1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 KERR COUNTY COMMISSIONERS COURT 9 Regular Session 10 Monday, November 14, 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 November 14, 2005 2 PAGE --- Visitors' Input 5 3 --- Commissioners' Comments 6 4 1.1 Resolution to authorize Kerr County to reapply for grant for a wastewater collection system for 5 Center Point 11 1.5 Consider authorizing Memorandum of Understanding 6 with owners of property at 219 and 221 SH 480, Center Point, to construct skateboard facility 13 7 1.2 Request Court to declare November 20-26, 2005 as Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve Week 24 8 1.3 Consider opening Sweep Accounts at Security State Bank, allowing county deposits to receive greater 9 interest 27 1.6 Consider approving revision of one "cook" job 10 description to "Kitchen Manager" job description, with appropriate pay grade and step 33 11 1.7 Consider proposed conditional lease agreement with Hill Country Mounted Peace Officers Association for 12 construction of a multi-use facility 39 1.8 Consider authorizing court order to extend TCDRS 13 900-hour rule to January 1, 2007 40 1.12 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action for road 14 name changes for privately maintained roads 44 1.13 Consider setting public hearing for regulatory signs 46 15 1.9 Open bids for electrical, plumbing, HVAC, and pest control 56 16 1.14 Consider final plat of Heavenly Acres 58 1.16 Consider final revision of plat for Lots 34-37 17 of The Reserve at Falling Water 58 1.17 Consider appointment to Alamo Senior Advisory 18 Committee 60 1.10 Public Hearing for final revision of plat for 19 Tracts 8, 9, & 10 of Kerrville Ranchettes 62 1.15 Consider concept plan of revision of plat for 20 Valley View Estates 62 1.11 Public hearing for final revision of plat for 21 Lots 21 & 22 of The Horizon 70 1.4 Consider authorizing letter of support for strategy 22 to assist BA Products to expand its facilities and remain in Kerr County 70 23 1.21 Consider receiving gift from Mrs. Royce Stone 83 1.22 Report from Library Director/City officials 24 on plans for adjusting the library budget to accommodate lower funding level. Consider, 25 discuss, take appropriate action on funding the library 92 3 1 I N D E X November 14, 2005 2 PAGE 1.25 Consider/discuss construction project at Animal 3 Control Facility 107 1.18 Consider interlocal agreement with Kendall County 4 concerning Government Trapper Contract 108 1.19 Consider Kerr County Subdivision Rules and 5 Regulations 115 1.20 Consider Kerr County Water Availability 6 Requirements 122 1.26 Consider/discuss ethics requirements for public 7 employees seeking elected office 131 1.27 Consider authorizing Employee Health Benefits 8 insurance consultant to advertise and solicit bids for Stop Loss Insurance for 2006 Employee Health 9 Benefits program 135 10 1.23 Consider employee's complaint against Mutual of Omaha's enrollment; consider refund of insurance 11 premiums back to January 2005 (Executive Session) --- 1.24 Consider filling vacancy in Treasurer's office 12 (Executive Session) --- 1.28 Personnel Issues and Pending Litigation 13 (Executive Session) --- 1.29 Consider Personnel Policy and Exempt Employees 14 (Executive Session) --- 15 3.1 Action taken on Executive Session matters 146 16 1.30 Reports from the following departments: Information Technology 147 17 Road and Bridge 152 Facilities and Maintenance 161 18 Collections 166 19 4.1 Pay Bills 169 4.2 Budget Amendments 170 20 4.3 Late Bills 184 4.4 Approve and Accept Monthly Reports 191 21 5.1 Reports from Commissioners/Liaison Committee 22 Assignments 192 23 --- Adjourned 193 24 25 4 1 On Monday, November 14, 2005, at 9:00 a.m., a regular 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 time and date, Monday, November the 14th, 10 2005, at 9 a.m. It's that time now. Commissioner Baldwin? 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yes, sir. I have a 12 special guest this morning to pray for the Commissioners 13 Court. He's my life-long friend, Tommy Carpenter. Tommy is 14 a businessman here in Kerrville, and ranching family from 15 the west end of the county. At one time, his family's 16 ranching enterprise covered several counties. So, one of 17 the foundations of our community, actually. This is Tommy 18 Carpenter. 19 MR. CARPENTER: Before my time, I can tell 20 you. 21 (Prayer and pledge of allegiance.) 22 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you. 23 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Thank you, Tommy. 24 JUDGE TINLEY: At this time, if there's any 25 member of the audience or the public that wishes to be heard 11-14-05 5 1 on a matter that is not a listed or indicated agenda item, 2 we'd be happy to have you come forward at this point in 3 time. If you wish to be heard on an agenda item, we would 4 ask that you fill out a participation form. They're at the 5 back of the room. It's not absolutely essential that you do 6 that, but it does help me to not miss you when that agenda 7 item comes up. But if you don't fill out a participation 8 form, when we get to an agenda item and you want to be heard 9 with regard to that item, gain my attention any way that's 10 necessary, I suppose, and we'll see that you have the 11 ability to participate in that particular agenda item. But 12 right now, if there's a member of the audience or public 13 that wishes to be heard on an agenda item -- an item that is 14 not a listed agenda item, come forward. Mayor Gene Smith. 15 Good to have you here this morning. 16 MAYOR SMITH: Gene Smith, One Antelope Trail, 17 Kerrville. I wish to thank the Commissioners Court for 18 inviting the City Council and the City Manager to meet with 19 you for dinner the other night. It was a very successful 20 meeting, as far as I was concerned. And, you know, 21 everything in life is a matter of communication or 22 miscommunication, and I think this meeting was an excellent 23 time to establish communications between our two, and 24 establish a little more friendly relationship. So, I look 25 forward to a very nice relationship with the Commissioners 11-14-05 6 1 Court and the City Council, and let's go forward from here. 2 Thank you very much. 3 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you, sir. We appreciate 4 your participation and those members of the Council that 5 were there, and we enjoyed it very, very much, and 6 appreciate the communication and rapport we gained. 7 MAYOR SMITH: Thank you. 8 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Commissioner Baldwin, 9 what do you have for us? 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I just wanted to echo 11 the good mayor, that Thursday's meeting, I thought, was 12 absolutely excellent, and it was good to get -- get in there 13 and jab at each other a little bit and have a little fun, 14 and -- and actually talk about laying down our differences 15 and moving forward for the betterment of the taxpayers of 16 Kerr County. Another item, the passing of Mrs. Fisher. 17 Mrs. Felix Fisher, I understand, passed away, and as we -- 18 most of us know, that's Mrs. Ella Real Fisher from a 19 founding family. And, anyway, we need to lift that family 20 up and remember them in our prayers. That is all I have. 21 JUDGE TINLEY: Commissioner 2? 22 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I would echo Mayor 23 Smith's comments and Commissioner Baldwin's' comments. I 24 thought the dinner was extraordinarily good. Food was good, 25 but the -- but the ability to meet with our colleagues on 11-14-05 7 1 City Council and talk in a relaxed atmosphere, break bread 2 and think about things that can be done that we have not 3 done before made a whole lot of sense, and I -- I thought it 4 was time well spent, and I hope we do it again quickly. 5 That's it. 6 JUDGE TINLEY: Commissioner 3? 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Echo the same comments, 8 and I'd like to add one thing. I'd like to also thank 9 Buzzie's Barbecue for having the great barbecue we had 10 donated by them, and we appreciate their service to the 11 community in efforts like this. Only thing I -- I've got a 12 lot of items on the agenda, so I'm going to be quiet for 13 the -- right now. 14 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: For the rest of the 15 day? 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: No, for right now. 17 JUDGE TINLEY: He almost said it, didn't he? 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It almost came out. 19 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Almost had him on the 20 record here. 21 JUDGE TINLEY: Commissioner 4? 22 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: I very -- very much 23 regret that I had to miss that dinner meeting. I was -- at 24 the same hour, was in a meeting with the Emergency Service 25 District Number 2 Board of Directors, and it was critical 11-14-05 8 1 that I be there. And I just want to tell you that those 2 issues are being dealt with and they're being resolved, and 3 -- and I'm very positive that they're going to -- them and 4 the fire department are going to put their differences 5 behind them and move forward. So, that -- that's good news 6 for everybody. 7 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Good news. 8 JUDGE TINLEY: Is that it? 9 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Well, other than 10 Commissioner Williams and I watched the national champion 11 Baylor women's basketball team kick off a new championship 12 season run yesterday afternoon on television. 13 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: That was a lot more 14 exciting than watching -- or listening to the Bears lose 15 another football game. 16 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Oh, yeah, that's 17 right. 18 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: We won't go there, 19 will we? 20 JUDGE TINLEY: As indicated, I appreciate the 21 City's participation in that dinner that Mr. Buzzy Hughes 22 was kind enough to provide the food for. It was 23 Commissioner Baldwin's idea initially, and I think it turned 24 out to be a wonderful event. A lot of interesting 25 possibilities and subjects were broached, and I think it 11-14-05 9 1 behooves us to delve further into those. There may be some 2 efficiencies that can be gained by investigating the 3 possibilities that were mentioned, and maybe some that don't 4 pan out, but there may be some that do pan out. But until 5 we take a look at them, we don't know, and that's where the 6 communication comes in. I look forward to that. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Judge, before you -- on 8 that point, 'cause most people here were not present at the 9 meeting, it might be interesting to note that most of the 10 discussion went on expanding our joint relationship, as 11 opposed to going the other direction. We've obviously had a 12 lot of conflict on some contracts in the past year, and -- 13 but we feel we can -- we're over -- we're past that, and 14 looking really to find more ways that we can cooperate. 15 JUDGE TINLEY: That's interesting to note. 16 Generally, you see situations where people who are involved 17 in a joint venture that -- that don't have the ability to be 18 successful or otherwise go forward with that joint venture, 19 they decline to continue operating. The whole tenor of the 20 meeting that we had last Thursday was to look at new 21 possibilities. There were things mentioned; insurance, for 22 example, municipal court functions, a number of other type 23 subjects that were mentioned to be looked at in the future. 24 These are brand-new areas that -- that we're not currently 25 involved in, and I think it's a good sign, and we're going 11-14-05 10 1 to look into those possibilities. 2 On another note, I might mention I'm glad to 3 see the Sheriff here this morning. His annual jail 4 inspection occurred last week. The inspector from the Texas 5 Commission on Jail Standards, who is very, very familiar 6 with the Sheriff's jail -- I know he's been the inspector 7 for the last three years, possibly longer than that, but 8 he's very familiar with the facility, and he was challenged 9 to find some deficiencies with regard to that operation. 10 I'm happy to report that -- that the report that I reviewed 11 and signed off on showed no -- that's zero -- deficiencies. 12 And I invite any of you to review the standards that are in 13 place from the Commission on Jail Standards, and look at the 14 -- the length and breadth of those standards, and I can 15 assure you, there -- there are some -- there's some pretty 16 extensive standards, and they're, some of them, fairly 17 complicated. And I think the Sheriff and his staff and Jail 18 Administrator, Pedro Garcia, and all of his staff have done 19 an excellent job. As I recall, in the last three years -- I 20 believe the first year I was there, there was a couple of 21 minor documentation deficiencies. I don't believe there's 22 been one since then. And, as I say, the Sheriff challenged 23 this inspector to find some deficiencies, and he was unable 24 to do so. 25 On another item of more personal interest, 11-14-05 11 1 almost two weeks ago, we've got grandchildren 7 and 8. 2 These are twins, a girl and a boy; the girl five and a half 3 pounds, the boy six and a half pounds, born to my oldest son 4 down in Houston. And these are the first children of he and 5 his wife, Shannon. So, everybody's doing well. They're 6 healthy, and hopefully the spoiling can be spread around now 7 among not only the first six, but now the first eight. 8 Let's get on with the business at hand. We're just about to 9 the first timed item. Consider, discuss, and take 10 appropriate action on a resolution authorizing Kerr County 11 to reapply to the Texas Water Development Board for a grant 12 to undertake planning and engineering for a wastewater 13 collection system for the community of Center Point. 14 Commissioner Williams. 15 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Thank you, Judge. As 16 I noted in the backup statement, this is a new resolution 17 that would authorize Kerr County to reapply to the Texas 18 Water Development Board for grant funding for planning and 19 engineering for a Center Point wastewater collection system. 20 The resolution memorializes all of the things that we have 21 done going back to July 2004, but it specifically does not 22 at this time take note of the two programs that T.W.D.B. has 23 discontinued, and it takes note only of the one that we are 24 asking for consideration under this time. So, if it please 25 the Court, I'll skip the whereas's, but I'll read the 11-14-05 12 1 resolution, the Resolved into the record. "That Kerr County 2 reaffirms its desire to obtain grant funding for planning 3 and engineering design for a wastewater collection system 4 for the community of Center Point and authorizes 5 reapplication to Texas Water Development Board, and that 6 Kerr County Judge Pat Tinley and/or Precinct 2 Commissioner 7 Bill Williams are designated and authorized to represent 8 Kerr County for the purpose of furnishing such information 9 and executing such documents as required; and be it further 10 resolved that Kerr County gratefully acknowledges the 11 commitment of U.G.R.A. for matching funds and pledges 12 in-kind services as may be necessary." 13 That summarizes it, and that will be 14 incorporated into the application, which we anticipate 15 delivering -- hand-delivering to T.W.D.B. on or about 16 December 1. I would move the resolution. 17 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. 18 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 19 adoption of the resolution as -- as provided. Is there any 20 question or discussion? All in favor of the motion, signify 21 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. Let 11-14-05 13 1 us move, if we might, to Item Number 4; consider, discuss, 2 and take appropriate action to authorize a letter of support 3 for the strategy developed by Kerr Economic Development 4 Foundation to assist B.A. Products, Incorporated, to expand 5 its facilities and remain in Kerr County. I don't see Guy 6 Overby here; we may want to pass that one. 7 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I don't either, 8 Judge. We can pass till Guy gets here, 'cause he needs to 9 explain the strategy -- 10 JUDGE TINLEY: All right. 11 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: -- to the Court. 12 JUDGE TINLEY: Let's move -- we'll pass on 13 Item 4 right now and move to Item 5; consider, discuss, and 14 take appropriate action to authorize a memorandum of 15 understanding between Kerr County and owners of property at 16 219 and 221 State Highway 480, that being San Antonio Street 17 in Center Point, to construct a skateboard facility at the 18 Kerr County park located on the Guadalupe River at Skyline 19 Drive. Commissioner Williams? 20 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Thank you, Judge. I 21 have in the audience today -- will you pass that out, 22 please, Judge, to the members of the Court? -- Mr. Don 23 Shirkey, who is a property owner on State Highway 480, San 24 Antonio Street. His property is right next to the Woolls 25 Building, which was the one that's now noted on the Kerr 11-14-05 14 1 County Historic Register, having been renovated and put back 2 into good order, and Mr. Shirkey has some problems with 3 respect to -- as does his neighbor, with respect to a lot of 4 skateboarding that's taking place on and in front of the two 5 buildings and doing damage to the two properties. And he 6 has a proposal that he brought to me that he would like to 7 have the Court consider. It is a proposal that would enable 8 him and his neighbor to construct a skateboard park in the 9 Kerr County park on the Guadalupe River at Skyline Drive. 10 Mr. Shirkey, will you come up and tell the Court exactly 11 what you have in mind? What I have passed out to the Court 12 is the County Attorney's memorandum, which indicates that 13 our liability in such a circumstance would not be any 14 greater than it is currently today. Mr. Shirkey? 15 MR. SHIRKEY: Thank you. I have one 16 correction; I'm not the property owner. My son-in-law and 17 daughter are the property owner. I'm occupying it and 18 trying to care for it. The young boys that I've been 19 working with, they're all very nice and -- but they're 20 damaging the property, and they've done damage to Ed 21 Storey's property, which is next door. I finally had to 22 call the Sheriff, and I hated to do that. I would like to 23 then work on constructing a facility in the park that the 24 boys could use in the evening after school, and I'm going to 25 -- if I can have permission to do that, I will then work out 11-14-05 15 1 the process of actually building it. And I've been working 2 with the Tony Hawk Foundation -- Tony Hawk, not known to 3 most of us, but I was given his name, and he is the major 4 skateboarder of the world. So, there are more skateboarders 5 than there are Little League players, but yet we have lots 6 of Little League parks and very few skateboard parks. But 7 they're coming. What I intend to -- to build, if I'm given 8 permission to build it on that property, will be very small. 9 It won't include a lot of the dangerous leaps and things 10 that you may have seen when you watch television. We just 11 don't have the money or the effort to make anything that 12 big. So, I would like to have permission to work on this. 13 I believe that working with the boys and setting a good 14 example -- community example for them will give us better 15 citizens than calling the Sheriff. 16 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: For the benefit of 17 the Court, the little park on Skyline and Guadalupe has a 18 small basketball court; it has several concrete picnic 19 tables under the huge live oak tree that the County put in 20 there over the course of the last four or five years, and 21 there is -- there is sufficient property remaining away from 22 the picnic tables and the basketball court that 23 Mr. Shirkey's idea could be -- could be constructed. I 24 asked the County Attorney to take a look at this, because I 25 recently read where the City is engaging in providing or 11-14-05 16 1 giving permission for the construction of a skateboard park, 2 and I wondered that -- whether or not the City's liability 3 would be increased as a result of that, and therefore, would 4 the County's liability be increased if we were to do 5 something similar in Center Point. The County Attorney 6 provided me with a copy of -- of Title IV, Liabilities in 7 Tort, Chapter 75, Limitation of Landowner's Liability, in 8 which we -- he opines that our liability in this situation, 9 if we're not overseeing it, supervising it, charging 10 admission for it or whatever, is no greater than -- than 11 somebody who walks in and trips and hurts themselves in the 12 park right now. So I think we've satisfied -- am I correct, 13 Rex, in that? 14 MR. EMERSON: Yes, sir. 15 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: So I think we're okay 16 in that. There is room to do it. And my understanding, 17 Mr. Shirkey, is that you and -- and perhaps your neighbor 18 would bear the cost of this; is that correct? 19 MR. SHIRKEY: We what? 20 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: You would bear the 21 construction cost. 22 MR. SHIRKEY: Yes. Yes. 23 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Completely bear the 24 construction cost. 25 MR. SHIRKEY: Yes. This will be a thing that 11-14-05 17 1 was about 10 feet wide and 60 feet long, so it's not one of 2 those 10,000, 20,000 square foot skateboard parks. It's 3 very -- be a very small item. It's a small community. And 4 I think Ed Storey and I can do it. We will go up to the 5 community to see if we can get some help, somebody with a 6 front loader, maybe somebody to drop some gravel for us, and 7 I will do up the plans, draw them up. And if you wish, I'll 8 bring -- when I get them finished, I'll bring a set up here 9 and you can take a look at them, pass them to the other 10 Commissioners. And I would like to actually get a -- to 11 have you know what -- if you approve it, have you know what 12 we're going to actually have when we get finished. 13 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Well, I think I'd 14 kind of like to move it along the lines of a conditional 15 approval. I'd ask the Court for a conditional approval 16 based on you're able -- your ability to line up everything 17 necessary to do it, and giving us one last opportunity to 18 take a look at the plan itself and the proposed location in 19 the park. So, I would move, for this purpose now, that the 20 Court give conditional approval based on those factors noted 21 to Mr. Shirkey's plan to move forward with construction of a 22 skateboard park. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 24 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 25 conditional approval. I assume, Commissioner, the condition 11-14-05 18 1 is that once he gets the plan kind of finalized, he's going 2 to bring it back here for final approval? 3 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Yes, sir. 4 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Any question or 5 discussion? 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Just a question as to -- 7 the location you're talking about is Lions Park, correct? 8 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Yes. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Have you looked at the 10 other park in Center Point, the river -- what's it called? 11 The River Star -- the Star Park? The one across the -- next 12 to the Post Office. I mean, there just may be another 13 location. 14 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Across from the Post 15 Office? 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Well, across -- next to 17 the Post Office, the new park that they built. 18 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Oh, that's 19 historical. That's the historical park. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Oh, okay. 21 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: And they have plans 22 for a museum and a pavilion and -- 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. 24 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: -- all sorts of 25 things like that. In fact, I'm going to ask you to buy some 11-14-05 19 1 raffle tickets for the fundraiser. You led into that one, 2 didn't you? 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Should have kept my mouth 4 shut. 5 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: You said you were 6 going to. 7 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: You led right into 8 that one, Commissioner. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: No more questions; it 10 might cost me more money. 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I have a couple of 12 comments, Judge. First of all, the -- in your problem 13 paragraph where you wrote about all the damage they did to 14 private property and leaving trash and all that, if they're 15 breaking the law, they need to be arrested, period. I -- 16 we're not going to have a dialogue; I'm just going to say 17 what I've got on my mind. The -- you know, it looks to me 18 like, well, we're not going to hold them accountable; we're 19 going to do something for them. So, that's okay. And I'm 20 doing pretty good through all of this. Pretty good. I want 21 to talk about the Deputy Sheriff here in just a minute. But 22 when I got to the last letter, D, If Kerr County refuses 23 this request, it will be responsible for any damaged 24 property and/or deaths caused by or associated with 25 skateboarders, you threw me off there. I got real negative 11-14-05 20 1 after I read that. But I really need to know, are we going 2 to adopt this -- 3 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: No. 4 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: -- list? 5 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: No. 6 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Where a Deputy Sheriff 7 is going to run by there every once in a while, -- 8 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: No. 9 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: -- take a list of 10 names and see that they're licensed and all that kind of 11 stuff? 12 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: No, we are not. 13 This -- 14 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay. 15 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: These were 16 Mr. Shirkey's points he made in giving the proposal to me. 17 This is not something I'm asking the Court to sign off on or 18 adopt, or in any way adhere to. 19 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Very good. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think -- just another 21 comment. I think -- I'm not real familiar; I'm somewhat 22 familiar with the situation. I think it's a little bit of 23 an issue as to who owns the properties where the people -- 24 they're really not trespassing. I think it's probably 25 either a state or county sidewalk. It's a little bit of an 11-14-05 21 1 issue, and it's probably state, 'cause it's a farm-to-market 2 road. So, you might talk to TexDOT, at least get some 3 materials or other equipment, since it's partly their 4 responsibility as well. But it's a -- it's a difficult 5 thing to figure out how to solve, because people probably 6 have the right to be on the sidewalk, but they don't have a 7 right to -- 8 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: That's a very good 9 point, Commissioner. And I think many title researching 10 investigations that have been done on other parcels up and 11 down State Highway 480 have indicated that highway 12 right-of-way goes right up to the -- actually, the building, 13 and I would think that's the same case here. But, you know, 14 if TexDOT wants to come in and lend a hand, that's fine too. 15 We can maybe give you a hand in finding that out. 16 MR. SHIRKEY: Well, my indication is that the 17 property goes to the curb line, and I've been trying to 18 check that out thoroughly, and haven't got a full answer to 19 it yet. The people that owned the property previously to my 20 son-in-law and daughter buying it cut places in the sidewalk 21 next to the curb and planted crape myrtle trees. There may 22 be -- if you've driven up there, you've seen those out 23 there; there's five of them, and they've put a lamppost out 24 there. They operated as if it is their property, and I'm 25 sure before they spent the money on it, they probably -- 11-14-05 22 1 they had well looked at it. My steps coming out from the 2 bank building are out on the sidewalk. At what point, then, 3 would the building start? I apologize for putting that 4 other comment in there, but it -- I'm a little emotional. 5 I'm -- I'm a vet with post-traumatic stress syndrome and bad 6 hearing, and I get to thinking too much. But -- 7 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: We're all guilty of 8 that sometimes. 9 MR. SHIRKEY: The people park their cars 10 right next to this area when they're going to check mail, 11 and -- and some of them have complained to me because they 12 were afraid the boys would run into them with the 13 skateboard. They've torn up other stuff, hitting it with 14 the skateboard. My personal concern is I've seen them 15 actually bounce out into the street a couple of times, and 16 if you've ever watched the traffic there between 4:30 and 17 5:30, I just wouldn't want one of them -- to ever find out 18 that one of them got hit out there in the road. I'd much 19 rather spend the effort to build a skateboard park. 20 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Thank you. 21 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you, sir. Any other 22 questions or comments? 23 MAYOR SMITH: Judge? 24 JUDGE TINLEY: Yes, sir? 25 MAYOR SMITH: Inky didn't tell me to keep my 11-14-05 23 1 mouth shut, so I guess I'll say something. The City has 2 just approved a skateboard park by Playscape, and I've 3 gotten a lot of calls from people saying, "Well, that's just 4 going to have a bunch of undesirables there." I don't know 5 what undesirables are. I raised probably seven 6 undesirables, so... (Laughter.) But young people have to 7 have a place to expend their energy. Now, do you want them 8 running around on the streets expending their energy, or 9 going to some facility that they can use up their energy on? 10 And I think -- I -- I could never skate, but I can see these 11 people skating. But we've approved it for the City, and I 12 recommend that y'all consider this generous offer from the 13 gentleman over here. Thank you. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you, sir. 15 MR. SHIRKEY: Thank you. 16 JUDGE TINLEY: I'm just waiting for 17 Commissioner Baldwin to weigh in and 'fess up that he's 18 guilty of thinking too much on occasion. 19 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: No, that won't happen 20 here. 21 JUDGE TINLEY: Oh, okay. 22 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: But I will confess 23 that I know who Tony Hawk is. Tony Hawk, I know who that 24 is. 25 MR. SHIRKEY: Oh. 11-14-05 24 1 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: He not only has a bus, 2 he has a jet. This guy's a skateboarder. 3 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Maybe he'll come down 4 here and give our kids some instruction. 5 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: He's an incredible 6 guy, too. Great leader. 7 JUDGE TINLEY: We have a motion and second. 8 Any further question or discussion? All in favor of the 9 motion, signify by raising your right hand. 10 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 11 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 12 (No response.) 13 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. It is 14 9:30. We are to another timed item, Item Number 2, a 15 request to the Court to declare the week of November 20th 16 through 26th, 2005, as Employers Support of the Guard and 17 Reserve Week, E.S.G.R., and a proclamation to that effect. 