the Court so they 3 would not spend a lot of money to -- if they have to 4 redesign it, if that's the direction of the Court. But it 5 is 2.4 acres, and I will turn the time over to 6 Mr. Domingues, if he wants to add anything or delete 7 anything. 8 MR. DOMINGUES: I'm Charles Domingues, and 9 you did a great job. I'm really here to answer any 10 questions, if you have any. I believe that Mr. Odom 11 presented everything that -- kind of like it is. There are 12 some additional copies here. 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Charles, how -- what 14 is the -- what is the size of 56 and 57? 15 MR. DOMINGUES: I'm not sure, sir. 16 MR. ODOM: Around 50 acres apiece. 17 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: 50 acres? 18 MR. ODOM: Approximately. 19 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Approximately. And 20 adding -- adding those two, adding 56 and 57, 100 acres into 21 the original plat, it averages out 2-something? 22 MR. ODOM: 2.42. 23 MR. DOMINGUES: 2.4. 24 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Where is the access 25 for 56 and 57 for a road? 10-24-05 38 1 JUDGE TINLEY: 56 looks like it's going to 2 come right off here. 3 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I see it here. 4 JUDGE TINLEY: And 57 is a flag. 5 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: It is indeed a flag, 6 a huge flag. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: The -- I've talked to 8 Greg Richards daily last week on this -- on this 9 subdivision, and I think what they've done is -- is 10 something that I would be certainly willing to support a 11 waiver on, which is the same as we have done on our -- on 12 the other subdivision that was out in Precinct 4, and also 13 in the ETJ. The problem that we're in right now is that if 14 we can get the issue -- if we could get the issue resolved 15 with the ETJ in the city of Kerrville, one, this would never 16 even come to this court. But we haven't resolved that. We 17 now have two months to get that resolved, and hopefully -- 18 and I think the City is aware of that timeline, and we'll go 19 towards that effort. And this certainly complies with the 20 minimum standards in the city of Kerrville from the lot size 21 standpoint. Additionally, this is consistent with the 22 proposed changes to our Subdivision Rules that hopefully 23 will be on our agenda at our next meeting, and it's 24 consistent with the waiver we granted at the last -- at our 25 last meeting to a subdivision near Greenwood Forest. So, I 10-24-05 39 1 certainly would -- I support a waiver of the lot size for 2 this subdivision. 3 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I want to ask Leonard 4 a question. In your presentation, you said something about 5 that the City had approved the streets? 6 MR. ODOM: No, sir. 7 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay. Didn't you say 8 that -- 9 MR. ODOM: What I was saying was that they 10 approved the lot size. And what they -- if memory serves 11 me, back in August, when we first met on this, is that they 12 wanted to come to us because they weren't going to inspect 13 the roads. And, if you remember that discussion we had, we 14 were talking about the layout of the roads and all. 15 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay. 16 MR. ODOM: So that's -- 17 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I'm with Commissioner 18 Letz about this ETJ thing. They're either involved in it or 19 they're not, and I -- I can't tell. I don't know. Is the 20 City involved in this subdivision or not? 21 MR. DOMINGUES: Mr. Baldwin, the City is 22 involved in the fact that they want to make sure it's all in 23 compliance with their subdivision regulations as far as 24 extraterritorial jurisdiction regulations. The key thing 25 that they were mostly interested in was the length of 10-24-05 40 1 cul-de-sacs, trying to maintain, or -- or as close as 2 possible, the maximum 600 foot. 3 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Mm-hmm. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Commissioner, just on an 5 aside related to this ETJ issue with the City, I visited 6 with the City Manager last week, and he has assured me that 7 there will be a commission meeting for Commissioner Baldwin 8 and I to attend as the court liaison before the end of this 9 month. 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Before the end of this 11 month? 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: That's what he told me. 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: This is October. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It's the last week. We 15 have this week to get it done. That's what he assured me. 16 (Low-voice discussion off the record.) 17 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Y'all don't share that 18 with us. 19 MR. DOMINGUES: He was asking about access to 20 the -- 21 MR. ODOM: Access to those two lots. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: As the concept plan, 23 Leonard, do we -- since this is a waiver, we probably need 24 to do a court order to approve a waiver of the minimum lot 25 size to a -- 10-24-05 41 1 MR. ODOM: Yes. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- 2-acre average? 3 MR. ODOM: 2-acre average. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Or greater. A minimum 5 2-acre average. 6 MR. ODOM: Yeah. 7 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. 8 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Question -- go ahead. 9 State it, Judge. 10 JUDGE TINLEY: That was a motion? 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yes, sir, it was. 12 JUDGE TINLEY: And we had a second here? 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yes, sir. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: To approve a waiver? 15 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yes, sir. 16 JUDGE TINLEY: To -- 17 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: From the lot size. 18 JUDGE TINLEY: -- lot size of less than 2 19 acres? 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: 2 minimum. 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: 2-acre. 22 JUDGE TINLEY: 2-acre minimum, all right. 23 Any question or discussion on the motion? 24 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I have a question. 25 JUDGE TINLEY: All right. 10-24-05 42 1 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: How does this comport 2 with what we may end up doing on Agenda Item Number 15? 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: This is consistent with 4 the proposed change -- the proposed rule change. Item -- 5 the next agenda item is -- there was some -- I wanted to 6 make sure that we were all on the same page before I do a 7 final version of the Subdivision Rules. That's why that 8 agenda item's on here. I'm not recommending any change from 9 what we've previously looked at, but I want to -- so, this 10 will be consistent with what I'm recommending under the 11 later agenda item. 12 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Commissioner Letz, 13 speculate about the -- the outcome of the dealings between 14 the City and the County on the ETJ. After that's through, 15 developers will only have to deal with one entity, not two? 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yes, that's correct. In 17 the ETJ, you know, I'm a little less certain, after my 18 conversation with the City Manager -- the new City Manager, 19 but I think it's probably because he's not familiar with 20 anything other than the changes over in the City. But the 21 direction we have been moving is that the ETJ and the City 22 of Kerrville will be pretty much divided out. The majority 23 of it will be the responsibility of the City of Kerrville, 24 but there are certain more remote areas in the ETJ that will 25 remain the responsibility of the County. But developers 10-24-05 43 1 will only deal with either the City or the County, and there 2 will be a clearly defined map. 3 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Got you. That would 4 be a big improvement. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yes. 6 MR. ODOM: Yes. 7 JUDGE TINLEY: Any other questions or 8 discussion on the motion? All in favor of the motion, 9 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: The motion does carry. 14 MR. DOMINGUES: Thank you very much. 15 JUDGE TINLEY: Let's move to Item 7. 16 Consider, discuss, and take appropriate action for the final 17 plat of Ledge Stone Subdivision located in Precinct 2. 18 MR. ODOM: Yes, sir. The developer was 19 wanting to try to get this through, and at this time he has 20 not completed the project. I would ask the Court -- I have 21 no problems with the final, contingent on the project being 22 completed. He has -- the entrance and the sealcoat is not 23 done yet. He's had it tested, but I haven't got the written 24 results, but everything should be all right. It's a good 25 project, but at this time, I would ask the Court to finalize 10-24-05 44 1 it on -- contingent that the project is complete. I have 2 the Letter of Credit, and for the maintenance bond and all 3 the things, but it's just not a complete project, and I -- I 4 do not feel like I would want to sign it until it's 5 complete, sealcoat's done. 6 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: How long? 7 MR. ODOM: I believe that it will be this 8 week. 9 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: This week? 10 MR. ODOM: This week is what I'm hoping. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Would it, I guess, cause 12 any kind of significant delay if we postpone approval till 13 next week? And what's in the back of my mind whenever we do 14 a contingency final approval, we have one, I believe, that 15 still hasn't been finalized. 16 MR. ODOM: That's true. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And once we give a -- I 18 mean, which is Buckhorn, the drainage issue. We still 19 haven't ever -- we did a contingent approval, and we've 20 never got it done, so I'm reluctant to do contingent final 21 approvals. This is a little bit simpler, and -- 22 MR. ODOM: It cleans it up if we don't do it. 23 But they asked to put it forward, and I was hoping last week 24 that it would get done, but -- 25 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I thought the 10-24-05 45 1 stormwater issues on this one had been addressed. 2 MR. ODOM: Stormwater? 3 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Stormwater. 4 MR. ODOM: That's not the issue. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Commissioner, I was just 6 making the comparison to the other one because we did the 7 same thing, a contingent approval, and then things never get 8 completed sometimes. Not that there's a stormwater issue 9 here. 10 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Oh, okay. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: If he's -- if they're -- 12 I have no problem really approving it. Just -- I think it's 13 a -- 14 MR. ODOM: I would prefer, when I come to 15 you, that it's complete. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: That's -- 17 MR. ODOM: And I was asked to present this as 18 such, and the only way that I could see to present it would 19 be on a contingency that it is complete and that I feel 20 comfortable signing off. 21 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: What is incomplete? 22 MR. ODOM: Sealcoat. The entrance hasn't 23 got -- that to the highway right there is not complete yet. 24 And the other thing is the sealcoat. 25 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: And I don't see the 10-24-05 46 1 letter of credit in our packet, but you say -- I heard you 2 say you had it. 3 MR. ODOM: I'm sorry, it should be. But -- I 4 do have a -- I think we received that one probably at the 5 end of the week, before we did it. That's my copy -- I'm 6 sorry -- to the Court, but I would -- 7 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Does the delay in 8 approval -- does the delay in the approval in any way affect 9 the developer's ability to move forward? 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Can't sell any lots. 11 MR. ODOM: Can't sell any lots till I give 12 him a final. I mean, that's no different than where he's at 13 now. But you start -- start setting precedents, and then we 14 have a bunch of these, and it's hard to keep up with -- with 15 it. I can't force him to do it. They have a year from the 16 time we start the preliminary. So, till it's finalized is 17 the only way to do it for the sign-off, or have the Judge 18 sign it -- you authorize the Judge to sign it. 19 JUDGE TINLEY: How would the developer be 20 jeopardized if we were to put this back on the agenda for 21 final, say, our first meeting in November, and -- 22 MR. ODOM: I don't think it would be -- I 23 don't think that would -- Mike? 24 MR. COMEGYS: Well, it wouldn't jeopardize -- 25 we're just at a -- we're just at a point right now where 10-24-05 47 1 we're going to have to complete it this week as far as 2 sealcoat, the road, and that's basically where we're at. 3 The entrance is -- the front entrance is complete. That's 4 as far as stones and everything laid up. The process is 5 just to subgrade, which is being done right now, and 6 hopefully by Wednesday we'll sealcoat it and we're done. 7 And so we're trying to get our process started right now on 8 building some projects. And we've got people waiting, and 9 we just want to -- 10 JUDGE TINLEY: So what I'm hearing from you, 11 then, is a -- essentially, a three-week delay would 12 prejudice you for the period of time that -- once you're 13 complete and Mr. Odom tells me it's okay to sign off on the 14 plat, if it's on conditional, and -- and the remaining 15 portion of the three weeks, you'd be hamstrung. 16 MR. COMEGYS: Yes, sir. 17 JUDGE TINLEY: And can't move forward with 18 your project. 19 MR. COMEGYS: Well, that's -- and we're just 20 trying to get it before the slow down of the Christmas 21 holidays. We're frying to -- we've got people waiting, and 22 we just want -- 23 JUDGE TINLEY: You want to get it off the 24 books. I don't blame you. 25 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Well, he does, and 10-24-05 48 1 that's a three-week delay. I'm just wondering why a 2 conditional approval pending a final report by Mr. Odom 3 would not be satisfactory before you sign the plat. 4 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Make a motion; let's 5 find out. 6 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: That's what I just 7 moved. 8 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. 9 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 10 conditional approval of the final plat of Ledge Stone 11 Subdivision located in Precinct 2, subject to the condition, 12 being Mr. Odom's approval of the sealcoating and entrance, 13 as the final requirements before presentation. 14 MR. ODOM: And also your authorization to 15 sign such? 16 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Before he signs. You 17 have to report before the Judge signs. 18 MR. ODOM: Okay. 19 JUDGE TINLEY: Mm-hmm. 20 MR. ODOM: I have no problem with that. 21 JUDGE TINLEY: Any question or discussion on 22 the motion? All in favor of the motion, signify by raising 23 your right hand. 24 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 25 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 10-24-05 49 1 (No response.) 