1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 KERR COUNTY COMMISSIONERS COURT 9 Regular Session 10 Monday, December 12, 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 December 12, 2005 2 PAGE 3 --- Commissioners' Comments 5 4 1.2 Consider/discuss Commissioners' Court position on closing Juvenile Detention Bank Account and 5 transferring funds to Kerr County Treasurer's bank account 12 6 1.3 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action on 7 lease-purchase agreement for asphalt zipper milling machine for Road and Bridge, authorize 8 County Judge to sign same 20 9 1.4 Consider/discuss declaring unusable Road & Bridge items as surplus and allow them to be 10 sold as scrap iron 23 11 1.5 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action on proposed conditional lease agreement with Hill 12 Country Mounted Peace Officers Association for construction of multi-use facility -- 13 1.6 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action to 14 reappoint Charles Donellen to Alamo Area Agency on Aging, Senior Advisory Committee 24 15 1.1 Discuss update on Kerr County Sesquicentennial 16 function 26 17 1.7 Discuss/consider, take appropriate action on ownership & maintenance of Turtle Creek Cemetery 32 18 1.8 Consider/discuss, address $94,001 Library Fund 19 balance paid to Kerr County by October 15, 2004 38 20 1.9 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action on construction at the Animal Control Facility 47 21 1.10 Consider/discuss field agreement with U.S. 22 Department of Agriculture 51 23 1.11 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action on interlocal agreement with City of Kerrville 24 concerning subdivision platting jurisdiction within the ETJ 55 25 3 1 I N D E X (Continued) December 12, 2005 2 PAGE 3 1.12 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action on possible revisions to Kerr County Information 4 Technology Policies 66 5 1.13 Consider changing/modifying Kerr County's Personnel Policy with regard to compensatory 6 time off and/or overtime 68 7 1.14 Reports from the following Departments: Animal Control -- 8 Environmental Health 84 Juvenile Detention Facility 92 9 Extension Service 117 10 1.15 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action on 11 Kerr County Subdivision Rules and Regulations --- 12 1.16 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action on Kerr County Water Availability Requirements --- 13 4.1 Pay Bills 105 14 4.2 Budget Amendments 109 4.3 Late Bills 112 15 4.4 Approve and Accept Monthly Reports 113 16 5.1 Reports from Commissioners/Liaison Committee Assignments 114 17 --- Adjourned 126 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 4 1 On Monday, December 12, 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 gentlemen. 7 Let me call to order this regularly scheduled meeting of the 8 Kerr County Commissioners Court scheduled for this date and 9 time, Monday, December the 12th, 2005, at 9:00 a.m. It is 10 that time now. Commissioner 3, I believe you have the honors 11 this morning. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Would everyone please stand and 13 join me for a moment of prayer followed by the pledge. 14 (Prayer and pledge of allegiance.) 15 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you. At this time, if there's 16 any member of the public or the audience that wishes to be 17 heard on an item that is not a listed agenda item, feel free 18 to come forward at this time. If you wish to speak on an 19 agenda item, we'd ask that you fill out a participation form. 20 They're at the back of the room. It's not required, but it 21 helps me for purposes of not missing you when we get to that 22 item, so I'd appreciate if you'd do that. But if there's any 23 member of the public that wishes to be heard on any matter 24 which is not a listed agenda item, well, feel free to come 25 forward at this time. Seeing no one coming forward, we'll go 12-14-05 5 1 on to the next item. Commissioner Letz, what do you have for 2 us this morning? 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think the only thing I have is 4 just a -- I'll wear my Region J hat today. Last week we had 5 our almost our final meeting under this planning cycle. We 6 adopted the draft regional water plan for 2006. It's now 7 being forwarded to the Water Development Board for final 8 review in January, and then to the Legislature after, I think, 9 June 1st for inclusion into the state water plan. Nothing 10 earth-shattering. I think I've probably noted any changes 11 that we've made, but anyway, it's interesting. A lot of work 12 was done. I'd like to thank everyone that participated in 13 that process. That's it. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: Commissioner 4? 15 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: I think all of you are 16 aware that in west Kerr County we have three facilities for 17 youth, the Hill Country Youth Ranch and Star Ranch and 3-H 18 Youth Ranch. And we got some bad news about a week ago; one 19 of the children at the -- at the Star Ranch died after being 20 restrained. And that restraint's not unusual; it's almost a 21 daily occurrence at the ranches, considering the type of 22 children they're dealing with. But it's really a tragedy. 23 The good news is that yesterday, the -- the men's group at the 24 Hunt Methodist Church had a bake sale fundraiser for the boys 25 for Christmas presents and other things, and sold some pecan 12-14-05 6 1 pies and cookies and candy, and raised over $8,000 for the 2 boys. So -- 3 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Golly. 4 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: -- it's not hard to raise 5 money for good causes. That's all I've got. 6 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you. Commissioner Baldwin? 7 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yes, sir, thank you. I had a 8 couple items here. I see that the County Clerk has received 9 another state commendation in regards to her vital statistics 10 department, I think. 11 MS. PIEPER: That is correct. 12 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Did I say that correctly? 13 And some kind of outstanding achievement award, and for how 14 many years have you won that? 15 MS. PIEPER: Every year since I've been in office 16 now. 17 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: A long time. And that makes 18 us proud, and thank you for your hard work in that. 19 MS. PIEPER: Thank you. 20 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I found out last week why so 21 many people are moving to Kerrville. I had the pleasure to go 22 into west Texas to some meetings, and I got up Friday morning 23 to attend a meeting, and it was 2 degrees. And I tell you, 24 those people seem really smart, you know, but they're not. 25 God, that place is horrible. I'm glad to be home; glad I made 12-14-05 7 1 it. I had some great tours of some airports, and it only took 2 me around ten hours to get from San Antonio to wherever I was 3 going. It was awful. I'm going to do it again. (Laughter.) 4 I want to talk a minute about the Christmas party. 5 There -- this is a Christmas party, okay? Where we get 6 together and have fun and celebrate the birth of Christ. I 7 mean, it's the greatest day in the -- on the calendar, and 8 there seems to be a little confusion. So what we're -- what I 9 think that we should do is, we'll just continue this year, 10 just like we've done every year. Our office -- Kathy is 11 checking, coordinating, and doing the thing. And our numbers 12 have grown in the last couple of years to the point to where 13 it's uncomfortable to have our party down in the basement, so 14 we decided that we want to move to the Ag Barn. And then 15 there was some maybe problems of transporting food to the Ag 16 Barn, so I took it on myself to visit with the Juvenile 17 Probation Department and asked them if we could use the van, 18 and if that's agreeable to you gentlemen, I think that we need 19 to ask all the elected officials or the people in the 20 courthouse family that participate in this thing to gather 21 their foods sometime around 11:00 o'clock down in the basement 22 of the courthouse, and we'll transport it all at one time in 23 the van out to the Ag Barn. 24 And I understand there's -- there's ways out there 25 that -- to heat or reheat and that kind of thing, so I think 12-14-05 8 1 it would be a -- I don't think it's going to be real difficult 2 for anybody in the courthouse to get in their car and drive to 3 the Ag Barn. I'm not sure about that yet; I haven't heard 4 that one. But, anyway, I think -- I think it'll be a smooth 5 transaction. And the idea of passing the coordinating efforts 6 around to the different offices, we'll deal with that next 7 year. It's nothing to -- anybody to be concerned or worried 8 about right now. So, anyway, I just wanted to say all that, 9 and hopefully clear the air. And if you guys have any trouble 10 moving the food in the van, let me know and I'll sure shut her 11 down. That's all. It's nice to be here. 12 JUDGE TINLEY: Commissioner Williams? 13 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I was chuckling when 14 Commissioner Baldwin was talking about his activities last 15 week, because he truly is one of the luckiest people I know. 16 He gets to go to Wichita Falls when it's zero degrees. Not 17 many of us get that opportunity. 18 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: It's true. 19 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: We're certainly glad you're 20 back -- 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: You gentlemen are welcome to 22 go with me. 23 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: We're glad you're back 24 without getting frostbite. A couple things I want to talk 25 about. First of all, Friday I was in Austin and filed the 12-14-05 9 1 application on behalf of Kerr County with Texas Water 2 Development Board for an engineering -- preliminary 3 engineering money which we hope will be forthcoming for the 4 design -- initial design phase, preliminary planning and some 5 engineering design for Center Point wastewater collection 6 system. You may recall that the Upper Guadalupe River 7 Authority authorized the funding of the other half of that 8 match, about $121,000 or $122,000. So, our application is in, 9 and if T.W.D.B. needs more information, we'll -- we'll oblige 10 and provide it as -- as they take a look at it. The deadline 11 for all of -- all of the applications under the current cycle 12 of funding is the 15th of this month, so we're in -- safely in 13 and we'll await their decisions. 14 Secondly, I was notified by the T.C.E.Q. that the 15 Wheatcraft operation had a surprise visit from T.C.E.Q. last 16 week and was found to be in violation of the air quality 17 regulations with respect to constructing his equipment, which 18 I guess is the rock crusher he intends to use. And he will be 19 issued a cease and desist order on that construction phase of 20 whatever it is he's doing out there. Doesn't mean he can't do 21 his mining and -- and hauling of materials in and out, 'cause 22 he is doing that. But there are some regulations with respect 23 to the construction aspects of the rock crushers until the 24 permit is issued. And, lastly, in the spirit of the season, 25 we had an opportunity last night to join with the community of 12-14-05 10 1 Center Point in its Christmas -- annual Christmas parade and 2 Christmas lighting and arrival of Santa Claus, and it was a 3 fun time. It brings the little community together. The band, 4 the high school, and all of the kids and -- and members of the 5 Alliance for Progress and other citizens who enjoy the 6 opportunity to get together and listen to the Christmas story 7 and let the little kids see Santa Claus and get cookies and 8 hot chocolate and all that good stuff. That's put on each 9 year, in the event you don't know, by the Center Point 10 Alliance for Progress. They work all year long raising funds 11 to do the Christmas lighting, to put up the lighting, to pay 12 for the lighting, and to pay for these events, and more 13 importantly than all, to provide a Christmas gift or gifts to 14 needy children who otherwise would not be remembered during 15 the Christmas season. So, hats off to them; they do a fine 16 job, and it's a fun time and a good time to be a part of the 17 Christmas spirit. That's it, Judge. 18 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you. Let's get on with the 19 agenda, if we might. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Judge, can I make one other 21 comment real briefly, if I might? 22 JUDGE TINLEY: What do you got? 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I just wanted -- all the press 24 isn't here, but some of the press is. Frequently in the past 25 year, there have been a lot of articles about the City and the 12-14-05 11 1 County not getting along and not working, and also, just in 2 general, entities not working together. I just want to 3 note -- I'll bring this up a little bit later when we get into 4 subdivision rules -- that on the ETJ issue, even though we 5 don't have an agreement that I'm aware of today from the City, 6 we were able to sit down, Buster Baldwin and myself, with the 7 City and work out a deal -- cooperation -- that we both agreed 8 with, without any difficulty. And, likewise, on water 9 availability with Headwaters, I was able to -- twice, I've sat 10 down with their board and gone over and come up with a water 11 availability plan that they're happy with and I'm happy with. 12 We'll be talking about that later today. But it's just 13 frequently in the papers, and the press talks about us not 14 getting along. I just wanted to point out that in the past 15 couple of weeks, there's been a lot of times when the county 16 government has worked very well with the Headwaters Water -- 17 Underground Water Conservation District and City of Kerrville, 18 and I think we probably cooperate a lot more than we don't 19 cooperate, in reality. 20 JUDGE TINLEY: As a follow-up to that, I think our 21 last meeting when we were all present, where we had dinner 22 together at Commissioner Baldwin's suggestion, when we just 23 explored ideas and parameters, there was -- there were more 24 ideas discussed as a suggestion of things that we might look 25 at in the future than the ones that we currently cooperate 12-14-05 12 1 with, which would indicate to me that everyone's looking 2 forward to combined efforts and efficiencies and cooperation, 3 and so I would concur with your suggestion that maybe the -- 4 the continued indications of rancor between the two 5 entities -- or two or more entities is more myth than truth, 6 possibly. Let's move on with the agenda, if we might. We'll 7 go to Item 2 initially. I don't see -- 8 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Correct. 9 JUDGE TINLEY: -- the first individual here. And 10 it's not quite 9:15 anyway, so we'll go with Item 2. Consider 11 and discuss Commissioners Court position on closing Juvenile 12 Detention bank account and transferring funds to the Kerr 13 County Treasurer's bank account. Ms. Nemec? 14 MS. NEMEC: Good morning. We had discussed this 15 during court on October the 11th, and we had also discussed 16 bringing it back to court the next court session, but that 17 wasn't done. So, during all this time, there's been 18 discussion about closing it and how we should handle it. In 19 visiting with the Auditor and the County Attorney, I have 20 found out that I do not need a court order to do that. 21 However, I have stated my position October 11th on it, and in 22 the letter that I wrote to y'all. Basically, that's just not 23 something that I would do unless I know that it is the 24 agreement of all the Commissioners and the Judge to do that, 25 to close that account. So, I don't need a court order. I'm 12-14-05 13 1 just looking for a direction and to see how each one of you 2 feel about doing this. 3 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Barbara, my whole thing was 4 -- to have it separated out there was to be able -- that we 5 could be able to see and track all the way through, or Joe 6 Jones off the street, who walked in and started looking at 7 county records, that he could actually see clearly. But it's 8 my understanding that by -- by doing your recommendation here, 9 by closing the account down, moving it into your program, that 10 it still could be tracked and clearly seen, so I have no 11 problem. That's my -- that was my only deal in the beginning. 12 MS. NEMEC: Right. We would keep it in a separate 13 fund in the Treasurer's account if we do that, and it would 14 always be able to be -- 15 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Very good. 16 MS. NEMEC: -- tracked. 17 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Your thought is to keep it 18 separate, correct? 19 MS. NEMEC: Well -- 20 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: That's what your memo says. 21 MS. NEMEC: My thought is to keep it separate. 22 There's just too much going on over there, and every time that 23 there is a shortfall, I feel that it should be brought to 24 y'all's attention. And if we put it in the Treasurer's 25 account, that's not going to be the case unless you all ask. 12-14-05 14 1 And, so, for that reason, my thought is to keep it separate. 2 But if -- if -- you know, if that is not what y'all wish to 3 do, I don't have a problem in transferring it. 4 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: No, I just wanted to get 5 why -- why you believe it's necessary to keep it separate. 6 MS. NEMEC: Right. That is the reason. 7 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Thank you. 8 MS. NEMEC: The general fund will be having to fund 9 that facility and the shortfall every time we have a 10 shortfall, and you will not be made aware of it, like I said, 11 unless you continually ask for those records. 12 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Okay. 13 MS. NEMEC: And, so, that is -- that is the reason. 14 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Thank you. 15 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Well, you can count on me 16 asking for the records. 17 JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah. We need to be able to clearly 18 identify what the operational costs are and what the 19 revenue -- the receipts are from that facility. I think -- I 20 think the Court was very, very specific when we finalized the 21 budget that we were going to be looking at this thing fairly 22 closely on an ongoing basis. So, whatever's required to be 23 able to clearly identify those without undue difficulty from 24 your office, why -- you know, I don't know what your logistics 25 are down there, but whatever -- whatever's required that -- so 12-14-05 15 1 that we're able to do that, that's my concern. 2 MS. NEMEC: We will. There's not a problem with 3 that. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: To me, it's simpler to combine 5 the accounts, but we need to be able to clearly track it. 6 And, you know, I think that it's something that we can just 7 ask for. We can figure out a mechanism to -- to get that to 8 us, whether it's through your office or the Auditor's office. 9 One of the things that may help is to get a little bit of a -- 10 kind of more of, I guess, a balance sheet or -- of that 11 department, or income statement, really, more as to 12 expenditure, transfers in, transfers out. One of the 13 difficulties I have in tracking, and this is whether it's in a 14 separate account or in the same account, is that they get -- 15 end up on different pages for transfers in, transfers out. If 16 we could have it consolidated on one page, we could see what 17 was transferred and also what the expenditures have been. It 18 would be, I think, clearer to me and to the public. 19 MS. NEMEC: I can do a monthly report and provide 20 that for you all if y'all want me to do that. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: That would be very helpful to 22 me, 'cause it's difficult to track it the way we do it, you 23 know, 'cause it's not normally the type of thing we do track, 24 the transfers in, transfers out on the same page. 25 MS. NEMEC: Okay. 12-14-05 16 1 JUDGE TINLEY: Ms. Harris, I think, is doing a 2 monthly now, but if I'm not mistaken, hers is done -- is yours 3 done on a cash basis or an accrual basis, Ms. Harris? 4 MS. HARRIS: Cash basis. 5 JUDGE TINLEY: Cash basis? 6 MS. HARRIS: Yes, sir. 7 JUDGE TINLEY: Then I'm not sure it would be any 8 different from -- from yours, then, would it? 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Shouldn't be. 10 MS. NEMEC: Are you doing as we receive the revenue? 11 Or your report is what you bill out? 12 MS. HARRIS: Our report is what we billed out. 13 MS. NEMEC: Then that would be different. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: That's an accrual basis and not a 15 cash, then. Okay. 16 MS. HARRIS: But we also keep up with our cash as 17 well. But that does not come in -- you know, all of our 18 checks -- revenue checks do not come in on the same day. 19 MS. NEMEC: Right. 20 MS. HARRIS: It comes in different parts of the week 21 all -- all month long. 22 JUDGE TINLEY: But your revenue figures, for 23 example, for November -- 24 MS. HARRIS: Mm-hmm. 25 JUDGE TINLEY: -- will be the revenues that you 12-14-05 17 1 earned in November, but did not necessarily receive? 2 MS. HARRIS: Correct. 3 JUDGE TINLEY: And you would show, offsetting that, 4 the expenses for that same month, so as to be able to look at 5 each month -- 6 MS. HARRIS: Yes, sir. 7 JUDGE TINLEY: -- and what you think is a clearer 8 picture? 9 MS. HARRIS: Yes, sir. 10 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. And that's what you've been 11 providing us? 12 MS. HARRIS: Yes, sir. 13 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 14 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: One of the areas of 15 information that I found wanting is to track the accounts 16 receivable in terms of the delinquencies, what counties or 17 entities might be delinquent in remitting their -- their fees 18 to Kerr County. Is that possible to get a handle on that, so 19 we know? 20 MS. NEMEC: Y'all might be able to get that either 21 from Ms. Harris or the Auditor, Mindy Williams. 