18 General Walter Schellhase, good to have you here this 19 morning. 20 MR. SCHELLHASE: Walter Schellhase, 529 Water 21 Street. Commissioners and the Judge, I come before you 22 today to ask you to declare the week of November 20-26 as 23 Employer Support for the Guard and Reserve proclamation. 24 It's important that we remember those people that are 25 suffering a lot during the global war on terrorism, but it's 11-14-05 25 1 also important that we remember the employers that are 2 providing those people. Today, as we stand here, we have 3 158,000-plus on active duty that have been activated from 4 the Guard and Reserve serving in over 34 countries. 134,000 5 of those are in Iraq or Afghanistan. The casualties today 6 are about 34 percent of those that have been -- have come 7 from the Guard and Reserve, so they are suffering a great 8 portion of the hardship that are -- is now taking place. 9 The Guard and Reserve, as an area rep for that, I have the 10 responsibility of seeing that those people that return from 11 active duty are given all the rights and privileges provided 12 to them by law. In Kerr County today, we've only had one 13 complaint from a Reservist, that his automobile -- truck was 14 repossessed while he was on active duty. And, of course, 15 that's against the law. And although he was behind six 16 months in his payments, it's still against the law, and that 17 -- that was resolved by the national rep for that item. 18 It's important for to us remember that the 19 Guard -- the employers in this area, many of them provide a 20 pay -- payroll check balance, which means that those people 21 that are taking a pay cut as a result of going on active 22 duty are being paid by their employer to equal balance the 23 pay that they received while they were working. A big plus 24 for all those. Many of the employers in Kerr County even 25 keep them on their payroll -- I mean keep them on their 11-14-05 26 1 health care, their benefits, totally. That's a big cost for 2 the employer, so it's important that we remember the 3 employers and the price that they're paying also for those 4 people that have been activated. So, appreciate the 5 opportunity to be here, and ask you to do that proclamation 6 for us to declare this support of the Guard and Reserve 7 employers. Thank you. 8 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you, sir. 9 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Judge, I would move 10 that the Court proclaim November 20 through November 26 as 11 National Employee -- Employer Support of the Guard and 12 Reserve Week in Kerr County. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 15 adoption of the proclamation, and adoption of November 20 16 through 26, 2005, as National Employer Support of the Guard 17 and Reserve Week in Kerr County. Any question or 18 discussion? All in favor of that 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. Thank 24 you very much, General. We appreciate you being here, and 25 we appreciate the -- the support and sacrifice made by the 11-14-05 27 1 employers to these service members. Let's move on to 2 Item -- we're close enough to 9:35 -- 3; consider, discuss, 3 and take appropriate action on opening up sweep accounts at 4 Security State Bank, which will allow the county deposits to 5 receive greater interest. Ms. Nemec? 6 MS. NEMEC: Good morning. I first read about 7 this sweep account in the San Antonio paper. They were 8 discussing how some of the accounts at certain entities over 9 there were earning more interest by opening up these sweep 10 accounts. Right now, our accounts at Security State Bank 11 are earning approximately .55 percent interest. By opening 12 up these sweep accounts, we would be earning what the fed 13 rate -- the current fed rate would be. For example, like, 14 in October, that rate was 3.66, so that's a big difference 15 in interest that we would be earning by doing this. The 16 down side of it is that we're going to have to have two 17 accounts for -- for each account that we have. But when you 18 see the great -- the difference in the interest that they're 19 paying, I think it's well worth it. I'm coming to you today 20 to ask that the accounts that are under the County 21 Treasurer's accounts, that you authorize that we do open up 22 these sweep accounts. But I also encourage for you to 23 discuss this with maybe other elected officials who have 24 their own bank accounts, because they could be doing the 25 same thing and earning that greater interest. We do have 11-14-05 28 1 Ava Jones from Security State Bank that would like to 2 address the Court and talk to you a little bit more about 3 that. Ava? 4 MS. JONES: Thank you. Just to explain how 5 this works, what you would do is, the Treasurer has her 6 operating account, and so she would open up this sweep 7 account, and daily the funds would be swept over into that 8 sweep account to earn the higher interest rate. As she 9 said, it is considerably different, where you're -- you're 10 getting basically what you might be earning on a C.D. 11 without having to lock it in for a certain time frame. You 12 would set your limits on your operating account to, say, 13 maybe 25,000, so that operating account stays at 25,000. 14 Anything over that sweeps into that sweep account. You 15 might ask why we have to set up two different accounts for 16 this, or a separate account. What it is, is that sweep 17 account cannot have any other deposits or withdrawals coming 18 out of that. That is specifically set up as a transfer 19 account from the operating account to the sweep account, and 20 so there would be no checks issued on it. The transfer 21 would be set up to be done automatically on a daily basis 22 through the bank. 23 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Interest rate 24 currently is? 25 MS. JONES: 3.6 -- well, that was as of 11-14-05 29 1 October. I did not look at the current interest rate. I 2 would say that it's not less than that. 3 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Is there a time frame 4 that we need to get into it before we lose something? 5 MS. JONES: No. 6 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: We can do that any 7 time? 8 MS. JONES: Mm-hmm, right. 9 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I'm wondering if we 10 shouldn't ask the other officials about -- and do all of it 11 at one time. Maybe not. 12 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I was going to ask 13 Barbara if she would list the accounts that she had in mind 14 and give us some sense of what's going to be -- what could 15 happen and what -- what others are out there to be 16 considered. 17 MS. NEMEC: I really would say that with all 18 my accounts, and the balances that are -- that are held in 19 those accounts, I would suggest that we do sweep accounts on 20 all of them. 21 MS. JONES: And that's really what I would 22 say, is that any of them that have 10,000 -- anything 23 greater than that, even, to -- to set them up as a sweep 24 account so that your interest -- your money is earning the 25 highest interest that it possibly can. 11-14-05 30 1 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Your money. 2 MS. JONES: Well, right. 3 JUDGE TINLEY: How long are these sweep 4 accounts -- 5 MS. JONES: We've just started doing them 6 this year, to actually get them set up through the County 7 and through the school systems. We currently have several 8 school systems that are doing them right now. So -- 9 JUDGE TINLEY: What about in other locations? 10 Were they common in other locations prior to this year? 11 MS. JONES: That -- that I could not tell 12 you. I know that our bank just started doing them this year 13 and promoting them this year. 14 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Corporations use them 15 to a great extent. 16 JUDGE TINLEY: You say your bank just started 17 promoting them this year? 18 MS. JONES: Right, and using them this year. 19 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 20 MS. JONES: To my knowledge. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Barbara, I have a 22 question. What -- about how much -- what's the average 23 daily balance in all the accounts that are under your -- 24 MS. NEMEC: Oh, it just depends. You know, 25 it's tax season right now; we'll probably start having 11-14-05 31 1 balances of 3 million. So -- 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I just wonder what the 3 application is of how much we keep in these accounts. We 4 have some other investment accounts as well. 5 MS. NEMEC: Right. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I was wondering how the 7 balance of all these versus the other investments -- 8 MS. NEMEC: Well, we try to keep just enough 9 in the accounts for operating, and then keep the rest in 10 money market to be able to have -- you know, so our funds 11 will not be locked up. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. 13 MS. NEMEC: But, you know, if they're 14 offering something like this to us, then we wouldn't even 15 have to worry about keeping them in a money market account. 16 This would be our best option. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: This rate sounds higher 18 than money market. 19 MS. JONES: That's what I was going to say. 20 The money market right now is only at 1.05 percent. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Well, you'd have 22 additional accounts here; we can probably get rid of some 23 other accounts. 24 MS. NEMEC: Right, exactly. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: May not be that big of an 11-14-05 32 1 increase in workload, any more entries. I move approval of 2 transferring all the accounts under the Treasurer's 3 Department to sweep accounts -- or not transferring to; 4 opening sweep accounts under all those accounts that are 5 under the Treasurer's jurisdiction. 6 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Second. 7 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 8 approval of the agenda item. 9 MS. JONES: Thank you. 10 JUDGE TINLEY: Any question or discussion? 11 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Question. Would -- 12 are we also going to maybe suggest that others who have 13 control of certain accounts likewise consider this? Or are 14 we just talking about the Treasurer's accounts? 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think all we can do 16 today is the Treasurer's accounts, and I think it's probably 17 up to each elected official to look at this individually, 18 'cause they control their own accounts. But I would 19 certainly recommend that they all do whatever they can to 20 increase the interest we receive on all accounts. And I'm 21 sure that -- I think the Clerk probably has quite a few 22 accounts as well in a lot of different areas. 23 JUDGE TINLEY: Any further question or 24 discussion on the motion? All in favor of the notion, 25 signify by raising your right hand. 11-14-05 33 1 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 2 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 3 (No response.) 4 JUDGE TINLEY: That motion does carry. I 5 don't see Guy. Let's move on to Item 6; consider, discuss, 6 and approve the revision of one cook's job description to 7 Kitchen Manager job description with pay grade and step 8 assignment reflective of job description and work duties. 9 Ms. Harris. 10 MS. HARRIS: Yes, sir. Good morning. We 11 have an opportunity to hire an individual that has some 12 extensive cooking experience. However, the person that I 13 gave you in the backup documentation that I sent you 14 resigned last week. So, another gentleman came and 15 interviewed that has extensive experience and is capable of 16 doing the same duties that I gave you in the job 17 description; however, his years of experience are not quite 18 as extensive as the previous gentleman. So, my 19 recommendation for the pay grade and step is, instead of a 20 17, I'm recommending a 15-1. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: What's the current -- 22 MS. HARRIS: The current is a 12-1, and 23 that's at 19,566. And that's for a person that -- just 24 basically off the street that would like to cook. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. Is the 11-14-05 34 1 Treasurer -- Barbara? 2 MS. NEMEC: Yes? 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: What is -- I guess the 4 only equivalent position we have is in the jail. What does 5 the cook get in the jail? What rate -- what level is that? 6 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Starting is 14-1. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: 14-1? 8 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: I don't know if the pay 9 scale -- if the step and grade -- 10 MS. NEMEC: It's a different pay grade, 11 though, that we're using in the jail. 12 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: It's the same as the 13 jailer, which the pay itself, Commissioner, would be -- a 14 14-1 -- hold on, let me see what I have. 15 MS. NEMEC: It's 5 percent more than what the 16 14-1 is on the regular schedule. 17 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: 14-1 in the jail, 18 starting jailer's pay, which would also be the cook, is 19 26,869. 20 MS. HARRIS: No wonder I can't find a cook. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: 26,869? 22 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: 26,869. 23 JUDGE TINLEY: And your 15-1? 24 MS. HARRIS: 22,691. 25 JUDGE TINLEY: 22,691? 11-14-05 35 1 MS. HARRIS: 22,691. 2 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: What was the one you 3 just said, Rusty? 4 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: 26,8. 5 MS. HARRIS: That's what my shift supervisors 6 make. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And the funds -- the plan 8 is still to take the funds out of the part-time? 9 MS. HARRIS: Yes, sir. And instead of it 10 being the transfer of that 5,482, I would request that we 11 transfer 3,125. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Barbara, would the -- the 13 job description as outlined, is a 15-1 appropriate? 14 MS. NEMEC: I haven't seen the job 15 description. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I mean, it seems -- I 17 mean, if I'm reading it right, it seems that the person has 18 had -- is making decisions and, you know, somewhat 19 management, and a 15-1 is about appropriate, so I don't have 20 any problem with that. But I think I'll make a motion to 21 approve your request contingent on the Treasurer looking at 22 it from a personnel standpoint to make sure that it fits a 23 15-1 from the standpoint of duties. I believe it probably 24 does. 25 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I'll second it. 11-14-05 36 1 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded, 2 contingent upon satisfactory review by the Treasurer. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: From a personnel 4 standpoint. 5 JUDGE TINLEY: Personnel. Any questions, 6 discussion on the motion? 7 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I just have one 8 question of Becky. Given that you indicate that the new 9 person that you have hired or intend to hire -- 10 MS. HARRIS: Intend to. 11 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: -- doesn't have quite 12 as much experience as the one that you wanted to hire, -- 13 MS. HARRIS: Correct. 14 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: -- or got away, the 15 duties will still be the same as you've outlined? 16 MS. HARRIS: Yes, sir. 17 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: He's going to be 18 responsible for all -- managing the food service side, -- 19 MS. HARRIS: Yes, sir. 20 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: -- in a sense? 21 MS. HARRIS: Yes, sir. 22 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: In addition to 23 cooking? 24 MS. HARRIS: Yes, sir. 25 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Thank you. 11-14-05 37 1 JUDGE TINLEY: Any other questions or 2 discussion on the motion? 3 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I've got a comment -- 4 actually, a couple. The -- even though it appears that it's 5 not costing the County anything moving it from one line to 6 another -- you're transferring $3,125, I think is what you 7 said, from Part-Time line into the Cooks line, and then next 8 year the Part-Time line will go back up to be fully funded. 9 So, what we're doing here is -- even though it's a small 10 amount of money, is that we're affecting future budgets. 11 This facility has -- came real close to breaking this 12 county, and is -- is on track to do exactly that in the near 13 future, and instead of us trying to manage the thing and 14 holding costs down, we're -- we're treating this thing as a 15 five-star hotel where we're hiring chefs out there now, and 16 I just think that we're on the -- we're on the wrong track 17 here. We're not -- we're not trying to hold costs down; 18 we're increasing costs out there, and we're on the wrong 19 track. I cannot support this. 20 JUDGE TINLEY: Any other questions or 21 comments on the motion? Ms. Harris, what -- what savings do 22 you think will be affected by bringing this individual onto 23 the payroll? 24 MS. HARRIS: Well, it will save us on our 25 food purchasing costs, because this person has experience 11-14-05 38 1 in -- in ordering our food, ordering our groceries at a more 2 effective and in a more effective manner. And -- and by 3 being able to cook a lot more food from scratch, that's 4 always a savings. 5 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Cutting down waste? 6 MS. HARRIS: Yes, sir. 7 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Is that a 8 possibility? 9 MS. HARRIS: Cutting down waste, yes. Yes. 10 Yes, being more astute and being able to prepare each 11 individual meal more precisely to where you don't have as 12 much waste, or any at all. So, it will save in -- in our 13 food cost. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'll make a comment. I 15 share much of what Commissioner Baldwin says, but my view 16 also is that until we get to the point that we do decide to 17 shut it down, if that does happen at some point, and it is a 18 possibility, we need to try to fund it to stay open and be a 19 working facility. And a 12-1, in my mind, is not an 20 adequate level for that position. And -- you know, it's 21 just that -- that's how I have to look at it. 22 JUDGE TINLEY: Did you not recently furnish 23 us a report as to the October operations at the detention 24 facility? 25 MS. HARRIS: Yes, sir, I did. 11-14-05 39 1 JUDGE TINLEY: And what was the income 2 generated at that facility during the month of October? 3 MS. HARRIS: Over 157,000. 4 JUDGE TINLEY: What was the -- what were the 5 expenses of that facility in that same period? 6 MS. HARRIS: A little over 123,000. 7 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: 25. 8 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: What's your census 9 today? 10 MS. HARRIS: Fifty -- I wrote it down. 56. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Keep it up. 12 JUDGE TINLEY: Any further questions? All in 13 favor of the motion, signify by raising your right hand. 14 (Commissioners Williams, Letz, and Nicholson voted in favor of the motion.) 15 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 16 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Nay. 17 (Commissioner Baldwin voted against the 18 motion.) 19 JUDGE TINLEY: That motion does carry. Let's 20 move to Item 7 -- Item 7; consider, discuss, and take 21 appropriate action on proposed conditional lease agreement 22 between Kerr County and the Hill Country Mounted Peace 23 Officers Association for the construction of a multi-use 24 facility adjacent to the Kerr County Law Enforcement Center 25 for emergency operations, law enforcement training, and 11-14-05 40 1 other law enforcement and emergency functions and purposes. 2 I put this on the agenda in hopes that that lease agreement 3 would be ready to go. I knew at the time there was about a 4 10 percent chance. It's not ready to go, so I -- I'm going 5 to ask that that item be passed for now. We'll put it back 6 on next time around, and I think it should be ready. 7 There's considerable work under way there, Mr. Emerson, on 8 that item? That lease agreement? 9 MR. EMERSON: Your Honor, we're still in the 10 same mode we talked about before. I originally started 11 dealing with Mr. Henneke, and -- on behalf of the Mounted 12 Peace Officers Association, and then Mr. Henneke was 13 informed that they were going to use somebody else because 14 of the political implications. And the last provision I did 15 on the contract was probably two or three weeks ago, and I 16 don't know where it is. 17 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay, I'll inquire about that. 18 Thank you. 19 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So, are you saying 20 that the lawyers are a problem? Surely not. (Laughter.) 21 MR. EMERSON: Well, I think it goes back to 22 your initial opening comment, the communications problem. 23 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I see. 24 JUDGE TINLEY: Let's move to Item 8, if we 25 might. Consider and discuss authorizing a court order to 11-14-05 41 1 extend the T.C.D.R.S. 900-hour rule to January 1, 2007. 2 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Barbara, I read this, 3 and I -- I read it a couple of times, and I'm still not sure 4 what the T.C.D.R.S. 900-hour rule is. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Thank you, Buster. 6 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: What is that? 7 MS. NEMEC: Okay. 8 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I see that counties 9 have one option and districts have another option, but -- 10 MS. NEMEC: Right. We are currently under 11 the 900-hour rule. If we have any employees that work under 12 900 hours a year, then they are not eligible for retirement 13 benefits. However, House Bill 60 -- 633 was passed this 14 last legislative session on June the 17th, 2005, and it was 15 made into law that that 900-hour rule is being taken away. 16 All full-time and all part-time county employees are to be 17 enrolled in the Texas County and District Retirement System 18 if they are permanent part-time employees. Now, if we have 19 a seasonal employee, a temporary employee that is hired just 20 to do a project, then they would not fall into that, but as 21 far as I know, all part-timers that are employed with Kerr 22 County are permanent part-time. There may be some in the 23 Juvenile Detention Facility that are -- that were hired here 24 recently; I don't know if those are going to be kept on for 25 part-time indefinitely or if those are temporary. There 11-14-05 42 1 might be one in the County Clerk's office, but I'm not sure. 2 Is there two that are just temporary employees, until a 3 project is finished, or are they -- 4 MS. PIEPER: Part-time full-time. 5 MS. NEMEC: Part-time full-time, okay. So, 6 we really don't have very many. However, passing a court 7 order before December 31st will allow the County another 8 year to put this into the works, and this way we could 9 budget next year to have everybody on the retirement system. 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So, what -- you know, 11 we've always dealt with a part-time employee being -- works 12 under 19 hours a week, and they -- they don't have the 13 benefits that full-time employees get. 14 MS. NEMEC: Right. 15 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Does this wipe that 16 out? Just everybody, whether you work 18 hours or 14 hours 17 or -- 18 MS. NEMEC: Yes. 19 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: -- gets on the 20 retirement system? I'd like to think about this for a year. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: We're -- we're extending 22 it. Yeah, we -- yeah. 23 MS. NEMEC: Yeah. 24 JUDGE TINLEY: I'm sorry. You recall during 25 the budget process, the Auditor told us that we needed to be 11-14-05 43 1 prepared to start funding retirement benefits for our 2 part-time employees because of recent legislative action; 3 that we'd not been doing that heretofore, and that -- but 4 come January 1st, we would -- we would have that obligation 5 for part-time as well as full-time. That's what we're 6 dealing with here. Apparently, this legislative bill, or 7 the administrative aspect of it -- I'm not sure how; it 8 doesn't make any difference, I suppose -- gives us the 9 option if, by court order, we choose to defer that for an 10 additional year, we can avoid funding that as to part-time 11 employees for 2006. That's essentially where we are. 12 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That's what we need to 13 do and prepare in our budget. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: Exactly. 15 MS. NEMEC: For next year, right. So, all I 16 need is a court order stating that, and that way we won't 17 have to do it January 1st of 2006; we can wait till the next 18 budget year. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So moved. 20 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: You need a court 21 order that just merely states our desire to extend the 900 22 rule -- 900-hour rule till January 1, '07? Or you need it 23 to include some of that other language about exclusions and 24 so forth and so on? 25 MS. NEMEC: No, just that we're extending the 11-14-05 44 1 900-hour rule to January 1, 2007. 2 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. 3 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 4 approval of the agenda item to extend the 900-hour rule to 5 January 1, 2007 for part-time employees. Any question or 6 discussion? All in favor of the motion, signify by raising 7 your right hand. 8 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 9 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 10 (No response.) 11 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. 12 MS. NEMEC: Thank you. 13 JUDGE TINLEY: Let's move to Item 12, if we 14 might; consider, discuss, and take appropriate action for 15 road name changes for privately maintained roads in 16 accordance with 9-1-1 guidelines. 17 MS. HARDIN: There's been a change since the 18 agenda item. The -- the first one on the list, Dakota 19 Hills, has been changed to Pawnee Path. 20 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: To what? 21 MS. HARDIN: P-a-w-n-e-e Path. 22 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Pawnee. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Pass? Path? 24 MS. HARDIN: Yes. 25 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Running out of names 11-14-05 45 1 out there? Pawnee Path. 2 MS. HARDIN: The original one was a 3 duplicate, and we asked them to change it, so they did it 4 Friday. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Where's that? Is this 6 near Heart of the Hills? Where is this near? 7 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: This is -- 8 JUDGE TINLEY: Off 39. 9 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: -- off 39, past Hunt 10 two and a half miles. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: That's Heart of the 12 Hills. 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Close. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Reason is, we had a 15 cookout at a ranch; the little dog's name was Pawnee. I 16 wonder if it's related to this. Must be. 17 JUDGE TINLEY: I think it might refer to the 18 Indian tribe. 19 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: It might at that. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think it's a little fox 21 terrier. I move approval. Commissioner, do you want to 22 move approval? 23 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Yeah. I've got one 24 question -- oh, you handed out new -- this says Pawnee? Is 25 it Pawnee or Pawnee Road or Pawnee Pass? 11-14-05 46 1 MS. HARDIN: Pawnee Path. 2 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: P-a-t-h? 3 MS. HARDIN: Yes. 4 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Yeah. I move 5 approval of the name changes to establish Pawnee Path and 6 White Pearl as road names. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 8 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 9 approval of the agenda item as indicated. Any question or 10 discussion? All in favor of the motion, signify by raising 11 your right hand. 12 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 13 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 14 (No response.) 15 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. Let's 16 move to Item 13, if we might. Consider, discuss, and take 17 appropriate action to set a public hearing for regulatory 18 signs in various locations in Kerr County. 19 MR. ODOM: Any questions? 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yes. 21 MR. ODOM: Okay. I thought Mr. Letz might 22 have one. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: One -- before I get to 24 this one, before I get off on Lane Valley, I'd like to add 25 one there, and I hope I can remember the name. The road 11-14-05 47 1 that runs into Maryland and Westwood, there's a yield sign 2 right now. Can we replace that yield with a stop sign? I 3 can give you the name a little bit later to add to the list. 4 MR. ODOM: Maryland and where? 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It's Maryland and -- 6 MS. HARDIN: Greenwood? 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Is it Greenwood? I don't 8 think it's Greenwood. There's a yield right now, and I've 9 been requested, because of the traffic on that, we need to 10 change that yield to a stop sign. 11 MR. ODOM: I have no problem. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And on Lane Valley, I 13 think it is a bad idea to set the speed limit on Lane Valley 14 at 55. 15 MR. ODOM: The speed limit, I believe, is -- 16 63? Truby? We ran the -- it's even higher. 17 JUDGE TINLEY: 63? 18 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: He probably knows; he 19 drives it every day. 20 MR. ODOM: Yes. 21 MS. HARDIN: 63. 22 MR. ODOM: 63. That is at the back where you 23 live, Commissioner. (Laughter.) Up front is 49. So, you 24 know, when you take that average and I look at it, I come 25 down to 55, but I -- if I had to look at it, I would -- we 11-14-05 48 1 have to put what was 85 percentile. I'm going to guess that 2 I -- you can drop it down to 45 somewhere in there, and I -- 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: 45 is reasonable on that 4 road, if we have to put a speed limit sign. My preference 5 would be to not put a sign on it. You have a road with long 6 straightaways, long, windy curves. As soon as you put a 7 sign, you need to put a bunch of signs, because every time 8 you have those hairpin curves, which they're numerous, if 9 you have a posted sign of 55, you need to put a "Slow, 10 curve" sign, and I think the cost and the precedent 11 county-wide would be expensive. 12 MS. HARDIN: If it's unposted, it's 60. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Well, it's also -- isn't 14 it -- I think Leonard told me at one point that if it's 15 unposted, it's with reasonable road conditions and such as 16 well. 17 MR. ODOM: It is. Your interpretation -- the 18 Sheriff has a different opinion, but the M.U.T.C.D. says 19 basically that even if it's not signed, that you have to 20 drive that road under the conditions. That is objective. 21 It's judgmental in part. Rusty may have something I don't 22 know about, but I know what the manual says, and you can go 23 out -- we've -- this is the reason we're looking at this, 24 because there's been some complaints from the Sheriff's 25 Department about this, and 60 miles an hour is unacceptable. 11-14-05 49 1 63 is unacceptable. Probably 45 is more reasonable. But if 2 you go with the average of looking at that, it was 55 out 3 there. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: What about -- I mean, we, 5 to my knowledge, do not have a county-wide county road speed 6 limit. Is that correct? We've never -- 7 MR. ODOM: Say again? I'm sorry. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: We have never adopted a 9 county-wide speed limit for all county roads. 10 MR. ODOM: No, sir. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I know some counties -- a 12 number of other counties do that at 45, and I would almost 13 rather take that approach. I'm not sure; in west Kerr 14 County, that may not be appropriate, but I think certainly 15 in part of eastern Kerr County, I think there are very few 16 county roads that you should really go over 45, including 17 Lane Valley. 18 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: I think that's true 19 on county roads. State -- there's state highways that you 20 can safely travel 60 miles an hour, on 1340 and parts of 39 21 and 27. 22 MR. ODOM: Some of your farm-to-markets are 23 55 or less, and some of them have curves and low-water 24 crossings and -- 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think -- I mean, I -- 11-14-05 50 1 you know, if we can do that, I'm probably more in favor of 2 doing a county-wide speed limit of 45 for all county roads, 3 or as posted. 4 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: We have some areas, 5 however, where we have it posted less. Is that correct? 6 MR. ODOM: That is correct, and one of them's 7 Peterson Farm. 8 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Where conditions 9 don't warrant 45. 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: That's what I'm saying; 11 you'd be 45 or what's posted. 12 MR. ODOM: What's posted. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And you could probably go 14 up to 60 if you wanted to, so somebody -- if it happens to 15 be -- to be one, you can raise it. That gives the Sheriff a 16 lot more -- 17 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Well, it's proving their 18 knowledge that -- the citizen's knowledge that they're 19 speeding if it's not actually posted. And the problem we 20 have right now with -- it's 60 with those you're talking 21 about, and then it goes into the judgmental deal of, was he 22 going too fast was he not for the conditions? And, to be 23 honest, the only way you can write a ticket in that is after 24 he's wrecked or after somebody's got hurt. That's the only 25 way you can prove that he was driving too fast for the 11-14-05 51 1 conditions. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I do not have a problem 3 with going 45 on Lane Valley just by itself, but I just 4 think to fix the problem, we should do it county-wide. 5 MR. ODOM: Now, if we adopt that policy, 6 there'll be a whole lot of signs and a whole lot of work 7 going on to -- unless -- well, if it's not posted, if we 8 have a complaint -- in other words, I don't need to go out 9 and sign everything 45 miles an hour? 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I -- I'll probably defer 11 to Rex to maybe look at how that is. I don't -- I think we 12 just post it or set the speed limit 45 for all county roads, 13 or as posted. 14 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: I think you're going to 15 have to post it, or it goes back under the state deal of 60. 16 I don't know if just having a notice is going to be enough. 17 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Let me ask a question 18 here. Not to get off of the wonderful conversation we're 19 having here, but are just these four issues before us today? 20 MR. ODOM: No, I still have some more to -- 21 to run, and we want to do that sometime in January. So -- 22 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: What about today? 23 What about this very moment? What are we going to vote for? 24 MR. ODOM: The ones I've got in front of you 25 are the ones -- 11-14-05 52 1 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Four, and you're 2 changing Lane Valley to 45. 3 MR. ODOM: 45? 4 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Oh, and you're adding 5 a stop sign. What we're -- now, if I'm reading this right, 6 we're getting ready for a public hearing -- 7 MR. ODOM: That's right. 8 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: -- on these issues. 9 They'll be out in front of the public to say yea or nay. 10 MR. ODOM: Right. 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So, you're adding the 12 stop sign somewhere? 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. 14 MR. ODOM: Maryland and Greenwood or 15 wherever. 16 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay. So, let's get 17 the stop sign, so that would be five items. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I guess what I'm -- the 19 reason I bring it up now is, it would be a good time to do 20 it -- I mean, to do the public notice at the same time to 21 include a county-wide, if we want to go that direction. If 22 not, we can leave it as-is with the five items. 23 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Well, I want to think 24 about that for a little while. 25 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I do too. 11-14-05 53 1 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: You were talking 2 about -- if we're going to discuss this thing, you were 3 talking about earlier about the windy curves and 4 straightaways, and it seems like to me that's -- that's just 5 adding to the problem. I mean, you're adding signs and -- 6 MR. ODOM: Maintenance. 7 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: -- maintenance. 8 There's all kinds of little things there that I know -- I'm 9 -- I accused TexDOT one time of -- their next step was to 10 add a sign to look out for a sign. You know, their signs 11 will blind you, and we're getting that way, there are so 12 dadgum many of them. But, anyway, that's my deal. And I -- 13 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: We had a -- 14 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I think we need to 15 study that a little bit. 16 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I agree. I think I'd 17 like to hear from the County Attorney about what the 18 ramifications are of a uniform speed limit for the entire 19 county. 20 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: I don't think it's a 21 problem that deserves a solution. That would significantly 22 increase our costs for signage, and I -- I agree with 23 Commissioner Baldwin about the sign pollution. Some places 24 you drive, that's -- you know, you can't enjoy the scenery 25 for the signs. 11-14-05 54 1 MR. ODOM: It's a catch-22. With the 2 M.U.T.C.D., when the State -- State does it for them, and 3 then everybody uses that as the catch-all. That is the -- 4 that's the bible. And then you're sort of caught if you 5 don't follow the guidance of the -- of the manual, and it -- 6 it's getting worse. Just the size of the signs and the 7 lettering are going to change. 8 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I have one question 9 regarding the one in front of us on Peterson Farm Road. 10 Have we now -- will this now make it consistent, 35 miles an 11 hour for traffic going west to east, consistent with the 12 sign that's already in place, 35 miles an hour, I believe, 13 going east to west? Is that correct? 14 MR. ODOM: It will be uniform. 15 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Thank you. 16 MR. ODOM: 35 miles an hour. 17 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Thank you. 18 MR. ODOM: They were wrong on the other side, 19 but we decided to... 20 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Very good. Thank you 21 very much. 22 MR. ODOM: Okay. 23 JUDGE TINLEY: That was the other guys that 24 were wrong. 25 MR. ODOM: That was the other guys that were 11-14-05 55 1 wrong. 2 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Whatever. We're 3 going to be consistent. 4 JUDGE TINLEY: The non-Aggies were wrong. 5 Still waiting on a motion, aren't I? 6 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I move -- I move we 7 set a public hearing for January 9th at 10 a.m. in the 8 Commissioners Courtroom with respect to the items listed, 9 and added to as provided by Road and Bridge Department. 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 11 JUDGE TINLEY: That would include the Lane 12 Valley, instead of 55, being proposed at 45? 13 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: And -- yes, sir. And 14 an additional stop sign where? 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I believe it's Maryland 16 and Greenwood, but I'll verify that and get with Road and 17 Bridge on that location. 18 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: That would include 19 that, too. 20 JUDGE TINLEY: Public notice as published 21 will include that. I have a motion and a second. Any 22 question or discussion? All in favor of the motion, please 23 signify by raising your right hand. 24 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 25 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 11-14-05 56 1 (No response.) 2 JUDGE TINLEY: That motion does carry. Let 3 us go back to a timed item for 10 o'clock, if we might, to 4 open the bids for electrical, plumbing, HVAC, and pest 5 control. And my able assistant here, Commissioner Letz. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: These are in no 7 particular order, just a stack here. 8 JUDGE TINLEY: The first bid is from Starkey 9 Pest Control. It's going to be on the pest control 10 proposals. Does the Court deem it necessary for me to read 11 off the various amounts bid, or just as indicated on the bid 12 proposal? We're going to be here a while if it's going to 13 include that. 14 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: It's not necessary for 15 me to hear all those numbers. 16 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 17 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I don't either. 18 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 19 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Which category? 20 That's all I care about. 21 JUDGE TINLEY: That's on -- that's on pest 22 control. The next bid proposal that I have here is from 23 D.W. Electric Company on the electrical repair work. The 24 next proposal which I have is a proposal on the HVAC work 25 from Hardin Heating and Cooling. 11-14-05 57 1 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Who is that? 2 JUDGE TINLEY: The next proposal is a 3 proposal on the HVAC from Compton's of Kerrville, 4 Incorporated. Next proposal is on the HVAC from Trademark. 5 Next proposal is plumbing, submitted by Whelan Plumbing. 6 Next proposal I have is pest control services, submitted on 7 behalf of Hill Country Pest Control. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Last one. 9 JUDGE TINLEY: The last bid which I have is a 10 proposal submitted on behalf of Terminix for pest control 11 services. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'll make a motion we 13 approve -- I mean accept all bids and refer them to the 14 Maintenance Department for recommendation. 15 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. 16 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 17 acceptance of bids as submitted and referral to the 18 Maintenance and Facilities Director for review and 19 evaluation and recommendation. Any question or discussion? 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And I just might make a 21 note that the way it's posted, we cannot take action on this 22 today, so it will be action at our next meeting. 23 JUDGE TINLEY: Any further question or 24 comment? All in favor of the motion, signify by raising 25 your right hand. 11-14-05 58 1 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 2 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 3 (No response.) 4 JUDGE TINLEY: That motion does carry. Let's 5 now go to Item 14; consider, discuss, and take appropriate 6 action for the final plat of Heavenly Acres located in 7 Precinct 4. 8 MR. ODOM: Yes, sir. This was some property 9 sales that were illegal and needed to be platted. It's been 10 a -- a situation where we've had this done, but waiting for 11 signature from a gentleman that was out of the country. He 12 is back; that's been signed, and as directed by the Court, 13 we got this platted, and I ask the Court to accept this 14 platting. 15 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: I move to approve. 16 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. 17 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 18 approval of the final plat of Heavenly Acres located in 19 Precinct 4. Any question or discussion? All in favor of 20 that motion, signify by raising your right hand. 21 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 22 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 23 (No response.) 24 JUDGE TINLEY: That motion does carry. Let's 25 move to Item 16, if we might; consider, discuss, and take 11-14-05 59 1 appropriate action for the final revision of plat for Lots 2 34 through 37 of The Reserve at Falling Water located in 3 Precinct 3. 4 MR. ODOM: Yes, sir. This is a revision of, 5 I believe, four lots. Everything is fine, and I ask the 6 Court for final approval on this plat for Reserve of Falling 7 Waters in Precinct 3. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Move approval. 9 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. 10 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 11 approval of the final revision of plat for Lots 34 through 12 37 of The Reserve at Falling Water located in Precinct 3. 13 Any question or discussion? 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Only comment I'd like to 15 make, I'll probably refer back to this when we get to the 16 Subdivision Rules, because some issues came up on this 17 revision related to O.S.S.F., and some inconsistencies 18 between state law and our rules and exactly what state law 19 says. I might go over more of that with our subdivision 20 rule section. 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Cool. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Bet y'all can't wait. 23 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Well, actually, that 24 is kind of exciting. There's a problem that we get to deal 25 with? 11-14-05 60 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yes. 2 JUDGE TINLEY: Any other questions or 3 comments on the motion? All in favor of the motion, signify 4 by raising your right hand. 5 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 6 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 7 (No response.) 8 JUDGE TINLEY: That motion does carry. Let's 9 move to Item 17; consider, discuss, and take appropriate 10 action for appointment to the Alamo Senior Advisory 11 Committee. Commissioner Williams. 12 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Yes, sir. Let me 13 pass this out, Judge. We -- we're entitled to two 14 representatives from Kerr County on the Alamo Area Aging 15 Advisory Committee for Senior Services. And the newspaper 16 was good enough to print a little article about our need to 17 have some representation. Only problem was, I -- I told the 18 newspaper that we needed two. The fact is, we only needed 19 one. Mr. Charles Donellan currently serves, and is willing 20 to continue to serve, so as a result of the newspaper 21 article, Robert L. Weinberg of 2229 Rock Creek came forward 22 and indicated his willingness to serve. Bob Weinberg, as 23 the Court may know, has been a resident of Kerr County since 24 1986. He's done a lot of volunteer service at the Kerrville 25 V.A. He is a charter member of the Hill Country Veterans 11-14-05 61 1 Advisory Council, and he has -- is one of the members of the 2 Kerrville Area Prisoners of War group. Bob served with 3 distinction in the United States Air Force. He was a 4 prisoner of war at Stalag Luft III in Sagan, Germany until 5 January 1945, and continued as a prisoner of war at another 6 location until the United States forces liberated all of the 7 prisoners in April of 1945. He's a good, active member of 8 our community and willing to serve, and I would offer the 9 Court the nomination of Robert Weinberg of Kerrville to 10 serve on the Seniors Advisory Committee, and if we approve 11 him today, he can make his first meeting tomorrow. 12 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. 13 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 14 appointment of Mr. Robert Weinberg as the -- as a Kerr 15 County representative to the Alamo Senior Advisory 16 Committee. Any question or discussion on the motion? All 17 in favor of that motion, signify by raising your right hand. 18 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 19 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 20 (No response.) 21 JUDGE TINLEY: That motion does carry. I 22 will now recess the Commissioners Court meeting and I'll 23 open a public hearing for the final revision of a plat for 24 Tracts Number 8, 9, and 10 of Kerrville Ranchettes, as set 25 forth in Volume 3, Page 79, located in Precinct 4. 11-14-05 62 1 (The regular Commissioners Court meeting was closed at 10:15 a.m., and a public hearing 2 was held in open court, as follows:) 3 P U B L I C H E A R I N G 4 JUDGE TINLEY: Is there any member of the 5 public or the audience that wishes to be heard with respect 6 to the final revision of the plat for Tracts Numbers 8, 9, 7 and 10 of Kerrville Ranchettes, as set forth in Volume 3, 8 Page 79, Plat Records, and located in Precinct 4? 9 (No response.) 10 JUDGE TINLEY: Seeing no one stepping 11 forward, I will close the public hearing for the final 12 revision of plat of Tracts Numbers 8, 9, and 10 of Kerrville 13 Ranchettes, as specified in Volume 3, Page 79. 14 (The public hearing was concluded at 10:15 a.m., and the regular Commissioners Court 15 meeting was reopened.) 16 - - - - - - - - - - 17 JUDGE TINLEY: And I will now call a public 18 hearing for the final revision of plat for Lots 21 and 22 -- 19 correction, it's not 10:20; I'm going to back off of that. 20 I will -- having closed that public hearing, I will 21 reconvene the Commissioners Court meeting, and -- 22 MR. ODOM: 15? 23 JUDGE TINLEY: -- call Item 15; consider, 24 discuss, and take appropriate action for the concept plan of 25 revision of plat for Valley View Estates set forth in Volume 11-14-05 63 1 3, Page 139, Plat Records, and metes and bounds property on 2 Southway located in Precinct 1. I would note that we do 3 have a speaker who has requested to be heard. 4 MR. ODOM: Would you -- 5 MS. WILLIAMS: No, you go ahead. That's just 6 in case. 7 MR. ODOM: See how good I am. Recently, we 8 had a meeting over at our office with some constituents of 9 Commissioner Baldwin's, and about a property owner dividing 10 some land -- not dividing, but selling some land. The 11 owner, for some -- if you look at the plat here, what we 12 wanted to do is, before they go any farther, we wanted to 13 make sure that we had it all correct before they spent a lot 14 of money platting something, to get a clarification, because 15 we had a question about the large parcel of property. The 16 owner purchased the property outlined in blue. That 17 consists of approximately 19.14 acres by metes and bounds, 18 and Lot 17 of Valley View Estates. That was perfectly 19 legitimate. Based on 1.03.C of our Subdivision Rules, it's 20 acceptable. The property owner of the 19.14 acres has 21 agreed to sell five neighbors part of her property, and 22 those are shown on this plat here as yellow and pink, parts 23 of Lot 8, 9, and 12 of Valley View Estates. 24 Lots 8, 9, and 12 were divided without a 25 revision of plat before Kerr County adopted subdivision 11-14-05 64 1 rules in 1984, and are approximately one-half-acre lots. 2 This platting was done, I believe, in 1973 or 1978, so it 3 was well before we had the '84 rules and all, the size of 4 these lots. It is our opinion that the owners of Lots 8, 9, 5 and part of 12 would need to do a revision of plat under the 6 alternate plat process, but we're not certain the owner of 7 the metes-and-bounds property would need to plat her 8 property, as it has over 10 acres with road frontage on 9 Southway, and she's not building a road and she is not 10 technically dividing into two parcels. She is segregating 11 that, but we felt like this was worth coming to the Court 12 and getting a direction. The way I see it, I don't think 13 that she needs to, but I'm asking for the direction of the 14 Court. 15 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Well, I agree with 16 you. I can see how the purchasers should revise their 17 plats, and by them doing that, the -- the owner of the big 18 property, the seller -- property lines would change, but it 19 would reflect in the -- in the purchasers' -- 20 MR. ODOM: In the purchasers of it. 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: -- property. So, I 22 don't see the big deal in it, personally. Now, Commissioner 23 Letz, my good friend from the Comfort area, may have several 24 days of comments about that. But -- (Laughter.) 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Not today. 11-14-05 65 1 JUDGE TINLEY: You remember, he promised us 2 that he -- 3 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Oh, that's right. 4 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: He was going to be 5 quiet today. 6 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: All day. Do you see a 7 problem, Mr. Guru? 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: No. 9 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay. I don't either. 10 I just don't see what the -- I would have rather seen all of 11 those property owners through there do the same thing and 12 make it a clean -- clean line, but so what? None of my 13 business. 14 MR. ODOM: They had an opportunity, I 15 believe. And part of that couldn't be done because of the 16 location of her house that she has right there. But 17 everyone was given an opportunity that wished to do that. 18 We thought that was fair, that she was accommodating her 19 neighbors, and I thought this was the most cost-effective 20 way to divide it. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: What size will these lots 22 be -- just a range -- after she makes this sale? 23 MR. ODOM: Do you recall what size? Half 24 acre? 25 MS. WILLIAMS: Half acre or fourth of an 11-14-05 66 1 acre. 2 MR. ODOM: Fourth of an acre. 3 MS. WILLIAMS: They're just extending back, 4 doubling their lot, their back yards. 5 MR. ODOM: I'm going to guess a quarter of an 6 acre, a third of an acre addition, and one might be closer 7 to a half-acre addition over there toward 12. 8 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Are you the lady with 9 the big piece of property? 10 MS. WILLIAMS: Yes, uh-huh, St. Martha's 11 Hideaway. 12 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: The new operation? 13 You -- could I meet you sometime? 14 MS. WILLIAMS: Yeah. 15 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay, thank you. 16 MS. WILLIAMS: Today's good. I'm here. 17 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Don't take any action; 19 we'll just have her captured here the rest of the day. 20 JUDGE TINLEY: Ms. Williams, do you have -- 21 do you wish to be heard on this? You have filed a -- 22 MS. WILLIAMS: No, it was just in case. I 23 didn't see you when I arrived, and I've never done this 24 before. So -- 25 JUDGE TINLEY: We appreciate you being here. 11-14-05 67 1 MS. WILLIAMS: Thanks. 2 MR. ODOM: So, is the direction of the 3 Court -- 4 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I just have one 5 question about it. It's fine, but under 12, you're showing 6 the yellow block of property being acquired in conjunction 7 with 12 that extends over, above another piece of property. 8 Is that correct? 9 MR. ODOM: That's correct. 10 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Okay. 11 MR. ODOM: It'll be when we go to the -- plat 12 process, we'll have, you know, metes and bounds and all that 13 on it. 14 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Okay. All right. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I will make just a 16 general comment, just for the record, that the -- this does 17 not conform with our current rules because of the lot sizes, 18 but what we've done many times before is we take a bad 19 situation and make it better. 20 MR. ODOM: Make it better. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Even though it does not 22 conform to -- I guess, technically, we may have to do a 23 waiver at that time for the lot size, but it's appropriate, 24 and we certainly have that precedent; we've done that 25 before. 11-14-05 68 1 MR. ODOM: Since we have that, you know, 2 half-acre lots prior to 1984, this was already platted and 3 done. 4 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: All these lots are 5 served by a community water system, are they not? 6 MR. ODOM: That is correct. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. 8 MR. ODOM: And people cannot build on this 9 back behind. I mean, there's just no way to get a 60-foot 10 right-of-way. And so, basically, what they have is just 11 land, and it's just adjacent, and it just cleans up the 12 situation, particularly with one lot that was divided into 13 two. 14 MS. HARDIN: Would it be possible if we could 15 get a variance from O.S.S.F. for these -- for these lots? 16 On paying fees? 17 MR. ODOM: On fees. 18 MS. HARDIN: Since there probably won't be 19 any septic. 20 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: This is a concept plan 21 today. We have plenty of time to do that. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: We can't do that the way 23 it's worded. 24 MS. HARDIN: Okay. But if we do it as -- 25 okay. So -- 11-14-05 69 1 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: You're trying to get 2 us to commit to something that we're not sure of. 3 MR. ODOM: Yeah. 4 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Do we need a court 5 order? 6 MS. HARDIN: But if we're doing it as an 7 alternate plat process, then when would we do it? At the 8 time we ask for a public hearing? 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yes. 10 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: We don't need a court 11 order on this. 12 JUDGE TINLEY: Any member of the Court have 13 anything further to offer on this item? 14 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Commissioner, I 15 don't know where Southway and Valley View are. This is not 16 in the ETJ, is it? 17 MR. ODOM: Yes. Yes, it is. It is. 18 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That's a different 19 animal that we will ride in a couple of weeks. 20 MR. ODOM: Is it -- should it be construed -- 21 I'm not for sure, but I would construe it as a high-density 22 area right there. But I'm not -- I'm just guessing. If it 23 does anything, it brings us up closer to that 1 acre for 24 everybody. 25 JUDGE TINLEY: Anything further by any member 11-14-05 70 1 of the Court? Let's go on -- let me recess the 2 Commissioners Court meeting at this time and call a public 3 hearing for the final revision of plat for Lots 21 and 22 of 4 The Horizon, Section One, as specified in Volume 6, Page 323 5 of the Plat Records, located in Precinct 1. 6 (The regular Commissioners Court meeting was closed at 10:25 a.m., and a public hearing 7 was held in open court, as follows:) 8 P U B L I C H E A R I N G 9 JUDGE TINLEY: Is there any member of the 10 public or the audience that wishes to be heard with regard 11 to the final revision of plat for Lots 21 and 22 of The 12 Horizon, Section One, as described in Volume 6, Page 323 13 located in Precinct 1? 14 (No response.) 15 JUDGE TINLEY: Seeing no one stepping forward 16 or otherwise asking to be recognized, I will close the 17 public hearing for the final revision of plat for Lots 21 18 and 22 of The Horizon, Section One, as set forth in Volume 19 6, Page 323, Plat Records located in Precinct 1. 20 (The public hearing was concluded at 10:25 a.m., and the regular Commissioners Court 21 meeting was reopened.) 22 - - - - - - - - - - 23 JUDGE TINLEY: I will reconvene the 24 Commissioners Court meeting and call Item Number 4; 25 consider, discuss, and take appropriate action to authorize 11-14-05 71 1 a letter of support for the strategy developed by Kerr 2 Economic Development Foundation to assist B.A. Products, 3 Incorporated, to expand its facilities and remain in Kerr 4 County. 5 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Thank you, Judge. I 6 placed this on the agenda after Mr. Overby had brought a 7 concept plan or a strategy plan in for our review and for 8 the Court to -- to become enlightened about. Subsequent to 9 that, the Kerr Economic Development Foundation has looked at 10 this plan and has signed off on it. And I think what Guy is 11 asking -- come up, please -- come up, Guy, if you will -- is 12 asking for the Court to -- to sign on in terms of support 13 for the concept, and I'd like for you to explain to the 14 Court, if you will, just exactly what the concept is and the 15 strategies involved. And thank you for your time and 16 efforts. 17 MR. OVERBY: Guy Overby. Thank you, 18 Commissioners Court. Again, I apologize for not being here 19 this morning, but I have been working on this project since 20 very early this morning. There is a lot of moving parts 21 going on as we're speaking right now. Just a brief summary 22 of the request. We're asking the Commissioners Court for 23 just a letter of support in our efforts to keep B.A. 24 Products in Kerr County. KEDF has been very busy since the 25 -- there was a second presentation on -- on the B.A. 11-14-05 72 1 Products to our Economic Improvement Corporation on October 2 18th. KEDF was not involved in the first two preliminary 3 presentations, and we -- we knew that the last presentation, 4 there was a vote of four-to-two that they had requested for 5 funding to help them expand on their project. And when the 6 vote came back where it was not approved for that expansion, 7 we -- KEDF approached B.A. Products the following day on 8 October 19th to see -- before they made their decision on 9 looking at going to another county. And there are several 10 other locations trying to attract them. 11 We -- we wanted to have about 30 days; we 12 asked for an extension period of time where we could 13 approach them and see if there was other options that we 14 could possibly look at, throwing some things out on the 15 table to see how we could keep them here in our community. 16 They granted us that extension of time, and we have been 17 very busy in trying to exhaust every opportunity on keeping 18 them here. Just, again, for everybody's information, the 19 B.A. Products is a deer feeder type of company, equipment 20 company. You know, when we first think about it, we just 21 think it's a little deer feeder thing that's out there, but 22 they have many other products that they have. They are in 23 discussion right now with an acquisition of moving another 24 company here and expanding their company, and there are 25 three other potential acquisitions in the next 18 months. 11-14-05 73 1 The company has currently four locations, 2 with 28,000 square feet being used at four locations, and 3 what they're basically asking for is a -- one facility in 4 one area where they can -- instead of having four different 5 places to work out of, to be in one construction site -- or 6 one building site. Right now, they're currently looking at 7 -- on their previous request, they were looking at about an 8 85,000 square foot building. They were coming at that time 9 for a one and a half million dollar request to help them 10 with that. That has been reduced by at least 50 percent. I 11 know that their part, as far as going up into part of 12 what -- their contribution part is extensive now. There's a 13 good, sizable chunk of that that's going from there. What I 14 can -- what I can tell you right now is just, again, we're 15 requesting a letter of support from our -- our different 16 agencies in town on trying to exhaust our efforts to keep 17 them here. 18 Again, they employ 31 jobs. Indirectly in 19 our community, they -- there is another 13 jobs it would 20 affect, so there's 44 jobs, basically, that we're talking 21 about here on trying to keep in Kerrville. They have 22 a direct and indirect impact on our community of over 23 $70 million in the next 10 years. This is a growing industry. 