2 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. It is 3 now 10 o'clock -- 4 MR. ODOM: Before -- on this item here, may I 5 make a comment? That Mr. Crenwelge's not here; he had an 6 emergency that had to do with family and he had to leave, 7 and did not have the routing slip and all like that all 8 ready this time. So, all we're asking is that the public 9 hearing be held, no action be taken. And hopefully every -- 10 I believe everything's all right, but he had to take his 11 wife to M.D. Anderson. And I understand that she is -- it 12 was not malignant and she's in good shape. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Too much information, but 14 it's okay. 15 JUDGE TINLEY: That's all we have on the 16 agenda anyway. So, at this point, I will recess the 17 Commissioners Court meeting, and I will convene a public 18 hearing for the revision of plat for Lots 34 through 37 of 19 The Reserve at Falling Water located in Precinct Number 3. 20 (The regular Commissioners Court meeting was closed at 10:01 a.m., and a public hearing 21 was held in open court, as follows:) 22 P U B L I C H E A R I N G 23 JUDGE TINLEY: Is there any member of the 24 public that wishes to be heard with respect to the revision 25 of the plat for Lots 34 through 37 of The Reserve at Falling 10-24-05 50 1 Water located in Precinct 3? Any member of the public that 2 wishes to be heard with respect to that plat revision? 3 Seeing no one coming forward or otherwise trying to gain my 4 attention, I will close the public hearing for the revision 5 of plat for Lots 34 through 37 of The Reserve at Falling 6 Water located in Precinct 3. 7 (The public hearing was concluded at 10:02 a.m., and the regular Commissioners 8 Court meeting was reopened.) 9 - - - - - - - - - - 10 JUDGE TINLEY: And I will reconvene the 11 Commissioners Court meeting, and we will move to Item 8. 12 Item 8, consider, discuss, and take appropriate action for 13 setting the purchase price for a copy of the 2005-2006 14 budget at a cost of $20. 15 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: So moved. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 17 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded. Any 18 question or discussion? 19 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: How much is it today? 20 MS. PIEPER: A dollar per page, and it's this 21 thick. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: He's asking how much is 23 the -- what was it last year? Is that what your question 24 is? 25 MS. PIEPER: $20 is what we had been setting 10-24-05 51 1 it at. 2 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So we have to reset it 3 every year? 4 MS. PIEPER: Yes, sir. 5 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: I don't think we can 6 do that. I think that that's accessible under the Public 7 Information Act, and that price is set at 12 or 13 cents a 8 page. 9 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: 13 cents a page? 10 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: It's somewhere in 11 that -- 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: If they're requesting it 13 under the Freedom of Information Act, they can -- we can 14 charge them, but if they come in and request the budget, we 15 charge them less. 16 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I think you're right. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think that's -- 18 MS. PIEPER: I have different -- different 19 laws and codes that set my prices. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But I think -- I mean, I 21 wouldn't know why we couldn't set the price of the budget, 22 if that's -- 23 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: We're just -- 24 MS. PIEPER: If you come and request a court 25 order -- 10-24-05 52 1 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: We're not trying to 2 discourage people from looking at the budget. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: We're lowering the price, 4 not increasing it. 5 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Okay. All right, 6 I'm good. I'm good to go. 7 JUDGE TINLEY: I think by setting it at this 8 price, based upon what she would otherwise have to charge 9 under her statutory authority, it's considerably cheaper. 10 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: I understand. 11 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Any further questions 12 or comments? All in favor of the motion, signify by raising 13 your right hand. 14 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 15 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed same sign. 16 (No response.) 17 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. Let's 18 move to Item 9; consider, discuss, and take appropriate 19 action to approve the Contract Amendment Number 1 between 20 Kerr County and the Department of State Health Services, and 21 authorize the County Judge to sign same. 22 MS. PIEPER: Gentlemen, this is just 23 basically an amendment that says that Kerr County is in 24 agreement that we will charge the -- the same rate for a 25 birth or death certificate or marriage license that the 10-24-05 53 1 State Department of Health Services is charging, which is -- 2 by law, they set the rate anyway, so... For some reason, 3 they're wanting this amendment signed. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Move approval, and 5 authorize the County Judge to sign same. 6 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Second. 7 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 8 approval of the agenda item. Any question or comment? 9 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Question. I notice 10 that the -- in the backup, that the last one of these that 11 was provided to us was signed by Judge Denson in 1997. 12 MS. PIEPER: That is correct. 13 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Have we not done it 14 since then? 15 MS. PIEPER: No. This will be an amendment 16 to this contract. 17 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Okay. 18 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: It's also signed by 19 Pat Dye. 20 MS. DYE: Yes. 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Has the County 22 Attorney -- does he have any thoughts about anything? 23 (Laughter.) 24 MR. EMERSON: That's a pretty wide-open 25 question. 10-24-05 54 1 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: It is. I mean, if you 2 wanted to discuss volleyball or anything like that, I'd -- I 3 just kind of wanted to open it up. 4 MR. EMERSON: Well, we can start out with 5 that. But as far as this contract's concerned, the only 6 other thing that's changed is the term of the contract has 7 basically changed from a -- currently it's open-ended, to an 8 annual contract. 9 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Oh. 10 JUDGE TINLEY: The -- the contract that's in 11 existence now, the open-ended one signed back in '97, 12 provides that Kerr County is reimbursed $1.83 per each 13 record. I'm having a problem figuring out -- are you -- are 14 you satisfied that that continues under the amendment? 15 MR. EMERSON: Well, if I'm reading it 16 correctly, we're the receiving agency, not the performing 17 agency. Is that correct, Jannett? 18 MS. PIEPER: That is correct. 19 MR. EMERSON: So we're -- we were -- at that 20 time, we were paying the State $1.83. 21 MS. PIEPER: That is basically for us to 22 access their records in Austin. That is the remote site. 23 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 24 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Same question, though. 25 In the -- in the contract, is that $1.83 still in there? 10-24-05 55 1 MS. PIEPER: I was thinking it was $1.80, is 2 what we're paying. 3 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Whatever the number 4 is. 5 MS. PIEPER: But, yes, that is -- that's 6 probably in here. 7 JUDGE TINLEY: And that will continue on an 8 ongoing basis under this amendment? Is that your 9 understanding? 10 MR. EMERSON: That's my understanding. 11 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Okay. Any further 12 questions or comments about the motion? All in favor of the 13 motion, signify by raising your right hand. 14 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 15 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 16 (No response.) 17 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. Let's 18 move to Item Number 10, if we might. Request approval of 19 the Kerr County Jury Selection Plan as amended to reflect 20 the changes required by House Bill 75 and Senate Bill 1704. 21 Where's our District Clerk? Our District Clerk is not with 22 us at this point. Why don't we pass on that item for now, 23 and we'll come back to that. We'll go to Item 11. 24 Consider, discuss, and take appropriate action on a proposed 25 Memorandum of Understanding for construction of the Animal 10-24-05 56 1 Control Facility. Commissioner Nicholson? 2 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Previous court order 3 contained a directive that we develop a Memorandum of 4 Understanding between the citizen who donated the funds for 5 the construction of the addition to the Animal Control 6 Facility and Kerr County, and we've done that. And the 7 County Attorney has reviewed it and approved it, and we're 8 now bringing it back -- the MOU back for approval by the 9 Court. And I'll make a motion that the Court approve the 10 Memorandum of Understanding for construction of the Animal 11 Control Facility. 12 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Second. 13 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded to 14 approve a Memorandum of Understanding for the construction 15 of the Animal Control Facility. I assume that includes my 16 signature on it? 17 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Yes. 18 JUDGE TINLEY: Any question or discussion on 19 this motion? 20 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Question. 21 JUDGE TINLEY: All right. 22 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: On the agreement 23 itself, the next to the last sentence, I want to read that. 24 "It is agreed that so-and-so will pay all expenses, fees and 25 costs associated with the kennel expansion." Does that 10-24-05 57 1 include sidewalks? 2 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: That's a -- that's 3 an issue for another -- another discussion on the same item. 4 In my -- my opinion, it does not include sidewalks. 5 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay. 6 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: It includes just 7 the -- associated with the kennel. 8 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay. And then the 9 next -- the next sentence, "It is agreed that Kerr County 10 will provide such services and products as are approved by 11 the Commissioners Court," paid out of the budget. What does 12 that mean? I don't know what that means. 13 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: That means that we 14 are incurring some expenses, in-kind expenses to help out on 15 the project. We've had Road and Bridge people out there 16 preparing the -- preparing the site. And there won't be 17 Road and Bridge expenses, as far as I know, unless we can 18 get into issues of sidewalks and other -- other issues. And 19 I think you probably know that I've asked the City of 20 Kerrville to waive the $500 permit fee, and that's on their 21 agenda for tomorrow night to make a decision on that. My 22 rationale there was that was money being transferred back 23 and forth between partners, and it would not be 24 inappropriate to waive the fee. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. 10-24-05 58 1 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Thank you for your 2 explanation. 3 JUDGE TINLEY: I think the Road and Bridge 4 participation, at least initially, was to do some work on 5 some fill issues that had to be done out there, and then 6 some site work in preparation for the foundation of the 7 structure that's going to be constructed. I believe that's 8 all they've done to this point. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: They have a maintainer 10 stored there right now. 11 JUDGE TINLEY: Is that correct? 12 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Yeah. 13 JUDGE TINLEY: They did a good job. It looks 14 great. 15 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: The timing is good. 16 It's -- I can't speak for Mr. Odom, but it's the time of 17 year that we can more easily free people up to do that kind 18 of work than we can during the prime road service in the 19 season. 20 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Super project. 21 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Oh, yeah. 22 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Great project. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Our thanks to the donor. 24 JUDGE TINLEY: Any further question or 25 discussion on the motion? All in favor of the motion, 10-24-05 59 1 signify by raising your right hand. 2 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 3 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 4 (No response.) 5 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. Let's 6 return, if we might, to Item Number 10. Request approval of 7 the Kerr County Jury Selection Plan as amended to reflect 8 the changes as required by House Bill 75 and Senate Bill 9 1704. 10 MS. UECKER: That's the original, Judge. 11 Kerr County has a -- a jury plan under Chapter 62 of the 12 Government Code, and this is just to make the changes that 13 were required by the Legislature to that plan. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: What are the changes? 15 MS. UECKER: One of the changes is to add 16 duties of postponement of jurors to allow postponement. 17 That duty's added to the clerk of the court. And that's -- 18 that one is Chapter -- I mean Senate Bill 75 -- House Bill 19 75. And then the -- no, that was Senate Bill 1704. And 20 then House Bill 75 required some designated -- the Court -- 21 the Judge of each court to designate who their designee 22 would be to either excuse or postpone jurors. I don't know 23 why it wasn't in the same bill, but -- 24 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Neither bill addresses 25 payment for service or anything? 10-24-05 60 1 MS. UECKER: 1704 did, yes. 2 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: 1704. I'm looking, 3 looking, looking -- 4 MS. UECKER: But that fee is not required to 5 be in the jury plan itself. 6 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I just don't see -- 7 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Just in the county 8 budget. 9 MS. UECKER: Right, just in the budget. 10 JUDGE TINLEY: We've already taken action 11 with regard to that particular portion of Senate Bill 74. 12 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Tell me what we 13 budgeted for, then. We went -- went from what to what? 14 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: We went from 6 to 40. 15 That's beginning the second day of service. Is that 16 correct? 17 MS. UECKER: Yeah. Yeah, but only for those 18 12 that are actually selected. And then 15 for the first 19 day. But everything else stays at 6 for those that just 20 report but don't serve. So, the way it turned out, we 21 didn't have to increase the budget quite as much as we 22 thought we originally were going to have to, because that 23 was clarified. 24 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Kind of like that -- 25 you know, those folks come up here and serve our community, 10-24-05 61 1 and we don't even buy them lunch. 