22 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: If there are none, that's 23 great, but -- 24 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: There is some. 25 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Yeah, I know. 12-14-05 18 1 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: I'm not real sure of the 2 implications of having separate accounts. Does it mean, for 3 example, that the bills are paid by separate entities? Or are 4 two checkbooks kept? 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Two checkbooks. 6 MS. NEMEC: Yes, two bank accounts. Separate bank 7 accounts. 8 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: So, currently, expenses of 9 the facility are being paid by the administration of the 10 facility? 11 MS. NEMEC: Right. 12 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I wanted to go back to Mrs. 13 Harris' monthly report here and really make it clear what 14 we're seeing. It shows the revenue -- as an example, the one 15 dated December, and I guess that's the latest, it shows 16 revenues of 150,000 plus a few dollars, and expenditures of 17 172,000, so we're a little low there. But what -- what that 18 means is that revenue -- and I'm just piggy-backing on your 19 comments. The revenue is simply billed-out money; it is not 20 money that has actually come into the county coffers. As a 21 matter of fact, I was peeking at the Auditor's books the other 22 day in regards to this issue, and there are two or three 23 months -- I can't remember; seemed like it was October, 24 billings that still have not come in. So, when we look at 25 these numbers on our -- on the monthly report -- and I'm 12-14-05 19 1 not -- not knocking this, but I just want us to clearly 2 understand that that's not necessarily money that's in the 3 county coffers at this time. So -- 4 JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah. That's earned, not necessarily 5 received. 6 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Correct. 7 JUDGE TINLEY: But it was earned during that same -- 8 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Is that correct? 9 JUDGE TINLEY: -- period indicated. 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That is correct. And there 11 are some counties -- you know, we've always understood -- 12 going through the issues with the State Hospital, we've always 13 understood that Harris County is real slow in paying, and 14 Bexar County is real slow in paying. I think that those are 15 the major -- major ones. So, yes, there is outstanding 16 counties. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And that exact point is what has 18 caused the problem, in that the -- we're owed the money, but 19 we don't have it. 20 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That's correct. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But the bills, we do have. 22 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: And there's not a whole hell 23 of a lot you're going to do about it, I can tell you. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I mean, over the long-term, if 25 you break it out for the year, it'll -- 12-14-05 20 1 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Balances. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- balance out against each 3 other, but there may be pay periods -- or billing periods that 4 the money's not there. Which is why I think it makes more 5 sense to combine the accounts, as long as we keep a close eye 6 on it, like I think -- and I think we can, and are. 7 MS. NEMEC: Well, I think I've got some direction 8 there. I think what we'll do, the Auditor and I will go ahead 9 and close the bank account. I think what we're going to start 10 doing as of today is putting all the revenues into the 11 Treasurer's account, set up a line item just for the Juvenile 12 Detention Facility, and then we're going to see if everything 13 can clear the bank account that is out now so that we can 14 close it at the end of this month. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay, great. 16 MS. NEMEC: Thank you. 17 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Thank you. 18 JUDGE TINLEY: You're able to pull up the 19 information just by virtue of the revenue account numbers and 20 the expense accounts? 21 MS. NEMEC: Right. 22 JUDGE TINLEY: Sure. 23 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Thank you. 24 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you, ma'am. Let's move to Item 25 3, if we might; consider, discuss, and take appropriate action 12-14-05 21 1 on lease/purchase agreement for the asphalt zipper milling 2 machine for Road and Bridge, including approval of payment of 3 $500 for document processing fee, an additional $15 for UCC 4 filing, and authorize County Judge to sign same. I put this 5 on the agenda. This is essentially the same type of item that 6 we had when we did the chip spreader and asphalt distributor 7 last year. Basically, the same type of transaction, same type 8 of -- of expenses and right down the line. 9 MR. ODOM: Yes, sir. 10 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: You have funds in your budget 12 to pay these? 13 MR. ODOM: Well, I don't have to pay anything. 14 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: No, I mean the additional. 15 MR. ODOM: Yes, I do. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: The UCC filing and the -- 17 JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah, he's got it. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- processing. 19 JUDGE TINLEY: He's got a contingency just like he 20 pulled out the previous occasion. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Is this -- is this the -- I 22 noticed this was Security State Bank. 23 JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: This is the equipment that we're 25 buying from Koch? Is this that piece of equipment? 12-14-05 22 1 MR. ODOM: This is that zipper that we were talking 2 about, that milling machine. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But is that from -- there was 4 one that we had a problem on the financing side. Is that the 5 same -- 6 MR. ODOM: The same machine. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: We were not able to get the 8 financing? 9 MR. ODOM: Right. 10 JUDGE TINLEY: The County Attorney, I believe, has 11 approved all the documents. 12 MR. EMERSON: Yes, sir. 13 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Actually, what we did, we 14 shortened the period too, didn't we? 15 MR. ODOM: Yes, sir. I wanted to advertise it over 16 five, but we went ahead and had three, so it will work out. 17 I'll make it work. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. I move approval of the 19 agenda item, authorize the County Judge to sign same. 20 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Second. 21 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for approval 22 of the agenda item. Any question or discussion? All in favor 23 of the motion, signify by raising your right hand. 24 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 25 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 12-14-05 23 1 (No response.) 2 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. Let's go to 3 Item 4; consider, discuss, and take appropriate action to 4 declare unusable Road and Bridge items as surplus and allow 5 them to be sold as scrap iron. 6 MR. ODOM: Yes, sir. We have many items in our 7 yard, and -- the main yard at Spur 100 and the -- behind the 8 Little League field and Ingram that need to be disposed of. 9 Space is a problem, and just aesthetic looks of the yards 10 don't -- don't fare too well. I've attached a few photos and 11 a list of items, and these are a general list of the things 12 that I have, and predominant, as an example, what needs to be 13 cleaned up. None of the items have value except as scrap. 14 All vehicular-type items have been salvaged for usable parts. 15 All cattle guards, culvert pipes, and tanks are unsafe for 16 use, and we will contact the local junk dealers and/or take 17 these items to San Antonio for scrap. The pipe, we thought 18 we'd try during the wintertime here over the next couple of 19 months and Christmas -- we want to try to get out there and 20 crush as much as we can to be able to take it forward and just 21 dispose of it. What we ask at this time is to declare such 22 items surplus and allow us to sell them as scrap, and to put 23 any funds we might receive for the sale of such items into our 24 Emulsion, Line Item 15-611-552, to help offset the increase in 25 oils that we were told about recently, which will come due in 12-14-05 24 1 March. So, we anticipate a short rise in asphalt prices; from 2 the current 94 cents, we estimate maybe a buck, 20, so that's 3 substantial. Now, not saying that this scrap is going to 4 bring me this much. We have no idea until we weigh it out and 5 all, but it is some value, and a little value is better than 6 -- than no value. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Ill make a motion to declare the 8 items listed as surplus in Road and Bridge Department. 9 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. 10 MR. ODOM: Thank y'all. 11 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded to declare 12 the indicated items as surplus, allowing them to be sold as 13 scrap. Any question or discussion on the motion? All in 14 favor, indicate it 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: The motion does carry. Let's move to 19 Item 6, if we might. Consider, discuss, and take appropriate 20 action to reappoint Charles Donellen to the Alamo Area Agency 21 on Aging, Senior Advisory Committee, effective 12-12-05. 22 Commissioner Williams? 23 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Shortly after we appointed 24 Mr. Weinberg, I was notified by the Senior Advisory Committee 25 that Mr. Donellen's appointment expires this month and needs 12-14-05 25 1 to be re-upped if we intend to do so. And he is a strong 2 participant in this and has been nominated to serve as 3 chairperson for the ensuing year, so I would nominate for 4 reappointment Mr. Charles Donellen to the Alamo Area Agency on 5 Aging, Senior Advisory Committee, effective today. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 7 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I second the motion. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Third. 9 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for -- for 10 approval of the agenda item. Any question or discussion? 11 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Just one comment. Judge, we 12 need to prepare a letter and get that off in time for -- 13 JUDGE TINLEY: I think it may already be prepared in 14 draft form, if I'm not mistaken. 15 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Thank you. 16 JUDGE TINLEY: All right. Because he does have a 17 meeting -- 18 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: On the 14th. 19 JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah. 20 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Coming up. 21 JUDGE TINLEY: Any further question or discussion on 22 the motion? All in favor of the motion, signify by raising 23 your right hand. 24 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 25 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 12-14-05 26 1 (No response.) 2 JUDGE TINLEY: That motion does carry. Let's now go 3 to Item 1, discussion and update on Kerr County 4 Sesquicentennial function. Commissioner Baldwin? 5 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Thank you, sir. I've asked 6 Joe Herring, Jr., from the Historical Commission to come in to 7 kind of give us an update to see where we are and see what 8 we're doing and what we're going to do for Kerr County's 150th 9 birthday. The Honorable Joe Herring, Jr. 10 MR. HERRING: I'm Joe Herring. I reside in 11 Kerrville, Texas. I do need to make one correction; I'm 12 actually representing the Kerrville Area Chamber of Commerce. 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Sorry. 14 MR. HERRING: No. No, I just wanted to make sure 15 that I don't wear a hat which I'm not entitled to wear. Can I 16 give you a brief outline of where we are? And then I'm 17 certainly willing to take comments about what we're doing so 18 far. The actual date of the sesquicentennial is January 26th, 19 a little over a month from today. The date we will hope to 20 celebrate the sesquicentennial is a weekend, the first full 21 weekend in April; April 7, 8, and 9, 2006. We notice that the 22 Centennial Committee did the same thing, because our 23 forefathers didn't have the foresight to pick a date that was 24 -- had nice weather. We're hoping that the weather will be 25 better in April. 12-14-05 27 1 Speaking of the Kerr County Historical Commission, 2 I've been in discussions with General Schellhase. They plan, 3 during that weekend, to have some living history exhibits at 4 the Union Church. I think that that will be the extent of 5 their participation. That weekend, Friday -- Thursday, 6 actually, there will be a style show, which is a Chamber 7 function, which will feature fashions for 150 years. And 8 Friday night, we're going to have events on the star down here 9 in downtown Kerrville, and we hope to celebrate the many 10 cultures that have been a part of our history. Saturday, we 11 hope to have a parade starting probably at the Wells Fargo 12 Bank area and going to the park. There'll also be an auto 13 show in the downtown area. That evening in Louise Hays Park, 14 we hope to have a musical event, and if the funding comes 15 through, we hope to have fireworks that night. Then on 16 Sunday, at the Cailloux Theater, we hope to have a memorial 17 service, as they did during the centennial. Now, at the 18 centennial, Howard Butt, Jr., spoke. We've invited him to 19 come again to speak at the memorial service that Sunday at the 20 Cailloux Center. The governor has also been invited to make 21 an appearance at whatever time is convenient for the governor. 22 To help raise money for the event, we're going -- we 23 are planning to make coins -- sell little coins. And this is 24 a design that was done by a student at Schreiner. What we did 25 at Schreiner, we opened it up to the Graphic Arts Department 12-14-05 28 1 and made a contest out of it, and this is the winning entry. 2 You'll see on there a draw-knife kind of on the bottom. Looks 3 like Buster's been using it, 'cause it's all curved. Little 4 shingle yard, and those little things around the edge of the 5 coin are supposed to be shingles. We're also making -- making 6 communication with several other organizations to try to be a 7 part of the event. We've contacted H.E.B. Grocery Company. 8 We've contacted Schreiner University. We contacted the Texas 9 Arts and Crafts Fair people. We're trying to make it very 10 inclusive. We're not really contacting the other communities 11 yet. We thought we'd get through Christmas first, and then 12 get them fully on line with Center Point, Mountain Home, Hunt, 13 and Ingram. Ingram has its own Chamber of Commerce, and we 14 hope they'll also be a part of it. Trying to think if I'm 15 leaving anything out. The big thing is April 7th, 8th, and 16 9th. We anticipate the big flurry of activities to occur 17 after the holidays are over. I would make one request of the 18 Commissioners Court. The official -- the actual day, it would 19 be nice if the Court had some kind of small ceremony here at 20 the courthouse to commemorate that day; a little speechifying, 21 a little flag-waving might be nice. 22 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Maybe even a political speech 23 or two. 24 MR. HERRING: That would be probably appropriate. 25 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah. I can't imagine that 12-14-05 29 1 this season, but... 2 MR. HERRING: I'll be happy to help coordinate some 3 other resources for that event if the Commissioners would be 4 willing to have some small ceremony here. 5 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay, super. 6 MR. HERRING: On the actual date. 7 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I bet we can do something. 8 MR. HERRING: Yes, sir. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: How's the fundraising going? 10 MR. HERRING: Fundraising -- we haven't actually 11 started on the fundraising. What we're going to do, Kerrville 12 Area Chamber is just asking every member for $150. We feel if 13 we get 25 percent of our members -- I really wish this 14 wouldn't be reported. If we only get 25 percent 15 participation, we can more than fund the event. We want 100 16 percent participation, though. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But be realistic. 18 MR. HERRING: If that doesn't come about, we're 19 still okay. 20 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: I won't tell anybody. 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Joe, I'm excited about the 22 parade. 23 MR. HERRING: Oh, sure. 24 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: The -- I'd like to see -- I'd 25 like to see the Sheriff lead the parade, and then each one of 12-14-05 30 1 us in our own little float. And I've already secured my 1948 2 Lincoln convertible to ride in. And things like my wife's 3 family's ranch out at Mountain Home is one of the older 4 ranches out there, and they want to have their float with the 5 -- with the family ladies in their bonnets and the cookstove 6 and -- you know, to celebrate, with the ranch -- Smith Ranch 7 sign on it and all that. And I just think it would be 8 exciting for everybody to hop in and really participate in 9 this thing. 10 MR. HERRING: When we -- if you want to invite me 11 back in late January, early February, I can give you the names 12 of the chairpeople of all the -- I have some private 13 commitments, not public commitments yet, for people who will 14 be leading, like, the parade and the memorial service and 15 other parts of the event. I can give you those. We'll have a 16 full structure by then. I just -- with the holidays, it's 17 going to be hard to get anyone to commit to anything. 18 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I understand. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So, Buster, your thought is that 20 each of us will ride in a vehicle, or be on a float? 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Whatever you desire. I'm 22 going to ride in a vehicle. 23 MR. HERRING: We will try to make a place 24 appropriate for the entire Commissioners Court or individually 25 if they'd like to participate. 12-14-05 31 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think individual cars is a 2 good idea. 3 MR. HERRING: It can be three-to-two; it can be 4 four-to-one. 5 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Make it bigger. 6 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I want to thank Joe for what 7 you're doing, and the Chamber, because what you've outlined is 8 really great, and we appreciate that very much. 9 MR. HERRING: And there are other events, ancillary 10 events taking place that weekend that will be incorporated in. 11 We've made contact with the Cherry Ball, which is that 12 weekend, and they're going to -- from what I understand, 13 they're going to make their theme compatible with the overall 14 event. So -- 15 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: It's so cool. 16 MR. HERRING: Yeah, it's going to be fun. 17 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: What day is January the 26th 18 on? 19 JUDGE TINLEY: Thursday. 20 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: On a Thursday. So, we 21 probably need to have an agenda item to formally have a -- 22 MR. HERRING: At least a resolution might be 23 appropriate. 24 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Mm-hmm. 25 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I think a gathering with 12-14-05 32 1 coffee and cookies. The District Clerk always makes cookies 2 for us. 3 MR. HERRING: Some type of small birthday 4 celebration. 5 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah. 6 MR. HERRING: When we first talked about this at our 7 committee, it was, you know, you only turn 150 once, so that's 8 nice to make it special. 9 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: It is neat. I like it. 10 MR. HERRING: Anything else for me, guys? 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Thank you very much. 12 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Thank you, Joe. 13 JUDGE TINLEY: We appreciate your efforts and that 14 of the Chamber for taking this project on, coordination and so 15 forth. 16 MR. HERRING: The members of the Chamber that do 17 meet their goal will get a coin, so they may be very rare. 18 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: They may. 19 MR. HERRING: Thank you. 20 JUDGE TINLEY: Let's move to Item 7; discuss, 21 consider, and take appropriate action on ownership and 22 maintenance of Turtle Creek Cemetery. Commissioner Baldwin? 23 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Thank you, sir. I was handed 24 this several years ago. And -- I really was. 25 JUDGE TINLEY: I don't believe I'd have told that. 12-14-05 33 1 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Well, no, I'm going to get 2 out of it. Watch this. And so I immediately saw it as a 3 legal issue and turned it over to the County Attorney's 4 office, and then nothing ever happened, and it resurfaced 5 again this last week. So, with a new County Attorney, he is 6 -- you see -- in your packet, you see his opinion on -- on the 7 documents in the back here. I want to read Mr. Emerson's 8 note. It said, "It appears to me that Kerr County owns the 9 land so long as it is used and maintained as a cemetery." So, 10 it seems to me that Kerr County is a proud owner of a 11 cemetery. And -- but -- and, you know, I don't see any formal 12 action to be taken. It's -- it's a done thing that we own. 13 However, I would like permission from the Commissioners Court 14 to sit down with the County Attorney and work out some issues. 