24 It's an industry that our organization felt it was in our best 25 interest to try to do everything that we could to keep them 11-14-05 74 1 here. This is a hunting area. I mean, it's a clean industry 2 type of business, and we wanted to show our best effort, as 3 far as our organization is concerned, on helping a business to 4 be retained and expanded here in Kerr County. And, again, 5 that's one thing that we've identified. This is a company 6 that definitely is needing, at this time, some help. 7 The other option that, earlier in October, 8 the property was going to be -- we talked about moving 9 things that we're talking about. October 18th, the property 10 was going to be located on airport property. At that time, 11 the -- the current option, and what we were trying to do to 12 get some type of structure, the Kerr Economic Development 13 Foundation does have about 22 and a half acres at the 14 airport that is zoned AD; that's in the airport district. 15 It is annexed into the city limits. But, basically, we had 16 looked at -- talked with them about locating that facility 17 at a reduced rate -- not a reduced rate, but sold by the 18 Kerr Economic Development Foundation to B.A. to locate to 19 keep them here, to give them incentive here, and to go back 20 to E.I.C. for another request to discuss the option of what 21 they're putting on the table and trying to keep them here. 22 The airport area was the number two area, as 23 far as the economic development for the next five years, 24 that our community voted -- not voted on, but through a 25 survey that was done this past summer, that they wanted to 11-14-05 75 1 see extensive expansion and development of. And I think 2 that -- I know that I see two Commissioners here that are on 3 that board. We all know that the airport property is a 4 prime piece of property for our area to grow on. So, 5 basically, I just wanted to come to you today and tell you 6 there are a lot of moving elements that are a part of this 7 project and keeping it here. I will tell you one right now 8 is talking with TexDOT, right now, Aviation to see if the 9 location exactly of that building on that property -- to 10 make sure that it meets all the -- the criteria where it can 11 be located and those type of things and those -- those 12 items. 13 So, the Kerr Economic Development Foundation 14 Board Executive Committee voted last Wednesday to approve 15 10 acres at $50,000. That will go to the full board for a 16 vote tomorrow to help this company, locate them here. And 17 KEDF, again, in connection -- we just really felt like we 18 wanted to put our best effort forward. We really feel like 19 there are not only -- you know, are there better businesses? 20 You know, or not businesses, but are there better options or 21 things like that in our community as far as development? 22 Yeah. Are there worse? Yes. But, you know, we really feel 23 like we wanted -- we wanted to really try to keep this 24 company here. It sets a precedent in our community. 25 There's a lot of other businesses out there that need help 11-14-05 76 1 and expansion and keeping them here, and we just wanted to 2 put our best effort forward in trying to help a growing 3 company that's growing 25 percent a year, annually, and 4 trying to work with them and keep them here in Kerrville. 5 And I think, again, coming before you today is just -- just 6 an affirmation from you that just says that, you know, we're 7 -- we support you and your efforts on trying to keep them 8 here in Kerr County and to exhaust all efforts that we can 9 in order to keep B.A. Products here in Kerr County. Thank 10 you. 11 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Couple questions, 12 Guy. First of all, if the plan matures and -- and 13 everybody's on board and the funding is -- is obtained for 14 this, do I understand correctly that B.A. would continue to 15 lease the facilities that it currently occupies on the 16 airport property, which inure the benefit of both the City 17 and the County until the expiration of the lease, which is, 18 I think, '07? 19 MR. OVERBY: Yes, sir. 20 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: That's correct? 21 MR. OVERBY: Yes, sir, that's correct. 22 That's basically what their plans are right now. They are 23 wanting to build a facility site, somewhere between 50,000 24 to 60,000 square foot building on the KEDF property if all 25 the criteria is complete there. They would still continue 11-14-05 77 1 to keep the 10,000 square foot facility on Airport Loop 2 Road. They would use their administration offices there 3 through May of '07. And that extra revenue -- I think it's 4 about $1,800 a month or $32,000 over the next 16, 17 5 months -- would still continue to be paid to the City and 6 County. There is another moving -- or a warehouse space 7 that's right down the road there; I think it's the 1700 8 block at Airport Road. It's about a 3,000 or 4,000 square 9 foot facility. They are responsible for that over the next 10 16 months, and they've told me that they would honor that. 11 But they asked me also if we could start marketing that 12 also. 13 Now, one thing that we don't have here in 14 Kerr County is we don't have inventory; we have no building 15 inventory. And I can tell you that we get calls all the 16 time, people who are looking for a warehouse inventory where 17 they can use -- you know, "I need a 5,000 square foot 18 facility," or "I need a 10,000 square foot facility." Now, 19 the thing about building this kind of building in our 20 community, it starts giving us inventory. We have none. 21 And for us to -- in order to compete down the road, we will 22 have to start having some inventory built to be -- to have 23 some options, and right now our options are very limited. 24 It costs money. That's the big question in how we come up 25 with those things. But those are things that we need to -- 11-14-05 78 1 to really to look at. 2 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I think there's 3 another factor, too, that comes about that we need to take 4 -- to be aware of, and I think it's important that the 5 business world understands that through the KEDF and any 6 other economic development partners that may be out there in 7 Kerr County and city and so forth, we do want to put forth 8 our best efforts to keep businesses; good, clean businesses, 9 industry in Kerr County, and do what we can to facilitate 10 that. I would move, Judge, that we authorize a letter of 11 support for the strategy developed by Kerr Economic 12 Development Foundation to assist B.A. Products to expand its 13 facilities and remain in Kerr County. 14 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Second. 15 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded as 16 indicated. Any question or discussion? 17 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Where is this letter? 18 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I imagine the Judge 19 and I will put that letter together. 20 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So, we're going to 21 approve something we haven't seen? Is that what you're 22 asking us to do? 23 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Yeah. 24 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay. I'll vote for 25 it, then. Long as it's illegal and doesn't make sense. 11-14-05 79 1 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Judge, I just -- 2 I'll just say, in my opinion, it's very important that we 3 keep B.A. Products here -- 4 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I agree. 5 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: -- and do everything 6 we can to help them expand. They're a good employer, 7 provide good jobs. Their -- their growth is significant. 8 Commissioner Baldwin and I can remember when they were 9 building feeders in a storage unit out at the Ingram Dam -- 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Absolutely. 11 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: -- complex. Their 12 product's superior. It's the best. And I don't know if 13 they still got a patent on it or not, but it was innovative. 14 It's a -- well, I won't go into all that. It's a very, very 15 good product. I've owned several of them, and the prospects 16 of growing are -- are excellent, so we need to keep them 17 here. 18 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: And we've been 19 yelling -- 20 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Good jobs are 21 important to us. 22 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Absolutely. And we've 23 been yelling for years that we can't -- we don't want 24 industry here with smoke stacks and all that kind of thing, 25 and here we have the perfect company. That is just right; 11-14-05 80 1 it fits Kerr County. I mean, it's a fit. 2 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: I'm going to 3 disagree with you a little bit, Commissioner. I would not 4 mind seeing a refinery on the banks of the Guadalupe. 5 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah. That -- right 6 next to the skateboarding -- 7 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Yeah. 8 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: -- deal. 9 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Yeah, right. 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I like the direction that 11 KEDF is going with this and really helping local businesses. 12 I go back to years ago, when I was on KEDF, I had a meeting 13 with Lloyd Brinkman, and that was his biggest complaint or 14 request for change in direction, was that KEDF work on 15 helping local businesses, certainly, as much as they do go 16 out for bringing in new businesses. And I think it's a 17 direction KEDF and hopefully E.I.C. will pursue in keeping 18 what we have and helping local businesses, whether it be 19 B.A. Products or Mr. Gatti's or James Avery, whatever. I 20 think they all -- when the time comes, they've been great 21 corporate citizens, and we need to try to help them. 22 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: I appreciate the 23 work you've done on this, Mr. Overby. 24 MR. OVERBY: You are welcome, sir. 25 JUDGE TINLEY: I know that one of the main 11-14-05 81 1 priorities is not just seeking new ventures and new 2 businesses to come in; it's to assist and improve and expand 3 existing business facilities, and I think that KEDF has -- 4 has provided that emphasis. Mr. Overby, what percentage of 5 the tax base in Kerr County is residential-based versus 6 business-based? 7 MR. OVERBY: Well, basically, again, I -- let 8 me make sure this quote is correct, but just from when we 9 were doing some surveys and studies that we have, it looks 10 like our residential basis right now -- ten years ago, 11 64 percent of our taxes were paid by residential, 36 percent 12 business of our tax base. In 2005, it's now 77/23. 13 JUDGE TINLEY: My purpose in asking that 14 question, as you know, is it is absolutely essential that we 15 get more business and commercial and industrial activity in 16 this county so that we can get a more equitable distribution 17 of that tax burden. 18 MR. OVERBY: That's correct. 19 JUDGE TINLEY: We hear from citizens every 20 single day about their taxes on their homes. The way to get 21 those taxes on their homes down and to keep them from rising 22 is to increase our business and commercial and industrial 23 activity and to shift that burden to make it more equitable 24 over on the business and commercial field. 25 MR. OVERBY: Correct. 11-14-05 82 1 JUDGE TINLEY: And so I -- your work is 2 essential, and I thank you for all that you're doing. 3 MR. OVERBY: Yes, sir. Thank you. 4 JUDGE TINLEY: Any further question or 5 discussion on the motion? All in favor of the motion, 6 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: That motion does carry. 11 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: When do you need the 12 letter, Guy? 13 MR. OVERBY: By Wednesday morning. 14 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: That's when the board 15 meets? 16 MR. OVERBY: That's when all the packets and 17 everything -- that's my deadline to have everything back in, 18 is Wednesday morning. 19 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Okay, will do. 20 JUDGE TINLEY: At this time, why don't we 21 take about 15 minutes recess and let our court reporter have 22 a rest? 23 (Recess taken from 10:35 a.m. to 10:53 a.m.) 24 - - - - - - - - - - 25 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Let's come back to 11-14-05 83 1 order, if we might. We'll resume our Commissioners Court 2 meeting, and let's go, if we might, to a timed item that was 3 on the schedule for 10:50. Item 21, discuss, consider, and 4 take appropriate action to receive a gift from Mrs. Royce 5 Stone, being a lamp from the 1927 courthouse, and the 6 installation of the same. Commissioner Baldwin? 7 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Thank you, Judge. 8 Ms. Stone, as you're making your way to the podium, I wanted 9 to introduce Mrs. Royce Stone, wife or former County 10 Commissioner, Roger Stone. And I wanted to say something 11 about Roger. When I was a -- when I was just a puppy out in 12 Hunt, I knew Roger, and there's just something about the 13 guy. You know, he wore the white shirt and the khaki pants 14 and the cowboy boots and the cowboy hat. That -- that kind 15 of turned me on even when I was a little old kid, and I 16 wanted to be like him. And, of course, I never reached 17 that, because he was super -- superman. But he was a -- 18 many years as a County Commissioner, and he's just one of my 19 heroes, and this is his lovely spouse here, Royce, that has 20 come to offer a gift to the Commissioners Court. 21 MS. STONE: Gentlemen of the Court, thank you 22 for providing the opportunity for me to be here this 23 morning. I'd like to ask you to -- respectfully ask you to 24 seriously consider accepting a gift that I would like to 25 present to you, as the governing body of Kerr County, and to 11-14-05 84 1 the courthouse here and to all the people of Kerr County, 2 and the gift is being presented in memory and in honor of my 3 beloved husband, Roger Stone, who set a longevity record of 4 serving for 20 years as County Commissioner from Precinct 4. 5 And that gift that I'd like to ask you to consider is one of 6 the original light fixtures that was installed in this 7 courthouse. And the date I have, Pat -- and you're probably 8 right and I'm wrong -- is 19-and-26. See, that gets down 9 into my bailiwick when we talk about 19-and-26. But 10 whatever the year was, this was one of the original light 11 fixtures. It remained in this courthouse for over 50 years, 12 and they were removed in 19-and-78, when more efficient 13 lighting, I guess -- at least new lighting was installed, 14 and these light fixtures were taken down. 15 I think that the people who were in the 16 courthouse at that time probably had access to -- to buying 17 them or whatever the arrangement was, and I know Roger was 18 very, very proud to have that light fixture. He kept 19 thinking of what he would like to do with it in his own 20 place. After we married -- and we married after we lost our 21 spouses of over 30 years, each of us. But I did have the 22 pleasure of knowing him for 10 years while he was a 23 county -- for several years as county commissioner, and for 24 about 10 years in all, as we married and had the last eight 25 years of his life and eight wonderful years of my life 11-14-05 85 1 together. So, would you like to show the light fixture at 2 this point, Buster? 3 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I'm just dying to. 4 MS. STONE: All right. 5 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Bill, would you -- 6 would you hold part of it? I can't handle the whole thing. 7 MS. STONE: You see why I'm asking the 8 gentlemen to do this. It is heavy. It is heavy. 9 JUDGE TINLEY: Easy there, guys. 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: There it are. 11 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: That's nice. 12 (Discussion off the record.) 13 MS. STONE: I'll come up there. Is that all 14 right with the Court? 15 JUDGE TINLEY: Or they're going to have to 16 come to you, one or the other. They're going to get you in 17 this picture. 18 MS. STONE: Well, she said she wanted the 19 photo, but I didn't know we were going to do it right now. 20 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I didn't either. 21 JUDGE TINLEY: I think she's in a hurry. 22 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Stand up, Royce. 23 (Laughter.) 24 MS. VAN WINKLE: Let's do two just in case. 25 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Just in case of what? 11-14-05 86 1 MS. STONE: Just in case you broke the 2 camera. 3 MS. VAN WINKLE: Thank you. 4 MS. STONE: Thank you. 5 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So, this is it, and 6 it's beautiful. And this part will be mounted on the top of 7 this globe, of course, and then this thing goes into the 8 ceiling, or maybe a wall; I'm not sure yet. It has the 9 original chain and the original wiring still attached to it, 10 so my good friend Glenn, if -- if the Court sees fit to 11 accept it, Glenn's going to have to help us get this thing 12 cleaned up just a little bit. 13 MS. STONE: Let me go ahead and say just a 14 little bit more. 15 JUDGE TINLEY: Continue. 16 MS. STONE: Roger loved Kerr County. He was 17 a native of Kerr County, and I was telling Buster that I 18 used to tease Roger that until he met me, he thought the 19 world ended at the Kerr County line. Honestly, that was 20 just the extent of his -- his world. And he had a great 21 ancestral heritage here in Kerr County. His paternal side 22 of the family went back to before 1900, when the Stone 23 ancestral part of his family settled up on Johnson Creek 24 headwaters in the Mountain Home area. His maternal side 25 went all the way back to Benjamin Denton, who came to the 11-14-05 87 1 Turtle Creek area in 18-and-46, so Roger was truly a native 2 son of Kerr County, and very, very proud to serve as 3 Precinct 4's county commissioner, and very, very proud that 4 he was re-elected four times, plus the original time, for a 5 total of 20 years as your county commissioner from Precinct 6 4, Hunt and Ingram and the high country in western Kerr 7 County. 8 And, so, in making this presentation, I have 9 another little factor that I would ask the Court to please 10 consider. That we not only present it in honor and memory 11 of Roger Stone, but we also present it in honor and memory 12 of every elected Kerr County official since the County of 13 Kerr was organized in 18-and-56. You gentlemen know that 14 it's an honor to be an elected official, but it's a lot of 15 work, and so I think that not only to honor Roger, but also 16 to honor all of those who have served as elected officials 17 through the years. I believe the county was organized in 18 18-and-56. And I thank you so much for your time, and I 19 trust you will be pleased to have this light fixture back 20 where it began, bringing it back home to the Kerr County 21 Courthouse. 22 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Thank you. 23 MS. STONE: Thank you. 24 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Thank you, Royce. 25 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you, Ms. Stone. We 11-14-05 88 1 appreciate it. 2 MS. STONE: Thank you. 3 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I think it's very 4 appropriate that -- that the light fixture come back to the 5 courthouse, and even as important and appropriate for the 6 fixture to be mounted and hung here in this courtroom. And, 7 personally, I'm thinking that this corner here would be a 8 good place for it to mount it up there somehow and hang it 9 to where the bottom of the globe would be over -- be a 10 little bit taller than somebody's head. I don't see anybody 11 walking over there and standing in that corner. But this -- 12 it's kind of an empty space here, and it just -- it's kind 13 of an appropriate place for it, I think. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: Ms. Stone, let me ask, if I 15 might -- of course, it wasn't too many years ago that -- 16 that this bench was not here, and the Commissioners met at 17 floor level in something similar to this room. Where did -- 18 where was Roger's normal place at the table? Was it on this 19 end or this end? 20 MS. STONE: Roger sat at the left hand of 21 Judge Neunhoffer. 22 JUDGE TINLEY: So, that would be down here, 23 wouldn't it? 24 MS. STONE: Sort of where Commissioner Letz 25 is there. 11-14-05 89 1 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: They didn't sit like 2 this. They sat at a table. 3 MS. STONE: I think they sat at a table, and 4 Judge Neunhoffer was at the head. Isn't that sort of the 5 way? 6 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yes, ma'am. 7 MS. STONE: Judge Neunhoffer and Roger had a 8 very, very good relationship. And Judge Neunhoffer, at my 9 request -- I asked him to bring a few remarks about his 10 years of working with Roger at Roger's funeral. We lost 11 Roger in 1987. And he came and he told a lot of great 12 stories. It turned out to be a eulogy that was humorous in 13 places, and the group loved hearing about some of the antics 14 and happenings that go on in the Commissioners Court. So, 15 answering your question on that, Pat, is that -- I probably 16 should say "Judge." 17 JUDGE TINLEY: No, you answered it right 18 away. 19 MS. STONE: I wanted to add one other point. 20 If you decide to accept the light, and if you decide to 21 accept my thoughts on the people for whom we might honor in 22 doing so, I would love to present a plaque in whatever 23 fashion that you would like to have it written, whatever 24 medium that you want it done. I'd be very happy to provide 25 the plaque at your choice. Thank you. 11-14-05 90 1 JUDGE TINLEY: That's very kind of you. 2 Thank you, Ms. Stone. 3 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I would hope that the 4 plaque would embody the words that Mrs. Stone gave a while 5 ago in terms of how she would like to see it dedicated. I 6 think that's really neat. 7 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I agree. 8 MS. STONE: I'm sorry, I didn't understand 9 all of that. 10 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I would hope that the 11 wording on the plaque would embody your thoughts that you 12 gave to us a moment ago as to who all it should be dedicated 13 to in addition to the memory of your husband. 14 MS. STONE: Well, to all of the elected -- 15 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: We'd let you do that. 16 You frame it the way you'd like to have it said. 17 MS. STONE: I would be happy to. I would be 18 happy to. If it's your choice to do this, and that you 19 would like to have a plaque -- that's what I was saying; I 20 would provide that according to how you would like it 21 written. But I thought that it would be nice to honor all 22 of Kerr County elected officials since the county was 23 organized in 18-and-56. And, you know, next year -- I've 24 already learned from Clarabelle that next year there will be 25 a big celebration, because Kerr County will be -- I believe 11-14-05 91 1 she said 150 years old. 2 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: That's correct. 3 MS. STONE: So, that would be a very 4 appropriate time, also, to consider all of this. Thank you. 5 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you, ma'am. 6 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Judge, I move that we 7 accept this gift from Mrs. Stone, and ask the Maintenance 8 Department to help us get it cleaned up and wired up and 9 hooked up and hung up. 10 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Second. 11 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded as 12 indicated. Any question or discussion? All in favor of 13 that 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: That motion does carry. 18 Ms. Stone, we -- 19 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Thank you. 20 JUDGE TINLEY: -- really, really appreciate 21 you being here today. 22 MS. STONE: Thank you, gentlemen, so much. I 23 appreciate your interest and your concern. 24 (Applause.) 25 JUDGE TINLEY: Let's move to our 11 o'clock 11-14-05 92 1 timed item, if we might. Consider report from the Library 2 Director or other City of Kerrville officials on plans for 3 adjusting the library budget to accommodate a funding level 4 that is lower than requested. Consider, discuss and take 5 any appropriate action on the funding of the library. 6 Commissioner Nicholson? 7 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: This is a follow-up 8 to both the joint meeting that was held between the 9 Kerrville City Council and the Kerr County Commissioners 10 Court, and a follow-up meeting -- official meeting of the 11 Kerr County Commissioners Court that occurred on the 24th of 12 October wherein we found ways to offer an additional $55,000 13 to the budget for the library, and that offer was contingent 14 upon receiving a report from the library or Kerrville 15 officials on plans for operating the library at a lower 16 funding level. There have been some subsequent 17 developments, I understand, that may impact on that. And it 18 was also requested that we hear from -- considering that 19 issues were raised that we were unaware of that might have 20 to do with the -- with the library's eligibility for state 21 funding, grants and that sort of thing, so I've invited 22 officials from the City of Kerrville to be present here in 23 this meeting, and to respond to our request for information 24 about the budgeting level of the library. 25 MR. MARTINEZ: Judge, Commissioners, my 11-14-05 93 1 name's Antonio Martinez; I'm the Library Director. And I'd 2 like to start with a little bit of background. One of my 3 responsibilities as Library Director is to review financial 4 reports obtained from the City of Kerrville Finance 5 Department. I do that on a monthly basis, and then, 6 additionally, at midyear and end of year. The midyear 7 analysis, in particular, leads up to budget presentations. 8 At midyear, we look at expenditure levels, we look at -- try 9 to project the end-of-year expenditures, and we adjust 10 things as we go along. Some of these adjustments I wanted 11 to bring to your attention. These were done in relation to 12 the current budget. Office supplies were reduced by $2,950. 13 Postage was reduced by $400. Telephone was reduced by $600. 14 Something we call special services -- this funded our 15 participation in the state interlibrary loan network -- we 16 reduced that by $1,500. And, additionally, most recently we 17 decided to eliminate our microfiche subscriptions for about 18 $1,447. Total of that reduction going into the current 19 budget year was $6,897. 20 Additionally, in terms of computer purchases, 21 we always attempt to purchase with either grants, subsidies, 22 whatever other method we can come up with, rather than 23 placing those into the budget. In the current fiscal year, 24 we plan to buy six computers to replace outdated computers. 25 Two of those are in the budget. The other four will be 11-14-05 94 1 funded, like I said, by subsidies, grants, individual and 2 corporate donations, and the total savings or net savings 3 would be $6,500. Also, every year we apply for a 4 telecommunications subsidy. That varies up and down between 5 2,000 and 3,000 a year. Our expected subsidy this year is 6 $2,196. Again, just to give you an idea about some of the 7 cost-saving things that we do on an ongoing basis, in terms 8 of the $61,000 shortfall, as Commissioner Nicholson noted, 9 there have been some developments. We expect to make that 10 up with foundation grants, and that is in the process of 11 being finalized. That is the current fiscal year picture. 12 Now I'll answer any questions. 13 JUDGE TINLEY: Any questions for Mr. 14 Martinez? 15 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Yeah, I have a 16 question. When we left it, Antonio, in a joint meeting with 17 the City and the County, the Commissioners and the City 18 Council people, I believe the sense of that discussion -- 19 because at that time there was a shortfall, or appeared to 20 be a shortfall of about $61,000, and I thought what we were 21 understood to -- that we would receive back from you would 22 be some analysis of what changes in the operation would have 23 to take place if the $61,000 shortfall continued. Did you 24 have an opportunity to do that? 25 MR. MARTINEZ: The City Council deferred any 11-14-05 95 1 action on that until the new City Manager could take over. 2 City Manager is in the process of setting up consultation 3 with City Council to seek direction for the future. That 4 will be -- will involve long-term goals. There will be 5 budget objectives derived from those long-term goals. 6 Certainly, there are some things that I will be recommending 7 or presenting as options. One option would be to reduce 8 staffing and reduce service levels. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: If I may follow up -- and 10 I think you kind of answered it. Little bit different 11 direction. And I don't know if you know the answer or not 12 to the question, but the two grants that the City received 13 to kind of make the library whole this year, they were, I 14 guess, presented such that this is a one-time -- 15 MR. MARTINEZ: Correct. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- operation or one-time 17 thing to allow the City and the County and the library more 18 time to look at the long-term operations? 19 MR. MARTINEZ: Right. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. 21 MR. MARTINEZ: Right. That's exactly 22 correct. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. 24 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Antonio, referring 25 to the 2004-2005 budget, I think you were aware that the 11-14-05 96 1 County had budgeted a significant amount less than requested 2 for its contribution for that -- that 2004-2005 budget. 3 MR. MARTINEZ: Mm-hmm. 4 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: And you talk about 5 getting these monthly reports that show -- show the 6 financials of the library. 7 MR. MARTINEZ: You're saying '04-'05? Or -- 8 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Yes. 9 MR. MARTINEZ: Okay. I was not aware there 10 was a significant reduction in that budget. 