2 MS. UECKER: Right. Yeah, it was kind of 3 scary when the first draft said, you know, everybody gets 15 4 the first day and 40 the second. Of course, we're all -- 5 the counties are going to be able to request a reimbursement 6 grant from the state for 34 of the 40 based on the funds 7 available. So -- 8 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Linda, I know you have no 10 reason to -- I mean, why it's done this way, but why did the 11 Legislature have two bills that kind of said the same thing? 12 And, I mean, it's just -- 13 MS. UECKER: I don't know. That's what I 14 just said; I have -- 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I know it's somewhat -- 16 MS. UECKER: I have no idea why. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It's no wonder they don't 18 get things done up there. 19 MS. UECKER: One came out -- although they 20 were actually totally different bills, one came out of the 21 Senate and one came out of the House side. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. 23 MS. UECKER: And I'm surprised they didn't 24 combine them. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I move approval. 10-24-05 62 1 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. 2 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 3 approval of the agenda item. Any question or discussion? 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: You're not going to want 5 any more people to do this now, are you? Just kidding. 6 MS. UECKER: No. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: You said no. That's -- 8 it's on the record. 9 MS. UECKER: I realized this morning, in 10 working on timesheets, that I have three people that get 11 three weeks vacation a year, and I'm going, "Whoa, no wonder 12 we've been short lately." So -- anyway, bye. 13 JUDGE TINLEY: Any other questions or 14 discussion on the motion? All in favor of the motion, 15 signify by raising your right 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. Let's 20 move, if we might, to Item 12. Consider, discuss, and act 21 on issues involving construction of the expansion of the 22 Animal Control facility, its parking lot and sidewalks. 23 Commissioner Nicholson. 24 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: I put this on the 25 agenda in order that if there were any movement along -- on 10-24-05 63 1 the project that required decision making, that it'd be on 2 the agenda. And, as it turns out, I'll just be able to give 3 you an update, because we don't yet have our building 4 permit. It's moving along, but there was a number of 5 questions involved in the application that we filed, and 6 then there continues to be questions about sidewalks and 7 parking spaces, so I really don't have anything to offer 8 right now. I expect, before the next meeting, that the -- 9 that the permit will be approved and -- and I'll be able to 10 come back and provide you more information and ask you to 11 make decisions, if any decisions are needed. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Has the Court formally 13 requested a waiver of the fees? I think it may be something 14 helpful. I don't think we can do it on this agenda item. 15 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: It's on our agenda. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. 17 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: No, it was not 18 formal; it was a conversation between me and the City 19 Manager. And his response was, "I'll have to take that to 20 the -- to the City." 21 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Commissioner, on that 22 agenda item that's anticipated to be on the city agenda, is 23 it the topic of the sidewalks and parking also, or just the 24 waiver of fees? 25 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Just waiver of fees. 10-24-05 64 1 We've not yet been told by the city officials what their 2 position is on sidewalks and parking areas. We have -- for 3 your information, we are prepared to expand the parking lot 4 some, because we're doing the dirt work out there. And the 5 current parking lot was probably adequate. As you all know, 6 it's a little tight at times getting in and out, but our 7 plan is to, I think, approximately double it. The city 8 zoning laws base parking lot size on square footage of the 9 facility, and I'm not -- not yet -- don't yet have the 10 information about whether or not our plans are sufficient to 11 meet their formula. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I make a motion to 13 authorize the Court's liaison to the Animal Control 14 Facility, Commissioner Nicholson, to request any waivers as 15 he deems appropriate with the City of Kerrville regarding 16 the construction of the animal -- of the expansion to the 17 Animal Control facility. 18 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Second that. 19 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded to 20 authorize Commissioner Nicholson, who is the Court's liaison 21 to Animal Control matters, to request such waivers as he may 22 deem appropriate with city officials in connection with this 23 project. Any questions or discussion on the motion? 24 Commissioner, the roadway that goes off of Loop 534 into the 25 facility, if my recollection serves me correctly, that was, 10-24-05 65 1 at least at one time, designated as a nonpublic roadway. Is 2 that still the case, as far as you know? 3 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: No. I've got Road 4 and Bridge people asking that question, "What is the status 5 of that road?" A real early plat plan indicated it was not 6 a public road. Common sense tells me that it's very public, 7 because athletic fields and -- and the waste facility is 8 down that road, but that designation still may exist. I 9 don't have the answer to that. 10 JUDGE TINLEY: I guess my question goes to 11 the issue of the ordinance relating to -- and this may be a 12 nonissue by the time it gets there; I don't know. If that 13 is the official designation of that roadway, nonpublic, how 14 that falls or does not possibly fall under the ordinance 15 relating to sidewalks. 16 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: In my discussions 17 with the permitting officials, it was indicated to me that 18 that road did fall under the sidewalk ordinance. 19 JUDGE TINLEY: Under the ordinance? 20 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: That was very 21 preliminary. I don't think he had had time to look up the 22 status of the road or anything like that, so that could 23 change. But that was part of one conversation that I've 24 had. 25 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So, we're talking 10-24-05 66 1 about -- we're going to build a sidewalk down the -- this 2 road that you're addressing right now to our property line? 3 Or how -- is that -- I didn't know we were talking about -- 4 I thought we were talking about a sidewalk out on the loop. 5 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Worst case is we'd 6 have to build a 5-foot-wide sidewalk down both property 7 lines, one on the loop and one onto the road. I think it's 8 called Landfill Road. 9 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Appropriate. Now, is 10 our next-door neighbor, the sewer plant -- have they -- have 11 they gotten their sidewalk put in so we -- I don't want to 12 build a sidewalk that just kind of goes out there to 13 nowhere. I would want to connect onto something. 14 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Commissioner, 15 there's a lot of people that don't want to build sidewalks 16 to nowhere; churches, developers, individuals. And the fact 17 is that if we build one or both of those sidewalks, 18 they'll -- they'll never be used in the foreseeable future. 19 I can't imagine somebody wanting to stroll down to the dump 20 to go around to the solid waste facility. I mean -- 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: How about mentioning in 22 that regard that currently the sewer plant will be 23 grandfathered; if they do an expansion, they will be 24 required under their own rules to put in a sidewalk in front 25 of the sewer plant, I would suspect, but I'm not sure. But 10-24-05 67 1 I would note that they did require, and there are sidewalks 2 in front of the new high school that don't go anywhere 3 either, so it's part of the long-range plan to get sidewalks 4 onto Loop 534, I guess. 5 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That may be something 6 the Chamber of Commerce my want to consider, you know, 7 walking tours or strolling down the sidewalks near the sewer 8 plant and the animal shelter. (Laughter.) I'm going to 9 give that some thought, myself. 10 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: That would be a heck 11 of a stroll, Commissioner. 12 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: It would be a good 13 stroll. Judge, I'm going to shut up. Did we need to vote 14 or anything? 15 JUDGE TINLEY: I'm not into strolling, 16 Commissioner, so I'm not going to come in on that. 17 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: What about a mosey? 18 See, we can add mosey. 19 JUDGE TINLEY: I'm better at moseying. 20 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Stroll-slash-mosey. 21 JUDGE TINLEY: Or ambling. 22 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Ambling. See, there's 23 no end. This is a great country. 24 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: That would be a long 25 amble from the Animal Control Facility to the high school. 10-24-05 68 1 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. We have us a motion 2 before us. Any -- any further question or discussion on the 3 motion? All in favor of the motion, signify by raising your 4 right hand. 5 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 6 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same time -- same 7 sign. 8 (No response.) 9 JUDGE TINLEY: That motion does carry. Let 10 us move, if we might, to Item Number 13. Consider, discuss, 11 and take appropriate action on resolution thanking Mr. 12 Charles Lewis for his service on the 9-1-1 Board. Which one 13 of you gentlemen want to run with it? 14 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: This is Mr. Letz'. 15 JUDGE TINLEY: All right. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: As y'all will recall, we 17 appointed Charles Lewis to the 9-1-1 Board, I believe, two 18 terms ago to fill -- to serve two terms, I believe. He did 19 a great job. We have since appointed him to another board, 20 and his term expired on the 9-1-1 Board officially on 21 September 30th, and he's agreed to serve until -- you know, 22 until we have a replacement appointed, and that will be the 23 next agenda item. But I thought we should recognize his 24 service, so I offer as a motion the resolution: "Whereas for 25 15 years, Kerr Emergency 9-1-1 has provided emergency 10-24-05 69 1 notification services for the citizens of Kerr County; and 2 whereas oversight for policies and direction of this vital 3 service through the years has come from a dedicated Board of 4 Managers representing all political subdivisions and 5 emergency service providers in Kerr County; and whereas 6 Charles Lewis, Precinct 3, Kerr County, has provided the 7 Board of Managers his insight and experience in all aspects 8 of their deliberations during his years of service; now, 9 therefore, be it resolved that Kerr County Commissioners 10 Court does hereby extend its thanks and appreciation to 11 Charles Lewis for his willingness to serve the people of 12 Kerr County and his dedication to the betterment of Kerr 13 Emergency 9-1-1. Adopted this 24th day of October, 2005." 14 That is a motion. 15 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. 16 JUDGE TINLEY: I have a motion and a second 17 for adoption of the resolution as into the record. Any 18 question or discussion? 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I talked to Charles this 20 morning and invited him, but he was out working on his 21 tractor and -- and kind of was up to his elbows in grease at 22 that point in time, so he passed on coming, but expressed 23 his thanks for the resolution. 24 JUDGE TINLEY: I was going to inquire why he 25 wasn't here with us this morning. It's always good to see 10-24-05 70 1 him. Appreciate that explanation. Any further question or 2 discussion? All in favor of the motion, signify by raising 3 your right hand. 4 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 5 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 6 (No response.) 7 JUDGE TINLEY: That motion does carry. Let's 8 move to Item 14, to consider, discuss, and take appropriate 9 action to nominate and/or appoint new representative to the 10 Kerr County 9-1-1 Board. I think that's titled the Board of 11 Managers of the Kerr Emergency 9-1-1 Network, is the 12 official title, isn't it? 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah, I believe that's 14 correct, sir. 15 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Commissioner Baldwin and 17 I, as liaisons to Kerr 9-1-1, took it upon ourselves to 18 search out a new appointee to that board. And I apologize; 19 I said I'd have a resumé of the individual, but I did not 20 receive that in time, but I'll give a brief background on 21 the person we're recommending. We met with him last week. 22 He's anxious to serve. It's Hugh Jons. He's known as the 23 son of -- frequently, as Rit Jons' son. He practiced law 24 for a while in San Antonio, and now has joined his father 25 with the law firm here in Kerrville. He and his wife Kamme 10-24-05 71 1 have two children living in the county out on Scenic Valley 2 Road. I think he will make an excellent appointee. He 3 comes from a family with a lot of community service, 4 graduate of Tivy High School, and I would offer Hugh Jons as 5 a nominee to the Kerr 9-1-1 Board of Managers. That's a 6 motion. 7 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. 8 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 9 the appointment of Mr. Hugh Jons to the Board of Managers, 10 as Kerr County's representative to the Board of Managers of 11 Kerr Emergency 9-1-1 Network. Any question or discussion? 12 Mr. Baldwin, did you note that that young man is a lawyer? 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah. I met with him 14 the other day and checked his teeth and everything. 15 JUDGE TINLEY: I see. 16 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: He's a -- this is a 17 young dynamo. 18 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. I just didn't want that 19 to come as any surprise or concern to you. 20 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Didn't want that to 21 leak out in public, but okay. 22 JUDGE TINLEY: Any other questions or 23 discussion? All in favor of the motion, signify by raising 24 your right hand. 25 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 10-24-05 72 1 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 2 (No response.) 3 JUDGE TINLEY: That motion does carry. Why 4 don't we take about a 15-minute mid-morning recess. We'll 5 give the court reporter a break. We'll be in recess. 6 (Recess taken from 10:30 a.m. to 10:48 a.m.) 7 - - - - - - - - - - 8 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay, let's come back to 9 order, if we might. We were in recess for a few moments, so 10 we'll resume with our agenda. Let's go to Item 15, 11 consider, discuss, and take appropriate action on 12 Subdivision Rules and Regulations and Water Availability 13 Requirements. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I put this back on the 15 agenda just 'cause I wanted to make sure that everyone was 16 on the same page as to what I was going to probably have in 17 our new draft of Subdivision Rules. I think at our next 18 meeting I'll have it all put together. Somewhere, Kathy 19 just gave me a copy of some other papers I was going to hand 20 out, and I don't know where I put them, but I'll deal with 21 that. If you look at page -- or item in the backup 22 material, 1.03, entitled "Acreage Requirements to Meet Water 23 Availability," this mirrors the proposed language in the new 24 Subdivision Rules that we looked at in April, and I'll just 25 go over it real quickly. It's a two-step process, the same 10-24-05 73 1 as we currently have. If you're going to have individual 2 water wells and individual septic, it's 5-acre minimum and a 3 5-acre average. If you're going with a community water 4 system, then -- and it doesn't make any difference on the 5 septic. Community water system, it's 3-acre average, but a 6 1-acre minimum. If you're in the ETJ or the area 7 immediately around Center Point and Comfort, it's a 1-acre 8 minimum, 2-acre average, and that's what we just did with 9 the gentleman earlier today. 10 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Commissioner, just 11 for understanding, under A.2, you said 3-acre average, but 12 1-acre minimum? 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah. 14 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Okay. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: You have to look at -- 16 Paragraph A is the average -- 17 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Mm-hmm. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- portion, and B is the 19 minimum. 20 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Yeah. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And this is -- and the -- 22 what it's cited for, and this -- and, you know, I've talked 23 with Gordon Morgan and Gene Williams in the audience today 24 at some length, and I think Headwaters has seen these 25 before. The issue that we are in is that, as I understand 10-24-05 74 1 the Headwaters' rules, they can do pumping limits, they can 2 do spacing, but they have no authority for subdivision -- 3 for lot size. That's just not within their authority. Our 4 authority is -- if we base it on water availability, we do 5 have the authority to set lot size. And I'm citing, on the 6 previous page on 1.02, the State Water Plan by the Water 7 Development Board, Region J's water plan, the Trinity 8 Aquifer Groundwater Availability Model, the Edwards-Trinity 9 Groundwater Availability Model; and also Headwaters' rules. 10 So, we're not basing it solely on Headwaters. We're not 11 basing it solely on anything. We're saying we're looking at 12 overall water availability in the county, and we feel that 13 these lot sizes -- these minimums are the best we have right 14 now on the -- what the minimum lot sizes should be. 15 I put it on here mainly because at the last 16 meeting, there was some -- I think it was Commissioner 17 Baldwin and, I believe, Commissioner Williams had the 18 question as to whether -- and Headwaters came up; that if 19 they had the -- under municipal water system, if they had a 20 permit from T.C.E.Q., why shouldn't we let them do whatever 21 they want, basically, to go a 1-acre minimum on both of 22 them? And I guess the answer I have to that is that 23 T.C.E.Q. doesn't care about water availability. They look 24 at how much water a well can produce, as I understand their 25 rules. There is no relationship or correlation between how 10-24-05 75 1 much water may be there. If that well produces it, they're 2 going to give that permit, and then the well -- the 3 community water service is going to have to work with 4 Headwaters on pumping limits, potentially. So, they're -- 5 they're really -- it's different. 6 I talked with Mr. -- this is an example as to 7 how it can get really confusing when we start trying to get 8 too complicated with this. I talked with Greg Richards 9 about their subdivision, and he made a comment that the well 10 they're going to be relying on is a Lower Trinity well, I 11 believe 65,000 gallons a day. You figure all that math out; 12 you end up with, you know, something like 1.23 or 1.2-acre 13 lot sizes, certainly more than sufficient based on that 14 amount of water. What I told him was that if we start 15 trying to base our lot sizes on wells and formations, then 16 we're going to have different lot sizes for a well going 17 into Glen Rose, a different one in Middle Trinity, a 18 different one in the Edwards Trinity, a different one in the 19 Edwards. If you're in the alluvial sand, it will be a 20 different size again, and I think that will be going down a 21 road of pure confusion in this county from a subdivision 22 standpoint. 23 So, I think we need to come up with -- you 24 know, not look -- looking at the county as a whole right 25 now. I think down the road, we're going to get to the point 10-24-05 76 1 that we're probably -- it's going to make sense to probably 2 have different lot sizes in west Kerr County than east Kerr 3 County because of water availability and the formation, but 4 right now I don't think we have enough science to justify 5 it. So, that's how I kind of came up with the lot sizes 6 that I'm recommending. I'll just leave it at that. And, 7 you know, this is what I'm going to pursue with -- or 8 proceed with on our Subdivision Rules, unless y'all want me 9 to go a different direction. 10 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Question. 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Go ahead. 12 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: The issue of proving 13 out availability, then, is gone? 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Proving out individual 15 lot sizes is gone. It's been depending on the science, 16 basically, that's been generated through the state water 17 plan, is what we're basing it on. 18 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: So, if a developer 19 comes up and says, I have a parcel of land with "X" number 20 of acres and I want to subdivide it into 1-acre lots; I have 21 available a public water system that currently is licensed 22 and is not up to -- not servicing sufficient patrons to 23 reach its -- anywhere near its capacity, we don't get 24 involved in that issue? 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Mm-hmm. We just say your 10-24-05 77 1 average is this. 2 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Okay. 3 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay. My question is 4 a cousin to that one, and it -- on the page -- on Page 1 of 5 the -- this document, under General, Number (2), that says 6 to me that -- that we are requiring people to prove that 7 there is adequate quality and quantity of water. If I'm 8 wrong, just tell me. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: No, I'm just looking at 10 it. I think the intent is that the way -- and I haven't -- 11 we need to read it again, and probably read it with the 12 County Attorney, 'cause he, I don't think -- he has not 13 looked at this, I don't believe. The intent is saying that 14 it -- based on the minimums that we're setting forth, you're 15 deemed to have, in all likelihood, adequate water. There's 16 no guarantee. I mean, till you drill a well, you just never 17 know. But if you -- the minimums are set to make sure that 18 there is adequate water throughout the county. 19 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: That's the second 20 sentence -- following up on Commissioner Baldwin's, the 21 second sentence that kind of raises the issue again. 22 "Failure to satisfy the Water Availability Requirements 23 shall result in the denial of approval of the plat." So, 24 who's going to prove out adequacy or inability to -- to 25 provide the adequate resources? 10-24-05 78 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Where were you reading? 2 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: The second sentence 3 in 1.02. 4 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: 1.01. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay, 1.02. Failure to 6 satisfy -- 7 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Oh, yeah. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: That says that -- I mean, 9 as I read that, the intent is to say that -- that's giving 10 the teeth to the County to set the lot sizes. If you don't 11 -- I mean, if you have the lot sizes as set forth on the 12 second page, you're deemed to have adequate water supply, 13 based on the groundwater models for this. 14 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Okay. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But, you know -- he gave 16 me a thumbs-up. Wow, that's a rarity. So, that's kind 17 of -- that's the direction we're going. And the -- I just 18 wanted to make sure that we're all on the same page on this, 19 because it is a change in -- I guess I failed to realize how 20 complicated this all is, because I write this stuff and 21 spend a lot more time on it than the rest of the Court 22 probably does, so I just want to make sure that everyone is 23 clear where -- you know, where we're going with our 24 Subdivision Rules. I think they'll be on the agenda at our 25 next meeting. 10-24-05 79 1 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Well, I've got another 2 question. On Page 3 at the top, under C, -- 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Mm-hmm. 4 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: -- these areas, these 5 high-density development areas. I mean, I -- I see what 6 you're talking about. I see how the city ETJs are 7 established. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. 9 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: But when we get down 10 to the Center Point and Comfort area, I don't know that -- 11 you know, I mean, who's going to come along -- when the 12 plat's laid on the table, who's going to decide whether this 13 property is in or out, or part of it's in or out of this -- 14 this Center Point area, one -- 1-mile radius from 27 to 15 Farm-to-Market 480? 16 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Before you answer, I 17 have the same issue, and I had marked it. 18 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Would you like to ask 19 the question instead of me? 20 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: No, that's okay. I 21 just want to follow up and point out that the -- that the 22 anticipated plan for a wastewater system would be greater 23 than a 1-mile radius from the intersection of 27 and 480. 24 It would, in fact, go from that point to Verde Creek, and 25 that's probably closer to a mile and a half or more. 10-24-05 80 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Those -- the reason 2 Center Point and Comfort are listed is because they're not 3 municipalities, so they don't have ETJs. If that distance 4 should be a mile and a half, if it should be 2 miles, it 5 doesn't really make any difference to me. The -- what we're 6 saying here is that, you know, the -- development-wise, is 7 that, one, I think from a water availability standpoint, 8 there is a higher likelihood or a reasonable likelihood that 9 the city of Ingram and the city of Comfort are going to get 10 hooked up to some sort of surface water in the next 20 11 years, whether it comes through the city of Kerrville, 12 whether it comes through Canyon Lake or through the water 13 improvement district in Kendall County, however it gets 14 there. We're still not sure, but there's a likelihood, and 15 I think that justification of why you go with a smaller 16 density in there, basically, is that there's a likelihood of 17 surface water coming on board. And the other reasoning is 18 that -- it's not really related to water availability, but 19 it makes sense from a development standpoint to have it a 20 little bit higher density in those areas. Clearly, I think 21 that it -- everyone would agree that community water systems 22 are better -- are better stewards of the aquifers than a 23 bunch of individual wells, and that's why there's smaller -- 24 or allow a greater density when there is a water system. 25 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I'm not debating your 10-24-05 81 1 logic. I just want to point out the distance would be 2 greater than 1 mile. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: In the Center Point area, 4 you know, the -- the boundaries, you know, I think we need 5 to make them fairly simple. But if it needs to be a mile 6 and a half, that -- that's consistent, in my mind. 7 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Okay. I'll measure 8 it, and we'll know for sure. 9 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: One more question. On 10 the Comfort area one, you have a mile from State Highway 27 11 and Broadway Street, and then the note, "This intersection 12 is within Kendall County." Are you comfortable that we are 13 applying our rules in another county? 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Our rules -- the way I 15 interpret this -- and I'll go with Rex on this -- is that 16 while the point that we're measuring from is in Kendall 17 County, though it's very close to the Kerr County line, our 18 rules only apply to the Kerr County portion. 19 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Super. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It's just because it's 21 not -- it's a clear intersection, as opposed to trying to 22 pick a point on the side of the highway. 23 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I see it now, okay. 24 Thank you. 25 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Commissioner, one 10-24-05 82 1 more question on C. To qualify as high-density, you have to 2 be in one of these four areas and have central water and 3 sewage? 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Correct. 5 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: So, not all of those 6 four areas currently have current public water systems or 7 sewage? 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Correct. So if someone's 9 going -- I guess to follow up, if someone's going to go 10 outside of Comfort and put in individual wells, they're 11 5-acre average, 5-acre minimum. Doesn't change that. It's 12 only if it's a community water system. And, as I mentioned 13 to you before, if there's a need to add Hunt, we can add 14 Hunt as well. There's -- there's a -- Hunt also is not an 15 incorporated area. Just, that's -- I'll leave that up to 16 your discretion. 17 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Well, I don't know 18 how the consensus will be out there. Probably be, "No, we 19 don't want high-density development." 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: My preference, I think 21 we -- my feeling is we should probably add it to be 22 consistent, and if people don't want to do it or do want to 23 do it, it's up to them; gives them the flexibility. You 24 know, that's -- 25 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: We'll probably learn 10-24-05 83 1 something about that. 2 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I think -- do you 3 want any action today? 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: No, I just want to make 5 -- I just want to clarify this language a little bit. 6 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: There is 7 improvement, but it's a little more clear to me, at least. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: All right. 