15 I think there probably needs to be -- the County owns it, and 16 there may be some liabilities. I don't know about that, but 17 there needs to be rules set up. I know that some of these 18 folks out in that community want us to take it over and 19 maintain it and keep it, and them keep running it, but that's 20 not the way it's going to work. So, if we're going to own it, 21 we need to have some rules and regulations or whatever you 22 want to call them to -- to keep the thing running properly and 23 that kind of thing. So -- 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Commissioner, do we own other 25 cemeteries? 12-14-05 34 1 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: No. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: This is the only cemetery the 3 County owns? 4 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Who's been maintaining it up 5 till now? 6 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: The community out there. And 7 the -- what do you call those guys, weekend warriors? 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Community service. 9 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Community service folks have 10 done it. And years -- years ago, Road and Bridge took care of 11 all the cemeteries, or a number of them. And the -- legally, 12 we stopped that, thank God. And -- but, you know, this -- 13 this is the only one, to my knowledge, that the County 14 officially owns, and so I just -- I just think that if we own 15 it, we need to run it. And it may be -- it may be put in the 16 Parks Department; I don't know. You know, we need to set up 17 ways to maintain it, you know, all those things. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Would the community be 19 interested in owning it, as opposed to the County owning it? 20 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Well, they came to us with 21 this. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Well, I know, but they may want 23 -- they may -- deep down, they may want to own it. 24 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Deep down. Well, we can get 25 a psychiatrist involved in this thing if you want to. 12-14-05 35 1 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: He's talking about the 2 community doing the maintenance, right? 3 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Commissioner, you -- in 4 west Kerr -- maybe you may be more aware of this than I am -- 5 I occasionally get requests from -- including biweekly, from 6 people that want us to maintain Nichols Cemetery. I'm pretty 7 sure we don't own it. 8 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: No. 9 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Does this in any way set 10 any precedent for -- 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: No, I don't think so. I 12 mean, you see the actual document in here from many years ago, 13 that it was given to the County in 1977, actually. And, we've 14 been down that road many times about Nichols and Hunt and 15 Mountain Home and those cemeteries. It used to -- like, 16 Nichols is an example. We maintain the road that goes into 17 the gate. That's a county road going in there. We no longer 18 go inside. We used to. The County used to maintain that road 19 through there, and actually did the mowing and trimming and 20 the whole thing for many years, but we stopped that, I don't 21 know, a long time ago. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Commissioner do you want to -- a 23 motion to authorize you to kind of -- 24 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I don't think we need a 25 motion. I'm just going to do it anyway. 12-14-05 36 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. 2 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: But I was trying to be nice. 3 JUDGE TINLEY: Is it your thinking, Commissioner, 4 that we should continue to own that cemetery? Even in the 5 face of a possible desire on the part of the people of that 6 area -- 7 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: No. No, not at all. It 8 needs to be in the community. 9 JUDGE TINLEY: Well, there's cemetery associations 10 that you can form under the law, and it may well be that 11 people out in the Turtle Creek area want to form such an 12 association for the purpose of operating that cemetery. And 13 if so -- 14 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: They sure might. 15 JUDGE TINLEY: -- it seems to me that I can't think 16 of any good news by virtue of the County owning a cemetery. 17 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Me either. 18 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Such is the case in Center 19 Point. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Most of them are owned by 21 associations; that's why I asked the question, if they have 22 any desire. Because -- 23 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Well, I -- the reason I 24 negatived that is because they have come to us -- 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. 12-14-05 37 1 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: -- and said, "Please take 2 care of your cemetery." 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. 4 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So, I'll be happy to visit 5 with them and make that offer, and -- but I want to -- I want 6 Rex to be in on the whole thing, because I have some strange 7 feelings about it. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Well, if they want it, they've 9 got my vote. 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Well, mine too. 11 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Yes. 12 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: That's three; there's a 13 majority. 14 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: But we own it. We officially 15 own it. 16 JUDGE TINLEY: We can solve that -- 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: We can give it to them. 18 JUDGE TINLEY: -- that deficiency. 19 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Y'all are so nice. Thank 20 you. 21 JUDGE TINLEY: Let's move to Item 5. I'm not sure 22 if this one is ready for consideration. Consider, discuss, 23 and take appropriate action on proposed conditional lease 24 agreement between Kerr County and the Hill Country Mounted 25 Peace Officers Association for the construction of a multi-use 12-14-05 38 1 facility adjacent to Kerr County Law Enforcement Center for 2 emergency operations, law enforcement training, and other law 3 enforcement emergency functions and purposes. Are we in a 4 position to move forward on that at this time, Mr. Emerson? 5 MR. EMERSON: I don't have a clue, Judge. 6 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: I did see Mr. Chapa this 7 morning, and they were supposed to be -- he knows what time it 8 was and said that they were planning on being here. I know 9 that they were also busy this morning, so it's -- game 10 wardens, so you may want to just pass it for a little while 11 longer yet and see if they show up. 12 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay, we'll defer further action on 13 that item and come back to it. Let's go to Item 8, if we 14 might; consider, discuss, and take appropriate action to 15 address the $94,001 Library Fund balance that was paid to Kerr 16 County -- I guess that was to be paid to Kerr County by 17 October 15, 2004. Commissioner Nicholson? 18 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: You've got some 19 documentation in your packets there, and I want to hand out 20 some more documents that I'd like to talk about. What I -- 21 the purpose of getting this on the agenda is to try to get 22 some resolution to this issue. It's a mystery about what 23 happened to the $94,000, and I haven't been able to solve the 24 mystery. And just a little bit of background; in budget 25 deliberations for 2004-2005 budget, we got a request from the 12-14-05 39 1 library; I think it was $406,000 -- it was something around 2 that order, around $400,000, and we decided to -- to not meet 3 that request for funds. There was discussion that we thought 4 the library needed to consider its -- its management of its 5 costs and find ways to -- to be more cost efficient in its 6 operations, so we funded them for 323,000. And then -- so 7 that was in the summer of 2004. On August 25, 2004, we got a 8 copy of a letter -- no, we got a letter from -- the County 9 Judge and Commissioners Court got a letter from the City 10 Manager outlining joint programs data, and under the library 11 portion of that, he said that there would be a single equity 12 payment to both participating entities to return the excess 13 fund balance. This return of equity equates to $94,001 per 14 entity. It goes on to say the return of equity would be 15 returned to the County via check no later than October 15, 16 2004. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Commissioner, if you would -- 18 either you or I would read that exact paragraph, I think 19 that's a very important paragraph to understand what the City 20 -- what the City said, and -- 21 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: "For the past several 22 years, the Library has been able to absorb major budget 23 increases from larger than required fund balances. While this 24 has helped keep the cost of operations apparently low, we will 25 no doubt lose this fund balance at some point. Moreover, 12-14-05 40 1 there is an excessive fund balance tied up in the Library 2 Fund, which could and should be returned to both agencies. To 3 bring this fund into proper budgetary guidelines, we are 4 proposing a single equity payment to the participating 5 entities. In other words, the Library will return the excess 6 fund balance (above the required 5 percent) to the City and 7 County. This return of equity equates to $94,001 per entity. 8 To further this realignment of the budget, the Library staff 9 was asked to bring a balanced budget forward where the 10 revenues equaled the expenses. As a result, the participation 11 levels" -- there's a typo -- "from the City and County have 12 increased from $390,523 to $416,113. The formula for 13 calculating this funding requirement is simply expenditures 14 minus service revenue divided by two. This funding level 15 gives us a base funding level from which to build on from year 16 to year. Coupled with return of equity, the total net cost 17 for the County is $323,329, which is $67,194 less than the 18 current year. The return of equity ($94,001) will be returned 19 to the County via check no later than October 15th, 2004." 20 Again, that was written on August 25, 2004. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: As I read that, especially that 22 last sentence, to me, that means that that year we were 23 supposed to pay $323,329 to the City for our 50 percent cost, 24 and we were supposed to receive $94,001 in a check. We, as I 25 recall, spent the 323 -- or transferred the $323,329 to the 12-14-05 41 1 City, and the issue now is we never received the $94,000 2 check. 3 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: That's true. And the first 4 time that -- at least the first time that it came to my 5 attention that that was the circumstance is when we were 6 meeting jointly with the -- the City Council, and we were -- I 7 think this was in our meeting on the library, and we were 8 delivered a -- a package that included library budget 9 worksheets called Line Item Justification Worksheet, and 10 you've got copies of two of those. One of them shows that 11 $94,001 was returned of equity to the City of Kerrville, and 12 the other one notes that Kerr County reduced monthly payment 13 instead of accepting one-time check for a return of equity. 14 And I can't tell from that how much was captured. It talks 15 about the current budget being $94,001 and future budget being 16 zero. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But with that being the case, 18 though, with that statement on there, which I don't know that 19 the County ever -- I don't recall the County ever being in on 20 that decision, but if it was made -- I should say I don't 21 recall the Commissioners Court being in on that decision; 22 someone in the County may have. The amount we should have 23 been paid should have been $323,329 minus $94,001, and 24 $230,000, approximately, should have been what we transferred 25 to the City that year. But I think we transferred more than 12-14-05 42 1 that. 2 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Well, I think -- I'm not 3 sure if we started to get data. I think what happened is we 4 paid our 323. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. 6 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: And they captured the 7 difference between 323 and what the library asked for from our 8 94,000. County Judge wrote Don Davis, the Interim City 9 Manager, on October 7th, asking for an explanation. Who 10 authorized it? What was -- did anybody in Kerr County 11 government authorize that? He later got a letter from the new 12 City Manager essentially saying I don't know how it happened. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Well, there's one from Brian 14 Brooks. 15 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: "As to how the application 16 was to occur, there is no specific documentation." What I 17 would like is for the City to tell this Commissioners Court 18 that City Council approved the capturing of the $94,000 of the 19 County's funds. If they didn't approve it, how was that 20 accomplished? Who had -- who did it and what was their 21 authority for -- for capturing that $94,000? I have no 22 recollection of -- of this Court ever discussing or having 23 any -- there being any inference that we would spend that 24 $94,000 instead of receiving a check for it. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I guess -- I guess my question 12-14-05 43 1 -- I still have a question as to the -- in the letter from Ron 2 Patterson, the then City Manager, of August 25th, that last 3 paragraph under the library, which says we trust -- I mean, it 4 clearly says there that we were supposed to pay 323 and get 5 $94,000 back. There was no netting discussed, and if there 6 was a netting done, as the later doc -- the other 7 documentation shows, it should have come off the 323. 8 Shouldn't have come off the 416. 9 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: That's true. 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: That's what they said they were 11 doing, you know. 12 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: What -- and they were very 13 -- Mr. Patterson was very specific; "You will get the check by 14 October 15th." One of the things that concerns me is that we 15 have spent $94,000 of Kerr County money, taxpayer money, that 16 wasn't budgeted and wasn't authorized by Kerr County 17 government, and that either -- it would have taken a budget 18 amendment if we had -- if we had consciously made a decision 19 that we were going to spend down that fund to pay it. 20 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: My recollection of events is 21 similar to yours, but if I recall correctly, in our 22 discussions, when we arrived at the 323, we did so knowing 23 that the previous year, we had spent something in the area of 24 357, and we hadn't gotten any numbers from them at that time. 25 And we said, okay, we're going to select a number, and we did, 12-14-05 44 1 and it was around 323 and change. Now, that was before we 2 were made to know that -- I believe, that there was a $94,000 3 credit forthcoming. If you add the 94 on the 357, you come to 4 451, which is even greater than the 416 that he said was 5 supposed to be Kerr County's obligation for that particular 6 budget year. So, the numbers just don't wash out. 7 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Commissioner, my 8 recollection is somewhere in our discussions, we came to 9 believe that the library could spend less, and that I recall 10 that one of us -- could have been me -- said that the library 11 needs to go on a diet. So, it was our intention that we were 12 going to fund less. It was not our intention we were going to 13 fund what they requested and let it be paid by a drawing down 14 on our account. 15 JUDGE TINLEY: You're exactly right, Commissioner. 16 The -- the lesser figure of 323 was purposely adopted by this 17 Court on the basis that they needed to be able to operate for 18 less. And we -- the entire Court was concerned that there 19 were -- we'd not gotten numbers we felt like we were entitled 20 to. And back when we had the joint meeting just prior to the 21 end of last year's budget year, looking toward this current 22 budget year, with the members of the City Council upstairs, 23 specifically on the library item, and it came to light that 24 the -- the 94,000 return of equity fund had been appropriated 25 and applied to, quote, our share of the budget. I indicated 12-14-05 45 1 at that time to the City officials present that I thought that 2 was going to come as quite a surprise to the members of this 3 Court, and looking around at their faces at that time, it 4 certainly did. And, as a consequence, that's why I wrote the 5 letter that I did asking for what notification we'd received 6 that that, in fact, had occurred, and secondly, who 7 purportedly, acting on behalf of Kerr County, ever authorized 8 or approved it. And that's when we got back the letter some 9 more than 30 days later in which the response was, Gee, we 10 don't know; we can't find any record either way of anything. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think an important point of 12 this is that -- is that we're not trying to -- at least I'm 13 not trying to bring up this whole issue of funding the 14 library. I think we're in good shape right now. Everything 15 is hopefully going forward properly. The issue to me is that 16 there is -- it's a budget issue. Shouldn't make any 17 difference whether it's City of Kerrville or anybody else. We 18 should have received and were told we were going to receive 19 and thought we were going to receive and budgeted to receive 20 $94,001, which we didn't receive that we can tell, and I think 21 that needs to be followed through from an audit standpoint. 22 It has nothing to do with the -- you know, why we did or what 23 we did, you know, with all the other things that have happened 24 related to the library. This is a pure budget issue that, you 25 know, we need to either -- and we can't go back and amend the 12-14-05 46 1 budget from that year -- I mean from two years ago. But it 2 does need to be accounted for. 3 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Well, it's a return of 4 equity situation, and it comes from funds that we had put in 5 along with the City over the years that had -- and fines and 6 fees that had gathered in reserve accounts that hadn't been -- 7 hadn't been expended, so that's what it's all about. 8 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Like Number 4 said, the -- it 9 appears that we have spent $94,001 without authorization. My 10 question is, our $94,001 out there in thin air floating around 11 somewhere, where is their -- have you been able to see where 12 their $94,001 is? 13 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: No, not -- not clearly. 14 This -- this document I gave you that's called a Line Item 15 Justification Worksheet, it appears to me that of their 16 $94,001, they captured $70,501. I think that probably went 17 back in their general fund. I don't -- I don't know why there 18 would be such an odd number like that, why they didn't write 19 themselves a check for $94,001 like they said they were going 20 to write to us. The whole thing could be cleared up by the 21 City giving us a check. 22 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I agree. 23 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Let me ask you, where do we 24 -- how do we pursue this? 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I would -- I'm looking at the 12-14-05 47 1 date of this one, November 10th. I think that this is 2 something that should probably be referred to the new City 3 Manager. I mean, this -- Brian Brooks was the interim at the 4 time. I don't know that Mr. Hofmann is even aware of this 5 situation, and I don't know whether -- you know, probably the 6 easiest, you know, is maybe for you to go over and to talk to 7 Mr. Hofmann and show him this and say we just need to 8 understand what happened -- what happened to it, and it needs 9 to be resolved from a budget standpoint in the county. And -- 10 and see what happens. I mean, you know, my experience has 11 been that Mr. Hoffman's been, you know, very diligent to work 12 with, and I think that he's the -- that's the proper channel 13 to go at this point. 14 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: I'll do that. 15 JUDGE TINLEY: Anything else on that particular 16 agenda item? Let's move to Item 9; consider, discuss, and 17 take appropriate action on the construction at the Animal 18 Control facility. 19 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Let's see. We do have a 20 permit. Construction's under way. A little bit of delay 21 trying to get the plumbing in, the -- the foundations framed 22 up, and as soon as we get plumbing in, then we'll pour a slab. 23 Steel has been delivered to the site, so as soon as we get 24 the -- the slab in there and get it secured, we'll be able to 25 begin the erection process. The good news is that the 12-14-05 48 1 contractor met with City officials, and -- and they decided 2 that we would not be required to build a sidewalk along -- 3 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yes. 4 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Got some good news and some 5 bad news. The good news is we don't have to build a sidewalk 6 along that Landfill Road, I think it's called. And it really 7 would -- doesn't qualify, I think, even under their code, 8 because it's essentially a private road that's gated at night, 9 even. And our facility is also gated, so we don't have to 10 build that piece. They are requiring that we build the piece 11 that runs along the loop there, and, it's probably going to 12 cost close to $7,000. Ms. Roman is pursuing some 13 possibilities of getting somebody to pay that cost for us, so 14 we may have a resolution on that. It would be easy to 15 criticize the need to build sidewalks in a place like that. 16 They're frequently called sidewalks to nowhere. But since 17 residences, commercial operations, even churches are required 18 under the code to build these sidewalks, I don't -- I don't 19 think we can justify even thinking about pursuing an exception 20 to that. I noticed the Church of Christ right out there on 21 the loop close by, and they had to build a sidewalk, and it 22 goes to a ravine. No possibility of it ever being used, but 23 it's a nice sidewalk. 