11 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Okay. Well, I think 12 it's safe to say that the Commissioners Court members and 13 the County Auditor were surprised to learn that the -- that 14 its -- its desire to reduce the County's contribution to the 15 library for '04-'05 was frustrated by somebody making a 16 decision to transfer moneys owed to the County from a 17 reserve account to make up the -- this so-called shortfall 18 in the county contribution. And what I'm seeing -- and I 19 hope the County Attorney's listening -- is that it appears 20 to me that County funds that were not budgeted and not 21 authorized were spent. And I'd like -- I'd like to hear 22 from the -- not now, but I'd like for the County Attorney to 23 consider that and to advise the Court if the law has been 24 violated in connection with the expenditure of public funds, 25 and if so, what are the remedies for that. 11-14-05 97 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think I'll just make a 2 comment on that. And I'm -- you know, maybe -- I know 3 Commissioner Nicholson has talked about it, so -- if a 4 refund to library and reserve funds were used. And I think 5 if something was done improperly, it should be brought out. 6 But the other side of it is, I think we are now in a 7 position with the City and -- City Council and new City 8 Manager to seriously look at the funding issues in a 9 long-term direction of the library, and that was the goal 10 the Commissioners Court had two years ago. It was a goal we 11 had this year. And I think it -- from what Antonio is 12 saying, that will happen this year. And while it may be a 13 little bit later in the proceedings than we had hoped, it is 14 going to happen, and that's the important part of the 15 discussion, in my mind. 16 JUDGE TINLEY: What I'm hearing is, and 17 repetitive of what the mayor said a short while ago, 18 communication. And that's -- that's the objective, not just 19 in this issue, but in all issues relative to City/County 20 ventures and -- and business, in an effort to try and, 21 number one, understand; number two, plan; and number three, 22 obtain the most efficient operation that we can accomplish 23 through whatever degree of communication it takes to get 24 there. And I'm -- I'm committed to that, and I know every 25 other member of this Court is. 11-14-05 98 1 MR. MARTINEZ: Another question Commissioner 2 Nicholson raised in terms of -- we've been calling it 3 accreditation for state participation. That will not become 4 an issue, since we have raised these foundation grants, so 5 we will match the expenditure level that's required for us 6 to continue to participate in that state level. 7 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: In our efforts to -- 8 to further consider and study the library -- what the 9 appropriate level of the library funding is, it would be 10 good information to know at what level is that jeopardized. 11 And you -- I know you can do that. 12 MR. MARTINEZ: Right. Well, the formula is 13 that they take an average of the most recent three years, 14 and that is called the maintenance of effort formula. And 15 every year that is compared, like I said, to the average of 16 the past three years, and if we go below that, then we lose 17 the accreditation. 18 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Thank you for being 19 here, Mr. Martinez. 20 MR. MARTINEZ: Okay. I think Mr. Brooks has 21 some additional items. 22 MR. BROOKS: Gentlemen, thanks. I really do 23 appreciate some of the information that y'all shared and the 24 comments about communication; I think those are very 25 important. Again, my name's Brian Brooks. I'm the Interim 11-14-05 99 1 Assistant City Manager. I want to bring up a couple things 2 that I think are important that deal specifically with this 3 issue. First of all, something I think that came out of our 4 dinner meeting was the understanding that the City would 5 provide to you periodic reports, and that's one of the 6 things I've come to bring to you today, is -- is, I guess, 7 the first month's report for FY '05, and I'll pass these out 8 and allow you to look these over. I'll make a few general 9 comments about it, but obviously, I'll reserve any specific 10 questions for the Commissioners to ask. The other thing 11 about this is, obviously, this -- this is probably a more 12 familiar context with the -- the Commissioners that are on 13 the Airport Board, 'cause we tried to follow a similar 14 format of -- of presenting this, and if this is -- is kind 15 of what the Commissioners have in mind, let us know. 16 We -- we are happy to produce this. This is 17 something we sort of produce internally ourselves, and I 18 think it -- as a joint venture, I think that the 19 Commissioners have a -- a right and an expectation to have 20 this kind of information given to them. We'll be more than 21 willing to give this to you. If you need a monthly report, 22 we can do that. I have a feeling you probably would 23 probably more prefer maybe a quarterly report for 24 understanding, since -- like, this is a great example. This 25 is October. We went through the first month. There's 11-14-05 100 1 some -- just some general first-month expenditures. There 2 are going to be some things that have to be amended. Mind 3 you, the approved budget '05-'06, is what was actually 4 officially passed. If you look on that very first page, 5 obviously, the subsidy was assumed to be 416,000 from Kerr 6 County. Obviously, we will amend that by resolution, but 7 we'll also amend that as a budget amendment. Also, we'd 8 have to add the revenue from the grants from Cailloux and 9 Peterson Foundations. So, would y'all like to go over a 10 real cursory look at this? Or, you know, if y'all can kind 11 of give me some guidance on how detailed you want. 12 JUDGE TINLEY: Your number one -- this is the 13 format that you present to -- to the staff and the members 14 of the Council of the City of Kerrville? 15 MR. BROOKS: Yes, sir. 16 JUDGE TINLEY: And I -- I think, at least my 17 understanding was, from the various meetings we've had, that 18 on any of these joint venture things that you folks are 19 dealing with, whatever format -- 20 MR. BROOKS: Okay. 21 JUDGE TINLEY: -- you provide it in, and at 22 whatever interval you provide it in -- 23 MR. BROOKS: Sure. 24 JUDGE TINLEY: -- in-house -- 25 MR. BROOKS: Mm-hmm. 11-14-05 101 1 JUDGE TINLEY: -- you know, just make 2 additional copies and provide it to us. And I think -- 3 MR. BROOKS: Sure. Absolutely. 4 JUDGE TINLEY: -- that would be acceptable. 5 Then, of course, if we have further questions, we can -- 6 MR. BROOKS: Absolutely. 7 JUDGE TINLEY: -- inquire and go from there. 8 MR. BROOKS: That's great. By the way, this 9 is actually a cleaner version than we usually give our own 10 staff. Our -- (Laughter.) 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Show off. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: This format is great, in 13 my opinion. 14 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah. 15 MR. BROOKS: Okay, I'm glad to know that. I 16 think -- again, I think Commissioner Letz and Commissioner 17 Tinley -- Judge Tinley both said that communication is the 18 key, and I think if this is a communication tool that y'all 19 want to see in the future, we can absolutely provide that. 20 So, let me make -- one other question. And, actually, this 21 is more of a question to the Court, because it was brought 22 up at the last Council meeting. And this is an odd month, 23 in that the -- that the Council meeting preceded the 24 Commissioners meeting by a week. So, the question is about 25 the definition of "operational costs," because as we are 11-14-05 102 1 working through these -- these details of -- of how we are 2 to react and work with each other, we've kind of begun to 3 wonder exactly what we meant when we worked on our 4 agreement, and one of the questions that was brought up is, 5 does the definition of "operational costs" include books or 6 not? Staff has recommended that -- that this does include 7 books, library -- any kind of library materials that go 8 towards the collection. I'm throwing that out to the 9 Commissioners Court to gauge some reaction and get some 10 comments that we can go back to the Council with. But they 11 had first reading of an ordinance that would amend the 12 Library Advisory Board, and this issue came up. They passed 13 it on first reading, but the Council has asked that we have 14 a resolution to this prior to the second reading. 15 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Brian, the question 16 in my mind was -- and I think others of my colleagues, had 17 to do with the categorization of those purchases. It was 18 listed as a capital item -- 19 MR. BROOKS: Mm-hmm. 20 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: -- I believe, instead 21 of something perhaps more routine under operations. Why 22 would that be listed as a capital item as opposed to an 23 operational -- basic operational item? 24 MR. BROOKS: Unfortunately, this is a victim 25 of what we have to deal with under the general acceptable 11-14-05 103 1 accounting practices. We have before been -- we have been 2 instructed by auditors that this -- that the collection in 3 its entirety be considered a capital item. Obviously, when 4 you buy one book that costs you $14, $15, $20, that is not a 5 capital purchase. However, because the collection's 6 extensive and the collection actually appreciates and 7 depreciates, that we have been asked by our auditor that 8 this be calculated as a capital asset, and a capital asset 9 we have to budget as a capital asset. That does us no good 10 and does y'all no good. This -- this is a -- this is 11 strictly an interpretation that we have to follow for 12 accounting purposes. It doesn't really give us a good 13 operational direction. So, unfortunately, it still has to 14 remain as a budgeted capital expenditure, because it is a 15 collection. However, it is -- it is the opinion of the 16 staff, and I think of City Council as well, that this is 17 considered -- this should be considered an operational 18 expense as well. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think the way to solve 20 it is just to amend the interlocal agreement, 'cause it says 21 capital items are the responsibility of the City, and just 22 say, "For the purposes of this contract, books are not 23 considered capital items." 24 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Commissioner, I 25 spoke with the then Assistant City Attorney, and what -- 11-14-05 104 1 what you've said is exactly what she told me, that some 2 accounting standards require the library books to be 3 considered capital. And, in my view -- that's okay, and I 4 understand that that's what they're saying, but in my view, 5 they're not capital; they're expense. In fact, they're 6 the -- the trade of a library, the stock in trade. And 7 also, from my view, I'd rather cut almost anything before I 8 cut on library and other literary materials. That's -- if 9 you don't keep that up, keep that current and -- and 10 sufficient numbers, that's the real indicator of quality of 11 your library. So, I -- I sure won't mind the County paying 12 its fair share for that line item. 13 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I do have one 14 question with regard to this, Brian. 15 MR. BROOKS: Yes, sir. 16 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: If you don't mind. 17 Typically, we look at budgets that are approved, and -- and 18 reporting on activity thereafter as sort of reflecting, to 19 the -- to the extent possible, one-twelfth of each budget. 20 MR. BROOKS: Mm-hmm. 21 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: And I'm looking at 22 the operating revenue side, and I'm just wondering if there 23 are any anomalies with respect to the month of October, 24 because that's -- what I'm looking at certainly doesn't 25 represent one-twelfth of those anticipated revenues. 11-14-05 105 1 MR. BROOKS: Correct. This -- there is one 2 anomaly. Obviously -- actually, it's the subsidy from the 3 County. We attribute that mainly to us trying to clarify 4 what the rules are. The County has not -- did not pay 5 through October 31st, through the first month. It usually 6 catches up. This has happened before in the past as we've 7 kind of tried to clarify our -- our -- our relationship and 8 the subsidy that we need to get, so that's really the only 9 anomaly. I think once that gets cleared up, I think you'll 10 see it more in the line of -- and add in -- excuse me, and 11 add in the Cailloux, you'd probably be well over the 12 one-month mark that we should be at. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: All right. 14 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Thank you. 15 JUDGE TINLEY: Any other questions for 16 Mr. Brooks? 17 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: No. I just want to 18 make a comment, though. I've been here 16 years, guys, and 19 I -- we had dinner Thursday night, and you provide us with a 20 report on Monday. I've never seen that happen before, and I 21 thank you very much, Mr. Mayor. Thank you very much for -- 22 for this. And this is communication, and I appreciate it. 23 MR. BROOKS: Thank you, gentlemen. 24 Appreciate your help. 25 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you, Mr. Brooks. We 11-14-05 106 1 appreciate that. 2 MAYOR SMITH: Judge, I might -- 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Oh, no. 4 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: How in the world -- 5 JUDGE TINLEY: I called Inky -- 6 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: How do you turn him on 7 and turn him off? 8 MAYOR SMITH: On our meeting, I think, set 9 for November the 21st, we will be approving -- and I'm not 10 speaking for the others, but I know there will be one vote 11 in favor of creating the Library Advisory Board. This board 12 will -- should settle a lot of the problems that have 13 occurred in the past. There will be three County 14 representatives and three City representatives, and it would 15 be the responsibilities of the people representing the 16 different -- the County and the City to communicate with 17 their other fellow members of their boards. And I think a 18 lot of these problems will be -- will be over. We have 19 created something like that for the library. We create our 20 own budget, so there will be City and County people working 21 on the budget. I would hate to tell them, well, you have to 22 have a lower budget or higher budget. Let them do their 23 job. And I hope we can let this old, dead horse die, and 24 let's move forward. 25 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you, sir. 11-14-05 107 1 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Thank you, sir. 2 JUDGE TINLEY: Anything further on that 3 particular agenda item? 4 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: God, don't stir him up 5 again. 6 JUDGE TINLEY: On Items 23 and 24, there's an 7 indication of possible executive session. Is the Court's 8 pleasure to move those to the back of the agenda? 9 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yes, sir. 10 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Yes. 11 JUDGE TINLEY: That's my thinking also. 12 Let's go to Item 25, if we might. Consider, discuss, and 13 take appropriate action concerning the construction project 14 at the Animal Control facility. 15 (Discussion off the record.) 16 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Judge and 17 Commissioners, again, I put this on the agenda in case that 18 -- to make it possible to make any decisions that might need 19 to be made. I don't have anything to offer you specifically 20 at this time, except that at 7 o'clock this morning, I 21 talked to one of the contractors, and he did get a permit 22 Friday, and construction is under way, and as soon as I have 23 the details on that permit, I'll get back in touch with him. 24 JUDGE TINLEY: Anything further? 25 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: And part of that is 11-14-05 108 1 the -- is the sidewalk issue? Or -- 2 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: As soon as I get the 3 details, Commissioner. 4 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay. 5 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Maybe I -- you know, 6 I -- I've heard about it, but I want to see the permit. 7 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay. Very good. 8 JUDGE TINLEY: Let's go back to Item 18; 9 consider, discuss, and take appropriate action on interlocal 10 agreement with Kendall County -- with Kendall County 11 concerning the Government Trapper contract. Commissioner 12 Letz. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I put this on the agenda. 14 We discussed it briefly during the budget process. Since 15 then, I've met with the U.S.D.A. Trapper Service and the 16 Commissioner from Kendall County, and we are all in 17 agreement to enter into an interlocal agreement to do this. 18 We want to present it to the two courts; Rusty Busby is 19 presenting it to Kendall County today and I'm presenting it 20 to our Court. What this does, it's a win-win for both 21 counties. Kerr County currently has one trapper, and by the 22 nature of the workload, most of that time is spent in west 23 Kerr County. It's more -- I guess more demand out there. 24 Kendall County has two trappers, and they just made a change 25 of who those two individuals are. They have excellent 11-14-05 109 1 trappers now they've hired. The problem is that without an 2 interlocal agreement, the Kendall County Trapper, even 3 though they're both U.S.D.A. employees, can't set foot into 4 Kerr County, and there are ranches that straddle the county 5 line, and plus the way they work in the sheep and goat 6 industry and all that. 7 There's -- I was approached by a number of 8 constituents in eastern Kerr County to see if we couldn't 9 figure out a way to get the Kendall County Trapper to come 10 into part of Kerr County, and I've outlined the -- the 11 tentative agreement that I'm proposing. Kerr County will 12 pay to Kendall County $5,000. These funds are budgeted in 13 our budget this year. Kendall County Trapper will provide 14 trapping services in eastern Kerr County in the area that -- 15 we did -- we tried to go by major roads, make it a little 16 bit simpler to define. It will be everything to the east of 17 Elm Pass to Stoneleigh Road to Shultz Road, and that kind of 18 runs between Precincts 2 and 3 in eastern Kerr County. And, 19 to my knowledge, there's no ranches that straddle those 20 roads. It's a little bit of a gray area up around Whiskey 21 Canyon, but the Trapper Service figured they can work that 22 out internally. 23 This agreement has been agreed to by 24 U.S.D.A., the state office, and currently the Kendall County 25 Attorney is -- assuming this gets support by both counties, 11-14-05 110 1 is going to draft the agreement, and then it will be 2 forwarded to Rex for form approval from Kerr County 3 standpoint. I'll just point out that the -- you know, the 4 Trapper Service -- I know it sounds like they just do 5 trapping, which obviously they do. They help control feral 6 hogs. Coyotes are probably the biggest, but other things as 7 well. They also work with the -- something I didn't know 8 till our meeting; they trap quite a few buzzards every year. 9 They have a permit to trap 2,000 buzzards. Buzzards in 10 certain areas are causing a lot of damage to L.C.R.A. poles 11 and other power poles. There's actually a place in eastern 12 Kerr County where they're destroying a roof of a house, so 13 they've trapped 400 at that place. I can't -- anyway, but 14 it's interesting. So, buzzards are also -- but that's not 15 really part of this, but I just thought more on kind of 16 different individuals. 17 But, the really important thing the Trapper 18 Service does, they're the entity that is front line of 19 rabies control -- or I guess second line of defense. 20 They're the ones that do the dropping of the bait that we 21 hear about on the San Antonio news frequently, primarily for 22 fox. They are also looking at some mechanisms to 23 additionally drop bait for feral hogs and coyotes that will 24 help sterilize those animals and prevent the growth. But -- 25 so, it goes far beyond just trapping. And feral hogs are 11-14-05 111 1 becoming a real problem county-wide, as are coyotes. I was 2 talking to Rusty during our break. The -- you can go out 3 anywhere almost every evening and hear coyotes, even in the 4 city of Kerrville as well. I think this is a good proposal, 5 in my opinion. We get a trapper that's excellent in part of 6 our county, and he's going to spend 20 percent of his time 7 in Kerr County. And I'll move approval of the agenda item, 8 subject to County Attorney approval -- or reviewing the 9 interlocal agreement when it comes. 10 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Second. 11 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 12 approval of the agenda item, subject to the County 13 Attorney's review and approval of the document. Any 14 question or discussion? 15 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Go ahead. 16 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Is this an 17 additional $5,000, or is this -- 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It's in the budget. 19 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Okay. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It's budgeted. We 21 budgeted for this. 22 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Second question is, 23 how many buzzards does it take to make a good size gumbo? 24 (Laughter.) 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'll defer on that one. 11-14-05 112 1 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Why is the 2 interlocal -- interlocal agreement between Kerr and Kendall? 3 How is it -- U.S.D.A.'s got to come in there somewhere. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: They really don't. The 5 counties fund the salaries. 6 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I see. Okay. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And so the agreement's 8 between the counties, and we just give Kendall County -- it 9 goes into their general fund, but it comes back out into -- 10 it works out. 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Super. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So they're not part of 13 the agreement, which is good. 14 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah, really. 15 JUDGE TINLEY: Did that occur by a shift of 16 some funds which were previously -- would have been in the 17 Kerr County Trapper's budget, in their budget, or was there 18 some adjustment there? 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: No. 20 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: No, there was an 22 additional amount that we funded, and during budget 23 negotiations, this is an item that I pushed for, as I think 24 it's important for the eastern part of the county. And when 25 we were doing the final budget review, we deleted $5,000 11-14-05 113 1 elsewhere in the budget, which was specifically in the Water 2 Development, to be able to fund this. 3 JUDGE TINLEY: But what it does do is allows 4 the Kerr County Trapper to be able to concentrate more of 5 his efforts in -- in the other 80 percent of the county and 6 be more efficient and effective there? 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Correct. And under the 8 agreement, I might add, is that U.S.D.A.'s input is the Kerr 9 County Tracker -- Trapper will not trap in the eastern part 10 of the county. They didn't want to over -- they were 11 actually -- they were more afraid of the -- this new 12 trapper's pretty gung-ho, and Kendall County wanted to make 13 sure that he didn't start spending all his time out at the 14 Y.O. and other places in west Kerr County. So, it's kind of 15 divided up that way, so we gained 20 percent. 16 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Just a question out 17 of ignorance. Does the trapper do only trapping, or does he 18 actually shoot a predator if he has the opportunity? 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: He will not -- he has to 20 get a -- any property owner that uses this service has to 21 enter into an agreement with U.S.D.A. At no cost, but it 22 kind of outlines -- the landowner keeps control. And in 23 that contract, it can say whether they use cyanide or other 24 bait, or snares or trapping or shooting from aircraft. But 25 it's up to the landowner, at no charge. But they -- they 11-14-05 114 1 use -- in west Kerr County, they use helicopters quite a 2 bit. 3 JUDGE TINLEY: Any other questions or 4 comments? All in favor of the motion, signify by raising 5 your right hand. 6 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 7 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 8 (No response.) 9 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. Let's 10 go -- 11 MS. NEMEC: Judge? I'd like your 12 consideration on 1.23. The employee that this agenda item 13 pertains to will be tied up in court all afternoon, and she 14 will not be available after lunch. 15 JUDGE TINLEY: That's an executive session 16 item that the Court asked to defer until the end. Based on 17 that information -- 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I mean, I have no problem 19 going into executive session right now. Makes no 20 difference. I don't -- I'm not sure why -- I wasn't 21 expecting the employee to be here, but that's fine. I guess 22 if the employee wants to address the Court. 23 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: 1.23? 24 MS. NEMEC: Yes, sir. 25 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: What -- what's the 11-14-05 115 1 difference -- I mean, the employee's not here. What's the 2 difference between doing it now and this afternoon? 3 JUDGE TINLEY: Well, the employee is here. 4 The employee -- 5 MS. NEMEC: The employee is here right now. 6 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: In this room? 7 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. I'm not -- 8 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay. 9 JUDGE TINLEY: I'm not sure that there's a 10 reason for the employee to be here, but that's a whole 11 'nother issue. But is it the pleasure of the Court, then, 12 to move on that item, or to we want to try and hit some more 13 and just get closer to straight up and then do it? 14 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Why don't we get 15 closer to straight up? Let's do it before lunch. 16 JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah, we'll get to it before 17 lunch. 18 MS. NEMEC: Thank you. 19 JUDGE TINLEY: We'll probably hit it just 20 before then. I don't see that item taking a great deal of 21 time. Do you? 22 MS. NEMEC: I don't think so. 23 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Okay. Let's go to Item 24 19, consider, discuss, and take appropriate action on Kerr 25 County Subdivision Rules and Regulations. You're not going 11-14-05 116 1 to run us till noon, are you? 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: We're going pretty quick 3 on the next two. 4 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay, good. Glad to hear 5 that. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'm happy to say that we 7 have a draft of the new Kerr County Subdivision Rules and 8 Regulations, so I'll hand them out to every member of the 9 Court. And that's pretty much the extent of what we're 10 going to talk about today. I have received a fair amount of 11 input from a number of individuals; however, this draft has 12 not been reviewed by anyone other than me, so I really don't 13 want to get into the details of the discussions. I would 14 recommend that -- and it will be available for all county 15 departments as well, because it does affect quite a few. 16 There are a lot of changes, hundreds of changes. Some of 17 them, you know, changing typos, and many of them very 18 substantive, changing road widths, changing types of 19 materials used on roads, changing lot sizes and requirements 20 under -- for O.S.S.F. There's a -- in the last five years, 21 state law has changed in a number of areas, so I just 22 encourage everyone to take time to read it. We'll probably 23 try to sit down with Rex, after he's gone through it, and 24 kind of really go through it in a little more closer detail. 25 I have some areas of -- or questions. 11-14-05 117 1 Our main authority comes under Chapter 232, 2 which is not an easy statute to understand and read. 3 There's some things that you can't find this time that are 4 in our old rules, and I've left it to him, because I'm -- 5 you know, I want to make sure I don't take something out 6 that needs to be in there, but we may be able to simplify a 7 couple areas as well. So, all that being said, everyone 8 look through it. My -- I think the direction I'd like to go 9 would be at our next meeting, receive all the comments by 10 then. I don't think it will take a great deal of time to 11 incorporate that into the rules. And then, probably at our 12 first meeting in December, hand out a final version that 13 could then go out to the public to review for 30 days, and 14 then sometime in mid to late January, hopefully adopt the 15 new rules. 16 I will make a comment that there's a couple 17 of areas that I have not spent time on yet. One is on the 18 appendices; I've not really looked at those. I was trying 19 to get the main body done, so some of the references may not 20 be correct if they're not attached right now. But if you 21 look back at some of the other appendices also, I have not 22 looked at -- certifications have changed under the platting 23 process, but I want to look at that a little bit more 24 closely again with Rex. I really -- my goal is to ease up 25 on the plats, make it a little bit simpler to get through. 11-14-05 118 1 We were going in a direction several years ago of putting so 2 much information on there that I thought was lost. I'm not 3 sure it's all required, and I think we really need to look 4 at Chapter 232 for all that information. There's a lot of 5 O.S.S.F. information that needs to be required in the plat 6 process, but I don't know that it needs to be on the plat 7 itself. But, I don't know; I'll visit with Rex and Miguel 8 about some of that and some other issues. 9 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Comment I'd like to 10 make. Commissioner Letz and I were over at the City Hall 11 the other day visiting with the City Manager and Planner 12 regarding the ETJ issue, and we are sitting down and putting 13 our rules and the city rules side-by-side and making some 14 comparisons -- as an example, width of roads and width of 15 pavement, driving surface and that kind of thing -- to see 16 if there's something that we can tweak to make us a little 17 bit closer to them to make this ETJ thing a little more 18 compatible with each other, so it won't be like pulling 19 teeth to get it done. I mean, I -- anyway, we're -- we're 20 comparing the two, and there possibly -- Jon, I may be out 21 of line by saying this, but I think it's possible that we 22 may be even tweaking this a little bit. Just a tad. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: We've made a few tweaks 24 to this to get -- on roads to make them a little bit -- I 25 think Leonard supports it as well. Road widths are widened 11-14-05 119 1 on some of the lesser standard roads. 2 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Good deal. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So, anyway, I think it's 4 a good first step, but there are problems, sure. Still 5 mistakes and things need to be added and corrected. I've 6 gone through it so many times, I'm not sure if I'm coming or 7 going any more. We need to get it through now, 'cause I'm 8 so confused now between our new rules and old rules... 9 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Yeah. 10 JUDGE TINLEY: How difficult would it be to 11 obtain a red-line version? 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Very difficult. 13 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 14 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Commissioner? 15 JUDGE TINLEY: Good thought, but it didn't 16 work. 17 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: The acreage 18 requirements on lots, are they relaxed? Other than the 19 high-density rule. 20 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Looks the same. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It's about the same. 22 Basically the same; not a big change there. It's a little 23 bit different with the -- you know, they're basically the 24 same. 25 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: I really admire and 11-14-05 120 1 appreciate the work that you do that goes into all this. 2 It's -- I know it takes up a lot of hours, and you're the 3 right one to do it, 'cause you're the guru. 4 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah. 5 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: You know this stuff. 6 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Bless thee, oh guru. 7 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Commissioner, you 8 want our comments in writing, or just our comments on the 9 24th meeting? 