9 JUDGE TINLEY: Anything further by any member 10 of the Court on that particular agenda item? 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But this just -- as I 12 said before, I believe, God willing, we'll have the 13 Subdivision Rules draft on the agenda at the next meeting, 14 or at least to hand out at the next meeting to the County 15 Attorney, 'cause it's going to take him probably a while to 16 go through them and make sure we're all in compliance. 17 JUDGE TINLEY: Anything further on that 18 agenda item? We'll move to Agenda Item Number 16, consider, 19 discuss, and take appropriate action on Subdivision Rules 20 and Reg -- excuse me. Consider, discuss, and take 21 appropriate action on Kerr Central Appraisal District's 22 proposed budget amendment. 23 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Judge, you're going to 24 have to help me find the budget amendment. 25 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Page 2 of their 10-24-05 84 1 letter. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It's the letter, I think. 3 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: The whole thing? 4 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: No, essentially to 5 add the boldface underlined section. I believe it has to do 6 with their need to appropriate some monies so they can begin 7 the process of looking for a new location and so forth. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think, just a general 9 comment while we're getting started on this. My preference 10 would be in the future to have -- both when we approve their 11 budget and the budget amendment, to have a representative 12 from that Appraisal Board, whether it be our designee or the 13 Chief Appraisal -- I mean, doesn't make any difference to 14 me. Just come so we can keep a good dialogue with that 15 office, as opposed to -- but on this item, I visited with 16 our representative, Mr. Lewis, and he's totally supportive 17 of this, and it makes sense to me. And, as I understand it, 18 what they're doing, they have acknowledged that that 19 building is in need of either a total redo from a 20 repair/remodel standpoint, or they plan to move at some 21 point, and this is to allow them to start building up a 22 reserve fund for that purpose. They had a surplus in last 23 year's budget of $26,117, and this is -- this action would 24 be required to move that amount of money to a reserve fund 25 for that particular purpose. Is that correct, Judge? 10-24-05 85 1 JUDGE TINLEY: Creating a reserve account in 2 order to take care of whatever their building site 3 requirements are. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. 5 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: We basically had this 6 same conversation last year. 7 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Let me see if I can 8 understand it. It says on Page 1, underlined, "This 9 proposed amendment does not require any additional 10 contributions from the taxing entities." Where does the 11 money come from? 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It's a surplus. Rather 13 than refund the money to us or our account, they're going to 14 keep it in a reserve fund. 15 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: And set up a special 16 account. 17 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: It comes from us. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yes. 19 JUDGE TINLEY: So, the account will be funded 20 with surplus funds left over from the Appraisal District's 21 2004 operating budget. 22 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: But the point, as 23 Commissioner Letz says, we can have a refund or we can 24 approve this amendment. 25 JUDGE TINLEY: I don't think one of the 10-24-05 86 1 options is that they'll give us a refund. 2 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: That sounds 3 familiar. 4 JUDGE TINLEY: I didn't see that here. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: As I recall, the way this 6 works is that the entities that contribute vote on it, and 7 if a majority of them approve it, it's passed. If a 8 majority don't approve it, it would be refunded. So -- but 9 bottom line is, that building is in need of work. And -- 10 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: They've outgrown that 11 building. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: They've outgrown it, so I 13 think it's a good use of that reserve fund. 14 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Move approval of the 15 budget amendment -- 16 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. 17 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: -- for Kerr Central 18 Appraisal District. 19 JUDGE TINLEY: I have a motion for the 20 approval of the budget amendment. 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Jon Letz seconded it. 22 JUDGE TINLEY: Did you second? 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I didn't, but I will. 24 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: There it is. 25 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 10-24-05 87 1 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I knew he would. 2 JUDGE TINLEY: I have a motion and a second 3 for approval of the Kerr Central Appraisal District's 4 proposed budget amendment. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Judge, they have very 6 specific language that they would like us to use, I guess. 7 Should we read that into the record? 8 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I saw that. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: "To approve Kerr Central 10 Appraisal District's budget amendment to add a reserve 11 account for costs related to any potential building purchase 12 or relocation, building renovation, and any associated 13 moving or move-in costs. The account will be funded with 14 surplus funds left over from the Appraisal District's 2004 15 operating budget." That was the motion I seconded. 16 JUDGE TINLEY: Was that the motion you made? 17 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I accept that. I 18 made it. 19 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. As to that motion and 20 second, did we have any further question or discussion? 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: That motion does carry. We'll 10-24-05 88 1 go to Item 17. Consider, discuss, and take appropriate 2 action on termination notice received from Mutual of Omaha 3 with regard to employee health benefits program. I placed 4 this on the agenda very, very belatedly, just shortly prior 5 to it being posted Thursday afternoon, as a result of, 6 shortly before that time, receiving a copy of a letter to 7 the Kerr County Treasurer from Mutual of Omaha titled 8 "Termination Notice," in which letter Mutual of Omaha stated 9 they had not received premium payment for the due date noted 10 in the letter, and therefore, coverage has been terminated, 11 the effective date of that termination being specified as 12 October the 1st, 2005, some approximately three weeks prior. 13 The letter did go forward to state that immediate steps must 14 be taken in order for Mutual to consider reinstating that 15 coverage, and it required, for reinstatement to be 16 considered, the delinquency should be received by November 17 the 3rd, 2005, and after that date, it may not be allowed. 18 Because -- because we did not have another meeting prior to 19 November the 3rd, I was -- I placed it on the agenda at the 20 last moment, as you know. 21 Since that time, there have been some other 22 materials received in connection with this item, and I have 23 tried to provide those to the Court. One item in particular 24 was an e-mail from a representative of the -- of the County 25 Treasurer's office which was received late the following 10-24-05 89 1 morning. That e-mail appears to have been sent to virtually 2 everyone here in the courthouse, including myself, and I 3 suppose all the other -- all the Commissioners, and 4 reference Agenda Item 17. And it reads, "Please ignore 5 Agenda Item Number 1.17 set for Monday, October the 24th, 6 2005, Commissioners Court. There was no need to place this 7 item on the agenda. If the person who received the 8 information and placed it on the agenda had talked with our 9 office staff, it would not have been placed on the agenda." 10 The prediction that it would not have been 11 placed on the agenda had that discussion occurred is 12 incorrect. It would have been placed on the agenda anyway. 13 As a matter of fact, it was on the agenda before the flurry 14 of activity that subsequently occurred. The -- as all of us 15 on the Court are aware, the Commissioners Court has no 16 direct authority over the operations of the Kerr County 17 Treasurer's office or its staff. We, however, do have an 18 overall responsibility to the employees of this county in 19 all the departments, and also to the taxpayers and citizens 20 of this county. I am left to wonder, and I suppose the rest 21 of you are left to wonder what, if anything, would have 22 occurred with regard to this item had this item not been 23 placed on the agenda. Would this Court have been made aware 24 of it? I'm reminded of the recent I.R.S. levy that had 25 occurred for the second time, and which we were not aware 10-24-05 90 1 until we found out later from a third-party source, much 2 like this, rather than from the Treasurer's office. The 3 thing that I'm concerned about is that termination date is 4 October the 1st, as stated in the letter. What happens to 5 claims processing? What happens to claims coverage? The 6 premium was also for our stop loss insurance, which covers 7 any health benefits in excess of the $40,000 stop loss. 8 What if there had been, subsequent to October the 1st -- and 9 there may have been; I don't know this -- an employee of 10 this county who had incurred a serious medical problem or 11 had an accident requiring extensive health care service? My 12 experience on reinstatement of coverage is oftentimes when 13 reinstatement is accomplished, there's a reservation of 14 rights in which the provider will except to any claims which 15 may occur during the intervening period. I'm concerned 16 about the exposure that the County and the taxpayers were 17 put to as a result of this activity, and I'm concerned about 18 our employees. 19 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: I can tell you, Judge -- 20 JUDGE TINLEY: I would -- 21 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: -- just real quick -- 22 JUDGE TINLEY: I would note that -- excuse 23 me. I would note that in a subsequent communication from 24 Mr. Malek with Mutual of Omaha, who I believe his title is 25 Regional or District Representative, he indicated that he 10-24-05 91 1 was going to override the suspension of service on 2 processing claims, notwithstanding the language in the 3 termination notice. I don't know if there's a good 4 explanation as to why this occurred. I cannot conceive of 5 anything that would be satisfactory to me. But -- I just 6 can't. I -- I don't know what our situation is with regard 7 to our health benefits program. I'm advised that the -- the 8 premiums have, in fact, been forwarded. Whether or not 9 they've been received, I don't know that. Whether or not 10 there's a lapse in coverage or a gap in coverage, I don't 11 know that. As indicated, I don't know whether there's been 12 some intervening health care issues, serious ones, which 13 have visited our employees since October 1. I see the 14 Sheriff nodding his head, as though we may have one of those 15 in his situation. He's holding up two fingers, indicating 16 maybe there are two. I don't know where we are. I'd like 17 an explanation of how this, in fact, even occurred. 18 MS. NEMEC: I believe you have a request from 19 someone to speak on this issue. 20 JUDGE TINLEY: Mm-hmm. Anybody on the Court 21 have anything at this time? A participation form has been 22 filed by Ms. Judy Carr from the Treasurer's office. 23 MS. CARR: Judy Carr, Chief Deputy, Barbara 24 Nemec, County Treasurer. In reference to the e-mail, I was 25 directed by Barbara Nemec to send the e-mail because of all 10-24-05 92 1 the phone calls we were receiving from concerned employees. 2 Gentlemen of the Court, I will read a memorandum addressed 3 to the Court dated October 24th regarding Agenda Item Number 4 1.17, Mutual of Omaha Termination Notice. This memorandum 5 will be provided to the Court upon completion of my address. 6 This memorandum will address all your concerns. I take full 7 responsibility for the delinquency in the payment of the 8 Mutual of Omaha insurance premiums for the months October 9 and September 2005. The fact that the termination notice 10 had been issued was a complete surprise to Barbara Nemec and 11 me. We learned of this action when we read the agenda for 12 today's court. 13 First, ethical companies do not terminate 14 service with a consumer without notice. This was the first 15 notice. To-date, the Treasurer's office has not received 16 the notice in the mail or by any other means of transmittal. 17 Secondly, please observe that the notice states, in all 18 caps, "If you have already mailed your premium, please 19 disregard this notice." This is -- it is apparent that this 20 is not the final notice for termination. The last paragraph 21 of the notice states, "If your records do not agree with 22 ours or if there's some misunderstanding regarding this 23 matter, please contact Lynne Donnelly, Delinquency 24 Coordinator, at 402-351-5834." This is exactly what I did 25 around 8:15 a.m. Friday morning, October 21st. Ms. Donnelly 10-24-05 93 1 stated these notices go out regularly. This is not unusual; 2 it is a formality. 3 I state again, this termination notice was 4 found when I read the agenda item. Ms. Donnelly reported to 5 me that if we had not communicated with her by November the 6 3rd, as stated in the notice, we then would have received a 7 final notice giving us 48 hours to pay the delinquent 8 billings. If we did not pay within those 48 hours, the 9 policy then would be terminated. This is how ethical 10 business practices are conducted, with notices and an 11 opportunity to resolve any issues. Ms. Donnelly faxed the 12 attached letter on Friday afternoon. It explains the manner 13 in which we will resolve these issues. And I -- for the 14 record, I would like to read the letter that she faxed. The 15 fax cover sheet: "Judy, here is a fax of the letter I have 16 put in the mail today. A copy of this letter was e-mailed 17 to the San Antonio Group Office. If something was discussed 18 by either Karlene or myself that has not been mentioned in 19 this letter, or you need further verification, please 20 contact one of us as soon as you are able. Lynne Donnelly." 21 It's addressed to Kerr County, Attention: 22 Judy Carr. References our group policy number. It was 23 faxed October 21st, 4:54 p.m. "Dear Ms. Carr: Per our 24 telephone conversation this morning, we have agreed that you 25 will overnight $45,192.53 to my attention for the payment of 10-24-05 94 1 your September and October medical stop loss, life, and 2 A.D.& D. premiums. This payment is the amount previously 3 billed your group and does not include any additions, 4 changes, or terminations. In turn, Mutual of Omaha will 5 stop any further delinquency action. We'll consider your 6 account active, in good standing, and will not cancel your 7 policy. We discussed the reason for the delinquency that, 8 in part, was caused by unresolved billing issues. You had 9 been previously instructed by Mr. Jaime Ochoa of Mutual of 10 Omaha to submit all changes, additions, and terminations to 11 him for forwarding to the appropriate department. This 12 process did not work, as you stated terminated employees 13 from April were still being billed in the months of 14 September and October, and several new employees had yet to 15 appear on those bills. 