24 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I agree with you. The only 25 thing that I disagree with is that there's going to be a 12-14-05 49 1 sidewalk of about one block, and it -- on either end, it 2 doesn't continue. It's just -- you know, by the time we 3 get -- the other folks get around to building their little 4 sidewalks, ours is going to be crumbled, and that just doesn't 5 make sense to me. But -- 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Commissioner, what is the -- do 7 you have any idea, I guess, of what the -- what the value of 8 the property that we have out there now versus the value of 9 the improvement? What I'm wondering is -- and I made this 10 statement before -- that I hope the City, next time they do 11 any kind of a sewer upgrade to their plant, they build a 12 sidewalk in front of their sewer plant to connect to our 13 sidewalk, because that's the only reason for us to build a 14 sidewalk there, is to connect to their sidewalk which they 15 need to build. 16 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: People aren't going to go 17 out there to the Animal Control facility looking for a pet and 18 say, "I think I'll take a stroll down to the..." 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Sewer plant. 20 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: The sewer plant. 21 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Commissioner, I'm curious as 22 to how much added capacity will this give us at the Animal 23 Control facility? 24 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: I don't have that -- I know 25 that, but I've forgotten. 12-14-05 50 1 JUDGE TINLEY: Almost double, as I recall. 2 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Almost double. It's going 3 to solve a problem that we had looming on the horizon in 4 having -- being required to have more -- more facilities. So, 5 it's a wonderful thing to have. I commented to Commissioner 6 Letz that I've done some building out in the county, and now 7 I'm coordinating some building in the city, and there's a 8 world of difference. It's a long process, and it's more 9 expensive than building out in the county. 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: My hope is that with the 11 expansion, to me, that means that we'll be able to keep 12 animals longer, two or three days, and the euthanization 13 program would be minimalized at least. And that seems -- 14 that's always been the big cry of some folks. 15 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: That is all I've got on it 16 for now. I'm glad it's moving along. Be glad when we can 17 occupy it. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: One final note on that. And I 19 know the -- the donor is -- chose to be anonymous, but I 20 thought what we may want to do is, I think -- but I think it's 21 very important to let the public know that it was a private 22 donation, and even if we just put in a plaque and put, "This 23 expansion was provided by an anonymous donor," I think it 24 would be appropriate. It would -- we could work that in 25 somewhere to put on it there. 12-14-05 51 1 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: And for -- every 2 opportunity we can find to get some publicity and educate 3 people about the need to take care of their pets, we take 4 those opportunities. It'd probably be good if we had an 5 opening ceremony or something like that, and the 6 not-so-anonymous donor might choose to be there. 7 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: We might be able to -- Jon, 8 as a fundraiser, be able to sell the little pavers like they 9 have downtown. You could have your name put in that sidewalk 10 out there that goes nowhere. And -- 11 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: How about memorializing the 12 pawprint of your pet? 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Oh, god, that is good. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: You're overwhelmed, I can tell, 15 Commissioner Baldwin. 16 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That -- that one did me in. 17 I'm ready to go home. What a great idea. 18 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: While the concrete's wet, 19 let him walk through it. 20 JUDGE TINLEY: Anything else on that particular 21 item? Let's move to Item 10, if we might. Consider, discuss, 22 and take appropriate action on Field Agreement between U.S. 23 Department of Agriculture, Animal/Plant Health Inspection 24 Service, Wildlife Services, and Texas Wildlife Damage 25 Management Service -- and Texas Wildlife Damage Management 12-14-05 52 1 Association, Inc., and Kerr County. I put this on the agenda. 2 We were presented with a new contract from the Department of 3 Agriculture, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, 4 Wildlife Services, Texas Wildlife Management Services, and the 5 association, and my -- my concern is, number one, it's a new 6 contract and I wanted to be sure that it had the County 7 Attorney's blessing, and secondly, I had some concerns about 8 the amounts that were specified in there in view of what we 9 had done earlier in connection with the interlocal agreement 10 with Kendall County, and channeling $5,000 of funds for 11 Trapper -- as a contribution to the Kendall County Trapper to 12 do the east end of Kerr County. I note in Fund 10-660, we 13 have budgeted 26,600, which was up 5,000 from the previous 14 year. This contract calls for just $200 short of all of that. 15 So, I guess my issue is more a budget concern than anything 16 else, and I -- this is kind of Commissioner Letz' bailiwick, 17 so I wanted to kind of get this cleared up. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Unless I'm dreaming, which is 19 possible, I thought that the -- someone from the Trapper 20 Services came by and told us that there was an increase coming 21 from them. I mean, I think there was another discussion we 22 had beyond the one that was in the backup here, and I thought 23 it was because of -- I can't -- I can't remember who did it. 24 I don't think it was Mr. Simms, but I thought it was -- 25 somebody came in at one time, and -- during the budget 12-14-05 53 1 process, and mentioned that there was an increased fee. I 2 mean, there was 5,000 that we had added in for the Kendall 3 County issue, and I thought that there was a -- I remember, 4 you know, that there was an increase charged on the other one 5 as well, but I didn't think it was -- I don't remember how 6 much it was. That's my recollection. The 5,000 -- the 5,000 7 additional that was put in there was intended for Kendall 8 County; it was not intended for -- but I recall hearing 9 something about this. 10 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: This, I believe, is 26 -- 11 $6,400 short. Right? Didn't we appropriate 20,000 plus five? 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: What did we appropriate? 13 JUDGE TINLEY: We appropriated 26,6, so we've got an 14 excess of $200 over and above this. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So, 4,700. 16 JUDGE TINLEY: So we're $4,800 short on the 5,000 17 required for the interlocal agreement. And -- unless at the 18 time that we -- we -- the thinking was we were going to take 19 that from somewhere else. But I remember in the transcript, 20 Commissioner Letz said no, the funds are budgeted. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. 22 JUDGE TINLEY: And you apparently were thinking 23 about the fact that we added five to this, which we, in fact, 24 did. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. 12-14-05 54 1 JUDGE TINLEY: But now the contract has come in 2 $5,000 more. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I don't have any other -- I 4 don't remember anything further, other than the -- the 5,000 5 addition was for the Kendall County issue. I thought we were 6 aware of an increase, but I'm not sure -- I don't remember the 7 details. Does anyone else recall us even hearing that, or did 8 I hear that from -- 9 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I don't recall anybody 10 walking in here and saying that. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Maybe it's a letter. 12 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I think we got a letter from 13 somebody, and that's as far as I can tell you. But -- 14 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I don't recall it either. 15 All I recall is we added 5,000, and the purpose of that -- 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. 17 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: -- addition was you were 18 going to negotiate for eastern Kerr County with Kendall County 19 for services. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I just remember receiving 21 something from the Trapper Service related to funding. There 22 was an increase, but I was also thinking that there was 23 something in that letter -- or I believe I talked to the guy, 24 that the timing was going to be such that it wouldn't affect 25 us right away. But, anyway, that could be -- 12-14-05 55 1 JUDGE TINLEY: It appears, then, that we're left 2 with one or two options. Number one, go back to the U.S.D.A. 3 and say, you know, maybe we ought to think about renegotiating 4 this contract, because Kerr County function is going to be 5 less because we've included part in the Kendall County Trapper 6 Program interlocal agreement. Or, two, find an additional 7 $4,800 to sign this -- 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think we need to go back to 9 the Trapper Service first anyway. I mean, I'm -- one thing 10 that comes to mind, I certainly want to continue to deal with 11 Kendall County, and the mechanism set up is I think we pay 12 30 percent, or is it a third of the salary for a trapper? 13 And, I don't know; that number looks too high for a third of a 14 trapper salary to me. So, let me visit with Mr. Simms. 15 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And I'll bring this back at our 17 next meeting or first meeting in January, one or the other. 18 JUDGE TINLEY: Anything further on this item by any 19 member of the Court? Let's go to Item 11, if we might; 20 consider, discuss, and take appropriate action on interlocal 21 agreement with the City of Kerrville concerning subdivision 22 platting jurisdiction within the ETJ. Commissioner Letz. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Well, I think part of my 24 answer -- I just saw Mr. Hofmann, the City of Kerrville City 25 Manager, walk in, so maybe he can give us a little -- maybe 12-14-05 56 1 that's why he's here, on this issue. I'm not sure. I will 2 make another comment, that Commissioner Baldwin and I have met 3 with Mr. Hofmann and Mr. Menzies on a couple of occasions and 4 gone through this. What I'm handing out right now is a -- a 5 summary prepared by Mr. Menzies that compares Kerr County 6 subdivision rules in a draft version that we've kind of been 7 looking at with the City of Kerrville subdivision rules from a 8 -- their rural requirements. And if you look at this, you'll 9 note that our rules are very, very close. In fact, a couple 10 of the changes that we've made on the right-of-way widths, our 11 new rules have been changed again since then to even make it a 12 little bit closer. With that being said, there's really no 13 reason -- I mean, from the standpoint it's up to the 14 developers, it's not that much difference in the requirements. 15 The handwritten notes in the bottom are hard to read, but what 16 it basically, you know, points out is that the cost or the fee 17 structure is very similar as well. And with all that said and 18 done, Commissioner Baldwin and I thought it was -- agreed with 19 Mr. Hofmann that it made just as much sense for -- as long as 20 the ETJ is 1 mile, to let the City of Kerrville be responsible 21 for subdivision platting in the entire ETJ up to a 1-mile 22 range. There would be an interlocal agreement memorializing 23 that. It is going to be prepared by the City of Kerrville, 24 and then there would be a six-month period to work out a few 25 details on the -- that are listed where differences do exist 12-14-05 57 1 currently. That's kind of -- that's my recollection. 2 Commissioner Baldwin, is that -- 3 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That is correct. It's also 4 my understanding that the City of Kerrville has basically two 5 sets of regulations, one for in town and one for out of town. 6 And I wasn't -- why don't you come up here? I wasn't real 7 clear when we left our meeting recently of that, which one of 8 those set of rules that you will apply to ETJ areas. 9 MR. HOFMANN: Okay. 10 JUDGE TINLEY: For the record, you'll need to 11 identify yourself. 12 MR. HOFMANN: Okay. Thank you, Judge. I'm Paul 13 Hofmann, City Manager for the City of Kerrville. And if I may 14 kind of come around and -- and get to Commissioner Baldwin's 15 question -- and thank you, Commissioner Letz; I think you did 16 a really good job of summarizing this issue and actually 17 pulling all this together for us. You guys probably know all 18 this already, but you know what we're essentially dealing with 19 here is a state law requirement that mandates that cities and 20 counties decide -- resolve who will be the sole provider of 21 subdivision inspection and approval activities in the city's 22 extraterritorial jurisdiction, and that requirement is that we 23 have that in place by January 1st, 2006. So, shortly after I 24 came on board here, this was a priority identified for me by 25 the mayor and City Council. I had one conversation with the 12-14-05 58 1 City Council about what we would try to accomplish here and 2 how we would try to approach it, and Council agreed with that 3 and asked me to visit with Commissioners Letz and Baldwin, who 4 I understand have been representing the County on this. 5 And, as Mr. Letz said, Paul Menzies and I met with 6 the Commissioners a couple of times to outline what we thought 7 were basically the issues, and as Mr. Letz said, that revolves 8 mainly around how the City approaches rural subdivision 9 standards. As Mr. Baldwin was alluding to, we have a 10 Subdivision Code -- and this isn't unlike how I understand 11 most cities do this -- that speaks to standard dense urban 12 subdivision activity as one set of subjects and one set of 13 criteria and requirements, and we have another set of 14 requirements and -- requirements and standards that speak to 15 rural subdivision development, where the streets are narrower, 16 the -- we don't have the requirement for curb and gutter and 17 sidewalks and underground storm sewer, and there is more 18 flexibility on lot sizes and how lot sizes relate to where 19 utilities come from and whether utilities are provided from a 20 central system or from on-site septic and water well. So, as 21 Mr. Letz said, in this discussion we focused on rural 22 subdivision standards. 23 The concern raised by your representatives -- and 24 this makes all the sense in the world to me -- from the very 25 beginning was, let's make sure that we're sending a clear and 12-14-05 59 1 consistent message to the development community about whose 2 rules should we follow here? And so, because of that, we 3 focused on rural subdivision activity and looked at where 4 those differences were. As Mr. Letz said, we don't think 5 these differences are significant, but there are some 6 differences. And, so, one of the elements of this resolution 7 that's on your agenda today and will be on the City Council's 8 agenda for tomorrow night is a commitment to identify what all 9 those differences are -- and I think you saw the spreadsheet 10 we prepared that outlined all of that -- and to resolve to 11 deal with those differences within six months of your 12 approving this. And, as we discussed, we would suggest that 13 we work with the development community, the local builders and 14 contractors association, to go over those differences and make 15 sure they have the opportunity to comment on all that, and 16 we'll resolve to do that within six months. 17 As I think these two gentlemen both said, too, we 18 are dealing with a 1-mile ETJ today. As you may know, as soon 19 as the City of Kerrville hits a population threshold of 20 25,000, that would go to a 2-mile ETJ, and so we commit within 21 this resolution that's on your agenda that within a year, 22 December of '06, we will revisit this whole agreement and see 23 at that time how close we are to that 25,000 population 24 threshold, and at that time decide what to do. And that may 25 change this agreement and it may not. We're also committing 12-14-05 60 1 and resolving, both sides are, to -- if, for example, there is 2 a subdivision activity within what would be the 2-mile ETJ, 3 your County Engineer will share those plats with us for our, 4 at least, internal review. And, on the same token, if there 5 is subdivision activity within the 1-mile ETJ, we resolve to 6 share that information, both from a review standpoint and 7 after it's platted, with the relevant people in the county. I 8 think that's essentially it. I think this is a really big 9 deal. I think it speaks well for the two folks that you've 10 had represent the County here, and I think all of our 11 interests are being managed and maintained here, and it's a 12 good message out to the community. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: My recollection was that Mike 14 Hayes was going to prepare an agreement. 15 MR. HOFMANN: He did, and he shared that with -- and 16 I apologize this wasn't more timely, but that was shared with 17 your County Attorney, I think, Thursday afternoon. 18 MR. EMERSON: Do you want me to comment on that? I 19 was gone in San Antonio, as most of y'all know, Wednesday, 20 Thursday, and Friday, and I picked it up off the computer this 21 morning, called Mr. Hayes and talked to him. 22 MR. HOFMANN: Okay. 23 MR. EMERSON: We discussed one change in Paragraphs 24 3 and 4, because of the mandatory statutory requirements for 25 processing plats, that some kind of a specific time frame be 12-14-05 61 1 inserted there for the other entity to comment on reciprocal 2 plats. 3 MR. HOFMANN: Oh, and we'd be agreeable to that if 4 you want to stick an amount of days. Right now, I think the 5 language is not specific. It says "a reasonable amount of 6 time," and so if you wanted to suggest a reasonable number of 7 days, that would be fine. 8 MR. EMERSON: I mean, other than that, the agreement 9 appears to benefit both parties. 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I don't see a problem. We have 11 one more meeting -- I don't know if the City Council -- they 12 can probably act on it tomorrow. 13 MR. HOFMANN: This is our -- I'm sorry. Tomorrow 14 night is our last council meeting, so I apologize for the 15 rush, but this is our last opportunity to enter into an 16 agreement on the Council's side, and meet the January 1 17 deadline. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Can the -- rather than do an 19 unknown document, is it all right if we let Rex and Mike work 20 out a deal, you all approve it, and then we approve the same 21 version exactly at our next meeting? 22 MR. HOFMANN: That'd be great, thank you. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: 'Cause I think -- as long as the 24 rest of the Court's agreeable with the concept that we've 25 outlined. 12-14-05 62 1 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: No problem. I'd be fine 2 with it. 3 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Couple questions, 4 Commissioner. This -- after this agreement, any subdivision 5 in the ETJ will get a -- would be approved by one entity or 6 the other, not both? 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Be approved by the City. 8 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Okay. All right. But they 9 won't have to come to us? 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Won't come to us. 11 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: This -- this deals with 12 approval of subdivisions. It doesn't have anything to do with 13 permitting or construction inspections or anything like that. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: That's correct. 15 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Are sidewalks a part of the 16 Subdivision Rules? 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: They're not part of the rural 18 standards. 19 MR. HOFMANN: That is correct. You are correct. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Not the rural standards. That's 21 an interesting point. 22 MR. HOFMANN: They're not required in rural 23 subdivisions. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: What is interesting, I asked 25 Mr. Hofmann, how do we know that -- if it's rural or -- or the 12-14-05 63 1 urban, what rules they're using? I stated -- I said I had 2 this fear that they were never going to use the rural rules. 3 He said basically it's up to the developer. If the developer 4 wants the -- if he wants to go out into the ETJ and put in a 5 high-density development, then he has to use the urban rules. 6 If he's in the ETJ and wants to put in a 5-acre lot size 7 development, he's under the rural rules. So, it's driven by 8 the developer, their choice. So, yes, if they're -- if 9 someone's going into Creekwood and putting half-acre lots in, 10 yes, they're going to put sidewalks in. But if they're doing 11 a 5-acre development, no, they're not. That makes sense. 