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'd prefer you to make 11 them on this draft, because it's a -- 12 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Okay. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: You know, and then we can 14 kind of look at them and come up with a new version. It's 15 a -- or either way. Just get them back to me somehow, and 16 then we'll kind of discuss them and see. To answer your 17 question, Judge, there are so many -- they've been -- this 18 draft has gone through probably five rewrites since I got it 19 to a one-version draft, and trying to go back and pick up 20 all the changes, it literally -- I told Leonard this 21 earlier; there are hundreds and hundreds of changes. 22 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Some of them significant, 24 some of them very insignificant. 25 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Anything further on 11-14-05 121 1 this item? 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Rex? 3 MR. EMERSON: No, I was just asking if I'm 4 going to get a copy so I can -- 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Here it is. 6 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Just a related 7 question, Judge. Is there any sense of -- 8 MR. EMERSON: Thank you. 9 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: -- the ultimate 10 outcome of the deliberations between the County and the City 11 about what rules will apply -- will apply to the ETJ? 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It's -- well, where we're 13 going to probably end up going, I think the agreement is 14 that we're going to probably divide the ETJ up into City 15 responsibility areas and County responsibility areas, with 16 more of the ETJ probably going to the City than the same 17 with the County. And it makes sense that way. And they 18 have a -- a rural standard which is different than the city 19 standards, so people shouldn't think that when they're in 20 the -- you know, that the same standards are going to be 21 required for subdivision platting, 'cause in many areas 22 theirs are easier than ours. It's not -- it doesn't 23 necessarily all go the other direction. Like, for example, 24 curb and gutters -- that may not be a good example. 25 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That's a very good 11-14-05 122 1 example. (Laughter.) 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: That's a bad example. 3 But they're looking -- but in some areas, you know, 4 they're -- you know, they have to have different standards 5 in the rural areas, and -- and they're looking at their 6 rules as well in the rural area to see if they're reasonable 7 as well. 8 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: But the -- a developer 9 is not -- is no longer going to have to go to both 10 government entities and pay fees at both places and that 11 kind of thing. They're going to go to one, which is -- that 12 should have been done 100 years ago. 13 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: That's a big step 14 forward. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. 16 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: And when I get all 17 the facts to you on the adding on to the Animal Control 18 facility, I'll be able to give you some -- some ideas about 19 firsthand experience about the difference between building 20 in Kerrville and building in the county. 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah. 22 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Let's move to Item 20 23 quickly; consider, discuss, and take appropriate action on 24 Kerr County Water Availability Requirements. Commissioner 25 Letz again. 11-14-05 123 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Water availability goes 2 hand-in-hand with subdivision rules. There's a new draft. 3 It's not a whole lot different than the last draft that I 4 handed out. I will make note, though, that last week -- 5 Wednesday, I think? -- Commissioner Williams and I attended 6 a Headwaters board meeting, and we discussed this water 7 availability at great length. Not sure we have a total 8 meeting of the minds with everyone on the board. Not sure 9 with anyone on the board, necessarily, but I'm going to have 10 lunch with one of the board members, Gordon Morgan, today 11 and go over some ideas, so there nay be some changes in 12 here. I personally am quite comfortable with the Water 13 Availability Requirements as I've drafted that are -- kind 14 of go hand-in-hand with subdivision rules. The big area of 15 contention is that counties also have the ability to adopt a 16 very -- either the entirety or a variance of it, of Texas 17 Administrative Code, Section 230. We chose -- and it's a 18 whole section, and it's right here and it's pretty thick. 19 And it's, in my mind, very onerous regarding water 20 availability. 21 Any county can adopt T.A.C. 230, and it gives 22 -- tells exactly how subdivisions are approved from a water 23 availability standpoint. If you're in a Priority 24 Groundwater Management Area, you have an option of modifying 25 this or coming up with your own entire -- own version. We 11-14-05 124 1 are a Priority Groundwater Management Area county, which 2 gives us the ability to draft the agreement that I've 3 drafted. The main -- well, I think -- personally think that 4 T.A.C. 230 is totally unreasonable and the amount of 5 information required is redundant and it's -- and there's -- 6 while it's -- a lot of people hold it up as a great 7 document, every time you read anything, it's up to the 8 professional opinion of the geologist. Well, my experience 9 is that, you know, you can find a geologist that will say 10 any -- like anything else, engineers -- will say whatever 11 you want. So, it's a big question as to what that actually 12 says or what the authority under T.A.C. 230 is. 13 The issue that Headwaters likes out of it, or 14 some of the board members like, is that it does require a -- 15 a test well and an observation well to be drilled on every 16 subdivision, which is at least one test well and at least 17 one observation well. And you do a -- a pump test to find 18 out how much water is available in the aquifer at that 19 point. That's not all bad. The cost isn't too bad. But as 20 it is -- as is outlined in T.A.C. 230, I would totally be 21 nonsupportive of it. There may be a way to make something 22 that in some subdivisions, we do something like that; I 23 wouldn't object to that too much. But, for example, in 24 T.A.C. 230, there's no provision for a 5-acre subdivision 25 versus a 2,000-acre subdivision, so either one would have to 11-14-05 125 1 drill two wells, and I think that's just unreasonable. The 2 other requirements, it's just, in my mind, absurd to require 3 that much. 4 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: In T.A.C. 230? 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. But we can -- we 6 don't have to accept it. If we were to require some test 7 wells to be drilled, we can develop our own criteria. We 8 don't have to adopt T.A.C. 230. And every county that I'm 9 aware of that is touted to have adopted T.A.C. 230, which is 10 Gillespie, Kendall, and Bandera right around us, in reality, 11 they have not adopted it. They've adopted a variation of 12 it, and require a -- you know, significantly less of a 13 requirement than T.A.C. 230. So, anyway, anyone that wants 14 to look at that, I'll probably -- I'll probably run off -- 15 I'll have Kathy put a copy of it in each of your boxes. 16 It's interesting. And the communication -- the lines of 17 communication are still open, and there may be a change to 18 water availability based on what Headwaters' position is. 19 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Give me -- just real 20 quick, give me the top 25 reasons you would drill a test 21 well. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: The -- as an example -- 23 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I mean, are we proving 24 that there's adequate water? 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: You're proving adequate 11-14-05 126 1 water. If you drill a test well and an observation well, 2 what you do, you do a 24-hour pump test, basically, which 3 means you go down to the water, you complete the well, the 4 main well, and you pump full-bore as much as you can for 24 5 hours, and then you see what the effect is on the 6 neighboring -- on the observation well, and that gives you a 7 good idea of the extent, quality, everything else of the 8 aquifer at that location. 9 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: One well per 10 subdivision, regardless of the size of the subdivision? 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: The -- the language says 12 a minimum of one, but up to the discretion of the consulting 13 engineer or geologist or engineer. And I think developers 14 are going to find -- tend to find there's only one test 15 well, but it's kind of gray there. So, it's kind of -- and 16 that's one of the problems I have with T.A.C. 230. It 17 doesn't -- it just says a minimum of one. Well, if you're 18 in a big subdivision, one well isn't sufficient to be a 19 guarantee that there's groundwater there. And I just am a 20 little bit -- and also am a little bit concerned; I want to 21 probably visit with Rex a little bit about it. If you adopt 22 this and they go out there and prove that there's -- say 23 they go out to Ingram area or to where they've had some huge 24 wells come in recently, and there -- and that well proves up 25 that there is -- you know, you can go on a 1-acre density 11-14-05 127 1 out there, and population on a community water system. Does 2 that mean that they've proved up water availability a lot 3 more than what we're saying that we allow right now? And, 4 whereas if you go somewhere else in the county, you may not, 5 and I can see some conflicts coming in that way. 6 I think it's important that we work with 7 Headwaters. I think, in reality, if you look at our acreage 8 requirements and their pumping limits, we're pretty closely 9 meshed right now. So, while it would be nice to have a 10 whole lot of test wells drilled, I'm not sure that it's 11 worth the effort. I think that the Headwaters is drilling a 12 number of test wells and monitor wells around. There are a 13 lot some of the newer ones that I understand they're trying 14 to do pump tests on. I think we're getting the information 15 that we need. But I'm still willing to listen to Headwaters 16 board if they have an official opinion. 17 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I think it's an 18 absolute must that we do, you know, the availability 19 requirements. I -- I personally think it's ridiculous to 20 drill test wells, 'cause we know there's water down there. 21 But if we got to do it, we got to do it. 22 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Well, the argument 23 seems to be coming on -- as Jon noted, I attended that same 24 Headwaters meeting, because I really wanted to hear the 25 questions that were posed to Commissioner Letz by members of 11-14-05 128 1 the Headwaters board, 'cause one member of the Headwaters 2 board is from Precinct 2, and he raised some significant 3 questions about the availability of water in areas in 4 Precinct 2 versus the availability of water in areas other 5 than -- other locations in the county, here or in west Kerr, 6 and suggesting that there may not be as much water available 7 in certain areas of Precinct 2 and in the eastern part of 8 Kerr County. So, I wanted to hear all the questions that I 9 -- and Jon's response, and I'll commend Commissioner Letz 10 for taking the time and -- and the effort in his responses 11 and fielding the questions for over about an hour or more at 12 the Headwaters board meeting. This same member of the 13 Headwaters board has given the Court his argument for the 14 Administrative Code 230 in Kerr County, which would support 15 his point of view that we need to have test wells. Which 16 prompts me to ask -- and Dr. Morgan is in the audience right 17 now. I just need to ruminate with him just a minute. 18 Headwaters is engaged in a series of -- of test wells 19 located throughout the county. Is that correct, Dr. Morgan? 20 MR. MORGAN: That's correct. 21 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: And how many of those 22 wells are in -- in the eastern part or Precinct 2 that would 23 shed some light on this issue? 24 MR. MORGAN: We have -- we drilled two in the 25 eastern part, one more or less in the southern part, and two 11-14-05 129 1 in the west. 2 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: And do you have any 3 more plans for others in the eastern part of Kerr County? 4 MR. MORGAN: There will be others as needed, 5 uh-huh. 6 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: In this fiscal year 7 or subsequent years or what? 8 MR. MORGAN: There's money in there to drill 9 probably at least one more, other than the two that are 10 coming out of this year's budget. There are two that we're 11 completing or did complete last week or the week before. 12 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Is it too early to 13 assess any information or data that's being collected from 14 those eastern county wells? 15 MR. MORGAN: The eastern county wells are -- 16 have been in effect for quite some time, and have been 17 monitored for at least two and a half years. 18 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: And what are they 19 showing us? 20 MR. MORGAN: Not much change at all. 21 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Okay. 22 MR. MORGAN: But they're not -- you know, 23 they're in areas that are not concentrated with population, 24 so basically they're a static water level measurement. 25 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Thank you. 11-14-05 130 1 JUDGE TINLEY: Anything further on that item? 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: The water availability 3 will be back on the agenda next time, and -- after meeting 4 with Dr. Morgan a little bit, and see if they have any 5 additional input. 6 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I'd like to hide in 7 the restaurant where y'all have lunch and see which one is 8 going to buy. Both of you are tightwads. 9 JUDGE TINLEY: You can go and you'll get 10 stuck with the bill. 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah. I'm not about 12 to. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Hill Country Cafe. Come 14 on. 15 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I wouldn't miss it. I 16 wouldn't miss it. 17 JUDGE TINLEY: Let's move on. We will now go 18 out of open or public session, and it's straight-up 19 12 o'clock, noon. 20 (The open session was closed at 12:00 p.m., and an executive session was held, the 21 transcript of which is contained in a separate document.) 22 - - - - - - - - - - 23 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. It's 12:28 p.m., and 24 we're now back in open -- open or public session, and at 25 this time we'll stand in recess until 1:45. 11-14-05 131 1 (Recess taken from 12:28 p.m. to 1:50 p.m.) 2 - - - - - - - - - - 3 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Let's come back to 4 order. We were in recess until 1:45. It's past that time 5 now. Well go to Item 26; consider, discuss, and take 6 appropriate action on ethics requirements for public 7 employees seeking elected office. Commissioner Letz? 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I put this on the agenda 9 mainly to get Rex to do the work. (Laughter.) I just 10 thought that -- it seems this year we probably have more 11 contested races, which is a good thing in my opinion, in 12 Kerr County. But because of that, it also means that 13 there'll be more -- probably more campaigning. I just 14 thought it would be a good opportunity to make all elected 15 officials -- or remind all elected officials and County 16 employees that are running for elected office that there are 17 some do's and don'ts about using county office space, 18 facilities, telephones, computers, paper, and on down the 19 line when you're running for elected office. So, I thought 20 Rex could give us a brief update. 21 MR. EMERSON: I think you pretty well covered 22 it. 23 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: You just gave it. 24 MR. EMERSON: Yeah. Don't use public assets 25 for private gain, which means don't use your public office 11-14-05 132 1 or assets to run for office. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: What is -- 3 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Go ahead. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: A question on -- like, 5 okay. Obviously, some of the things that -- obviously, you 6 can't Xerox a bunch of campaign literature from a county 7 computer -- or county copier and use that. What about 8 things like wearing election pins in the courthouse? 9 MR. EMERSON: I think that's probably y'all's 10 policy. That's probably -- I don't know that there's 11 anything in particular, unless there's an election in 12 progress at the time, and then there's restrictions. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: What about petition 14 drives and things? Can they be done in the courthouse? 15 MS. NEMEC: No. 16 MS. MITCHELL: Huh-uh, no. 17 MR. EMERSON: I don't think they're supposed 18 to, Jonathan. 19 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: What did the County do 20 last year with the signs on the courthouse yard? Not just 21 during the election. 22 MR. HOLEKAMP: Pull them up. 23 MR. EMERSON: Yeah. I was told not to put 24 them here; I know that. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Anyway, that kind of 11-14-05 133 1 covers it. I just thought it would be a good opportunity 2 just to remind everybody that there are some ethics rules 3 that everyone needs to follow, and hope everyone follows 4 them. 5 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Well, it not only 6 applies to employees seeking public office; it would seem to 7 me it also applies to County employees assisting candidates 8 who are seeking public office, would it not? 9 MR. EMERSON: As far as using assets, yeah. 10 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Or time. 11 MR. EMERSON: Or time. Or soliciting 12 petitions in the courthouse, that kind of stuff, yeah. 13 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: So, it goes on both 14 sides of the street. 15 MR. EMERSON: By the same token, you have a 16 freedom of speech issue. There's nothing to keep Employee A 17 from telling Employee B in the hall out here what they're 18 doing. 19 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: That's true. 20 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: We had a pretty 21 vigorous discussion about this a year or so ago, and -- and 22 that fine line between free speech and -- and maintaining an 23 appropriate arm's-length distance from those things by 24 officials and employees. It gets to be a pretty fine line 25 sometimes. 11-14-05 134 1 JUDGE TINLEY: Commissioner Williams, I note 2 Commissioner Letz mentioned we had a number of contested 3 races; that he thought that was a good thing. I don't 4 recall him having said that two years ago. Do you? 5 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: No. It's just -- it's 6 a cycle. See, it's good in this cycle. Next cycle, it's 7 not good. 8 JUDGE TINLEY: Oh, okay. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It's every two years, 10 it's good -- every four years, excuse me. 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Everybody knows that. 12 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: It wasn't any good 13 two years ago. It's bad stuff. 14 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: You can tell the new 15 politicians. 16 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I notice he didn't 17 bring the topic up two years ago, either. 18 JUDGE TINLEY: I don't remember it. He could 19 have, but I certainly don't remember it. 20 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: We thought everybody 21 understood that. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: On that cycle, everyone 23 knows the rules. This time, we thought we'd make sure 24 everyone knows. 25 JUDGE TINLEY: I see. 11-14-05 135 1 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I see. I got you. 2 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Have we got anything 3 else on that particular agenda item? 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: That's it. 5 JUDGE TINLEY: Let's move on, then, and go to 6 Item 27; consider, discuss, and take appropriate action 7 authorizing Employee Health Benefits insurance consultant to 8 advertise and solicit bids for stop loss insurance for 2006 9 Employee Health Benefits program. I put this on the agenda 10 at the request of our insurance consultant. And, as he 11 indicated when he was here last time, he wanted to go ahead 12 and solicit bids for the -- for the stop loss coverage, and 13 he's ready to move forward on that, and -- but he needs our 14 okay to do that. 15 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Make a motion. 16 JUDGE TINLEY: No. 17 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I'll sit and watch, 18 then. 19 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 20 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Let's make him make a 21 motion. So moved. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 23 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That didn't last long, 24 did it? 25 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 11-14-05 136 1 the agenda item. 2 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Question. 3 JUDGE TINLEY: Any question or discussion? 4 Commissioner Williams? 5 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Does -- does this 6 authorization to consult and to advertise include the 7 services of the local agent? Or is that separate and apart 8 and different from -- 9 JUDGE TINLEY: That's separate and apart and 10 different from, as far as I know. Well, with the exception, 11 when -- when the bids come in for the stop loss insurance, 12 presumably there's going to be agents attached to each one 13 of them, I would think. 14 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Yeah, but the local 15 agent -- correct me if I'm wrong, Madam Treasurer -- but the 16 agent theoretically provides services with respect to the 17 program other than just the stop loss portion; is that 18 correct? 19 MS. NEMEC: Correct. He is the agent for our 20 health insurance coverage with Mutual of Omaha, and he is 21 also the agent for whatever stop loss company that has the 22 best bid. And it's my understanding that only the stop loss 23 coverage is what's being bid out right now. 24 JUDGE TINLEY: That's correct. That's 25 correct, only the stop loss coverage is being bid. 11-14-05 137 1 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Let me get a question 2 in similar to that, then. When the bids come in and our 3 guru in San Antonio looks at them, should our agent be a 4 part of that evaluation? 5 JUDGE TINLEY: Well, the agent will be part 6 of the evaluation as it pertains to the stop loss coverage, 7 I would think. I think they're necessarily connected. 8 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So, our agent's going 9 to be notified that -- that he's going to be in San Antonio, 10 that he's going to be opening up and going through them, so 11 he needs to drive over from Seguin to go through it with 12 him? 13 JUDGE TINLEY: No. The consultant will be 14 the one that advertises for the bids from stop loss 15 carriers, and presumably he -- he's got a pretty good idea 16 who's in that market, and he's going to -- he's going to 17 issue the solicitation for bids and see that it gets -- 18 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I thought we were just 19 saying, though, that our agent was involved in that. 20 JUDGE TINLEY: Not in the solicitation for 21 bids, no. 22 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I understand that. I 23 understand that he's not in the solicitation, but carrying 24 the program out and being a part of it from that point on, 25 wouldn't he be? 11-14-05 138 1 JUDGE TINLEY: There will be an agent 2 involved with the stop loss carrier, yes. 3 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Is that our agent in 4 Seguin, Texas? 5 MS. NEMEC: Yes. 6 JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah, he is now. As to the -- 7 the Mutual -- an agency of Mutual of Omaha, whatever its 8 insuring arm is, is currently that stop loss carrier. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Let me ask a different 10 question. My question -- I thought after our last meeting 11 that we were going to look at agents as well. 12 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: That's why I asked 13 the question. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And -- and I thought that 15 we could do that -- I mean, we're not changing -- as I 16 understand, we're not changing Mutual of Omaha as being 17 our -- 18 JUDGE TINLEY: Admin. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- our administrator. 20 JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But we may change the 22 agent that represents Mutual of Omaha? 23 JUDGE TINLEY: Well, we don't know who the 24 stop loss insurer is yet. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. But, either way, 11-14-05 139 1 we're going to have a -- someone's going to represent Mutual 2 of Omaha and the stop loss carrier, but we don't know who 3 that is yet. How do we determine who that person is going 4 to be? Or that -- what agency is going to represent the 5 stop loss carrier and Mutual of Omaha to the County? 6 JUDGE TINLEY: As far as I know, that's going 7 to be determined -- it's going to be -- the bids that are 8 presented to the consultant, which will come before this 9 Court, each of those bids will have an agent or agents 10 attached to them. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. So, it's the same 12 way we got the -- the winning bid last time, where Wallace 13 and Associates was the company that sent in that bid that 14 was ultimately awarded? 15 JUDGE TINLEY: Mm-hmm. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: We're going to get 17 agents -- we're going to be submitting bids again, so we may 18 have -- 19 JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But this time -- well, I 21 guess the stop loss carrier -- stop loss carrier doesn't 22 have to be Mutual of Omaha. 23 JUDGE TINLEY: No. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But anyone submitting a 25 bid is going to have to be a Mutual of Omaha agent. 11-14-05 140 1 JUDGE TINLEY: No. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: How will -- 3 JUDGE TINLEY: Absolutely not. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: How would that work? I 5 mean, how is it -- 6 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Well, let me ask it 7 another way. What -- what if a stop loss carrier other than 8 Mutual of Omaha presented a bid to us that we determined was 9 in our best interests to accept? Does that automatically 10 convey with it a new agent, or the same agent? And if it's 11 the same agent, is it too late, then, for us to determine we 12 want to change agents? 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Rex is trying to say 14 something. 15 MR. EMERSON: I don't know the exact answer 16 to your question, okay? But I can tell you that our current 17 insurance policy does not address who the agent is. The 18 actual contract does not specify who the agent is, and in 19 fact states that we have control of the policy and the 20 delegation thereof. So, I presume by that -- and the Judge 21 has done a whole lot more than I have in that arena, but I 22 presume by that you could designate whatever agent you 23 wanted to. 24 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: But we need to have 25 -- have a bid for those services, would we not? 11-14-05 141 1 MR. EMERSON: I would think so. 2 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Put it out for bid. 3 MR. EMERSON: There's a lot of money 4 involved, yeah. 5 JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah. 6 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: So that gets me back 7 to my original question. Should -- should our authorization 8 for stop loss insurance also include authorization to go out 9 for bids for a local agent? 10 JUDGE TINLEY: Well, if you're -- if you're 11 going to limit it to local agents, I think you need to let 12 the consultant know. I'm not sure about the legalities, if 13 you can limit bids to local agents; I don't know that. 14 That's something for that gentleman. 15 MR. EMERSON: Well, one thing to think about. 16 Typically, the agent is paid by the insurance company. 17 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Mm-hmm. 18 MR. EMERSON: And I'm not sure you would have 19 to take bids for designating a new agent if all the 20 payment's coming from the insurance company and not from the 21 County. I seriously doubt that the insurance company cares 22 who you have as an agent. 23 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Well, I seem to 24 recall that under our current scenario, when the consultant 25 came in and made a recommendation for the package that we 11-14-05 142 1 now have, he also made a recommendation for the local agent 2 that was different than the one we had before, and he stated 3 his reasons why, and we accepted that. Now, we didn't go 4 out for bid for him, you're right. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: My recollection is 6 different than that. My recollection is that we received 7 bids all through various agents, and we had, as I recall, 8 two or three Mutual of Omaha bids from different agents, and 9 we went with the one that gave us the best -- you know, 10 based on what was submitted, the best package. But Mutual 11 of Omaha was presented -- you know, it was their -- or they 12 were represented by, I know, two agents, and I think three. 13 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Yeah, that's what I 14 recall. 15 JUDGE TINLEY: There was another -- another 16 carrier that, through different agents or different 17 combination of agents, submitted packages. More than one 18 package, also. 19 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Blue Cross. 20 JUDGE TINLEY: So that the -- you get the 21 agent with the bid. And, of course, you're free to accept 22 or reject all or any number of bids, or to negotiate with 23 any number that you make a threshold determination that you 24 -- there's a likelihood that you could ultimately consummate 25 some -- some arrangement with on their final and best offer. 11-14-05 143 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think we should -- I 2 mean, I think we're pretty much -- this is a narrow agenda 3 item. Maybe we should have Gary come up at our next meeting 4 and go over this issue, 'cause obviously we're not sure. 5 JUDGE TINLEY: That's fine. 6 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: I'll tag onto this 7 general issue of insurance and bids. This is our benefits 8 handbook for Kerr County, and if I've got a question about 9 whether a dependent is covered, I couldn't find that out in 10 here. That's not satisfactory. 11 JUDGE TINLEY: I think we had a motion and a 12 second on this. I think you made the motion? 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I did. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Are you wanting to 15 pursue that motion? 16 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah. 17 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. All right. 18 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Has something changed 19 here? 20 JUDGE TINLEY: And any more question or 21 discussion on the motion? All in favor of the motion, 22 signify by raising your right hand. 23 (Commissioners Baldwin and Letz voted in favor of the motion.) 