16 "I instructed you to gather all information 17 that you had previously submitted to Mr. Ochoa and e-mail or 18 fax that information to the billing representative for your 19 group, who is located at the home office of Mutual of Omaha. 20 After our discussion and agreement for payment, during which 21 we exchanged telephone and fax numbers, you were connected 22 to that billing representative who discussed outstanding 23 billing issues and developed an action plan with you to 24 resolve those issues. According to your billing 25 representative, Karlene Larson, you are going to e-mail all 10-24-05 95 1 outstanding addition changes and terminations to her 2 attention. Full credit will be given to all outstanding 3 adjustments. Once all outstanding issues have been 4 resolved, credit will only be given if received within two 5 months of the occurrence date. A rebilled November invoice 6 will be mailed to you. You are to ignore and/or destroy the 7 original November invoice that was mailed to you on 8 10-17-05. Karlene has changed the bill run date from the 9 17th of each month to the 10th of each month, allowing for 10 additional time to review your bill and submit a payment. 11 You are to continue to pay as billed each month, submit the 12 necessary adjustments to Karlene, and review your following 13 bill to insure that those adjustments have been made. 14 "In conclusion, you are to submit full 15 payment for September and October via overnight mail. You 16 are to e-mail any outstanding additions, changes, or 17 terminations to Karlene Larson, your billing representative. 18 Your billing date has been changed to the 10th of each 19 month, allowing for additional time to review your billing 20 statements. Mutual of Omaha considers your account in good 21 standing. No delinquency or termination action will be 22 taken. For further billing or premium issues or questions, 23 you are to contact either the Policy Owner Service Center at 24 1-800-365-1181, Karlene Larson, your billing representative, 25 or myself. You may also submit billing adjustments via fax 10-24-05 96 1 to 402-997-1991. Please let us know if there is anything 2 else we may do to assist you. If you have any questions, 3 feel free to contact me direct at 402-351-5834 or call our 4 800-number and ask to be connected to my extension. 5 Sincerely, Lynne Donnelly, Group Delinquency Coordinator, 6 Policy Owner Services Division." 7 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: What's the date of 8 this letter, Ms. Carr? 9 MS. CARR: The date of that letter is 10 October 21st, 2005. Faxed to us October 21st, 2005. 11 JUDGE TINLEY: Any questions -- I'm sorry. 12 MS. CARR: I'm not through, sir. A 13 termination notice, of course, is a serious matter, 14 something to be concerned about. If this item was not on 15 today's court agenda, if there were different circumstances, 16 and if -- when the Treasurer's office received the notice, I 17 would have done exactly the same thing I did Friday. I have 18 many years experience in accounts receivables and payables. 19 I know what to do. Ms. Donnelly wrote in her letter and 20 told me verbally during our phone conversation on Friday 21 that the termination notice was e-mailed to San Antonio 22 office and to Wallace and Associates. The letter is dated 23 October 20th, last Thursday. The deadline for submitting 24 agenda items, according to Commissioners Court agenda 25 request guidelines, is 5 p.m. the previous Tuesday, which 10-24-05 97 1 was October 18th, two days before the date of the e-mail 2 letter to Mr. Malek and Mr. Wallace. 3 Judge, you have explained why there has been 4 made -- been an exception to these guidelines. Evidently, 5 according to Ms. Donnelly, either Mr. Malek or Mr. Wallace 6 sent the notice to the Judge. Why was the Treasurer's 7 office not notified by Mr. Malek or Mr. Wallace? Why are 8 they not willing to work with our office, at least to offer 9 assistance if needed? Ms. Donnelly told me she placed the 10 original letter in the mail to our office, and we should 11 receive it sometime this week. She also stated that she was 12 surprised that our agent, Wallace and Associates, did not 13 notify our office, but rather that of the County Judge. 14 Please note that on October 19th, Wallace and Associates 15 faxed a copy of the County's account summary and account 16 detail. These documents show that, in addition to the two 17 delinquent invoices, there is also a current invoice for 18 November, which is due November the 1st. Our office 19 received this invoice Friday. This invoice is also 20 referenced in the letter from Ms. Donnelly. We are not to 21 pay this invoice and wait for a revised invoice showing all 22 the County's credits for terminated employees. 23 The reason I had not paid the September 24 invoice is that I had been working with Jaime Ochoa, our 25 account executive with Mutual of Omaha, and I was awaiting 10-24-05 98 1 an adjusted invoice. Some of the terminations dating back 2 to April 2005 had not been taken off our billing, and we had 3 been paying for those as far back as April. As of this 4 date, the credit amounts to $6,202.07. This does not 5 include the employees terminated within the month of 6 October, which will also be claimed on the November invoice. 7 Perhaps the reason we had not received the revised September 8 invoice is that Jaime Ochoa is no longer with Mutual of 9 Omaha. Kerr County employees saw the agenda -- who saw the 10 agenda began to call our office concerned that their 11 insurance had been canceled. This is very upsetting to 12 employees who have claims, who have ill children, disabled 13 family members, retirees, people with scheduled doctor 14 visits, tests, examinations, and possibly even surgeries 15 scheduled. A phone call or trip to our office is all that 16 it would have taken. There was no need to put this on the 17 agenda. Communication between us would have worked. 18 I feel, again, this has been a personal 19 political agenda toward Ms. Nemec. This, however, has 20 affected me, my responsibilities, my physical, mental, and 21 emotional health. I might add that I am currently under a 22 doctor's care for this stress. This has affected the 23 Treasurer's office as a whole. This has affected Kerr 24 County, the citizens in the community, who are taxpayers, 25 and not to mention the employees, who are also taxpayers. 10-24-05 99 1 This type of action hurts us all. All I ask is that next 2 time, please come talk to us. We are here as honest and 3 loyal employees of Kerr County. Our employees, our 4 retirees, and all the citizens in the community deserve the 5 truth. Mr. Zeke MacCormack of the San Antonio Express News 6 called me Friday afternoon regarding the termination notice. 7 His article is in the Sunday edition. There was no mention 8 of this item in the weekend edition of the Kerrville Daily 9 Times. With all due respect, if the Treasurer's office was 10 not continually having to defend our department, maybe then 11 we could have time to do our jobs. I have no further 12 comments. 13 JUDGE TINLEY: Anyone have any questions for 14 Ms. Carr? 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I have -- not for Ms. 16 Carr, but I have a question for the County Attorney. Based 17 on the way this is styled, is it possible for us to go into 18 executive session on a personnel matter? 19 MR. EMERSON: I don't think so. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: You don't think so? If 21 you would put a personnel item on our next agenda, it will 22 be for personnel in the County Treasurer's office. 23 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Well, I'd like to ask 24 a question. Mr. Malek is in the audience. Given the 25 information that we have just received with respect to 10-24-05 100 1 someone in Mutual of Omaha communicating with Ms. Carr 2 and/or Ms. Nemec, what prompted your letter the day before 3 that letter that she just read was issued? 4 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: What was your 5 question? 6 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: What prompted the 7 letter from Mr. Malek the day before the letter that Ms. 8 Carr just read and gave us? 9 MR. MALEK: Carey Malek, Mutual of Omaha. 10 I -- this all started before the letter actually went out. 11 I was trying to circumvent it, because when you get 60 days 12 in arrears, a lot of things start to happen. They want to 13 turn off claims, which is what I want to avoid. That's 14 probably the worst possible thing that we could have happen. 15 So, I'm trying to intercede before all this stuff goes out, 16 so I just wanted to assure the Judge and everybody that 17 we're not going to turn the claims off. That was really the 18 purpose of -- of the letter that I wrote them. And that 19 it's a serious matter when you are behind, and it wasn't the 20 first time. And, you know, basically, I'll draw the 21 parallel to a credit card, 'cause I think everybody really 22 understands this; everybody has a credit card. If you have 23 a credit card and you do not pay your bill, they turn the 24 credit card off. They don't necessarily terminate your 25 credit -- credit card. That's the second step; that's the 10-24-05 101 1 termination. That's what I think she was referring to when 2 they're talking about, you know, terminating your account. 3 What I wanted to avoid is not just terminating the account, 4 'cause I don't -- I didn't think we were going to get to 5 that point. I wanted to keep you still being able to use 6 your credit card, and so that was what prompted that. So, 7 that's the reason why I wrote the letter. So, I hope that 8 explains that. 9 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Were you -- well, 10 maybe it does, maybe it doesn't. Were you in -- in 11 communication with Lynne Donnelly, the Group Delinquency 12 Coordinator? 13 MR. MALEK: Yes. Yeah, she's required to 14 send that letter out, because she doesn't have any premium. 15 And so she -- you know, I was trying to stop the whole 16 termination process. 17 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Was she aware of your 18 letter of the 20th? 19 MR. MALEK: Yes, she knew that I was going to 20 -- was going to write a letter. But she's required, as the 21 company representative from the home office, to -- to send 22 the letter out to explain the whole process of the 23 termination and what you have to do. 24 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Were you aware of 25 what she was going to write the next day? 10-24-05 102 1 MR. MALEK: Absolutely. I knew it was going 2 out. It had -- it's required to go out so, you know, if 3 there is a termination, we say, "Okay, we did notify you 4 of a termination on that date." That's the official date 5 that the company would use if -- if there was to be any 6 action. 7 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: What prompted your 8 second correspondence to Judge Tinley dated October 20? 9 MR. MALEK: Can I see it? I'm not sure which 10 one that is. A couple of things went back and forth. 11 (Document was shown to Mr. Malek.) 12 MR. MALEK: Oh. Well, this is just 13 basically -- I just put it in e-mail format, and sometimes 14 that's not acceptable, so I put it into a -- a letter 15 format. That's -- 16 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: But that letter 17 doesn't say what your other one says. 18 MR. MALEK: The -- I'm not sure which -- are 19 you talking about the letter from the home office? 20 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Well, yeah. There's 21 the letter of the 20th. That's not over your signature. 22 MR. MALEK: I didn't write that one. 23 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Okay. Okay. 24 MR. MALEK: So, you know, mine's just a 25 summary of -- hey, look, I'm not going to let this happen; 10-24-05 103 1 we're not going to shut off claims. You know, I just need 2 to come and get some money, and then everything's going to 3 be fine. 4 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Did you get your 5 money? 6 MR. MALEK: I haven't seen anything yet. I'm 7 certain that something -- some communique was done between 8 Ms. Donnelly and the Treasurer's office, so I'm satisfied 9 that everything's moving in the right direction. 10 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Is the health care 11 coverage of the Kerr County employee group in force and 12 effect right now? 13 MR. MALEK: Yes, it is. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Let's go back. I do have 15 one question. The -- the reason all of this started was 16 because the County did not make payment of this premium? 17 MR. MALEK: Yes. You're -- you're more than 18 60 days in arrears. That creates a lot of panic in the home 19 office, because things start to -- you know, termination 20 starts to happen, so that's why these go out. We don't do 21 very many of them. So, that's kind of why I got involved. 22 Jaime -- Jaime left last week, or -- Friday or -- Thursday 23 or Friday of last week, so that's the only reason I'm here. 24 Normally he'd be handling this part of it. So -- and then I 25 can't answer about what was going on between -- up until 10-24-05 104 1 that time, 'cause I'm not sure what it was, what he was -- 2 who he was talking to and what he was trying to accomplish. 3 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Is it typical or 4 untypical that premiums may be withheld pending 5 reconciliation of the account? 6 MR. MALEK: I would say untypical. There is 7 a portion of the bill that allows you to make those 8 adjustments on it. Now, most people will say, "Oh, this 9 person should have been off," and cross them out. And then 10 there's a section in the back of the bill that you write out 11 that this person's terminated, this person's added, and then 12 you can balance it out yourself. You don't have to have a 13 perfect bill. I mean, goodness knows that when I get my 14 credit card, as much transactions as transpire with -- with 15 my spouse and what we do, there's always credits on there. 16 And I know how much I think I -- and I pay that bill, and 17 then the next month it's usually balanced out. So, I guess 18 I would say it the same way; you can't not pay your bill 19 just because you don't agree with every charge that's on 20 there. So, let's just look at it that way. I think that's 21 an easy way to make an analogy to make it -- because the 22 insurance laws are a little more complicated than a credit 23 card, and there's certain requirements that you have to have 24 done. 25 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Recognizing that 10-24-05 105 1 Mutual of Omaha is a very large company dealing with a lot 2 of employer groups, most of which are probably larger than 3 this one, is it typical or untypical that reconciliations of 4 employees being taken off or added to the monthly statement 5 would go as long as going back to April without being 6 adjusted? 7 MR. MALEK: It's very typical. 8 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: It is typical? 