12 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: One of the small differences 13 between the city and the county is the right-of-way on a 14 collector road. The City requires 80 feet; the County 15 requires 60 feet. And the more I look at that, the more I 16 think about it and more I listen to Leonard Odom through the 17 years, then -- (Cell phone rang.) Somebody get a handle on 18 that. I think -- actually, I think that we need to move from 19 the 60 closer to the 80, and closer to the City. So, it would 20 be even -- even -- did I say that correctly? Y'all are 21 sitting there with blank looks on your faces. 22 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Yeah. I understand, yeah. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: If -- 24 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: It would just be, you know, 25 even -- even closer to the city. 12-14-05 64 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: The -- 2 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I think that we need to get 3 more right-of-way. That's -- we've been asking for that for 4 years, and can't seem to get it. 5 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: What's -- 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: His wish is about to come true. 7 I was trying to say when he's -- when the new draft is 8 unveiled at 2:00 o'clock today of our Subdivision Rules, the 9 collector issue -- the third and fourth item will almost 10 disappear. We're increasing road widths and increasing 11 right-of-way. 12 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: What -- why does the County 13 desire to have more right-of-way? Why is 80 better than 60? 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It's the type of the road. It's 15 only 80 for a collector. A larger road with a higher volume, 16 you end up with a -- the likelihood of having to make it into 17 a four-lane road or something like that at some point, or 18 divide it. If it's a local road, it's still 60 foot. And I 19 will have to say there's a -- if you really go out into some 20 rural subdivisions, it's pretty darn hard to put a road on a 21 60-foot right-of-way up a hillside. 22 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: It is. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I mean, it's -- and if you get 24 into a higher volume of traffic, I definitely think you need 25 the 80 foot. 12-14-05 65 1 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I think you're looking down 2 the road to see growth and being able to widen and handle more 3 traffic and that kind of thing. 4 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: That makes sense. 5 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Just as a matter of 6 information, Mr. Hofmann, does the City require building 7 permits in the ETJ? 8 MR. HOFMANN: No, sir, we do not. 9 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Thank you. 10 MR. HOFMANN: And that's a state law thing. 11 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Okay, thank you. 12 JUDGE TINLEY: Anything else on this particular 13 item? 14 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Paul, I just wanted to tell 15 you, just a few minutes ago, or a little earlier today, Mr. 16 Letz was talking about -- you know how those Germans are from 17 down in Comfort -- talking about all kind of things, but he 18 was saying nice things about you. 19 MR. HOFMANN: That's good to hear. 20 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: About our relationship and 21 how it's growing and -- and all that. So, we told y'all he 22 was a nice guy, and he is a nice guy, and we appreciate your 23 -- appreciate you coming over today, and -- 24 MR. HOFMANN: Yes, sir. 25 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: -- with your explanation. 12-14-05 66 1 Very clear and concise. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And you're so nice, we're also 3 going to be giving you a new problem, which Mr. Nicholson -- 4 Commissioner Nicholson is going to continue with later, so 5 when you read it in the paper tomorrow, you'll know. 6 MR. HOFMANN: Well, that's our job, is solving 7 problems. Thank you. 8 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Before you solve it, we say 9 thank you. 10 MR. HOFMANN: Yes, sir. Enjoyed working with you on 11 it. 12 JUDGE TINLEY: Anything else on that particular 13 item? Let's move to Item 12 before the break; consider, 14 discuss, and take appropriate action on possible revisions to 15 the Kerr County Information Technology policy. I put this on 16 the agenda as a result of some issues that came up concerning 17 some I.T. issues dealing with the District Judges upstairs. 18 And since putting it on the agenda, have we got this thing 19 solved and we don't need to address policy? Or tell me where 20 we are. I know you've had some discussions with a lot of 21 folks, Mr. Trolinger, and tell me where we are on it. 22 MR. TROLINGER: Yes, sir. Good morning. And as far 23 as the actual Information Technology policy, I'd like to say 24 that this particular issue didn't exactly pertain to the 25 policy; it more pertained to network security, where there was 12-14-05 67 1 a major crisis and I made a change to -- to block a very 2 potentially damaging virus from the county network. Now, as I 3 see it right now, the issue is revolved, so no action there. 4 As far as the Information Technology policy, Commissioner 5 Williams and myself have been discussing for some three or 6 four months that it needs a review so that we can update the 7 policy -- the county policy in regards to the modern 8 standards, since this was written in 2004, the policy that we 9 have now. So, I do recommend that we review the -- the 10 current policy. 11 JUDGE TINLEY: But as of today, you're not 12 advocating any particular changes or suggestions? 13 MR. TROLINGER: No, I am not. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 15 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Let me refresh the Court's 16 memory just a little bit, Judge, on this topic. In '04, when 17 we provided a draft of Information Technology, I prepared that 18 and used as a base model the information technology policy 19 that was in place by the Alamo Area Council of Governments. 20 We conducted a series of workshops and informed all the 21 department heads. There was a good bit of input and a lot of 22 changes, and the result was our own policy. I gave John, 23 about three or four weeks ago, again a copy of the information 24 technology policies that are in place by the Council on 25 Governments, because there were some new wrinkles in that one, 12-14-05 68 1 and they had to do with information technology training 2 policy, mobile phone policy, notebook computer policy, and a 3 personal data PDA-type policy. And these are -- he's reviewed 4 them, but we have not sat down to discuss what, if any, 5 changes we want to make to the Kerr County one. We'll do that 6 again, and if there are changes to be recommended for the 7 future, we'll come back to court at that time. 8 JUDGE TINLEY: Good. Thank you. Anything further 9 on that agenda item by any member of the Court? Why don't we 10 stand in recess for about 15 minutes. 11 (Recess taken from 10:29 a.m. to 10:45 a.m.) 12 - - - - - - - - - - 13 JUDGE TINLEY: Let's come back to order, if we 14 might. We were in recess for 15 minutes, and it's time to get 15 back to work. Let's move to Item Number 13, if we might. 16 Consider, discuss, and take appropriate action to change or 17 modify Kerr County's personnel policy with regard to 18 compensatory time off and/or overtime. I've put this on the 19 agenda after talking with Ms. Harris out at the detention 20 facility about the difficulty she has had more recently in 21 trying to obtain staffing for her facility out there. And the 22 -- the thought in mind is that if she's given more latitude in 23 when those employees are allowed to take their compensatory 24 time off, rather than having to pay that overtime every 25 quarter, she thinks she can reduce the payroll load to that 12-14-05 69 1 facility. Did I correctly phrase that? 2 MS. HARRIS: Yes, sir. 3 JUDGE TINLEY: Bottom line? 4 MS. HARRIS: Yes, sir, you did. 5 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. I think Ms. Harris has 6 provided us with some information concerning that issue. I 7 think essentially what your thought is, is that each 8 department be allowed to determine for that department whether 9 it's done on a quarterly basis or an annual basis, or -- 10 MS. HARRIS: Yes, sir. 11 JUDGE TINLEY: Just so long as it's done within the 12 same fiscal year. 13 MS. HARRIS: Yes, sir, as long as it's taken off the 14 books by the end of the fiscal year. For my department, I 15 would like to probably put a deadline date of somewhere around 16 August, the middle of August. That would allow any loose ends 17 to be taken care of before the end of the fiscal year, 'cause 18 there would be some compensatory time that would be accrued 19 between the middle of August and the end of September, such 20 as, like, for staff meetings, because I require staff 21 meetings. That would be -- it would be a minimal amount. The 22 reason why, if I could have -- or if it could be under the 23 discretion of every department head and elected official if 24 they want to do it on a quarterly basis or take the entire 25 fiscal year, one of the rationales that I had put down is the 12-14-05 70 1 constant changeover in staff -- excuse me -- changeover in 2 staff at the facility. And you -- and y'all have been aware 3 of the difficulty of keeping staff out there, which requires 4 that my full-time staff have to fill in the gaps, since we are 5 mandated by the State that we have to maintain certain ratios. 6 During the T.Y.C. project, we went through three 7 rounds of hiring for part-time staff, and as you are well 8 aware, the reason why, as of Friday, we no longer have the 9 T.Y.C. project is due to the fact that we simply could not get 10 the staff, keep the staff. And going through so many rounds 11 of hiring, it became -- it became a nightmare, for one thing, 12 and it was just not cost-efficient. And the full-time staff 13 that had to fill in those gaps to maintain both buildings, of 14 course, accrued compensatory time. They have already begun -- 15 they started this weekend taking compensatory time. The only 16 viable time is our night shift, in essence, really, that we 17 can take compensatory time is our night shift, because your 18 resident-to-staff ratio is much greater. It's 1-to-18, so we 19 can send people home at night. With that rotating schedule 20 that we have that y'all have seen, it's not a continuous time 21 that they are on the night shift. Like, you don't have one 22 set of people that's on the night shift all the time; it's on 23 a rotating basis. So, in order to catch as many of those 24 nighttime shifts as we can, that's why I'm requesting that -- 25 if we could have to the end of the fiscal year to give the 12-14-05 71 1 comp time off. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I have two comments. One, my 3 recollection is -- I mean, I was on the Court when we went to 4 this. We used to do all compensatory time, and you can run a 5 long period of time with it. And the problem we got into was, 6 from a budget standpoint, it was very, very costly, and we 7 couldn't budget for it very well because at the end of the 8 year we'd have these huge checks we were writing. We cannot 9 get in that situation again. 10 MS. HARRIS: Right. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And that's why I think we went 12 to the quarterly period, so that we can kind of keep the books 13 clear, so -- from a budget standpoint through the year, and 14 not be hit with a huge payroll expenditure at the very end of 15 the year, when we had to do this. So, that would be my 16 concern as to -- you know, that we cannot get into that trap 17 if we go back to kind of relax the length of time that we use 18 the compensatory time. And my other question is really just 19 to Rex more. Is one year a reasonable amount of time? I 20 mean, I don't know -- I guess it's a legal issue as to whether 21 or not allowing a one-year period is reasonable or not under 22 the labor law. 23 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I'm just wondering, 24 Commissioner, to avoid the problem you cite, which is the 25 reason why we have it the way it is, if, instead of changing 12-14-05 72 1 our policy, we could suspend the policy just for the Juvenile 2 Detention Facility for the balance of this budget year. That 3 would accommodate the Juvenile Detention Facility's need, but 4 keep the policy in place. We would know that at the end of 5 the budget year, it should be cleared out. 6 MS. HARRIS: That would be -- 7 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Tell me how this 8 recommendation would help your problem with -- you use the 9 word "changeover" of staff. How's -- how would this help? 10 MS. HARRIS: It wouldn't help. I was giving you -- 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: We're just looking for 12 something to do? I mean, why -- what are we doing here? 13 MS. HARRIS: We are trying to give me more time in 14 order for my full-time staff to eat up the compensatory time 15 that they accrued during three rounds of trying to staff the 16 facility during the T.Y.C. project, and it would allow them to 17 eat this compensatory time up rather than have to pay them the 18 15th of January, which would be a substantial amount, and it 19 would help our budget and it would help the taxpayers of Kerr 20 County that they would not be out that much money, because 21 they would be taking time for time, and it would just allow me 22 more time do that. 23 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Have you looked at all this? 24 MR. EMERSON: I haven't seen any backup. 25 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: They -- well, I didn't get 12-14-05 73 1 the backup till just now, either, so I don't know. But she 2 cites F.L.S.A. in here, and -- 3 MR. EMERSON: I just have to go look at it. I mean, 4 I don't know the answer off the top of my head. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think it's really -- I mean, I 6 think it's -- I kind of like Commissioner Williams' idea of 7 suspending it for a year; that we're not changing the policy. 8 I'd like to get input, though, probably at our next meeting. 9 I don't think we have enough information to do it today if Rex 10 just received this, because the legal implications are pretty 11 important from a federal standpoint. Get some input from both 12 Rex and the Treasurer from a personnel standpoint and policy 13 standpoint, to make sure that we're not doing something that's 14 going to get us into trouble. 15 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I'd like to hear from 16 Ms. Nemec. Is she still in the audience? 17 MS. NEMEC: Yes, sir. 18 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: With respect to either a 19 change of policy or -- or a -- just a suspension of the policy 20 for Juvenile Detention Facility for the remainder of this 21 budget year, how do you see either affecting this issue? 22 MS. NEMEC: Well, the thing that I was concerned 23 about when Ms. Harris told me about this was if, legally, the 24 Court could treat another department differently than what the 25 other departments are being treated. And what TAC -- the 12-14-05 74 1 legal department at TAC told me was that you -- you all did 2 have the authority to do that. The Fair Labor Board does not 3 recommend that do you that, but you do have the authority to 4 do that. The other thing is that if you are going to do that, 5 one of the reasons that we did it was that, as employees work 6 and they don't take that time off, if an employee leaves 7 employment and then you promote this employee to that position 8 at a higher pay, when you pay that comp time off, you're going 9 to be paying it at the pay that they are receiving at the 10 time. 11 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: That's correct. 12 MS. NEMEC: Therefore, that amount is going to be 13 larger than it would have been if you paid it at the three 14 months. 15 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Sounds to me like you're 16 making a case for suspension for extenuating circumstances for 17 the Juvenile Detention Facility as opposed to a broad policy 18 change. Am I hearing that correctly? 19 MS. NEMEC: Right. 20 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: How does -- 21 MS. NEMEC: That is what's on the agenda, I believe. 22 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: How does your plan fix the 23 problem? 24 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: It gives her the rest -- 25 more time to rotate the staff to the night shift so she can 12-14-05 75 1 give them the compensatory time off without having to pay it 2 out of time and a half. 3 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: You can fix the whole thing, 4 like, in three weeks? 5 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: No. Probably -- 6 MS. HARRIS: No, sir. 7 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: -- six months. 8 MS. HARRIS: That's why -- 9 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: You said till the end of the 10 year. That's what I'm asking about. 11 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I think she's talking about 12 budget year. 13 MS. HARRIS: The fiscal year. That's what I stated 14 in the memo, was fiscal year. 15 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Fiscal year. 16 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I would probably -- I mean, I 18 would -- I like the suspension idea, and we could suspend it, 19 you know, to June 1st or to something like that and then look 20 at it and see where we are, and see if it's working. And -- 21 you know, and that way we can kind of address it at that 22 point. July 1st? I'd like to give us plenty of time. I 23 don't want to go to August 1st or September 1st. 24 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I think that's a -- June -- 25 June 1 or June 30, whichever. 12-14-05 76 1 MS. HARRIS: And that would be fine. I can tell -- 2 I can tell the staff. 3 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: June 30 would give you one 4 remaining quarter of the budget year to tell you where you 5 are. 6 MS. HARRIS: Right, and that would be fine. 7 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Well, I don't think we ought 8 to do anything until our legal department says that it's cool 9 to do. 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. 11 MS. HARRIS: May I make a suggestion? May I just 12 ask a question? December 31st -- am I correct? December 31st 13 is at the end of the quarter, and so this compensatory time 14 would have to be paid in the January 15th paycheck. You're 15 going to meet again on Commissioners Court -- 16 JUDGE TINLEY: 27th. 17 MS. HARRIS: -- the 27th. Do we have enough time to 18 -- I mean, my staff is already starting to eat the comp time 19 up. If you choose not to extend it, I'm just asking, could it 20 be contingent upon what Rex determines? 21 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Yeah, I think it could. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah, it could be, or we could 23 put it on the agenda for the 27th. 24 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Well, I think that's kind of 25 a short leash, is what she's saying, the 27th. 12-14-05 77 1 JUDGE TINLEY: If all the time has to be turned in 2 and be paid, it's going to put a burden on the Treasurer. 3 MS. HARRIS: Because payroll cutoff, I believe, is 4 before that, is before the 27th. 5 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Let me float a motion, see 6 where it goes. I would move that the Court approve a 7 suspension of the current personnel policy with respect to -- 8 to taking -- eliminating compensatory time for the Juvenile 9 Detention Facility until June 30, '06, pending final clearance 10 by the County Attorney as to any legal impediments that there 11 may be. 12 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: I second the motion. 13 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for 14 suspension of the applicability of the quarterly payment of 15 overtime in lieu of compensatory time each quarter as to the 16 Juvenile Detention Facility through June 30, 2006, pending 17 approval of the County Attorney that it's legally appropriate. 18 Any question or discussion? 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I have a question and a comment. 20 I think this is a pretty important thing to be changing, and I 21 would really -- I have no problem with the concept of what 22 we're doing, but if we could actually get a copy of the 23 personnel policy and cite the specific thing that we're 24 suspending, rather than say we're suspending something. We 25 got into trouble on water availability on suspending 12-14-05 78 1 something, and I think we have plenty of time today to -- I 2 know we're going to have a meeting at 1:15 and then have a 3 workshop. 4 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: It's in the memorandum. 5 MS. HARRIS: It's in the memorandum. 6 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Personnel policy, Paragraph 7 7.12(B). It's in there. 8 MS. HARRIS: Yes. 9 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: First line. 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Well, then can you read 11 specifically what we're suspending in the wording. That's why 12 I think this is real important that this is real clear. 13 JUDGE TINLEY: I think when I restated it, I think 14 it's clear. Let me get the reporter to read that back, and -- 15 and I think it's fairly clear. 16 (Court reporter read back as follows:) 17 JUDGE TINLEY: "Motion made and seconded for 18 suspension of the applicability of the quarterly 19 payment of overtime in lieu of compensatory time 20 each quarter as to the Juvenile Detention Facility 21 through June 30, 2006, pending approval of the 22 County Attorney that it's legally appropriate." 23 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: If we need to amend that, 24 Judge, by inserting a policy -- the Kerr County Personnel 25 Policy, Paragraph 7.12(B), we can do so for more specificity. 