24 25 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed -- did you vote 11-14-05 144 1 for? 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yes. 3 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed? 4 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I'm opposed, 'cause I 5 want the answer to the question. 6 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Yeah, I'm opposed, 7 'cause I'm not sure what I'm voting on. Are we going to 8 have Gary come in here and explain this to us? 9 JUDGE TINLEY: I think, from a time frame 10 standpoint, it would be beneficial if we could get that done 11 today, but I'm going to oppose the motion at this time and 12 vote negative on it in order that we can get that issue 13 resolved, and hopefully we can get him up here in a couple 14 of weeks and it won't unduly delay things. 15 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That's cool. 16 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: If it takes a 17 special meeting, I'm okay with that. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think it probably would 19 be wise to do that. 20 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. We need to know what 21 we're doing. 22 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I'd like to withdraw 23 my motion. 24 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. (Laughter.) You're the 25 one that created this whole problem. Okay, I believe 11-14-05 145 1 everything else that we've got on the agenda is for 2 executive session items, unless I've missed something here. 3 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Your reports. 4 JUDGE TINLEY: Hmm? Sorry? 5 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: At 1:30, Item 30. 6 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Which one? 7 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Reports. 8 JUDGE TINLEY: Well, those are -- I want to 9 take those, I think, after we get through with our regular 10 agenda here. So, at this time, we will go -- we will close 11 our public or open session, and it is 10 minutes after 12 2 p.m. 13 (The open session was closed at 2:10 p.m., and an executive session was held, the 14 transcript of which is contained in a separate document.) 15 - - - - - - - - - - 16 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. We are back in open or 17 public session. It is 3:36, and we'll move on to Item 30, 18 the scheduled 2 o'clock items, reports from the departments. 19 I.T. -- 20 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Do we need a motion 21 to -- 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah, we need to do a 23 motion. 24 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: We need a motion on 25 1.23. 11-14-05 146 1 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you. Let me back up. 2 Does any member of the Court have any motions to offer in 3 connection with items considered in executive or closed 4 session? 5 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Judge, I make a 6 motion that we reimburse to the -- our employee, Heather M. 7 Patton, $647.21 that's been paid for dependent health care 8 insurance. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 10 JUDGE TINLEY: That's in connection with Item 11 23? 12 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Yes. 13 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Where -- 14 JUDGE TINLEY: I have a motion and a second. 15 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Where do you want 16 that to come from? Nondepartmental? 17 MS. NEMEC: I can just pay that out of our 18 insurance reserve. 19 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Okay. 20 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 21 MS. NEMEC: 10-107-090. 22 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Good. 23 JUDGE TINLEY: Any question or discussion on 24 that motion? All in favor of the motion, signify by raising 25 your right hand. 11-14-05 147 1 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 2 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 3 (No response.) 4 JUDGE TINLEY: Does any member of the Court 5 have any other motion or motions to offer in connection with 6 any more of the items considered in executive session? 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: No. 8 JUDGE TINLEY: Hearing none, we'll move on to 9 Item 30, reports from departments. I.T. Now you're up, 10 John. 11 MR. TROLINGER: Afternoon. I submitted to 12 y'all a written single-sheet report this morning outlining 13 the highlights of what's taken place over the past two 14 months. I think the most significant item I'll mention is 15 the J.P. 4 conversion. The Precinct 4 Justice of the Peace 16 is now integrated in the county system. They were a 17 stand-alone system where only they had the data. And, 18 further, the Warrants Division in the Sheriff's Office have 19 done a really terrific job of helping out with that; I think 20 there's some streamlining and some improvements in the 21 warrant process as a result of what we did with J.P. 4. 22 Basically, the justices of the peace held their warrants 23 in-house, and now they're going to use the Warrant Division 24 to -- to hold those warrants and have them available 24 25 hours a day versus locked up in the office after hours. If 11-14-05 148 1 y'all have any questions for me? 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Where are we on our big 3 computer system? 4 MR. TROLINGER: Big computer system is in the 5 planning. We've started the basic piece, where the -- 6 the -- basically, Software is looking at the database to see 7 what they've got to do for the conversion and doing the 8 preparation work. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: What's the timetable look 10 like? 11 MR. TROLINGER: We don't have a timetable 12 yet. We have not established the timeline. Gillespie 13 County is an example. They just finished putting their 14 civil online in -- and they're about a year and a quarter 15 into the project. 16 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: They're ahead of us? 17 MR. TROLINGER: (Nodded.) And I just spoke 18 with my counterpart last week regarding that, and he's -- he 19 says it's a several-month process to get ready. And then, 20 once the -- once it's ready -- once it's ready to go live, 21 it's a very quick thing. The training is done all in one 22 week. The users are all switched over at the same time. 23 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: John, I've got a 24 couple of rumors here I want to ask you about. On your 25 report, the voice-over IP program with 198th D.A. 11-14-05 149 1 investigator. 2 MR. TROLINGER: Yes? 3 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I'd heard through the 4 grapevine that he was having all kinds of problems with 5 that, a lot of crackling and popping and being cut off. 6 MR. TROLINGER: He was having problems with 7 Mason, Menard, and one other county. Some of the phone 8 numbers he was calling, there was an issue with the provider 9 that was being used. I got that information from him, and 10 the problem's been resolved. 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Fantastic. I didn't 12 know they even had phones out there yet. The software for 13 the juvenile facility, Caseworker system, et cetera, et 14 cetera -- 15 MR. TROLINGER: Okay. 16 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: -- that you're going 17 to install in there, we budgeted and we're ready to go, but 18 the State provides that already. Why is it that we want to 19 put our system in and pay for it when the State already 20 provides for it? 21 MR. TROLINGER: The free software, the 22 Caseworker software, isn't appropriate for a detention 23 facility. It's -- it's designed for the Probation 24 Department. What The Software Group has offered to do, and 25 is going to do at no additional cost as part of the Odyssey 11-14-05 150 1 installation, is they are going to provide us with a 2 customized package equivalent to the jail package for the 3 adult detention, and they're going to customize it for 4 juvenile detention. 5 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: And it fits with the 6 Austin agencies and -- 7 MR. TROLINGER: And the forms and the 8 reports, yes. 9 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay, cool. Thank you 10 very much for that. 11 MR. TROLINGER: You're welcome. The only 12 piece that I did see missing in the budget for juvenile 13 detention doesn't cover the high-speed internet connection 14 to the courthouse. 15 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That's good. That's 16 fine. 17 MR. TROLINGER: That's needed for them to 18 make it work, so we'll have to revisit that. 19 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I see you're still 20 working the equivalent to one and a half people. Is there 21 any let-up in sight, or is that something you're going to 22 continue to do? 23 MR. TROLINGER: It's going to continue. I'm 24 trying to get a little bit more help. I've got a community 25 service worker that's very competent that's doing a few 11-14-05 151 1 hours. But the database maintenance and -- for instance, 2 tonight I'm going to have the phone system offline to change 3 the batteries out, the backup batteries. There's just no 4 way around it. 5 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: There are many 6 times -- not necessarily in your department, of course, 7 'cause you're brand-new, but that we've tapped into 8 Schreiner students to do technical things around the 9 courthouse. Is that a possibility? 10 MR. TROLINGER: Schreiner, I don't know. 11 I've tried to enlist support from a couple different places. 12 The -- the community service workers, one of them now -- 13 just now getting started is very promising. 14 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Oh, okay. 15 MR. TROLINGER: And also, from the -- from 16 the children -- some of the kids of the county employees, 17 getting them to volunteer to do web site work, things like 18 that. 19 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I like it. That's a 20 cool deal. 21 JUDGE TINLEY: Getting it done, though, huh? 22 MR. TROLINGER: Little bit at a time. It's 23 probably a better learning experience for them than it is 24 benefit to us, but it's a good thing. 25 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: It's a benefit, 11-14-05 152 1 though. 2 MR. TROLINGER: It is. 3 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah. Too cool. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Thank you, John. 5 MR. TROLINGER: You're welcome. 6 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you. Road and Bridge. 7 Mr. Odom? 8 MR. ODOM: Yes, sir. 9 JUDGE TINLEY: Good gosh, another report? 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Thank you. 11 MR. ODOM: I'll let you take a little bit of 12 time to scan it. What we have in road projects currently, 13 we've completed all the sealcoat that we projected to do 14 last year with the exception of two, and that was Nimitz and 15 Skyview in Precinct 4. And they were not completed, and 16 they will be first on our list for the next year. 17 Basically, I have that contractor that did not show up, and 18 I kept putting it off, and we ran out of time. He never did 19 scorify anything up with that machine. The sales 20 representative for Ergon called in this last week, and he 21 expects the cost of paving oil to increase 24 cents. That 22 will put me in a deficit at the current program of 32,000, 23 so it doesn't look like it gets any better. 24 JUDGE TINLEY: That's not within the window 25 of your bids? 11-14-05 153 1 MR. ODOM: That's not in the window of my 2 bids. 3 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Well, you don't stretch 4 it too far. 5 MR. ODOM: This year, 94 cents is what we had 6 this last year. Year before was 74 cents. It is a -- it is 7 hard. We had a -- a good discussion about it. He's going 8 to be coming back in the next week, so we'll just have to 9 wait and see how the economy's going and what petroleum 10 does. And -- 11 JUDGE TINLEY: When does your current 12 contracts run through? 13 MR. ODOM: I believe it's in March. I'll be 14 coming to you after the first of the year for authorization 15 to go out for bids, a bid package to go out for all the 16 different things. 17 JUDGE TINLEY: If we see a good, strong dip 18 in petroleum prices -- 19 MR. ODOM: Well, that's what I'm -- 20 JUDGE TINLEY: -- you may want to go at it 21 earlier; I don't know. 22 MR. ODOM: Well, that's -- that's what I'm 23 sort of thinking. It sort of depends how we're going, but 24 his comment to us was -- or to me was that no one is willing 25 to go on a long-term commitment. But that's his suppliers. 11-14-05 154 1 And he is at that price that I said, at a buck twenty a 2 gallon. He is willing to go out on a long-term. But, 3 again, you never know how prices may change a little bit. 4 JUDGE TINLEY: Define "long-term." A year? 5 MR. ODOM: Long-term is one year for them. 6 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 7 MR. ODOM: Last week we had some striping, 8 and they did do that Friday, and I went up there this 9 morning to look at it. Looks good up through Canyon Springs 10 with buttons and all, so we got up on top of that hill 11 coming from that entrance and going back up on top where it 12 splits. So, that looks good, and it was a project I was 13 wanting to do for several years. We got our sealcoat done 14 this year to make it work. Our office projects were 15 subdivision plats; you can see that I had three. I have one 16 that needs -- I'm sorry, one that is complete, has a final, 17 and two that are not final, needs a final on them. Also, 18 properties reported in violation of subdivision rules, we 19 have one that's been contacted, one is in the process of 20 being corrected, and I have three that we found not in 21 violation of subdivision rules. 22 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Leonard, please let me 23 ask you a question. When you contact somebody, who do you 24 contact? 25 MR. ODOM: Contact the developer or the -- 11-14-05 155 1 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Seller? 2 MR. ODOM: -- person who sold those 3 properties to these individuals. 4 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay. 5 MR. ODOM: And floodplain, we had seven. I 6 have three that construction permits were complete. I had 7 two that were notification, letters of compliance were 8 issued, and two construction permit pending completion of 9 the project. Employees, we had one workman's comp claim. A 10 worker fell in the river while working on a protective 11 barrier on Hermann Sons, old bridge embankment. It is 12 ironic, because I was down there doing that to keep other 13 people from falling off, and -- and I had this individual -- 14 but he was released. He checked in the emergency room; he 15 was released and he's all right. And I was looking at tort 16 liabilities, and I have my own person fall in. So -- 17 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Did he miss -- 18 MR. ODOM: -- I can't win for losing. 19 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Did he miss any 20 time? Was he back at work the next day? 21 MR. ODOM: Just that day. He was back the 22 next day. 23 MS. PIEPER: That's what my son used to say 24 when he wanted to go swimming. He said, "Oh, mom, I fell." 25 MR. ODOM: Just fell. This was -- oh, this 11-14-05 156 1 was preventable, but, I mean, it was -- it was a good job, 2 and we've tried to do that. We may be looking at something 3 later on for some kind of agreement with Pot of Gold or 4 whoever owns that Hermann Sons in there somehow, try to have 5 some control back up in there. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Leonard, on that, I 7 haven't been over there recently. Are the railroad cars 8 still over there, or are they out? 9 MR. ODOM: No, the railroad cars are gone; 10 they're over at the river trying -- I'm trying to get some 11 drilling done. 12 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Are they at the park 13 now? 14 MR. ODOM: At the park. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: What about the old torn 16 up one? 17 MR. ODOM: It's in my yard across -- behind 18 the baseball field there. But I have two of them sitting 19 down there, and I'm trying to get them to come in here and 20 try to drill me some shelves, which has not been too 21 successful here lately. 22 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Leonard, when's the 23 last time -- or was the last time that you were out at the 24 Wheatcraft site on Highway 27? Was that the last time you 25 and I went out there together? 11-14-05 157 1 MR. ODOM: I think so. That was the last 2 time I've talked to -- 3 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Okay. Would you kind 4 of keep an eye on that see if the rock crushing aspect of 5 that is not started? 6 MR. ODOM: I will, yes, sir. 7 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Not constructed yet. 8 MR. ODOM: Right. 9 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Are you working on 10 Felix Fisher Road? 11 MR. ODOM: Not yet. 12 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: That's all right, 13 you can wait till Monday or Tuesday. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Leonard, going back to 15 Hermann Sons a minute, do you have a plan as to what to do 16 with the old road and -- I mean, people contact me about 17 what we're going to do on access to the river right there, 18 what our plans are. I know Hermann Sons -- on the south 19 side of the river, the Hermann Sons side of the river, we 20 don't really have enough right-of-way there. I mean, we're 21 just going to have the road. Most of the properties, it 22 will be up to those land owners to fence off and do what 23 they want with it, but on the Highway 27 side of the river, 24 we're going to have a fair amount of additional property 25 between the old road and the bridge. Do you have any plans 11-14-05 158 1 for doing anything there? Or just -- 2 MR. ODOM: The reason I wanted that before 3 was for maintenance. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. 5 MR. ODOM: And we can't give that up, so I -- 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: No, I don't want to give 7 it up. I was just wondering if we need to do anything from 8 the standpoint of tying up that road. There's a fine line 9 between giving people access to the river, and it's a good 10 location, but not getting too much access to the river 11 necessarily, or encouraging too much without -- 12 MR. ODOM: Well, that guardrail is up there, 13 so you're sort of cut off from the side over there. We have 14 it where you -- we haven't figured out -- we were probably 15 going on the Hermann Sons side over there. We put a 16 guardrail up -- well, it's down right now, but we were 17 trying to close off the structure so they can't back up on 18 it. And up on the Comfort side over there, you're really 19 cut off from the -- 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'll take a look at it. 21 MR. ODOM: Take a look. We obliterated the 22 road -- they obliterated parts of it, and then what they're 23 doing is putting topsoil, and I would imagine they're going 24 to grass it like they have the dish lines and all. But we 25 brought it back to a certain point and tried to obliterate 11-14-05 159 1 it so you just didn't see the road leading you down there, 2 but kids are going to be kids. 3 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Mr. Odom and I have 4 been dealing with a couple similar issues that I think you 5 all would want to know about. Both of them involve concerns 6 about trespass on the river banks on private property, and 7 in one case, three landowners are asking us to abandon part 8 of a road so that they can block it and make access more 9 difficult. So far, we've responded, "If you come back and 10 ask to abandon all of it, we'll probably do that, but we're 11 not too keen about abandoning just the last part of it." 12 And then the other one was -- and this has come up with more 13 than one landowner. As it turns out -- you all probably 14 knew this; I didn't -- the County has an easement on both 15 sides of Ingram Lake on the riverbank, and it's a certain 16 elevation. And it -- it runs between 20 and 25 or 28 feet 17 back into private property. And the purpose of the easement 18 is so that we can have access to the lake for maintenance. 19 I suppose if we drain it or something, we 20 might need to get equipment in there. But it runs for a 21 long ways, two or three miles back up toward -- toward Hunt, 22 and lately there's been, I think, increasing instances of 23 trespass. A lot of it involves young people and maybe 24 underage drinking and rowdiness and all the other kinds 25 of -- sort of things that go along with that. So, we've had 11-14-05 160 1 some citizens that have been pretty upset about that, and 2 Rex looked into the -- didn't look into; he knew the 3 answer -- looked into the law. People think that because 4 the County has an easement, it gives them a right to be on 5 that property, and it does not. They're -- they're 6 trespassing. Land owners can post it; they can put fences 7 up on it if they want, so long as it doesn't inhibit our 8 access to it. So, I wanted to let you know that that's 9 something that's being talked about quite a bit in the 10 Ingram/Hunt area. 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Again. 12 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Yes. I was sure it 13 was before. 14 MR. ODOM: And we may need -- maybe we need 15 to get together and go out there and take a look at that, 16 but I -- my thought is, is I would like some property owners 17 to have control with us having access, not to give it up. I 18 don't know how, legally, we might do that, but somehow to 19 control that access, 'cause I don't really want them down 20 where we -- where one of my workers fell off that. I 21 don't -- I don't want them down there, and I would rather 22 have the tort liability on someone else with us having a 23 rider somehow. But maybe we can talk to legal about it. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. All right. 25 MR. ODOM: I would like some fences or 11-14-05 161 1 something up in there maybe. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'll take a look at it. 3 JUDGE TINLEY: Anything else for Mr. Odom? 4 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: What about Travis 5 Hall? 6 MR. ODOM: Travis Hall? Travis was supposed 7 to go to a seminar over in Austin and get back with us on 8 this, because we came to the court about tarping our 9 vehicles. And the information we've got is that we're 10 not -- Texas Association of Counties said that we don't have 11 to do that. Travis said he would verify, and we haven't 12 heard anything, so we assume no news is good news. And 13 that's the way we're going about it. So, he's supposed to 14 get back with us. Since we're not a commercial entity, we 15 should be exempt from that, is what we were told. I don't 16 want to spend several thousand dollars for tarps if I don't 17 have to. 18 JUDGE TINLEY: I don't want you to. Thank 19 you, sir. 20 MR. ODOM: Yes, sir. 21 JUDGE TINLEY: Mr. Holekamp? 22 MR. HOLEKAMP: Good afternoon. I -- I 23 included a monthly report for the month of October. The use 24 of the indoor arena, Exhibit Hall, and the Union Church, and 25 to show y'all the activity that we've been having out there. 11-14-05 162 1 I didn't include the September one primarily because I 2 thought we would start it with this fiscal year. So, I plan 3 on doing that monthly or semimonthly when I do my report. 4 And here at the courthouse, we have several issues going 5 right now. We're trying to set a time to start laying the 6 flooring in the basement area. We got early voting 7 completed, and I have a person that is planning on doing it, 8 but timing is -- is going to be of the essence, because we 9 have to stay off of it for approximately 24 hours once you 10 lay that tile. So, we're working on that. Within -- 11 probably within two or three weeks, we'll see some progress 12 in that area. The -- we've had several little projects, 13 plus I guess you noticed the yard is starting to look a 14 little bit like Christmas. And that's taking some of our 15 time to -- to help coordinate getting that in places where 16 there's electrical and that sort of thing that currently is 17 on-site. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Looks like they started a 19 little bit later this year. 20 MR. HOLEKAMP: But -- 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I'm not going to say a 22 word. 23 MR. HOLEKAMP: They're -- the lighting thing, 24 the ceremony is this Saturday evening, so -- 25 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: This coming Saturday? 11-14-05 163 1 MR. HOLEKAMP: Yes, sir. 2 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Is that when Santa 3 Claus comes? 4 MR. HOLEKAMP: Yes, sir. 5 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: He always comes to 6 Kerr County early. He stops here first. 7 JUDGE TINLEY: He needs your list, Buster. 8 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I need to be invited, 9 is what I need to be. 10 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: You're invited. 11 MR. HOLEKAMP: So, you know, that is taking 12 up some of our time, and I'm not saying it's taking a whole 13 lot of our time, but it -- it does require some attention on 14 our part to get them support. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I apologize for not 16 looking myself, but have we got all those old lights out of 17 the trees? 18 MR. HOLEKAMP: Yes, sir. They were -- and 19 saying "all" is probably a stretch, but KPUB pretty much got 20 most of them out, and it's going to look completely 21 different this year, because there's a very minimal amount 22 that they put back. So, I think we're all going to be kind 23 of surprised once we light this thing up Saturday evening as 24 to the lack of the lights in those trees, the big trees. 25 Which I don't have a problem with it either way. Less 11-14-05 164 1 electrical demand is probably better for me. But courthouse 2 here, we're getting a little closer on it, getting those 3 done. 4 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Question. 5 MR. HOLEKAMP: Yes? I'm sorry. 6 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Just curious. 7 MR. HOLEKAMP: Uh-huh. 8 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: In the indoor arena, 9 there were eight events. In the Exhibit Hall, there were 13 10 events. How many of those events paid? 11 MR. HOLEKAMP: Okay. Team roping paid on the 12 indoor arena. 4-H does not. Goat sale did. Annual meeting 13 did in the Exhibit Hall. 14 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Mm-hmm. 15 MR. HOLEKAMP: Annual meeting -- hog sale, 16 15th, yes. Freedom Fighters, yes. That's it. Law 17 Enforcement Awareness Day does not. Nether does the 18 vaccination clinic, county-wide vaccinations; that's Texas 19 Department of Health. Bond sales -- 20 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Vaccinations did? 21 MR. HOLEKAMP: No, they did not. That's a 22 Texas Department of Health thing. 23 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Okay. 24 MR. HOLEKAMP: And then Union Church, let's 25 see. I think three of those did. One meeting was a paid 11-14-05 165 1 meeting, and of course the bridal shower was, and the 2 wedding reception. But those other meetings are Historical 3 Commission meetings, so -- we list them because they give us 4 the dates that they need it. 5 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Right. So, about 6 one-third of them paid. 7 MR. HOLEKAMP: I'd say yes, this month. I 8 think in the month of November -- November, it's going to be 9 a little better as far as the rental versus the -- not as 10 many 4-H events, because they're doing validation and all of 11 that sort of thing, and they're using the back of the hog 12 barn and that sort of thing, and they're really not taking 13 up an event area. 14 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Thank you. 15 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: I haven't heard any 16 concerns expressed in the last few weeks over the booking 17 process for facilities and -- you know, that whole big issue 18 we dealt with not long ago. Has the new guidelines and 19 policy had a positive effect on all that? 20 MR. HOLEKAMP: Positive on our standpoint, 21 yes. Positive on the -- on the people using it, I haven't 22 heard anything really negative. They -- they say, "Oh, you 23 mean..." -- you know, it's, "Interpret this for me." But it 24 has not been negative at all, that I'm aware of. I think 25 that there's been some concerns of the hours; we shut off 11-14-05 166 1 the events at midnight. I think that was one of the things 2 that we did, which I like. But I'm -- some of these party 3 type things, they would like to go a little longer. And we 4 just explain to them, "The policy says midnight, so that's 5 what it'll be. Take it or leave it." 6 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: That's good. 7 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you, sir. We appreciate 8 it. 9 MR. HOLEKAMP: All right. Thank you. 10 JUDGE TINLEY: Mr. Alford, Collections. 11 MR. ALFORD: So far for 2004-'05, we're at 12 $608,000. That's what we've been collecting, which is a 13 hundred and some-odd thousand dollars above '03-'04. We 14 should still be able to collect another hundred to $150,000 15 out of the '05 year. Our percentages are up 2 to 3 percent 16 here, 5 percent there, even the same. One of the big things 17 we're working on right now is kind of streamlining our 18 credit card payments to make it easier on the defendants to 19 be able to go online and pay, along with some new 20 instructions. We're also working with the Probation 21 Department on an item that may turn money quicker, where we 22 can look at getting some money within 30 days. That 23 hopefully would help overall. Besides that, we're just kind 24 of status-quo. 25 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: This is probably a 11-14-05 167 1 dumb question; just thought of it. What do the credit card 2 companies charge us? 3 MR. ALFORD: Nothing. It goes back to the 4 defendant. 5 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: That can be a real 6 big expense. 7 MR. ALFORD: No, I think we're the only 8 department in the county that does -- that goes back to the 9 defendant. It doesn't cost us a dime. 10 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Good. 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Did you go to school? 12 MR. ALFORD: That's -- yes, sir. That's 13 where some of these ideas came from. 14 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Was it a good school? 15 Did you benefit from it? 16 MR. ALFORD: Yes, sir, I feel like I 17 benefited from it, but we'll know long-term. It's too 18 short-term to respond, but we came back with some good ideas 19 that I think that they're doing statewide that we're looking 20 at right now. And that's what -- as a matter of fact, 21 that's what brought up both these -- the credit card and the 22 probation deal. 23 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Super. 24 MR. ALFORD: So -- 25 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you, sir. 11-14-05 168 1 MR. ALFORD: Thank you. 2 JUDGE TINLEY: We appreciate it. I suppose 3 we probably need the Auditor's representative in here, don't 4 we? 5 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I guess. 6 MR. ALFORD: The Auditor? 7 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: The Sheriff is the 8 Auditor's representative? 9 MR. ALFORD: I'll get somebody. 