9 MR. MALEK: Yeah. People add and drop all 10 the time. I would say on a group of 200 people, you 11 probably have 10 to 20 adjustments a month, so it's 12 constantly, you know, in a state of flux. So, you never -- 13 you can never get a perfect bill because of the timing the 14 bills are sent out. They're sent out ahead of time, and so 15 at the time that somebody actually would have terminated, 16 you would have had your bill 15 days ahead of time. And now 17 we're going to be sending it even earlier, so we're going to 18 have even more of those occur. Now, a lot -- again, it 19 depends on the turnover. So, you'll never get a perfect 20 bill, unfortunately. We'd love to try to do that. We're 21 getting more -- closer to realtime as the inter -- as the 22 internet and this becomes, you know, more automated. But 23 you do have two ways to get your bill; we mail you one, and 24 it's posted on the internet so that you can just go and grab 25 it off the internet, so you have more than one source of the 10-24-05 106 1 bill. 2 JUDGE TINLEY: How common is it for an 3 insured to withhold complete payment because there are some 4 adjustments to be made? 5 MR. MALEK: It's not common. We typically 6 will -- somebody will pay at least a partial payment. It's 7 not exactly balanced out. They pay what they think they 8 owe. And that's more than general. It's -- again, I'll go 9 back to the credit card. I usually pay what I think I owe. 10 When you see how many transactions you have, it's -- it's 11 understandable that it's not always going to balance. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Judge, I mean, I guess 13 I've got a lot of questions, but I really -- they're more on 14 the personnel side, and I can't go into them until our next 15 meeting. I'm not trying to run off Mr. Malek, but I think 16 we understand what happened. I think we understand. 17 MR. MALEK: Yeah. I just -- 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: We're in good standing. 19 MR. MALEK: Just everything -- no employee 20 has been denied health care coverage. You know, I just want 21 to make sure that everybody understands that. We have not 22 cut claims off. Everybody's processing. We're still 23 processing claims. We're verifying eligibility; that's 24 still going on. Just want to make sure that you understand 25 that. If it came to that point, I would definitely be 10-24-05 107 1 standing here before you. 2 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Well, the Sheriff 3 raised his hand and indicated that there were a couple 4 instances in his department that may be questionable in 5 terms of a claim. Would you like to enlighten us about 6 that? 7 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Well, I know that after 8 October 1st, I have had a spouse of one employee and a -- 9 and an employee that are going to have some very major 10 claims, and I just want assurance that those claims aren't 11 going to be rejected, since it was after that October 1st. 12 MR. MALEK: No, they're -- we have -- the 13 payment, as I understand it, is in the mail. Check's in the 14 mail, I guess, is the way to say it. No, everything's fine. 15 Again, we did not lapse any of the coverages. We haven't 16 stopped. We haven't stopped verifying coverages. So, 17 everybody who's insured now who was insured on October 1st 18 is going to be covered, so you have my assurance. 19 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Okay. 20 JUDGE TINLEY: Any other questions for 21 Mr. Malek? 22 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Yeah. I want to -- 23 I've got some comments. The -- I think what I'm hearing 24 here is that we've averted a disaster by getting the check 25 in the mail. We may or may not have had a satisfactory 10-24-05 108 1 explanation of how we got more than 60 days behind on our 2 payments. But I think I'm seeing a bigger picture here, a 3 pattern in practice where just about every month we're 4 dealing with some sort of a failure in the Treasurer's 5 office. We've dealt recently with a failure to make 6 payments to the retirement fund -- I think that's what it's 7 called. Maybe something else. And then, looking at that, 8 we discovered that that was the fourth time that had 9 occurred. We've dealt with failure to make payments from 10 payroll -- 11 MS. NEMEC: Excuse me, Commissioner. 12 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Let me finish. 13 MS. NEMEC: No, I will not. This belongs in 14 executive session. 15 JUDGE TINLEY: Ms. Nemec? 16 MS. NEMEC: County Attorney? They are 17 talking about the performance of my chief deputy. 18 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: No, I'm not. I'm 19 talking about the performance of your department. 20 MS. NEMEC: No, of my chief deputy. Those 21 are her duties. 22 JUDGE TINLEY: Continue, Commissioner. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But, anyhow, I mean, I 24 tend to agree that this is not appropriate discussion based 25 on this agenda item. I don't think it's really -- I don't 10-24-05 109 1 think what he's saying should be in executive session, but I 2 don't think that it's qualified under -- it's a very 3 specific agenda item related to a termination notice, and I 4 want to go down the same road. I have the same questions I 5 think you're going towards, but I don't think we can discuss 6 them the way the agenda item is posted. 7 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Okay. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: That's why I've asked for 9 it to be on the agenda in two weeks. 10 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Commissioner, I 11 don't have any questions. I see a pattern of practice of 12 unacceptable performance in the Treasurer's Department. Not 13 by any one individual, by the function. 14 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Commissioners Court? 15 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: It really -- 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Treasurer. 17 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: In the Treasurer's 18 office. And it reflects badly on the performance of Kerr 19 County government. I'm not proud of the way we're running 20 our government, but we're continually dealing with issues of 21 malfeasance like this. And I think that, in addition to 22 having an adverse impact on employees, it adversely impacts 23 the taxpayers. We know we paid fines and penalties that we 24 shouldn't have, and our relationship with Mutual of Omaha is 25 damaged by it. I don't want to continue month after month 10-24-05 110 1 to be in here resolving problems in performance in the 2 Treasurer's Department. And I -- I understand what the 3 state law is about being arm's distance from elected 4 officials, so I don't have any recommendations for it, but 5 something's got to change. 6 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Well, the 7 Commissioner's comment prompts another question. Mr. Malek, 8 are there any fines or penalties attached to this? 9 MR. MALEK: No, no fines or penalties. 10 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Thank you. 11 MS. NEMEC: And in defense of my employee, 12 when she is told by a representative from Mutual of Omaha 13 not to pay a billing and to await a -- a rebilling that will 14 take care of all the adjustments that we've been paying in 15 April, March, May, June, and July for terminated employees, 16 and she is told that she will get a resubmitted billing in 17 the mail, not to pay that one, what is she to do but to 18 trust what Mutual of Omaha has told her? 19 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: That is the same 20 personnel you just told him you didn't want to talk about. 21 If we're going to discuss it -- 22 MS. NEMEC: I'm not talking about her 23 performance. I'm talking about what Mutual of Omaha has 24 told her to do. There's a difference. 25 JUDGE TINLEY: Well, Ms. Nemec, I don't 10-24-05 111 1 recall her saying that, except with respect to the November 2 '05 billing which just came out. 3 MS. NEMEC: Exactly. That was Jaime Ochoa, 4 who is no longer with the company, who did not submit our 5 terminations to Mutual of Omaha. Thank you. 6 JUDGE TINLEY: The train wreck here was 7 September and October '05, which is -- 8 MS. NEMEC: That is when she was waiting for 9 the resubmitted billing. 10 JUDGE TINLEY: Anything further with regard 11 to this item? 12 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Yes, Judge. 13 MS. CARR: Judge? Commissioners, I would 14 just like to state that things like this happen. It's -- 15 it's sad that they do. It's unfortunate that they do. My 16 main concern is that Mutual of Omaha, our agent, and our San 17 Antonio group office does not communicate with us. They do 18 not try to help us. Why didn't Mr. Malek contact us and 19 say, "Your account is past due. What's happening? Can I 20 help?" Not a single word. We have not seen or heard from 21 him until today. 22 JUDGE TINLEY: Ms. Carr, when your 23 electricity bill is not paid, you get a notice they're 24 fixing to pull the plug. 25 MS. CARR: Yes, sir. We got a notice, a 10-24-05 112 1 first notice. At that notice, why didn't he contact us? 2 JUDGE TINLEY: If you don't get the billing 3 at the first of the month, don't you go to scrambling and 4 call that electric company and say, "I've misplaced my bill; 5 I want to get square so I'll have power this month"? 6 MS. CARR: I was directed by Jaime Ochoa, 7 Mutual of Omaha account executive, to not pay that bill, to 8 make the revisions. I'd been sending him the terminations. 9 I never received the billing. 10 JUDGE TINLEY: The instructions which he gave 11 you, you indicated were as to the November '05 billing; is 12 that correct? 13 MS. CARR: No, sir. 14 MS. NEMEC: No. 15 MS. CARR: That was the September billing. 16 JUDGE TINLEY: Well, that's not what I heard 17 you say a while ago. 18 MS. CARR: Well, maybe I said it incorrectly. 19 Would you like for me to reread it? 20 JUDGE TINLEY: That's quite all right. 21 MS. CARR: Okay. 22 JUDGE TINLEY: Anything further from anybody 23 on the Court? Any member of the Court have any action to 24 offer with regard to Item 17? 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I have -- sorry, I do 10-24-05 113 1 have two more comments. I really don't want to answer -- to 2 get in a dialogue here, but going back to things that were 3 said, some of these that -- look at our mail service. The 4 letter that -- the termination letter we got that the 5 Treasurer's office says they have never received was sent to 6 the Treasurer, so for some reason the Treasurer isn't 7 getting mail that's addressed to her. That's one concern, 8 and I don't know how we solve that. But -- 9 MS. NEMEC: They hadn't mailed it yet, 10 Commissioner. They had not mailed it yet. She said we'd 11 receive it this week. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. That answers that 13 question. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: Any other comment? 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: No, I'll wait till next 16 week -- or next meeting, rather. 17 JUDGE TINLEY: Anybody else have anything to 18 offer with that agenda item? Let's move to item -- first 19 off, do we have anything to cover in executive session 20 that's appropriate for this time? 21 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Did we take care of 22 1.5? 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: There was no action on 24 it. 25 JUDGE TINLEY: Mm-hmm. If not, we'll move on 10-24-05 114 1 to the approval agenda. Payment of bills. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Move we pay the bills. 3 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Second. 4 JUDGE TINLEY: I have a motion and second to 5 pay the bills. Any question or comment? 6 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: One question, on 7 Juvenile Detention Facility. 8 JUDGE TINLEY: What page? 9 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Oh, that would be Page 10 21. 11 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 12 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: The last item, San 13 Saba Cap Company for $461 for collapsible koozies. I'm -- a 14 koozie, is that the thing you put your cold drink can in? 15 Okay. 16 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Is that part of the 17 marketing budget? 18 MR. TOMLINSON: Yes. 19 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So, they carry these 20 things with them out to these conventions with "Kerr County" 21 written on them? 22 MR. TOMLINSON: Right. 23 JUDGE TINLEY: Anything else? 24 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Question on Page 18, 25 Judge. This is our monthly $25,000 payment to the public 10-24-05 115 1 library. 2 JUDGE TINLEY: Mm-hmm. 3 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: One-twelfth of 4 $300,000. And my question is, is there anything more to be 5 learned about the expenditure of our $91,400 reserves? You 6 have asked the City questions about how -- how that result 7 arises. Have you gotten a response? 8 JUDGE TINLEY: I have not gotten a response 9 from that communication, Commissioner. I appreciate you 10 bringing that to my attention. The -- the $25,000 here, I 11 think, was set up this way because we got a letter from the 12 Interim Assistant City Manager, who's also the finance 13 director, that -- actually, a bill for that amount via 14 letter, if I'm not mistaken. Isn't that correct, 15 Mr. Tomlinson? 16 MR. TOMLINSON: That's right. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: How much have we approved 18 so far? What's our -- 19 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I think we 20 approved -- 21 JUDGE TINLEY: 55. 22 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: -- amendments for 55. 23 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: I misspoke. I was 24 thinking about that. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But, I mean, are they 10-24-05 116 1 going to send us a -- I don't know who I'm asking, Tommy or 2 the Judge or the -- just up in space. Are they going to 3 send us an amount -- I mean, because the deal was, we were 4 going to come up with this amount of money, which we have 5 355,000. They were going to look at the budget and see -- 6 and then get back to us. So, are we just going to pay based 7 on the -- on the 300,000 for a while, and then at some point 8 we'll get a bigger invoice? Or do you have any idea? 9 MR. TOMLINSON: I think we ought to adjust 10 the next levy of payments accordingly. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: 355. And get -- and so 12 we're starting to bill at 355 until we do something else? 13 MR. TOMLINSON: Right. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: That makes sense to me. 15 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: But when we left the 16 joint meeting with the City Council, it was my understanding 17 that the Library Director was going to report back to both 18 bodies what, if any, cuts could be made to adjust his -- 19 adjust his budget. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. 21 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: We haven't heard from 22 him either, have we? 23 JUDGE TINLEY: Based upon the shortfall 24 difference between our 355 and what they were originally 25 requesting from us. 10-24-05 117 1 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Yes. 2 JUDGE TINLEY: Right. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. 4 JUDGE TINLEY: I've not heard back on that. 5 Any further questions or comments on the motion? All in 6 favor of the motion, signify by raising your right hand. 7 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 8 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 9 (No response.) 10 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion does carry. Budget 11 amendments. 