12-14-05 79 1 JUDGE TINLEY: Is that your desire? 2 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Yes, sir. 3 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: I second that. 4 JUDGE TINLEY: All right. Is that sufficiently 5 clear to you, Commissioner Letz? 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yes, it is. 7 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Any -- 8 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Question. Do shift workers 9 work 12- or 8-hour shifts? 10 MS. HARRIS: Twelve. 11 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Is that the same protocol 12 that we use at the county jail? 12-hour shifts? 13 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Yes. We -- we go strictly by 14 the -- the F.L.S.A. The only -- only concern you had -- and, 15 of course, Becky does have a unique situation -- is that the 16 way we keep our time down is, in law enforcement -- I think 17 Becky's people, or juvenile detention workers, at least, 18 qualify under the law enforcement/firefighters exemption, too. 19 MS. HARRIS: That's right. 20 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Which is -- it's a different 21 time period. You can work up to 160 hours in a 28-day pay 22 period without getting time and a half. It's when you go over 23 that 171 that you get the time and a half. If you let these 24 people build up these hours, you're paying them back at time 25 and a half. 12-14-05 80 1 MS. HARRIS: Right. 2 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Instead of just straight time 3 where you lose that 11 hours. 4 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Okay. 5 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: So what we do is try and make 6 sure that our people schedule it to take it off within that 7 same period to keep it below that 171. What you're -- you're, 8 in essence, doing here is allowing them to get it at time and 9 a half, where you could keep it down to straight time. But if 10 she doesn't have the personnel to keep it down to straight 11 time, you're going to have a problem anyway. But it does get 12 in bad later at the end if the pay's different, 'cause you -- 13 MS. HARRIS: And that is the problem, is trying to 14 let people off to take that compensatory time while it's still 15 straight time. That is the difficulty. 16 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Back in 1998, I think, is 17 when we made the change. It was recommended by TAC that we -- 18 that we -- help me if I'm wrong; I'm working off of memory 19 here. But TAC recommended that we try to let people take 20 their time off in the same pay period, and that's kind of 21 where we were heading. I'm not sure that we ever got to that 22 point, but -- 23 MS. HARRIS: Right. 24 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: -- that's exactly what we did. 25 MS. HARRIS: And that's what they recommend. That's 12-14-05 81 1 what they would like for you to do, is take that off. 2 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So, basically, that's what 3 we're amending? 4 JUDGE TINLEY: No. No. 5 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: What is the -- what is it 6 we're amending? 7 JUDGE TINLEY: The requirement that if compensatory 8 time is not taken within the same quarter in which it is 9 earned, that they must be paid overtime wages for any 10 remaining compensatory time left. We are waiving the 11 applicability of that quarterly payment as to the Juvenile 12 Detention Facility only through June 30, 2006. And the 13 purpose is -- is to give her time to roll over that 14 compensatory time that's already accrued with these employees 15 in order to keep down the overtime that Kerr County would 16 otherwise be required to pay under the quarterly payment 17 requirement. 18 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: And you would provide us, in 19 your monthly report, an update on how that's going, how many 20 hours you've used and how it's working? 21 MS. HARRIS: Sure, if that's what you'd like. 22 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I would like that. 23 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: What's outstanding. 24 MS. HARRIS: Sure. 25 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: What's worked off or given 12-14-05 82 1 versus what's outstanding. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: All right. 3 JUDGE TINLEY: Any further question or discussion? 4 All in favor of the motion, signify by raising your right 5 hand. 6 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 7 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 8 (No response.) 9 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. Thank you. 10 MS. HARRIS: Thank you, gentlemen, very much. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Number 5. 12 JUDGE TINLEY: Hmm? 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: 5. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: Do we have anyone here on Item 5, 15 dealing with the conditional lease agreement between Kerr 16 County and the Hill Country Mounted Peace Officers 17 Association? Dealing with the -- pardon? 18 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: I was going to ask, did they 19 want this back on the agenda, or were you -- 20 JUDGE TINLEY: I put on it the agenda thinking that 21 -- I knew that there was some activity on it. I put it on the 22 agenda thinking it might be ready. Obviously, it apparently 23 is not. 24 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: I haven't heard that it was 25 ready. They just told me they were on the agenda this 12-14-05 83 1 morning. I didn't know if they had put it on or if you had. 2 JUDGE TINLEY: I had, in thinking that it might be 3 ready, but obviously it's not, so -- 4 MR. EMERSON: I was just going to say for the 5 benefit of the rest of the Court, Judge, the -- we had 6 originally forwarded an agreement; i.e., the County had, back 7 the first part of October. The association changed attorneys, 8 and that agreement was passed on to the new attorney. And 9 then last week, I think it was, I received their response to 10 that agreement, and then I went through it and forwarded it 11 back shortly before I left for San Antonio. And I don't know 12 what, if any, communications occurred the last three days of 13 last week. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: Apparently, we're not ready. 15 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That sounds like it. 16 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Sounds that way. 17 JUDGE TINLEY: Why don't we go to Item 15; consider, 18 discuss, and take appropriate action on Kerr County 19 Subdivision Rules and Regulations. Commissioner Letz? 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Judge, this one and the next one 21 really need to be handled after the workshop. 22 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: After the workshop? 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: After the workshop. 24 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Picky, picky, picky. 25 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 12-14-05 84 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Because, really, I mean, I just 2 put them on there so we could kind of recess at an appropriate 3 time and then go into the workshop and come back to them if we 4 so chose. 5 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. So, you've got them on as 6 action items contingent upon whatever happens in the workshop? 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Correct. 8 JUDGE TINLEY: All right. What's the Court's 9 thought about maybe taking some of these reports early so that 10 these people can get on down the road? 11 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: That's -- I think that's a 12 good idea. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Be great. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. On Animal Control, Ms. Roman 15 contacted Ms. Mitchell this morning. She has at least one of 16 her people out ill, so she's -- she's manning the streets this 17 morning, I think. 18 MS. MITCHELL: That's right. 19 JUDGE TINLEY: And she will not be able to be with 20 us for that reason. Do we have anybody here from Extension 21 Office, or do we have to get back to them? We'll come back to 22 that. Environmental Health, Mr. Arreola. I thought I saw 23 you. 24 MR. ARREOLA: Good morning. 25 JUDGE TINLEY: Good to see you this morning. 12-14-05 85 1 MR. ARREOLA: Good to see you, too. I've got my 2 usual charts to make things a little more clear. Okay. So 3 far for this -- what's going on for this fiscal year, we had 4 an average month in October and a very decent month in 5 November. It was more than average. December is going a 6 little slower, so I think it was just that particular month. 7 If you see your -- your graphic here, the first one, we're a 8 little bit above what's normally on applications. The same on 9 revenue; applications go directly with revenue. And that -- 10 you know, that basically mandates the amount of work we have 11 to do. On complaints investigated, that's only O.S.S.F. 12 complaints. We're about average. Those, you know, depends on 13 what the public brings. We normally don't open any complaints 14 unless, you know, we're really exposed to them, but it's what 15 the public brings up, and it's about average. That blue line 16 is what -- the goal we have, what the projected is going to be 17 for the rest of the year. 18 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: For the rest of the year? 19 MR. ARREOLA: Yes, sir. That's going to be the 20 total to the end of the year. 21 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: You're saying you're going 22 to do 250 total? 23 MR. ARREOLA: If circumstances permits, yes, that's 24 what I think I'm going to be doing. 25 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: For the entire year, or just 12-14-05 86 1 the month of December? 2 MR. ARREOLA: No. No, for the fiscal year. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Entire year? 4 MR. ARREOLA: Entire year. 5 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Is that this pink here? 6 MR. ARREOLA: Yes, sir. 7 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: What's going to cause a 8 five-time increase in applications for permits? 9 MR. ARREOLA: I didn't get that. 10 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: From 50 to 250. 11 MR. ARREOLA: Oh, no, the 250 is the total we expect 12 to get for the year, for the 12 months. 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Let me try this. 14 MR. ARREOLA: Yes, sir. 15 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: The light blue little post. 16 MR. ARREOLA: Yes? 17 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Is for '05. 18 MR. ARREOLA: Yes, what we had for the first two 19 months of '05. 20 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Oh. 21 MR. ARREOLA: Then the -- 22 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Wait a minute. Wait a 23 minute. We're -- we're closing out '05. 24 MR. ARREOLA: Okay, I'm talking about fiscal years. 25 It closed out in September. 12-14-05 87 1 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So that would be -- 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: See, I see that as, like, the 3 first two months of '06 -- '05-'06. Okay. All right. Now, 4 what is the dark blue little post, then? 5 MR. ARREOLA: The purple color, that's the first two 6 months of Fiscal Year '06. This year, 2005, October and 7 November. 8 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay. What's the difference 9 between '05 and '06 -- what's the difference between the light 10 blue and the purple? 11 MR. ARREOLA: Well, that's -- the first one is 12 fiscal year -- the prior fiscal year, and the purple is this 13 fiscal year that we're going through right now. 14 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Two months. 15 MR. ARREOLA: Two months. 16 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay. So, the light blue 17 post -- tell me again what that represents? 18 MR. ARREOLA: Last year's. 19 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: A full year? 20 MR. ARREOLA: No, the first two months. I'm 21 comparing the first two months of last year with the first two 22 months of this year. 23 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I see. Well, why didn't you 24 have the full year there? 25 MR. ARREOLA: Because I was just trying to show what 12-14-05 88 1 we're doing so far. 2 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay. The -- back to his 3 question. Then, if you had the full year, then this '06 4 proposed -- not proposed. 5 MR. ARREOLA: Yeah, projected. 6 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Projected wouldn't look so 7 goofy. But -- 8 MR. ARREOLA: Oh, okay. I see. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I understand. 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I'm with you. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I understand totally. Anything 12 else? (Laughter.) 13 MR. ARREOLA: Okay. It's basically what -- the big 14 line is what we think we're going to hit at the end of the 15 year. Every month I'm going to be bringing you where we are 16 in the line, how close are we getting to that goal. 17 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: The dark blue is going to get 19 bigger every month, and hopefully by the end of the year, it 20 will be 250. That's what he's projecting. 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I understand it, too. I just 22 think I would have done it a little bit differently. I think 23 that light blue one would have been a full year. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Well, then you couldn't tell the 25 difference from the same period from year to year. 12-14-05 89 1 MR. ARREOLA: Yeah. 2 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay, fine. 3 MR. ARREOLA: I'll try to make it more clear next 4 time. It's the same principle. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: We see the same deal with the 6 airport all the time. Don't worry. 7 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Yeah, we do. 8 MR. ARREOLA: Same principle on revenue. Those are 9 thousands of dollars of what we think we're going to get. And 10 same principle on complaints, what we think we're going to be 11 seeing. And, like I say, that depends on the public. 12 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: This reminds me, when I 13 first misread this, in business, it's what they call a 14 hockey-stick projection. Runs along flat, and then it spikes 15 up. You probably saw some of those, Commissioner. What it 16 usually says is we haven't been making much money, but it's 17 going to be really good next year. 18 MR. ARREOLA: Do you have any other questions in 19 that graph? 20 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Yeah. I'm curious about the 21 third bar graph there. 22 MR. ARREOLA: Uh-huh. 23 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Complaints investigated are 24 down. Is that a good sign? Or is that -- 25 MR. ARREOLA: That's actually good. 12-14-05 90 1 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Things are just not 2 happening or what? 3 MR. ARREOLA: No, that's positive. That is that we 4 haven't received as many complaints on O.S.S.F. That means 5 less failing septic systems. 6 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Okay. 7 MR. ARREOLA: So the less we get, the better. The 8 next graphic is on Solid Waste, and let me try to explain it 9 here. The blue line, it's the activity we had last fiscal 10 year. 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: For a full year or two 12 months? 13 MR. ARREOLA: Full year. The blue is a full year. 14 Each month has a number in there, how many cases we 15 investigated each month. Now, the red line is what we 16 investigated this fiscal year. You can tell in November, 17 we're a little lower than last year, last November's. 18 December, we're also not looking that great in that area, too. 19 We hit the 20 mark in November of last year, and I think we're 20 going to hit that this month. 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: December? 22 MR. ARREOLA: December. 23 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I have a question. 24 MR. ARREOLA: Yes, sir? 25 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Without getting into people 12-14-05 91 1 or personalities, I think your staff has been reduced somewhat 2 due to illness; is that correct? 3 MR. ARREOLA: That's correct. 4 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: What is the status of the 5 staffing right now? 6 MR. ARREOLA: We got it back. It's back at work 7 today, so it should be better. 8 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: You're back to your budgeted 9 staff right now? 10 MR. ARREOLA: Correct, back to budgeted staff as of 11 today. 12 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Thank you. 13 MR. ARREOLA: You're welcome. 14 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: On Solid Waste, it's my 15 sense out in my part of the county that -- that a pretty good 16 effort's been made to clean up problems, and so things are 17 better than they were a few years ago in terms of a lot of 18 solid waste. 19 MR. ARREOLA: We did a lot of cases last year. You 20 can see in this graphic, we're almost hitting 200 cases. 21 There's plenty of clean-up to do. There is a lot still in 22 areas of the county. It's very important. We're trying to 23 accommodate the rest of the staff to -- to work in that area, 24 but O.S.S.F. demands a lot. We have to respond to 25 timing-sensitive inspections. We still feel that we need 12-14-05 92 1 extra staff in Solid Waste. We've been seeing this for a 2 while, to be able to meet the county needs. There is -- 3 there's a lot there to be cleaned up. 4 JUDGE TINLEY: Anything else for Mr. Arreola? Thank 5 you, sir. We appreciate it. 6 MR. ARREOLA: Not a problem. 7 JUDGE TINLEY: Juvenile Detention. 8 MS. HARRIS: Okay. For the month of November, our 9 average total population was 54, 28 being post, 9 pre, and 17 10 T.Y.C. We had six total postadjudication intakes for the 11 month of November, and I have listed those by county for you. 12 We had six discharges. We had five postadjudicated kids and 13 one T.Y.C. kid in the month of November -- yes, November. Two 14 pending intakes, one from Guadalupe, which we have received 15 that resident as of Friday. That one Guadalupe resident came 16 in. The Andrews County resident will go to court this week, I 17 believe, so we may be receiving the Andrews resident by the 18 end of the week, perhaps, depending on what the Court says. 19 At this point in time, on the report that I gave you, I 20 indicated that there was one sex offender bed available. 21 There's two sex offender beds. When Guadalupe brought their 22 one resident Friday, they took two back with them, and it was 23 due to budget constraints. One of those residents had already 24 been with us for seven months. They discharged -- we 25 discharged him. The county -- Guadalupe wanted to come get 12-14-05 93 1 that resident, take him back to Guadalupe. He had to go to a 2 jury trial. Then they brought him back, and he -- the second 3 time around that they brought him back, he was with us for 4 three months. Well, he was one of the ones, and they just ran 5 out of money that they had budgeted for him. And the other 6 young man was the same way. It was a budgetary decision. It 7 was not a problematic -- or program problem at all. So, we 8 have two sex offender beds available. We have one substance 9 abuse bed available. 10 JUDGE TINLEY: What kind of inquiries do you have 11 outstanding for either of those programs? 12 MS. HARRIS: Just what I've indicated, these pending 13 intakes. Which Guadalupe, you can mark off the list. We've 14 already got that one, so the Andrews. I don't know if you 15 remember back in our discussions several, several, several 16 months ago, whenever we were -- as a matter of fact, it was 17 about this time of year last year when we were talking about 18 projections and -- and what the normal cycle for receiving 19 kids, and remember, I indicated there is normally a Christmas 20 slump, because counties try to keep their kids from being 21 locked up in order so they can maybe have Christmas with their 22 families. So, there's normally a Christmas slump. Plus the 23 courts -- most judges are not available during the last two 24 weeks of December, and a lot of probation officers take 25 vacation during that time. So, your referrals normally slow 12-14-05 94 1 down toward the end of December, then will pick back up about 2 the second week in January. So, that may be some of what 3 we're seeing as well, 'cause we're about to approach the 4 Christmas slump. 5 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Becky, one more -- I'm 6 sorry. 7 MS. HARRIS: That's okay. 8 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Your current census today, 9 with all the T.Y.C. out, is -- 10 MS. HARRIS: 37. 11 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: 37? 12 MS. HARRIS: 37. 29 post and 8 pre's is what the 13 population is today. 14 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Thank you. 15 MS. HARRIS: Also, as I have indicated on here and 16 as you are aware, we no longer have the T.Y.C. residents. I 17 really don't know how to state how we feel about that at the 18 facility. There is a sense of relief on one hand, but then 19 there is a sense of regret on the other hand. We really 20 wanted this project to succeed. And it's purely a staffing 21 issue. Purely a staffing issue. And I just regret that it 22 had to turn out this way. And I gave you a copy of the letter 23 that I wrote the Executive Director, Dwight Harris, of the 24 Texas Youth Commission expressing our regret that the project 25 had to end. 12-14-05 95 1 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Have your staffing problems 2 eased now as a result -- 3 MS. HARRIS: Yes, sir. It's got -- 4 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: -- of the relocation of the 5 T.Y.C. -- 6 MS. HARRIS: It's gotten much better, yes, sir. 7 Because we had put the ad in the paper for -- to fill those 8 full-time slots, and I had indicated to you that the 9 difficulty of putting full-time -- using part-time people that 10 were already certified, that we had taken the time and money 11 to certify, putting them in those full-time slots, you created 12 this part-time hole, and it was just a vicious cycle. That's 13 been alleviated. Now, some of the full-time people that we 14 have hired full-time, of course, they've got to go through 15 their OJT, and -- but we've got that -- we've got that taken 16 care of. And I had several people take some of their comp 17 time this weekend, some of my full-time staff. They were able 18 to take some of their comp time. 19 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Would you talk a little bit 20 about the recruiting and retention issue? Why is it difficult 21 to retain -- 22 MS. HARRIS: It's difficult -- 23 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Is it permanent, or is it 24 going to go away someday? 