10 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay, thank you. 11 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: On the subject we talked 12 about earlier, I want y'all to know that I did call that 13 agency, and on mine, myself, nothing at all has been 14 reported for that year, up to and including today. And I 15 would still reiterate that I think my recommendation needs 16 to be done, because it has not been straightened out as of 17 today by that agency, and all the employees are going to be 18 that way. 19 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you, sir. 20 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Judge, while we're 21 waiting for her, can I bring up -- oh, no, we got a report. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Who are you waiting on? 23 JUDGE TINLEY: Not waiting on anybody. 24 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: There she is. 25 JUDGE TINLEY: We're down to the approval 11-14-05 169 1 agenda, 4.1, payment of the bills. Ms. Mindy. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Congratulations, Interim 3 Auditor. 4 MS. WILLIAMS: Thank you. It's either 5 congratulations or condolences. 6 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I move we pay the 7 bills. 8 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Second. 9 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Second. 10 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded to 11 pay bills. Any question or discussion? Page 3, just as a 12 matter of information, I'm sure everybody saw that $7,000 13 payment to a psychiatrist. That's cheaper than a $150,000 14 special trial, I guess. 15 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: In lieu of the trial? 16 JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah. 17 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: That's good. 18 JUDGE TINLEY: Only other question I have 19 relates to an item that was -- it was a duplicate shown with 20 the Crime Victims Coordinator's office. 21 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: What page? 22 JUDGE TINLEY: And -- 23 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Page 4? 24 JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah, there it is. That 25 67.03, there was a like charge of actually 67.02 in the 11-14-05 170 1 County Attorney's. Did they just split it? 2 MS. WILLIAMS: It was split, yes. 3 JUDGE TINLEY: You answered my question, 4 good. Thank you. 5 MS. WILLIAMS: Mm-hmm. 6 JUDGE TINLEY: Any other questions or 7 comments? All in favor of the motion, signify by raising 8 your right hand. 9 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 10 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 11 (No response.) 12 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. Budget 13 Amendment Request Number 1. 14 MS. WILLIAMS: Okay. That's our office, of 15 course. We had a monitor that went out. It just so 16 happened that Mr. Trolinger had ordered some computers for 17 the District Clerk's Office, and at the same time had 18 accidentally ordered a monitor. We could use it; we needed 19 it, so we need to transfer the funds to pay for it. 20 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So moved. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 22 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 23 approval of Budget Amendment Request Number 1. Any question 24 or discussion? All in favor of the motion, signify by 25 raising your right hand. 11-14-05 171 1 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 2 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 3 (No response.) 4 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. Budget 5 Amendment Request Number 2. 6 MS. WILLIAMS: There was $3,000 that was 7 budgeted in the County Clerk's Capital Outlay line item. 8 We've since found out that this amount of money was actually 9 budgeted for the lease on the microfiche machine. It's not 10 actually a capital outlay expenditure, so what we'd like to 11 do is move that money down to Lease Copier so that we can 12 pay these monthly bills as they come in. 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So moved. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 15 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 16 approval of Budget Amendment Request Number 2. Any question 17 or discussion? All in favor of the motion, signify by 18 raising your right hand. 19 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 20 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 21 (No response.) 22 JUDGE TINLEY: Do we have any late bills? 23 MS. WILLIAMS: Yes, sir, but we also have -- 24 I have a couple more budget amendments, so would you like to 25 tackle them first? 11-14-05 172 1 JUDGE TINLEY: Yep. 2 MS. WILLIAMS: If you'd hand one to Cheryl 3 and make it all the way around to Kathy. 4 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Wow. 5 JUDGE TINLEY: Oh, yes. 6 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Holy moly. 7 JUDGE TINLEY: Oh, yes. Budget Amendment 8 Request Number 3. 9 MS. WILLIAMS: I had two extra copies. 10 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: This is a course in 11 economics. 12 MS. WILLIAMS: Oh, it's going to be fun 13 explaining it. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: I think if you explain the 15 concept and just tell me you prorated it, we'll be all 16 right. 17 MS. WILLIAMS: Okay. Basically, what I did 18 is, we got the policies in from TAC. The second sheet is a 19 breakdown of the auto policies, et cetera, et cetera. I 20 went through and broke out for the departments like the 21 jail, the courthouse, et cetera, how much on each of those 22 policies was to be charged against their budget. I -- as 23 you can see, there are a number of departments that were 24 short. We didn't budget enough money because we didn't know 25 the policies were going to go up that much. So, what this 11-14-05 173 1 budget amendment will do is allow us to move moneys out of 2 line items that have ample surplus over where we need it so 3 that we can set these invoices up for TAC to be paid on the 4 28th. They're actually due on the 26th of November, but I 5 don't think they'll quibble about a couple of days. 6 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So, we're taking it 7 from the red and giving it to the black? 8 MS. WILLIAMS: Yes, sir. And I spoke with 9 all three constables. They're okay with us taking the $30 10 out of their Miscellaneous. I spoke with the Sheriff this 11 morning and showed him what we needed to do on his, and I 12 spoke with Mr. Holekamp about the courthouse shortage. 13 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: The big one is the 14 $11,000 one on property liability, Mindy. 15 MS. WILLIAMS: Yes, sir. 16 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Where are you 17 reconciling that? 18 MS. WILLIAMS: That's a separate budget 19 amendment. 20 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Oh. 21 MS. WILLIAMS: We decided we could go ahead 22 and do these, because we know where we can move the moneys 23 from for these shortages. The one for the detention 24 facility, I'm going to need the Court to help me decide 25 where we want to move money from. 11-14-05 174 1 JUDGE TINLEY: This particular one deals with 2 all of those increased insurance costs, with the exception 3 of the Juvenile Detention Facility? 4 MS. WILLIAMS: Yes, sir, right. 5 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Move approval. 7 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Second. 8 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 9 approval of Budget Amendment Request Number 3. Any question 10 or discussion? All in favor of the motion, signify by 11 raising your right hand. 12 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 13 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 14 (No response.) 15 JUDGE TINLEY: That motion does carry. 16 MS. WILLIAMS: Okay. Now, this Budget 17 Amendment Number 4 deals with the Juvenile Detention 18 Facility. 19 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Oh, no. 20 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I'm having a hard 21 time getting your copy, Buster. 22 JUDGE TINLEY: I'd just as soon you not give 23 him one. 24 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Just get him all 25 stirred up again. 11-14-05 175 1 MS. WILLIAMS: Okay. Basically, the property 2 coverage, I believe, is the one that pushed us over the 3 limit, and the Judge and I talked about this the other day. 4 I believe what it was, the new building fell under a certain 5 kind of -- 6 JUDGE TINLEY: Builder's risk. 7 MS. WILLIAMS: -- builder's risk at the time. 8 And I don't believe that, maybe, that was taken into 9 consideration when the budget was done for this year. So, 10 we are looking at a shortage of over $11,000 being able to 11 pay that one policy. Now, there are a couple of line items, 12 but it's in the general fund, where we might be able to pull 13 moneys from in order to cover this shortage. 14 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Give us a hint where. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Before we go to the 16 general fund, hasn't there been some delays in hiring or 17 keeping from hiring of employees in the juvenile facility? 18 I thought there was some difficulties that Ms. Harris 19 reported of getting 100 percent staff she needed out there 20 when we did the -- 21 MS. WILLIAMS: For the T.Y.C. kids? 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: The T.Y.C. kids. 23 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: She was, and she cut 24 back the number of kids she took. She cut back the number 25 of kids. 11-14-05 176 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I just think maybe 2 there's some unused funds there somewhere. 3 MS. WILLIAMS: When I spoke with Ms. Harris 4 the other day regarding this budget amendment, she told me 5 there was no surplus in her budget; it's a bare-bones 6 budget. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I mean, I agree. I mean, 8 I understand that, but I'm just -- like, Rusty frequently 9 ends up with a slush fund in his jailers salaries, or some 10 salaries. 11 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: A slush fund? I think 12 you're fixing to get a budget amendment concerning that. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. What's your idea 14 in general fund? 15 MS. WILLIAMS: Well, there is $10,000 in the 16 Nondepartmental Contingency line item. It has not been 17 touched. There is also probably a surplus of about $2,000 18 in Commissioners Court Professional Services that we might 19 be able to tap. There is maybe a small amount in the 20 Nondepartmental Employee Auto Insurance line item. I really 21 wouldn't want to touch that one yet, but that's a 22 possibility. The other thing I was wondering is, if we took 23 the money out of a part-time salary line item in the 24 Juvenile Detention Facility now, there's a possibility we 25 may have to come back later on and amend that line item and 11-14-05 177 1 go up. Would you rather do it that way, or would you rather 2 move the money out of Fund 10? 3 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I'm a Fund 10 type of 4 guy. Contingency. What does that mean? I don't know about 5 professional services. There is 2,000, did you say? 6 MS. WILLIAMS: Roughly 2,000. I think we 7 have moneys budgeted in there for the insurance consultant. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Consultant. 9 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Professional 10 Services, you got money budgeted for the Center Point sewer. 11 MS. WILLIAMS: I believe there's $14,500 12 budgeted there, and I believe his services are, like, 12,500 13 annually. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: What about the survey item? 15 Didn't we talk about that one, that there may be some excess 16 there? 17 MS. WILLIAMS: I think we did. 18 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: At Road and Bridge? 19 JUDGE TINLEY: I actually think it's in 20 Commissioners Court budget, Nondepartmental. 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: You're right. 22 JUDGE TINLEY: Commissioners Court, I think. 23 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Commissioners Court. 24 MS. WILLIAMS: Survey Services, there's 25 $3,500. It's under Commissioners Court. 11-14-05 178 1 JUDGE TINLEY: How much did we spend last 2 year? Do you show that? 3 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Nothing. 4 MS. WILLIAMS: Last year, nothing. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think Leonard put it 6 under a different project. 7 MS. WILLIAMS: May have been in Road and 8 Bridge's budget last year. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I approved two invoices 10 that were for work on Lane Valley in that area. 11 MS. WILLIAMS: It came out of Fund 15, then, 12 I would guess at this point. 'Cause this shows that there 13 was nothing spent out of this line item last year. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: There's 3,000, I think. 15 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Judge, earlier you 16 commented about a psychological services expense, and I 17 thought I heard you say it saved us a special trial. Did we 18 anticipate there's a lot of money there? 19 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: He was listening, 20 wasn't he? 21 JUDGE TINLEY: We can send Commissioner 22 Baldwin upstairs and talk to the gentleman, see if it would 23 be okay if we take it there. 24 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I like Contingency. 25 MS. WILLIAMS: There's only $10,000 budgeted 11-14-05 179 1 this year in the 216th District Court for special trials. 2 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Okay. 3 MS. WILLIAMS: But there's 30,000 budgeted in 4 the 198th. 5 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: I remember, we cut 6 that back. 7 JUDGE TINLEY: You need to talk to the other 8 one. 9 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I'm not talking to 10 anybody up there. I'm a Contingency guy. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I don't mind Contingency, 12 but I just hate to take Contingency this year down to zero. 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Well, you can take 14 seven out of Contingency, and then there was two in the 15 Professional Services and there was something else. 16 JUDGE TINLEY: Survey. 17 MS. WILLIAMS: Survey Services. 18 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: There's three in 19 Survey, wasn't it? 20 MS. WILLIAMS: 3,500. 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: 3,500. 22 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Isn't that 23 Professional Services encumbered? 24 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Is that our 25 insurance -- 11-14-05 180 1 MS. WILLIAMS: Well, if it's supposed to be, 2 it's too late. Today is our last day for encumbering 3 anything in the last year's budget. Mr. Looney hasn't 4 billed us, so -- 5 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: No, I'm talking about 6 for Professional Services for work being done on the Center 7 Point sewer system application. We incorporated $5,000 with 8 last year -- 9 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: He's not talking about 10 encumbering back to last year. He's talking about the 11 last -- 12 MS. WILLIAMS: From last year to this year? 13 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: It was encumbered 14 last year. 15 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: From now on. 16 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: And the expense moves 17 on. 18 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: You are -- in which 19 budget? Which department? Which budget and which 20 department? 21 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: It was Professional 22 Services, I'm pretty sure. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: If it was encumbered last 24 year, we're looking at this year's budget. 25 MS. WILLIAMS: If what you're asking was the 11-14-05 181 1 money that was budgeted last year for professional services, 2 if it was not used, it was -- it will be rolled over into 3 the fund balance. 4 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: You answered my 5 question, thank you. 6 MS. WILLIAMS: Right. Which will be used to 7 fund this year's budget. 8 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Thank you. 9 JUDGE TINLEY: So your suggestion, 10 Commissioner, is 7,000 out of Contingency, two out of 11 Professional -- 12 MS. WILLIAMS: And the balance -- 13 JUDGE TINLEY: -- and the balance out of 14 Survey? 15 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Well, that covers it. 16 JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah. 17 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: No. No, you're right. 18 Yeah, mm-hmm. Seven, two, and balance. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. 20 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That would be about 21 2,000 out of Survey. 22 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Make a motion. 23 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: No. 24 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: You're going to force 25 me to write this down, aren't you? 11-14-05 182 1 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: No, I just -- 2 MS. WILLIAMS: Would you like me to give you 3 the line item numbers and the amounts? 4 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Yes. 5 MS. WILLIAMS: Okay. Out of Professional 6 Services, which is line item 10-401-486, we'll move $2,000. 7 Out of line item 10-409-571, Contingency, we'll move $7,000. 8 And out of line item 10-409-500, (sic) we'll move the 9 balance of $2,355.70. 10 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: 2,365? 11 MS. WILLIAMS: 2,355.70. 12 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I so move. 13 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Second. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 15 approval of Budget Amendment Request Number 4 as indicated. 16 Any question or discussion? 17 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I'm going to vote for 18 it. The only reason is this is an oversight in the budget 19 process. 20 JUDGE TINLEY: Any other questions or 21 comments? All in favor of the motion, signify by raising 22 your right hand. 23 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 24 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 25 (No response.) 11-14-05 183 1 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. Is 2 that it for budget amendments? 3 MS. WILLIAMS: No, sir. This one involves 4 Indigent Health Care claims that we have had for the last 5 couple of weeks. We just haven't been able to pay them 6 because tax moneys have not come in, but we're pushing the 7 envelope on holding them any longer. So, what I was going 8 to ask the Court to let us do is transfer this money out of 9 the general fund into the Indigent Health Care account where 10 we can pay the bills, and then later down the road, when the 11 tax revenues start coming in and it builds up enough of a 12 surplus in there, we can transfer the money back over to the 13 general fund during this budget year. 14 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: From reserves? 15 MS. WILLIAMS: Yes, sir. 16 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So, we're talking 17 about declaring an emergency here. 18 MS. WILLIAMS: Yes. The other option is we 19 don't pay these bills, and our providers are -- are going to 20 really get upset with us. 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Sounds like an 22 emergency to me. I -- I agree with that. I move for 23 approval. 24 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Declare an emergency? 25 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: And I -- that means I 11-14-05 184 1 trust you. 2 MS. WILLIAMS: Thank you. 3 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: To put that money 4 back. 5 MS. WILLIAMS: We will. 6 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I know you will. I 7 know that. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 9 JUDGE TINLEY: I have a motion and second for 10 approval of Budget Amendment Request Number 5. Any question 11 or comment? That includes declaring an emergency? 12 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Correct. 13 JUDGE TINLEY: Any question or comment? All 14 in favor of the motion, signify by raising your right hand. 15 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 16 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 17 (No response.) 18 JUDGE TINLEY: That motion does carry. Tell 19 me that's the last of the budget amendments. 20 MS. WILLIAMS: No, I have one more budget 21 amendment, but I also have a late bill that goes 22 hand-in-hand with the budget amendment we just did. There 23 is enough money in the Indigent Health Care account at the 24 present time to be able to pay this late bill that we 25 received from the hospital, actually, Thursday afternoon. 11-14-05 185 1 It's to pay for the Indigent Health Care Coordinator's 2 salary for September, which would be encumbered back to last 3 year's budget. And it is only $356.85, reason being the 4 young lady that was in that position quit the middle of the 5 month, middle of September. They didn't replace her until 6 October 1st, so they only billed us for two weeks. 7 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Move to approve. 8 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Second. 9 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 10 approval of budget amendment -- 11 MS. WILLIAMS: Late bill. 12 JUDGE TINLEY: This is a late bill? 13 MS. WILLIAMS: Yes, sir. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: And hand check? 15 MS. WILLIAMS: Correct. 16 JUDGE TINLEY: To Sid Peterson Memorial 17 Hospital for $356.85. 18 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: And there is money in 19 the Indigent Health Care to pay? 20 MS. WILLIAMS: Right. At the present time, 21 after we paid the bills that were on the fund requirements 22 report today, there was $774.82 left in the cash account. 23 After we pay this late bill, there will be $417.97. I took 24 that balance into consideration when I prepared Budget 25 Amendment Number 5. I only requested the money that we 11-14-05 186 1 needed between the claims that we had pending and what we 2 had in the account. 3 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay. 4 (Low-voice discussion off the record.) 5 JUDGE TINLEY: Any other questions or 6 comments? All in favor of the motion, signify by raising 7 your right hand. 8 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 9 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 10 (No response.) 11 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. 12 MS. WILLIAMS: Now, sir, one more. Number -- 13 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: You've used up your 14 time. 15 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: This new auditor is 16 causing us a lot of problems. 17 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: You used your time up 18 about $11,000 ago. 19 MS. WILLIAMS: Oh, okay. This is -- this is 20 for the Sheriff, anyway. 21 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Oh, that's another 22 reason. 23 JUDGE TINLEY: Solved that problem. Draw a 24 line through it. Okay. 25 MS. WILLIAMS: Okay. 11-14-05 187 1 JUDGE TINLEY: The rubber room? 2 MS. WILLIAMS: The rubber room, yeah. Rusty 3 came in this morning and said that he needed to do a budget 4 amendment for the repairs on the padded cell out at the 5 facility. What -- what we agreed to is, we will move the 6 money out of his Jailer Salaries line item and move it into 7 the Jail Maintenance budget in Fund 10, into Jail Repairs so 8 that we can pay this at our next Commissioners Court 9 meeting. 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: What's wrong? What 11 did you repair? 12 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: The padded cell, itself. 13 In fact, the person that did it should have been indicted 14 this morning. That's a real hard -- hard rubber; you know, 15 it's totally padded. But when you get a -- a defendant in 16 there that's totally violent and out of control, what we had 17 happen is he started biting chunks out of the walls at the 18 corner, and he bit them enough to where he got down to the 19 base where all the wood and the main stuff is, and where he 20 could actually grab hold of them, and he literally ripped 21 sheets of that padding out. And there are very few places 22 that can repair that, and we had to call them in to get it 23 repaired. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I move approval. 25 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. 11-14-05 188 1 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 2 approval of Budget Amendment Request Number 6. This comes 3 out of your slush fund; is that correct, Sheriff? 4 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Well, as Jonathan likes 5 -- what I'm trying to do, we didn't have it in our budget to 6 pay for something like this. Glenn's maintenance budget I 7 don't feel should have to pay for this type of damage, or, 8 you know, that he could anticipate it in preparing his 9 budget for -- for maintenance. And I did have three jail 10 positions that are just now getting filled, so it left me 11 three positions up until this point in this year's budget, 12 and to keep it from actually coming out of Glenn's 13 maintenance, that big a hit this soon in the year, I felt it 14 would be better just to go ahead and take it out of that 15 salary "slush" fund, as Jonathan wants to call it. 16 JUDGE TINLEY: Any questions? 17 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Was the guy indicted 18 on -- related to this? 19 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: He should have been 20 indicted today. 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Related to this? 22 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Yes. 23 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Destroying county 24 property? 25 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Yes. It would be a 11-14-05 189 1 felony criminal mischief charge for -- and he will be -- 2 once he goes to court, if he's found guilty in it, at that 3 point he could be ordered to pay restitution to Kerr County 4 in the amount of this damage, and we'll see if we can 5 collect it back. 6 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Cool. 7 JUDGE TINLEY: Any other question or comment? 8 All in favor of the motion, signify by raising your right 9 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 MS. WILLIAMS: I'm through. 15 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: One question, Mindy. 16 MS. WILLIAMS: Sure. 17 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: We talked some time 18 ago about -- about paying the $375 building permit fee to 19 the City of Kerrville. 20 MS. WILLIAMS: Yes, we did. What happened? 21 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: I thought I sent you 22 a letter, but I probably didn't. Anyhow, I need to get that 23 on a future Commissioners Court meeting. 24 MS. WILLIAMS: Right, yes, sir. If you -- 25 did you actually have to pay it to the City? 11-14-05 190 1 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: It hasn't been paid 2 yet. 3 MS. WILLIAMS: Okay. If you can get them to 4 give you any paperwork as to what it's going to be and you 5 can get it to us by Wednesday -- this Wednesday, we can get 6 it on for the 28th of November. 7 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Okay. 8 MS. WILLIAMS: That will be our next court 9 date. 10 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Thank you. 11 MS. WILLIAMS: You're welcome. 12 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Mindy? Judge, I have 13 one question regarding one of the reports. 14 MS. WILLIAMS: Oh. 15 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: May I? 16 JUDGE TINLEY: Sure. 17 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: The Juvenile Detention 18 Facility. I see the expenditures and the revenue numbers 19 there, and they -- Page 2, they do add up from the moneys 20 that we received from other counties, as far as revenue is 21 concerned. Same -- same numbers. But on the county list, 22 it says September, and on the reporting list, it says 23 October. Can you help me just understand that? 24 MS. WILLIAMS: Yes. That second page that 25 you have there is actually misnamed. It is October's 11-14-05 191 1 billing. It's 157,000-plus. 2 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Good. 3 MS. WILLIAMS: Yes. 4 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Good. I like things 5 to keep me confused like that. This is good stuff. 6 MS. WILLIAMS: Stick around. 7 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Thank you. 8 MS. WILLIAMS: You're welcome. 9 JUDGE TINLEY: I have -- I have monthly 10 reports from the Sheriff, Justice of the Peace Precinct 2, 11 Justice of the Peace Precinct 3, Justice of the Peace 12 Precinct 4, County Clerk, and Justice of the Peace Precinct 13 Number 1. Do I hear a motion that these reports be approved 14 as submitted? 15 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: So moved. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 17 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 18 approval as submitted. Any question or discussion? All in 19 favor of the motion, signify by raising your right hand. 20 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 21 JUDGE TINLEY: Did you vote, Commissioner? 22 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Yes. 23 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 24 (No response.) 25 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion does carry. Do I have 11-14-05 192 1 any reports from any Commissioners on their committee 2 liaison or otherwise? 3 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I've got a question 4 about -- I had in my little calendar book that is soon to 5 run out -- Union State Bank, cute little thing -- that on 6 Thursday, we have a Commissioners Court meeting to canvass 7 votes. Is that true, or is that not true? 8 MS. PIEPER: No, that is going to be Friday 9 at 9 a.m. 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Friday at 9 a.m. We 11 have a meeting Friday at 9 a.m. to canvass votes. 12 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I'm glad somebody 13 told us. 14 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: All I wanted to say. 15 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you, sir. 16 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I'm telling you, it's 17 kind of like being invited to the Santa Claus out here. I'm 18 glad I was here today; I'd have never known about it. 19 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Friday at 9 o'clock. 20 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Friday at 9 o'clock. 21 JUDGE TINLEY: Anybody else have any reports? 22 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Real quick. Are we 23 nonexempt? 24 JUDGE TINLEY: (Nodded.) Probation officers 25 who are going to be testifying in the detention hearings are 11-14-05 193 1 not, though. 2 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: I'm through. I 3 reported earlier that the work with -- between the Mountain 4 Home Fire Department and the ESD was going well, and it is. 5 I'm encouraged about that. I was out at the Animal Control 6 facility, and the contractor wasn't there; he had gone to 7 lunch. But work is under way, and he had the foundations 8 dug. And because he wasn't there, I couldn't get a copy of 9 the permit. He had it in his truck with him, but I'll get 10 that and I'll report back to you. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: All right. 12 JUDGE TINLEY: Do we have any reports from 13 elected officials? Anything further? We stand adjourned. 14 (Commissioners Court adjourned at 4:29 p.m.) 15 - - - - - - - - - - 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 11-14-05 194 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 21st day of November, 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 11-14-05