12 MR. TOMLINSON: I'm passing one out. 13 JUDGE TINLEY: We have a Budget Amendment 14 Request Number 1. 15 MR. TOMLINSON: This is a request from Becky 16 Harris at the Detention Facility, to transfer 5,482 from her 17 Part-Time Staff line item to her Cooks line item. 18 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I asked the 19 administrative assistant to put a memorandum in everybody's 20 box, I think, this morning from Ms. Harris that indicated 21 the reason for this budget amendment. 22 JUDGE TINLEY: Actually, it's eliminating one 23 part-time position, and we're getting -- getting rid of the 24 retirement that would be attached to that also this way by 25 transferring that. 10-24-05 118 1 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: This doesn't change 2 the bottom line of the budget? 3 MR. TOMLINSON: No. 4 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I move approval of 5 the budget amendment. 6 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Second. 7 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 8 approval of Budget Amendment Request Number 1. Any question 9 or discussion? All in favor of the motion, signify by 10 raising your right hand. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'm still thinking, 12 trying to figure out what we're doing here. We are 13 increasing the step and grade of a cook at the same time? 14 JUDGE TINLEY: Yes, you're changing the -- 15 the compensation to one of the cooks out there. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But isn't -- I mean, I'm 17 not in favor. I'm voting no. 18 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I'm voting no. 19 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Time out. Time out. 20 Call the vote back, Judge. Time out. I've discussed with 21 her the need to examine the pay and the grade, and, if 22 necessary, to revise the job description to accomplish what 23 she would like to see done, and that will be -- she's 24 supposed to work that out with Ms. Nemec and bring it to the 25 Court the next time. 10-24-05 119 1 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: It's a $6,000 increase 2 per year. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: See, I think it's -- I 4 mean, a cook is a cook. As I -- you know, under -- you 5 know, I can see -- I can see if, due to experience level, 6 you may -- what's the current cook at out there? Does 7 anyone know? 8 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: The salary? 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: 16-1? 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: 19,566. I don't know 11 the step, I'm sorry -- step and grade. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I mean, if it's -- if we 13 need to go up to a -- you know, if we're changing -- we're 14 changing the whole -- by doing this, we're changing the 15 whole -- all cooks forever are going to be 17's, and I'm not 16 sure that's what we want to do. 17 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Well, that's the 18 reason it's important for the job description and the slot 19 to get changed accordingly, because my understanding -- 20 maybe the Judge has a different understanding -- is that 21 this person will also be doing food management, ordering, 22 all of the stuff that goes with that. So, it's -- the total 23 job description has changed tremendously. Not this chief 24 cook. 25 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Just coincidentally, 10-24-05 120 1 I know something about executive cooks. They've got a whole 2 lot of education/training at culinary school. If it's true 3 -- if this person is truly an executive chef and they know 4 about purchasing and economics and all kinds of food 5 management things, I don't -- that does not say that I have 6 an opinion about whether or not we need one of those people 7 or not, but I do know that they're paid very highly. 8 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I'm told that's what 9 she envisions in the new job description. That's what this 10 individual will be doing. Am I correct, Judge? 11 JUDGE TINLEY: Mm-hmm. In addition, 12 elimination of waste. There's considerable savings to be 13 had in elimination of excess food prepared, waste and so 14 forth. 15 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: I'm not trying to 16 justify the additional cost. And I really -- again, I 17 really don't know if the individual is an executive cook or 18 not, or if we need one. 19 JUDGE TINLEY: My understanding of what's 20 happening is that, rather than have one part-time, we're 21 eliminating that part-time. This individual is absorbing 22 that as well as some food management functions. 23 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: On second thought, I 24 withdraw my second to that motion. I'm not looking for ways 25 to increase costs at the Juvenile Detention Facility. 10-24-05 121 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I mean, I'm -- I may be 2 in favor of it, but I just don't like the way it's been 3 presented. I think if -- you know, if it's management going 4 in, that's kind of one thing. And -- but if it's a -- I 5 just don't -- I would like to look at this again in two 6 weeks or three weeks. 7 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Well, one of my 8 negatives -- I will vote no if I have the opportunity to 9 vote on this. The reason is, is that it's going to impact 10 future budgets. And we -- we say that it doesn't change the 11 bottom line of the budget right now, and it does not; I 12 understand that. Next year, you're going to go back in and 13 put the same amount into the part-time line, and then the 14 $6,000 more salary, so it does impact future budgets. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I guess the way I look at 16 it, my logic -- what? 17 MR. EMERSON: I may be lost somewhere in this 18 confusion, but it's my understanding that all the positions 19 and schedules for the employees are set by the 20 Commissioners, and how do you change the positions and pay 21 grades for an employee without an agenda item? 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: That's kind of where I 23 am. I mean -- 24 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Well, that's why this 25 needs to accompany an agenda item that has a new job 10-24-05 122 1 description and an explanation. So, I -- let's just pull it 2 today. 3 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 4 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: And come back with it 5 in three weeks with the entire package. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But the comment would be, 7 in my mind, if this person has extraordinary experience, 8 maybe you'd raise the -- the grade, but leave the -- or 9 leave the -- raise the step and leave the grade where it is, 10 whichever one's the second number. 11 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Let's work all those 12 details out and come back. 13 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Any more budget 14 amendments? 15 MR. TOMLINSON: That's all I have. 16 JUDGE TINLEY: Do we have any late bills? 17 (Mr. Tomlinson shook his head.) 18 JUDGE TINLEY: I have before me monthly 19 reports from Justice of the Peace, Precinct 1; Justice of 20 the Peace, Precinct 4; County Clerk and District Clerk. Do 21 I hear a motion that these reports be approved as submitted? 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So moved. 23 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. 24 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 25 approval of the reports as submitted. Any question or 10-24-05 123 1 comment? 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. Do we 7 have any reports from any of the Commissioners relative to 8 their liaison or committee assignments? 9 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Only one thing I 10 would ask, Judge, we still need some people to serve on the 11 Senior Advisory Committee. We're not represented there at 12 all. 13 JUDGE TINLEY: At AACOG, you're speaking of? 14 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Yes, at AACOG, I'm 15 sorry. And just -- where'd the press go when you need them? 16 We need people to serve in that capacity. 17 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Well, how old do we 18 have to be to be a senior, Bill? 19 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: You can make it. 20 (Laughter.) If you volunteer, we'll put you there. 21 JUDGE TINLEY: We'll give you an exemption, 22 even. 23 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: I'm going to get my 24 Social Security in January; I know I'll be qualified then. 25 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: In your case, we'll 10-24-05 124 1 make an exception. We'll take you now. 2 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: I've got a couple of 3 reports. 4 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay, go ahead. 5 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: First, on the 6 library, I did attend the Library Advisory Board meeting on 7 Tuesday. And going into that meeting, I wasn't sure if 8 the -- if the City had named their appointees to the new 9 board or not, and they -- if they had, we didn't know about 10 it, so we didn't -- weren't able to get started with the 11 newly reconstituted Library Board, but we will in a future 12 meeting. The Friends of the Library are working on 13 resolving their charter, or whatever it is, issues so that 14 they can appoint someone who's a member of the board to be a 15 member of the Library Board. Other than sort of having the 16 feeling that it's a new beginning and maybe we can iron out 17 some -- some of the difficulties we had if we all work hard 18 at it, there wasn't much of anything to report there. 19 On another issue -- and I'm not a liaison to 20 the West Kerr Volunteer Fire Department, but I just want to 21 report that all of you are aware that there's a -- a fairly 22 significant disagreement about -- between the Emergency 23 Service District Number 2 and the Mountain Home Fire 24 Department about how they should work together. Some of it 25 may have some past historical background, and some of it may 10-24-05 125 1 be legitimate new issues, just learning what their roles 2 are. And parties from both sides and the press, in letters 3 to the Editor, ask for Commissioners Court involvement, or 4 to help them out with that. I've talked to, I think, all 5 the people that wrote letters and people on both sides of 6 the issues on the board of the ESD and on the board of the 7 Volunteer Fire Department, and what I've said to them -- and 8 in my opinion as Precinct 4 Commissioner, that Commissioners 9 Court or myself don't have any authority with those two 10 groups, other than the appointing members to the ESD board 11 and to make a contract with the volunteer fire department 12 for their services. 13 So that we didn't have -- in my opinion, we 14 didn't have any official role in trying to help them work 15 out their differences. I think they understand, and 16 probably even agree with that. The upshot of it is that 17 there's some reason to believe that they may be coming 18 closer together or better understanding each other's 19 concerns. There's some work going on to be more open about 20 the records of the fire department, and that's occurring 21 now. And I have agreed that I'll attend both of their next 22 meetings, the fire department and the ESD, be of whatever 23 service I can be. So, that -- that's an update where we are 24 on that. 25 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you. Any other member 10-24-05 126 1 of the Court have anything to report on their respective 2 assignments? Elected officials? Any other reports of any 3 kind or character? 4 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I've got a question. 5 Are we real comfortable that we have insurance coverage? 6 Everybody's real comfortable with that? 7 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: That's what the man 8 said. Are you? 9 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Hell, I don't -- I'm 10 not even sure who we have coverage with any more. I read 11 the thing as a termination notice. It says "termination." 12 And then we get a -- I don't know. I'm not going to go back 13 into it, but it's just -- 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: We got a problem, is what 15 we got. 16 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: We got a problem. 17 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Mr. Malek said that 18 we had coverage. So, until we deal with the problem, we 19 have coverage. 20 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Part of my anger is 21 that -- is towards him and his organization, too, though. 22 Why send out a damn termination letter if you're not going 23 to terminate? What is that? Is that a game of some sort to 24 encourage you to make a payment? That's a lot of silliness 25 in that. 10-24-05 127 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think it's just -- it's 2 industry practice, and from -- to set them up for a legal 3 position, is what it is. 4 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Well, maybe. Maybe we 5 need to terminate our relationship with them, then. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But it's every insurance 7 company. Have you ever -- I mean -- 8 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: And Mr. Wallace? 9 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I'm trying. 10 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I know you are. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It happens. But, I mean, 12 the bottom line is it should never get to that point. 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Speaking of Mr. 14 Wallace, I have a meeting tomorrow with Mr. Wallace and 15 the -- his new guy here in Kerrville and the Treasurer's 16 office. I think I do. I did up until this morning. I have 17 that meeting set up for tomorrow to try to get us all 18 together and get the program going. So, I may be leaving 19 town; I don't know. 20 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Do we know who the 21 new guy is? 22 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I can't recall his 23 name. 24 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Todd Peters. 25 JUDGE TINLEY: Todd Peters. 10-24-05 128 1 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Todd Peters, uh-huh. 2 I never met him. I understand he's a nice young man, and 3 willing to work with us. He just -- we have to get him 4 physically over here to sit down with us for a few minutes. 5 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: If he's the same one I'm 6 thinking of, Buster, he used to be a County employee. 7 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Used to be what? 8 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: A County employee. 9 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Good. 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Really? 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: All right. 12 JUDGE TINLEY: Anything further, gentlemen? 13 We'll stand adjourned. 14 (Commissioners Court adjourned at 12:06 p.m.) 15 - - - - - - - - - - 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 10-24-05 129 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 28th day of October, 8 2005. 9 10 11 JANNETT PIEPER, Kerr County Clerk 12 BY: _________________________________ Kathy Banik, Deputy County Clerk 13 Certified Shorthand Reporter 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 10-24-05