25 MS. HARRIS: Commissioner Nicholson, this time last 12-14-05 96 1 year, we were going through the same problem. Not to this 2 extent, but I would have hoped that -- that the situation 3 would have gotten better. I don't see any relief. I'm hoping 4 these full-time people that we are bringing on board now -- I 5 can say this. The people that we have hired full-time to fill 6 these full-time positions seem to have a more professional 7 manner about them, and a more positive work ethic about them 8 than what we've experienced in the past. The part-time 9 situation, paying $8 an hour -- which that's what we budgeted; 10 that's what we said -- you compete with fast food restaurants 11 and with -- and we didn't have any benefits, you know, going 12 along with the part-time, so that was a lot of the problem. I 13 believe the work ethic -- I've never seen anything like it, 14 where you leave -- literally, you are working on a dorm and 15 you go take a break and you never come back. And that 16 happened on more than one occasion. It's -- it's situations 17 of that nature, where you -- and then you're on the phone 18 trying to call somebody to fill that slot, 'cause you're out 19 of ratio, you know. 20 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: How do you fix that? 21 MS. HARRIS: Commissioner, I wish I knew. 22 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Well, I do. I remember the 23 adult jail was exactly the same thing prior to Rusty, and a 24 little bit of Rusty's term. Just a little bit of it. And we 25 changed the salary structure. 12-14-05 97 1 MS. HARRIS: Mm-hmm. 2 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: And it fixed it. 3 MS. HARRIS: And we did that this year. 4 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Do you think that changing 5 the salary structure out there would fix it? 6 MS. HARRIS: I think would it help a great deal. 7 Yes, sir, I do. And we had discussed that when y'all came out 8 to the facility, you and Commissioner Williams. We discussed 9 about that, and that was part of what we did this year for 10 this budget, was to -- to help that salary structure somewhat. 11 And we agreed that it was not a viable thing to do to increase 12 the salary for the detention officers and shift supervisors to 13 be comparable to the jail. It was just not financially 14 feasible. But perhaps -- I don't know; perhaps we might can 15 look at that again for next year, but you're absolutely right, 16 the pay scale has a large amount to do with it. 17 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So, more money would fix the 18 problem; is that what you're saying? 19 MS. HARRIS: Better salary scale would -- would fix 20 the problem. 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: More money would fix the 22 problem. 23 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: If we were to do that, you 24 know, in the next budget cycle, all things being equal, and -- 25 and increase that hourly rate, would that help the problem 12-14-05 98 1 that you indicated to me was also part of this scenario, in 2 that some of these folks who show up looking for employment 3 can't clear the background check? 4 MS. HARRIS: That's correct. That's correct. And 5 we can't -- we cannot put them on the payroll until they clear 6 that background check. 7 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: My question is, do you think 8 just merely addressing the hourly rate would get us up a notch 9 so that we don't have so much of that problem? 10 MS. HARRIS: I -- 11 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: That's what I'm asking. 12 MS. HARRIS: I believe so, yes, sir. I believe so. 13 'Cause you're making it more attractive. If you were to 14 increase that part-time hourly rate, you're making it more 15 attractive to people who are more professional in their 16 behavior. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think the bottom line is -- I 18 mean, I'm not that concerned about trying to fix the part-time 19 salaries. Long-term, I'm more concerned about trying to fix 20 the full-time employees, and then you don't have a part-time 21 problem. At $8 an hour or $9 an hour or $10 an hour, you're 22 not going to get quality people that are going to be, you 23 know, diligent in showing up every day. Some will, certainly. 24 You have some. 25 MS. HARRIS: Right. 12-14-05 99 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But you're competing, like 2 Ms. Harris said, with, you know, the fast food restaurants, 3 any kind of -- just manual labor. They all get $10, $11 an 4 hour. 5 MS. HARRIS: And Walmart. One of our biggest 6 competitors is Walmart. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So I think we need to, 8 long-term, come up with a -- try to get with a -- if we can 9 get the revenue coming in -- 10 MS. HARRIS: Right. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- then you try to look at the 12 salary structure for the full-time residents. 13 MS. HARRIS: It certainly would link to the revenue. 14 It would not be feasible to increase your salary scale if the 15 revenues are not there. And I think that that's a viable 16 argument, and I would not even advocate for that unless the 17 revenues were -- would support that. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. 19 MS. HARRIS: But, the issue, too, you may have some 20 really good part-time people, but they've got other jobs, and 21 you're -- and you're having to work around those hours of 22 those other jobs. And so it's just a difficult situation all 23 the way around. And -- 24 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: I think the only -- I just want 25 to back her up a little bit on that. You know, people that 12-14-05 100 1 she hires and I hire at the jail or her detention center go 2 through a more stringent background investigation, and have 3 to, than anybody that Walmart or anyone else can hire. And 4 yet -- you know, so you end up cutting out a whole bunch of 5 good employees, which you could have some real good employees, 6 because of that type of background they have to go through, 7 okay? And then if you don't pay them even as much as Walmart 8 or anybody else pays them, you can't do it. And I know right 9 now, still -- y'all corrected this some last year, but her 10 employees' salary now, I think, is about 5,000 or 6,000 a year 11 less -- 12 MS. HARRIS: Yes. 13 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: -- than what the jail -- than 14 what the starting corrections officer at the jails are, and I 15 have a hard time still keeping them at that. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: You had the same basic problem 17 of the revolving door until we raised the salaries. 18 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: You raised it, and that cut 19 down a whole lot of it. 20 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: That equates to about 2.50 21 an hour, and that's very significant. 22 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: It's $12 -- yeah, something 23 like that. 24 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: We had raised the salaries 25 quite a bit, -- 12-14-05 101 1 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Yes. 2 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: -- but our total cost of 3 payroll didn't go up as much as the percent that we raised 4 salaries, because you eliminated the costs of turnover, 5 training, overtime, all that stuff. 6 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: The backgrounds and testing. 7 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: We would probably be wise 8 to consider dealing with the full-time employees -- 9 MS. HARRIS: Right. Not -- yeah. 10 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: -- in a similar fashion 11 that we did the jail. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So we can get them on level 13 ground. Okay. 14 MS. HARRIS: Which takes me to the end of the 15 report. Now, what is not on there, because this occurred 16 after I wrote the report and submitted it to you, the cook 17 situation, we did not hire the more experienced cook, because 18 the first more experienced cook that we did have on full-time, 19 he got a better job offer and he left. And we were going to 20 hire another more experienced cook, and the job that he was at 21 matched our offer, so he didn't come on board, so we were back 22 to square one with two lesser-experienced cooks and a 23 part-time cook. Now, since this has all occurred, the food 24 costs -- and we visited with Rusty; groceries have gone up, 25 because Sysco has had an increase in fuel costs, so our 12-14-05 102 1 grocery bill has risen substantially. So, in order to offset 2 that, what we have done is we have reduced our cooking staff 3 from two full-time and one part-time to one full-time and one 4 part-time. And the one full-time cook had some considerable 5 comp time, because when the first cook quit, she had to work, 6 like, 16 days straight in order to cook. So, we were going to 7 give her these last two weeks of December off. Well, I had my 8 part-time cook and I had the other full-time cook, but I was 9 going to make the full-time cook part-time, so I was going to 10 have two part-time. Well, one of the part-time cooks called 11 in this weekend and quit, so I'm back to -- 12 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Who's doing the scrambled 13 eggs? You? 14 MS. HARRIS: My shift supervisors. So, the shift 15 supervisors, starting tomorrow, will be cooking breakfast, and 16 the -- and we're still going to try to get our full-time cook 17 that has comp time, to get her to eat up some of that comp 18 time, and the shift supervisors are going to cook breakfast 19 and they're going to serve supper and clean up the dishes. 20 So, fruit basket turnover again. 21 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: You got a long-term 22 solution? 23 MS. HARRIS: Well, the longer-term solution is, once 24 this full-time cook eats up some of that comp time, it will be 25 her and a part-time cook, and my shift supervisors are going 12-14-05 103 1 to continue to cook breakfast, and that way we can keep it 2 going and we won't have to have another full-time cook. So, 3 I've eliminated one full-time cook's position that I'm not 4 going to use this year -- the rest of the fiscal year. I'm 5 only going to use one and a half to try to help to offset the 6 increase in food costs because of the increase in fuel and 7 delivery charges. 8 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So, how is that going to 9 work? Are you going to come back later and transfer the money 10 that the Court authorized into the cook or the chef, and 11 transfer that money over to the grocery side? Or -- 12 MS. HARRIS: I don't know, sir. I don't -- I don't 13 have that formulated at this point in time, 'cause I want to 14 see what's going to happen when the dust settles on that 15 situation. 16 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Well, you know, there's an 17 actual court order, I think, that says that you're going to go 18 hire a sheriff -- not a sheriff, a chef -- at a certain amount 19 of money and all that. I mean, that -- you don't just move 20 those moneys around. 21 MS. HARRIS: Well, I didn't hire the chef, so we 22 didn't have to move that money. 23 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay. Okay. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Commissioner Baldwin's point, I 25 think, and I would agree, is to make sure we move the money 12-14-05 104 1 before we spend the money. 2 MS. HARRIS: Right, exactly. And I will do that. 3 That's why I want to wait until the dust settles, to see 4 exactly where we are. Even if we have to do that, I'm hoping, 5 by the decrease in population, decrease in the number of 6 staff, I'm hoping that our food costs will substantially 7 decrease in spite of the extra fuel cost and delivery charges 8 we're having to pay. 9 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I saw the report on orange 10 juice, what it's fixing to do. Man, like, quadruple. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Drink apple juice. 12 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: This last month, ours went back 13 down this last month, but month before, one month for the jail 14 was a $7,000 increase. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: For orange juice? 16 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: No, just food. We don't serve 17 orange juice. Just the overall food cost was -- 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I thought cutting out orange 19 juice -- 20 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Overall food cast was a $7,000 21 increase. 22 MS. HARRIS: And, too, we just have the one-week 23 rotating menus. We no longer have the six-week rotating 24 menus; we did away with that this year. We've got one -- 25 every Monday, the kids know what they're going to eat every 12-14-05 105 1 Monday, to help curb that too. So, anyway... 2 JUDGE TINLEY: Any member of the Court have any more 3 questions for Ms. Harris? Sheriff, do you want to roll that 4 into your operation? 5 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: No. 6 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Thank you, ma'am. 7 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Everything is good in the 8 adult detention center? 9 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Been there, done that. I ain't 10 getting into that. She can have it. 11 JUDGE TINLEY: Where's our Auditor? 12 MS. HARRIS: Do you want me to go get her? 13 JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah, if you wouldn't mind. 14 MS. HARRIS: Okay. 15 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. I think that's going to bring 16 us to the tail end of our agenda on the approval agenda. 17 First, let me ask if there's any member of the Court that has 18 any items that they wish to have considered in executive or 19 closed session. Hearing none, I'm going to move on. We'll go 20 to the approval agenda. Hopefully we can get the Auditor here 21 shortly, and we'll act on the bills. 22 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Here she comes. 23 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. First item is payment of the 24 bills. 25 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I move that we pay our bills. 12-14-05 106 1 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Second. 2 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded to pay the 3 bills. I wish Ms. Harris hadn't left. Let me ask the County 4 Attorney, have you been consulted about some warranty issues 5 on some of the locks out at the detention facility in the new 6 annex? 7 MR. EMERSON: I'm aware that there's a lock issue, 8 but that's about the extent of it. 9 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Okay. 10 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Maybe I can shed a little 11 light on that, Judge. 12 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 13 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I know that they had some 14 locks that were not operating correctly through the remote -- 15 or through control center, and they thought that the locks had 16 failed. Mr. Holekamp and his folks looked at them, and I 17 think they had somebody who's a locksmith expert or whatever 18 take a look at them, and the result was they had to -- they 19 ordered a couple replacement locks. They're special locks; 20 can't acquire them here. They came in from wherever, 21 wherever, were installed, and they still didn't work, which 22 says there was a problem somewhere other than in the locking 23 mechanism itself. Somewhere between the control panel and the 24 lock, there must be a problem. That's our -- that's the only 25 light I can shed on it, but they did acquire a couple locks as 12-14-05 107 1 replacements. So, if it -- if it's a warranty issue -- it 2 very well could be a warranty issue as a result of replacing a 3 lock and it still not functioning remotely correctly. And, 4 so, that's all I can tell you. 5 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Are y'all talking about the 6 new building out there? 7 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Yes, sir, we are talking 8 about the new building. 9 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: We can't lock the doors on a 10 jail. 11 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Well, a couple interior 12 locks that they're not functioning right. 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I'm shocked. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I have a -- is that the only 15 question you had, Judge? 16 JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah, that was the one I had. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I had one on the first page 18 under County Court. And I -- it's the first one, Claudio 19 Castillo for probable cause hearings. Maybe these have been 20 on here a lot of times, but -- and I just didn't notice them, 21 but I don't -- is a J.P. getting paid extra for a probable 22 cause? Is it -- you're pointing -- mental health? Is that 23 what that is? 24 JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. 12-14-05 108 1 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: But he provides a time sheet 2 kind of thing. 3 MS. WILLIAMS: Yes. So many cases, and -- 4 JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah, he's paid per case. 5 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah. 6 JUDGE TINLEY: And that's charged as court costs to 7 the county -- 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. Okay. 9 JUDGE TINLEY: -- where that patient is from. So, 10 we're recouping -- I think the ratio was about 80 percent 11 out-of-county, 20 percent Kerr County. I haven't checked 12 those numbers. I assume it's pretty close to that still, so 13 we're recouping about 80 percent of that -- 75, 80 percent of 14 that money from other counties in court costs that we charge 15 them. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. 17 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: I've got a comment on Page 18 8, Environmental Health. Texas Commission on Environmental 19 Quality, on-site council fee/late fees. I talked to Miguel, 20 and what happened here was that he had a disputed invoice, and 21 the dispute took him past the due date, and the Commission 22 didn't -- did not forgive the late fee that was due because of 23 it being late. And it's only $43, but the principle here is 24 that, again, we're paying -- incurring costs that we don't 25 have to incur if we do everything timely. And then I reminded 12-14-05 109 1 them that there's -- we have a court order that says if we 2 incur late fees, that the Auditor or the Commissioners Court 3 is due an explanation on that, so I'm hoping that the word 4 gets around to all the department heads and elected officials 5 that, one, they shouldn't incur late fees or penalties or 6 interest, and if they do, they need to explain it. 7 JUDGE TINLEY: Any other questions or comments by 8 any member of the Court on the bills? All in favor of the 9 motion to pay the bills, 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. Budget 14 Amendment Request Number 1. 15 MS. WILLIAMS: Yes, sir. This budget amendment is 16 for the County Clerk's Election budget. What happened is, 17 they had some services provided to the election machines prior 18 to September 30th. For one reason or another, the -- the 19 company just did not get the bill to us timely in order for us 20 to encumber it back into last year's budget. So, what I was 21 going to ask is for the Court's permission to declare an 22 emergency, move the funds out of the surplus fund balance from 23 last year, put it in the Machine Repair line item, and let us 24 go ahead and get this bill paid, because we do owe the moneys. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So moved. 12-14-05 110 1 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Second. 2 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for approval 3 of Budget Amendment Request Number 1 as requested. Any 4 question or comments? 5 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Surplus fund balance? 6 MS. WILLIAMS: Fund balance. 7 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Fund 10? 8 MS. WILLIAMS: Yes, sir, general fund. 9 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Surplus. That -- I really 10 dislike that word. Okay. 11 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Is there -- reserve? Is 12 that a better word? 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: Any other -- 15 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah. 16 JUDGE TINLEY: Any other questions or comments? 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: The motion does carry. Budget 22 Amendment Request Number 2. 23 MS. WILLIAMS: This budget amendment is for a 24 monitor that we had to purchase for one of the Commissioners. 25 It was not really included in the moneys that was budgeted in 12-14-05 111 1 Operating Equipment for this year. I spoke with Commissioner 2 Williams, and we've come to the conclusion that we most likely 3 can take the money out of Books, Publications, and Dues in the 4 Commissioners Court budget. I believe there's going to be a 5 little bit of a surplus there. The amount that we needed was 6 $228.85. That is the difference in order to be able to pay 7 this bill, and everything will be squared away. 8 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So moved. 9 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Guilty as charged. 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So moved. Guilty of what? 11 Since you're confessing. 12 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I got the monitor. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for approval 15 of Budget Amendment Request Number 2. Any question or 16 discussion? 17 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Comment. I got my computer 18 fixed. I hadn't been able to read e-mails for about three 19 months. I sent a response to Commissioner Letz. I think he 20 thinks I was rude; I hadn't read an e-mail he sent me two 21 months ago. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: He sent me a response; he gave 23 me the answer. Didn't make any difference any more, but he 24 gave me the answer. 25 JUDGE TINLEY: Any other questions or comments? All 12-14-05 112 1 in favor of the motion, signify by raising your right hand. 2 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 3 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 4 (No response.) 5 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. Any further 6 budget amendments? 7 MS. WILLIAMS: No, sir. 8 JUDGE TINLEY: Do we have any late bills? 9 MS. WILLIAMS: One, sir. 10 JUDGE TINLEY: All right. 11 MS. WILLIAMS: Commissioner Nicholson brought a bill 12 in to us. We are asking to reimburse Thomas Mall Concrete for 13 the building permit from the City of Kerrville for the Animal 14 Control facility, the expansion. The amount of the permit was 15 $375, and we're going to ask that we be able to take it out of 16 10-642-330, which is the Operating Expense line item for 17 Animal Control. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So moved. 19 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. 20 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for approval 21 of late bill to Thomas Mall Concrete for a building permit for 22 $375 and issuance of hand check to be charged as indicated by 23 the Auditor. Any question or comment? 24 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: There's no late fee on there, 25 is there? 12-14-05 113 1 MS. WILLIAMS: I hope not. 2 JUDGE TINLEY: All in favor of the motion, signify 3 by raising your right hand. 4 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 5 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 6 (No response.) 7 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. Any other 8 late bills? 9 MS. WILLIAMS: No, sir, that's it. 10 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. I've been presented with 11 monthly reports for the Sheriff's Department, Justice of the 12 Peace, Precinct 2, Justice of the Peace, Precinct 3, Justice 13 of the Peace, Precinct 4, and County Clerk general and trust 14 reports. Do I hear a motion that these reports be approved as 15 submitted? 16 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: So moved. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 18 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded for approval 19 of the indicated reports as submitted. Any question or 20 comment? All in favor of the motion, signify by raising your 21 right hand. 22 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 23 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 24 (No response.) 25 JUDGE TINLEY: The motion does carry. Do we have 12-14-05 114 1 any Commissioners that have reports on their liaison or 2 committee assignments or other reports? 3 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I move we go to Buzzie's. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Actually, I have -- I can't go 5 yet; it's early. I can talk 15 more minutes. No -- 6 JUDGE TINLEY: To whom? 7 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Not with me. 8 JUDGE TINLEY: To whom? 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Two brief comments, one with 10 regard to the airport. 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Like the congressional thing 12 you see on TV, these guys ranting and raving; not a person in 13 there. 14 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Nobody in the chamber. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'm not going to rant and rave. 16 Related to an airport matter that was in the paper, it was 17 reported that I voted against the terminal. Which I mentioned 18 this to Commissioner Baldwin; the reason was -- was that I 19 don't -- there's a reason to do it. And Commissioner Williams 20 can go into it if he wants to, but the reason I voted against 21 it is that we have received zero, including the current 22 architect, estimates that this rebid is going to come in with 23 a dollar figure that's within our budget, and I think it's a 24 waste of time, and I'm fed up with the architect that we 25 currently have and would like to move on. And in -- and I 12-14-05 115 1 think we can still get the terminal built. That's kind of why 2 I probably voted against it. And I'll probably vote against 3 it tomorrow when we meet again. 4 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: In your opinion, is there a 5 good business for that terminal? Over some period of time, 6 will revenues increase to the point where -- 7 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Yeah, there is. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think it's a -- I think 9 there's -- it's one of those intangible things that it's 10 probably good to build. I would not -- it is -- it's coming 11 from non -- well, I won't say non-taxpayer funds, 'cause it is 12 coming from some E.I.C. funds, but it's -- a lot of it's by 13 federal government grants. I would not be in favor of 14 spending that -- you know, budgeted or county tax dollars on 15 that terminal. There's, however, some other projects out 16 there, but I think it is a viable project. 17 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: There is -- Commissioner 18 Letz, let me add just one comment. There is a need for it. 19 This is the type of facility that we should have for folks who 20 fly in here in these big jets, and they're becoming 21 increasingly more frequent. There was two of them on the 22 apron Saturday night, big ones. Kerrville Aviation and its 23 facilities just doesn't have the facility -- you know, the 24 accommodation. So, there really is -- the demand is growing, 25 and I think it is -- it provides a pretty decent window to 12-14-05 116 1 Kerr County having a facility of that nature. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think most of the airports our 3 size have them, so I think it's common, and I think it is a -- 4 it's one of those things, it's another small step on the way 5 to getting where we want to be, to be able to, in my mind, get 6 more corporate jets, probably, housed here. And I think it 7 helps in that, 'cause there's a pilot lounge and some other 8 things that go in that area, or down that road. The other 9 item, if the Court likes, I can hand out -- I don't know what 10 y'all will be doing for the next couple hours. I can hand out 11 the draft of the Subdivision Rules. 12 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: We need to go to lunch. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: You'll hopefully have time after 14 lunch, y'all can look through them. Or do y'all want me to 15 wait until the workshop? 16 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: You're going to explain it 17 all to us in the workshop, right? 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yes. I don't know -- I don't 19 know if I'll explain it to you, but we'll discuss it. I'll 20 hand one out. There are gray highlights along the pages; 21 those are the areas that have been changed. That's it. 22 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: This takes the place of this 23 other one I have, dated -- 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Throw the other one away. 25 There's a new -- new draft number on it. A new draft number, 12-14-05 117 1 and there's a lot of changes again. 2 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Okay. I'm going to put 3 "Newest." 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Newest? 5 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: 12-12-05. 6 JUDGE TINLEY: Anything further? We will stand in 7 recess until 2 o'clock this afternoon. 8 (Recess taken from 11:47 p.m. to 2 p.m.) 9 - - - - - - - - - - 10 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay, it is 2 o'clock. Let's come 11 back to order. We were in recess until 2:00, and we have one 12 item to take up before the workshop, and that is a report from 13 the Kerr County Extension Office. So, Mr. Walston, if you -- 14 MR. WALSTON: I didn't get the message that we had 15 changed our schedule this afternoon, so we'll briefly give 16 y'all a report. I gave you a little bit of report on what -- 17 some of the things that we've been doing over the last month. 18 One of the things that I just happened to think of that I left 19 off, in October during our fair, we held a -- we hosted a 20 booth, an Extension booth that represented all of our 21 different groups, our Extension FCE groups, our Master 22 Gardeners, our 4-H kids, as well as our ag and extension 23 group, ag groups and committees. So, if y'all were out at the 24 fair, hopefully y'all got to see our displays. I think that 25 really was a good representation, and we got a lot of -- made 12-14-05 118 1 a lot of good contacts. This last month in November, we 2 finalized what we call our validations of our livestock 3 projects, and that's basically just telling the -- telling us 4 what kids have what animals and how many we've got. So, that 5 that's a statewide validation, and those animals that go to 6 the major stock shows will be tested at the major stock shows 7 to make sure that -- that those animals are owned by who we 8 send them in as ownership is. As you can see, the numbers -- 9 as far as our total numbers, we -- we ended up with a total of 10 193 exhibitors and right at 400 projects. 11 JUDGE TINLEY: Is that a pretty good indication of 12 the number of -- that we're going to have in the local shows 13 here in January? 14 MR. WALSTON: Yes, sir. Yes, sir. 15 JUDGE TINLEY: 400? 16 MR. WALSTON: That's -- these are just the 4-H 17 projects. The FFA projects, we've got those validated, but I 18 didn't include those in the numbers. 19 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 20 MR. WALSTON: I just -- these are -- they'll be up 21 from that. And they're primarily coming from -- I believe we 22 ended up total validating them right at 100 market lambs. The 23 meat goats is about 200. A hundred market lambs, and I 24 imagine we'll have a little over 200 swine, and the beef 25 project is, I believe, right at 30, so it's going to be up a 12-14-05 119 1 little bit. But that's -- that's pretty close. 2 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Are the meat goats still 3 climbing? 4 MR. WALSTON: They've kind of leveled off. 5 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Leveled off? 6 MR. WALSTON: Seems like everything's pretty well 7 leveled off. As you can see, we're looking at about two 8 projects per kid, per 4-H member. The -- a lot of the kids 9 are -- are now feeding one project or two. We don't have 10 those families that are feeding 10 or 15 or 20, so we're -- 11 we're getting into the -- you know, those kids are -- are more 12 involved in other things, and -- and they're still feeding 13 their projects and taking care of them, but they're just at a 14 smaller level. Judging team-wise, I'd like to recognize our 15 livestock team, in October, went to the state fair. We're 16 just getting that group kicked off and under way. That group 17 -- that team was 8th out of 54 teams. Katie Muehlstein was 18 our high-point individual out of 200 contestants, and that was 19 quite a feat for a young lady that has just turned into her 20 senior year -- or senior competition. 21 JUDGE TINLEY: She won high point of all 22 participants? 23 MR. WALSTON: High point of the 200 kids. So -- 24 and, actually, Katie, I'll have to say -- she's heard me say 25 it before -- she's been in -- that makes her first, second, 12-14-05 120 1 third -- fifth conference, and she's been high individual in 2 three of them. 3 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Golly. 4 MR. WALSTON: So we've got -- we've got some high 5 hopes for that young lady, along with the rest of them. Our 6 4-H clubs, just to give you an idea on the overall club 7 numbers, we have now started a 4-H club as an after-school 8 program with the Salvation Army. That group identified 9 themselves as the 4-H Dream Team. We've got 47 of those 10 youngsters, and they meet after school once a month on Friday. 11 Our senior and junior council meets with them and they go 12 through the meetings and teach those kids about the leadership 13 and teach the activities of carrying on and conducting 14 meetings with those kids that are able to learn how -- how 15 meetings are to be conducted. Our six community 4-H clubs, 16 which includes our east and west Kerr County, Kerrville, 17 Turtle Creek, Ingram, Hunt, those -- those clubs include 255 18 members. Our project clubs, which is our trap and skeet 19 program and our horse project, has 22 and 20, respectively, so 20 a total of 344 members and nine clubs. Two years ago, we had 21 a little over 200, so we've -- this last year, we were under 22 300 -- right at 300, and this year looks like we're going to 23 be up over 350. 24 Some of the ways that we're getting that done is 25 through this BB gun project. The BB gun project is another 12-14-05 121 1 offshoot of our shooting sports program. We have trap and 2 skeet, rifle, and now we're starting the BB gun. We're able 3 to do that with some funding through some private agent -- 4 private individuals and agencies helping with some grants. 5 We're trying to get an archery program started hopefully this 6 next year. That's bringing in a lot of new kids that wouldn't 7 -- that are not traditionally 4-H projects that we're able to 8 encourage those kids to be involved in. That's 3rd grade 9 through 12th grade. We've got 21 members that is meeting in 10 our BB gun project right now. They met 10 times in November. 11 Basically, they're meeting twice a week. They've got enough 12 kids that they had to split that into twice a week so that 13 they can give them all enough shooting time. And Mike Boyd is 14 our -- is our project leader, and we've got several other 15 parents that have been certified as coaches to help out. 16 Our horse project is -- is active and getting under 17 way. They'll really be picking up this spring, and -- spring 18 and summer. The dog agility project, some of y'all may have 19 seen that in the newspaper. Laurie Graham has picked that up, 20 and that's something that we've got a lot of our 4-H'ers and 21 some of our new kids that have gone in and -- and had dogs as 22 pets, but really never have worked with them, and they were 23 able to take them through the agility courses, and she was 24 able to teach them some obedience and some things. That -- 25 that, I think, was -- was very productive in giving those kids 12-14-05 122 1 some self -- self-discipline about being able to work with 2 those dogs and teach them some things. 3 Some of our other activities, of course, our senior 4 council. Each year in the past, we had what we call the 5 Waiter's Night, and we'd work at C.W. Steaks. Now that C.W. 6 Steaks is no longer here, we teamed up with Billy Jean's 7 Restaurant, and they worked with us on a Friends and Family 8 Night and helped us. Our senior council helped serve as hosts 9 and bused tables and some things like that. With the tips 10 that they made, I believe it came out to about $1,500. Each 11 year they'll take that money and go shopping at -- at, I 12 believe, Walmart, and take -- and buy different gifts for the 13 Salvation Army Angel Tree and the Any Baby Can bunch. Our 14 senior council really enjoys getting involved with those 15 groups that way. We also had some leadership opportunities 16 for our council kids, our seniors and juniors as well. These 17 were at Brownwood at the Texas 4-H Center, where they were 18 able to go and -- our senior is basically -- it was an 19 ambassador training where they go and learn how to promote the 20 4-H program and go out and do some public speaking to 21 recognize what's going on in the county. 22 And that's -- that's some of the things that they 23 are -- they are working on. Our county food show, we had 18 24 participants this year. That is down a little bit, I can tell 25 you, from last year. We had one club -- one of our more 12-14-05 123 1 active clubs that had the 4-H -- had the foods project, and 2 for whatever reason, they weren't able to participate in the 3 food show; they just decided to go do the foods projects but 4 not participate in the food show. We ended up with 18 total 5 participating, and six of them qualified and competed at 6 district. I believe we had about 45 or 50 people at the 7 county food show, counting parents and different guests. Here 8 in November, we -- we finally had the opportunity to host a 9 statewide shooting sports clinic. We had 47 different coaches 10 from around the state that came in. We've been trying to do 11 that for the last couple years. That gives our coaches here 12 locally an opportunity to be certified as instructors, and in 13 order for our kids to -- in order really to expand our 14 program, we have to have certified coaches, and it gets very 15 expensive and time-consuming to try to send coaches to east 16 Texas or to Amarillo for a certification program. So, we were 17 finally able to coordinate with the state 4-H shooting sports 18 program to have one here in Kerrville, and we brought in 47 19 coaches and certified them for different 4-H clubs around the 20 state. I believe, locally, we ended up having probably six or 21 eight that were actually certified for trap and skeet, BB 22 gun -- those two areas, primarily. 23 We just finished up our pecan show, our district and 24 regional pecan show. Our regional pecan show had right at 100 25 entries. Had -- had a really good show. The quality was real 12-14-05 124 1 good, and we also just finished up this last weekend our Any 2 Baby Can Christmas party, where we helped host that with the 3 Any Baby Can group. And that -- that was a really good 4 turnout, where our Senior Council kids were able to help 5 decorate and help work with those kids. So, that's some of 6 the things that -- that we're doing. As far as in -- 7 project-wise, of course, with the livestock projects, it's 8 getting pretty busy, trying to make project visits and getting 9 ready for the show here coming up here in January. So -- 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Did the courthouse win the 11 pecan show? 12 MR. WALSTON: Courthouse didn't have an entry. 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Uh-oh. 14 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: You were supposed to do 15 that, weren't you? 16 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Was that one of my jobs? 17 (Laughter.) 18 JUDGE TINLEY: That's in Precinct 1, those pecan 19 trees. 20 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: You stay out of this. 21 MR. WALSTON: No, but we did -- you know, we get 22 some different -- we get some new ones every year, and then 23 for -- you know, this year was a pretty short year. We had a 24 lot of people that really just didn't have pecans. 25 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Mm-hmm. Very good. Thank 12-14-05 125 1 you. 2 MR. WALSTON: All right. Thank y'all. 3 JUDGE TINLEY: Any questions for Mr. Walston? Thank 4 you, Roy. We appreciate you being here. 5 MR. WALSTON: Thank y'all. 6 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Let's move on to our 2 o'clock 7 timed item now, a workshop on Subdivision Rules and 8 Regulations and Water Availability Requirements. 9 (The open session was closed at 2:13 p.m., and a workshop was held, the transcript of which is 10 contained in a separate document.) 11 - - - - - - - - - - 12 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. I gather we have no formal 13 action to take with regard to Items 15 and 16, then; is that 14 correct? 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think that's correct. I think 16 we'll just leave it that these are out for public comment and 17 will be back on our agenda for the first meeting in January 18 for us to -- hopefully, by that time we'll have received the 19 comments and make a final draft that we can put out for a 20 formal public comment period and public hearing. 21 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Anyone else on the Court have 22 anything to offer? 23 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Are we not going into 24 executive session? 25 JUDGE TINLEY: No, I already inquired about that and 12-14-05 126 1 no one expressed a need to. 2 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay. 3 JUDGE TINLEY: Unless you've got some deep, dark 4 secrets you want to tell us. 5 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I do, but... 6 JUDGE TINLEY: They're all on you? 7 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: They're on me, and they're 8 staying here. 9 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. All right, we'll stand 10 adjourned. 11 (Commissioners Court adjourned at 4:26 p.m.) 12 - - - - - - - - - - 13 14 STATE OF TEXAS | 15 COUNTY OF KERR | 16 The above and foregoing is a true and complete 17 transcription of my stenotype notes taken in my 18 capacity as County Clerk of the Commissioners Court 19 of Kerr County, Texas, at the time and place 20 heretofore set forth. 21 DATED at Kerrville, Texas, this 16th day of 22 December, 2005. 23 JANNETT PIEPER, Kerr County Clerk 24 BY: _______________________________ Kathy Banik, Deputy County Clerk 25 Certified Shorthand Reporter 12-14-05